The carbon cycle in our oceans is critical to the balance of life in ocean waters and for reducing carbon in the atmosphere, a significant process to curbing climate change or global warming.

Why does plastic turn brittle and paint fade when exposed to the sun for long periods? Scientists have long known that such organic photodegradation occurs due to the sun's energy generating free radicals: molecules that have lost an electron to sunlight-induced ionization and have been left with an unpaired one, making them very eager to react with other molecules in the environment. However, the exact mechanisms for how and why the energy from the sun's photons get stored and released in the materials over very long periods have eluded empirical evidence.

Billions of alkaline-loving microbes could offer a new way to protect nuclear waste buried deep underground. This approach overcomes the limitations of current cement barriers, which can crack or break down over time.

In the canopies of a South American rainforest, a tiny soldier termite has stunned a team of international scientists with its whale-like features.

A new study from UNC-Chapel Hill researchers shows that advanced artificial intelligence tools, specifically large language models (LLMs), can accurately determine the locations where plant specimens were originally collected, a process known as georeferencing.

Only 7% of Europe's original area of peatlands remain. What's more: their climate boundaries are shifting. An international study led by Wageningen University as part of the WaterLANDS project analyzed the current distribution of peatlands and mapped their likelihood of remaining under future climate scenarios. They conclude that climate change will massively impact peatland functioning except for the most cool and wet parts of northern Scandinavia, Ireland, Scotland and in the mountains.

In a recent study, researcher Dr. Hui Zhou and his colleagues conducted a genetic analysis of the genomes of individuals associated with the ancient Hanging Coffin tradition in Southeast and Southern Asia. In addition, they sequenced the genomes of modern-day Bo people to determine their genetic relationship to the ancient Hanging Coffin practitioners.

This week, JPL scientists reported that glaciers speed up and slow down at predictable intervals. CERN's ATLAS experiment detected evidence for the decay of a Higgs boson into a muon-antimuon pair. And researchers discovered that exercise slows tumor growth by shifting glucose uptake to muscles.

The Amazon rainforest has yielded yet another new species, according to a recent study published in Zootaxa. Discovered in the mountains of the Serra do Divisor National Park (SDNP) in Brazil, this ground-dwelling bird has been identified by a research team as a new species of Tinamus, a genus of birds in the Tinamou family Tinamidae.

How much the planet warms with each ton of carbon dioxide remains one of the most important questions in climate science, but there is uncertainty in predicting it. This uncertainty hinders governments, businesses and communities from setting clear emission-reduction targets and preparing for the impacts of climate change.