Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Climate change drives expansion of Antarctic ice-free habitat

Nature volume 547, pages 49–54 (2017)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Antarctic terrestrial biodiversity occurs almost exclusively in ice-free areas that cover less than 1% of the continent. Climate change will alter the extent and configuration of ice-free areas, yet the distribution and severity of these effects remain unclear. Here we quantify the impact of twenty-first century climate change on ice-free areas under two Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) climate forcing scenarios using temperature-index melt modelling. Under the strongest forcing scenario, ice-free areas could expand by over 17,000 km2 by the end of the century, close to a 25% increase. Most of this expansion will occur in the Antarctic Peninsula, where a threefold increase in ice-free area could drastically change the availability and connectivity of biodiversity habitat. Isolated ice-free areas will coalesce, and while the effects on biodiversity are uncertain, we hypothesize that they could eventually lead to increasing regional-scale biotic homogenization, the extinction of less-competitive species and the spread of invasive species.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Projected 21st century climate change in Antarctica between 2014 and 2098 under RCP8.5.
Figure 2: New Antarctic ice-free area (km2) predicted to emerge between 2014 and 2098 under climate forcing scenario RCP8.5.
Figure 3: Current and future ice-free area (km2) in each Antarctic Conservation Biogeographic Region.
Figure 4: Projected cumulative changes in ice-free area size and distribution for North Antarctic Peninsula (ACBR 3a).

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Urban, M. C. Climate change. Accelerating extinction risk from climate change. Science 348, 571–573 (2015)

    ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Vaughan, D. et al. Recent rapid regional climate warming on the Antarctic Peninsula. Clim. Change 60, 243–274 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Mulvaney, R. et al. Recent Antarctic Peninsula warming relative to Holocene climate and ice-shelf history. Nature 489, 141–144 (2012)

    ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Turner, J. et al. Absence of 21st century warming on Antarctic Peninsula consistent with natural variability. Nature 535, 411–415 (2016)

    ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Hawkins, E. & Sutton, R. Time of emergence of climate signals. Geophys. Res. Lett. 39, L01702 (2012)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Bracegirdle, T. J., Connolley, W. M. & Turner, J. Antarctic climate change over the twenty first century. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos. 113, DO3103 (2008)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Robinson, S. A. & Erickson, D. J. III . Not just about sunburn—the ozone hole’s profound effect on climate has significant implications for Southern Hemisphere ecosystems. Glob. Change Biol. 21, 515–527 (2015)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Rignot, E., Velicogna, I., van den Broeke, M. R., Monaghan, A. & Lenaerts, J. T. M. Acceleration of the contribution of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets to sea level rise. Geophys. Res. Lett. 38, L05503 (2011)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. Ligtenberg, S. R. M., Berg, W. J., Broeke, M. R., Rae, J. G. L. & Meijgaard, E. Future surface mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet and its influence on sea level change, simulated by a regional atmospheric climate model. Clim. Dyn. 41, 867–884 (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  10. DeConto, R. M. & Pollard, D. Contribution of Antarctica to past and future sea-level rise. Nature 531, 591–597 (2016)

    ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Sutherland, W. J. et al. A horizon scan of global conservation issues for 2015. Trends Ecol. Evol. 30, 17–24 (2015)

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Convey, P. Terrestrial biodiversity in Antarctica – recent advances and future challenges. Polar Sci. 4, 135–147 (2010)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. Convey, P. in Encyclopedia of Biodiversity 2nd edn (ed. Levin, S. A. ) 179–188 (Academic Press, 2013)

  14. Convey, P. et al. The spatial structure of Antarctic biodiversity. Ecol. Monogr. 84, 203–244 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Burton-Johnson, A., Black, M., Fretwell, P. T. & Kaluza-Gilbert, J. An automated methodology for differentiating rock from snow, clouds and sea in Antarctica from Landsat 8 imagery: a new rock outcrop map and area estimation for the entire Antarctic continent. Cryosphere 10, 1665–1677 (2016)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  16. Terauds, A. & Lee, J. R. Antarctic biogeography revisited: updating the Antarctic Conservation Biogeographic Regions. Divers. Distrib. 22, 836–840 (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Chown, S. L. & Convey, P. Spatial and temporal variability across life’s hierarchies in the terrestrial Antarctic. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci. 362, 2307–2331 (2007)

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  18. Chown, S. L. et al. The changing form of Antarctic biodiversity. Nature 522, 431–438 (2015)

    ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Convey, P. & Stevens, M. I. Ecology. Antarctic biodiversity. Science 317, 1877–1878 (2007)

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Collins, G. E. & Hogg, I. D. Temperature-related activity of Gomphiocephalus hodgsoni (Collembola) mitochondrial DNA (COI) haplotypes in Taylor Valley, Antarctica. Polar Biol. 39, 379–389 (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Convey, P. et al. Exploring biological constraints on the glacial history of Antarctica. Quat. Sci. Rev. 28, 3035–3048 (2009)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  22. Stevens, M. I ., Greenslade, P ., Hogg, I. D. & Sunnucks, P. Proceedings of the SMBE Tri-National Young Investigators’ Workshop 2005. Southern hemisphere springtails: could any have survived glaciation of Antarctica? Mol. Biol. Evol. 23, 874–882 (2006)

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Velasco-Castrillón, A., Gibson, J. E. & Stevens, M. A review of current Antarctic limno-terrestrial microfauna. Polar Biol. 37, 1517–1531 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Guidetti, R., Rebecchi, L., Cesari, M. & McInnes, S. J. Mopsechiniscus franciscae, a new species of a rare genus of Tardigrada from continental Antarctica. Polar Biol. 37, 1221–1233 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  25. De Smet, W. H. & Gibson, J. A. E. Rhinoglena kutikovae n.sp. (Rotifera: Monogononta: Epiphanidae) from the Bunger Hills, East Antarctica: a probable relict species that survived Quaternary glaciations on the continent. Polar Biol. 31, 595–603 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Terauds, A. et al. Conservation biogeography of the Antarctic. Divers. Distrib. 18, 726–741 (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Hughes, K., Pertierra, L., Molina-Montenegro, M. & Convey, P. Biological invasions in terrestrial Antarctica: what is the current status and can we respond? Biodivers. Conserv. 24, 1031–1055 (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  28. Hogg, I. D. et al. Biotic interactions in Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems: are they a factor? Soil Biol. Biochem. 38, 3035–3040 (2006)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Thaker, M. et al. Minimizing predation risk in a landscape of multiple predators: effects on the spatial distribution of African ungulates. Ecology 92, 398–407 (2011)

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Bagchi, R. et al. Pathogens and insect herbivores drive rainforest plant diversity and composition. Nature 506, 85–88 (2014)

    ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Hock, R. Temperature index melt modelling in mountain areas. J. Hydrol. (Amst.) 282, 104–115 (2003)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  32. Braithwaite, R. J. & Raper, S. C. B. Glaciological conditions in seven contrasting regions estimated with the degree-day model. Ann. Glaciol. 46, 297–302 (2007)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  33. Meinshausen, M. et al. The RCP greenhouse gas concentrations and their extensions from 1765 to 2300. Clim. Change 109, 213–241 (2011)

    ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. IPCC. Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (eds Stocker, T.F . et al.) (IPCC, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2013)

  35. Hock, R., de Woul, M., Radic´, V. & Dyurgerov, M. Mountain glaciers and ice caps around Antarctica make a large sea-level rise contribution. Geophys. Res. Lett. 36, L07501 (2009)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  36. Peters, G. P. et al. The challenge to keep global warming below 2°C. Nat. Clim. Change 3, 4–6 (2013)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  37. Heller, N. E. & Zavaleta, E. S. Biodiversity management in the face of climate change: a review of 22 years of recommendations. Biol. Conserv. 142, 14–32 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  38. Rubidge, E. M. et al. Climate-induced range contraction drives genetic erosion in an alpine mammal. Nat. Clim. Change 2, 285–288 (2012)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  39. Olech, M. & Chwedorzewska, K. J. Short note: the first appearance and establishment of an alien vascular plant in natural habitats on the forefield of a retreating glacier in Antarctica. Antarct. Sci. 23, 153–154 (2011)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  40. Chown, S. L. et al. Continent-wide risk assessment for the establishment of nonindigenous species in Antarctica. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 109, 4938–4943 (2012)

    ADS  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  41. Golledge, N. R., Everest, J. D., Bradwell, T. & Johnson, J. S. Lichenometry on Adelaide Island, Antarctic Peninsula: size-frequency studies, growth rates and snowpatches. Geogr. Ann. 92, 111–124 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  42. Molina-Montenegro, M. A. et al. Occurrence of the non-native annual bluegrass on the Antarctic mainland and its negative effects on native plants. Conserv. Biol. 26, 717–723 (2012)

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  43. McGeoch, M. A., Shaw, J. D., Terauds, A., Lee, J. E. & Chown, S. L. Monitoring biological invasion across the broader Antarctic: a baseline and indicator framework. Glob. Environ. Change 32, 108–125 (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  44. Forcada, J. & Trathan, P. N. Penguin responses to climate change in the Southern Ocean. Glob. Change Biol. 15, 1618–1630 (2009)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  45. Frenot, Y. et al. Biological invasions in the Antarctic: extent, impacts and implications. Biol. Rev. Camb. Philos. Soc. 80, 45–72 (2005)

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  46. van Kleunen, M., Weber, E. & Fischer, M. A meta-analysis of trait differences between invasive and non-invasive plant species. Ecol. Lett. 13, 235–245 (2010)

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  47. Cook, A. J. & Vaughan, D. G. Overview of areal changes of the ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula over the past 50 years. Cryosphere 4, 77–98 (2010)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  48. Kennicutt, M. C. I. et al. A roadmap for Antarctic and Southern Ocean science for the next two decades and beyond. Antarct. Sci. 27, 3–18 (2015)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  49. Robinson, S. A., Wasley, J. & Tobin, A. K. Living on the edge – plants and global change in continental and maritime Antarctica. Glob. Change Biol. 9, 1681–1717 (2003)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  50. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. (UNFCCC, 2015)

  51. Fretwell, P. et al. Bedmap2: improved ice bed, surface and thickness datasets for Antarctica. Cryosphere 7, 375–393 (2013)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  52. Hock, R. Glacier melt: a review of processes and their modelling. Prog. Phys. Geogr. 29, 362–391 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  53. Ebnet, A. F., Fountain, A. G., Nylen, T. H., McKnight, D. M. & Jaros, C. L. A temperature-index model of stream flow at below-freezing temperatures in Taylor Valley, Antarctica. Ann. Glaciol. 40, 76–82 (2005)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  54. Hock, R. A distributed temperature-index ice- and snowmelt model including potential direct solar radiation. J. Glaciol. 45, 101–111 (1999)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  55. Hawes, T. C. Antarctica’s geological arks of life. J. Biogeogr. 42, 207–208 (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  56. Powers, J. G. et al. Real-time mesoscale modeling over Antarctica: The Antarctic Mesoscale Prediction System (AMPS). Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 84, 1533–1545 (2003)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  57. Dee, D. P. et al. The ERA-Interim reanalysis: configuration and performance of the data assimilation system. Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 137, 553–597 (2011)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  58. Taylor, K. E., Stouffer, R. J. & Meehl, G. A. An Overview of CMIP5 and the Experiment Design. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 93, 485–498 (2012)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  59. Van Lipzig, N. P. M., King, J. C., Lachlan-Cope, T. A. & Van den Broeke, M. R. Precipitation, sublimation and snow drift in the Antarctic Peninsula region from a regional atmospheric model. J. Geophys. Res. 109, D24106 (2004)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  60. Hosking, J. S., Orr, A., Bracegirdle, T. J. & Turner, J. Future circulation changes off West Antarctica: sensitivity of the Amundsen Sea Low to projected anthropogenic forcing. Geophys. Res. Lett. 43, 367–376 (2016)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  61. Bracegirdle, T. J. & Stephenson, D. B. Higher precision estimates of regional polar warming by ensemble regression of climate model projections. Clim. Dyn. 39, 2805–2821 (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  62. Kumar, L., Skidmore, A. K. & Knowles, E. Modelling topographic variation in solar radiation in a GIS environment. Int. J. Geogr. Inf. Sci. 11, 475–497 (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  63. Barrand, N. E. et al. Trends in Antarctic Peninsula surface melting conditions from observations and regional climate modeling. J. Geophys. Res. F: Earth Surf. 118, 315–330 (2013)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  64. Rott, H., Rack, W., Skvarca, P. & De Angelis, H. Northern Larsen Ice Shelf, Antarctica: further retreat after collapse. Ann. Glaciol. 34, 277–282 (2002)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  65. Pritchard, H. D. et al. Antarctic ice-sheet loss driven by basal melting of ice shelves. Nature 484, 502–505 (2012)

    ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  66. Shaw, J. D., Terauds, A., Riddle, M. J., Possingham, H. P. & Chown, S. L. Antarctica’s protected areas are inadequate, unrepresentative, and at risk. PLoS Biol. 12, e1001888 (2014)

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  67. Fraser, C. I., Terauds, A., Smellie, J., Convey, P. & Chown, S. L. Geothermal activity helps life survive glacial cycles. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 111, 5634–5639 (2014)

    ADS  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  68. R Core Team. R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. http://www.R-project.org (2016)

Download references

Acknowledgements

This project was supported by the Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment – Equity Trustees Charitable Foundation, the Australian Antarctic Science Program (projects 4296 and 4297) and the Ecological Society of Australia. I.C. was supported by a CSIRO Julius Career award, and R.A.F. by an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship. The contribution of T.J.B. was funded as part of the Polar Science for Planet Earth programme of the British Antarctic Survey with additional support from the SCAR (Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research) AntClim21 (Antarctic Climate in the 21st Century) SRP (Scientific Research Programme). We thank J. Rhodes, S. Robinson, A. Fraser, M. Stafford Smith and A. Richardson for discussions and valuable feedback on this project. We acknowledge the World Climate Research Programme’s Working Group on Coupled Modelling, which is responsible for CMIP, and we thank the climate modelling groups for producing and making available their model output (listed in Supplementary Table 5 of this paper). For CMIP the US Department of Energy’s Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison provides coordinating support and led development of software infrastructure in partnership with the Global Organization for Earth System Science Portals. We thank the National Centre for Atmospheric Research, the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research and the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center who are responsible for AMPS and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts who are responsible for the ERA-interim reanalysis data. The Antarctic coastline spatial layer used in the figures was downloaded from the Antarctic Digital Database (ADD Version 7; http://www.add.scar.org).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, 4072, Queensland, Australia

    Jasmine R. Lee, Richard A. Fuller & Justine D. Shaw

  2. CSIRO, Dutton Park, 4102, Queensland, Australia

    Jasmine R. Lee & Iadine Chadès

  3. Australian Antarctic Division, Department of the Environment and Energy, 203 Channel Highway, Kingston, 7050, Tasmania, Australia

    Ben Raymond & Aleks Terauds

  4. Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 80, Hobart, 7001, Tasmania, Australia

    Ben Raymond

  5. Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 129, Hobart, 7000, Tasmania, Australia

    Ben Raymond

  6. British Antarctic Survey, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK

    Thomas J. Bracegirdle

  7. ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, 4072, Queensland, Australia

    Iadine Chadès & Justine D. Shaw

Authors
  1. Jasmine R. Lee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ben Raymond
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Thomas J. Bracegirdle
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Iadine Chadès
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Richard A. Fuller
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Justine D. Shaw
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Aleks Terauds
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

J.R.L. and A.T. conceived the idea. T.J.B. and B.R. generated the climate data. J.R.L. designed and undertook the melt modelling, analysed the data and led the writing with contributions from all authors.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jasmine R. Lee.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Additional information

Reviewer Information Nature thanks N. Golledge, B. van Vuuren and the other anonymous reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Publisher's note: Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Extended data figures and tables

Extended Data Figure 1 Projected 21st century climate change in Antarctica between 2014 and 2098 under RCP4.5.

a, Change in degree days. b, Change in precipitation rate (mm per year). c, Projected melt (m) using mean melt coefficients. RCP climate forcing scenarios were derived from the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (AR5), see Methods. Maps have been generated from original data and the Antarctic coastline file downloaded from the Antarctic Digital Database (ADD Version 7; http://www.add.scar.org).

Extended Data Figure 2 New Antarctic ice-free area (km2) predicted to emerge between 2014 and 2098 under climate forcing scenario RCP4.5.

Mean melt coefficients used to determine the melt rate. Grid cell resolution is 50 km in the continental map and 10 km in the Antarctic Peninsula inset. Maps have been generated from original data and the Antarctic coastline file downloaded from the Antarctic Digital Database (ADD Version 7; http://www.add.scar.org).

Extended Data Figure 3 Current and future ice-free area (km2) in each Antarctic Conservation Biogeographic Region.

Estimates of future ice-free area are provided for three different climate change scenarios (RCP2.6, RCP4.5, RCP8.5), using full-ensemble ER mean models. Bars represent total area using the mean ice-melt coefficients, while error bars represent the lower and upper bounds, respectively (total projected ice-free area using the lowest and highest ice melt coefficients; see Methods).

Extended Data Figure 4 Ice-free area metrics for Antarctic Conservation Biogeographic Region 3a (North Antarctic Peninsula).

Metrics provided under current climate conditions (C) and two different RCP scenarios (4.5, 8.5). a, Mean area of ice-free patches (km2). b, Total ice-free area (km2). c, Number of ice-free patches. d, Mean distance to nearest neighbour (NN; metres). Mid-line on box represents the mean ice melt coefficient, while bottom of box represents lower bound, top of box represents upper bound, and error bars represent standard error of the mean (n = 12,638 ice-free areas, see ACBR 3a in Supplementary Tables 1 and 2).

Extended Data Figure 5

Simple overview of the methods used to model changes in distribution and size of Antarctic ice-free areas at the end of the 21st century.

Extended Data Figure 6 Annual mean surface air temperature (at 2 m) anomalies.

a–c, 2014 (a), 2015 (b) and 2014–2015 (c). The anomalies are relative to the period 1979 through 2015. The source of the data is the ECMWF ERA interim re-analysis (ref. 57).

Extended Data Table 1 Lower, mean and upper bounds of new ice-free area (km2) projected under RCP climate forcing scenarios for Antarctica by the year 2098
Full size table
Extended Data Table 2 Current (C) and future (8.5) values of Antarctic ice-free area metrics under climate forcing scenario RCP8.5
Full size table
Extended Data Table 3 Current (C) and future (4.5) values of Antarctic ice-free area metrics under climate forcing scenario RCP4.5
Full size table
Extended Data Table 4 Coefficients used in melt calculations and the method by which they were calculated
Full size table

Supplementary information

Supplementary Data

This file contains Supplementary Tables 1-4 (Ice-free area metric ANOVA tables), Supplementary Table 5 (List of CMIP5 models used in this study), Supplementary Tables 7 and 8 (Melt factor and radiation coefficient values obtained from the literature), and Supplementary Table 9 (Description of ice-free area metrics). (PDF 208 kb)

Supplementary Table 6

This table contains degree day factor (DDF) values obtained from the literature. (XLSX 16 kb)

PowerPoint slides

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Lee, J., Raymond, B., Bracegirdle, T. et al. Climate change drives expansion of Antarctic ice-free habitat. Nature 547, 49–54 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature22996

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature22996

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing