Reviews & Analysis

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  • Human changes to freshwater flows affect marine ecosystems, but such impacts are rarely considered in development plans involving dam building and water abstraction from rivers. Now research shows how approaches that integrate flow management and marine fisheries can improve both freshwater and coastal ecosystem sustainability.

    • Thiago B. A. Couto
    • Suresh A. Sethi
    News & Views
  • Quantifications of the impacts of sea-level rise in small island states are urgently needed. Focusing on flooding from sea-level rise, a study now estimates the impacts in terms of cost, land loss and population exposure across all small islands worldwide.

    • Rosanne Martyr-Koller
    • Carl-Friedrich Schleussner
    News & Views
  • Humans and mangroves adapt to conditions arising from subsidence and relative sea-level rise. Quantifying adaptation responses provides an innovative and cost-effective means of characterizing spatial variation in subsidence and relative sea-level rise and delivers critical information for coastal planning.

    • Kerrylee Rogers
    News & Views
  • Heatwaves are more frequent and lead to considerable suffering, especially among the poorest and most disadvantaged people. This Perspective discusses the concept of systemic cooling poverty with the aim of informing policy and practice to support vulnerable groups.

    • Antonella Mazzone
    • Enrica De Cian
    • Radhika Khosla
    Perspective
  • Siloed exploitation, management and planning of the oceans have resulted in escalating damage to ocean biodiversity and conflicts among users. A study now provides a set of principles to ensure participation and inclusion of all rights-holders and stakeholders towards transformative ocean governance to enable sustainability.

    • David O. Obura
    News & Views
  • Contemporary plastics upcycling methods rely on the use of hydrogen and solvents, which make the process not environmentally friendly. Now a solvent- and hydrogen-free strategy can convert high-density polyethylene into separable hydrocarbons with high efficiency.

    • Chuan Xia
    • Buxing Han
    News & Views
  • Rangelands provide critical ecosystem and societal services and are central to livestock husbandry across the United States. How these considerations are balanced, and possibly expanded on, will shape the future of rangeland ecosystems and communities moving into the future.

    • David D. Briske
    • Steven R. Archer
    • Kimberly R. Stackhouse-Lawson
    Perspective
  • Bisphenol A (BPA) is an industrial chemical produced in large quantities for use primarily in the manufacturing of plastics. However, its adverse effects on human health are driving the development of safer and more sustainable alternatives. Now, a synthetic route enables such an alternative, starting from renewable lignin biomass.

    • Bert M. Weckhuysen
    News & Views
  • Air quality improvement has benefitted large portions of forests in the USA over the past 20 years. However, although terrestrial ecosystems are now better protected, sensitive species still experience harmful impacts, which could lead to biodiversity loss through shifts in forest composition.

    Research Briefing
  • A data-driven framework has been developed to assess the carbon emissions of mobile networks in China, revealing that the launch of 5G networks leads to a decline in carbon efficiency. A deep reinforcement learning algorithm, DeepEnergy, is proposed to increase the carbon efficiency of mobile networks and reduce carbon emissions.

    Research Briefing
  • Addressing the global water crisis requires technologies suited to harvest alternative sources of freshwater. Now, a bifunctional fog harvester offers a promising avenue for concurrent water collection and decontamination.

    • Shouwei Gao
    • Zuankai Wang
    News & Views
  • Despite being one of the most managed resources on earth, water availability and access can be the subject of illegal trade. These markets and their governance need research as water becomes scarcer.

    • Sarah Ann Wheeler
    News & Views
  • Aromatic compounds have broad applications in our daily life, but their production currently relies heavily on fossil resources. Now, a strategy enables synthesis of benzenoid aromatics from bioderived feedstock, paving the way to the more sustainable production of aromatics.

    • Shuizhong Wang
    • Guoyong Song
    News & Views
  • A scalable fabrication method using a green solvent, γ-valerolactone, is developed to prepare high-quality formamidinium lead iodide perovskite films. Interactions between the solvent and precursor materials stabilize the perovskite ink, which has a long shelf life and wide processing window. Passivation of the films with tributylmethylammonium enables the realization of a high-efficiency perovskite solar module.

    Research Briefing
  • Closed-loop recycling of plastics is a key technology for a sustainable future. Researchers have now created biorenewable plastics that outperform fossil-based analogues and meet criteria for circularity.

    • Fabian Eisenreich
    • Željko Tomović
    News & Views
  • World Heritage Sites are under threat of severe impacts due to climate change. This Perspective discusses three facets of management—integrating pluralistic values, adopting holistic methods and ensuring Indigenous leadership—that can assist the conservation of sites.

    • Brenda B. Lin
    • Jess Melbourne-Thomas
    • Rosemary Hill
    Perspective
  • Lead-halide perovskites could revolutionize the provision of low-cost solar energy but are limited by their neurotoxic lead content, which can readily dissolve in water. A supramolecular complex has now been developed to suppress lead release.

    • Robert L. Z. Hoye
    News & Views
  • The Rotterdam Convention helps ensure that international trade of harmful chemicals is transparent, and it gives parties the right to refuse imports of specific substances. Now a study shows that illegal trade of chemicals listed under the Rotterdam Convention is ongoing alongside legal trade.

    • Henrik Selin
    News & Views
  • Changes in driving behaviour could offer solutions to reducing transport emissions. Classification of driver aggressiveness based on vehicle trajectory data is used to estimate transport emissions associated with differences in car-following behaviour in China from 2013 to 2050. This analysis reveals that a trend towards more aggressive driving could increase transport emissions.

    Research Briefing