Featured
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Nature Index |
Achieving UN climate goals needs purposeful, persistent action from science
To contribute fully to the Sustainable Development Goals, global research must change gear.
- James Mitchell Crow
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Nature Index |
Three scientists on the front line of climate and conservation research
By bearing firsthand witness to how the climate crisis is affecting life and livelihoods, their fieldwork directly informs policy to protect vulnerable sites.
- Sandy Ong
- & Andy Tay
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Nature Index |
Where is the strongest research focus on the environment?
The alignment of high-quality research to Sustainable Development Goals on climate and conservation varies widely between the world’s regions.
- Simon Baker
- & Bec Crew
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Article
| Open AccessUnraveling the functional dark matter through global metagenomics
A computational approach to generate reference-free protein families from the sequence space in metagenomes reveals an enormously diverse functional space.
- Georgios A. Pavlopoulos
- , Fotis A. Baltoumas
- & Nikos C. Kyrpides
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Research Briefing |
Climate change and habitat loss push amphibians closer to extinction
Amphibians are the most vulnerable vertebrates worldwide, with 41% of species threatened with extinction. Habitat loss is the most common threat, and climate change is the main driver of increased extinction risk. Investment in amphibian conservation must be scaled up drastically and urgently to prevent further extinctions and reverse declines.
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News |
Flood-prone areas are hotspots for urban development
The settlement trend has continued, even as awareness of the risks of climate change has increased.
- Xiaoying You
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Editorial |
Seize the moment: researchers have a rare opportunity to make progress in protecting global biodiversity
A quiet revolution is taking place to incorporate the costs of biodiversity loss into economic planning. It needs researchers to be engaged.
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Correspondence |
Coffee’s legacy: almost 300 years of deforestation
- Aaron P. Davis
- & Fernando E. Vega
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Career Q&A |
‘I remind people all the time that science can wait’
Christopher Reddy helped to quantify the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, a stressful experience that changed his view of what it means to be a well-rounded scientist and person.
- Katherine Bourzac
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Research Briefing |
Wildfires are worsening air quality in the United States
Air-pollution data from pollution-monitoring stations and satellites show that wildfire smoke has influenced trends in levels of fine particulate matter in nearly three-quarters of the contiguous United States, undoing around 25% of air-quality improvements made between 2000 and 2016. Wildfires are likely to further erode air quality in the country as the climate warms.
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Article |
The contribution of wildfire to PM2.5 trends in the USA
Ground- and satellite-based air pollution data from 2000 to 2022 quantify the contribution of wildfire smoke to stagnation or reversal in PM2.5 concentration trends, showing that this contribution will grow as the climate continues to warm.
- Marshall Burke
- , Marissa L. Childs
- & Michael Wara
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Article
| Open AccessGlobal population exposure to landscape fire air pollution from 2000 to 2019
The global population is increasingly exposed to daily landscape fire-sourced air pollution but there are socioeconomic disparities, with this pollution four times higher in low-income countries than in high-income countries during the period 2000–2019.
- Rongbin Xu
- , Tingting Ye
- & Shanshan Li
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Article |
Global iron and steel plant CO2 emissions and carbon-neutrality pathways
A CO2 emissions inventory of 4,883 individual iron and steel plants along with their technical characteristics is described, allowing the identification and guidance of the most appropriate emissions mitigation and decarbonization pathways for each plant.
- Tianyang Lei
- , Daoping Wang
- & Dabo Guan
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Research Highlight |
Another reason to love remote working: it’s good for the planet
The more people do their jobs from home, the more they cut their greenhouse-gas emissions.
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Nature Podcast |
Our ancestors lost nearly 99% of their population, 900,000 years ago
A roundup of stories from the Nature Briefing, including how human ancestors came close to extinction, historic pollution in Antarctica, and the AI that predicts smell from a compound's structure.
- Benjamin Thompson
- , Dan Fox
- & Shamini Bundell
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Editorial |
Hypocrisy is threatening the future of the world’s oceans
A few powerful nations are undermining progress towards global ocean sustainability. Scientists can help hold them to account.
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News |
Antarctic research stations have polluted a pristine wilderness
Historical bad practices have left a legacy of pollution, but efforts are under way to chart a better future.
- Gemma Conroy
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News |
Maui fires could taint the island’s waters — scientists are investigating
Researchers in Hawaii are studying the deadly blazes’ effects on drinking-water quality and how they might affect local marine ecosystems.
- Jeff Tollefson
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Editorial |
The science is clear: sustainable development and climate action are inseparable
Sustainability cannot be achieved without climate action, and vice versa. What’s needed is a fight on both fronts.
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World View |
The causes of wildfires are clear. How they burn through communities is not
Events in Hawaii show how much we have to learn about wildfire spread — but simple research steps can help to build resilience.
- Hussam Mahmoud
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Editorial |
Tackle ever-growing consumption to safeguard sustainability gains
The world is consuming more efficiently, but still using more stuff. More-concerted efforts to change both consumer and producer behaviour are needed.
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News & Views |
Satellite images show the widespread impact of mining on tropical rivers
A careful analysis of satellite images has revealed marked changes in the suspended-sediment concentrations of many rivers around the world. The study links these changes directly to river mining activities in the affected areas.
- Bryony Walmsley
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News Feature |
‘We are killing this ecosystem’: the scientists tracking the Amazon’s fading health
Climate change, deforestation and other human threats are driving therainforest towards a tipping point of sustainability. Researchers are racingto chart the Amazon’s future.
- Daniel Grossman
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Article |
Tropical forests are approaching critical temperature thresholds
Ground truthed thermal data from a new NASA satellite combined with experimental warming data from three continents in an empirical model suggests that tropical forests are closer to a high temperature threshold than previously thought.
- Christopher E. Doughty
- , Jenna M. Keany
- & Joshua B. Fisher
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Article |
Increased Amazon carbon emissions mainly from decline in law enforcement
Comparison of the carbon balance during 2010–2018 with 2019 and 2020 shows that a decline in law enforcement may have led to an increase in Amazon forest carbon emissions.
- Luciana V. Gatti
- , Camilla L. Cunha
- & Guilherme B. M. Machado
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Article |
A global rise in alluvial mining increases sediment load in tropical rivers
The assembly and analysis of a 37-year satellite database covering almost 400 mining districts in 49 countries shows that a rise in river mineral mining has substantially increased riverine sediment load in tropical rivers worldwide.
- Evan N. Dethier
- , Miles Silman
- & David A. Lutz
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News & Views |
Clues to rain formation found in droplet images
X-ray and optical imaging have revealed the intricate process through which droplets freeze during the formation of rain. The results could help to explain how clouds are able to produce enough ice particles to make rain.
- Thomas Leisner
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Research Briefing |
A global picture of methane emissions from rivers and streams
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas. A global data analysis measuring the large quantities of methane released by rivers and streams shows that emissions depend on their connections to the surrounding landscape.
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Editorial |
Beyond greenwashing: how to make business and finance genuinely sustainable
Researchers have a big role in unlocking funds for sustainability and ensuring that companies’ pledges are credible.
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Where I Work |
Can oyster farming help save the planet?
Ecologist Elena Tamburini hopes to show that shellfish farming efficiently absorbs carbon.
- Linda Nordling
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Comment |
How to reduce Africa’s undue exposure to climate risks
Africa is disproportionately exposed to catastrophic climate, hydrological and meteorological risks. Well-funded weather monitoring, nowcasting and early-warning systems must become a priority.
- Asaf Tzachor
- , Catherine E. Richards
- & Amadou T. Gaye
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News Explainer |
Hawaii wildfires: did scientists expect Maui to burn?
Wildfires are not new to Hawaii but they are becoming increasingly devastating. More traditional land use and better data dissemination could help to prevent future tragedies.
- Emma Marris
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Nature Index |
What China’s leading position in natural sciences means for global research
Its rise to the top has been long forecast, but what next for Chinese science in the post-pandemic era?
- Chris Woolston
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Editorial |
GDP at 70: why genuinely sustainable development means settling a debate at the heart of economics
Researchers advocating reform of the world’s main measure of growth have an opportunity to participate in the process that sets the rules.
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Research Briefing |
A coupled land–sea approach to coral-reef conservation in a warming ocean
Local human-derived stressors combine with global ocean warming to threaten coral-reef persistence. Simultaneous reduction of human-derived stressors that originate on land, such as coastal run-off, and sea-based stressors, such as fishing pressure, resulted in greater coral-reef persistence before, during and after severe heat stress than did reduction of either alone.
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Editorial |
Clean energy can fuel the future — and make the world healthier
Research challenges the myth that clean energy acts as a brake on global economic development.
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News & Views |
Improved theory of ocean iron cycle resolves modelling issues
A revised conceptual model of the chemical and physical forms of iron in the ocean reconciles the mismatch between observations and simulations of the amount of dissolved iron in seawater — and might aid climate predictions.
- Brandy M. Toner
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Article |
Fennoscandian tree-ring anatomy shows a warmer modern than medieval climate
Annually resolved Fennoscandian tree-ring anatomy records show that the climate of the current industrial era is substantially warmer than that of the medieval period.
- Jesper Björklund
- , Kristina Seftigen
- & Georg von Arx
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Article
| Open AccessLong-term organic carbon preservation enhanced by iron and manganese
Catalysis of simple organic carbon molecules into complex macromolecules by Fe and Mn may play a fundamental role in organic carbon preservation, to a degree that could substantially affect the Earth’s carbon and oxygen cycles.
- Oliver W. Moore
- , Lisa Curti
- & Caroline L. Peacock
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News Feature |
Could the world go PFAS-free? Proposal to ban ‘forever chemicals’ fuels debate
A European agency is considering sweeping restrictions on fluorinated chemicals used in jet engines, electric cars, refrigeration systems, semiconductors and many consumer products.
- XiaoZhi Lim
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News & Views |
A call to reduce the carbon costs of forest harvest
Economic modelling of the global carbon cost of harvesting wood from forests shows a much higher annual cost than that estimated by other models, highlighting a major opportunity for reducing emissions by limiting wood harvests.
- William R. Moomaw
- & Beverly E. Law
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Comment |
Shade is an essential solution for hotter cities
One of the most effective ways to keep people cool is often neglected in urban planning. Cities must work to provide cover and reverse the ‘shade deserts’ common in low-income communities.
- V. Kelly Turner
- , Ariane Middel
- & Jennifer K. Vanos
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Article
| Open AccessAccelerating the energy transition towards photovoltaic and wind in China
To meet China’s goal of carbon neutrality by 2060, substantial investment in upgrading power systems needs to be made to optimize the deployment of new photovoltaic and wind power plants.
- Yijing Wang
- , Rong Wang
- & Renhe Zhang
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News & Views |
Sixty years since the report of global lead pollution
The 1963 discovery that even the vast oceans were highly contaminated with lead from car exhausts sparked debate and policy changes that benefited the health of millions — and revolutionized the practices of marine biogeochemistry.
- Jerome Nriagu
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Article
| Open AccessThe global wildland–urban interface
A global assessment shows that the wildland–urban interface occurs on all continents, showing its broad-scale patterns and providing a basis for future research on dynamics and socioeconomic and biophysical processes.
- Franz Schug
- , Avi Bar-Massada
- & Volker C. Radeloff
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Correspondence |
Monitor changes to ice-bound nuclear fallout in Antarctica
- Krystyna M. Saunders
- & Karina T. Meredith
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News |
Water pollution ‘timebomb’ threatens global health
Simulations predict a water-pollution crisis by the end of the century.
- Lilly Tozer