Scientists have solved a 66 million year old mystery about why the earth cooled after the age of the dinosaurs.

Biochar, a charcoal like material made from plant and organic waste, is often promoted as a climate and soil “wonder solution,” but a new commentary warns that the reality is far more complex and that smarter deployment is urgently needed. The authors argue that biochar will only move from the margins to the mainstream if treated as part of a larger system that links technology, economics, and public policy.

A new study from UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography finds that marine microbes had mostly positive interactions with one another during a six-year study. These positive interactions became even more common during times of environmental stress. 

A new study led by former Syracuse University doctoral student Ruliang He and co-authored by his advisor, Earth and environmental sciences Professor Zunli Lu, reveals that Earth's ancient tropical oceans were fundamentally different from today's. The research, recently published in Nature Geoscience, shows marine oxygen levels were higher near the equator than at the middle latitudes during the Proterozoic Eon, which began 2.5 billion years ago and ended 539 million years ago. 

The microbiome of infants is shaped by social relationships from an early age and not only by family sources. This was confirmed by a study conducted by researchers of the Department of Cellular, Computational and Integrative Biology of the University of Trento (Cibio) and published in Nature. In particular, the Computational Metagenomics research group investigated microbiome transmission in contexts and age groups never before explored. To do this, they worked in collaboration with the Childhood Services and Education Office of the Municipality of Trento and three daycare centres in the city. 

A new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, its Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that an enzyme involved in protein translation is essential for circulating immune cells, called monocytes, to mature into tissue-resident macrophages, a specialized population of immune cells that maintain organ health by clearing dead cells and debris. Without this enzyme, monocytes enter tissues but fail to fully differentiate, leading to impaired tissue maintenance and persistent immune cell infiltration that causes inflammation instead of repair.

By studying genetic data from nearly 140,000 IVF embryos, scientists have with unprecedented detail revealed why fewer than half of human conceptions survive to birth. The research uncovered the strongest evidence yet for how common genetic differences leave some individuals more vulnerable to pregnancy loss.

The vast dataset allowed the Johns Hopkins University-led team to demonstrate robust connections between specific variations in a mother’s DNA and their risk of miscarriage.

Neural tissue normally depends on oxygen to function, yet bird retinas operate permanently without it. In a new Nature study, researchers show that large parts of the bird retina exist under chronic oxygen deprivation and rely on anaerobic glycolysis for energy. The study also reveals a new function of the pecten oculi, a structure known since the 17th century, which transports glucose into the retina and removes metabolic waste, resolving a long-standing biological mystery.