Kyoto, Japan -- Stifling heat and sticky air often make summertime in the city uncomfortable. Due to the heat island effect, urban areas are significantly warmer than nearby rural areas, even at night. This, combined with more frequent extreme weather events caused by climate change, often render the city an unpleasant environment in the summer.

Urbanization and climate change modify the thermal environment of urban areas, with an expectation that urban disasters from extremely hot weather and heavy rainfall will only become more severe. Mitigating potential damage involves reducing the intensity of the heat island effect and adapting to climate change.

Motivated by this problem, a team of researchers at Kyoto University set out to investigate how the reduction in urban heat release could help mitigate and control the rapid development of thunderstorms and local rainfall.

Early online research in journals of the American Meteorological Society discusses the increased risk of urban heat stress for children and pets due to radiant heat from sidewalks, the effects of solar eclipse totality on wind and insects, an extension of the climate "warming stripes", thunderstorms and gamma rays, and more.

Originally from South America, the charismatic tegu made its way to the United States via the pet trade of the 1990s. But a recent discovery shows these reptiles are no strangers to the region — tegus were here millions of years before their modern relatives arrived in pet carriers.

Pink salmon, Purple Asian clams, marine invertebrates that form spaghetti-like colonies and a nematode worm that causes extensive deaths of trees are among the new entries in experts’ watchlist of invasive non-native species that could threaten Great Britain in the next 10 years.

The latest version of the watchlist, which again includes known problem species such as the yellow-legged (Asian) hornet, raccoon and twoleaf watermilfoil, has been produced by experts led by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) and commissioned by Defra.

A research team led by Associate Professor Koji Iwano at Okayama University of Science has been awarded the 2025 MEXT Award for Science and Technology for groundbreaking work in improving typhoon forecasting and climate change prediction. By constructing Japan’s only large-scale indoor typhoon simulation tank, the team succeeded in precisely measuring momentum, heat, and CO₂ exchanges at the air-sea interface under extreme wind conditions. Their findings reveal how these transfers shift dramatically beyond wind speeds of 30 m/s, offering critical insights for refining global climate models and developing future typhoon mitigation strategies.

This book was published in March 2025 to report the outcomes of Japan’s nationwide project, S-18: Comprehensive Research on the Projection of Climate Change Impacts and the Evaluation of Adaptation, which was conducted over a five-year period from 2020 to early 2025.  1) Introduces research methodologies and results that bridging research and climate change policy development;  2) Integrates research framework using common scenarios for climate and socio-economic changes;  3) Reveals interaction among global warming level, social changes and impacts, and effectiveness of countermeasures;  4) This book is open access, which means that you have free and unlimited access;

A study in Science in One Health models the spread of the invasive freshwater snail Physella acuta (P. acuta) in China. Led by researchers from Sun Yat-sen University, it uses advanced modeling with data from GBIF and WorldClim, via MaxEnt and other tools. Since its discovery in Heilongjiang in 1993, P. acuta has rapidly spread, threatening ecosystems by altering food webs and degrading water quality, and posing public health risks. Four environmental factors, including precipitation and temperature, significantly influence its distribution, with the model showing high accuracy (AUC = 0.918). Currently, suitable habitats cover 10.22% of China. Climate change may reduce these habitats, especially in the south, while shifting the distribution slightly north, endangering new regions. These findings are vital for conservation and public health, offering a basis for enhanced monitoring and control strategies to safeguard ecosystems, economies, and public well-being from this invasive species.