A study published in National Science Review shows that climate change is reorganizing China’s cropland nitrogen pollution. Although the humid south currently exports more nitrogen, rising rainfall may increase cropland nitrogen export from the arid and semi-arid north by 18.8%–53.2% by 2050. The findings call for source control in the north and stronger aquatic nitrogen removal in the south.

In a paper published in SCIENCE CHINA Earth Sciences, a research team led by Professor Chengbang An reconstructed 4,000 years of dietary evolution in the central-eastern Eurasian Steppe from the Bronze Age to the Tang Dynasty, revealing synchronized dietary shifts across multiple regions: increased millet and meat consumption from the Early Iron Age to the Han Dynasty, followed by a return to wheat- and barley-based C₃ diets during the Jin-Tang periods. The study further demonstrates that these transitions were jointly driven by climate change, intensified interregional interaction among pastoralist groups, and innovations in grain processing technology. This work provides a critical reference for understanding human-environment interactions in the Eurasian Steppe.

A new study presents high-resolution nitrogen isotope records from the inner-ramp Penglaiba section in the Tarim Basin, documenting a two-stage deoxygenation–reoxygenation redox history of shallow marine environments during the Terreneuvian Epoch. Integrated with regional datasets, the findings demonstrate a persistent depth-dependent redox gradient across the basin, providing cross-basin validation for the hypothesis that stepwise shallow-ocean oxygenation modulated the multi-phase trajectory of the Cambrian Explosion.