Researchers at Eötvös Loránd University are generating realistic drone footage of landscapes from even hundreds of years ago with the help of artificial intelligence. With their method, presented in the journal Land, the authors aim to introduce a new tool that helps to better understand the original functioning of a landscape and can support strategic decisions about current land use — for example, implementing water retention solutions in often drought-stricken areas such as the Hungarian Great Plain.

The remains of landscapes thought to have formed when ancient rivers flowed across East Antarctica have been discovered – and could help predictions of future loss from the ice sheet.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) is pleased to announce the launch of WavyOcean 2.0, an immersive digital twin platform of regional earth system. This upgraded platform deeply integrates digital technologies with innovative research in Earth system, creating the first "dynamic digital mirror" for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area (GBA) and China's coastal regions. With these enhancement, WavyOcean 2.0 offers the latest data on ocean currents, marine ecology, atmospheric conditions, and the distribution of rivers and pollutants in terrestrial watersheds, along with comprehensive data analysis tools and immersive visualization interactive functions. 

The azuki bean beetle is a common pest of stored beans and peas. Researchers at Kyushu University have found that when beetles infected with Wolbachia bacteria are exposed to elevated temperature and carbon dioxide they tend to produce larger eggs to enhance the survivability of their offspring. Interestingly, these larger eggs gave rise only to male larvae.

Researchers have conducted an integrated geochronological and geochemical study of mafic rocks in the Wutai Complex, North China Craton, revealing key insights into the Neoarchean–Paleoproterozoic tectonic evolution of the Trans-North China Orogen. The ~2.54 Ga Nb-enriched gabbros originated from a depleted mantle wedge metasomatized by slab-derived melts, while the ~2.08 Ga amphibolites formed from partial melting of a spinel-garnet lherzolite source influenced by both slab-derived fluids and sediment melts. These results indicate a tectonic transition from Late Archean subduction to Paleoproterozoic lithospheric extension, providing compelling evidence that plate tectonics likely initiated at least partly during the latest Neoarchean. (Reference: Asim et al., 2025, Cont. Life Evol., https://doi.org/10.55092/cle20250001)

Severe weather events, such as heavy rainfall, are becoming increasingly commonare on the rise worldwide. Reliable assessments of these events can save lives and protect property. Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have presented developed a new method that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to convert low-resolution global weather data into high-resolution precipitation maps. The method is fast, efficient, and independent of location. Their findings have been published in npj Climate and Atmospheric Science: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-025-01103-y