The Antarctic is a harsh and unforgiving climate for many, though there is no shortage of important biological activity happening in the frigid temperatures. Antarctic marine viruses, while proven to be important players in the ecosystem, are not completely understood. Here, researchers aim to fill in the gap between what is known and what is unknown, with a primary focus on RNA viruses, the influence of climate change and what the implications might mean for the rest of the world.

An international team of scientists led by the Doñana Biological Station (EBD-CSIC) has described a new species of fossilized insect from the Australian Jurassic period, estimated to be around 151 million years old. It represents the oldest known member in the Southern Hemisphere of the Chironomidae family — non-biting midges that inhabit freshwater environments. The fossil shows a unique evolutionary adaptation: a mechanism, that likely allowing it to firmly anchor to surrounding rocks. Until now, this mechanism was thought to be exclusive to marine species.

Lead poisoning was once thought to largely be a problem of the past, as the globe gradually weaned itself off leaded gasoline in road vehicles in 2021. But has global lead pollution truly been resolved?A new study led by Dr Chen Mengli, a Research Fellow from the Tropical Marine Science Institute at the National University of Singapore (NUS), in collaboration with researchers from Imperial College London, University of Warwick, University of Oxford, Jadavpur University, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and University of Bristol, showed the answer is not yet: lead exposure remains a pressing public health and economic challenge in the 21st century.

A team of scientists from Southern University of Science and Technology has published a paper highlighting the importance of human exploration in the three deeps – deep space, deep sea, and deep Earth. Their paper is published in the journal Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Research on September 11, 2025.

The lyrics of traditional Okinawan songs were found to record past climate and geological history of the Ryukyu Islands (21st-century Okinawa Prefecture, Japan), according to a new study by a University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Earth scientist and fellow Ryukyuan music practitioners.

Microscopic organisms that regulate Earth’s climate and sustain ocean ecosystems take centre stage in a new awareness campaign. Five European research organisations propose 10 October as International Coccolithophore Day, highlighting the calcite-plated plankton that drive the ocean's carbon cycle, shape the climate, and support food webs. Their plates sink to archive climate history, while European projects track how warming, acidification, and ecology affect carbon storage.

Understanding people’s attitudes to interactions with sharks could help halt the global decline of shark numbers, according to new research carried out on Ascension Island.  

Climate-driven oxygen loss in the Black Sea thousands of years ago triggered the expansion of microorganisms capable of producing the potent neurotoxin methylmercury. That is shown in a new study published in Nature Water, led by Eric Capo at Umeå University, which suggests that similar processes could occur in today’s warming oceans.

A Tulane University-led study published in Nature Geoscience reveals that melting North American ice sheets were the primary driver of dramatic sea-level rise at the end of the last ice age, overturning long-held assumptions that Antarctica played the larger role. Between 8,000 and 9,000 years ago, retreating North American ice sheets caused more than 30 feet (10 meters) of global sea-level rise, reshaping scientists’ understanding of Earth’s climate history.

Research has revealed that about 90 percent of marine aquarium fish sold by online retailers in the United States are sourced directly from wild populations. This reliance on wild capture threatens the sustainability of coral reef ecosystems and puts endangered and threatened species at greater risk of extinction.