U.S. children and adolescents see thousands of food marketing messages on digital media platforms each year, according to new research published in JAMA Pediatrics. And 92% of the marketed food and beverage products are considered unhealthy.

You don't always have to be in the forefront: in wild Assamese macaques (Macaca assamensis) simply observing the social interactions of others can provide valuable information about conspecifics. A two-year study by the German Primate Center (DPZ) – Leibniz Institute for Primate Research and the University of Göttingen now shows that this also pays off in the long term, specifically when it comes to partner choice. At the DPZ’s Phu Khieo field station in Thailand, the team recorded how long male Assamese macaques watched others interact with one another. Males who spent more time observing friendly encounters developed stronger social bonds with certain other males. These friendships, in turn, facilitated their rise in the group hierarchy and thereby increased their chances of mating. The study thus establishes, for the first time, a link between a fundamental social skill – observing and assessing others – and a tangible advantage in the animals’ lives: reproductive success. (Current Biology)

Colorful stones, fossils, and ancient flint tools discovered at prehistoric sites in Israel are at the heart of a new study. The researchers hypothesize that such objects helped people remember places and events from their lives and may have influenced the evolution of autobiographical memory and our sense of self.

Understanding the sources and quantities of carbon dioxide (CO₂) released to the atmosphere is central to assessing past emissions and identifying potential reductions. Fossil fuel combustion is the principal source of human-caused CO₂ emissions, alongside emissions from natural gas flaring and venting and the manufacture of cement. Consistent estimates across countries and years help distinguish changes in emissions from changes in data coverage or accounting methods. The CDIAC-FF dataset provides annual estimates reaching back to 1750 and records emissions by fuel type and, for recent decades, economic sector.

Authors Michael Erb and Gregg Marland from the Research Institute for Environment, Energy and Economics at Appalachian State University updated the CDIAC-FF dataset through 2022. The research describes a data product, using United Nations Statistics Division energy data for fuel production, trade and consumption from 1950 onward, with earlier estimates drawn from historical sources. The authors estimate emissions using both a reference approach based on apparent national fuel use and a sectoral approach based on consumption by economic sector. The inventory covers fossil fuel use, natural gas flaring and venting, and cement production, with national and global estimates kept within consistent accounting boundaries over time.

Companies face growing pressure to recognize and report climate-related risks, but more discussion of climate change does not necessarily mean that a company has reduced its emissions. Annual-report language can reflect attention, reporting requirements, compliance, or pressure from investors and regulators; it is not a direct measure of managers’ private beliefs or of action taken to cut carbon.

Authors Mohammad Haseeb, Miguel Angel Esquivias, and colleagues from Bahçeşehir Cyprus University, Chitkara University, Universitas Airlangga, Baku Engineering University, European University of Lefke, Al-Ahliyya Amman University, Termez University of Economics and Service, and Tashkent State University of Economics examined Chinese A-share listed firms from 2011 to 2024. They used climate- and carbon-related language in annual reports as an indicator of expressed climate-risk attention and analyzed its association with estimated firm-level CO₂e using firm and year fixed effects, additional fixed effects, and double machine learning.