A new synthesis report, titled "Ecological Characterisation of Peatlands and Coastal Lagoons in Europe," has been published to support the assessment, monitoring and restoration of European wetlands under EU environmental legislation. The report was prepared in response to a policy request submitted by the Directorate-General for Environment (DG ENV) to the European Commission's Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity (KCBD) and delivered by the Science Service for Biodiversity (SSBD), which is currently under development by the BioAgora project. [...]

The mystery of why some amphibian populations recover following outbreaks of a deadly fungus has been solved in a new study led by University College London (UCL), ZSL and Imperial College London. [...]

Scientists have unveiled a new fabrication technique for the ultra-clean manufacturing of 2D heterostructures—materials just a few atoms thick—that could be used in quantum technology and electronics. Experts from Southampton and Singapore say the method could be used to develop next-generation devices that accelerate research in quantum computing. [...]

Lithuania was famously the final pagan state in Europe. While the rest of the continent converted to Christianity, Lithuania remained officially pagan until Catholicism was adopted in AD 1387. Despite this, the extent to which Lithuania's population remained pagan or converted to Christianity was unclear, as was the extent of migration from the wider Christian world. [...]

Man-made substances surround us everywhere in our daily lives. According to the current understanding of the "Planetary Boundaries" framework, the carrying capacity for so-called novel entities—which include chemicals, microplastics, and nanomaterials—is considered to have been exceeded, and a target value of "zero" has been set for their release into the environment. [...]

It has been well-established that the developmental roots of racial prejudices emerge in early childhood, but scientists have a less clear understanding of how various influences affect these attitudes. [...]

New research by lunar scientists from Brown University provides critical new insights into the thickness of the moon's regolith, the layer of loose dust and rock that drapes the entire lunar surface. [...]

Methane (CH4) is a potent greenhouse gas whose concentration in the atmosphere has risen sharply in recent decades. Wetlands are the largest natural source of methane to the atmosphere, but large uncertainties remain about how much methane comes from wetlands and how these emissions may increase in response to a changing climate. Tropical wetlands, including those in the Amazon, produce substantial amounts of methane, but accurately estimating their emission sources and magnitudes remains difficult. One reason is the lack of measurement data, especially in the tropics, where extensive cloud cover interferes with satellite observations and ground-based measurements are sparse. [...]

Scientists in China have developed a smart coating that could make it easier to remove tritium (a radioactive form of hydrogen) from nuclear power plant wastewater. [...]

Within every muscle of every living species with a backbone, a protein called myosin tugs on a partner protein to generate a muscle contraction. This function, discovered in mammals a century ago, has been presumed by scientists to operate the same way among birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish. [...]

Cells are crowded, dynamic places where thousands of molecules interact in tight quarters. Until now, scientists lacked a reliable way to see many of these molecular interactions as they happen. Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago have now developed a new imaging method that allows scientists to see previously hidden enzyme activities in small regions across the whole cell. The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, open new possibilities for understanding how cells process information. [...]

How do black holes at the centers of galaxies form and grow over time? To answer this question, scientists need to detect and study supermassive black holes at great distances that existed much earlier in the universe's history. New research suggests NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which is on track to launch Aug. 30, 2026, will be able to detect these distant, ancient black holes that existed up to 11 billion years ago. [...]

The U.S. Sentencing Guidelines play a pivotal role in some of the federal government's most consequential drug policy decisions. Two recurring themes have been the balancing—or lack of balancing—between drug weight and the defendant's role in the drug distribution enterprise, and the basis for determining which relative weights of different drugs should be treated similarly. In a new article, researchers suggest approaches to these questions that offer constructive steps without jettisoning the overall approach. [...]

New research involving Queen Mary University of London reveals that amphibians can change what they eat to cope with rising temperatures, but that this natural survival strategy has limits. [...]

The age-old question asks, "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" While philosophers and scientists alike have pondered this question for centuries, the more relevant question for today's recreation and wildlife managers is: Does it matter what makes the sound? [...]