Engineers Design New Autonomous System to Monitor Arctic Ice Melt

Photo Credit: Bernd Hildebrandt

The rapid melting and thinning of the Arctic ice have sparked serious concerns in the scientific community. In addition, sea ice thickness also has decreased, which makes ice cover more vulnerable to warming air and ocean temperature.

Understanding the ecological role of sea ice in the Arctic is crucial, particularly because the extent of sea ice in the region has been decreasing at an unprecedented rate. What would happen to the Arctic marine ecosystem if the sea ice melted even faster? To answer these questions, a long-term monitoring and data collection system is necessary in the harsh Arctic environment.

However, direct observation is challenging as satellite sensors have a coarse spatial resolution and cannot detect the fine fractal structure of the ice. Deploying human-crewed ships to the area is also difficult due to extreme weather conditions and obstacles posed by floating broken ice. Moreover, traditional ocean observation methods offer limited temporal and spatial coverage, while drones and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are hindered by energy constraints that restrict their research potential.

To overcome these challenges, researchers from the College of Engineering and Computer Science at Florida Atlantic University have proposed a design of an alternative, autonomous observational method, which holds promise for improving the autonomy of marine vehicles, aiding in maritime missions, and gaining a deeper understanding of how melting Arctic sea ice affects marine ecosystems.

Women of Science: A Legacy of Achievement

Future generations to pursue their passions and break down barriers in the pursuit of knowledge.
Image Credit: Scientific Frontline stock image

Throughout history, women have made groundbreaking contributions to science, despite facing significant societal barriers and a lack of recognition. Their relentless pursuit of knowledge and innovation has shaped our understanding of the world and paved the way for future generations of scientists. This article celebrates the achievements of some of these remarkable women, highlighting their struggles and the impact of their work.

The women featured in this article, along with countless others throughout history, have made invaluable contributions to the advancement of science. Their achievements, often accomplished in the face of adversity and societal barriers, have shaped our understanding of the world and paved the way for future generations of scientists. These women demonstrate the power of perseverance, the importance of challenging established norms, and the profound impact that individual dedication can have on scientific progress. By recognizing and celebrating their legacies, we not only honor their contributions but also inspire future generations to pursue their passions and break down barriers in the pursuit of knowledge.

Native bee populations can bounce back after honey bees move out

A native bee sits on a purple flower on the left, while a honey bee sits on a yellow flower on the right.  Photo Credit: © Margarita López-Uribe

Managed honey bees have the potential to affect native bee populations when they are introduced to a new area, but a study led by researchers at Penn State suggests that, under certain conditions, the native bees can bounce back if the apiaries are moved away.

The research, published in the Journal of Insect Science, examined the effects of migratory beekeeping — the practice of moving honey bee colonies to a different location for part of the year — on native bee populations. 

The researchers found that when managed honey bees were moved into an area, the population of native bees decreased in abundance and diversity. However, in places where apiaries were kept for years and then removed, the native bee populations once again increased in both total numbers and species diversity.

Margarita López-Uribe, the Lorenzo L. Langstroth Early Career Professor of Entomology in the College of Agricultural Sciences and co-author of the paper, said the findings suggest that while migratory beekeeping can be a disturbance to native bees, it may also be possible for those populations to recover.

Air pollution clouds the mind and makes everyday tasks challenging

Photo Credit: Chris LeBoutillier

People’s ability to interpret emotions or focus on performing a task is reduced by short-term exposure to particulate matter (PM) air pollution, potentially making everyday activities, such as the weekly supermarket shop, more challenging, a new study reveals.

Scientists discovered that even brief exposure to high concentrations of PM may impair a person’s ability to focus on tasks, avoid distractions, and behave in a socially acceptable manner.

Researchers exposed study participants to either high levels of air pollution - using candle smoke - or clean air, testing cognitive abilities before and four hours after exposure. The tests measured working memory, selective attention, emotion recognition, psychomotor speed, and sustained attention.

Publishing their findings in Nature Communications, researchers from the Universities of Birmingham and Manchester reveal that selective attention and emotion recognition were negatively affected by air pollution – regardless of whether subjects breathed normally or only through their mouths.

Air pollution impacts an aging society

Age-related health impacts of PM2.5.
Annual average AVSL (age-adjusted value of statistical life) and variation of premature deaths attributable to PM2.5 among individuals in different age groups from 2001 to 2019 across Japan’s 47 prefectures.
Image Credit: ©2025 Long et al.
(CC-BY-ND)

Air pollution is a growing health issue worldwide, and its impacts are often underestimated in aging societies like Japan. A new study led by researchers from the University of Tokyo highlights how fine particulate pollution, or PM2.5, not only worsens health outcomes, but also creates significant socioeconomic challenges in regions with aging populations and limited medical resources. The researchers hope these findings motivate policymakers to tackle the interrelated issues behind this problem.

PM2.5 refers to microscopic particles of pollution small enough to penetrate deep into the lungs and bloodstream, leading to severe respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. PM2.5 are small enough to evade the body’s natural defenses in the nose and throat, making direct prevention difficult. This becomes especially problematic in elderly populations.

“As we age, our immune systems weaken and our bodies are less able to defend against pollutants. Even moderate exposure can exacerbate pre-existing conditions, leading to higher hospitalization rates and premature mortality,” said lead author Associate Professor Yin Long. “Our study provides new insights into impacts of PM2.5 in aging regions, with a particular focus on the mismatch between those impacts and regional medical resource distribution.”

Whale poop contains iron that may have helped fertilize past oceans

A blue whale photographed in September 2010.
Photo Credit: NOAA

The blue whale is the largest animal on the planet. It consumes enormous quantities of tiny, shrimp-like animals known as krill to support a body of up to 100 feet (30 meters) long. Blue whales and other baleen whales, which filter seawater through their mouths to feed on small marine life, once teemed in Earth’s oceans. Then over the past century they were hunted almost to extinction for their energy-dense blubber.

As whales were decimated, some thought the krill would proliferate in predator-free waters. But that’s not what happened. Krill populations dropped, too, and neither population has yet recovered.

A recent theory proposes that whales weren’t just predators in the ocean environment. Nutrients that whales excreted may have provided a key fertilizer to these marine ecosystems.

Research led by University of Washington oceanographers supports that theory. It finds that whale excrement contains significant amounts of iron, a vital element that is often scarce in ocean ecosystems, and nontoxic forms of copper, another essential nutrient that in some forms can harm life.

The open-access study, the first to look at the forms of these trace metals in what’s commonly known as whale poop, was published in January in Communications Earth & Environment.

Climate change is overhauling marine nutrient cycles

Adam Martiny (middle) participates in ocean shipboard sampling on board the ocean-going Global Ocean Ship-based Hydrographic Investigations Program.
Photo Credit: Celine Mouginot / UC Irvine

Computer models reveal how human-driven climate change will dramatically overhaul critical nutrient cycles in the ocean. In the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, University of California, Irvine researchers report evidence that marine nutrient cycles – essential for sustaining ocean ecosystems – are changing in unexpected ways as the planet continues to warm.

“Model studies have suggested that when the ocean warms it gets more stratified, which can drain certain parts of the surface ocean of nutrients,” said Adam Martiny, professor of Earth system science and ecology & evolutionary biology and one of the study’s lead authors. Although models suggest a connection between ocean temperatures and surface ocean nutrients, this is the first study to confirm climate change’s impacts on nutrient cycles.

The team, led by graduate student Skylar Gerace, analyzed 50 years of nutrient data from the ocean collected as part of the Global Ocean Ship-based Hydrographic Investigations Program (GO-SHIP). They discovered that over the last half century, there’s been a major decline in phosphorus – a nutrient that plays a key role in the health of marine food webs – in southern hemisphere oceans.

Scientists Discovered the Oldest Junipers in the Arctic

Dendrochronologists determined the age of the trees by cross-dating. The photo shows a sample of juniper.
Photo Credit: Rashit Khantemirov

A group of dendrochronologists from Italy, Denmark, Germany and Russia has discovered the longest-lived woody plant in the Arctic. It was the common juniper (Juniperus communis). The oldest juniper bush, which was found in the north of Finland, is 1647 years old. In the Polar Urals, the oldest juniper bush lived half as long, yet it is the longest-living organism in the Urals. Scientists told about the long-lived junipers in an article in the journal Ecology.

"Many species in the genus Juniperus are long-lived woody plants. But there was a lack of reliable data on the most common species, the common juniper. There are legends about junipers that are two thousand years old, but there was no reliable evidence. Counting the number of annual rings, rather than estimating the age by trunk thickness, shrub size and other indirect signs, can be considered reliable evidence," explains Rashit Khantemirov, co-author of the paper, a member of the Laboratory of Natural Science Methods in Humanities at Ural Federal University and the Laboratory of Dendrochronology and IER&J of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Effects of Declining Diversity Documented in the World of Microbes

Phytoplankton, seen here inside a flask in the Jackrel Lab, are proving to be a valuable system for studying host-associated microbiomes
Photo Credit: Jackrel Lab / UCSD

Across the tree of life, human activities are accelerating declines in biological species diversity, from deserts to oceans to forests. But what about the microscopic world? Scientists in UC San Diego’s School of Biological Sciences recently investigated how declining biodiversity in tiny ecological systems unseen to the naked eye can carry significant consequences for the health of organisms and ecosystems.

Postdoctoral Scholar Jonathan Dickey and recent master’s graduate Nikki Mercer from Assistant Professor Sara Jackrel’s laboratory studied the implications of declining diversity within microbiomes — communities of microorganisms, such as bacteria, which can form tight associations with their hosts, such as plants and animals. Recent studies in microbial ecology have found that microbiomes can play a key role in regulating host health, leading researchers to believe that as our world changes it is imperative to understand the implications of biodiversity loss within the host microbiome.

Improved treatment timing reduces honey bee losses to Varroa mites

Varroa destructor mite.
Photo Credit: Fera Science

Honey bee mortality can be significantly reduced by ensuring that treatments for the parasitic Varroa mite occur within specific timeframes, a new study reveals.

The mites—belonging to the species Varroa destructor—feed on the larvae of bees and can destroy colonies if not treated at key time points to reduce or remove infestations.

But researchers have found that more than a third of beekeepers surveyed in England and Wales deviate from recommended treatment guidelines, often missing these application windows.

They further observed that beekeepers who mistimed Varroa mite treatments experienced exacerbated colony losses, with this effect occurring across a wide range of medications.

“The main finding here was that a major cause of honeybee mortality could, in theory, be quite easy to reduce,” said Dr Thomas O’Shea-Wheller, lead author of the study, from the University of Exeter.

Carbon capture from constructed wetlands declines as they age

Protecting wetland ecosystems is essential as they provide critical environmental benefits to our planet.
Photo Credit: Herbert Aust

Constructed wetlands do a good job in their early years of capturing carbon in the environment that contributes to climate change – but that ability does diminish with time as the wetlands mature, a new study suggests.

Researchers examined soil core samples taken from two constructed freshwater wetlands and compared them to data from previous studies of the same wetlands over 29 years to determine how well human-made wetlands sequester — or capture and store — carbon as they age. 

Findings showed both wetlands captured similar amounts of carbon over the decades, but neither has shown a net gain or loss since year 15.

But their value in sequestering carbon is remarkable, the researchers said.

“Wetlands are generally thought of as the kidneys of our world because they can clean water naturally and sequester carbon well,” said Jay Martin, a distinguished professor in food, agricultural and biological engineering at The Ohio State University and a co-author of the study. “As we try to combat climate change, they also provide habitat for many species that are important to us.”

New study could help tackle hidden hunger in Malawi

Fields in Blantyre, Malawi
Photo Credit: Dr Charlotte Hall

Growing fruit trees on farms in rural Malawi could directly improve people’s diets, according to new study by a University of Stirling researcher.

 Around 20% of the population of the African country are undernourished and far more suffer from hidden hunger, meaning they consume enough calories but lack essential micronutrients, such as iron, zinc and vitamin A.

Around 80% of Malawians are involved in smallholder agriculture and a large proportion of the food they consume comes from their own production.

However, conventional agri-food policies continue to promote the increased production of staple cereal crops, and very rarely promote the benefits of fruit trees.

Cold Waves in the Rainforest: What They Mean for Wild Animals

Typical animals in the lowland rainforest of the Amazon: On the left, the palm-sized dung beetle Coprophanaeus lancifer, which appears to be sensitive to low temperatures. On the right, the Brazilian wandering spider Phoneutria boliviensis, which also grows to the size of a palm. The spider can often be seen at night, but during the cold wave it was nowhere to be seen.
Photo Credit: Kim Lea Holzmann / Universität Würzburg

It's not always cozy and warm in the Amazon rainforest: cold waves can cause temperatures to drop drastically. Würzburg researchers have investigated how animals react to this.

Anyone conducting research in the tropical rainforest does not necessarily have a winter jacket and warm socks with them. After all, this region of the world is considered to have a consistently pleasant temperature. But this is not the case, as Kim Lea Holzmann and Pedro Alonso-Alonso have found out for themselves. Both are doing their doctoral theses at the University of Würzburg's Biocentre and both spent almost the whole of 2023 in the Amazon region in southern Peru to study biodiversity.

It happened on 13 June: a cold spell caused temperatures to plummet from an average of 23.9 to 10.5 degrees Celsius. The cool period lasted almost a week. ‘A year before, we had already experienced a day when it was only 18 degrees,’ says Kim Lea Holzmann. But such severe and prolonged cold seemed strange to them. The local field assistants, on the other hand, were not really surprised. They explained to the Würzburg team that cold spells lasting several days are not that rare in the Amazon.

How rapid temperature changes influence biodiversity

Image Credit: Scientific Frontline stock image

Biodiversity has changed faster in places where temperatures have also changed quickly. This is the result of a new study published in the scientific journal Nature. Researchers from the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig and Friedrich Schiller University Jena were also involved in the work.

The study focused on how the composition of species in an ecosystem - rather than the number of species - has shifted over time. The researchers found that faster temperature changes sped up shifts in species composition, meaning species identities changed more rapidly in those areas.

The results also suggest that behavioral adaptation and changing species interactions are not enough to preserve species composition in the face of higher rates of temperature fluctuations. 

"It's like shuffling a deck of cards, and temperature change now is shuffling that deck faster and faster," said lead author Dr Malin Pinsky, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz. Pinsky was hosted at iDiv as a sabbatical researcher in 2020. "The worry is that eventually you start to lose some cards," he said.

Conservation paradox: Invasive species are often threatened in their native range

The wild rabbit is endangered in its native Europe. In other parts of the world, such as Australia, this species has been introduced and has large populations.
Photo Credit: ©Alexis Lours

Non-native animals are a threat to biodiversity, yet many are themselves threatened with extinction in their areas of origin

Non-native species introduced by humans are among the main causes of global species decline – they were partly responsible for 60 percent of the species that have become extinct worldwide in recent decades. In Central Europe, non-native mammals include species such as the Norway rat, the mouflon and the mink. Now a study led by biologists from the University of Vienna and La Sapienza University in Rome shows that some of these species introduced by humans are themselves endangered in their native range. The study has been published in the current issue of the journal Conservation Letters.

The globalization of the earth is contributing to the introduction of many animal and plant species into new parts of the world. Invasive species can displace native species through competition or transmit new diseases. At the same time, however, some of these non-native species are threatened with extinction in their native ranges. This creates a conservation paradox – because the question now is, should non-native occurrences of species that are endangered in their native range be protected or controlled? However, it was previously unknown how many non-native mammal species this paradox actually applies to. In the new study, the scientists have now quantified this in order to come one step closer to an answer to this paradox.

Hidden ‘highways’ connect Brazil’s rainforests

An Inga tree (I. affinis) growing alongside a river in the Cerrado savanna region of central Brazil.
Photo Credit RT Pennington

Forests flanking Brazil’s rivers act as “highways” that have allowed tree species to move between the Amazon and Atlantic rainforests for millions of years, new research shows.

The two rainforests are separated by hundreds of miles of dry forest and savanna, where most rainforest trees cannot survive.

Until now, it was thought that tree species only passed between the Amazon and the Atlantic forests during periods long ago when the climate was wetter and much of South America was covered in rainforest.

But the new study – led by the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) and the University of Exeter – reveals a different story.

“Rather than tree species being exchanged during specific wetter periods in the past, we found that species have dispersed consistently over time,” said Dr James Nicholls, of RBGE.

“This probably happens slowly, by generations of trees growing along the ‘highways’ provided by rivers that run through Brazil’s dry ecosystems.”

‘Last Ice Area’ in the Arctic could disappear much sooner than previously thought

Photo Credit: Laura Paredis

The Arctic’s “Last Ice Area” (LIA) — a vital habitat for ice-dependent species — might disappear within a decade after the central Arctic Ocean becomes ice-free in summer, which is expected to occur sometime around mid-century, a new study by McGill University researchers using a high-resolution model has found.  

Earlier, lower-resolution models had suggested the LIA might last for several more decades after that point. The stability of this region is crucial for preserving the Arctic ecology, as it provides a suitable habitat for ice-dependent and ice-obligate species, including polar bears, belugas, bowhead whales, walruses, ringed seals, bearded seals and ivory gulls.  

“These findings underscore the urgency of reducing warming to ensure stable projections for the LIA and for critical Arctic habitats,” said Madeleine Fol, lead author of the paper, which was her Master of Science thesis.  

Scientists Have Given a Second Life to Paper Production Waste

Lignosulphonate is a safe waste from pulp and paper industries.
Photo Credit: Rodion Narudinov

Ural Federal University specialists have developed a new method of obtaining growth stimulators for agriculture plants. Waste from pulp and paper industries, lignosulphonate, became the basis for the production of biologically active stimulants of prolonged action for plant crops. Due to the structural features, the obtained samples can be used not only to improve crop growth, but also to remove some toxic substances from wastewater. The results were published in the Journal of Molecular Liquids. 

The Sulfite method is one of the currently used methods for extracting cellulose (the basis of any paper) from wood. In addition to the target product, large-capacity waste is formed in the form of salts lignosulphonic acids or lignosulphonates. These compounds are not toxic, they are biocompatible, water-soluble and relatively cheap.

Lignosulphonate-based nanoparticles have a porous structure and high mass content of carbon atoms that can be absorbed by the soil. Due to this fact, researchers consider them as “sponges” for dyes that can enter wastewater, and even as sorbents for oil. However, there is currently no efficient and cheap way to produce nanomaterials from this class of waste in industry. 

Polygamy is (not) for the birds

Rafael S. Marcondes, a faculty fellow in ecology and evolutionary biology at Rice
Photo Credit: Alex Becker/Rice University

Researchers at Rice University have uncovered new insights into the evolution of bird behavior, revealing why certain mating systems persist while others disappear over time. In a recent paper published in the journal Evolution, Rafael S. Marcondes and Nicolette Douvas reveal that lekking — a mating system where males display for females without forming lasting bonds — is an evolutionarily stable strategy. In contrast, resource-defense polygamy, where one sex — usually but not always the male — guards territories to attract mates, is highly unstable and often reverts to monogamy.

“This research not only examines how mating behaviors influence species survival but also sheds light on larger evolutionary questions,” said Marcondes, the corresponding author and a faculty fellow in ecology and evolutionary biology at Rice. “By studying birds, we’re uncovering principles that may resonate across other species too.”

The study analyzed data from more than 60% of the world’s bird species — approximately 6,620 species — making it one of the most comprehensive analyses of its kind.

Chornobyl Dogs’ Genetic Differences Not Due to Mutation

Photo Credit: Norman Kleiman

Radiation-induced mutation is unlikely to have induced genetic differences between dog populations in Chornobyl City and the nearby Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), according to a new study in PLOS ONE from North Carolina State University and Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. The study has implications for understanding the effects of environmental contamination on populations over time.

“We have been working with two dog populations that, while separated by just 16 kilometers, or about 10 miles, are genetically distinct,” says Matthew Breen, Oscar J. Fletcher Distinguished Professor of Comparative Oncology Genetics at NC State. “We are trying to determine if low-level exposure over many years to environmental toxins such as radiation, lead, etcetera, could explain some of those differences.” Breen is the corresponding author of the study.

Previously, the team had analyzed genetic variants distributed across the genome and identified 391 outlier regions in the dogs that differed between the two populations. Some of these regions contained genes associated specifically with repair of DNA damage. In this new study, the researchers conducted a deeper dive into the genomes of the dogs to detect evidence of mutations that may have accumulated over time.