Cities are particularly vulnerable to heat stress because paved and densely built-up areas tend to store the heat. More frequent and intense heatwaves are a growing challenge for public health and urban infrastructure. A new deep-learning based model developed by the University of Freiburg and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) calculates for the first time how heat stress will develop on each square meter of a city in the future. The model supports cities in their efforts to adapt to the climate change and provides stimuli for climate-friendly urban planning. Published in Urban Climate.  (DOI: 10.1016/j.uclim.2025.102564)

Researchers have shown for the first time how hidden motions could control how granular materials such as soil and snow slip and slide, confirming a long-suspected hypothesis. The knowledge could help in understanding how landslides and avalanches work and even help the construction industry in the future.

The small mammals eat vegetation, create burrows and clear ground. How do those habits impact the spread of wildfires? 

A previously untapped source of data sheds new light on the climate of the early Earth: fossilized dinosaur teeth show that the atmosphere during the Mesozoic era, between 252 and 66 million years ago, contained far more carbon dioxide than it does today. An international research team at the Universities of Göttingen, Mainz and Bochum made this discovery by analysing oxygen isotopes in tooth enamel. They used a newly developed method that opens up opportunities for research into the Earth's climate history. In addition, the researchers found that total photosynthesis from plants around the world was twice as high as it is today. This probably contributed to the dynamic climate during the time of the dinosaurs. The results were published in the journal PNAS.

A study in National Science Review reports systematic observations of diazotroph abundance, community structure, and N₂ fixation rates in the western North Pacific. Using generalized additive models, the team characterized ecological niches of key cyanobacterial diazotrophs and quantified UCYN-B’s contribution to global N₂ fixation. The findings highlight UCYN-B’s pivotal role in marine N₂ fixation and provide new insights into ocean nitrogen cycle and productivity under climate change.