Scientists at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts have unveiled a machine learning technique that pinpoints optimal locations for tree planting, offering a powerful tool for climate mitigation.

Paleotemperature records indicate that Earth’s climate transitioned from greenhouse to icehouse conditions around 350 million years ago. This shift marked the onset of the Late Paleozoic Ice Age—one of the most extreme climatic events in Earth history—and had major consequences for global biodiversity. A research team is working to determine why this transition occurred, what it reveals about contemporary global change, and how it can inform projections of future climate.