A new rapid attribution study by Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) finds that human-induced climate change made the June 2026 heatwave in Belgium 3.9°C hotter and more than doubled the number of heat-related deaths. Of the estimated 1,181 deaths statistically linked to the extreme temperatures recorded between 17 and 28 June 2026, 665 - or 56% - would not have occurred without anthropogenic climate change. This is the first time heat-related deaths during a specific Belgian heatwave have been attributed to human-induced climate change.

Two IPC PAS studies show how lignin-derived molecules can be transformed into compounds relevant to pharmaceutical research - at room temperature and atmospheric pressure and, in one case, without a transition-metal catalyst.

Sustainable packaging is only the beginning. What a medicine is made from - and how its ingredients are produced - matters just as much. Yet the synthesis of compounds for pharmaceutical research can still depend on fossil feedstocks, high temperatures, strong oxidants and metals that raise costs and complicate purification. Two recently published studies from Prof. Colmenares' group at IPC PAS demonstrate that cleaner chemistry can begin at the level of a single chemical bond [1][2].

At the heart of both studies is lignin, one of nature’s most abundant polymers and a major by-product of wood processing. Instead of simply burning it, chemists can use its aromatic structures as building blocks for much more valuable compounds. The teams combined this renewable feedstock with light and ultrasound. Light activates the catalyst, while inaudible sound waves produce cavitation: microscopic bubbles form and collapse violently. Energy is generated locally, where the chemistry happens, without exposing the whole system to extreme heat.

SAN ANTONIO — October 13, 2026 — Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has added a 12-foot-diameter, 10-foot-long thermal vacuum (TVAC) chamber to simulate the vacuum and extreme temperatures of space to ensure spacecraft can survive that harsh environment. The chamber, which weighs roughly 40,000 pounds, is the newest addition to SwRI’s 74,000-square-foot Space Systems Integration Facility.

East Asian summers prior to the late 1990s were primarily affected by tropical oceans and their accompanying phenomenon, El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). However, in recent years this has appeared to hold less sway on East Asian (EA) summers, and primary influences on the prevalence of heatwaves in EA summers have shifted to the presence of newly formed ice (NFI) in the Arctic and the East Asian jet stream (EAJS). This is thanks to an anomalous anticyclone phenomenon, propelled by a reversal of circulation from westerly to easterly, bringing in colder winds from the Arctic Oscillation and cooling down the EA summer climate.