A new genetic analysis of hundreds of cacao trees representing traditional Amazonian varieties grown on farms across Peru has revealed four previously unidentified, genetically distinct groups. Lambert Motilal with colleagues from the Cocoa Research Centre, The University of the West Indies, and Martha S. Calderon and Danilo E. Bustamante, with their colleagues from the Universidad Nacional Toribio Rodríguez de Mendoza, partnered to explore Peru's untapped cacao diversity. They present these findings in the open access journal PLOS One on July 6, 2026.

Throughout human ecological history, we have played a variety of roles within ecosystems around the world. In this so-called Anthropocene era, genomic innovations have given us new and powerful ways to influence the environment and the countless species with whom we share the planet. In two new publications, a team of researchers is calling upon their scientific colleagues and society as a whole to approach the use of these tools with ethical deliberation, in consultation with Indigenous Peoples and with the goal of holistically supporting ecosystems.

Both publications were collaborative efforts that carry forward the goals of the Center for Indigenous Science at the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology. The first, published in Ethnobiology Letters, focused on strategic and ethical considerations of species “de-extinction” using genomic technologies. The second, appearing in Conservation Biology, explored broader concerns related to nonhuman genomic data use in conservation.

A research team from the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN) has won a ₹20 lakh seed grant at MATRIx 2026 (Materials Research, Innovation & Entrepreneurship Expo), organised by the Indian Institute of Metals (IIM), the professional body for metallurgists, for developing an indigenous manufacturing technology that could help address industrial thermal management through a new generation of liquid cold plates. Their innovation, the ‘Advanced Chill Tech,’ rethinks how liquid cold plates are manufactured currently, creating an avenue for an innovation that is affordable, scalable, and sustainable. 

This review examines how indigenous water-harvesting systems have helped dryland communities manage scarce water for centuries. It shows that many are now declining due to groundwater pumping, migration, climate change, policy shifts, weak maintenance, urbanization and natural disasters. The authors argue that revitalizing these systems can improve water access, agriculture, livestock production, groundwater recharge and flood control, while preserving traditional knowledge. Combined with appropriate modern technologies and supportive policies, these systems can strengthen water resilience in arid and semi-arid regions.

A new international study has found that Indigenous oral traditions, some thousands of years old, hold valuable and often overlooked insights into volcanic eruptions – offering important lessons for modern disaster preparedness.