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The EU wants to ensure greater sustainability in agricultural trade with the Global South -- with the aim of minimizing the environmental and climate-damaging effects of importing crops such as soya, palm oil, coffee, and cocoa. However, this aspiration is often not fulfilled in practice. Researchers have developed a new approach to identifying options for the sustainable trade of agricultural products. This approach requires a refined analysis that shows how relevant the individual products are for the EU and the country of origin and what leverage effect they have. The researchers found that over 80% of the land deforested for EU production is used to grow soya, palm oil, cocoa, and coffee.

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Researchers are targeting the next generation of soft actuators and robots with an elastomer-based ink for 3D printing objects with locally changing mechanical properties, eliminating the need for cumbersome mechanical joints.

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Wind power is a source of energy that is both affordable and renewable. However, decision-makers have been reluctant to invest in wind energy due to a perception that wind farms require a lot of land compared to electric power plants driven by fossil fuels. Research was based on the assessment of the land-use of close to 320 wind farms in the U.S. paints a very different picture.

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In the long history of recommendations for nutritional intake, current research is trending toward the concept of 'food as medicine' -- a philosophy in which food and nutrition are positioned within interventions to support health and wellness.

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The rate at which human cells age is influenced by multiple interconnected factors. New research examined how restricting calories influences telomere length and biological aging.

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Silicon-based electronics are approaching their physical limitations and new materials are needed to keep up with current technological demands. Two-dimensional (2D) materials have a rich array of properties, including superconductivity and magnetism, and are promising candidates for use in electronic systems, such as transistors. However, precisely controlling the properties of these materials is extraordinarily difficult.

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Soft skin coverings and touch sensors have emerged as a promising feature for robots that are both safer and more intuitive for human interaction, but they are expensive and difficult to make. A recent study demonstrates that soft skin pads doubling as sensors made from thermoplastic urethane can be efficiently manufactured using 3D printers.

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It's not a single pesticide or virus stressing honey bees, and affecting their health, but exposure to a complex web of multiple interacting stressors encountered while at work pollinating crops, found new research. Scientists have been unable to explain increasing colony mortality, even after decades of research examining the role of specific pesticides, parasitic mites, viruses or genetics. This led the research team to wonder if previous studies were missing something by focusing on one stressor at a time.

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The growing need for antibiotic-free products has challenged producers to decrease or completely stop using antimicrobials as feed supplements in the diet of broiler chickens to improve feed efficiency, growth rate and intestinal health. A research team conducted a study of natural feed additives that are promising alternatives to substitute for antimicrobial growth promoters.

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Researchers investigated global particulate matter, revealing health risks from trace elements.

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New research has highlighted an area in Arabia that once acted as a key point for cultural exchanges and trades amongst ancient people -- and it all took place in vast caves and lava tubes that have remained largely untapped reservoirs of archaeological abundance in Arabia. Through meticulous excavation and analysis, the international team uncovered a wealth of evidence at Umm Jirsan, spanning from the Neolithic to the Chalcolithic/Bronze Age periods (~10,000-3,500 years ago).

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A detailed reconstruction of climate during the most recent ice age, when a large swath of North America was covered in ice, provides information on the relationship between CO2 and global temperature. Results show that while most future warming estimates remain unchanged, the absolute worst-case scenario is unlikely.

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Researchers have found that over the last 120 years, the porosity -- or small-scale holes -- in mussel shells along the East Coast of the United States has increased, potentially due to warming waters. The study analyzed modern mussel shells in comparison to specimens in the Museum's historic collection.

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The fossilized remains of a second gigantic jawbone measuring more than two meters long has been found on a beach in Somerset, UK.

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Researchers have discovered toxic protein particles, shaped like umbrellas, that soil bacteria known as Streptomyces secrete to squelch competitors in their crowded microbial communities, especially others of their own species. What makes these newly detected antibacterial toxins different is that, unlike the Streptomyces' small-molecule antibiotics, umbrella toxins are large complexes composed of multiple proteins. They are also far more specific in the bacteria they target. They tend to go after bacteria that form branching filaments, an usual growth pattern among bacteria. The scientists are intrigued by the potential clinical clinical applications of this discovery, because they suspect the pathogens that cause tuberculosis and diphtheria might be sensitive to umbrella toxins.

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Even if CO2 emissions were to be drastically cut down starting today, the world economy is already committed to an income reduction of 19% until 2050 due to climate change, a new study finds. These damages are six times larger than the mitigation costs needed to limit global warming to two degrees. Based on empirical data from more than 1,600 regions worldwide over the past 40 years, scientists assessed future impacts of changing climatic conditions on economic growth and their persistence.

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Mountain chickadees have among the best spatial memory in the animal kingdom. New research identifies the genes at play and offers insight into how a shifting climate may impact the evolution of this unique skill.

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The warming climate shifts the dynamics of tundra environments and makes them release trapped carbon, according to a new study published in Nature. These changes could transform tundras from carbon sinks into a carbon source, exacerbating the effects of climate change.

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Trying to hit a target size before dividing seems like the best strategy for maintaining a precise cell size, but bacteria don't do that. Now we know why.

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Astronomers have discovered methane emission on a brown dwarf, an unexpected finding for such a cold and isolated world. The findings suggest that this brown dwarf might generate aurorae similar to those seen on our own planet as well as on Jupiter and Saturn.