Groundwater is the earth’s largest freshwater resource and is vital for irrigation and global food production. In dry periods farmers pump groundwater to water crops, this is already happening at an unsustainable level in many places — exceeding the rate at which rain and rivers can refill the groundwater stores. This study seeks to identify where groundwater pumping is affecting stream flows and estimates where and when environmentally critical stream flows — required to maintain healthy ecosystems — can no longer be sustained.

In Sweden, 63% of areas designated as Special Protection Areas (SPAs) for endangered birds are impacted by major roads or train lines, according to a new study. The research showed that 126 000 hectares (ha), or 4.2% of the SPAs, fall within 1 km of a road or train line, leading to a predicted 1% loss in bird abundance. The problem is greater in the south of the country, where 25.8% of land designated as SPA falls within 1 km of a road or rail line, representing an estimated 4 to 7% reduction in birds’ abundance within SPAs.

A survey of over 600 private boats docked in marinas throughout the Mediterranean showed that 71% are carrying non-indigenous species. In certain cases, non-indigenous species can become ‘invasive’ and have enormous and long-lasting impacts on ecosystems. The findings suggest that a common monitoring strategy may be necessary to prevent further disruptions to natural ecosystems.

An early-warning system developed by researchers could help forest managers in Europe predict which trees are at greatest risk of bark- beetle infestation. The study looked at the probability of bark-beetle outbreaks on two important conifer-tree species in Slovenia: the Norway spruce (Picea abies) and silver fir (Abies alba). It found that high temperatures, and extreme weather linked to climate change — including droughts and ice storms — weakened trees, making them more vulnerable to attack by bark beetles.

Current knowledge on the availability of mineral resources is explored in a recent study, which focuses on phosphorus as a key example. Static measures of availability, such as the consumption-to-production ratio, are useful as early warning signals, the researchers suggest, but more dynamic indicators that consider technological development and population change are needed to better inform policy.

The amount of land and ocean that a country uses in order to produce food and other commodities, or its land or ocean ‘footprint’, increases by over a third for each doubling of income, new research shows. Thus, as nations become richer, and lifestyles become more affluent, pressure on natural resources increases.

Fish farming in the Mediterranean has increasingly shifted from producing fish such as grey mullet, which are herbivores near the bottom of the food chain, to species such as sea bass, which are predators. This ‘farming up’ the food chain requires wild fish to be caught to provide feed. A return to farming fish lower in the food chain would use marine resources more efficiently, a new study says.

A new study provides recommendations to reduce the environmental impact of personal hygiene and cleaning products on the environment. Researchers undertook life-cycle assessments of products including detergents, soaps and toilet cleaners, and compared their environmental footprints looking at different types of environmental damage.

Individuals can assess how their behaviour is affecting nitrogen pollution with a newly developed nitrogen footprint calculator, which was developed by a team from the University of Virginia (U.S.) and the Energy Research Centre (ECN, the Netherlands). For many people in wealthy countries, reducing protein consumption to the recommended levels and reducing the amount of red meat and energy they consume would significantly lower their nitrogen footprint.

Environmentally responsible attitudes and behaviour do not necessarily translate into real benefits for the environment, according to the results of a new study. The study shows that people who think they are environmentally aware – and even those who, in some respects, seem to behave in an environmentally friendly way – actually have just as large an impact on the environment as other consumers.

In a recent experiment in Norway, electrical appliance stores increased their sales of energy-efficient tumble driers when consumers were made aware of their cheaper lifetime operating costs by shop staff and a new product labelling system.

A bug is making it so users are unable to enable HDR video streaming after upgrading to Windows 10 1903 or later if they previously disabled the setting. [...]

Microsoft Edge is now giving users the ability to hide those pesky browser notification dialog boxes that are commonly used by web sites to push their content, or even spam, on visitors. [...]

Hackers have hidden malware in a legitimate two-factor authentication (2FA) app for macOS to distribute Dacls, a remote access trojan associated with the North Korean Lazarus group. [...]

Many citizens living in the countries surrounding the Baltic Sea consider the Sea to be an important recreational area but are concerned about its environmental status, with regard to litter, biodiversity loss, heavy metals and hazardous substances, oil spills and algal blooms. These are the findings of a survey of 9000 citizens, which indicates widespread support for the polluter pays principle to tackle environmental problems in the Baltic Sea.

A new study finds that a quarter of fish products labelled as ‘cod’ or ‘haddock’ in Dublin, Ireland, are in fact completely different species of fish. This indicates that fish consumers are being misled by inaccurate labels, which could compromise sustainable fishing and consumption efforts.

Since the arrival of the European Soil Data Centre in 2006, assessing the state of soils at European level has never been easier, more efficient or more reliable, according to a new report by its designers. The database, which contains state-of-the-art scientific information for a range of key environmental concerns, was accessed 26,000 times in the first 11 months of operation.

Standardised methods of categorising environmental data are needed at European and international levels for effective international policies. A recent study has concluded that a European framework that harmonises environmental data at the continental scale corresponds well with national classification systems, although some modifications may be needed to capture small-scale regional variations.

Public authorities in EU Member States are encouraged to purchase more environmentally-friendly goods and services through Green Public Procurement (GPP). A recent survey of purchasing managers in Italy has identified some factors that influence their adoption of this strategy, and suggests that a broad knowledge of GPP is key to its implementation.

A recent study has investigated how waste disposal sites in southern Italy have affected residents living nearby. Villagers reported being annoyed by odours, but the perceptions of residents living in the village closest to the facilities were possibly influenced by receiving financial compensation for the presence of the facilities.

Sustainable management of complex ecosystems requires clear understanding of uncertainty. However, scientific guidance documents show a lack of clarity and coherence regarding uncertainties and tend to focus solely on the need for more data or monitoring, new research indicates. The researchers suggest that scientific guidance should recognise uncertainty as an inherent part of any complex ecosystem.

There is an ongoing debate over exploitation of the Dutch Wadden Sea, over issues including gas extraction and cockle fishing. According to a review analysing interactions between scientists and policymakers during these debates, the productivity of such discussions is substantially influenced by the policy setting, i.e. the level of government involved and the key decision-makers.

A new tool for mapping the sensitivity of seafloor habitats to fishing activities has been developed. Researchers combined data on the resistance of habitats to damage from fishing practices, and how quickly they are able to recover, to produce a widely applicable tool that can be easily understood by stakeholders and used for different locations.

A new method of assessing human impacts on seafloor habitats suggests that over a third of habitats in the Baltic Sea have an ‘unfavourable’ status. The method is presented in a recent study which concludes that the tool can be effective in helping implement the EU’s Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD).

A new framework to help decide whether to translocate species that are threatened by climate change has been developed. The framework provides a simple method of assessing different strategies and ensuring that limited budgets are used effectively.

The views of organisations and industries affected by marine protected areas (MPAs) have been gathered by a new survey. 36 organisations from the UK and France responded to the survey, which asked about the perceived socio-economic and environmental impacts of multiple-use MPAs. Environmental NGOs, managing agencies and research centres gave a largely positive response, while fishers’, shipping, and other industrial organisations perceived an overall negative impact on them. Gathering stakeholders’ views on MPAs may help improve socioeconomic outcomes through informing the planning and management of these marine areas, the researchers say.

A map of science could assist research planning strategies by helping to identify emerging topics. The map — which is based on links to almost 20 million scientific articles that have been published over the past 16 years — clusters and links scientific disciplines by citation-based relationships and serves as a highly detailed and scalable infographic. The authors hope it will be used by research planners to help distinguish — and potentially forecast — the research areas in science which have longevity, and also those which are innovative.

As the media environment changes, the way scientists communicate their work must also evolve. This study explored the effect of public communication on the scientific ‘impact’ of America’s most highly cited nanotechnology researchers. It provides the first evidence that outreach activities, such as speaking to journalists and being mentioned on Twitter, can increase a scientist’s impact.

Sediments collected from coastal Louisiana over a year after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico have been found to cause health defects in the Gulf killifish. Nearly all adult fish studied had signs of significantly altered gene function and embryos exposed to polluted sediment were less likely to hatch

Sea level rise may cause soils in coastal regions to become more saline. In a recent study, reproduction in soil invertebrates was impaired in soils containing salt levels below the threshold used currently to define saline soils. The authors recommend community-level studies to further investigate the salt concentrations that are harmful to soil organisms.

A cache of exquisitely preserved bones, found in a coal mine in the state of Gujarat, India, appear to be the most primitive primate bones yet discovered, according to an analysis led by researchers from The Johns Hopkins University and Des Moines University. Their assessment of the bones, belonging to ancient, rat-sized, tree-dwelling primates, bolsters the controversial idea that primates native to what is now India played an important role in the very early evolution of primates, mammals that include humans, apes and monkeys.

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Long ago, one great ocean flowed between North and South America. When the narrow Isthmus of Panama joined the continents about 3 million years ago, it also separated the Atlantic from the Pacific Ocean. If this took place millions of years earlier, as recently asserted by some, the implications for both land and sea life would be revolutionary. Aaron O'Dea, staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), and colleagues writing in Science Advances firmly set the date at 2.8 million years ago.

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Researchers from the University of Oxford's Bodleian Libraries and from universities in the Netherlands have used high-tech imaging to uncover the details of a rare Mexican codex dating from before the colonization of the Americas. The newly revealed codex, or book, has been hidden from view for almost 500 years, concealed beneath a layer of plaster and chalk on the back of a later manuscript known as the Codex Selden, which is housed at the Bodleian Libraries. Scientists have used hyperspectral imaging to reveal pictographic scenes from this remarkable document and have published their findings in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.

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A team of psychologists, kinesiologists and archaeologists at Indiana University and elsewhere are throwing new light on a longstanding archaeological mystery: the purpose of a large number of spherical stone artifacts found at a major archaeological site in South Africa.

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When most people hear the word "pollinator," they think of bees and butterflies. However, certain beetles are known to pollinate plants as well, and new fossil evidence indicates that they were doing so 20 million years ago.

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An extinct reptile related to crocodiles that lived 212 million years ago in present day New Mexico has been named as a new species, Vivaron haydeni, in a paper published this week by Virginia Tech's Department of Geosciences researchers.

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A new Pan-European landscape map (LANMAP) has been developed that allows a common classification of landscapes across Europe.

New Dutch research has investigated the composition and strategies of local activist groups who oppose changes to land use. The results indicated that activists tend to have a higher level of education and live in densely populated areas. They most frequently use awareness-raising strategies, especially when fighting new housing projects.

New research in France has analysed the effectiveness of legal instruments and environmental assessments to protect natural areas against the impacts of roads. The Natura 2000 network appears to be the most effective, but the study calls for environmental assessments to take place earlier on in decision-making process for road projects to better protect natural areas.

Researchers in Berlin have demonstrated that urban wasteland areas can be used as suitable habitats for a range of grassland species. Using simple and cost-effective measures to sow grassland seed mixtures, they found that such areas flourished despite poor soil conditions and high levels of impact from people.

The amount of land and ocean that a country uses in order to produce food and other commodities, or its land or ocean ‘footprint’, increases by over a third for each doubling of income, new research shows. Thus, as nations become richer, and lifestyles become more affluent, pressure on natural resources increases.

A recent study has revealed that grassland plots planted with a mixture of several agricultural plant species produced a greater yield than plots planted with a single species. The findings provide valuable evidence for scientists, farmers and policymakers who strive to increase the productivity of grassland, while reducing input of nitrogen fertilisers.

The development of Green Infrastructure (GI) in a UK case study has been researched in a recent study. Some issues caused by an imbalance in stakeholder power and conflicting roles played by major stakeholders were identified with the project. Stakeholder participation is central to the concept of GI and the research reiterates the importance for those implementing GI to ensure that participation is effective and balanced.

Over 8% of land in Europe could be at moderate-to-high risk of wind-driven soil erosion, a new study has estimated. In the first assessment of its kind, the researchers produced maps which show wind erosion risk across 36 countries. This information could help guide actions to tackle land degradation.

By analysing previous disasters, lessons learnt can be incorporated into policies and plans to manage the effects of future disasters. A recent study examining the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake in Italy suggests that although the national response effectively dealt with the emergency, longer-term measures to help local populations cope with the aftermath of the disaster need to be set out more clearly.

Researchers have reviewed early warning systems (EWS) for water hazards, such as flash flooding, landslides, river flooding and coastal flooding. They conclude that EWS continue to provide valuable information to allow emergency services and local communities prepare for water-related natural hazards. However, there are a number of challenges to address to gain the most benefit from EWS.

Researchers have created a simple tool to analyse the risk of river flooding across almost all of Europe, and to estimate the associated economic losses. They found that Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Austria and the UK are the regions and countries most at threat.

Cultural and institutional barriers, coupled with a lack of confidence about whether and how to use it, mean that the European Flood Awareness System (EFAS) has yet to be fully integrated into national flood warning systems, according to a recent study.

Comprehensive flood risk management should include household measures, such as improving a home’s stability and relocating heating systems to safe places within the house. According to new research, better communication with householders by authorities on the effectiveness of such measures, and how to implement them, could increase their uptake.

The reduction in summer storms in the western Mediterranean could be partly caused by land use change on coasts and mountain slopes, a new study reports. This lack of storms causes water vapour to build up above the region and may lead to heavy rainfall and flooding in central Europe.