Scientists found that species cluster in core bioregions and spread outward, likely due to environmental filtering, a pattern that could inform conservation and climate planning. A new study in Nature Ecology & Evolution has identified a simple rule that appears to shape how life is organized
Every day, tons of CO₂ are released into the atmosphere, but what if we could transform it using clean energy? This is the question explored in a recent Politecnico di Milano study, which was featured on the cover of the journal ACS Catalysis. The research focuses on a process that transforms carbon dioxide and hydrogen into methane using carefully engineered nickel nanoparticles.
Entitled “Deciphering Size and Shape Effects on the Structure Sensitivity of the CO₂ Methanation Reaction on Nickel,” the study by Gabriele Spanò, Matteo Ferri, Raffaele Cheula, Matteo Monai, Bert M. Weckhuysen and Matteo Maestri investigates how the size and shape of nickel nanoparticles influence the rate at which carbon dioxide is converted into methane.
Researchers at the Laboratory of Catalysis and Catalytic Processes (LCCP) at Politecnico di Milano’s Department of Energy are tackling a key climate challenge: reusing CO₂ to produce sustainable fuels. The LCCP is an internationally recognized leader in heterogeneous catalysis, driving forward practical solutions for cleaner energy.
In this in-depth interview, Joscha Bach shares his insights into AI: what it illuminates about consciousness, how it will develop, and what it means for humanity.
Is AI our only chance at achieving real understanding?
With a free trial, you can watch our full archive of Joscha Bach’s talks and debates at https://iai.tv/home/speakers/joscha-b… Introduction 00:08 What is Artificial General Intelligence, and how far away are we from creating it? 01:08 Do you consider AI humanlike now? 02:43 Why do you defend a computational perspective? 03:44 Is AI the method for the universe to understand itself? 04:26 How is AI transforming society now, and how will it transform society in the next few years? 05:20 Do you think we have the capacity to reconceive how our institutions will function in light of these changes? 06:17 How could AI help us solve the climate crisis, when our biggest problem is inaction? 08:24 Have we become less critical, as a species? 10:40 Would you agree that social media has been detrimental to our society? 12:58 How do you think AGI will be realised? 18:46 What are the differences between evolved systems and designed systems? 20:31 What did you think of the infamous open letter about AI safety? 24:24 How can we solve AI’s misalignment to human values? 25:43 Do you have hope for the future? 27:33 Do you think it’s possible to build a machine that understands? 30:32 Do you think that we are living in base reality? Join cognitive scientist and AI researcher Joscha Bach in this exclusive interview on the limits, risks, and future of AI. From the potential of Artificial General Intelligence to the alignment problem and the fundamental ways AI learns differently from humans, Bach explores whether AI might one day grasp reality on a deeper level than we can. He also examines the systemic failures of institutions in tackling the climate crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, arguing that the internet’s potential for collective intelligence remains largely untapped. Might AI help us overcome these challenges, or does it merely reflect our own limitations? Interviewed by Darcy Bounsall. #ai #agi #artificialintelligence #artificialgeneralintelligence #consciousness #computerscience Joscha Bach is a cognitive scientist, AI researcher, and philosopher whose research aims to bridge cognitive science and AI by studying how human intelligence and consciousness can be modelled computationally. The Institute of Art and Ideas features videos and articles from cutting edge thinkers discussing the ideas that are shaping the world, from metaphysics to string theory, technology to democracy, aesthetics to genetics. Subscribe today! https://iai.tv/subscribe?utm_source=Y… For debates and talks: https://iai.tv For articles: https://iai.tv/articles For courses: https://iai.tv/iai-academy/courses.
00:00 Introduction.
00:08 What is Artificial General Intelligence, and how far away are we from creating it?
01:08 Do you consider AI humanlike now?
02:43 Why do you defend a computational perspective?
03:44 Is AI the method for the universe to understand itself?
04:26 How is AI transforming society now, and how will it transform society in the next few years?
05:20 Do you think we have the capacity to reconceive how our institutions will function in light of these changes?
06:17 How could AI help us solve the climate crisis, when our biggest problem is inaction?
08:24 Have we become less critical, as a species?
10:40 Would you agree that social media has been detrimental to our society?
12:58 How do you think AGI will be realised?
18:46 What are the differences between evolved systems and designed systems?
20:31 What did you think of the infamous open letter about AI safety?
24:24 How can we solve AI’s misalignment to human values?
25:43 Do you have hope for the future?
27:33 Do you think it’s possible to build a machine that understands?
30:32 Do you think that we are living in base reality?
Join cognitive scientist and AI researcher Joscha Bach in this exclusive interview on the limits, risks, and future of AI. From the potential of Artificial General Intelligence to the alignment problem and the fundamental ways AI learns differently from humans, Bach explores whether AI might one day grasp reality on a deeper level than we can. He also examines the systemic failures of institutions in tackling the climate crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, arguing that the internet’s potential for collective intelligence remains largely untapped. Might AI help us overcome these challenges, or does it merely reflect our own limitations?
Interviewed by Darcy Bounsall.
The heat bearing down on central Alaska “could feel like 110″ in a state where the sun shines 20 hours a day.
Chengdu University of Technology-led research has established a high-resolution astrochronological framework spanning approximately 57.6 million years of the early Ediacaran Period. This calibrated timeline provides precise constraints on major climatic events and the appearance of early complex life, offering critical context for understanding environmental change and biological innovation during Earth’s early history.
Understanding early life on Earth has been frequently stalled by an imprecise geological clock. Scientists have relied on broad stratigraphic patterns to trace the early Ediacaran Period (635 to 538.8 million years ago), a time marked by massive climate upheavals and the first signs of complex life.
Without consistent radiometric dating, researchers have struggled to align environmental disruptions such as shifts in carbon chemistry or marine oxygen levels with biological change. It’s a bit like having a few puzzle pieces and a stack of puzzles they might have come from. Fragmented timelines have left unanswered questions about what may have triggered evolutionary steps and when they occurred.
A study published in Science Advances has revealed promising strategies to significantly improve crop yields by addressing photorespiration, a metabolic process that can reduce productivity by up to 36% in some crops. Researchers from the University of Groningen and Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, working as part of the GAIN4CROPS project, have evaluated several alternative pathways that could help overcome this major agricultural bottleneck.
Photorespiration occurs when the enzyme RuBisCO, essential for photosynthesis, reacts with oxygen instead of carbon dioxide, resulting in substantial losses of fixed carbon and energy. This inefficiency costs the global agricultural sector billions in lost crop productivity annually.
“Our work shows that overcoming photorespiration through engineered pathways can provide a dual benefit: increasing carbon fixation while reducing energy losses,” said Prof. Heinemann from the University of Groningen. “This has significant implications for the development of crops that are not only more productive but also better adapted to the changing climate and growing global food demands.”
When Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai, an underwater volcano near Tonga in the South Pacific Ocean, erupted in 2022, scientists expected that it would spew enough water vapor into the stratosphere to push global temperatures past the 1.5 C threshold set by the Paris Accords. A new UCLA-led study shows that not only did the eruption not warm the planet, but it actually reduced temperatures over the Southern Hemisphere by 0.1 C.
The reason: The eruption formed smaller sulfate aerosols that had an efficient cooling effect that unexpectedly outweighed the warming effect of the water vapor. Meanwhile, the water vapor interacted with sulfur dioxide and other atmospheric components, including ozone, in ways that did not amplify warming.
While that’s good news, the study also suggests that efforts to reverse climate change by loading the atmosphere with substances that react with solar radiation to send heat back out into space, an effort known as geoengineering, are potentially even riskier than previously thought and must take new complications into account.
What steps can be taken to prepare certain communities for climate disasters, specifically with weather events becoming more frequent and severe? This is w | Earth And The Environment
The Apollo astronauts didn’t know what they’d find when they explored the surface of the moon, but they certainly didn’t expect to see drifts of tiny, bright orange glass beads glistening among the otherwise monochrome piles of rocks and dust.
The beads, each less than 1 mm across, formed some 3.3 to 3.6 billion years ago during volcanic eruptions on the surface of the then-young satellite. “They’re some of the most amazing extraterrestrial samples we have,” said Ryan Ogliore, an associate professor of physics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, home to a large repository of lunar samples that were returned to Earth. “The beads are tiny, pristine capsules of the lunar interior.”
Using a variety of microscopic analysis techniques not available when the Apollo astronauts first returned samples from the moon, Ogliore and a team of researchers have been able to take a close look at the microscopic mineral deposits on the outside of lunar beads. The unprecedented view of the ancient lunar artifacts was published in Icarus. The investigation was led by Thomas Williams, Stephen Parman and Alberto Saal from Brown University.
On planet Earth, fire is usually a transient phenomenon—even the strongest of wildfires will eventually succumb to human and/or meteorological intervention. But the same can’t be said for the Darvaza gas crater in Turkmenistan, known colloquially as the “Gates of Hell.” This natural gas field has been burning continuously for decades thanks to its steady supply of seeping methane, and in that time, this devilish pit has become one of the country’s most popular tourist attractions despite its location in the middle of the Karakum desert, roughly 160 miles north of the capital city of Ashgabat.
Turkmenistan’s authoritarian leader, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, has previously stated that he wants to snuff out the Gates of Hell once and for all (though the latest pronouncement came years after he reportedly went off-roading around the crater). Now, a new report suggests those efforts may be bearing fruit. Last Thursday, officials in Turkmenistan said that gas being emitted from the pit has diminished three-fold, though the Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports that no timeframe for this gaseous decrease was provided. This news is in line with previous reports last year that satellite observations of the Gates of Hell showed a 50 percent decline in emissions.
