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Three techniques for estimating mass losses from the Greenland Ice Sheet produce comparable results for the period 1992–2018 that approach the trajectory of the highest rates of sea-level rise projected by the IPCC.

Efficient statistical emulation of melting land ice under various climate scenarios to 2100 indicates a contribution from melting land ice to sea level increase of at least 13 centimetres sea level equivalent.

Global Burden of Disease estimates show that between 1990 and 2023, the prevalence and burden of drug use disorders, inclusive of amphetamine, cannabis, cocaine and opioid use, have been increasing in high-income countries, particularly in the USA.

Cosmogenic radionuclides from ice cores and tree rings indicate that an extreme solar proton event has hit Earth about 9200 years ago. Contrary to expectations, the event occurred during a quiet phase of the Sun within the 11 year solar cycle.

The Eemian period (120 ka) is considered a past analogue for future climatic warming, yet data from the high latitudes remains sparse. Here, the authors show that in Northern Europe, the Eemian saw dramatic climatic shifts, linked to changes in Earth’s orbit and North Atlantic oceanic circulation.

Average microbial biomass loads in glacial melt water are similar despite different environmental settings allowing for estimation of regional carbon export from melting glacier surfaces, according to direct observations at eight northern hemisphere glaciers and two Greenland Ice Sheet sites.

How global climatic changes are translated into ice-sheet fluctuations and sea-level change is not well understood. Here the authors present a compilation of empirical data and numerical modelling results of pre-LGM Northern Hemisphere ice sheet changes and show pronounced ice-sheet asymmetry within the last glacial cycle and significant variations in ice-marginal positions between older glacial cycles.

Arctic atmospheric rivers (ARs) have been increasing faster over the Atlantic sector than the Pacific sector in recent decades. The observed phase shift of interdecadal climate oscillations is key to explaining this disparity in Arctic AR trends.

The high-quality genome sequence of a 45,000-year-old modern human from Siberia reveals that gene flow from Neanderthals into the ancestors of this individual had already occurred about 7,000 to 13,000 years earlier; genomic comparisons show that he belonged to a population that lived close in time to the separation of populations in east and west Eurasia and that may represent an early modern human radiation out of Africa that has no direct descendants today.

Sea level rise amplifies coastal storm impacts, but the role of anthropogenic climate change is poorly resolved. Here the authors reassess Hurricane Sandy, using a dynamic flood model to show that anthropogenic sea level rise added a central estimate of $8 billion in damages.

Mountain glacier growth around the Mediterranean repeatedly stalled during cold, dry Heinrich Stadials, according to an analysis of cosmogenic isotope-dated glacial landforms from across the region.

Molecular clock analyses calibrated with fossil material reveal a new timescale of early life.

By better quantifying uncertainties for marine ice-cliff instability, future Antarctic ice loss is predicted to be much lower than previously estimated.

Dynamic motions in Earth's mantle can be expressed at the surface. Rocks and landscapes beneath the North Atlantic Ocean record surface uplift driven by pulses of hot material upwelling in a mantle plume beneath Iceland.

The authors report genetic, archaeological and stable isotopic data from two late Palaeolithic individuals in Britain, from Gough's Cave and Kendrick's Cave. The individuals differ not only in their ancestry but also their diets, ecologies and mortuary practices, revealing diverse origins and lifeways among inhabitants of late Pleistocene Britain.

The hypothesis that large ice sheets were present in both hemispheres ∼41.6 million years ago is tested, using marine sediment records from the equatorial Atlantic Ocean. The estimates of ice volume at this time can easily be accommodated on Antarctica, but were not the Northern Hemisphere. These findings support climate model simulations, which indicate that the threshold for continental glaciation was crossed earlier in the Southern Hemisphere than in the Northern Hemisphere, due to the different land–ocean distributions at the two poles.

Polygenic risk scores can help identify individuals at higher risk of type 2 diabetes. Here, the authors characterise a multi-ancestry score across nearly 900,000 people, showing that its predictive value depends on demographic and clinical context and extends to related traits and complications.

A genomic investigation focusing on introgressive hybridization due to anthropogenic causes in mallards reveals a single domestic game-farm breed as the source for contemporary release programs in Eurasia and North America as well as for established feral populations in New Zealand and Hawaii.

A solar slump may have chilled the Northern Hemisphere.

The drivers of monsoon systems in the past are not well known. Here, the authors present a model-based reconstruction of the last 30 million years and show that the south east Asian monsoon evolution is dominated by orographic development while the strength of the Indian Summer monsoon is controlled by a combination of factors.

Radiative transfer modelling suggests zones of radiative habitability could exist beneath the surface of exposed ice in the Martian mid-latitudes, protected from harmful radiation but within reach of photosynthetically active radiation

Another big freeze might never happen.

New results from a Soviet–French collaboration highlight the benefits to be gained from polar research, as well as a US scientific deficit.

A large-scale metagenomic analysis of plant and mammal environmental DNA reveals complex ecological changes across the circumpolar region over the past 50,000 years, as biota responded to changing climates, culminating in the postglacial extinction of large mammals and emergence of modern ecosystems.

Throughout the Mesozoic and Cenozoic, the choice of plate reference frame impacts the reconstruction of regional surface temperature, causing differences of over 20 °C and 15 °C respectively, according to a sensitivity experiment involving 52 climate simulations, which examined how the use of different reference frames in paleogeographic reconstructions affects global climate reconstructions.

A law of physics could break down on the equinox.

Natural randomness punctuated past ice ages with warm spells.

Analysis of population decline shows that frequent disturbances enhance a population’s capacity to resist and recover from downturns and that trade-offs exist when adopting new or alternative land-use strategies.

Remotely sensed NDVI data and contemporary field data from 84 grasslands on 6 continents show increasing divergence in aboveground plant biomass between sites in different bioclimatic regions.

The Arctic is estimated to be a source of atmospheric methane but the sink capacity may be underestimated. This study shows that methane uptake in well-drained Arctic soils is driven by soil moisture and carbon availability, indicating a potential increased methane sink under climate change.

Scientist who features in an exhibition opening today in London, talks about Gaia, climate change and whether peer review is necessary.

Many genetic loci have been identified to be associated with kidney disease, but the molecular mechanisms are not well understood. Here, the authors perform epigenome-wide association studies on kidney function measures to identify epigenetic marks and pathways involved in kidney function.

Serum urate concentration can be studied in large datasets to find genetic and epigenetic loci that may be related to cardiometabolic traits. Here the authors identify and replicate 100 urate-associated CpGs, which provide insights into urate GWAS loci and shared CpGs of urate and cardiometabolic traits.

Protection of coastlines from devastating flooding associated with sea-level extremes is impeded by a lack of continuous records. Here, the authors apply a hydrodynamic modelling approach and present the first reanalysis of tides, surges and extreme sea levels for the entire world's coastline.

Measuring coastal subsidence is essential to evaluating hazards associated with sea-level rise. This Review discusses the processes driving coastal subsidence, space-borne and land-based measurement techniques, as well as models for simulating observed subsidence and predicting future trends.