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The authors identify flip probability as a universal quantity in random explorations. Here, the authors show it follows a simple inverse law across Markovian, non-Markovian, and real-world systems.

Peer-to-peer energy trading can foster participation in the energy transition, but little is understood about prosumer preferences and their effect on the grid. Pena-Bello et al. use an online experiment among German homeowners to study decision-making strategies and simulate their impact on the operation of an energy community.

To forge a strong climate accord in Paris, nations must agree on a common goal in everyone's self-interest, say David J. C. MacKay and colleagues.

Data from questionnaires distributed to hunters and wild meat vendors in Nigeria suggest that most captured pangolins are not specifically targeted and that the animals are primarily captured for their meat, which is mostly consumed by hunters’ households, rather than for their scales.

This study introduce the Global Biojet Fuel Sustainability Index, a holistic 25-indicator sustainability index encompassing the four domains of energy-water-food nexus and governance, to measure the potential impact of RJF productions on 154 countries/territories through the oil-to-jet, alcohol-to-jet and gas-to-jet conversion methods.

Large-scale analyses of bird species traits reveal that land-use change reduces resilience of key ecological functions more than previously thought.

Here the non-linear relationship is revealed between carbon emissions reductions and oil demand reductions, which depends on the magnitude of demand drop and the global oil market structure.

Overcoming the challenges involved in computerizing herbarium specimens.

This study shows that annual matching obscures seasonal and intra-day mismatches in green electricity supply and demand, suggesting a phased transition to stricter temporal matching for more transparent claims.

Children who learn maths working in markets and children who learn maths only from school were both unable to transfer their skills to new contexts, highlighting a need to reconsider how maths is taught in school.

Efficiency improvements that cause price decreases and consumption increases may offset the benefits of avoided food loss and waste (FLW), hindering progress towards SDG 12. Based on published income-group- and food-type-specific price elasticities of supply and demand, this study quantifies the direct rebound effects from large reductions in FLW of six types of food.

Enzymatic recycling is an emerging technology to circularize the ubiquitous polyester poly(ethylene terephthalate). Here the authors evaluate and implement multiple process changes to improve the scalability and viability of this recycling technology. Process modeling demonstrates that these changes could enable cost competitiveness and greatly reduce overall life cycle impacts.

New research finds future rock fertiliser use as a contributor towards food security in Sub-Saharan Africa can be achieved with both sustainability-driven and fossil-fuel-driven economic growth.

Online commerce is increasingly relying on pricing algorithms. Using a network-based approach inspired by adversarial machine learning, a firm can learn the strategy of its competitors and use it to unilaterally increase all firms’ profits. This approach, termed as ‘adversarial collusion’, calls for new regulatory measures.

To increase crop yields in many regions of sub-Saharan Africa, farmers would need to use more fertilizers. However, estimating the local maize yield responses to fertilizers shows that the fertilizer and maize price ratio presents a strong barrier to achieving higher yields in most regions.

Forests are critical for stabilizing our climate, but costs of mitigation remain uncertain. Here the authors show the global forest sector could reduce emissions by 6.0 GtCO₂ yr⁻¹ in 2055, or roughly 10% of the mitigation needed to limit warming to 1.5 °C by mid-century, at a cost of 393 billion USD yr⁻¹, or $281/tCO₂.

Upcycling urine in wastewater for nitrogen and phosphorus production has gained attention, but their low market values hamper the application. Here, the authors develop a yeast platform that mimics osteoblast mechanisms to produce the high-value hydroxyapatite directly from urine.

COVID-19 has decreased power sector emissions globally and in the United States. Here the authors assess whether such reductions would have occurred in the United States in the absence of the pandemic, as well as the potential impact of COVID-19 on coal-fired power plant retirements through 2022.

Data on the nutrient content of almost 3,000 aquatic animal-source foods is combined with a food-systems model to show that an increase in aquatic-food production could reduce the inadequate intake of most nutrients.

Analysis suggests that to limit global temperature rise, we must slash emissions and invest now to protect, manage and restore ecosystems and land for the future.

A modeling approach to assess the global risk of Plasmodium falciparum histidine-rich protein 2 and 3 gene deletions identifies ten priority African countries for surveillance and could inform malaria control policies.

Projects are under way for direct-current ultra-high-voltage transmission lines that would allow trading of renewable electricity across world regions. Guo et al. use integrated assessment models to explore different scenarios for the operation of these projects and assess their potential for decarbonization.

Maize production is dependent on Nitrogen fertilizer input. Here, the authors use long-term and short-term experiments to demonstrate that economic and environmental optimum nitrogen fertilization rates have increased between 1991 and 2021.

The extent to which policy-induced changes in food demand patterns help address environmental and health challenges remains poorly understood. Using a survey-based, randomized controlled experiment with almost 6,000 respondents from the United Kingdom, this study assesses the impacts on food purchases, greenhouse gas emissions and dietary health of applying carbon and/or health taxes, information provision and a combination of both tax and information strategies.

Net-zero bioplastics are possible when combined with high recycling rates. This study presents a mixed polyester recycling process integrated with monomer separation and purification for both fossil- and bio-based plastics. Techno-economic and life cycle analyses confirm its environmental and commercial advantages, advancing the path toward circular, low-emission polyester plastics.

Over exploitation of the Colorado River system, a critical water supply for North America, has resulted in a steep decline in the health of native fish species. Developing strategic water markets in the Colorado River headwaters can restore habitat while conserving water resources.

Global shark and ray populations have declined sharply, driven by expanding fisheries and inequitable gaps in catch, trade and distribution data. This Review assesses global status, highlights drivers of decline, and outlines the regulatory, market-based and conservation actions needed to reduce mortality and reverse shark and ray biodiversity loss.

Modelled supply curves show that, with policy reform and technological innovation, the production of food from the sea may increase sustainably, perhaps supplying 25% of the increase in demand for meat products by 2050.

Enhanced weathering of basalt (EW) removes CO2 chemically, and biotically by enhancing ecosystem growth through phosphorus release. This study shows that leveraging the biotic process can triple the contribution of EW to climate change mitigation.

A generalizable, functional-trait-based approach for quantifying the effects of disturbances to ecosystem services and economic outcomes, including under climate change, highlights the need for incorporating disturbances in ecosystem services assessments.

Early warnings of impending food crises can provide valuable time to mitigate their worst impacts, but droughts have proven difficult to predict. Soil moisture autocorrelation measured by remote sensing satellites advances our ability to anticipate food security crises resulting from drought.

State-of-the-art approaches for modelling electrified solid–electrolyte interfaces are critically discussed, highlighting key challenges in incorporating thermodynamic open-boundary conditions, large electrostatic potentials and their dynamic fluctuations into realistic ab initio simulations.