Wildfires are worsening due to climate change, with emissions tripling inextratropical forests. What does this mean for our planet's future? Forest fires have long been a natural force shaping ecosystems, but their frequency andintensity are now escalating at an alarming rate. Climate change is driving more extreme fireseasons, particularly in the extratropical regions of North America and Eurasia, whereemissions from forest fires have nearly tripled in the past two decades. Scientists warn thatthis increase is not just a short-term anomaly but a sign of deeper shifts in the global carboncycle—one that threatens international climate goals and the stability of Earth’s forests.“The trend is clear—climate change is making forest fires more severe and widespread,”says Dr. X, a leading fire ecologist. “We are seeing an undeniable link between risingtemperatures, drier conditions, and the sharp uptick in fire emissions.” The science behind the surge A recent study used machine learning to categorise global forest regions into 12 distinct‘pyromes’—zones where fire activity is shaped by similar climate, vegetation, and humanfactors. The findings revealed a stark contrast between tropical and extratropical forests.While deforestation-related fires have declined in tropical regions due to stricter policies,extratropical forests are experiencing a surge in fire severity. Rising temperatures, decliningsoil moisture, and increased vegetation productivity are creating perfect conditions for moreintense and frequent fires. In boreal forests spanning Eurasia and North America, emissions have surged by 60% since2001. Not only are more areas burning, but the fires themselves are becoming more severe,releasing more carbon per unit area than ever before. This trend is particularly worryingbecause these forests store vast amounts of carbon, making them crucial in regulating theglobal climate. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), theincreasing severity of forest fires is strongly linked to anthropogenic climate change, withrising temperatures and prolonged droughts acting as key drivers. Case studies: Japan and Los Angeles fires Recent wildfire disasters in Japan and Los Angeles highlight the growing severity of thecrisis. In Japan, wildfires were once rare due to the country's humid climate and well-managed forests. However, the Kumamoto Fire of 2023 marked a turning point, burningthousands of hectares and displacing communities. Scientists attribute this unprecedentedevent to record-breaking heatwaves and prolonged droughts, conditions that are becomingmore frequent due to climate change. Similarly, in Los Angeles, wildfires have become an almost annual catastrophe. The 2023Los Angeles Fire was one of the largest on record, destroying homes, infrastructure, andvast forested areas. Unlike previous years, this fire spread at an unprecedented rate, fuelledby dry vegetation and extreme winds. Firefighters struggled to contain the blaze, highlightingthe increasing difficulty of managing fires in an era of intensifying climate extremes. “The alarming rise in wildfire severity, as seen in Japan and Los Angeles, signals a globalshift,” says Dr. Y, a climate policy expert. “What were once exceptional events are becomingthe new normal.” Why human influence matters While climate change is the dominant factor driving fires in the extratropics, human activitiesstill play a role, particularly in the tropics. In tropical forests, fire activity has been decliningdue to reduced deforestation and increasing agricultural fragmentation. However, thefragmentation of dry tropical forests remains a concern, as it makes these ecosystems morevulnerable to future fires. The study also raises questions about how carbon emissions from fires are reported.Currently, many countries count forest fire emissions as ‘natural,’ even in managed forests.This underestimates the true impact of human-driven climate change on fire activity, creatinga gap between official carbon budgets and actual atmospheric CO2 levels. Scientists arguethat fire emissions should be included in national climate reporting to give a more accuratepicture of the world’s carbon balance. What can be done? Addressing the rise in extratropical fires requires a twofold approach—mitigation andadaptation. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions remains the most effective way to curbclimate-driven fire risks. However, proactive forest management strategies can also help.Key measures include: Monitoring changes in vegetation productivity to predict fire risks. Implementing fire management plans that prioritise controlled burns in fire-proneareas. Preventing further fragmentation of tropical forests to limit future fire spread. Reforming carbon credit systems to account for fire risks in reforestation projects. In regions with a long history of fire suppression, shifting towards managed, ecologicallybeneficial fires could also prevent forests from turning from carbon sinks into carbonsources. The path forward The message is clear: rising forest fire emissions pose a major challenge to global climatetargets. The steep increase in extratropical fire activity demands urgent attention—not justfrom scientists and policymakers but from global leaders committed to tackling climatechange. If we fail to act, the world’s forests could shift from being a buffer against climatechange to a driving force behind it. What should be the priority: stronger emissions cuts, better fire management, or a completeoverhaul of how we account for fire-related carbon emissions? The answer may determinethe future of our forests—and our planet.
Can the world’s soils keep up with the climate Crisis? Scientists Grapple with DataGaps and Global Inequities
From Nile Delta decay to Iowa’s cornfields, soils are collapsing. Can regenerativepractices and citizen science rewrite agriculture’s future? Dig into the solutions. The Nile Delta’s silent crisis In 2023, Egyptian farmers near the Nile Delta noticed something unsettling. The fertile soilthat had sustained their crops for millennia was turning brittle, cracked, and lifeless. Satellitedata soon revealed why: rising temperatures and erratic floods had stripped the region’ssoils of 20% of their organic carbon in a decade. This quiet crisis isn’t unique to Egypt. FromAustralia’s dust bowls to Europe’s waterlogged fields, soils—the unsung foundation of foodsecurity and climate resilience—are losing their ability to store carbon. The question nowhaunting scientists and policymakers alike is stark: can we map, model, and salvage theseunderground carbon banks before time runs out? The critical zone: Earth’s fragile skin Soil is far more than dirt. It forms part of the “critical zone,” the thin layer from bedrock totreetops where rock, water, air, and life interact. This zone regulates 90% of terrestrialcarbon cycling, acting as both a carbon sink and a potential emissions source. Yetunderstanding its complexity requires merging disciplines: hydrologists track watermovement, microbiologists study microbial decay, and climatologists model temperatureimpacts. “We’re trying to solve a 4D puzzle,” says a lead researcher from a recent international studyon soil carbon dynamics. Their work reveals a stark divide: temperate soils in regions likeEurope may gain carbon as warming boosts plant growth, while arid zones like Australiaface irreversible losses. But the bigger surprise? Over 30% of global soils fall into an“uncertainty grey zone,” where data gaps make predictions impossible. Machine learning meets mud: The race to map carbon stocks To tackle this uncertainty, researchers are merging old-school soil cores with artificialintelligence. Scientists recently trained algorithms on 15,000 soil samples worldwide, cross-referenced with satellite imagery and climate models. The goal: predict how much carbonsoils can store by 2100 under different warming scenarios. Early results highlight stark disparities. While France’s grasslands could absorb an extra 0.5gigatons of carbon annually—equivalent to 5% of global fossil fuel emissions—modelssuggest India’s intensively farmed soils may lose 10% of their carbon within decades. Butthe tech has limits. “Machine learning is only as good as the data we feed it,” warns aclimate scientist involved in the study. “If we have no samples from Sudan or Siberia, themodels guess—often wrongly.” The data deserts undermining climate action Here lies a crisis beneath the crisis: soil data is concentrated in wealthy nations. Europe andNorth America host 75% of the world’s soil databases, while Africa and South Asia remainchronically understudied. Even existing data faces compatibility hurdles. Russia, which holds20% of Earth’s soils, uses a Soviet-era classification system incompatible with globalstandards. This inequity has real-world consequences. When researchers simulated carbon storagepotential in Southeast Asia, missing moisture data from monsoon regions skewed results by40%. “We’re fighting climate change with a map full of holes,” says Dr. Priya Patel, ageochemist unaffiliated with the study. “Without soil data equity, net-zero pledges are builton quicksand.” When lab models clash with reality One of the most glaring gaps in soil science is the disconnect between controlledexperiments and real-world conditions. Lab studies often measure soil moisture bysaturating samples, a scenario rare in nature. Field tests in Kenya’s Tana River Basin, forinstance, showed that on-site soil retained 30% less carbon than lab predictions due tofluctuating temperatures and human activity. “Models assume uniformity, but nature thrives on chaos,” explains Patel. For example,hydraulic conductivity—the soil’s ability to absorb water—varies wildly depending on farmingpractices. Heavy machinery compacts soil, reducing its carbon storage potential by up to50%. These nuances are rarely captured in broad climate projections. Climate policy’s blind spot These scientific challenges collide with geopolitics. At COP28, 134 nations pledged tointegrate soil health into climate action plans. But progress is slow. The EU’s CarbonRemoval Certification Scheme, launched in 2024, still lacks standards for verifying soilcarbon gains. Meanwhile, farmers in Kenya’s drought-stricken Rift Valley face a Catch-22:adopt climate-smart practices or prioritise short-term survival. Soil’s complexity defies silver bullets. Biochar, a charcoal-like substance, can lock carboninto soils for centuries but requires costly infrastructure. “Regenerative farming,” touted byNGOs, boosts resilience but seldom scales globally. “There’s no one-size-fits-all,” argues aresearcher specialising in agroecology. “What works in Iowa’s cornfields may wreck Ethiopia’s highlands.” A call to dig deeper The 2023 UN Food and Agriculture Organization report rings alarm bells: over half of globalsoils are degraded, risking a 12% drop in crop yields by 2030. Yet solutions exist.Collaborative efforts like the International Soil Modelling Collaborative now push for open-data treaties and hybrid models blending AI with Indigenous knowledge. Citizen scientists are also stepping up. Platforms like OpenSoilMap crowdsource data fromfarmers using smartphone sensors, while universities in Nigeria and Brazil train locals tocollect and analyse samples. “Communities living on these soils must lead the conversation,”says Patel. Readers can act too. Scientists urge citizens to join soil-health initiatives like the Global SoilPartnership or support policies mandating open agricultural data. For farmers, tools like theSoil Carbon Atlas offer free regional projections. As the Nile’s farmers grapple with barren fields, the message is clear: soil isn’t just dirt—it’sthe bedrock of civilisation. Will we invest in understanding it before the ground literallyvanishes beneath our feet?
Scientists Trick the Human Eye Into Seeing a “New Colour” Called Olo
What happens when lasers hit just the right spot in your eye? Scientists have created a colour never seen before. Is this the start of new human senses? Close your eyes and imagine a green so vivid it glows like neon. Now picture a blue so intense it feels alien. This is olo, a shade never before seen by human eyes—until now. In April 2025, five participants in a groundbreaking study glimpsed this “off-the-charts saturated” blue-green hue, created not by light but by lasers. The discovery, published in Science Advances, challenges how we define colour itself. “It’s like spending your life in a pastel world and suddenly seeing neon,” says Professor Ren Ng, a computer scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, and one of the study’s authors. “Olo is so saturated, it doesn’t exist in nature.” How the eye was hacked Human colour vision relies on three cone cells in the retina: S (blue-sensitive), M (green), and L (red). Normally, these overlap—activating one cone always triggers its neighbours. But researchers used a laser system called Oz to isolate and stimulate only the M cones. By mapping each participant’s retina and tracking eye movements, they delivered precise light doses to individual cells. The result? A signal the brain interprets as olo—a colour outside the natural spectrum. Unlike teal or peacock blue, olo’s “saturation” (intensity) exceeds anything sunlight can produce. Participants matched it to natural hues by diluting it with white light, akin to watering down paint. The technology behind precision The Oz system, detailed in the Science Advances paper, combines adaptive optics and real-time eye tracking to overcome biological barriers. A supercontinuum laser splits into infrared and visible wavelengths: the former maps the retina at cellular resolution, while the latter delivers microdoses of 543-nm or 488-nm light to individual cones. A Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor and deformable mirror correct optical aberrations in the eye, ensuring laser focus remains diffraction-limited. “Imagine painting with a brush thinner than a human hair, while the canvas wobbles,” explains co-author Austin Roorda, a vision scientist. “The eye never stops moving, so we track it at 960 frames per second. Each laser pulse adjusts its target in under 4 milliseconds.” This precision allows the system to bypass overlapping cone sensitivities—a feat previously deemed impossible outside theory. A prophet’s vision realised Two decades before olo’s discovery, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins speculated about “super green” hues in his 2004 book The Ancestor’s Tale. He imagined electrically stimulating a single cone to create colours “no real light could achieve.” “This is precisely what’s been done,” Dawkins remarked after the study. “It’s rare for speculative ideas to materialise so elegantly.” The alignment of theory and experiment underscores how basic research can yield unpredictable breakthroughs. Colour blindness and the brain’s limits The study’s implications stretch beyond novelty. By artificially creating a third cone signal, the team hopes to help people with colour blindness—a condition affecting 1 in 12 men—distinguish hues they couldn’t before. Current gene therapies, tested in spider monkeys, add missing cones. Ng’s approach instead “hijacks” existing cells with lasers. But challenges remain. The Oz system requires rare lab equipment and only works in a small visual field (twice the Moon’s apparent size). Still, Jenny Bosten, a neuroscientist at the University of Sussex, calls it “a technical triumph” for studying how the brain processes colour. Is olo really a new colour? Not all experts agree olo qualifies as “new.” Professor John Barbur, a vision scientist at City, University of London, argues it’s a matter of interpretation. “Stimulating cones differently alters perceived brightness or saturation, not hue,” he says. Historically, similar debates surrounded magenta—a “non-spectral” colour the brain constructs from opposing signals. The team counters that olo’s uniqueness lies in its unprecedented saturation. “Natural colours are compromises,” says Ng. “Olo is pure M-cone activation—a solo instrument in an orchestra that usually plays in unison.” The discovery arrives amid a surge in sensory-augmentation tech, from gene-editing trials for blindness to VR headsets that simulate synesthesia. Elon Musk’s Neuralink, which aims to merge brains with computers, recently teased a “coloured vision” mode for its implants. While olo’s lasers are invasive, they highlight a growing trend: hacking biology to expand human perception. Spatial metamerism: A paradigm shift Traditional colour displays, like RGB screens, rely on spectral metamerism—mixing wavelengths to mimic natural cone responses. Oz introduces spatial metamerism, controlling where light lands rather than its spectrum. This allows colours like olo, which exist outside the “bounded gamut” of natural vision. “Think of it as playing a piano with keys that usually stick together,” says lead author James Fong. “Oz lets us press individual keys—M cones—without touching their neighbours. The brain hears a note it’s never encountered.” This approach could redefine industries from digital displays to medical imaging. Challenges in colour control Despite its promise, spatial metamerism faces hurdles. The Oz prototype stimulates just 0.9° of the visual field—roughly a thumbnail at arm’s length. Expanding this requires classifying millions of cones in real time, a task the team compares to “mapping a city during an earthquake.” Eye movements, even microsaccades, blur stimuli unless compensated at millisecond speeds. The study also reveals perceptual quirks. Prolonged stimulation causes colours to fade, akin to Troxler’s effect. “Stability is the enemy,” notes co-author Hannah Doyle. “Colours only persist if we constantly ‘refresh’ cones with dynamic patterns.” This dynamism, visible in supplementary videos, shows red lines shimmering as lasers chase drifting cones. What does this mean for science? Beyond applications, olo probes fundamental questions. How does the brain turn retinal signals into conscious experience? Could we engineer entirely new senses? Kimberly Jameson, a colour-vision specialist at UC Irvine, says the technique lets scientists “explore the brain’s plasticity in ways previously unimaginable.” For now, olo remains a lab curiosity. But as augmented reality and bioengineering advance, such experiments may pave the way for a world where humans see UV patterns like bees or navigate via magnetic fields—like birds. Ethics and the future of vision The ability to manipulate perception raises ethical questions. Could such technology be weaponised? Or deepen societal divides if
Over 1,000 EPA scientists could lose their jobs: What it means for public health and the environment
What happens when the EPA loses its ability to conduct independent research? Uncover the real-world consequences of these proposed cuts.
Gukesh vs Carlsen: The psychology, pressure and precision behind chess history in the making
What does it take to defeat Magnus Carlsen? Unpack the mental strength, neuroscience and machine training behind Gukesh’s victory.
Meghalaya Expands Chief Minister’s Research Fellowship to Include Science and Technology
During a visit to the Shillong Government College of Engineering, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma announced an expansion of the Chief Minister’s Research Fellowship (CMRF). Previously focused on arts and culture, the fellowship will now also support research in science and technology. This decision aims to encourage innovation and address infrastructure needs in the state’s educational institutions.
IIPE Introduces Global PhD and Postdoctoral Programs to Foster International Collaboration
The Indian Institute of Petroleum and Energy (IIPE), Visakhapatnam, has announced several new academic initiatives for the 2025–26 academic year aimed at enhancing global academic collaboration. These include the introduction of a PhD program specifically for foreign nationals, a global internship program covering 75% of expenses for international students, and a high-level postdoctoral fellowship program to support young researchers in STEM fields. According to Prof. P.K. Banik, these steps aim to cultivate elite researchers, future academicians, and industry leaders while enhancing global academic collaboration.
Roman Goddess Victory Carving Discovered at Hadrian’s Wall
Amateur archaeologists Dilys and Jim Quinlan unearthed a Roman stone relief depicting the winged goddess Victory at the Vindolanda site near Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland, England. The discovery occurred during their 21st year volunteering at the site, during an excavation of rubble above the site’s infantry barracks. Dr. Andrew Birley, director of excavations, praised the find as a moment of direct connection with the past and a reward for volunteers’ dedication. Identified by Professor Rob Collins of Newcastle University, the carving measures 47 cm and dates to around AD 213, following the Severan wars. The relief, part of a larger composition, likely symbolized peacetime and Roman military pride. Vindolanda, a significant Roman fort, has welcomed volunteers since 1970 and is renowned for discoveries like the 1973 Vindolanda writing tablets. The newly unearthed carving will be displayed at the Vindolanda Museum in early 2026 as part of an exhibition featuring recent finds.
Jerusalem Unearths 2,300-Year-Old Gold Ring Near Temple Mount
An extraordinary archaeological discovery has been made at the City of David in Jerusalem, where a 2,300-year-old gold ring adorned with a red gemstone was unearthed near the Temple of Jerusalem, the historical site linked to the Ark of the Covenant. The discovery, made by the Israel Antiquities Authority and Tel Aviv University, is part of an excavation at the Givati Parking Lot area within the Jerusalem Walls National Park. The gold ring, likely belonging to a young girl from the Second Temple period, joins other recent finds such as bronze earrings, a gold earring with an animal motif, and a decorated gold bead, all located in the foundation of a large structure. This marks the first time such a substantial collection of gold jewelry from this era has been found in Jerusalem, signaling the city’s historical affluence and cultural significance during the Early Hellenistic period. Experts speculate that these items were buried as part of a tradition marking the transition from childhood to adulthood. The find has sparked excitement among researchers and is hoped to shed light on Jerusalem’s societal structure and its connection to the temple during this period.
Legacy & History Kalinga’s Maritime Legacy: A Blueprint for Modern Southeast AsiaLegacy & History
At the valedictory session of the international conference on ‘Kalinga and Southeast Asia – Civilizational Connections’ held in Bhubaneswar, Governor Hari Babu Kambhampati emphasized the relevance of Kalinga’s ancient maritime legacy as a source of inspiration for addressing contemporary challenges in Southeast Asia. He highlighted Kalinga’s historical maritime trade, research, and cultural exchanges with countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam, noting these connections spanned over 2,000 years and promoted regional cooperation. The governor pointed out that Kalinga’s temple architecture has influenced landmarks such as Angkor Wat and Borobudur and that Indian cultural elements like the Ramayana, Mahabharata, and several festivals have become embedded in Southeast Asian traditions. He stressed that the past should not merely be viewed as history but as a guide for sustainable environmental and developmental strategies, underscoring the enduring significance of the region’s rich cultural and maritime heritage.
