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Australia Targets at Least 62% Emissions Cut in the Next Decade

Australia has set a new target of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by between 62% and 70% below 2005 levels by 2035

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia on Thursday set a new target of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by between 62% and 70% below 2005 levels by 2035.Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, leader of the center-left Labor Party, will take his government’s 2035 target to the U.N. General Assembly next week.Under the Paris climate agreement signed a decade ago, nations must increase their emissions reduction targets every five years.“This is a responsible target backed by the science, backed by a practical plan to get there and built on proven technology,” Albanese told reporters.“It’s the right target to protect our environment, to protect and advance our economy and jobs and to ensure that we act in our national interest and in the interest of this and future generations,” he added.Albanese said the target was consistent with the European Union considering for themselves a reduction target range of between 63% and 70% below 1990 levels.Matt Kean, chair of the Climate Change Authority that advises the government on climate policies, said Australia’s 2035 target demonstrated a “higher ambition than most other advanced economies.”Environmental groups had argued for a reduction target exceeding 70%.But business groups had warned cuts above 70% would risk billions of dollars in exports and send companies offshore.The conservative opposition Liberal Party, which has lost the last two federal elections, is considering abandoning its own commitment to net-zero by 2050, its only reduction target.Opposition leader Sussan Ley said the 2035 target was not credible because the government would fail to meet its 2030 target.“These targets cannot be met. They are fantasy: we know, Australians know, and they’re very disappointed in this prime minister,” Ley told reporters.The government maintains Australia is on track to narrowly achieve its 2030 target.Larissa Waters, a senator leading the environmentally-focused Australian Greens, said the government’s actual target was 62%, which she described as “appallingly low.”The government was not addressing Australia’s coal and liquefied natural gas exports, which were among the world’s largest of those fossil fuels, she said.“Labor have sold out to the coal and gas corporations with this utter failure of a climate target,” Waters told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Andrew McKellar described the 2035 target as “ambitious.”“One of the biggest issues that industry faces at the moment is the costs that we incur in terms of energy. We’ve got to have a sustainable pathway forward. We’ve got to have energy security and we’ve got to have energy affordability as well,” McKellar said.Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See – Sept. 2025

Business
Climate
Energy

How climate change is fueling your sugar addiction

Rising temperatures are feeding America's sweet tooth — and creating a new public health challenge in the process.

In the thick of summer, little else can seem more appealing than the promised respite of an ice cream cone or a chilled can of soda. Turns out that as climate change warms up the planet, that sugary siren song is getting louder: A new study published last week in the journal Nature Climate Change found that as temperatures have gotten hotter, Americans have been buying more artificially sweetened treats.  By examining a national sample of U.S. household consumer purchases between 2004 and 2019, and cross-comparing that with localized weather data, analyzing temperatures, precipitation, humidity, and wind speed, the researchers found that added sugar consumption for Americans has been rising in lockstep with average temperatures. They also used climate projections to predict how these trends could align with future climatic changes, finding that if emissions continue unchecked, excess sugar consumption would soar by the end of the century. It’s the latest piece of evidence in a mountain of research showing how climate change is reshaping what we eat and how we eat it.  “Rising temperatures do make a difference on what you eat and drink,” said Pan He, study author and a senior lecturer in environmental social sciences and sustainability at Cardiff University. “We don’t take much of a second thought on what we eat and drink and how that can be responding to climate change, but in fact, this research shows it would.”  For every 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit of warming, added sugar consumption in U.S. households increased by around 0.7 grams per person per day between 2004 and 2019, the scientists found, with a notable escalation as temperatures hit between 68 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit. That tallies up to more than 100 million pounds of added sugar consumed in a year, when compared to how much of the stuff people ingested 15 years earlier. The spikes in sugar intake were concentrated when temperatures moved between 54 and 86 degrees Fahrenheit, with the highest surges in the form of sugar-sweetened drinks like soda and juice, while frozen desserts followed suit. (Pastries and other baked goods saw notable dips in consumer purchasing trends in the studied periods.) The international research team also predict sugar consumption nationwide could increase by nearly 3 grams a day by 2095 in a future of high greenhouse gas emissions.  This dynamic of rising temperatures feeding our cravings for sweet treats is hardly unexpected. After all, it’s well known that warmer weather makes bodies lose more water, causing people to crave sources of hydration, and that people generally tend to love sweetened things, especially in liquid form. The study charts a new course by connecting two distinct bodies of research by examining exactly what the human body craves when temperatures hike and people need relief.  Read Next What does climate change mean for agriculture? Less food and more emissions. Frida Garza Inequities abound in the data, too. The amount of added sugar consumed during hotter spells is proportionally much higher for low-income American families when compared to the wealthiest households — even up to five times the difference. The health implications of this could be enormous, according to He, including increased risk of diabetes, poor cardiovascular health, obesity, and several cancers, among other complications.  “The importance is why this is so,” added He. She explained that while the researchers didn’t examine the motivating factors behind this in their research, they did find that different working environments associated with social class could be contributing to the economic divide. Lower-income households tend to have occupations where people are working outdoors, exposing them more directly to heat spells.  Other experts aren’t sold on the significance of the new paper. Andrew Odegaard, associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at UC Irvine, who was not involved with the research, called the findings and language used by the authors “overstated” and “limited, with extremely strong assumptions.” According to Odegaard, the findings, while of “statistical significance,” are “likely immaterial from a basic clinical nutritional or health perspective.” He argued that the results “also contradict other more granular, comprehensive and representative data on added sugar intake in the US population, which has actually gone down/leveled off.”     To put these findings into clearer context, it helps to understand just how much Americans already consume. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control approximates that the average daily sugar consumption for Americans falls somewhere around 68 grams per person — which is equivalent to roughly 17 teaspoons. Kelly Horton, senior vice president of public policy & government relations at the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, noted that leading health authorities recommend a daily intake “significantly lower than this.” A 2023 study found that though added sugar consumption in the U.S. has declined in recent decades, “many Americans still consume too much,” while another recent study found one in three U.S. youths consume more than 15 percent of their daily total calories from added sugars. “We have seen with this study, and other studies, that Americans, especially children, are consuming way higher amounts in terms of added sugars and their diet,” said Eric Crosbie, a political scientist studying public health policy at the University of Nevada, Reno, who also did not participate in the new paper. Crosbie added that the scientists’ findings share connective tissue with a policy document out last week that has America’s public health community abuzz: the Trump administration’s long-awaited Make America Healthy Again strategy report. “So the way this ties into the MAHA report is there’s actually very little in [the MAHA report] about addressing the reduction of sugar with children. The stuff that is mentioned, it doesn’t seem like there’s a clear plan,” he said. “It’s a lot of lip service. It’s a lot of, they’ll say that they’ll address this, but there’s really no coherent plan or strategy.”  Read Next Trump’s latest USDA cuts undermine his plan to ‘Make America Healthy Again’ Ayurella Horn-Muller Led by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the MAHA document advances earlier statements from the administration about the urgent need to reform the diets of Americans to reduce chronic illnesses in kids. Though the plan calls the average American child’s diet a source of “declining health” and identifies excess sugar consumption as one of the contributing factors behind the issue — “sugar is poison” has been a rallying cry of RFK Jr. this year — food and nutrition experts say the commission’s roadmap lacks regulatory teeth.  For instance, noticeably absent from the plan is any mention of increasing taxes on sugary drinks, a strategy that has been proven to be highly effective in reducing household sugar consumption, according to Crosbie. An excise tax enacted between 2017 and 2018 on sugary beverages in Seattle, Boulder, Philadelphia, Oakland, and San Francisco yielded dramatic results when beverage product purchasing rates in all five cities fell by about 33 percent after retail prices were increased by 33.1 percent in the same timeframe. “That’s a big, big mistake to miss that,” said Crosbie. “A lot of us in the public health community feel the report has been hijacked by the corporations.”  Now, it appears as though the Trump administration may be poised to ignore another contributing factor to the high amount of sugar in Americans’ diets — climate change. Without concerted action to mitigate emissions, the new study demonstrates how the health burden of global warming could be magnified by the growing amount of excess sugar Americans are on track to consume as average temperatures continue to climb.  “We know that climate change is an existential public health threat, but there’s no mention of that in the MAHA report,” said Betsy Southerland, a 30-year veteran of the Environmental Protection Agency and former director of science and technology in the agency’s Office of Water. “The way the MAHA report is designed, it’s very much in line with the anti-climate scientists, the climate deniers in the Trump administration. There’s no mention of greenhouse gas at all.” Sutherland told Grist the report also omits any requests to regulate processed foods or dyes, and multiple pathways to toxic exposure — all of which affect the food supply.  “It’s a spin document,” said Southerland. “Don’t pay any attention to what it says, pay attention to what they do in this administration to protect children’s health.”  This story was originally published by Grist with the headline How climate change is fueling your sugar addiction on Sep 18, 2025.

Climate
Health
Food

The island that banned hives: can honeybees actually harm nature?

On a tiny Italian island, scientists conducted a radical experiment to see if the bees were causing their wild cousins to declineOff the coast of Tuscany is a tiny island in the shape of a crescent moon. An hour from mainland Italy, Giannutri has just two beaches for boats to dock. In summer, hundreds of tourists flock there, hiking to the red and white lighthouse on its southern tip before diving into the clear waters. In winter, its population dwindles to 10. The island’s rocky ridges are coated with thickets of rosemary and juniper, and in warmer months the air is sweetened by flowers and the gentle hum of bees.“Residents are people who like fishing, or being alone, or who have retired. Everyone has their story,” says Leonardo Dapporto, associate professor at the University of Florence.Giannutri island’s remote location made it a perfect open-air laboratory for the bee experiments. Photographs: Giuseppe Nucci Continue reading...

Off the coast of Tuscany is a tiny island in the shape of a crescent moon. An hour from mainland Italy, Giannutri has just two beaches for boats to dock. In summer, hundreds of tourists flock there, hiking to the red and white lighthouse on its southern tip before diving into the clear waters. In winter, its population dwindles to 10. The island’s rocky ridges are coated with thickets of rosemary and juniper, and in warmer months the air is sweetened by flowers and the gentle hum of bees.“Residents are people who like fishing, or being alone, or who have retired. Everyone has their story,” says Leonardo Dapporto, associate professor at the University of Florence.It was Giannutri’s isolation that drew scientists here. They were seeking a unique open-air laboratory to answer a question that has long intrigued ecologists: could honeybees be causing their wild bee cousins to decline?To answer this, they carried out a radical experiment. While Giannutri is too far from the mainland for honeybees to fly to it, 18 hives were set up on the island in 2018: a relatively contained, recently established population. Researchers got permission to shut the hives down, effectively removing most honeybees from the island.When the study began, the island’s human population temporarily doubled in size, as teams of scientists fanned out across the scrubland tracking bees. Then came the ban: they closed hives on selected days during the peak foraging period, keeping the honeybees in their hives for 11 hours a day. Local people were sceptical. “For them, we were doing silly and useless things,” says Dapporto. But the results were compelling.“‘Wow,’ was my first response,” says the lead researcher, Lorenzo Pasquali, from the University of Florence. When the data came together, “all the results were pointing in the same direction”.The findings, published in Current Biology earlier this year, found that over the four years after the honeybees were introduced, populations of two vital wild pollinators – bumblebees and anthophora – fell by “an alarming” 80%. When the honeybees were locked up, there was 30% more pollen for other pollinators, and the wild bee species were sighted more frequently. Scientists observed that the wild species appeared to take their time pollinating flowers during the lockups, displaying different foraging behaviour. “The effect is visible,” says Dapporto.Global bee battleIn terms of sheer abundance, the western honeybee (Apis mellifera) is the world’s most important single species of pollinator in wild ecosystems.Originally native to Africa, the Middle East and southern Europe, honeybees have been shipped around the planet by humans to every continent except Antarctica. The battles playing out on this small Italian island are likely to be echoed in ecosystems everywhere.While the number of honeybees is increasing (driven by commercial beekeeping) native pollinators are declining globally due to habitat loss, climate breakdown and use of chemicals in farming. But we are only beginning to understand how the great honeybee boom could also take a toll on wild pollinators.In southern Spain, where honeybee numbers have more than tripled since the 1960s, research shows managed honeybees spilling into flower-rich woodlands after the orange crop has bloomed. The result: increased competition with wild pollinators.During California’s annual almond bloom, about 90% of the US’s managed honeybees are recruited in to pollinate, with beekeepers trucking hives across the country to meet demand. “For this approximately month-long period, the impact of honeybees on native pollinators is likely huge,” says Dillon Travis from the University of California San Diego. During the off season – when honeybees are less in demand – beekeepers often keep them in wild ecosystems. “Native pollinators need to compete with millions of honeybees for limited food sources.”If conditions are right, honeybees go feral and set up colonies in the wild. A 2018 study looking at the presence of honeybees in natural ecosystems found them in 89% of sites.In California, feral honeybees are increasingly turning up in vast numbers in natural ecosystems hundreds of miles away from the almond fields.Honeybee takeoversEach spring, after the winter rains, San Diego’s coastal scrub landscape bursts into life. Sagebrush, white sage and buckwheat unfurl their leaves, throwing sweet aromas into the hot air. These sights and smells greeted graduate student Keng-Lou James Hung when he started studying this area of southern California in 2011, aged 22, after a well-regarded biologist told him it was one of the richest bee habitats on Earth.The landscape has all the hallmarks of a pristine ecosystem: no tractor has tilled the land, no cattle grazed it; few humans tread here. “You can equate it to primary growth Amazonian rainforest in terms of how intact and undisturbed the ecosystem is,” says Hung.It’s like a local grocery store trying to compete against Walmart. Once they’ve escaped there’s little we can do to stop honeybeesWhen Hung began his research, however, what he discovered flummoxed him. “I got to my field sites and all I was seeing were honeybees,” he remembers. “Imagine as an avid birder: you get to a pristine forest and all you are seeing are feral pigeons. That’s what was going on with me when I set foot in this habitat. It came as a shock.” Honeybees were everywhere – nesting in utility boxes, ground squirrel burrows and rock crevices.In July, Hung – now an assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma – published a paper finding 98% of all bee biomass (ie, the weight of all bees) in that area were feral honeybees. They removed about 80% of pollen during the first day a flower opened, according to the paper, published in the journal Insect Conservation and Diversity.Such high rates of pollen extraction leave little for the more than 700 species of native bees in the region, which need pollen to raise their offspring. Some of those species have not been seen for decades.Hung believes honeybees’ social structure gives them the edge. Using the “hive mind”, they communicate the locations of plants and remove most of the pollen early in the morning before native bees begin searching for food. Most other bees operate as single agents, making decisions in isolation.“It’s like a local grocery store trying to compete against Walmart,” says Hung. “Once they’ve escaped and established themselves there’s very little we can do to really stop honeybees. They’re very powerful and resilient creatures.”In 1956, some experimental “Africanised” honeybees were accidentally released from a research apiary in São Paulo, Brazil, spreading out across south and Central America and into California. Their expansion has been described as one of the “most spectacular biological invasions of all time”.Wider ecological effectsHabitat fragmentation, chemical use in farming and rising temperatures are key drivers of pollinator declines, but in areas such as in San Diego it is likely honeybees are also a significant contributing factor. “It is very difficult to imagine a scenario where a single species can remove four-fifths of all the pollen … without having too much of an impact on that ecosystem,” says Hung.Not only is it bad for native wild bees, it can have effects throughout the ecosystem.Studies have confirmed that plants in San Diego county are less healthy when pollinated by non-native honeybees. Potential impacts include fewer seeds germinating, and those that do may be smaller and produce fewer flowers. “This may create an ‘extinction vortex’,” says Travis, where less-healthy plants breed over generations until they can no longer survive. “I am unaware of any studies that determined that honeybees are beneficial where they are not native, excluding agricultural areas,” he says.In some parts of Australia and America – where honeybees are not native – they can reach densities of up to 100 colonies per square kilometre. In regions such as Europe, where they are native, the picture is different.There are about 75,000 free-living honeybee colonies across the UK, according to research last year, which was the first to quantify the density of these colonies. Based on these estimates, more than 20% of the UK’s honeybee population could be wild-living. “In Europe, the honeybee is a native species and low densities of wild-living colonies are natural components of many ecosystems,” says researcher Oliver Visick from the University of Sussex.Visick has found densities of up to four wild-living colonies per square kilometre in historic deer parks in Sussex and Kent. “At these densities, wild-living colonies are unlikely to have a negative impact on other wild pollinators,” he says.In ecosystems where honeybees are introduced, scientists say there should be more guidance on where large-scale beekeepers keep their hives after crops have bloomed to reduce their impact on native species. In other areas, such as islands, relocation or removal may be feasible.The honeybee-free islandOn Giannutri, when researchers told national park authorities their results they banned bee-keeping on the island.The island, which is part of the Tuscan Archipelago national park, has been honeybee-free for more than a year and may now serve as a cautionary tale to other protected areas planning to introduce honeybees. Since the hives were removed, at least one of the species scientists have been monitoring appears to have slightly increased.The story unfolding on this little Italian island and the scrublands of San Diego shows that honeybees may not be the universal environmental stewards we paint them to be, and challenges the popular view that they are the best way to save nosediving pollinator numbers. Unchecked, they can cast a long shadow over fragile ecosystems that some might believe they help preserve.When the scientists returned to Giannutri, “It was a bit weird to go back to the island this year without the honeybees around. We were used to seeing them everywhere all over the island,” says Pasquali. “I was happy to observe the island in this new condition.”Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow the biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield in the Guardian app for more nature coverage

Nature
Water
Climate

Australia announces higher emissions cuts by 2035

The country is one of the world's biggest carbon emitters per capita.

Australia, one of the world's biggest polluters per capita, will aim to cut its carbon emissions by at least 62% compared to 2005 levels over the next decade.The nation - which has faced global criticism for its continued reliance on fossil fuels - had previously pledged to reduce greenhouse gases by 43% by 2030."This is a responsible target supported by science and a practical plan to get there, built on proven technology," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said when unveiling the new target on Thursday.A landmark risk assessment commissioned by the government this week warned Australia faced a future of increasingly extreme weather conditions as a result of man-made climate change.Setting a target to reduce emissions from 2005 levels is part of Australia's obligation under the Paris Climate Agreement.The new target is in line with an emission reduction benchmark – of between 62% and 70% – that was recommended by the Climate Change Authority, a government body which provides climate policy advice, Albanese said.The prime minister will confirm the commitment at a meeting of the UN General Assembly in New York later this month.The 2015 Paris Climate Agreement saw world leaders agree to keep global temperatures from rising 1.5C above those of the late 19th Century, which is seen as crucial to preventing the most damaging impacts of climate change.Australia, like much of the world, has faced an increasing number of climate-related weather extremes in recent years including severe drought, historic bushfires and successive years of record-breaking floods.Warmer seas have also caused mass bleaching at its world-famous Great Barrier Reef in Queensland and Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia. On Monday, a report into the impact of climate change - the first of its kind in the country - found Australia had already reached warming of above 1.5C and that no community would be immune from "cascading, compounding and concurrent" climate risks.It warned that if the government failed to take stronger action there would be more heatwave-related deaths, poorer water quality due to severe flooding and bushfires, and sea level rises that would threaten 1.5 million people. It also warned of a A$611bn ($406bn; £300bn) drop in property values as a result of such threats.However, Australia's climate agenda and its ambition to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 remain divisive political topics. The country's opposition party, the Liberal National coalition, is internally debating whether it should continue to support the net zero emissions goal, while other parliamentarians - including many independent and Greens MPs - are calling for faster cuts.Opposition leader Sussan Ley on Thursday said the coalition was "dead against" the new target, saying that it failed on both "cost and credibility".Shortly after Albanese's Labor government was elected in 2022 it set higher climate targets, up from the conservative coalition's previous target of between 26% and 28%.It has sought to make Australia a "renewable energy superpower", but has also continued to approve fossil fuel projects. Last week, one of the country's largest gas projects - Woodside's North West Shelf - was given the greenlight to keep operating for another 40 years until 2070, in a move that was widely condemned by climate experts and environmental advocates. Australian Greens Larissa Waters labelled the move a "betrayal" by Labor.

Climate
Energy
Government

‘It’s not just our houses’: can a Scottish village save Queen Elizabeth’s coastal path from the waves?

The people of Johnshaven have watched the sea edge closer and closer. Preserving the path is key to protecting their communityPhotographs by Murdo MacLeodWhen Charis Duthie moved to Johnshaven with her husband in 1984, she could cycle along the coastal path out of the village. Now, she meets a dead end where the sea has snatched the land and is instead greeted with a big red warning sign of what is to come: Danger Coastal Erosion.“You can see gardens that were there and now they’re gone,” she says.Johnshaven, on Scotland’s North Sea coast, will attract more visitors if it has a well maintained coastal path Continue reading...

When Charis Duthie moved to Johnshaven with her husband in 1984, she could cycle along the coastal path out of the village. Now, she meets a dead end where the sea has snatched the land and is instead greeted with a big red warning sign of what is to come: Danger Coastal Erosion.“You can see gardens that were there and now they’re gone,” she says.The north-east coast of Scotland is experiencing a rapidly worsening erosion problem that will only be exacerbated by recurrent patterns of extreme weather and rising sea levels.Johnshaven, a small village with a close-knit community of 640 people about 30 miles (48km) south of Aberdeen, is particularly exposed.The village’s paths bear the scars of coastal erosion in the form of craters in the well-trodden rock, while some, such as the one Duthie points to, have disappeared altogether. The latest was taken from the village in 2023 during one of the many extreme storms that winter.Finding a solution to the problem has taken on an urgency like never before. Three years ago came the announcement of the Platinum Jubilee Path, named in honour of Queen Elizabeth II’s 70 years on the throne. The aim is for it to start in St Cyrus, four miles south of Johnshaven, and end about 90 miles further north in Cullen, a village with close associations to Robert the Bruce.With the markets that have traditionally fuelled its economy – fishing and oil and gas – dwindling, Johnshaven wants to attract more visitors through the coastal path plans. The aim is to be part of Scotland’s Great Trails, which offers a map of named, walkable trails around Scotland. Currently, there is a gap in the map along the north-east coast between Aberdeen and Dundee, and Johnshaven sits in the middle of it.For Duthie, 71, helping to fill this gap is an increasingly daunting task. She is part of a small team called the Mearns Coastal Heritage Trail (Merchat) who work to restore and create coastal paths in Aberdeenshire. But as they work in one area, the sea snatches land away in another.“A lot of what we are trying to do is to prevent erosion with rock armour, which is really the only secure method,” she says.Rock armour, sometimes known as riprap, is made up of big boulders and rocks placed along the coastline to protect against the waves.To complete areas of the trail, Merchat has had to gain funding through grant applications. The food ingredients firm Macphie has donated £30,000, and a further £40,000 has come from Aberdeenshire council’s allocation of crown estate Scotland cash from the Coastal Communities Fund, money allocated by the government to help coastal communities “flourish and strengthen their appeal as places to live, work and visit”.Caspar Lampkin, project officer for the Aberdeenshire coastal paths on Benholm and Johnshaven community council, says further help from Aberdeenshire council is likely to be minimal. “They’ve told us that they don’t have the resources to do anything,” he says.“If small villages want anything like this to happen, it has got to be locally led, because we’re not going to get much help from the government or the local council.”Since April, Duthie, Lampkin and the Merchat team have been working to establish a way to apply for designated funding. “We have now started a charity called the North East Scotland Coastal Trust [Nescat] and we are paddling very fast to get the whole thing established and get going with it,” says Duthie.Meanwhile, another issue beyond access to the beautiful scenery is becoming increasingly urgent, says Lampkin. The community council has identified 100 houses in the village at risk of flooding from the sea in the coming years if no action is taken on erosion.If it’s a high tide, it’s stormy and there’s wind, those elements blow water in the houseWhile the focus of the team’s work is meant to be on restoring the paths, he says that any funding they get will probably need to be used on rock armour in areas that could protect housing along the path.Angie Dunsire, 74, walks no more than 10 steps from her doorstep before reaching the eroding coast.She has lived in Johnshaven for 32 years on the aptly named Beach Road. She says she gets a call from the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency every time there is a risk of flooding.As Storm Floris approached in August, they called. “You have to be careful and listen,” she says. “We had a little bit [of water] in [the house] the other day because if it’s a high tide, it’s stormy and there’s wind, those elements blow it in.”Dunsire is scared of what the North Sea is capable of. In the distance there is a reminder. Sitting only three miles from Johnshaven is Miltonhaven – or what is left of it.It is reported by Duncan Fraser, in the book Portrait of a Parish, written in the 1970s about the parish of St Cyrus, that Miltonhaven was taken by the North Sea after Robert Scott of Dunninald arrived in the village in the 1700s.“What first drew his attention was the limestone rock that stretched in a reef across the bay, like a natural breakwater guarding the little village from the angry sea,” writes Fraser.Scott was from a family that built lime kilns to produce fertiliser for fields. From about 1750 Scott removed most of this limestone rock for his business, so the story goes, leaving the village exposed.By the 1790s, Fraser wrote, the waves had taken the “entire village”, which now lies underwater 100 yards from the shore.In an effort to right some of those so easily visible wrongs from the past, the stretch of path along Johnshaven’s Beach Road will be the first focus for rock armour with any funding the community can muster. But rock armour is expensive – about £1,000 for a small truckload – so it’s likely there won’t be much left over for path building.“People say, well it’s just your houses why go to all this expense?” says Dunsire. “Well it’s not just our houses it’s the road that goes right through the village to the park and further on.“We’re supposed to be using the coastal path and extending that. What is the point if this [the land and road along the coast] goes?”A Scottish government spokesperson says it has provided local authorities with £11.7m to support coastal change adaptation, while Aberdeenshire council says its overall budget for coast protection is £75,000 and there are no plans for any new protection works in Johnshaven. It says support and advice has been given in the setting up of Nescat and that it is not aware of any issues with the part of Beach Road that is council owned.

Business
Food
Government

The Insect Apocalypse Hits Fiji: 79% of Native Ants Are Vanishing

Seventy-nine percent of endemic species are showing declines, underscoring how fragile island biodiversity is in the face of ecosystem changes. Insects play essential roles in ecosystems, from pollinating plants to driving decomposition and maintaining nutrient cycles. Their diversity and abundance are crucial for ecological stability, yet recent evidence of widespread declines has raised serious concerns [...]

Museum collection of pinned ants from Fiji. This study involved extensive genome sampling from thousands of Fijian ant specimens, highlighting the vital importance of these museum collections as resources for biodiversity monitoring and conservation.  Credit: Peter GinterSeventy-nine percent of endemic species are showing declines, underscoring how fragile island biodiversity is in the face of ecosystem changes. Insects play essential roles in ecosystems, from pollinating plants to driving decomposition and maintaining nutrient cycles. Their diversity and abundance are crucial for ecological stability, yet recent evidence of widespread declines has raised serious concerns about how insects are adapting to modern environmental pressures. Determining whether these declines reflect long-term trends is key for global conservation strategies and for uncovering the causes of what has been called the “Insect Apocalypse.” In a study published in Science, scientists from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) applied a community genomics approach to investigate ant populations in Fiji as a model for broader insect biodiversity. By sequencing genomes from museum specimens, they reconstructed the ants’ evolutionary history, traced when species first colonized the islands, and examined long-term population dynamics. Conservation monitoring often emphasizes large, charismatic animals and ecosystems that are easier to survey, such as temperate regions. Yet many insects are believed to be undergoing steep declines, and island ecosystems—rich in unique species—are particularly vulnerable. Dr. Evan Economo, Professor at OIST and the University of Maryland and senior author of the study, explained, “It can be difficult to estimate historical changes to insect populations, because with few exceptions, we haven’t been directly monitoring populations over time. We take a novel approach to this problem by analyzing the genomes of many species in parallel from museum specimens collected recently. The genomes hold evidence of whether populations are growing or shrinking, allowing us to reconstruct community-wide changes.” During their fieldwork, the researchers sampled ants in Fiji by using bags to extract them from leaf litter, among other methods. Credit: Evan EconomoThe team’s findings were striking: 79% of Fiji’s endemic ant species—those found nowhere else—show signs of decline, with the timing of these reductions aligning with human arrival on the islands. In contrast, non-native ant species introduced by people are expanding rapidly. Much of the decline appears to have intensified within the last several hundred years, coinciding with European contact, colonization, global trade, and the spread of modern agriculture. A community-wide approach By focusing on the Fijian archipelago, a region of long-term interest to the researchers, they were able to get a broad, comprehensive overview of the population changes and colonization history of almost all the different ant species in the region. “Being closed, isolated ecosystems, islands are expected to feel the effects of human impact faster, so they are kind of a canary in the coal mine,” notes Dr. Cong Liu, first author on this paper. However, studying the populations of tropical islands is not without challenges. Often, fieldwork can be extremely difficult, and it isn’t easy to do continuous surveys. Therefore, instead of relying on real-time field monitoring, here the team used museum collections built across decades of fieldwork, including both the team’s previous collection efforts and those by other entomologists. Museumomics: reconstructing ant colonization One challenge of using museum collections is that DNA degrades over time. Therefore, the researchers had to use special sequencing methods (museumomics) to compare small fragments of DNA. In this study, they sequenced samples of genomes from thousands of ants from over one hundred different confirmed ant species. Using these data, they identified 65 separate instances (colonization events) where new ant species came to the island. These ranged from natural colonization (i.e. arrival of the ants with no human involvement) millions of years ago, to recent human introduction after Fiji became part of global trade networks. A small selection of the species encountered by the team in Fiji. A) Acropyga sp. FJ02 (endemic) carrying mealybug. B) Hypoponera eutrepta (endemic) carrying larva. C) Tetramorium lanuginosum (introduced). D) Colobopsis dentata (endemic). E) Odontomachus simillimus (Pacific native). F) Colobopsis polynesica (endemic). Credit: Eli SarnatBuilding on this history, the researchers were able to use their population genetics models to identify the rise or decline in population of different ant groups throughout the Fijian archipelago, noting the decline of endemic species, as well as dramatic increases in population of non-native species in more recent years. Island endemic species have often evolved traits that make them sensitive to environmental changes, including the arrival of new, damaging species. “Most recorded extinctions have historically been from island systems,” adds Dr. Liu. Going beyond the archipelago The team hopes that this work can act as inspiration for future work to continue building scientific understanding of insect populations, and to inform conservation efforts. “This study also highlights the importance of biodiversity and museum collections,” explains Professor Alexander Mikheyev of the Australian National University, a senior author on this study. “As our scientific toolbox expands, there is more and more information that we are able to capture from biodiversity collections, so it’s essential that we continue investing in and maintaining these vital resources.” The team are looking into this locally as well, to measure the biodiversity of Okinawan insect populations in real-time through acoustic monitoring and trapping as part of the Okinawa Environmental Observation Network (OKEON). “Insects are essential for the environment,” emphasizes Prof. Economo. “As scientists, we need to play our part in their protection, and provide and analyze the relevant data to ensure the long-term integrity of our ecosystems.” Reference: “Genomic signatures indicate biodiversity loss in an endemic island ant fauna” by Cong Liu, Eli Sarnat, Jo Ann Tan, Julia Janicki, John Deyrup, Masako Ogasawara, Miquel L. Grau, Lijun Qiu, Francisco Hita Garcia, Georg Fischer, Akanisi Caginitoba, Nitish Narula, Clive T. Darwell, Yasuhiro Kubota, Naomi E. Pierce, Alexander S. Mikheyev and Evan P. Economo, 11 September 2025, Science.DOI: 10.1126/science.ads3004 Funding: Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University Never miss a breakthrough: Join the SciTechDaily newsletter.

Agriculture
Animals
Conservation

Are Five Senses Holding Us Back? Scientists Say We Could Use Seven

A mathematical model shows memory capacity is maximized when represented by seven features. The study links this to the potential for seven senses, with applications in AI and neuroscience. Skoltech researchers have developed a mathematical model to study how memory works. Their analysis led to unexpected insights that may advance the design of robots, artificial [...]

A new mathematical model of memory hints that seven senses, not five, may be the optimal number for maximizing mental capacity. Credit: ShutterstockA mathematical model shows memory capacity is maximized when represented by seven features. The study links this to the potential for seven senses, with applications in AI and neuroscience. Skoltech researchers have developed a mathematical model to study how memory works. Their analysis led to unexpected insights that may advance the design of robots, artificial intelligence, and our understanding of human memory. The study, published in Scientific Reports, suggests there could be an ideal number of senses. If that is true, then humans with five senses might actually benefit from having a few more. “Our conclusion is, of course, highly speculative in application to human senses, although you never know: It could be that humans of the future would evolve a sense of radiation or magnetic field. But in any case, our findings may be of practical importance for robotics and the theory of artificial intelligence,” said study co-author Professor Nikolay Brilliantov of Skoltech AI. “It appears that when each concept retained in memory is characterized in terms of seven features — as opposed to, say, five or eight — the number of distinct objects held in memory is maximized.” Modeling memory engrams Building on a framework established in the early 20th century, the team focused on the basic units of memory known as “engrams.” An engram can be described as a sparse network of neurons distributed across different brain regions that activate together. Its conceptual content is an idealized object defined by multiple characteristics. In human memory, these characteristics map to sensory inputs. For instance, the memory of a banana would include its image, smell, taste, and other sensory details. Altogether, this forms a five-dimensional representation that exists within a larger five-dimensional space containing all other stored concepts. The five senses. Credit: Modified by Nicolas Posunko/Skoltech from image generated by Deep Style (Abstract) model on Deep Dream GeneratorOver time, engrams can become more refined or more diffuse depending on how frequently they are triggered by external stimuli acting through the senses, which in turn recall the memory of the object. This process represents how learning strengthens memories while disuse leads to forgetting through environmental interaction. “We have mathematically demonstrated that the engrams in the conceptual space tend to evolve toward a steady state, which means that after some transient period, a ‘mature’ distribution of engrams emerges, which then persists in time,” Brilliantov commented. “As we consider the ultimate capacity of a conceptual space of a given number of dimensions, we somewhat surprisingly find that the number of distinct engrams stored in memory in the steady state is the greatest for a concept space of seven dimensions. Hence, the seven senses claim.” Maximizing conceptual space In other words, let the objects that exist out there in the world be described by a finite number of features corresponding to the dimensions of some conceptual space. Suppose that we want to maximize the capacity of the conceptual space expressed as the number of distinct concepts associated with these objects. The greater the capacity of the conceptual space, the deeper the overall understanding of the world. It turns out that the maximum is attained when the dimension of the conceptual space is seven. From this, the researchers conclude that seven is the optimal number of senses. According to the researchers, this number does not depend on the details of the model — the properties of the conceptual space and the stimuli providing the sense impressions. The number seven appears to be a robust and persistent feature of memory engrams as such. One caveat is that multiple engrams of differing sizes existing around a common center are deemed to represent similar concepts and are therefore treated as one when calculating memory capacity. The memory of humans and other living beings is an enigmatic phenomenon tied to the property of consciousness, among other things. Advancing the theoretical models of memory will be instrumental to gaining new insights into the human mind and recreating humanlike memory in AI agents. Reference: “The critical dimension of memory engrams and an optimal number of senses” by Wendy Otieno, Ivan Y. Tyukin and Nikolay Brilliantov, 15 August 2025, Scientific Reports.DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-11244-y Never miss a breakthrough: Join the SciTechDaily newsletter.

Science
Nature

State-Funded Gun Range in South Dakota Nearly Finished, Expected to Open in November

The South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks Department hopes to have a mostly state-funded gun range near Rapid City ready for public use in early November

PIEDMONT, S.D. (AP) — Dust plumes rose frequently along a gravel section of Elk Vale Road on the open prairie of Meade County, South Dakota in early September where workers are vigorously trying to finish a gun range that will be among the nation’s largest.Plumbers, landscapers, equipment operators and construction crews were all busy working or driving to or from the 400-acre site. The goal, according to the South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks Department, is to have the range, located about 12 miles north of Rapid City, ready for public use on Saturday, Nov. 8.Construction on the range – now known as the Pete Lien & Sons Shooting Sports Complex – has happened quickly and is going along smoothly, far different from the long, up-and-down path the project went through in the planning and funding processes.The range proposal was raised by the GFP in 2021 with strong support from former Gov. Kristi Noem. Despite opposition by some lawmakers and neighbors, it is close to completion and is creating a buzz among shooting enthusiasts across the state and region, said John Kanta, a GFP section chief.“There’s a tremendous amount of excitement among folks who want to start using it,” he said. “Some weeks we’re hearing from people daily who are super excited to get out there and start shooting or get their events scheduled.”The $20 million range will include 160 rifle, handgun and shotgun shooting bays, a tactical shooting range for shooting and moving, and a 10,000 square-foot main building that can house events, law enforcement training and firearm education, Kanta said. Some lawmakers opposed funding mechanism Almost immediately after the range proposal was announced, both support and opposition arose within the South Dakota Legislature.While some lawmakers have supported construction as a way to serve the public and potentially generate millions of dollars in annual tourism revenue, others have been bothered by the way the project has been funded.Rep. Liz May, a Republican from Kyle, opposed the use of taxpayer money to build the range. May, who serves on the Joint Committee on Appropriations, said lawmakers defeated six separate bills or funding mechanisms brought forward by range supporters.“We kept killing it, and they kept bringing it back and bringing it back,” May told News Watch. “I’ve got nothing against guns or gun ranges. But that’s just not an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars.”May was particularly bothered when Noem allocated $13.5 million in Future Fund dollars toward construction of the range in 2024.The Future Fund consists of money collected from most South Dakota businesses as part of unemployment compensation fees. The money is required to be used for “workforce development and technical assistance programs” for workers, including those who have been laid off. Grants are made by the Governor’s Office of Economic Development and do not require legislative approval.“There was opposition from landowners and lawmakers, and they basically just ignored all that and went around the process by using those Future Funds,” May said. “With the whole thing — they really stepped outside the boundaries.” Donors step in to complete project GFP officials promised that donations would help fund the construction of the gun range, and their plan has succeeded, with more than $6.3 million either donated or pledged for the project so far.According to a GFP budget document, obtained by News Watch through a public records request, more than $3 million has been donated and another $3.3 million has been pledged over the next five years by corporations, individuals and groups that support the project.About a third of the donations have come from firearm industry businesses or groups that support shooting. The top donation of $800,000 with a commitment to give another $1.2 million in the next three years came from Pete Lien & Sons, a Rapid City concrete company that is now the namesake of the range.The next largest donation of $600,000 came from South Dakota Youth Hunting Adventures, a charity group, followed by $200,000 from Scull Construction of Rapid City and $150,000 each from firearm manufacturers Smith & Wesson and Glock.Annual ongoing expenses at the range will be about $400,000 and include three full-time employees and some seasonal workers as well as upkeep, Kanta said. Those costs will be covered by permit fees paid by some users, support from government agencies that use the range for training and possibly from some federal grant funds, he said.“No general fund money will be used,” Kanta said. Some neighbor opposition remains Joe Norman and his wife, Diane, own a home and a 7,600-acre cattle ranch in Meade County with borders that extend to within close proximity of the gun range site.Norman, 69, is one of several ranchers and landowners in the area who oppose the location of the gun range. After testifying before the Legislature and opposing the range in public meetings, he is resigned to the fact the range is about to become reality.Yet Norman remains concerned about heavy traffic on gravel roads in the area, disruption of his cattle, and the noise from the repeated firing of handguns and rifles.“If they’ve got 175 shooting bays and it’s full, that’s potentially 175 shots every minute. And if they do that for 10 to 12 hours a day, I think the noise is going to be unbelievable,” Norman told News Watch. “The roads have also gone to heck with all the construction traffic.”Initially, the range was expected to have 175 shooting bays, though that number has been reduced to 160, Kanta said.Norman said he’s already heard some shooting at the site, even though the formal opening is not until November. He’s concerned that promises to keep the noise level under 64 decibels will be difficult or impossible to monitor and enforce.Noise from the range will be reduced by the natural topography of the land and by berms and baffling that will help stifle sound, Kanta said. Shooters will aim to the east and northeast where there are no structures for miles, and lead bullets will be captured and contained within federal environmental guidelines, he said.As part of an agreement with Meade County, a 3-mile section of Elk Vale Road leading to the range will also be paved in the coming months to reduce dust from vehicles.Norman said he’s disappointed that, in his opinion, the concerns of neighbors were largely ignored by the GFP, state officials and lawmakers who supported the range and were determined to find a way to get it funded and built.“We were fighting the governor, the lieutenant governor and legislators,” he said. “It feels like the GFP responses have all been smoke and mirrors.” Excitement building for new shooting option Despite its strong firearm culture, South Dakota has a fairly limited number of gun ranges. And one argument from range supporters was that more controlled shooting sites were needed to prevent gun owners from leaving messes and creating nuisances at unofficial shooting sites in the Black Hills.The GFP operates 20 public shooting sites, though most are for archery and only seven allow firearm discharges. Those that allow firearms include North Point in Lake Andes, Oahe Downstream in Fort Pierre, Louis Smith near Mobridge, Brule Bottom north of Chamberlain and South Shore in Codington County.This interactive map on the GFP website includes location and consumer information for 67 public and private shooting range sites in the state, though many have limited access or are for archery only.A few ranges are outdoors and allow easy public access, such as the Fall River Gun Club near Hot Springs and the Watertown Area Shooting Complex. A few ranges are indoors, including at Gary’s Gun Shop in Sioux Falls.The large size, wide range of shooting options and quality of amenities at the new state range will make it a destination for shooting enthusiasts across the state and nation and possibly even internationally, said Mark Blote, a co-owner of First Stop Gun & Coin in Rapid City.Blote visited the range site in early September and was impressed with the progress. Excitement over the range’s opening is palpable in the firearms community and in the local tourism industry, he said.“I think it’s going to be great for the gun folks in our area. But it’s truly a world-class facility, so it will do a lot for the economy,” Blote said. “It’s going to bring in a lot of competitions, which will help the hotels and restaurants.”This story was originally published by South Dakota News Watch and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See – Sept. 2025

Business
Culture
Education

Microplastics May Trigger Alzheimer’s-Like Brain Damage

College of Pharmacy Professor Jaime Ross has discovered that cognitive decline occurs in a sex-dependent manner, mirroring patterns observed in humans. Tiny fragments of plastic, known as microplastics and nanoplastics, are now so widespread in the environment that they regularly make their way into our bodies through the food we eat, the water we drink, [...]

A University of Rhode Island study suggests micro- and nanoplastics can accumulate in the brain, potentially accelerating Alzheimer’s symptoms in genetically at-risk individuals. Credit: StockCollege of Pharmacy Professor Jaime Ross has discovered that cognitive decline occurs in a sex-dependent manner, mirroring patterns observed in humans. Tiny fragments of plastic, known as microplastics and nanoplastics, are now so widespread in the environment that they regularly make their way into our bodies through the food we eat, the water we drink, and even the air we breathe. A new study from the University of Rhode Island’s College of Pharmacy reports that these particles can travel throughout the body, reaching organs such as the brain, where they may build up and contribute to conditions resembling Alzheimer’s disease. This research builds on earlier work showing that microplastics are capable of passing through the blood-brain barrier, a natural defense system that usually shields the brain from harmful agents as tiny as viruses and bacteria. Assistant Professor Jaime Ross extended the investigation to explore how these plastics affect brain function. Her team’s results suggest that the accumulation of micro- and nanoplastics in the brain may play a role in memory loss and cognitive decline, particularly in people with certain genetic risk factors for Alzheimer’s. Testing Microplastic Exposure in Mice Ross’ latest study, published recently in the journal Environmental Research Communications, examined mice that had been genetically modified to include the naturally occurring gene APOE4, a strong indicator of Alzheimer’s risk, making people 3.5 times more likely to develop the disease than those who carry the APOE3 variant of the gene that is passed from parents to offspring. URI College of Pharmacy Assistant Professor Jaime Ross has found links between micro- and nanoplastics and Alzheimer’s Disease in mice. Credit: URI Communications“In these mice, like in people, it’s not a guarantee that you’re going to see any changes in cognition. You could have identical twins both carrying APOE4, one totally cognitively healthy, and the other could develop Alzheimer’s disease,” Ross said. “So that tells us there’s something about lifestyle, something about the environment going on. There are modifiable factors we’re studying related to Alzheimer’s–diet, exercise, vitamins, and especially environmental toxins like microplastics. If you carry the APOE4, and you happen to consume a lot of microplastics, will this contribute to Alzheimer’s disease?” To find out, Ross and her team exposed two groups of mice—one with the APOE4 variant and one with APOE3—to micro- and nanoplastics in their drinking water over a period of three weeks. The tiny particles from polystyrene—among the most abundant plastics in the world, found in Styrofoam take-out containers, plastic cups, and more—infiltrated the mice’ organs, including the brain, as expected. The research included a control group from each APOE designation did not receive microplastic exposure. Ross’ team then ran the mice through a series of tests to examine their cognitive ability, beginning with an open-field test, in which researchers put a mouse in a chamber and allow it to explore at will for 90 minutes. Ordinarily, a mouse will hug the walls, naturally attempting to hide from potential predators. However, after microplastic exposure, the APOE4 mice—especially the male mice—tended to wander more in the middle of the chamber and spend time in open space, leaving themselves vulnerable to predators. Behavioral and Memory Changes To test their ability to recognize novel objects, Ross placed mice in an open chamber with two distinct objects. After having time to explore the objects, the mice were removed and returned later, this time with one of the objects replaced with a different shape. The female mice with APOE4 and microplastic exposure were slow to recognize the novel objects, if they did at all, a sign of cognitive decline affecting memory. “In the first test, you can see the males are spending more time and resting more in the center of the arena. In females, we saw changes in novel object recognition,” Ross said. “In human Alzheimer’s patients, men tend to experience more changes in apathy; they care less. Women experience more changes in memory. So the memory and the apathy connection are pretty clear: When you expose animals that are carrying the largest known risk factor in humans for developing Alzheimer’s disease to micro- and nanopastics, lo and behold, their behavior changes in a sex-dependent manner similar to the sex-dependent differences we see with Alzheimer’s patients.” A Growing Environmental and Health Crisis The results are concerning enough to warrant further study into the cognitive decline caused by exposure to micro- and nanoplastics, which are among the most prominent environmental toxins to which people are routinely exposed. (A separate URI study released in 2023 revealed of the extent to which microplastics accumulate in the environment, shockingly finding that the top two inches of the floor of Narragansett Bay contain more than 1,000 tons of microplastics.) Ross is continuing to expand her research into the topic and encourages others to do so, in the hope of leading to better regulation of the toxins. The Microplastics Safety Act, introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in July, would direct the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to study the human health impacts of microplastics in food and water, specifically focusing on vulnerabilities for children, the endocrine and reproductive systems, and links to cancer and chronic illnesses. “There has not been a lot of money spent on the human health impacts of microplastics,” Ross said, noting she is in regular discussion with the Rhode Island Congressional delegation about the need for regulation. “It’s interesting that what we’re seeing in mice is similar to what we’re seeing in the real world. We want to encourage further research into the scourge of micro- and nanoplastics.” Reference: “Short-term exposure to polystyrene microplastics alters cognition, immune, and metabolic markers in an apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype and sex-dependent manner” by Lauren Gaspar, Sydney Bartman, Hannah Tobias-Wallingford, Giuseppe Coppotelli and Jaime M Ross, 20 August 2025, Environmental Research Communications.DOI: 10.1088/2515-7620/adf8ae Never miss a breakthrough: Join the SciTechDaily newsletter.

Food
Water
Crisis

First-ever global plastic pellet cleanup spurs calls for EPA regs

A new report highlights the scale of environmental pollution tied to the plastic pieces, prompting calls for a clampdown on discharges into waterways.

A new report highlights the scale of environmental pollution tied to the plastic pieces, prompting calls for a clampdown on discharges into waterways.

Pollution
Water

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