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    Large parts of the United States and Europe experienced unusually high temperatures during the Christmas period, prompting climate scientists to describe the phenomenon as a “winter heatwave” and, in some regions, a “winterless Christmas.” The unseasonal warmth has been linked to persistent high-pressure systems in the atmosphere, with climate change amplifying the intensity of these events. In the days leading up to Christmas, vast areas of the US recorded daytime temperatures as much as 20 degrees Celsius higher than the seasonal average. Regions across the West, Plains, Midwest, South and Southeast were affected, with temperatures running 15 to 25 degrees Fahrenheit above normal, and in some locations soaring 25 to 35 degrees Fahrenheit higher than usual. Clima...

    The Delhi government has decided to develop four model road stretches across the city to reduce dust-related air pollution, officials from the Public Works Department said. At least one of these roads will be located in south Delhi. The initiative aims to eliminate exposed soil patches that contribute heavily to dust pollution, especially during dry weather. Under the plan, all selected roads will be paved continuously from one end to the other, leaving no unpaved or “brown” areas. These stretches will be redesigned with proper footpaths, green belts and plantation on exposed patches to prevent loose soil from becoming airborne. Officials said this model will eventually be extended to all major arterial roads, including the Ring Road and Outer Ring Road, to create du...

    A remarkable discovery made by an 11-year-old girl during a simple beach walk has led scientists to identify what may be the largest marine reptile ever to have lived on Earth. The finding is now reshaping scientific understanding of prehistoric oceans and the true size of ancient marine predators. The fossil, a massive lower jawbone measuring more than two metres in length, was discovered in 2020 on the coast of Blue Anchor in Somerset, southwest England. The bone was found by schoolgirl Ruby Reynolds and her father while fossil hunting along the shoreline. Scientists later confirmed that it belongs to a previously unknown species of giant ichthyosaur, now named Ichthyotitan severnensis. Researchers determined that the newly identified species lived around 202 mi...

    Wildfires in the Arctic tundra of Alaska have reached levels not seen at any point in the last 3,000 years, according to a new scientific study that warns of accelerating climate-driven changes in one of the world’s coldest ecosystems. The study, conducted by an international team of researchers from Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom, Romania and the University of Alaska Fairbanks, found that tundra fire activity during the past century has surpassed anything recorded since around 1000 B.C. The findings highlight how warming temperatures are reshaping the Arctic landscape in alarming ways. Researchers used a multidisciplinary approach to reconstruct the region’s fire history by extracting peat soil cores from nine sites north of Alaska’s Brooks Range, along the ...

    Lightning kills more people in India than any other natural disaster, yet it continues to be treated as an understated threat because of its scattered and localised nature, experts warned at a national conference held in New Delhi. Scientists, disaster management officials and meteorologists gathered at the 9th National Lightning Conference at Prithvi Bhavan on December 22, 2025, called for a stronger scientific understanding of atmospheric electricity, improved detection infrastructure and deeper community-level preparedness to further reduce lightning-related deaths. Experts said that as the climate warms, thunderstorms are becoming more intense and frequent, leading to a rise in lightning strikes across the country. This makes it critical to develop more detail...

    In a significant scientific discovery, researchers from the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) have identified a new species of Collembola, commonly known as springtails, in the high-altitude regions of Sikkim. The finding once again highlights the Eastern Himalayas as one of the world’s most important biodiversity hotspots and adds valuable new knowledge to India’s entomological records. The newly discovered species has been named Neelus sikkimensis. This is the first time a species from the genus Neelus has been recorded in India, taking the total number of known species in this genus worldwide to eight. The discovery was made by the Apterygota Section of ZSI, led by scientists Gurupada Mandal and Kusumendra Kumar Suman. Their research has been published in the Journ...

    Gold has long been considered one of the most unreactive metals on Earth, valued for its stability and resistance to chemical change. But scientists have now discovered that under extreme pressure and heat, gold can behave very differently. In a high-pressure laboratory experiment, researchers accidentally created a brand-new material called gold hydride, overturning gold’s reputation as an almost inert metal. The discovery happened during an experiment designed to study how hydrocarbons transform into diamonds under crushing pressure and intense heat. Scientists placed tiny samples between the tips of a diamond anvil cell, a device capable of recreating conditions found deep inside planets. A thin foil of gold was included in the setup simply to absorb X-rays and he...

    Lightning kills more people in India than any other natural disaster, yet it continues to be treated as an understated threat because of its scattered and localised nature, experts warned at a national conference held in New Delhi. Scientists, disaster management officials and meteorologists gathered at the 9th National Lightning Conference at Prithvi Bhavan on December 22, 2025, called for a stronger scientific understanding of atmospheric electricity, improved detection infrastructure and deeper community-level preparedness to further reduce lightning-related deaths. Experts said that as the climate warms, thunderstorms are becoming more intense and frequent, leading to a rise in lightning strikes across the country. This makes it critical to develop more detail...

Wildfires in the Arctic tundra of Alaska have reached levels not seen at any point in the last 3,000 years, according to a new scientific study that warns of accelerating climate-driven changes in one of the world’s coldest ecosystems. The study, conducted by an international team of researchers from Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom, Romania and the University of Alaska Fairbanks, found that tundra fire activity during the past century has surpassed anything recorded since around 1000 B.C. The findings highlight how warming temperatures are reshaping the Arctic landscape in alarming ways. Researchers used a multidisciplinary approach to reconstruct the region’s fire history by extracting peat soil cores from nine sites north of Alaska’s Brooks Range, along the Dalton Highway betwe...

    As climate change and crop diseases tighten their grip on global cocoa supplies, scientists are exploring unexpected alternatives to protect the future of chocolate. Researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have found that carob, a hardy and underused plant, could be transformed into a viable and sustainable substitute for cocoa through innovative enzyme-based techniques. Cocoa production depends heavily on the Theobroma cacao tree, which grows only in narrow climatic conditions and is increasingly vulnerable to rising temperatures, erratic rainfall and disease outbreaks. These pressures have prompted scientists to look beyond traditional cocoa cultivation. Carob, derived from the tree Ceratonia siliqua, has emerged as a promising candidate due to it...