Many researchers suspect that Prototaxites was an early type of fungus. But in a study published January 21 [2026] in the journal Science Advances, a team argues that one species is chemically and structurally distinct from fungi, hinting that the mysterious genus likely represents a previously undiscovered, extinct branch of life.

The study examined 19 oil crops. "Three of which caused a particularly large share of the impacts: oil palm, soybean and coconut," says Shuntian Wang, a doctoral student on Pfister's team. Together, they account for some 75% of the biodiversity loss caused by oil crops.

At the same time, the study highlights a clear development: Between 1995 and 2020, biodiversity loss rose by around 80%. But this is not primarily caused by global population growth.

Her (perhaps) most well known book is

Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples

Scientists created the first-ever map of this vast underground fungal network and found it could stretch to the sun and back more than a billion times.

Global topsoils hold an estimated 110 quadrillion kilometers of fungal network, a distance equivalent to traveling to the sun and back a billion times.

The study: Global density and biomass of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal networks

The newly named Dudgeon’s walking shark (Hemiscyllium dudgeonae) is a type of epaulette shark, a group of small sharks famous for their ability to use their fins to “walk” when stranded in tidal shallows.

Wageningen scientists also emphasize that offshore wind development and marine conservation are not necessarily in conflict, but early ecological understanding is essential for sustainability.

For decades after the discovery of Ebolavirus in 1976, outbreaks of the disease were relatively small and contained, affecting a few hundred people at most.

Not any more.

The conventional explanation has to do with the larger and more interconnected human populations that pathogens can access. But there’s a more fundamental driver: the transformation of the underlying ecology of Ebola, which is being re-made, in part, by the rising global hunger for minerals to power the hi-tech economy.

Most of the time, viruses such as Ebola live quietly in the bodies of their animal hosts, widely understood to be bats, causing them little or no harm.

But cutting down the trees in which bats live ruptures this delicate balance between Ebola-carrying animals and humans. The bats don’t just vanish when their trees are gone. They squeeze into the fragments of forest that remain, in closer proximity to humans, increasing the likelihood of encounters in which humans are exposed to their viral-laden blood, saliva and excreta. That’s why, with each per cent increase in deforestation in Central Africa, as a 2025 analysis found, the incidence of malaria and Ebola spikes by 20% to 40% .

A commercial mycelium material growth cycle runs between five and ten days from inoculation to harvest-ready composite. In that window, a living fungal network threads through agricultural waste, bonding the material as it grows, producing a composite shape without casting, pressing, or chemical binders. The binder is the organism. The process runs at room temperature. The energy input is a fraction of what conventional foam manufacturing requires.

Over the past 70 years, the study of epigenetics has evolved from a research curiosity for outsiders to one of the most hyped biological concepts. While the pioneers of epigenetic research were met with disbelief when they described phenomena that did not follow the normal Mendelian laws of inheritance, the popular media today praises the modulation of epigenetics through behavioral changes as a cure for diseases. The concept that environmental influences can cause stable, heritable changes in gene expression has been embraced with such enthusiasm that the study of epigenetics has found its place in virtually every medical biology field. Because of the somewhat inflationary way in which the word epigenetics is used nowadays, it is all the more important to clarify definitions and terms before talking about epigenetic studies.

A Force of Nature aims to protect ecosystems and wildlife for the betterment of Canada. In contrast, the reforms proposed in “Getting Major Projects Built” could threaten natural environments, species-at-risk and human health for generations.

One proposal in the discussion paper is the creation of “federal economic zones,” in which environmental impact assessments would not be required. For others outside these zones, construction could begin before assessments are complete.

But impact assessments are not red tape. [...]

In spite of 250 years of taxonomic classification and over 1.2 million species already catalogued in a central database, our results suggest that some 86% of existing species on Earth and 91% of species in the ocean still await description.

Note: this paper is from 2011, if you know a relevant more recent one, could you please share?

A common fungus can break down hard-to-recycle construction waste and turn it into sustainable insulation that rivals traditional and petrochemical-based options,

“One of the biggest challenges in construction is what happens to materials at the end of their life.

“ the fungus [is] doing two jobs at once; creating a sustainable insulation material and transforming challenging, and potentially harmful, waste into something valuable.”

Removing river barriers that no longer have any use and which can entail a safety problem due to the lack of maintenance, can help climate change challenges [...] can help recover fisheries, which used to constitute a local and self-sustainable food source in the past.

• Brazil’s environmental agency approved oil drilling off the mouth of the Amazon River, even though oil company Petrobras considers it “unfeasible” to rescue large animals like manatees in the event of an oil spill.

• Potential oil spills threaten a unique hybrid manatee population perfectly suited to live in the Amazon River mouth area.

• A simulation testing Petrobras’s wildlife rescue plan showed lack of basic supplies and boat accidents.

The Global EV Outlook is an annual publication that identifies and assesses recent developments in electric mobility across the globe.

• A new desalination method produces drinking water from seawater without chemical additives.

• The solar-powered system uses specially engineered black metal to absorb sunlight.

• Its self-cleaning surface separates and collects salts, instead of dumping them as harmful brine waste.

• From the salts, the system can extract lithium, a key material for rechargeable batteries.

• The approach could help address global water shortages and growing mineral demand.