Earth breaches 1.5 °C climate limit
It’s official: Earth’s average temperature climbed more than 1.5 °C
above pre-industrial levels for the first time in 2024.
Climate scientists announced the breach today, signalling that the world
has failed, at least temporarily, to avoid crossing the threshold set by the
Paris climate accord in 2015 to avert the worst impacts of global
warming.
For the time being, it’s just one metric and one year, but researchers say
that it nonetheless serves as a stark reminder that the world is moving
into dangerous territory — perhaps more quickly than previously
thought.
“It’s both a physical reality and a symbolic shock,” says social scientist
Gail Whiteman, who studies climate risks.
“We are reaching the end of what we thought was a safe zone for
humanity.”

The gender gap among quitting biologists
Female scientists are quitting academic publishing earlier than their
male counterparts, even in biological-science disciplines that have
roughly equal representation.
A study that tracked the scholarly publications of more than 86,000
scientists in 38 countries found that, 19 years after publishing their first
paper, only 26% of female researchers in biological sciences continue
their publishing careers, compared with 36% of men.
“It’s very easy to assume that science is going to change organically
towards equality,” says information scientist Cassidy Sugimoto.
“What this study shows is that that’s not happening.”

Jimmy Carter’s Guinea-worm legacy
Former US president Jimmy Carter’s unusual background combined an
education on his family’s peanut farm and Navy training in nuclear
physics.
Alongside his wife Rosalynn, “the Carters’ work was exemplified by
their dedication to the eradication of Guinea-worm disease”, writes
physician Julie Jacobson, who has worked with their organization, the
Carter Center.
In 1995, he brokered what has become known as the South Sudan
Guinea-worm ceasefire — a halt in fighting to allow healthcare
interventions.
Cases of Guinea-worm disease have fallen from 3.5 million in 1986 to
just a handful in 2024.
“His legacy will last for decades, continuing to pay back in the acts of
peace, health and diplomacy that characterized his life,” writes
Jacobson.

Biden’s final acts: offshore drilling ban
US president Joe Biden has banned offshore drilling for oil and gas
along swathes of the country’s coastline just two weeks before he leaves
office.
The order protects 253 million hectares of offshore territory.
“My decision reflects what coastal communities, businesses, and
beachgoers have known for a long time: that drilling off these coasts
could cause irreversible damage to places we hold dear and is

unnecessary to meet our nation’s energy needs,” Biden said in a
statement.
President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to “unban it immediately”
when he takes office on 20 January, which is today.

How elves help protect Iceland’s nature
Huldufólk, also known as the hidden people, are fae elves from
Icelandic folklore that have a role as defenders of Iceland’s natural
landscape.
So many Icelanders believe in the Huldufólk that activists defending
their rights have managed to halt construction that would harm elven
architecture.
Their influence halted a highway from being built in 2013 because the
planned route would disturb an elven church.
The active geology of the area and the dancing lights of the aurora
borealis might contribute to this belief in the elves, and they connect
people to their environment in a unique and profound way.

Fungus helps recycle carbon fibre
Researchers have created a way to turn worn-out carbon fibre into new
material and a useful chemical, using an engineered strain of the fungus
Aspergillus nidulans.
The woven mesh of carbon fibre reinforced polymers (CFRPs) is used
in everything from bikes to aircraft, but is difficult to recycle.
The team developed a process that dissolves the polymer matrix that
holds everything together and digests it into benzoic acid.

Then, the engineered fungus eats benzoic acid and spits out a useful
molecule called octatrienoic acid, which “can be used to make products
with potential medical applications, like antibiotics or anti-inflammatory
drugs”, says pharmacologist Clay Wang.
Meanwhile, the recovered carbon fibres are almost as strong as brand-
new ones.

For these, and other wildlife, nature, and environmental news items, go
to www.nature.com/nature/
Much thanks, Alan,
Steve