The mild oscillation of Earth's axial tilt, or obliquity, over time is less than a few degrees and is one of the reasons that complex lifeforms prospered on our planet. Will this be true if the giant planets are replaced by a Sun-like star? Alpha... click to read more

We pump too much water out of the ground, impacting our rivers worldwide. In our study, we estimate that almost 20% of the catchments where groundwater is pumped for drinking water or to grow food suffer from low flows that are too low to sustain... click to read more

African oil palm is the world's most efficient oil crop yielding 5-10 times more oil per hectare than other oil crops. However, the establishment of large monocultures has driven deforestation and habitat loss for local wildlife in producer countries. Malaysia supplies ca. 30% for the... click to read more

How much are the seas ultimately going to rise is a question scientists are still struggling to answer. To understand the polar ice sheets' sensitivity to current global warming, we draw on evidence from periods in the geologic record when Earth's climate was warmer than... click to read more

Nature is a vital service provider for agriculture in many ways. Fruit trees and other pollinator-dependent crops are pollinated by wild insects like bumblebees, solitary bees, or flies. Other insects like predatory ladybugs or ground beetles eat pests that would otherwise damage or even destroy... click to read more