Research articles

Plastic pollution forms a major global challenge to the ecosystem. Here the authors show a binuclear catalyst that could degrade various polyesters in an effective and scalable way, providing a promising technological solution to the challenge.

China’s power generation is still based on a centrally planned operation (CPO) as market reforms are slow. This study finds that continuing to rely on the CPO has led to the accumulation of substantial greenhouse gas emissions, and reveals the underlying mechanisms driving emissions.

Arid soils are currently under substantial anthropogenic stress and are globally degrading. Co-operating photovoltaic plants with biocrust nurseries has potential to restore soil health alongside renewable energy production.

A global analysis of income inequality and flood disasters in middle- and high-income countries between 1990 and 2018 shows that unequal countries tend to suffer higher flood fatalities.

School buses provide crucial transport for millions of children across the United States, but this analysis finds that the diesel exhaust from older buses is impacting their health and that updating the bus fleet nationwide could lead to 1.3 million additional student days of attendance.

Urban water crises, due to droughts and unsustainable water consumption, are becoming increasingly recurrent in metropolitan cities. This study shows the role of social inequalities in such crises, revealing the implications of water overconsumption by privileged social groups and individuals.

Oxygen electrocatalysis is at the heart of a range of clean energy technologies, but the best-performing electrocatalysts rely on precious metals. The authors demonstrate a carbon catalyst design with embedded high-entropy 3d transition metal single atoms that shows excellent catalytic activities.

Global initiatives to expand protected areas focus on controlling ‘above ground’ impacts such as land use, overlooking the potential human impacts on protected areas through groundwater flow. This study analyses the potential extent of these impacts by mapping groundwatersheds.

Dealing with radioactive pollution first requires the detection of radioactive species released to the environment. Here the authors show an ultrasensitive and selective way to detect ⁹⁰Sr, one of the most frequently discharged products from nuclear reactors.

Rechargeable aqueous zinc batteries are heralded as a sustainable energy technology but still face technical challenges. The hybrid electrolyte here eliminates hydrogen evolution reaction, the most thorny issue, and allows for impressive battery performance even under harsh conditions.

This study uses 30-m cropland maps to show that cropland expansion in protected areas accelerated dramatically from 2000 to 2019, compared with the expansion of global croplands, threatening the aspirations of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.

Over-exploited fish stocks drive evolutionary changes towards smaller maturation size and lower growth rates of individual fish. Coupling economic decision-making with eco-evolutionary fish population dynamics, the impact of alternative planning horizons on evolution and profit–conservation trade-offs are evaluated.

Despite the increasing importance of local and regional research for conservation efforts worldwide, research published in languages other than English is routinely ignored by global assessments. This study examines how such research is used and cited at national levels even though it is overlooked internationally

Recycling forms an essential dimension of batteries’ sustainability. Here the authors show a straightforward process that directly upgrades spent LiCoO₂ to a Mg and Al co-substituted LiCoO₂ cathode with a high voltage of 4.6 V and excellent cycling stability.

Vector-borne diseases are highly responsive to environmental changes, but such responses are difficult to isolate. Using human footprint index and machine learning, this study shows how the occurrence of six diverse vector-borne diseases responds to the intricate effects of human pressure.

Milling of mafic minerals has been proposed as a method to capture carbon dioxide. Hard rocks that are commonly crushed to produce construction aggregate, however, are more efficient at carbon dioxide capture and have the potential to trap substantial CO₂ as a by-product of aggregate production.

Solutions that can support multiple sustainability goals related to clean energy, and resource use efficiency, will be crucial in the near future. The study estimates the potential of floating solar panels on reservoirs globally to generate renewable energy, reduce water losses and conserve land.

Ethylene is a widely used petrochemical feedstock for the manufacture of various critical chemicals. Here the authors show a rationally designed Cu catalyst that enables electrocatalytic production with high performance and economic feasibility as well as sustainability.

The US Inflation Reduction Act sets that in 2027, for an electric vehicle to be tax-credit eligible, 80% of the market value of critical minerals in its battery must be sourced domestically, from US free-trade partners or from North American recycling. The viability of the target is evaluated for different battery chemistries.

How climate, caribou and human well-being are linked is not well known. Using interviews conducted over 9 years with Indigenous hunters from the Western Arctic of America, this study analyses the mechanisms linking climate, caribou and human capacity to satisfy cultural and subsistence needs in a human–caribou system.