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About 66 million years ago, an asteroid slammed into the planet, wiping out all non-avian dinosaurs and about 70 percent of all marine species. The huge crater formed in the Gulf of Mexico functioned as a cradle for recovery of marine life enriching the overlying ocean for at least 700,000 years, according to research published today in Nature Communications .

After the groundbreaking creation of the first bio-based handbag made from mycelium leather, the Microbiology research group at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) expands their research on mycelium-based materials into new product categories. Led by Prof. Eveline Peeters and Prof. Elise Vanden Elsacker, the team explores mycelium, the root structure of fungi, as viable alternative to animal and synthetic leather.

What is a fair way forward after the 1.5°C warming limit of the Paris Agreement has been breached? In a new study, an international team including VUB researchers explores the concept of 'net-zero carbon debt' - a measure for assessing who bears greater responsibility for minimizing the climate overshoot.

Ice melting from glaciers around the world is affecting regional freshwater resources and driving global sea levels to rise at ever-faster rates. According to new findings through an international effort involving Prof. Harry Zekollari (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), glaciers have been losing an average of 273 billion tonnes of ice per year since the year 2000 - but hidden within this average there is an alarming increase over the last 10 years.

Belgian scientists from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) have returned from an expedition to Antarctica near the Princess Elisabeth Station, with blue ice samples and data that could lead them to ice millions of years old, providing valuable information on the evolution of the Earth's climate in the past.

New UGent research shows that more snowfall in the future could slow or offset the negative effects of climate change on glaciers in southern Patagonia.

More than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels: that's the average temperature rise measured by climate monitoring agencies for the year 2024.

Glaciers worldwide are shrinking at alarming rates, with dramatic implications for sea-level rise, water availability, biodiversity, and the stability of natural ecosystems.

Researchers reveal global increase in burnt area due to climate change despite human interventions A new international study, led by a team of scientists from the UK and Belgium, has revealed that climate change is contributing to an increase in burnt area worldwide, despite human interventions trying to temper this trend.

A new study published in Nature Geoscience by an international team of scientists provides new insights into the natural mechanisms behind century-scale increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), known as CO2 jumps. The study, led by Etienne Legrain, paleoclimatologist at the Department of Water and Climate at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, the Glaciology Laboratory of the Université Libre de Bruxelles and the Environmental Geosciences Institute of Université Grenoble-Alpes provides findings based on high-resolution measurements from Antarctic ice cores.

Xingzhao Sun of the research group Wildness, biodiversity and ecosystems under change of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) explored the complex ecological interactions between herbivore dung and plant communities, providing new insights into the role of nutrients and microbial communities in ecosystems.

New KU Leuven research shows that the risk of contracting schistosomiasis, an infectious disease caused by a parasitic flatworm, will increase considerably over the next century.

In early 2024, geophysicist Corentin Caudron plans to travel to Costa Rica to study the activities of the Poás volcano, by measuring sound emissions in the lake that fills its crater. He was to join a 20-strong team and bring back crucial data for volcano monitoring. But nature decided otherwise. An article published in The Conversation.

Researchers at KU Leuven studied the impact of pollution on evolutionary reactions of organisms that adapt to global warming. The research, published in , shows that pollution, specifically metal pollution, can neutralise the advantage of a fast evolution of heat tolerance in water organisms. Revived water fleas provide unique new insights The research focused on the water flea (Daphnia magna), a crucial element in freshwater ecosystems.

What environmental impact can a contraceptive molecule have? Recent work by UNamur researchers answers this question, and has just been published in the journal Environment International. This work is the fruit of a three-year collaboration with Mithra, a Belgian biotech company committed to transforming women's health with innovative alternatives, particularly in contraception, funded by SPW Research.

A long-term study of humpback whale populations in the North Pacific Ocean shows that climate change is having a negative impact on the species. Marine biologist Joëlle De Weerdt of the VUB, founder of the non-profit organization ELI-S and co-author of the study, explains: 'Humpback whales have large, distinctive pectoral fins and a melodious song.

Since 2015, the Amazon has been slower to recover from increasing drought events, but, overall, the rainforest still shows a remarkable resilience. New international research led by KU Leuven earth and environmental scientists shows that forest degradation due to drought has been most pronounced in the southern Amazon, where human impact is greatest.   Since the turn of the century, four extreme droughts have occurred in the Amazon rainforest.

In a warmer climate, summers warm much faster than winters. That is the conclusion of research into fossil shells by earth scientist Niels de Winter. With this knowledge we can better map the consequences of current global warming in the North Sea area. De Winter, affiliated with the Department of Earth Sciences at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the AMGC research group at Vrije Universiteit Brussel, measured alongside colleagues from institutions such as the Institute for Natural Sciences in Brussels the chemical composition of fossil shells from Antwerp, Belgium.

VUB researcher reveals secrets of cave from the Early Upper Palaeolithic, when Neanderthals and the first Homo sapiens co-existed Mughr el-Hamamah, meaning "pigeon cave" in Arabic, is a site in northwestern Jordan, renowned for its prehistoric findings dating between 39,000 and 45,000 years old. Numerous stone tools, hearths, and animal and hominin bones have been excavated there.

High Arctic (left) and Continental Antarctic (right) lake bottoms, covered by dense microbial mats. Credits: David Velazquez An international research team of scientists led by biologists from Ghent University investigated the biodiversity and evolutionary history of microorganisms in Arctic, sub-Antarctic and Antarctic lakes in the first large scale study using DNA.