News & Comment

The exploration of ocean worlds in the outer Solar System offers the opportunity to search for an independent origin of life, and also to advance our capabilities for exploring and understanding life in Earth’s oceans.

Making sense of exoplanet observations requires better understanding of terrestrial atmospheres in our solar system, especially for Venus. We need to not just intermittently explore, but continuously monitor these atmospheres — like we do for Earth.

Emissions of CO₂ from the continents and underlying mantle are emerging as potentially important drivers of past climate fluctuations.

Temperature overshoot scenarios that make the 1.5 °C climate target feasible could turn into sources of political flexibility. Climate scientists must provide clear constraints on overshoot magnitude, duration and timing, to ensure accountability.

The world's inland waters are under siege. A system-level view of watersheds is needed to inform both our scientific understanding and management decisions for these precious resources.

Quality requirements for water differ by intended use. Sustainable management of water resources for different uses will not only need to account for demand in water quantity, but also for water temperature and salinity, nutrient levels and other pollutants.

Over the past decade or so, China has turned into a land of opportunity for science. We are keen to witness first hand how the geoscience landscape continues to unfold.

Scientists based in North America and men are overrepresented in our authors' reviewer suggestions.

Developments in attribution science are improving our ability to detect human influence on extreme weather events. By implication, the legal duties of government, business and others to manage foreseeable harms are broadening, and may lead to more climate change litigation.

Natural disasters can devastate local communities. However, these rare events also often trigger new ways of thinking, and provide a treasure trove of data that must be used to reduce vulnerability.

The emerging field of geohealth links human well-being and ecosystem health. A deeper understanding of these linkages can help society mitigate the health costs of economic growth before they become crises.

Reconstructions of Earth's past are much more than benchmarks for climate models. They also help us comprehend risk by providing concrete narratives for diverse climates.

Asking people to trust scientists is not enough in times of doubt. Scientists must trust the people too: to make decisions for themselves, once they know the best available evidence.

The terrestrial water cycle is often assessed annually at catchment scale. But water stored in catchments is poorly mixed, and at timescales often well beyond the calculation of annual water balance.