Environmental biomarkers, as a biological process, encompass the organismal and cellular responses by which living systems detect, transduce, and manifest measurable changes to environmental exposures such as pollutants, radiation, or other stressors. This process involves molecular events including altered gene expression, protein modification, metabolite shifts, and physiological or behavioral changes that collectively encode information about exposure, effect, or susceptibility. These responses generate quantifiable indicators (e.g., specific stress proteins, oxidative damage products, enzyme activities) that integrate dose, duration, and biological impact of environmental factors, thereby serving as mechanistic links between external stressors and ensuing adaptive, toxic, or pathogenic outcomes in organisms and ecosystems.
A new study in Nature Communications finds a critical climate tipping point in Tibetan permafrost ecosystems. Warming of 2–4 degrees Celsius triggers a self-reinforcing cycle of carbon release that could significantly accelerate ...
Long before his days of research, Christian Couch was just a kid marveling at the butterflies in the Florida Museum of Natural History's Butterfly Rainforest. Years later, after enrolling as an undergraduate student at the ...
Plants & Animals
May 21, 2026
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Cows eat grass...everyone knows that. But climate change is forcing producers and scientists to rethink some of our long-held assumptions about livestock nutrition. Crop costs are climbing. Traditional pastures are under ...
Veterinary medicine
May 19, 2026
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Long-term climate warming is causing a bleaching effect in a key Arctic lichen species, according to new research led by researchers in the School of GeoSciences and British Antarctic Survey. Their study shows how rising ...
Ecology
May 15, 2026
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The question sounds simple. The answer, once you examine the actual measurement science behind it, is more interesting than either "yes" or "no."
Environment
May 7, 2026
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The human gut harbors a complex ecosystem of trillions of microorganisms (the microbiome), which influences digestion, the immune system and metabolism. A research team led by the University of Vienna has used the "reverse ...
Evolution
May 6, 2026
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Public health experts estimate that more than 200 million people worldwide are exposed to arsenic through contaminated drinking water. Scientists know long-term exposure to arsenic is associated with increased risk of chronic ...
Environment
May 2, 2026
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As climate change accelerates and global temperatures continue to rise, a new randomized clinical trial provides compelling evidence that one of the most powerful climate solutions may be on our plates. A study published ...
Environment
May 2, 2026
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Nature is a riot of color. In the animal kingdom, many species, from insects to cephalopods, use their permanent color or change it for communication, camouflage, and thermoregulation. While this type of reversible shift ...
Scientists are homing in on a mysterious wasting disease that has killed billions of sea stars along the Pacific coast of North America since 2013. Sea star wasting disease can rapidly wipe out entire populations, leaving ...
Ecology
Apr 21, 2026
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