At the COP31 climate conference in Antalya, Türkiye, the Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change presented the Priorities for Action on AI and Climate Information Integrity. The initiative is co-chaired by the United Nations, UNESCO and Brazil. It asks AI companies to assess and publish how their systems affect the integrity of climate information, and to disclose their energy use and their carbon, water and land footprints. States are asked to build information integrity into national AI strategies and climate plans. The priorities build on the Belém Declaration on Information Integrity on Climate Change adopted at COP30 in Brazil. Germany has pledged more than $2.2 million for research and public awareness. A Charter for Climate Information Integrity in Advertising was launched alongside.
Co-chairs:United Nations, UNESCO, BrazilGerman pledge:more than $2.2 million
Why it matters for exams: COP31's host, the co-chairs of the climate information initiative and the COP30 Belém Declaration are durable climate-diplomacy facts.
UN agencies briefing in Geneva said conflict is compounding the Ebola emergency and hunger in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The World Food Programme (WFP) said nearly 29 million people in the country already face acute food insecurity. A food security assessment projects 30.3 million people in crisis or worse between January and June 2027, including 4.2 million at emergency levels, with the gravest needs in North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri. UN Senior Ebola Response Coordinator Julien Harneis said the armed group Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) has recently killed more people than Ebola. WHO condemned an attack in North Kivu that killed 66 civilians, among them three health workers.
Projected in crisis or worse, Jan–Jun 2027:30.3 millionAt emergency level:4.2 million
Why it matters for exams: The DRC's eastern provinces, the ADF and the WFP's role are recurring international-affairs facts.
A study published in Nature, analysing data from more than 800,000 people, found that diagnosing obesity by body mass index (BMI) alone misses many people whose excess body fat raises their health risks. BMI divides a person's weight by the square of their height, and a value of 30 or above is usually taken as obesity. The alternative tested is the combined anthropometric definition of obesity, or CAD-obesity, which adds measures linked to body fat such as waist circumference. CAD-obesity proved better than BMI at predicting a person's risk of death. Fat stored around the abdomen is known to carry worse health effects than fat stored elsewhere.
People analysed:more than 800,000Usual BMI obesity cut-off:30
Why it matters for exams: How BMI is calculated, the obesity cut-off and the new CAD-obesity measure are durable health-science facts.
An independent group has reanalysed the data behind the first image of a black hole and found that it largely corroborates the original result. Their study, with fresh images, was published in Nature. The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration released the picture in 2019, showing a bright ring around a dark centre at the supermassive black hole in the M87 galaxy. Since 2022, a team led by Junichiro Makino of Kobe University had argued that the ring was a product of the image-reconstruction method. The EHT links radio telescopes across several continents, which together act like a single dish as wide as Earth. The black-hole shadow is consistent with Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity.
Black hole:M87First image released:2019
Why it matters for exams: The EHT, the M87 black hole and the 2019 first image are standard space-science facts.
Researchers have published the most detailed atlas so far of the basal ganglia, clusters of cells deep in the brain that handle movement, mood and decision-making. The atlas profiles 25.5 million cells from humans, macaques and marmosets and is described in 26 papers across Cell, Neuron and other journals. Comparing the three primates, the team found 61 cell types conserved over 76 million years. The basal ganglia are linked to Parkinson's and Huntington's disease, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and addiction. Hundreds of scientists in nine countries took part. The atlas belongs to the BRAIN Initiative Cell Atlas Network (BICAN), which the US National Institutes of Health started in 2022 with a budget of US$500-million.
Cells profiled:25.5 millionPapers:26BICAN budget:US$500 million
Why it matters for exams: The basal ganglia's role, its link to Parkinson's disease and the BICAN project are durable biology facts.
NASA Earth Observatory has highlighted research published in Science showing that the world's mangrove forests began a global rebound around 2010. Using Landsat imagery from 1984 to 2023, scientists counted losses of nearly 3,000 square kilometers between 1984 and 2010, followed by a gain of nearly 2,000 square kilometers after 2010, led by Asia, Australia and South America. About two-thirds of the gain came from mangroves colonising new areas and one-third from restoration of degraded forests, said Zhen Zhang of Tulane University. Burma (Myanmar) saw one of the biggest reversals, with mangroves spreading into abandoned rice fields in the Myeik District. The authors credit awareness after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, stronger legal protection and new mudflats.
Loss, 1984–2010:nearly 3,000 sq kmGain after 2010:nearly 2,000 sq km
Why it matters for exams: Mangrove trends, the Landsat programme and the International Day for mangroves are durable environment facts.
NASA has released a collage of strong gravitational lenses observed by the Hubble Space Telescope, chosen as targets for follow-up by the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which launched in August 2026. Gravitational lensing, first predicted by Albert Einstein, happens when a massive foreground galaxy bends and magnifies light from a more distant one, producing arcs. By measuring the distortion, astronomers can weigh the foreground galaxy, including its dark matter. Hubble sees mainly visible and ultraviolet light with fine detail, while Roman works mainly in infrared over a much wider field, so it will find many more lenses. Small flaws in the arcs could reveal clumps of dark matter and test the cold dark matter theory.
Roman launch:August 2026
Why it matters for exams: NASA's new Roman telescope, gravitational lensing and Einstein's prediction are durable space-science facts.
A study published in PLoS Biology shows that kelp, a brown alga, can reproduce asexually when no mate is nearby. Researchers studied Laminaria pallida, found along the Atlantic coasts of South Africa and Namibia. In laboratory dishes kept apart, both microscopic male and female forms produced offspring without fertilisation. That male reproductive cells could do this is striking, since sperm carry few resources to support development. In the wild, 523 kelp individuals showed no clear sign of asexual reproduction. The work, involving Daniel Liesner of the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel in Germany, explains how changes in gene activity let kelp switch modes, which may help protect kelp forests as seas warm.
Species:Laminaria pallidaJournal:PLoS Biology
Why it matters for exams: Kelp as brown algae and parthenogenesis as reproduction without fertilisation are durable biology facts.
NASA Earth Observatory has featured the Flow Country of northern Scotland, imaged by the OLI instrument on Landsat 8. Its blanket bogs are soggy, treeless landscapes of mosses, grasses and heather, home to more than 30 species of sphagnum moss. Because the soils are waterlogged, microbes cannot fully break down dead plants, which build up as carbon-rich peat. The bogs spread across some 1,900 square kilometers of the Highlands and form the largest such ecosystem in Europe. The Flow Country is the first peatland of its type to be inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Blanket bogs cover only about 120,000 square kilometers worldwide, less than one-tenth of one percent of Earth's land.
Area of bogs:some 1,900 square kilometersBlanket bogs worldwide:120,000 square kilometers
Why it matters for exams: The Flow Country as a UNESCO World Heritage peatland and how peat stores carbon are durable geography facts.