Extreme climatic events drive consistent and predictable shifts in soil antibiotic resistance genes.

September 8, 2026| Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing One Health challenge, and as climate warming intensifies extreme events, it remains unclear how these disturbances affect soil antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Here we analyzed the data from a controlled experiment using soils from 30 grassland sites across ten European countries, which simulated drought, flooding, freeze-thaw, and heatwaves to explore ARG dynamics. Overall, ARGs exhibited relatively small but highly consistent shifts across treatments. Heatwaves caused the strongest reductions in ARG abundance and in their linkages with mobile genetic elements (MGEs), a pattern that may reflect a hypothesized metabolic-genetic trade-off, in which microbial investment may shift from core metabolism toward stress signaling and structural maintenance. ARG dynamics during and after disturbance were governed by distinct soil physicochemical properties, with temperature and nutrient status determining acute responses, whereas soil moisture and seasonal variability in temperature and precipitation shaped longer-term legacy effects. Cross-validated random-forest models showed positive predictive performance for Bray-Curtis-based compositional responses within the environmental range represented by the 30 grassland sites. Our findings enhance the understanding of how soil ARGs respond to extreme climatic events and provide a step toward predicting extreme-event impacts on soil resistomes with relevance to One Health.

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Widespread plasma jets in the Martian magnetosheath revealed by dual-spacecraft observations.

Plasma jets in planetary magnetosheaths are transient, high dynamic pressure structures capable of strongly perturbing downstream magnetospheres and modulating solar wind energy transfer. Although recently identified at Mars, their formation mechanisms and global occurrence remain poorly constrained. Using dual-spacecraft observations from Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN and Tianwen-1, we show that magnetosheath jets occur throughout the Martian magnetosheath, in striking contrast to Eart

EnvironmentNovember 3, 2026

Defining and measuring proximity to criticality based on univariate time series.

Diverse social, engineered, and biological systems are made up of multiple interacting dynamical components; to work properly, certain components must be carefully regulated so that their dynamics avoid instability. However, many desirable properties, like optimized computation and control, emerge close to the tipping point between stability and instability, i.e., near criticality. Claims that such dynamical systems operate near criticality have been controversial because it is difficult to asse

EnvironmentNovember 3, 2026

Orexin and pupillary modulation for hunger control.

Fasting-based interventions improve metabolic health and are also explored as adjuncts in other clinical settings, but hunger remains a barrier to adherence. Fasting activates AgRP/NPY neurons (ANs), a hunger-promoting population whose inhibition reduces eating in hungry animals. Here we identify hypocretin/orexin neurons (HONs), classically associated with arousal, as rapid suppressors of AN activity. HON ablation increased AN population activity, whereas HON optostimulation rapidly suppressed

EnvironmentNovember 3, 2026

Environmental RNA improves detection and surveillance of schistosomiasis transmission.

Environmental diagnosis of schistosomiasis, a disease affecting over 250 million people globally, remains challenging, thereby limiting efficient eradication efforts. Current methods, including environmental DNA (eDNA), cannot distinguish between infectious parasite life stages present in the environment. Here, we develop and validate an environmental RNA (eRNA) approach that enables detection and quantification of Schistosoma mansoni miracidia (infective to snails) and cercariae (infective to h

EnvironmentOctober 29, 2026

Gram-Negative Bacterial Resistance.

The rapid worldwide spread of antimicrobial resistance among gram-negative bacteria is driven by a complex interplay of human, environmental, and health care-associated factors and accelerated by mobile genetic elements that facilitate the dissemination of resistance genes. Resistance in gram-negative bacteria arises primarily through reduced drug entry, active drug efflux, modification of antibiotic targets, and enzymatic drug inactivation, most notably through β-lactamase production. Cli