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UN treaty to protect 'extraordinary' marine life due to come into force on 17 January (LINK) 16 January 2026

— 148 countries, representing more than three-quarters of all UN member states, have signed on to the High Seas Treaty since it was adopted in June 2023. 81 governments agreed to include it in their national laws, bringing it into force. The treaty offers new protections to an area covering two-thirds of the world's oceans and as many as 10 million different species, many of which are still unidentified.

Studies may have "detected" microplastics in the human brain because of a severe error: the same indicators for the materials used in microplastics like polyethylene can also be produced from the fats present in human tissue (LINK) 17 January 2026

— "At present, experts aren't sure how microplastics affect our health, nor have they definitely proven that they're harmful to us (though there are no shortage of studies suggesting they do). We do have plastics in us — that is safe to assume. But real hard proof on how much is yet to come."

Letting sheep graze alongside solar panels: 'A massive leg-up' for fU.K's armers and for panel operators — can save operators up to $67,000 per year on mowing and herbicide treatments, and many offer grazing rights at no cost, opening doors for producers who would otherwise be priced out of the industry (LINK) 16 January 2026

Major lunch food officially classed as cancer-causing by World Health Organization: sodium nitrite found in many processed meats, hams, and deli meats leads to a 32% increased risk of prostate cancer (LINK) 15 January 2026

3 things 'The Pitt' episode '8:00 AM' gets right about AI in medicine, and 1 big thing it gets wrong: Is AI really 98 percent accurate? Not so fast... in a crowded emergency room, accuracy rates were much lower, sometimes as low as 50 percent (LINK) 15 January 2026

'Nobel Prize for Environment' awarded to specialist in mycorrhizal fungi (LINK) 14 January 2026

— Toby Kiers "has been active [in] combining academic research, global expeditions, technological innovations and advocacy work. Toby's work to translate scientific insight into real-world action demonstrates her leadership in advancing global efforts to protect the fungal networks that sustain life on Earth."

Risks of AI in schools outweigh the benefits, report says: can "undermine children's foundational development" and "the damages it has already caused are daunting," though "fixable" (LINK) 14 January 2026

2025 was the third hottest year on record, according to Europe's top climate experts (LINK) 14 January 2026

Most TV shows promote the wrong idea when it comes to performing CPR: in 169 medical drama episodes — fewer than three in ten accurately showed Hands-Only CPR. Nearly half included mouth-to-mouth breathing, and many showed characters stopping to check for a pulse — actions that can waste valuable time in real emergencies (LINK) 14 January 2026

Neuroscientist survey shows that 40 percent think it might be possible to preserve a human brain, potentially well enough to decode its long-term memories after death. That opens the door to rebooting a person someday, complete with their memories, using whole brain emulation (LINK) 14 January 2026

Alcohol too cheap in Europe as health impact mounts, WHO warns: official says "More affordable alcohol drives violence, injuries and disease" (LINK) 13 January 2026

— Beer has become more affordable in 11 EU countries since 2022, and less affordable in six, a WHO report revealed. There was a similar but even more dramatic trend for spirits, which became more affordable in 17 EU countries and less affordable in two. And for wine, 14 EU countries do not tax it at all, including big producers Italy and Spain, the report found.

Erich von Däniken, Swiss writer who spawned alien archaeology, dies at 90 (LINK) 10 January 2026

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: global health's defining test: universal health coverage as a right for all (LINK) 9 January 2026

Eco-friendly toilet papers are trendy, but their environmental impacts vary (LINK) 8 January 2026

— According to the Environmental Paper Network, a coalition of nonprofits, more than 1 billion gallons (3.8 billion litres) of water and 1.6 million trees could be saved if everyone in the U.S.used one roll of toilet paper made from recycled content instead of a roll made from forest fibers. Aria, Green Forest, Natural Value, Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods 365 100% Recycled received the highest grade in 2025, with all made entirely from recycled materials. Sustainable toilet paper brands typically cost more per square foot than conventional products. But prices will likely drop if consumers continue buying it and manufacturers expand production.

Swiss flu wave expected to be one of the most severe on record (LINK) 7 January 2026

Nestlé launches large baby food recall in Europe: Beba and special products such as Alfamino (LINK) 5 January 2026

— Controls carried out by the authorities in Austria detected small amounts of cereulide — a toxin that causes food poisoning characterized by nausea and vomiting — in two batches. According to the Ministry of Health, however, the concentrations are so low that they do not pose a danger. The recall affects products sold in Germany, Italy, Austria, Spain, Denmark, Sweden and Finland, among others. So far, there are no known cases of illness related to the consumption of the food

CERN's Large Hadron Collider is being shut down: CERN doesn't expect its high-luminosity LHC to be operational again until mid-2030 (LINK) 3 January 2026