The nation’s first tire efficiency standards target an overlooked drag on fuel economy that can cost drivers more at the pump.

Nature, Published online: 09 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10990-x

Remote phone-based targeted tutoring in five countries produced large, cost-effective learning gains during school closures, outperforming text messaging and working effectively when delivered by governments or non-governmental organizations to strengthen education resilience.

Nature, Published online: 09 September 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02700-4

Across five randomized trials in India, Kenya, Nepal, the Philippines and Uganda, weekly 20-minute mobile-phone-call tutorials produced large learning gains for primary-school children during school closures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Governments can keep children learning through societal shocks using this approach, which combines low-cost, high-access mobile-phone technology with high-quality tutoring targeted to each child’s learning level.

This story was originally published by Grist . Sign up for Grist’s newsletter. Repeated record-breaking heat waves cooked the European continent this summer, delivering the region’s hottest June on record. A simultaneous, though possibly related , drought shriveled rivers to record lows. In addition to their…

This story was originally published by Grist . Sign up for Grist's weekly newsletter here. Inside the vast Qcells factory in Cartersville, Georgia, workers — and a bevy of robots — move ultrathin slices of polysilicon through a lengthy series of machines and chemical baths to get what are known as cells. “The…

This story was originally published by Grist . Sign up for Grist's weekly newsletter. A few years ago, environmental scientist Elliot Campbell went around asking people why they would, or would not, switch to an electric vehicle. A surprising number of them asked him a question in return: Because building an EV…

As the country sizzled through heat waves, the government removed some of its most actionable advice about how to conserve energy.

Nature, Published online: 03 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10624-2

Analysis of a 25-year satellite record shows that Earth has a persistent east–west albedo symmetry split at 27° E, with clear-sky albedo, cloud radiative effect and open-ocean fraction exhibiting a triple symmetry around this meridian.