It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Tuesday, February 03, 2026
Parts of the tropics may warm more than expected as CO2 rises, study finds
The Bogotá Basin, home to 11 million people, may experience higher temperatures than scientists thought previously as the planet warms. Credit: Lina Pérez-Ángel
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — A new study of ancient lake sediment from central Colombia suggests that temperatures in some parts of the tropics may warm up significantly more than scientists had previously suspected as levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) continue to rise.
The study, led by a researcher at Brown University, establishes a temperature record for Colombia’s Bogotá Basin datingback to the Pliocene, a geological period spanning 5.2 million to 2.5 million years ago. The Pliocene was the last time Earth’s atmospheric CO2 levels were as high as they are today, making the period a good analog for future climate scenarios.
The study found that temperatures in the basin were, on average, 4.8 degrees C (8.6 degrees F) warmer in the Pliocene than they were in the Pleistocene, the epoch ending about 12,000 years ago when CO2 had dropped considerably. That’s a much larger temperature difference than the researchers had expected, based on reconstructions of ocean temperature from the same periods.
“Most of what we know about past temperature comes from the oceans or terrestrial high-latitudes, and there’s been a lot of theoretical work in recent years on how low-latitude ocean temperatures relate to the land,” said lead study author Lina Pérez-Ángel, a senior researcher in Brown University’s Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences and an affiliate of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society. “I think the big takeaway here is that we found significantly more warming on land in this region than you’d expect from theory.”
For the study, the researchers analyzed a 585-meter-long sediment core drilled in central Colombia along the eastern branch of the Andes Mountains. The core captures millions of years of ancient lake, river and wetland sediments, which are excellent repositories of key environmental signatures through time. The core had originally been drilled and analyzed in the late 1980s, but Pérez-Ángel, who grew up in Bogotá, wanted to re-analyze it using more precise modern dating techniques and more reliable temperature proxies. She began the work as a graduate student at the University of Colorado, Boulder and continued it during her postdoctoral work at Brown.
To establish the ages of the core sediment, the researchers analyzed zircons from layers of volcanic ash found within the core. Zircons are incredibly durable crystals that form as magma cools and solidifies. The crystals trap tiny amounts of uranium, a radioactive element that decays at a constant rate. By carefully measuring uranium decay in the zircons, researchers can establish precise ages of the sediment layers. The zircon dating revealed that the core contained sediment dating back to around 3.7 million years ago, roughly the midpoint of the high-CO2 Pliocene.
To measure temperatures through time, the researchers analyzed brGDGTs — durable fats found in the cellular membranes of bacteria. The molecular architecture of those fats changes with temperature. By analyzing the structure of brGDGTs preserved in the core, the researchers could create a continuous temperature record of the region through time.
Surprising results
The study found that while the timing of temperature change on land was roughly similar to previous studies of sea surface temperature in the tropics, the magnitude of the change on land was greater than expected. Theory predicts that over-land temperatures in the tropics should increase about 1.4 degrees for every 1 degree increase in sea surface temperature. But this study found that temperatures in the basin increased nearly twice as much during the Pliocene as the tropical oceans.
The researchers aren’t sure exactly what caused the excess warming, but they propose some possibilities. One possibility is that shifts in the amount of warming at high-altitude regions like the Andes could increase with more CO2, but the researchers found that this would not explain the entire excess warming of their results. It could be that there are issues in the way scientists extrapolate the effects of temperature changes across high-altitude regions like the Andes. An additional explanation could be that regional ocean warming during the Pliocene — a longer-term version of the El Niño cycles active in the Pacific Ocean today — may have driven higher temperatures in this region of the Andes.
Whatever the cause, Pérez-Ángel says the findings underscore how important it is to study past climate over land and at a regional scale.
“The land is where the people are, and they experience climate change at a regional level,” she said. “If we want to do reconstructions that are useful to people, we should do more to understand climate mechanisms at a regional level.”
In this case, Pérez-Ángel’s research suggests that the Bogotá Basin, which today is home to more than 11 million people, could face significantly higher-than-expected temperatures as the world’s climate continues to warm.
The research was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation (1929199, 2402100).
Lina Pérez-Ángel, a senior researcher at Brown University, holds two pieces of sediment that were separated by more than a million years of time.
Evolution of Pliocene-Pleistocene tropical terrestrial Andean temperature amplification
Article Publication Date
2-Feb-2026
Illumina and the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance partner to sequence the Frozen Zoo®, supporting critical conservation genetics efforts globally
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance
Illumina will sequence up to 4,000 unique individual animals across 1,300 species, unlock genomic insights from 50-year-old biological samples
Sequencing connects decades of preserved biodiversity with the latest multiomic technologies
SAN DIEGO, Feb. 3, 2026 — Illumina (NASDAQ: ILMN) today announced a sequencing agreement with the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (SDZWA)’s Frozen Zoo®. The 50-year-old biobank is the world’s most comprehensive and diverse collection of living cells from threatened and endangered species across the animal kingdom. Illumina will sequence up to 4,000 samples representing 1,300 species in the Frozen Zoo®. Genomic insights will be applied to real-world conservation challenges and efforts to safeguard animal species worldwide. A subset of samples will be used for groundbreaking multiomic research, geared toward unlocking vital insights into wildlife medicine, evolutionary biology, and biodiversity preservation.
“Illumina is proud to partner with SDZWA to power the next era of the Frozen Zoo,” said Cande Rogert, vice president and global head of Advanced Sciences at Illumina. “This collaboration is a wonderful example of the way multiomic technologies can activate the potential of these critical biodiversity biobanks.”
Conservation scientists across the globe are racing against time to collect samples from threatened and endangered species. Those samples are preserved in biobanks like the Frozen Zoo®, where they serve as a repository of increasingly fragile biodiversity. Sequencing those biobanked samples gives researchers genomic insights that are useful to help protect species and promote ecological resilience.
"This collaboration marks a new era of genomic discovery that will accelerate our capacity to halt and reverse biodiversity loss,” said Megan Owen, SDZWA’s Benirschke Endowed Vice President of Conservation Science. “The next fifty years of the Frozen Zoo will rely on a global network of conservation scientists, as well as scalable multiomic technology to maximize the impact of biobanked samples.”
The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance has partnered with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission as a Center for Species Survival focused on biodiversity banking. The partnership with Illumina aims to illustrate the value of sequencing in conservation efforts globally. To make the effort possible, Illumina will generate whole-genome sequencing data from samples representing wildlife in the Frozen Zoo®, which will be made available for research to the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and its collaborators.
A selection of the samples will be available for collaborative research projects, where Illumina’s multiomic solutions will help conservation researchers unlock information about genetic diversity and population history. The collaboration will also help to validate multiomic workflows for conservation science, ensuring they perform reliably with non-human samples.
“My father, Dr. Kurt Benirschke, founded the Frozen Zoo way back in 1975, believing it was important to preserve the DNA of rare and endangered species, but not knowing exactly why or how,” said Rolf Benirschke, the board chair of the SDZWA Board of Trustees. “If he were alive today, he would be smiling knowing that his vision has led to this important collaboration with Illumina that will dramatically expand and amplify the science of conservation.”
Genomics insights are driving a deeper understanding of koala cancer risk Illumina collaborates with the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance through its iConserve program and, in addition to the Frozen Zoo® collaboration, has also worked on lemur conservation in Madagascar and elephant genetic mapping in Africa. iConserve advances conservation by enabling projects with acute conservation needs and advocating for genomics as a conservation tool to support species protection and management decisions.
One recent iConserve project, published last month in Nature Communications, demonstrates how sequencing koala genomes can inform conservation management decisions for koalas in zoos and in the wild. Koalas are susceptible to a retrovirus associated with cancers that are difficult for zoo veterinarians to detect and treat. Through the iConserve program, Illumina generated high-coverage whole-genome sequencing data for 91 San Diego Zoo koalas, from samples collected over multiple decades. Those sequences show how these viruses integrate into the koala genome across populations. This collaborative effort led to the identification of inherited and newly arising viral integrations in koala DNA. It also advanced the development of genetic risk scores, and the creation of a longevity breeding index—tools that can help reduce cancer risk and support healthier outcomes for koala populations in zoos and in the wild.
About Illumina Illumina is improving human health by unlocking the power of the genome. Our focus on innovation has established us as a global leader in DNA sequencing and array-based technologies, serving customers in the research, clinical, and applied markets. Our products are used for applications in the life sciences, oncology, reproductive health, agriculture, and other emerging segments. To learn more, visit illumina.com and connect with us on X, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
About the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, a nonprofit conservation leader, inspires passion for nature and collaboration for a healthier world. The Alliance supports innovative conservation science through global partnerships and groundbreaking efforts at the world-famous San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoo Safari Park, both leading zoological institutions and accredited botanical gardens. Through wildlife care expertise, cutting-edge science and continued collaboration, more than 44 endangered species have been reintroduced to native habitats. The Alliance reaches over 1 billion people annually through its two conservation parks and media channels in 170 countries, including San Diego Zoo Wildlife Explorers television, available in children’s hospitals across 14 countries. Wildlife Allies—members, donors and guests—make success possible.
About the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s Frozen Zoo® The Frozen Zoo® is the world’s first large-scale cryogenic biological bank dedicated to preserving living cells and reproductive material from wildlife—and remains the largest, most diverse collection of its kind. Founded in 1975 by Kurt Benirschke, M.D., the Frozen Zoo today holds over 11,500 samples from 4,000 unique individuals across 1,300 species. Stored in liquid nitrogen at minus 320 degrees Fahrenheit, the collection includes cells, embryos and gametes from mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, plants, marine invertebrates and insects. The Frozen Zoo® is one of six unique San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance biobanking collections that make up its Wildlife Biodiversity Bank. Together these collections offer a variety of approaches to preserving biodiversity. Learn more at sdzwa.org/frozen-zoo.
Shared purpose outperforms specialization, new study shows
A new study published in the Strategic Management Journal challenges long-standing assumptions about managerial specialization by examining when organizations perform better by having leaders collectively pursue multiple objectives rather than dividing responsibilities among them. Addressing the growing complexity of modern organizations—where financial, social, environmental, and technological goals increasingly coexist—the research introduces what the authors call the “common purpose advantage.”
Drawing on a computational model of multi-manager firms, the study compares performance under two approaches: “objective myopia,” where managers focus on a single goal, and “common purpose,” where all managers are accountable for the full set of organizational objectives. While conventional wisdom favors specialization, the findings reveal that a shared-purpose approach can outperform it—but only under specific conditions.
The results show that a common purpose advantage emerges when managers actively share practices, begin with sufficiently diverse strategies, and operate in stable or moderately turbulent environments. However, the advantage disappears when strategic diversity is too low, environments are highly turbulent, or the organization pursues too many objectives simultaneously. In particular, the benefits break down when firms attempt to manage more than five objectives, as the cognitive and coordination costs overwhelm performance gains.
By clarifying when shared leadership around multiple objectives enhances performance—and when it does not—the study offers important insights for executives and boards grappling with organizational design in an era of heightened stakeholder expectations. The findings underscore that purpose-driven leadership is not universally beneficial, but contingent on strategic diversity, environmental conditions, and the scope of organizational goals.
The Strategic Management Society (SMS) is the leading global member organization fostering and supporting rigorous and practice-engaged strategic management research. SMS enjoys the support of 3,000 members, representing more than 1,100 institutions and companies in more than 70 countries. SMS publishes three leading academic journals in partnership with Wiley: Strategic Management Journal, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, and Global Strategy Journal. These journals publish top-quality work applicable to researchers and practitioners with complementary access for all SMS Members. The SMS Explorer offers the latest insights and takeaways from the SMS Journals for business practitioners, consultants, and academics.
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The John Innes Centre and its industrial and academic partners have been awarded UK Government funding to help deliver four ambitious projects that unleash the potential of precision breeding.
The Defra Farming Innovation Programme funding, delivered in partnership with Innovate UK, will enable the research-industry collaborations to develop sustainable new crops, open new markets, and support farmers by harnessing precision breeding techniques. At least £21.5m in new funding will back 15 innovation projects across England and Wales to help farms cut emissions, strengthen resilience, and boost productivity.
The use of precision breeding techniques, such as gene editing, to bring foods to market has been enabled by the UK Government’s Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023 which now covers this technology in England.
As a hub of excellence in this fast-developing area of crop science, the John Innes Centre, along with its extensive network of academic, agricultural and industrial partners, is seizing the opportunities for innovative biotechnology and farming solutions.
The successful projects involving John Innes Centre research cover diverse agricultural, horticultural, and biotechnology priorities.
Two will assist farmers facing major disease challenges growing the versatile commercial crops oilseed rape and sugar beet. Both these vital break crops are under threat from pests and pathogens, with farmers in urgent need of sustainable solutions following the withdrawal of environmentally damaging chemical controls.
One exciting project will help to bring gene-edited Vitamin D3-enriched tomatoes to market for UK consumers, while another, an innovative biotech project, will use gene editing techniques to engineer dandelions to provide a sustainable source of rubber produced in the UK, using aeroponic (without soil) cultivation in indoor farms.
Professor Cristóbal Uauy, Director of the John Innes Centre, welcomed the announcement by Defra: “We are delighted to be partners in four of the projects chosen in the Farming Innovation Programme precision breeding initiative. The fact that our scientists and their industry partners have performed so strongly in this funding round is an endorsement of the John Innes Centre’s value as a hub of precision breeding expertise and a national capability supported by the BBSRC,” he said.
“The four projects, all quite different and on different crops, reflect the UK’s ambition to leverage new precision breeding technology for rapid crop improvement and innovation. With these enterprises we will help protect two major agricultural crops from damaging diseases, enhance the nutritional content of the world’s leading horticultural crop, tomato, while supporting an agritech project involving a completely new UK crop, dandelion. While the science itself is fascinating, the real-world impact these innovations could have on society, agriculture and farmers cannot be underestimated,” he added.
The Farming Innovation Programme is part of Defra’s investment in innovation, research, and development with an aim of using science to develop sustainable solutions for the practical challenges in agriculture and horticulture. The programme is delivered in partnership with Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
Successful projects receive Defra grant funding to cover a percentage of the eligible costs with the remaining balance funded by the organisations and industry partners involved.
Farming Minister Dame Angela Eagle said: “Innovation is central to a more productive, resilient farming sector. This funding will back new ideas farmers can use on the ground to cut methane and fertiliser-related emissions, strengthen crop resilience and improve nutrition.”
The four successful projects in the precision breeding competition which feature the John Innes Centre and partners are:
Scaling Gene Editing Induced Gene Silencing for Virus Yellows Resistance in Sugar Beet
This project, worth £1.7m over three years, is a partnership between the group of Professor Steven Penfield at the John Innes Centre, British Sugar, and Tropic Biosciences based at Norwich Research Park. The project will use gene editing technology to build genetic resistance in the sugar beet crop to virus yellows disease, described as an ‘existential threat’ to production and calculated as causing 25 per cent yield losses at a cost of £43m to growers.
Professor Penfield said: “This welcome investment will help us to apply our precision breeding expertise in protecting sugar beet, which is so critical as a break crop, a source of sustainable fuels and a key ingredient in a future, greener biotech economy.”
Dan Green, British Sugar Agriculture Director, said: “We are delighted to receive this additional funding from the UK Government. It is a testament to the engagement and dedication of our project team and partners who have worked on this project over the last two years. This funding will enable the team to continue progressing their pioneering work towards protecting the sugar beet crop from virus yellows disease, and potentially other crop diseases in the future.”
Light Leaf Spot Enhancing Resistance and Reducing Susceptibility with Editing (LLS Erased)
This £2.5m three-year collaboration includes researchers in the group of Dr Rachel Wells at the John Innes Centre, researchers at the University of Hertfordshire, crop-breeders, and farmers. The project will use gene editing to build resistance against several damaging diseases of oilseed rape including light leaf spot, a disease that cost growers an estimated £300m in 2022.
LLS-Erased project technical lead, Dr Wells, said: “I am excited to move our resistant plant material from the laboratory to field scale trials to see how it performs in a real-world setting.”
Project lead Tom Allen-Stevens of BOFIN (British On-Farm Innovation Network) said: “This project is game-changing for farmers. It will put precision-bred oilseed rape technology on to their farms for the first time across Europe.”
The collaboration includes specialist gene editing company Cibus, whose Rapid Trait Development System™ (RTDS®) enables precise genetic edits to be introduced directly into elite OSR breeding lines, significantly shortening the time needed to bring new traits to growers.
Cibus Senior Vice President of International Development, Tony Moran, said: “Cibus is delighted to have the opportunity to collaborate with a strong team to demonstrate the potential of gene editing in combatting a significant disease of OSR and delivering benefits to farmers in the UK and beyond.”
Sunshine Tomatoes: a farming future through precision breeding
This £1.1m three-year project aims to commercialise the Sunshine Tomato, a gene edited vitamin enriched tomato that addresses the critical global health challenge of vitamin D deficiency. The tomato, produced by the group of Professor Cathie Martin at the John Innes Centre, is set to become one of the first food crops approved under the UK’s precision breeding legislation. This latest project will help to ensure that consumers will reap the benefits with new products planned, including fresh tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, and plant-derived vitamin D supplements. The project also receives a financial contribution from John Innes Enterprises, the commercial arm of the John Innes Centre.
Professor Martin said: “The DEFRA/Innovate UK funding recognises the significance and potential of our achievements so far, in bringing the vitamin D3 gene edited tomato to human trials. Additionally, the decision of John Innes Enterprises to support this project will give flexibility in product development and allow healthier, affordable products to be developed to meet consumer demand. We hope that this will be a model for other research institutions to translate their strategic research innovations into products that consumers clearly want.”
Dr Jonathan Clarke, on behalf of John Innes Enterprises, said: “This innovative project aims to show that by using gene editing we can improve the nutritional composition of a staple, widely consumed horticultural crop as part of a longer-term strategy to improve human health.”
QuBOOSTR - Quality Bioengineering for Optimised Output & Sustainable Technologies in Rubber producing crops
This £2.4m project brings together Norwich Research Park-based startup company QuberTech, the John Innes Centre and its Germplasm Resources Unit, and LettUsGrow, a specialist in aeroponic indoor cultivation. This consortium will precision breed dandelions, which naturally produce latex/rubber in their root system, so that supply is optimised using aeroponic farming systems. Dandelions produce levels of latex in their roots that, historically, were seen as too low to be commercially viable and environmentally sustainable. However, this innovation offers a sustainable UK-based supply of a valuable global commodity which is at risk due to climate change and supply chain vulnerabilities.
Dr Neil Clelland, Co-Founder and CBO of lead partner QuberTech, said: “This project brings together a powerful combination of expertise, with the John Innes Centre's world leading plant science, LettUs Grow's advanced controlled environment growing systems, and QuberTech's track record in gene editing and translating innovation to real-world applications. This grant will fully support QuberTech’s technical and commercial milestones, enabling us to build a new, domestic rubber supply that strengthens UK resilience, supports sustainable agriculture, and demonstrates how novel precision bred crops can deliver real economic and environmental benefits."
Jack Farmer, Co-Founder and CSO of LettUs Grow, said: "LettUs Grow are very excited to commence this Innovate UK project, using our unique Aeroponic Rolling Bench technology to support Qubertech in their mission to boost resilience of the global rubber supply. By boosting crop performance and enabling clean and easy access to the crop roots, we believe this exciting R&D could further expand the market for high-tech glasshouse operators worldwide."
Precision breeding describes a range of technologies, such as gene editing, that can make the same type of genetic changes as traditional breeding but in a more efficient and targeted way. It can deliver disease resistance, climate resilience, and better nutrition without adding genes from other species. This precision breeding competition is the first bespoke competition of its kind in this area.
Dr Stella Peace, Managing Director at Innovate UK, said: “Working alongside Defra, Innovate UK is ensuring precision breeding and low emission technologies move swiftly from research into real-world use, enabling farmers and agribusinesses to grow, compete and unlock new economic opportunities across the UK’s food and farming sector.”
