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Fast late Miocene global cooling since ∼7 Ma accompanied by less changeable atmospheric CO2 levels revealed by existing proxy reconstructions has suggested an intriguing tectonic‐climate link that remains controversial. Here, we present late Cenozoic clay mineral records of the silicate weathering intensity from the Chinese Loess Plateau and northeastern Tibetan Plateau to demonstrate a remarkable increase in silicate weathering intensity at ∼9–7 Ma induced by enhanced monsoon. This change caused CO2 consumption ranging from 0.18 to 1.8 × 1011 mol C yr−1 over the East Asian monsoon region, accounting for 0.2%–2% of the modern continental silicate weathering flux, thus providing an additional atmospheric CO2 sink. Moreover, we propose that this additional sink may have contributed to the large atmospheric CO2 consumption and fast global cooling in the late Miocene, which ultimately caused the onset of the Northern Hemisphere glaciation at ∼7 Ma. Key Points: Late Cenozoic clay mineral records of silicate weathering intensity in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau and Chinese Loess PlateauSilicate weathering intensity has been greatly enhanced over the East Asian monsoon region at ∼9–7 MaMonsoon‐forced silicate weathering acting as an emerging CO2 sink may regulate fast global cooling since ∼7 Ma [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) under different environmental contexts on overyielding in intercropping systems can be instructive in optimizing productivity and ecosystem services. A greenhouse study was conducted with maize and faba bean monocultures or intercropping at low phosphorus (P) and high P levels with three different water availabilities, and inoculated with or without AMF species Funneliformis mosseae. At low P level, overyielding was mainly due to the increase of maize biomass promoted by AMF relative to faba bean. Whereas in high P soils, overyielding was observed at all treatments, regardless of AMF. Inoculation of AMF significantly improved maize rather than faba bean P uptake, water use efficiency and photosynthesis rate, in particular at the low P level. This study identified the context dependence of AMF in influencing overyielding in maize/faba bean intercropping and demonstrates the importance of AMF in sustainable agricultural production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two chiral carboxylic acid functionalized micro- and mesoporous metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are constructed by the stepwise assembly of triple-stranded heptametallic helicates with six carboxylic acid groups. The mesoporous MOF with permanent porosity functions as a host for encapsulation of an enantiopure organic amine catalyst by combining carboxylic acids and chiral amines in situ through acid-base interactions. The organocatalyst-loaded framework is shown to be an efficient and recyclable heterogeneous catalyst for the asymmetric direct aldol reactions with significantly enhanced stereoselectivity in relative to the homogeneous organocatalyst., (© 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)