http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Indonesia said Friday it would consider rehabilitating captive dolphins before releasing them into the wild, after animal welfare activists criticised a plan to dump them directly into the sea. http://phys.org/news227532220.html Biology Fri, 17 Jun 2011 12:23:52 EST news227532220 Researchers from Imperial College London and University College London are planning to develop a new material that mimics dolphin skin, so that water can flow more efficiently down pipes, in one of seven early-stage projects that will receive support from a new scheme announced today. http://phys.org/news227442431.html Chemistry Thu, 16 Jun 2011 11:27:47 EST news227442431 Dolphins and porpoises use echolocation for hunting and orientation. By sending out high-frequency sound, known as ultrasound, dolphins can use the echoes to determine what type of object the sound beam has hit. http://phys.org/news226666363.html Biology Tue, 07 Jun 2011 11:52:56 EST news226666363 Hong Kong's ambitious plans to expand its airport to meet soaring demand have sparked protests from environmentalists who say it would further endanger the city's rare Chinese white dolphins. http://phys.org/news226659717.html Biology Tue, 07 Jun 2011 10:02:11 EST news226659717 The deaths of over 150 dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico so far this year is due in part to the devastating 2010 BP oil spill and the chemical dispersants used to contain it, a report said Thursday. http://phys.org/news225691064.html Space & Earth Fri, 27 May 2011 05:10:01 EST news225691064 Bottlenose dolphins and beluga whales, two marine species at or near the top of their respective food webs, accumulate more chemical pollutants in their bodies when they live and feed in waters near urbanized areas, according to scientists working at the Hollings Marine Laboratory (HML), a government-university collaboration in Charleston, S.C. http://phys.org/news224330304.html Space & Earth Wed, 11 May 2011 10:58:36 EST news224330304 Noise pollution in the oceans has been shown to cause physical and behavioral changes in marine life, especially in dolphins and whales, which rely on sound for daily activities. However, low frequency sound produced by large scale, offshore activities is also suspected to have the capacity to cause harm to other marine life as well. Giant squid, for example, were found along the shores of Asturias, Spain in 2001 and 2003 following the use of airguns by offshore vessels and examinations eliminated all known causes of lesions in these species, suggesting that the squid deaths could be related to excessive sound exposure. http://phys.org/news221739419.html Biology Mon, 11 Apr 2011 11:17:23 EST news221739419 The Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010 devastated the Gulf of Mexico ecologically and economically. However, a new study published in Conservation Letters reveals that the true impact of the disaster on wildlife may be gravely underestimated. The study argues that fatality figures based on the number of recovered animal carcasses will not give a true death toll, which may be 50 times higher than believed. http://phys.org/news220675596.html Biology Wed, 30 Mar 2011 04:20:01 EST news220675596 (PhysOrg.com) -- In a recent study published in Animal Behaviour by Dalhousie University biologists Hal Whitehead and Shane Gero, the concept that sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) are individuals is being learned. http://phys.org/news219511280.html Biology Wed, 16 Mar 2011 16:21:38 EST news219511280 Elephants quickly learn to lend each other a helping hand - ah, make that a helping trunk. http://phys.org/news218744988.html Biology Mon, 07 Mar 2011 18:30:07 EST news218744988 (AP) -- Copies of the 2010 Oscar-winning film that depicts the slaughter of dolphins in the Japanese fishing village of Taiji have been delivered free to its residents, compliments of the director. http://phys.org/news218092709.html Biology Mon, 28 Feb 2011 05:18:40 EST news218092709 Scientists are trying to figure out what killed 53 bottlenose dolphins - many of them babies - so far this year in the Gulf of Mexico, as five more of their carcasses washed up Thursday in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. http://phys.org/news217919273.html Space & Earth Sat, 26 Feb 2011 05:08:11 EST news217919273 Baby dolphins are washing up dead along the oil-soaked US Gulf Coast at more than 10 times the normal rate in the first birthing season since the BP disaster, researchers said. http://phys.org/news217660403.html Space & Earth Wed, 23 Feb 2011 05:13:37 EST news217660403 It might be tough for dolphins to remember faces, considering they always look like they're smiling. But new research indicates they apparently never forget a voice. http://phys.org/news214670749.html Biology Wed, 19 Jan 2011 15:10:02 EST news214670749 Dolphins along coast of Argentina could experience a significant loss of genetic diversity because some of the animals that accidently die when tangled in fishing nets are related. According to a new genetic analysis published this week in the journal PLoS One, Franciscana dolphins that die as by-catch are more than a collection of random individuals: many are most likely mother-offspring pairs. This result, which suggests reduced genetic diversity and reproductive potential, could have significant implications for the conservation of small marine mammals. http://phys.org/news211655792.html Biology Wed, 15 Dec 2010 17:16:49 EST news211655792 In the 24-hour news cycle era, the Deepwater Horizon oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico already feels like an event from yesteryear, an event that had its 15 minutes of news domination during the summer of 2010 then made room for the next big story once the wellhead was capped. http://phys.org/news211628725.html Space & Earth Wed, 15 Dec 2010 09:45:53 EST news211628725 Dolphins are thought to be able to communicate with each other over vast expanses of ocean, between distances as far as 15 miles apart. Studies of dolphin whistles have suggested that they should carry that far in water, which transmits sound much better than air does. http://phys.org/news208180492.html Biology Fri, 05 Nov 2010 12:56:34 EST news208180492 Last week at the global biodiversity conference in Nagoya a study revealed that one fifth of the world’s vertebrate species continue to move closer to extinction. Researchers looked at how a species’ status on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species changed over time. http://phys.org/news208170631.html Biology Fri, 05 Nov 2010 10:10:53 EST news208170631 (AP) -- An unprecedented meeting between conservationists and leaders of the dolphin-hunting village depicted in the Oscar-winning film "The Cove" ended in bitter disagreement Tuesday. http://phys.org/news207894343.html Biology Tue, 02 Nov 2010 05:50:03 EST news207894343 (PhysOrg.com) -- Female dolphins who have help from their female friends are far more successful as mothers than those without such help, according to a landmark new study. http://phys.org/news207850127.html Biology Mon, 01 Nov 2010 17:10:56 EST news207850127 (PhysOrg.com) -- A combination of the biology of marine mammals, mechanical vibrations and acoustics has led to a breakthrough discovery allowing scientists to better understand the potential harmful effects of sound on marine mammals such as whales and dolphins. http://phys.org/news202456235.html Biology Tue, 31 Aug 2010 06:50:49 EST news202456235 Scientists at Georgetown University, the National Aquarium and the University of Queensland are the first to extract DNA from dolphin blow (breath exhalations). The researchers found that blow-sampling, which involves collecting exhalations from the blowholes of whales, dolphins and porpoises, could be developed as a less invasive method for DNA collection. Their findings are explained in the Aug. 25 edition of the online journal PLoS ONE in an article titled "Thar She Blows! A Novel Method for DNA Collection from Cetacean Blow." http://phys.org/news201957770.html Biology Wed, 25 Aug 2010 17:00:06 EST news201957770 "There they are," murmurs Fulvio Fossa, smiling as he points to a herd of dolphins off of Cinque Terre in northwestern Italy. http://phys.org/news201498262.html Biology Fri, 20 Aug 2010 05:50:01 EST news201498262 A Taiwanese conservation group said Wednesday it plans to set up a sanctuary for the endangered Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin, using proceeds from the island's first environmental trust fund. http://phys.org/news197724970.html Biology Wed, 07 Jul 2010 12:36:16 EST news197724970 Scientists from the Bottlenose Dolphin Research Institute (BDRI) on the island of Sardinia off the coast of Italy have published the most complete repertoire ever of sounds made by bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). The study shows how the mammals use whistles and burst-pulsed sounds to communicate and maintain their position in their community's social hierarchy. The research results appear in the book Dolphins: Anatomy, Behaviour and Threats by Nova Science Publishers. http://phys.org/news196959293.html Biology Mon, 28 Jun 2010 15:59:36 EST news196959293 (PhysOrg.com) -- The dead sperm whale found this week in the Gulf of Mexico puts the spotlight on how the BP oil spill will affect this endangered mammal, along with other cetaceans, such as dolphins, that must break the oil-slicked surface to breathe. http://phys.org/news196693112.html Space & Earth Fri, 25 Jun 2010 13:58:53 EST news196693112 A groundbreaking study of banded mongooses in Uganda has shown even small-brained animals pass on traditions, giving a valuable insight into how complex human culture could have evolved. http://phys.org/news195820026.html Biology Tue, 15 Jun 2010 11:30:01 EST news195820026 Until now, the scientific community had thought that whistles were the main sounds made by these mammals, and were unaware of the importance and use of burst-pulsed sounds. Researchers from the Bottlenose Dolphin Research Institute (BDRI), based in Sardinia (Italy) have now shown that these sounds are vital to the animals' social life and mirror their behaviour. http://phys.org/news195295780.html Biology Wed, 09 Jun 2010 10:00:02 EST news195295780 For the passing on of traditions, it appears that an especially big brain isn't required. A new report published online on June 3rd in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, shows that even mongooses in the wild carry out traditions that are passed down from one generation to the next. http://phys.org/news194788003.html Biology Thu, 03 Jun 2010 12:46:56 EST news194788003 (AP) -- Residents of the dolphin-hunting village depicted in the Oscar-winning documentary "The Cove" have dangerously high mercury levels, likely because of their fondness for dolphin and whale meat, Japan's government said Sunday. http://phys.org/news192613952.html Space & Earth Sun, 09 May 2010 08:55:23 EST news192613952