https://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. Giant manta rays can grow up to nine meters (30 feet) long with a disk size of seven meters (23 feet) across and weigh up to 2,000 kg (4,400 pounds). This size leaves them with very few natural enemies once they reach adulthood at around eight to 10 years old. But giant manta ray babies, called pups, cannot rely on their size to protect them from predators that live in the open ocean, including several species of shark and orcas. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-baby-manta-rays-hunker-coasts.html Plants & Animals Thu, 22 Oct 2026 00:00:01 EDT news711799141 The glacial Arctic Ocean was not a barren ice desert but a breeding ground for the evolution of cold adaptation in marine fish. This is the main conclusion of a new scientific publication from Stockholm University that examines small fish bones found in deep-sea sediments during an expedition aboard the Swedish icebreaker Oden. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-ancient-fish-bones-reveal-arctic.html Evolution Wed, 21 Oct 2026 15:20:01 EDT news711803702 Male seahorses, fishes that belong to the Syngnathidae family, show a distinctive reproductive strategy in which males carry developing embryos in a brood pouch. Their most distinctive feature is the brood pouch on the ventral side of the male fish, into which the female fish transfers her eggs. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-male-seahorse-pouch-proteins-toxic.html Plants & Animals Tue, 20 Oct 2026 18:40:02 EDT news711726601 For scientists studying the ocean, finding the right data can sometimes be as challenging as figuring out what to do with it. Want to know seafloor depth, the location of underwater mountains or sea surface temperatures? The information exists, but it can take considerable time and computer coding to pull it together from different sources and get it into the proper format. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-seafloor-depths-fishing-free-software.html Earth Sciences Tue, 20 Oct 2026 16:40:12 EDT news711719279 Fishers in the Northeast began noticing an unusual shift in the summer of 2023. Some familiar catches, including shortfin and longfin squid, declined, while cold-water species such as mackerel bounced back from years of decline. A new study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans finds that a pulse of cold, fresh water brought unusually cold conditions to the region, disrupting fisheries from New England to the Mid-Atlantic. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-cold-pulse-northwest-atlantic-reshaped.html Earth Sciences Tue, 20 Oct 2026 15:40:15 EDT news711718141 In a new Nature Physics study, researchers found that fin regrowth in zebrafish is driven by a brief burst of growth signal at the fin tip, sized to the amount lost, which sets up gradients of Erk activity that guide the regrowth. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-regrowth-erk-gradients-zebrafish-fins.html Plants & Animals Tue, 20 Oct 2026 07:40:15 EDT news711626822 In a deep, dark part of the Gulf of Mexico, the number of marine animals plummeted by about 60% in the years following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion, a new study found. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-marine-life-declined-gulf-mexico.html Ecology Tue, 20 Oct 2026 05:39:07 EDT news711693484 They can turn up in a nonstick frying pan, a waterproof jacket, a takeout food wrapper or the foam used to fight fires. Known as "forever chemicals," these substances are ubiquitous in modern society, prized for their extreme durability and versatility. However, their charm comes with a curse: They are so durable they resist degradation, posing threats to human health and the environment. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-hunter-killer-chemistry-captures-destroys.html Polymers Mon, 19 Oct 2026 15:00:06 EDT news711620341 During the COVID-19 pandemic, air travel declined dramatically. Many view the disruption as a potential tipping point for reducing emissions from the aviation sector. However, once travel restrictions were lifted, passenger traffic quickly rebounded to prepandemic levels and, in many regions, even surpassed them. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-social-norms-infrastructure-climate-transitions.html Environment Mon, 19 Oct 2026 14:20:01 EDT news711628141 Paired appendages—the pectoral and pelvic fins of fishes and the forelimbs and hindlimbs of tetrapods—were a major innovation in vertebrate evolution. Their emergence greatly expanded the ways vertebrates could move through their environments and ultimately provided the developmental foundation for the evolution of limbs. Yet how the genetic system responsible for building paired appendages was assembled during evolution remains an unresolved question. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-ancient-hox-code-reveals-developmental.html Evolution Mon, 19 Oct 2026 10:00:22 EDT news711619981 When a marine heat wave strikes, scientists often turn to satellites to see how the ocean is responding. From space, changes in ocean color can reveal shifts in phytoplankton, microscopic organisms that form the foundation of marine food webs and play a crucial role in the global carbon cycle. But satellites have a fundamental limitation: they can only see the ocean's surface. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-north-sea-fueled-underwater-plankton.html Earth Sciences Thu, 15 Oct 2026 16:00:07 EDT news711292632 Researchers from the Bazaruto Center for Scientific Studies (BCSS) Ocean Observatory have documented ancient forests that grew on the Mozambican coast thousands of years ago and have been found beneath the sea, where they now serve as hotspots teeming with marine life similar in biodiversity to coral reefs. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-year-forests-reborn-peat-reefs.html Plants & Animals Thu, 15 Oct 2026 10:00:16 EDT news711275883 Two new research papers shed light on the growing practice of grazing sheep in fields with solar arrays. One demonstrates that, in the right numbers, sheep grazing increases populations of beneficial insects like bees and lady beetles compared to mowing around solar panels. The other research describes a decision-making support tool to help farmers profitably grow their solar grazing herds. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-sheep-grazing-solar-fields-farmers.html Ecology Wed, 14 Oct 2026 15:40:07 EDT news711192374 Fishing is increasing in most marine reserves worldwide in spite of conservation pledges, a study published Wednesday found. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-marine-areas-curb-fishing.html Ecology Wed, 14 Oct 2026 14:40:25 EDT news711207566 A new study by researchers at the University of South Florida and Florida Atlantic University has demonstrated that a DNA sequencing tool can rapidly identify harmful algae in coastal waters, offering a new approach for monitoring species that could lead to improved methods for detecting potentially dangerous species before blooms become widespread. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-dna-tool-algal-blooms.html Ecology Wed, 14 Oct 2026 14:00:37 EDT news711185581 A new model using sturgeon as a material analog has made it possible to estimate how the backbones of some of the first animals on land could and could not move. These results disprove a long-standing hypothesis that changes in early tetrapod anatomy as they moved onto land gave them improved neck mobility. The study, led by a researcher at Uppsala University, formerly of Carleton University in Canada, has been published in the journal Nature. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-early-tetrapods-ability-necks.html Evolution Wed, 14 Oct 2026 11:00:52 EDT news711124258 Zavodovski, a volcanic island in Antarctica, is silently witnessing a shift in the local ecosystem. Known as home to the world's largest penguin colony, this island has long been under the watchful eye of scientists. One such study has now led to a bittersweet discovery. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-world-largest-penguin-colony-title.html Plants & Animals Tue, 13 Oct 2026 06:20:01 EDT news711014785 A northern gannet scans the sea for fish from 100 feet (30 meters) in the air. Upon seeing a school, it pitches its body into a nosedive, somehow breaking the surface at 70 miles per hour (113 kilometers per hour) without breaking its neck. This daring maneuver seems to defy the laws of nature, but it's standard hunting behavior for plunge-diving seabirds. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-vertebrae-plunge-seabirds-survive-high.html Plants & Animals Mon, 12 Oct 2026 17:30:01 EDT news711043801 A new species of ancient crocodile relative that lived around 170 million years ago has been discovered by scientists at the University of Portsmouth and Hassan II University of Casablanca, Morocco. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-jurassic-crocodile-species-unusually-slender.html Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 12 Oct 2026 14:00:06 EDT news711029785 From coral reefs in Papua New Guinea to chimpanzees in West Africa, grizzly bears in Canada and albatross colonies off Tasmania, some ecosystems are thriving despite climate change, habitat loss and other environmental pressures. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-odds-ecosystems.html Plants & Animals Sat, 10 Oct 2026 09:40:10 EDT news710587380 The fact that ecosystems change is nothing new. What is new, however, is the speed and scale at which new species communities are emerging as a result of climate change. Processes that once unfolded over centuries or even millennia are now being observed within just a few decades. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-climate-species-combinations-prompting-rethink.html Plants & Animals Fri, 09 Oct 2026 15:40:01 EDT news710768941 Filmmaker and outdoorsperson Quinn Barabash recently made headlines when he found a swordfish carcass nearly two meters (6.6 feet) long on the remote shores of Haida Gwaii in northern British Columbia. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-swordfish-british-columbia-coast-oceans.html Environment Fri, 09 Oct 2026 15:00:01 EDT news710767381 A team of engineers has designed a new line of multicolored tattoo inks that switch on and off with different kinds of light. Described in a study published in Matter & Light, the technology could one day help people hide their tattoos when they have an important business meeting. They could even doodle on their own skin using a simple laser pointer. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-responsive-inks-tattoos-visible-demand.html Materials Science Fri, 09 Oct 2026 11:00:02 EDT news710667901 Nitrogen is one of life's building blocks, but it's only helpful in the right amounts. Too much nitrogen in water, for example, can lead to poor water quality and the gradual death of aquatic organisms. Microbes remove nitrogen from water by converting it to a gas that escapes into the atmosphere. But scientists have difficulty determining how much nitrogen is removed this way. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-earth-nitrogen-atoms-clue.html Earth Sciences Fri, 09 Oct 2026 10:00:01 EDT news710756401 Blue damselfish, with their striking blue hue, are easy to spot, even along Okinawa's heavily urbanized coastlines. But while abundant, their gene activity reveals a hidden cost to living in human-impacted environments. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-fish-fine-urban-genes-story.html Plants & Animals Fri, 09 Oct 2026 05:00:24 EDT news710610481 Curtin University and Taronga Conservation Society Australia researchers have conducted the first hearing tests on Australian sea lions and long-nosed fur seals, revealing what sounds these marine mammals can hear and helping assess how human-made noise could affect them. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-reveal-sea-lions-fur-human.html Plants & Animals Thu, 08 Oct 2026 15:40:06 EDT news710679241 A team led by a Penn State professor and doctoral student has compiled a checklist documenting the bee species in Colombia—the first of its kind for any country in the Western Hemisphere. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-colombia-bee-checklist-documents-species.html Plants & Animals Thu, 08 Oct 2026 10:00:17 EDT news710672163 Coral reefs are renowned for their visual beauty, but for the marine life they support, their sounds may be just as enticing. Two new studies led by UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography reveal how underwater acoustic enrichment—the playback of sounds from healthy reefs—can help spur the recovery of degraded coral reefs and their fish communities. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-healthy-reef-boost-coral-fish.html Plants & Animals Thu, 08 Oct 2026 05:00:14 EDT news710587621 When wildfire smoke fills the air, most people can go inside to avoid it. Wildlife does not have that option, and little is known about how animals living in remote areas respond to wildfires and smoke exposure. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-collar-sensor-reveal-wildfire-affects.html Plants & Animals Thu, 08 Oct 2026 00:10:01 EDT news710610722 Tiny single-celled organisms help keep lakes clear, but some can also contaminate the water. An international research team has analyzed DNA data from 362 lakes to create the first global genome atlas of these organisms. With the findings now published in Nature Communications, the new atlas lays the foundation for faster and more precise monitoring of lakes. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-global-genome-atlas-reveals-overlooked.html Ecology Wed, 07 Oct 2026 17:00:05 EDT news710602924