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. The climate of the ancient Eastern Mediterranean was far more turbulent than previously thought—and a new study suggests that people adapted anyway. An international team of scientists, spearheaded by UC San Diego's Center for Cyber-Archaeology and Sustainability (CCAS) and the University of Haifa's Recanati Institute for Maritime Studies (RIMS), has developed a new way to track ancient climate and used it to decode 4,000 years of key environmental history in the ancient Mediterranean. The paper was published in Quaternary Science Reviews on May 13. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-wetland-sediment-scientists-uncover-centuries.html Archaeology Mon, 18 May 2026 17:20:04 EDT news698337181 Sticking needles into arms—or rather, haunches—is often the hardest part of distributing an effective agricultural vaccine. Now, University of Connecticut researchers show in the April 15 issue of Advanced Healthcare Materials that a patch can deliver a safe, temperature-stabilized vaccine against foot and mouth disease, no needles required. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-microneedle-patch-vaccine-farming-stubborn.html Veterinary medicine Mon, 18 May 2026 17:10:01 EDT news698342101 Eastern Africa's earliest livestock herders continued fishing, hunting and gathering for centuries after livestock were first brought to the region. The first pastoralists in eastern Africa didn't suddenly switch to a diet centered only on cows, sheep and goats. Instead, they kept eating a wide mix of foods—fish, wild animals and plants—alongside livestock for at least 1,000 years. The strategy may have helped them adapt to a harsh, changing climate. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-cattle-early-east-african-herders.html Archaeology Mon, 18 May 2026 15:00:09 EDT news698317797 Khirigsuurs are Late Bronze Age monuments found across Mongolia and parts of southern Siberia. They are typically thought to be burial monuments or ritual spaces, consisting of a burial mound surrounded by satellite features beneath which horse and caprine (goat/sheep) remains were deposited. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-evidence-assumptions-mass-feasting-ancient.html Archaeology Thu, 02 Apr 2026 08:10:01 EDT news694258066 New research has revealed that the Old Irish Goat shares a 3,000-year genetic link with goats living in Ireland during the Late Bronze Age. The findings suggest that the rare indigenous breed represents a continuous Irish lineage stretching back millennia. The work appears in the Journal of Archaeological Science. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-late-bronze-age-today-irish.html Archaeology Thu, 26 Feb 2026 00:10:02 EST news691252622 Approximately 9,000 years ago, human communities in Southwest Asia underwent a dramatic transformation, known as the Neolithic revolution. This period was marked by pronounced changes in how they lived and sourced food, with a shift from living on the move, hunting and gathering to permanently residing in one place, farming and herding of animals. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-evidence-early-goat-sheep-dairy.html Archaeology Fri, 20 Feb 2026 15:00:01 EST news690808540 A new study conducted at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) shows that grassland-based grazing systems—currently covering a third of Earth's surface and representing the world's largest production system—will see a severe contraction as global temperatures rise. Depending on the scenario analyzed, 36–50% of the land with suitable climatic conditions for grazing today will experience a loss of viability by 2100, affecting more than 100 million pastoralists and up to 1.6 billion grazing animals. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-climate-halve-areas-suitable-cattle.html Ecology Mon, 09 Feb 2026 15:00:03 EST news689848625 In a study conducted by Dr. Mahdi Alirezazadeh and Dr. Hanan Bahranipoor, published in Archaeological Research in Asia, two exceptionally well-preserved fetal burials from Chaparabad, Iran, dating to the mid-5th millennium BC, were analyzed including burial L522.1, one of the most complete prehistoric infant burials in the Iranian plateau. Despite being buried only meters apart, the two fetal burials exhibit distinct burial treatments, offering insights into the variable burial practices of prehistoric cultures in southwestern Asia. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-rare-5th-millennium-bc-fetal.html Archaeology Sun, 01 Feb 2026 11:10:03 EST news688907414 Researchers have deciphered the diet of an important nomadic people in Eastern European history. By analyzing dental calculus, they have provided the first direct evidence that the diet of the Scythians included milk from various ruminants and horses. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-iron-age-dental-plaque-reveals.html Archaeology Wed, 21 Jan 2026 14:00:03 EST news688207381 For decades, researchers have focused on the problem of overgrazing, in which expanding herds of cattle and other livestock degrade grasslands, steppes and desert plains. But a new global study reveals that in large regions of the world, livestock numbers are substantially declining, not growing—a process the authors call destocking. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-overlooked-decline-grazing-livestock-opportunities.html Ecology Mon, 12 Jan 2026 15:00:01 EST news687187681 In the Middle Ages, a plague killed a third of Europe's population. Fleas carried the plague bacterium, Yersinia pestis, transmitting the Black Death from infected rats to millions of people. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-bronze-age-plague-sheep-mystery.html Archaeology Fri, 26 Dec 2025 11:30:01 EST news684431819 A study analyzing over 500,000 tweets from 2006 to 2021 found that public discourse on invasive species heavily favors charismatic animals over ecologically harmful plants. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-million-tweets-reveal-invasive-species.html Plants & Animals Mon, 27 Oct 2025 06:48:10 EDT news680285161 Prominent research studies have suggested that our planet is currently experiencing another mass extinction, based on extrapolating extinctions from the past 500 years into the future and the idea that extinction rates are rapidly accelerating. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-extinction-animal-groups.html Evolution Thu, 23 Oct 2025 09:13:05 EDT news680429582 New fossil research shows how human impacts, particularly through the rise of agriculture and livestock, have disrupted natural mammal communities as profoundly as the Ice Age extinctions. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-humans-reshaped-animal-world-years.html Ecology Tue, 30 Sep 2025 09:20:03 EDT news678442717 Through a collaboration between U.S. and Kenyan researchers and Turkana communities of northern Kenya, scientists have uncovered key genetic adaptations underlying survival in hot and dry environments, revealing how natural selection has enabled this pastoralist population to thrive in a challenging landscape. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-partnership-kenya-turkana-community-scientists.html Evolution Thu, 18 Sep 2025 14:00:10 EDT news677344321 In a recent study, Dr. Agata Hałuszko and colleagues discovered an ornament made from beetles in a cremation grave in Domasław, Poland. The work is published in the journal Antiquity. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-archaeologists-uncover-rare-beetle-ornament.html Archaeology Mon, 08 Sep 2025 09:32:55 EDT news676542768 Humans have caused wild animals to shrink and domestic animals to grow, according to a new study out of the University of Montpellier in southern France. Researchers studied tens of thousands of animal bones from Mediterranean France covering the last 8,000 years to see how the size of both types of animals has changed over time. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-years-human-wild-animals-domestic.html Plants & Animals Tue, 02 Sep 2025 12:30:05 EDT news676034650 How is an animal feeling at a given moment? Humans have long recognized certain well-known behavior like a cat hissing as a warning, but in many cases we've had little clue of what's going on inside an animal's head. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-ai-decodes-animals-emotional-states.html Biotechnology Mon, 25 Aug 2025 14:28:24 EDT news675350897 In a new study published in L'Antropologie, Dr. Shirin Torkamandi and his colleagues, Dr. Marcel Otte and Dr. Abbas Motarjem have analyzed the symbolic meaning of bovidea, particularly the ibex, in the ancient Near East. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-ibex-motif-linked-fertility-celestial.html Archaeology Thu, 21 Aug 2025 07:40:01 EDT news674915949 The presence of humans and human infrastructure in U.S. national parks has lasting effects on the behaviors of the large animals that call them home, according to a new study. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-wildlife-wide-range-responses-human.html Plants & Animals Tue, 29 Jul 2025 19:00:01 EDT news672936197 Over the past 100,000 years, Australia and New Guinea's large animal communities have been disrupted by extinctions and invasive species, altering entire ecosystems and threatening the conservation of remaining species. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-mammals-australia-largest-animals-years.html Plants & Animals Mon, 21 Jul 2025 11:29:41 EDT news672316071 Geology is full of detective stories about the Earth's history, and a new paper in Geology by University of New Mexico Distinguished Professors Emeritus Karl Karlstrom and Laurie Crossey, along with their co‐authors, links two iconic geologic landmarks of the American Southwest: the Grand Canyon and Meteor Crater. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-link-grand-canyon-landslide-meteor.html Space Exploration Tue, 15 Jul 2025 12:10:07 EDT news671780123 A University of Florida research team has developed a more accurate way to count wildlife using drones—an innovation that helped confirm the world's largest known nesting site for a threatened turtle species. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-reveals-world-largest-turtle-site.html Ecology Tue, 15 Jul 2025 07:29:50 EDT news671783375 Donkeys played an important role in the lives of ancient Mediterranean people, providing both food and a means of carrying goods. New evidence from an early Bronze Age (2900–2600/2550 BCE) archaeological site in modern-day Israel shows that certain donkeys were also used in ritualistic sacrifices. The study, published in PLOS One, provides evidence that Egyptian donkeys were used in trade and ritualistically sacrificed by ancient Canaanites, while donkeys of local origin were used as food. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-ritualistically-donkey-insight-culture-ancient.html Archaeology Mon, 14 Jul 2025 11:24:32 EDT news671711060 A recent study published in Current Biology has found that animals living at elevations of 1,000 meters and higher have a reduction in genes related to smell and a smaller olfactory bulb than similar low-altitude species. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-animals-higher-elevations-decreased.html Plants & Animals Tue, 01 Jul 2025 06:40:01 EDT news670566303 Research led by the National Institute of Biological Sciences in Beijing has discovered that switching on a single dormant gene enables mice to regenerate ear tissue. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-silent-gene-revives-tissue-regeneration.html Biotechnology Mon, 30 Jun 2025 11:50:07 EDT news670502862 In the windswept steppe of northeastern Mongolia, archaeologists have unearthed a rare window into daily life along the medieval frontier of the Liao Empire. Excavations at a remote garrison site revealed thousands of animal bones—evidence of herding, hunting, fishing, and a harsh environment—offering a ground-level view of survival far from the imperial centers recorded in history books. The findings challenge traditional accounts by illuminating the lives of soldiers and civilians who lived not in palaces, but along the empire's long and lonely wall. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-animal-bones-northeastern-mongolia-reveal.html Archaeology Wed, 25 Jun 2025 12:50:03 EDT news670074116 New research brings together 7,000 years of history in South Arabia to show how ancient pastoralists changed placement and construction of monuments over time in the face of environmental and cultural forces. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-years-monuments-south-arabia-pastoralists.html Archaeology Wed, 28 May 2025 14:00:11 EDT news667482061 Can goats help each other? A new study by the Research Institute of Farm Animal Biology (FBN) in Dummerstorf in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna suggests that goats exhibit prosocial behavior—i.e. they are willing to help others without direct self-benefit. This could make an important contribution to understanding social cognition in farm animals. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-goats-hoof-evidence-prosocial-behavior.html Ecology Tue, 27 May 2025 10:54:03 EDT news667562041 The North Korean government engages in unsustainable and illegal wildlife trade, which includes species protected under its own laws and poses a threat to biodiversity recovery in the region, finds a new study by UCL researchers. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-north-korea-illegal-wildlife-threatens.html Plants & Animals Thu, 08 May 2025 19:10:02 EDT news665934841