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. Eagles are symbols of hunting prowess. Known as top predators wherever they live, they are often assumed to kill as their primary mode of obtaining food. However, a new study published in the Journal of Raptor Research reports the first confirmed case of sustained carrion use by Verreaux's eagles (Aquila verreauxii) in the Arabian Peninsula, suggesting that the species' diet may be more adaptable than previously realized. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-eagles-specialists-reveal-unexpected-goat.html Plants & Animals Fri, 28 Aug 2026 08:40:03 EDT news707124661 Why do humans rely on XY chromosomes to determine sex, while birds use ZW—and many reptiles use neither, letting temperature decide instead? Sex determination is remarkably diverse across the animal kingdom. In genotypic sex determination (GSD), sex is encoded in the genome: XX individuals are female and XY males in humans and most mammals, while in the ZW system, found in birds and some reptiles, males are ZZ and females ZW. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-xy-zw-gecko-chromosomes-reveal.html Evolution Thu, 27 Aug 2026 14:00:08 EDT news707044201 The genome—which contains genes encoded in DNA—acts as the fundamental blueprint of life. But what you might not know is that, in addition to this genetic information, we have something akin to an "instruction manual" for how genes should be handled. This instruction manual is known as the epigenome. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-wisdom-egg-cell-oocyte-epigenetic.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 27 Aug 2026 13:40:01 EDT news707051398 We share our planet with millions of plants and animals. This variety of life is known as biodiversity, a term encompassing everything from microscopic genes to entire ecosystems, such as deserts and vibrant coral reefs. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-species-discoveries-reveal-emerging-biodiversity.html Ecology Thu, 27 Aug 2026 08:20:04 EDT news707032202 A protein that sticks cells and tissues together has been found to have a surprising second job: helping cells that are packed into a continuous sealed layer, also known as epithelial cells, engulf nearby dead cells. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-cellular-epithelial-tissues-engulf-dead.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 27 Aug 2026 05:00:07 EDT news706984261 Researchers at the University of Cincinnati have identified a potential new target to prevent the spread of Chagas disease. The parasitic infection is transmitted through the bite of the kissing bug in Central and South America and, more recently, in the United States. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-chagas-parasite-survival-antimalarial-style.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 26 Aug 2026 13:40:06 EDT news706961281 The sights and sounds of the Jurassic era are long gone, and we will never know for sure what that ancient world looked and sounded like. Fossils can offer clues, and reconstructions can give us a sense of the noises some animals might have made. Now scientists have turned their attention to insects and reconstructed the calls of Jurassic relatives of modern-day crickets and katydids (grasshopper-like insects). https://phys.org/news/2026-08-reconstructed-jurassic-insect-evoke-million.html Evolution Wed, 26 Aug 2026 12:50:01 EDT news706966915 Bats are anomalies in the mammalian world—they fly, have long lifespans and rarely get cancer. Scientists now suspect the bat immune system enables them to live longer without disease, according to a new study published today in Nature. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-dna-virus-defense-longevity-cancer.html Evolution Wed, 26 Aug 2026 11:00:08 EDT news706874342 Researchers at the University of St Andrews have gained unprecedented insight into marine mammal behavior when they become tangled in fishing nets. In a paper published Aug. 26 in Royal Society Open Science, researchers from the Sea Mammal Research Unit and Scottish Oceans Institute at St Andrews discovered that their passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) systems, deployed on a gill net, had unintentionally recorded a bycatch event. This is thought to be the first time this kind of recording has taken place in such detail. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-porpoise-entanglement-real-revealing.html Plants & Animals Tue, 25 Aug 2026 19:10:01 EDT news706808402 University of Oregon biologists have resurrected prehistoric proteins up to 160 million years old that carry natural antimicrobial properties. The revived molecules could inspire the design of new treatments for antibiotic-resistant infections, a pressing global health issue. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-scientists-resurrect-ancient-proteins-antibiotic.html Biotechnology Tue, 25 Aug 2026 14:00:07 EDT news706801801 Marine heat waves and extreme ocean acidification events are each damaging on their own. But when both stressors hit simultaneously, their individual effects can be exacerbated. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-marine-acidification.html Earth Sciences Mon, 24 Aug 2026 18:40:01 EDT news706803421 A mule has helped researchers build the most complete reference genomes to date for horses and donkeys, giving scientists access to complex regions of DNA that earlier versions could not fully capture. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-mule-scientists-clearest-horse-donkey.html Evolution Mon, 24 Aug 2026 14:20:04 EDT news706792861 Age isn't just a number for one of the ocean's top apex predators. It's a mystery University of Georgia researchers are solving. A new UGA study has determined how to estimate the age of sharks by analyzing changes to individual animals' DNA. Known as epigenetic clocks, these scientific age estimators focus on chemical alterations known as DNA methylation to measure wear and tear on an animal's cells, providing a noninvasive, fast and accurate assessment of an animal's age. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-shark-dna-age.html Ecology Fri, 21 Aug 2026 11:40:04 EDT news706527066 A study by the National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN-CSIC), the National Research Center on Human Evolution (CENIEH) and the University of Alcalá offers a new explanation for the decline of African megaherbivores. These animals, weighing more than a tonne (2,200 pounds) and today including elephants and hippopotamuses, are known for acting as ecosystem engineers. The results, published in Nature Communications, reveal that their loss of diversity throughout history was not due to their being more vulnerable to extinction, as had previously been proposed, but rather that their decline was driven by particularly low rates of speciation—the emergence of new species. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-scarce-emergence-species-drove-decline.html Ecology Thu, 20 Aug 2026 19:40:04 EDT news706455541 In the last few centuries, mammals and other animals have been going extinct at least 100 times faster than they did before humans arrived on the scene. So who will be next? Which species are most likely to survive, and which will die out? https://phys.org/news/2026-08-extinctions-extinction-today.html Plants & Animals Thu, 20 Aug 2026 15:30:02 EDT news706456261 Why is there sex—or, more precisely, sexual reproduction? If you're an evolutionary biologist, the answer isn't obvious. Sexual reproduction is biologically costly, requiring not only competition for mates but also the creation of entire populations in which only half the individuals can give birth. That reality has led scientists to wonder why it arose in the first place. After all, in asexual reproduction—as occurs when bacteria divide—not only can you skip the wooing and its costs, but every individual is a potential mother. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-sex-evolutionary-baggage.html Evolution Thu, 20 Aug 2026 10:40:05 EDT news706437972 Around 15,000 years ago, the way of life of human communities in the southern Levant underwent a fundamental change. Groups of hunter-gatherers, who until then had been nomadic, reduced their mobility and established small, permanent settlements for the first time. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-snake-bones-flint-mount-carmel.html Archaeology Thu, 20 Aug 2026 08:40:03 EDT news706433326 Take a walk in London's Trafalgar Square this summer, and people of all body sizes—some tall, some short—will be wilting in the heat: a real mix of sizes. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-denisovans-tall-ancient-humans-skeptical.html Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 19 Aug 2026 17:40:01 EDT news706362662 Scientists studying one of nature's greatest reproductive innovations have discovered how some lizards evolved from laying eggs to giving birth to live young. The new research is the first to reveal the evolutionary process behind this important biological change and offers a unique insight into how other species—including mammals—may have evolved to give birth to live young millions of years ago. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-evolutionary-birth-lizards-uncovered.html Plants & Animals Wed, 19 Aug 2026 17:00:04 EDT news706362782 Scientists had previously observed that some species of shrews undergo a form of biological plasticity in which their bodies, skulls, brains and some organs shrink in the winter, then regrow in the spring. Now, a new study in Japan, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, has taken a closer look at this phenomenon and found that shrews' snouts exhibit an inverse effect, growing and then shrinking again. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-shrews-reversible-size-skulls-noses.html Plants & Animals Wed, 19 Aug 2026 11:40:05 EDT news706354020 Many animals obtain information about others from scent marks left in the environment, including urine. Because these marks remain after the sender has left, they allow animals to communicate across space and time. But odor molecules evaporate, degrade and change after release. How, then, can a scent mark continue to convey reliable information about who left it? https://phys.org/news/2026-08-year-mystery-cat-kidney-linked.html Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 19 Aug 2026 11:00:26 EDT news706194782 Eight years of painstaking research on the virtually unknown Wolffsohn's viscacha have helped to shine the spotlight on this super-rare South American rodent and catalyze the conservation action it so urgently needs. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-secrets-mystery-mammal-patagonia-revealed.html Plants & Animals Tue, 18 Aug 2026 16:20:07 EDT news706272541 An African bat whose presence in Sicily had remained an unresolved zoological mystery for almost two centuries has now been documented on Pantelleria Island. A study published in Global Ecology and Conservation reports the first solid evidence of the Egyptian slit-faced bat (Nycteris thebaica) in Europe, adding not only a new bat species but also the first representative of the family Nycteridae to the European fauna. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-african-overlooked-centuries-europe.html Plants & Animals Tue, 18 Aug 2026 15:10:01 EDT news706282441 According to a study by Brazilian scientists published in the journal npj Biodiversity, most new mammal species described over the past 35 years are housed in institutions in countries of the so-called Global North, even though the vast majority were discovered in poor or developing countries in the Southern Hemisphere. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-mammal-species-global-south-northern.html Plants & Animals Tue, 18 Aug 2026 15:00:01 EDT news706271641 Mice use almost completely distinct sets of neurons for their two different types of vocalizations—the squeaks they produce when in distress or fighting and the whistle-like ultrasonic vocalizations they use when communicating socially, Cornell neuroscientists have found. The discovery is a step toward understanding how the brain is organized to control vocalization in mammals, including humans. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-distinct-neurons-mice-social.html Plants & Animals Tue, 18 Aug 2026 08:40:01 EDT news706255862 In humans and many other animals, a mother's age can affect the physical and behavioral characteristics of the next generation. Scientists call these changes maternal age effects, and while they are widespread across the animal kingdom, researchers still don't fully understand how or why they occur. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-molecular-memory-mother-age-echoes.html Plants & Animals Mon, 17 Aug 2026 22:20:02 EDT news706188931 Tick-borne diseases are on the rise in the United States. Lyme disease is the most commonly reported, with nearly half a million people diagnosed each year. Caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, it is most often spread by bites from blacklegged ticks. Lyme can be treated with antibiotics, but if untreated, infection can spread to the joints, heart and nervous system, and some people can experience persistent symptoms. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-year-ecological-lyme-disease.html Ecology Mon, 17 Aug 2026 15:00:12 EDT news705920766 South America was a frightening place during the Miocene. More than 10 million years ago, a vast lake covered much of the continent, home to giant turtles and crocodylians. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-giant-crocodylians-dominated-food-chain.html Ecology Sun, 16 Aug 2026 21:00:04 EDT news705927781 A host that sheds an abundance of parasites might seem like an obvious disease-spreading threat. But new research suggests that shedding large volumes of parasites does not dictate transmission efficiency—and "super-shedders" may not be the superspreaders of infectious disease outbreaks. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-quality-quantity-super-shedders-superspreaders.html Ecology Fri, 14 Aug 2026 12:40:01 EDT news705916929 An international team of researchers from Belgium, France, Switzerland, Spain and the U.S. has reconstructed the evolution of body mass in carnivorous mammals during the Paleogene—a crucial window in the diversification of mammals that followed the extinction of dinosaurs. This work, published in Biology Letters, challenges the long-standing hypothesis that competition decided the fate of ancient top predators. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-climate-predator-million-years.html Ecology Thu, 13 Aug 2026 13:40:03 EDT news705841742