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. A new University of Otago—Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka study reveals two vastly different life courses for one of Aotearoa New Zealand's least-studied penguin species. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-schrdinger-penguin-species-contrasting-outcomes.html Ecology Thu, 22 Oct 2026 09:20:01 EDT news711877201 Thousands of Adélie penguins found dead in Antarctica in 2024 were primarily victims of avian cholera, not high pathogenicity avian influenza (H5N1) as researchers initially suspected, according to a study published today in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. The findings highlight an underrecognized threat to Antarctic wildlife and the importance of comprehensive disease investigations, particularly as H5N1 continues to raise concerns for seabird and marine mammal populations. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-scientists-avian-cholera-major-penguin.html Plants & Animals Wed, 14 Oct 2026 17:10:01 EDT news711214621 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 Penguin poop is fertilizing snow algae blooms along the Antarctic Peninsula, feeding dense green algae patches along the coastline, a new study shows. These expanding stretches of green snow melt faster than clean, white snow, potentially speeding up the spread of snow- and ice-free areas of Antarctica. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-penguin-poop-antarctic-algae-green.html Earth Sciences Wed, 07 Oct 2026 09:00:15 EDT news710409722 Antarctic krill are tiny shrimp-like creatures that were previously thought to mostly inhabit the upper layer of the Southern Ocean. Although they had occasionally been observed at deeper levels, they were never seen near deep-sea hydrothermal vents until 2024, when a group of oceanographers observed them there for the first time. The team's new study, published in Communications Biology, describes the discovery and why the team thinks pregnant krill may actually be spending a lot of time near hydrothermal vents. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-deep-sea-hydrothermal-vents-hot.html Plants & Animals Thu, 17 Sep 2026 12:20:17 EDT news708863182 For the first time, geographers from Durham University have used freely available satellite radar images to track emperor penguins through the polar winter—giving a year-round view of their movements. Monitoring the endangered birds through Antarctica's dark months is important because this is a key stage in their breeding cycle. Emperor penguins rely on stable sea ice attached to the coastline for roughly nine months to breed and raise chicks. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-tracking-emperor-penguins-space.html Plants & Animals Wed, 02 Sep 2026 11:20:03 EDT news707561703 Scientists have often wondered about species that are unique to Antarctica. But the focus has mainly been on animals, like feathery penguins. CIRES researchers wanted to dig deeper—into the soils—believing tiny organisms could be unique to the continent, too. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-antarctica-home-microbes-earth.html Ecology Mon, 31 Aug 2026 17:30:01 EDT news707414581 With their charming waddles, heat-conserving huddles and tuxedo-like plumage, emperor penguins are among the world's most recognizable animals. Recent satellite surveys estimate that hundreds of thousands of the flightless birds live in 66 colonies spread around Antarctica's inaccessible, frozen coastlines. But those numbers could fall in the coming decades because emperor penguins rely on landfast (or fast) ice—a type of sea ice attached to the shoreline—to breed, raise chicks and molt. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-emperor-penguin-colonies-reveal-decades.html Plants & Animals Thu, 27 Aug 2026 12:20:01 EDT news707048941 In a rare study of snakes as nest predators, scientists found nesting birds were loath to strike rattlesnakes even though they likely had no previous experience with vipers. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-unfamiliar-rattlesnakes-blackbirds-defending.html Plants & Animals Wed, 12 Aug 2026 10:40:03 EDT news705745921 The number of chicks in the Coulman Island emperor penguin colony decreased by about 69% in 2025 compared with 2024, according to research published in Communications Earth & Environment. The authors suggest that a large iceberg, which grounded off the island between July 2025 and January 2026, likely restricted the colony's access to important foraging areas, demonstrating that individual iceberg movements may affect breeding success even when overall sea ice conditions appear favorable. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-iceberg-emperor-penguins-coulman-island.html Plants & Animals Thu, 23 Jul 2026 21:20:03 EDT news704037595 Large seabird colonies have a surrounding boundary known as Ashmole's halo, where food sources are depleted, forcing the birds to travel farther to gather the food they need. The reason seems obvious—the more birds, the more they eat, which reduces the available prey. But that might not be the only factor at play, according to a new study of penguins and krill published July 15 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-prey-accessibility-abundance-predator-behavior.html Plants & Animals Wed, 15 Jul 2026 14:20:06 EDT news703329111 Scientists from a handful of universities across the country have made innovative use of satellite images from NASA to determine the diet of Antarctic Adélie penguins across the continent by studying their icy feces with a fidelity and frequency that could be captured only by space technology. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-penguin-poo-satellites-reveal-global.html Ecology Thu, 09 Jul 2026 11:00:02 EDT news702807956 Many animals live in groups. Among seabirds in particular, most species form colonies during the breeding season. Although coloniality entails costs, such as increased competition for food and disease transmission, its repeated evolution across animal lineages suggests that group living provides important benefits. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-adlie-penguins-colony-cues-foraging.html Plants & Animals Tue, 09 Jun 2026 19:00:03 EDT news700234110 Over the past few decades, heat waves have become more common in several parts of the world as our planet warms. That's a huge problem for many animals, as it can lead to habitat loss and push their bodies to lethal thresholds. However, one penguin species appears to be adapting to these extreme conditions by shifting its breeding calendar. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-gentoo-penguins-cope-climate-earlier.html Plants & Animals Mon, 25 May 2026 11:30:02 EDT news698923661 The four-foot-tall Emperor penguin of Antarctica may be the most iconic member of this unique family of birds, but 17 other species of penguins populate the Southern Hemisphere, many of them confined to isolated islands that make them hard to study. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-scientists-gentoo-penguins-species-totally.html Evolution Fri, 08 May 2026 13:00:01 EDT news697461182 Penguins may look charmingly awkward on land, but new research shows their bodies are finely tuned for powerful, efficient movement both on land and underwater. A team of anatomists from Midwestern University, in collaboration with SeaWorld San Diego and Scarlet Imaging, has published a detailed study of the limb musculature of the macaroni penguin (Eudyptes chrysolophus), uncovering previously unknown features that help explain how these birds swim, dive, and even stand upright. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-penguin-muscle-reveals-waddles-underwater.html Plants & Animals Tue, 21 Apr 2026 18:50:01 EDT news696010382 Recent findings from research we have been carrying out at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at Cern in Geneva suggest that we might be closing in on signs of undiscovered physics. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-lhc-decay-anomaly-reveals-standard.html General Physics Mon, 20 Apr 2026 14:30:01 EDT news695913603 There are many poorly understood links in the food web, often referred to as trophic relationships. Out in East Antarctica, a previously unconfirmed link between sea snails and Adélie penguins might reveal more than meets the eye for the Southern Ocean ecosystem. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-camera-tagged-adlie-penguins-caught.html Plants & Animals Fri, 10 Apr 2026 17:20:02 EDT news695046901 Penguins living along the Patagonian coast of Argentina can serve as living monitors of their environment by using small, chemical-detecting leg bands, according to a study from the University of California, Davis, and the State University of New York at Buffalo. For the proof-of-concept study, published in the journal Earth: Environmental Sustainability, UC Davis scientists outfitted 54 Magellanic penguins with silicone passive samplers placed gently around their legs for a few days during the 2022-24 breeding seasons. The sensors safely absorbed chemicals from the water, air, and surfaces the penguins encountered while the unwitting "toxicologists" foraged to feed their chicks. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-penguins-remote-patagonia-chemicals.html Environment Wed, 08 Apr 2026 16:00:07 EDT news694871641 The warming world has disrupted the timing for plant and animal reproduction, and it's usually bad news for species that depend on each other—like flowers blooming too early and pollinating bees arriving too late. But researchers have found the rare critter that's getting a boost from the change: King penguins. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-king-penguins-rare-species-benefiting.html Plants & Animals Wed, 11 Mar 2026 15:39:12 EDT news692462289 The tall black-and-white residents of Antarctica, who waddle around its icy landscape, are in peril thanks to the rapidly warming global climate. Emperor penguins go through an annual transformation called catastrophic molting, during which they replace all of their feathers over a short period. This process begins in December and is usually completed before the end of February. During this time, the penguins depend on stable ice to stay warm and dry because the protective coat that normally makes them waterproof and cold-proof is still growing in. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-satellite-images-uncover-threat-emperor.html Plants & Animals Fri, 06 Mar 2026 10:40:01 EST news692012583 The climate crisis is warming Antarctica fast, with potentially disastrous consequences. Now scientists have modeled the best- and worst-case scenarios for climate change in Antarctica, demonstrating just how high the stakes are—but also how much harm can still be prevented. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-scientists-reveal-worst-case-scenarios.html Earth Sciences Fri, 20 Feb 2026 00:00:02 EST news690740341 The first solar eclipse of the year will grace Antarctica, and only a lucky few will get to bask—or waddle—in its glow. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-solar-eclipse-dazzle-people-penguins.html Space Exploration Fri, 13 Feb 2026 12:08:23 EST news690206847 More than 50 skuas in Antarctica died from the high pathogenicity avian influenza virus H5N1 in the summers of 2023 and 2024, marking the first documented die-off of wildlife from the virus on the continent. That is confirmed for the first time in a study led by Erasmus MC in The Netherlands and the University of California, Davis. It was published this week in the journal Scientific Reports. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-skua-deaths-wildlife-die-due.html Ecology Thu, 05 Feb 2026 11:50:41 EST news689514601 Should we protect an emblematic species if it may come at the cost of another one—particularly in ecosystems that are still recovering from human impacts? This is the conservation dilemma facing Monte Leon National Park, on the Patagonian coast in Argentina. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-pumas-patagonian-penguins-reveals-likelihood.html Plants & Animals Wed, 04 Feb 2026 19:00:01 EST news689420334 A decade-long study led by Penguin Watch, at the University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes University, has uncovered a record shift in the breeding season of Antarctic penguins, likely in response to climate change. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-week-antarctic-penguins-climate.html Plants & Animals Tue, 20 Jan 2026 00:10:03 EST news687688502 Endangered penguins living off South Africa's coast have likely starved en masse due to food shortages, a study said, with some populations dropping by 95% in just eight years. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-african-penguins-starved-en-masse.html Plants & Animals Thu, 25 Dec 2025 10:30:01 EST news684130910 Every animal with a brain needs sleep—and even a few without a brain do, too. Humans sleep, birds sleep, whales sleep and even jellyfish sleep. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-dangerous-animals-evolved-extreme-ways.html Plants & Animals Fri, 19 Dec 2025 09:49:14 EST news685360126 Penguins in the coastal steppes of Argentina have a new enemy to worry about: the increasing numbers of pumas in Monte León National Park (MLNP). These powerful mountain cats were once on the brink of disappearing from this region due to hunting and the loss of their natural prey, but have been brought back through dedicated conservation efforts that protect their habitat. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-diet-penguins-puma-behavior-social.html Plants & Animals Wed, 17 Dec 2025 11:30:02 EST news685192430 What you don't see is as important as what you do, when it comes to mapping Antarctic seabird breeding sites. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-distinguishing-absence-seabird.html Plants & Animals Mon, 15 Dec 2025 12:59:21 EST news685025941