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. Europe, which is in the throes of a record-smashing heat wave this week, is the world's fastest-warming continent and stretches into an even more rapidly heating Arctic. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-europe-world-fastest-continent.html Environment Tue, 26 May 2026 14:45:24 EDT news699025457 It was the hardest field trip they had ever been on, but the result was both surprising and exciting. After hiking 9 kilometers with a 400-meter elevation gain and carrying heavy backpacks through very rocky terrain, the researchers spent more than 24 hours in the field and returned with sediment samples from the lake Stuptjørna. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-brutal-field-insights-arctic-winter.html Earth Sciences Tue, 19 May 2026 12:00:04 EDT news698408102 Understanding how to explore hidden glaciers on Mars begins not in a laboratory, but in remote field camps across Alaska and Wyoming. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-drone-radar-reveals-glaciers-earth.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 29 Apr 2026 18:50:01 EDT news696700801 Arctic fossil fuel development shows significant overlaps with Indigenous communities and ecologically sensitive areas, which might support calls from some scientists to keep Arctic fossil fuels in the ground, according to a study published in PLOS One by Daniele Codato of the University of Padova, Italy, and colleagues. The Arctic is a frontline for fossil fuel development and climate change impact, long portrayed as a region with abundant undiscovered oil and gas resources, while warming at a rate nearly four times higher than the global average. Reducing these impacts requires a thorough assessment of these factors and their relationship to local human and wildlife communities, as well as ecosystems. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-beneath-arctic-ice-vast-fossil.html Environment Wed, 22 Apr 2026 14:00:12 EDT news696069841 Svalbard reindeer live in a place so remote they have actually evolved to become a subspecies. But that remoteness isn't enough to protect them from contaminants from the industrial world. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-high-chemicals-svalbard-reindeer.html Environment Thu, 09 Apr 2026 11:20:07 EDT news694949881 When the environment changes dramatically, animals from mollusks to crows can make big changes in their behavior that enable them to survive. For example, marmots and ground squirrels in California are spending more time in wet vegetation and on steep slopes to counteract warmer temperatures. Polar bears, losing their floating ice habitats, are spending more time on land and adding birds' eggs and reindeer to their diets. And lake trout in Ontario, which rely on external water temperatures to maintain a healthy internal temperature, shift to cooler, deeper waters and eat smaller prey when the water becomes hotter than usual. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-behavioral-flexibility-affects-animal-evolution.html Evolution Wed, 01 Apr 2026 18:10:08 EDT news694277401 In a new study, Northwestern University scientists explored how snow flies—small, wingless insects that crawl across snow to find mates and lay eggs—survive in freezing cold temperatures. They discovered this snow-dwelling fly uses a surprising combination of strategies: it generates its own body heat like a mammal and produces antifreeze proteins like an Arctic fish. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-flies-proteins.html Plants & Animals Tue, 24 Mar 2026 11:00:03 EDT news693478621 As climate change reshapes Arctic food webs, ringed seals will swim into risky polar bear territory if the menu is varied enough. This is the central finding of a new study published in Ecology Letters. UBC researchers tracked 26 ringed seals and 39 polar bears in eastern Hudson Bay, using GPS and dive information to analyze how the animals found, and avoided becoming, food. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-death-polar-varied-meal.html Plants & Animals Wed, 18 Mar 2026 18:20:04 EDT news693065462 Their icy hunting grounds are rapidly shrinking, but polar bears in Norway's remote Svalbard archipelago have defied the odds by bulking up instead of wasting away, a study said Thursday. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-svalbard-polar-gained-fat-rapid.html Plants & Animals Sat, 28 Feb 2026 14:30:01 EST news688919443 Arctic sea ice has large effects on the global climate. By cooling the planet, Arctic ice impacts ocean circulation, atmospheric patterns, and extreme weather conditions, even outside the Arctic region. However, climate change has led to its rapid decline, and being able to make real-time predictions of sea ice extent (SIE)—the area of water with a minimum concentration of sea ice—has become crucial for monitoring sea ice health. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-accurately-arctic-sea-ice-real.html Earth Sciences Tue, 03 Feb 2026 11:00:01 EST news689243401 The body conditions of polar bear (Ursus maritimus) populations around the Norwegian island of Svalbard have improved despite sea ice losses, according to new findings. The findings differ from previously published observations of polar bear population declines coinciding with sea ice loss across the Arctic. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-svalbard-polar-fat-reserves-sea.html Plants & Animals Thu, 29 Jan 2026 11:00:01 EST news688813442 New research reveals a link between rising temperatures and changes in polar bear DNA, which may be helping them adapt and survive in increasingly challenging environments. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-polar-survive-warmer-climates.html Plants & Animals Thu, 11 Dec 2025 20:00:06 EST news684664381 A new international study led by researchers from Aarhus University and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) reveals that small bats can be just as efficient predators as lions—and often more successful. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-tiny-lion-strategy-energy-capture.html Plants & Animals Fri, 31 Oct 2025 11:00:08 EDT news681032701 Arctic seals are being pushed closer to extinction by climate change and more than half of bird species around the world are declining under pressure from deforestation and agricultural expansion, according to an annual assessment from the International Union for Conservation of Nature. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-arctic-bird-species-latest-threatened.html Ecology Fri, 10 Oct 2025 12:20:07 EDT news679317014 Biologists at The University of Texas at Austin, who have reported discovering a bird that's the natural result of a green jay and a blue jay's mating, say it may be among the first examples of a hybrid animal that exists because of recent changing patterns in the climate. The two different parent species are separated by 7 million years of evolution, and their ranges didn't overlap as recently as a few decades ago. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-grue-jay-rare-hybrid-bird.html Evolution Thu, 18 Sep 2025 17:03:04 EDT news677433782 Ursus minimus—presumed to be the common ancestor of most modern bear species—lived in Europe between approximately 4.9 million and 1.8 million years ago, during the Pliocene epoch and possibly into the early Pleistocene. The species represents the first black bears in Europe and the oldest known representative of the genus Ursus, which also includes today's brown and polar bears. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-early-omnivores-dimensional-jaw-analyses.html Ecology Wed, 17 Sep 2025 10:26:07 EDT news677323561 Scientists have uncovered the remains of a vast animal community that lived in the European Arctic 75,000 years ago. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-scientists-uncover-year-arctic-animal.html Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 04 Aug 2025 16:11:30 EDT news673542669 Despite global reductions in mercury emissions, mercury concentrations in Arctic wildlife continue to rise. A study published in Nature Communications by researchers from Aarhus University and the University of Copenhagen reveals that ocean currents may be transporting legacy mercury pollution to the Arctic—posing a long-term threat to ecosystems and human health. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-centuries-mercury-pollution-hidden-ocean.html Environment Thu, 12 Jun 2025 12:39:03 EDT news668950741 Artificial intelligence sea ice forecasting systems could help predict and protect the migration routes of endangered caribou in the Canadian Arctic, according to a new study. The research, led by British Antarctic Survey (BAS) scientists in partnership with The Alan Turing Institute, WWF and the Government of Nunavut, demonstrates how this technology could assist local agencies in protecting critical migration routes which cross areas of land and sea ice. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-ai-tool-aids-caribou-arctic.html Ecology Thu, 29 May 2025 10:17:03 EDT news667732619 A new study has provided fresh insights into how animals such as the woolly mammoth, musk ox and arctic fox evolved to survive the cold during the ice age. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-ice-age-animal-cold-began.html Evolution Fri, 23 May 2025 12:14:02 EDT news667221241 Scientists say that PFAS, nicknamed "forever chemicals," are building up in animals like polar bears, seals, and birds and at alarming levels in the Arctic. People living in the Arctic, they add, are also in danger because they rely on traditional foods such as marine mammals whose meat is already contaminated. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-pfas-polluting-arctic-threatening-humans.html Environment Tue, 29 Apr 2025 11:30:01 EDT news665144545 A new method of tracking the dietary habits and contaminant exposure of animals in Arctic marine ecosystems is providing critical insights as climate change reshapes the region's food web. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-method-tracks-contaminant-accumulation-arctic.html Ecology Mon, 17 Mar 2025 13:35:25 EDT news661437322 Scientists warned on Thursday that the long-term health of Inuit hunters in eastern Greenland was under threat, due to so-called "forever chemicals" in the atmosphere and their diet of polar bear and seal meat. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-greenland-inuit-health-chemicals-diet.html Environment Thu, 13 Mar 2025 16:22:35 EDT news661101729 Researchers from Polar Bears International, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, the Norwegian Polar Institute, and the University of Toronto Scarborough reveal the first detailed look at polar bear cubs emerging from their dens, captured through nearly a decade of remote camera footage in Svalbard, Norway. This research, published today on International Polar Bear Day in the Journal of Wildlife Management, marks the first combination of satellite tracking collars with remote camera traps to answer questions about polar bear denning, which is notoriously difficult to study as polar bear moms build their dens under the snow in remote areas. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-polar-cubs-emerging-dens-captures.html Plants & Animals Thu, 27 Feb 2025 05:00:12 EST news659790526 University of Toronto Scarborough researchers have directly linked population decline in polar bears living in Western Hudson Bay to shrinking sea ice caused by climate change. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-polar-struggling-sea-ice-dwindles.html Plants & Animals Thu, 30 Jan 2025 15:01:00 EST news657471654 An international team of scientists has discovered the anti-icing secret of polar bear fur—something that allows one of the planet's most iconic animals to survive and thrive in one of its most punishing climates. That secret? Greasy hair. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-greasy-hair-polar-fur-anti.html Plants & Animals Wed, 29 Jan 2025 14:00:21 EST news657298682 The Arctic's "Last Ice Area" (LIA)—a vital habitat for ice-dependent species—might disappear within a decade after the central Arctic Ocean becomes ice-free in summer, which is expected to occur sometime around mid-century, a new study by McGill University researchers using a high-resolution model has found. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-ice-area-arctic-sooner-previously.html Earth Sciences Mon, 27 Jan 2025 16:48:03 EST news657218881 In the Arctic, the old, multi-year ice is increasingly melting, dramatically reducing the frequency and size of pressure ridges. These ridges are created when ice floes press against each other and become stacked, and are a characteristic feature of Arctic sea ice, an obstacle for shipping, but also an essential component of the ecosystem. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-aerial-survey-analysis-reveals-major.html Earth Sciences Mon, 06 Jan 2025 09:52:06 EST news655379521 Before heading out to do their fieldwork, Dr. Stephanie Collins, Jing Lu and their team would scan the horizon, get tips from local residents and check a whiteboard at the research station in Churchill, Manitoba, where they had settled in to do their research. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-polar-poop-future-vulnerable-northern.html Plants & Animals Mon, 02 Dec 2024 12:24:53 EST news652364689 New analysis of ancient bones and fossils found in a Highland cave has revealed them to be "fishier than the average bear" and could even suggest polar bears once roamed Scotland. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-fishy-fossil-polar-ancestry-scottish.html Paleontology & Fossils Fri, 29 Nov 2024 12:15:26 EST news652104921