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. An international research team has discovered that the fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra) is biofluorescent. A study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science shows that the salamander reflects turquoise light when exposed to ultraviolet radiation. This phenomenon had gone unnoticed until now, despite decades of research on this amphibian species. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-salamanders-reveal-hidden-turquoise-exposed.html Plants & Animals Wed, 27 May 2026 09:20:05 EDT news699091141 The Mexican axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) is famous because adults look like overgrown babies, or tadpoles, retaining juvenile features as adults and capable of remarkable regeneration of lost limbs or tails. New studies at the National Autonomous University of Mexico have revealed a new species related to this living form. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-fossil-salamander-species-famous-axolotl.html Plants & Animals Tue, 26 May 2026 17:40:01 EDT news699005399 It may sound too bizarre to be true, but the Amazon molly (Poecilia formosa), a fish that inhabits rivers, lakes, and swamps in Mexico and Texas, exists over much of its range in populations that are 100% female. In 1932, the Amazon molly became the first known vertebrate to reproduce by cloning itself, producing all-female populations. A new genetic study published in Nature has given scientists insights into the longstanding mystery about how and why this happens. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-asexual-lizards-virgin-births-clones.html Plants & Animals Fri, 22 May 2026 09:40:02 EDT news698661362 For centuries, the inability to regrow lost body parts has been considered a defining limitation of humans and other mammals. While animals like salamanders can regenerate entire limbs, humans are left with scar tissue. But new research from the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) suggests that this limitation may not be permanent. Instead, the capacity for regeneration may still exist—hidden within the body's normal healing process. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-humans-regrow-tissue-science-closer.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 23 Apr 2026 15:00:01 EDT news696165421 Investigating a common gene in three very different species—salamanders, mice and zebrafish—scientists have discovered the potential for a novel gene therapy aimed at eventually regrowing limbs in humans, according to new research published this week. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-regrowing-human-limbs-salamander-gene.html Biotechnology Thu, 16 Apr 2026 14:40:07 EDT news695562421 Some animals can regrow lost body parts. Salamanders and frog tadpoles can rebuild entire limbs after amputation. Mammals cannot. For decades, biologists have tried to understand why. Now a team led by Can Aztekin at EPFL (now at the Friedrich Miescher Laboratory of the Max Planck Society) has discovered that oxygen plays a crucial role in limb regeneration. By comparing amputated limbs from frog tadpoles and embryonic mice, the researchers found that the way cells sense oxygen determines whether regeneration can even begin. The study is published in Science. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-oxygen-amphibians-regenerate-limbs-mammals.html Plants & Animals Thu, 09 Apr 2026 14:00:01 EDT news694880761 In a dry riverbed in Brazil, in a dense forest near the Amazon, a team of paleontologists found a fossilized jawbone from an ancient animal. Over the course of their fieldwork, they found eight similar bones, each around six inches long—but no other bones that they could confidently use to complete a skeleton for one of these mystery animals. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-ancient-eater-jaw-sideways-teeth.html Paleontology & Fossils Tue, 03 Mar 2026 19:10:08 EST news691774442 Around 250 million years ago, what is today scorching desert in remote northwestern Australia was the shore of a shallow bay bordering a vast prehistoric ocean. Fossils recovered from this region over 60 years ago, and almost forgotten in museum collections, have now shed new light on the earliest global radiations of land-living animals adapting to life in the sea. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-globe-ancient-sea-salamander-fossils.html Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:10:01 EST news690798624 A study conducted by researchers at the University of Liège on a large population of Japanese giant salamanders—one of the largest amphibians in the world—reveals that above a certain size, a spectacular transition occurs in the diet of this species, propelling it to the top of the river food chain. The Japanese giant salamander (Andrias japonicus)—an endemic and emblematic species of the country—fascinates scientists with its exceptional size, reaching up to 1.5 meters in length. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-gigantism-diet-superpredator-japanese-giant.html Plants & Animals Thu, 05 Feb 2026 09:58:32 EST news689507881 On a frigid April day, Brock University Professor of Biological Sciences Glenn Tattersall, then-Ph.D. student Danilo Giacometti and wildlife researcher Patrick Moldowan ventured out into Ontario's Algonquin Provincial Park hoping to take in a rare sight. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-supercooling-salamanders-canadian-winters.html Plants & Animals Mon, 19 Jan 2026 12:06:14 EST news688046761 In the aftermath of historically severe wildfires in 2020, a study of Cascade Range watersheds found that stream vertebrates are doing surprisingly well, highlighted by flourishing fish populations. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-devastating-wildfires-watersheds-thick-fish.html Plants & Animals Tue, 16 Dec 2025 11:04:22 EST news685105441 The axolotl, a type of salamander that stays in the tadpole form throughout its life, is a master of regeneration. Axolotls have been observed to regrow several body parts, including limbs, eyes, and even parts of their brains. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-axolotls-regenerate-functional-thymus.html Plants & Animals Mon, 08 Dec 2025 12:50:04 EST news684420086 New research conducted by paleontologists from the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (MfN) and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin reveals a burst in jaw variety in the earliest amniotes—which includes the ancestors of all reptiles, birds and mammals. The international team led by former MfN doctoral student Dr. Jasper Ponstein analyzed more than 200 fossilized jaws from periods when tetrapods first adapted to life on land. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-jaw-versatility-enabled-ecological-success.html Evolution Thu, 04 Dec 2025 10:10:33 EST news684065402 Farmers plant or preserve riparian buffers for various reasons, such as improving water quality, controlling erosion, or maintaining hunting habitat. Now, a new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign underscores the benefits of riparian buffers to terrestrial biodiversity, finding that for every 10% increase in forest cover, an additional species is present. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-terrestrial-biodiversity-tree-agricultural-landscapes.html Ecology Wed, 03 Dec 2025 00:00:02 EST news683912763 Biologists have long been fascinated by the ability of salamanders to regrow entire limbs. Now Harvard researchers have solved part of the mystery of how they accomplish this feat—by activating stem cells throughout the body, not just at the injury site. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-axolotls-flight-network-regenerate-body.html Plants & Animals Fri, 24 Oct 2025 11:00:09 EDT news680515441 A new study published in the journal Science of The Total Environment has significant bearing on the hackneyed joke about chickens and their numerous reasons for crossing roads. In Florida, there's a good chance that the chicken crossed the road because it had completed its year-long conscripted service as a disease sentinel, a sort of early alarm signal for mosquito virus activity across the state. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-disease-experts-team-museum-west.html Ecology Tue, 16 Sep 2025 17:02:07 EDT news677260921 Frogs, toads, salamanders and other amphibians are disappearing as fast as—or faster than—any other class of animals around the world, succumbing to a variety of threats, like emerging infectious diseases. According to new research from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, one promising way to protect frogs from a particularly deadly fungal disease may be less useful than previously thought thanks to waterways polluted by a treatment for infections: antibiotic drugs. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-antibiotic-pollution-amphibian-decline-potential.html Ecology Mon, 15 Sep 2025 12:52:04 EDT news677159521 Many scientific discoveries are serendipitous—the result of chance. Seeing evolution in action in a cheese cave turned out to be exactly that for Benjamin Wolfe, associate professor of biology, and his colleagues. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-cheese-cave-fungi-reveal-genetic.html Molecular & Computational biology Sat, 13 Sep 2025 07:10:27 EDT news676966219 The tongues of chameleons and salamanders might not seem like the inspiration for tomorrow's engineering breakthroughs, but inside the Deban Laboratory at the University of South Florida, biology and engineering are colliding to reveal how nature's designs could one day help solve challenges on Earth and beyond. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-videos-high-tongues-salamanders-chameleons.html Plants & Animals Mon, 08 Sep 2025 16:10:03 EDT news676566120 Researchers at the Gray Fossil Site and Museum have discovered something surprisingly familiar among the site's exotic ancient tapirs and rhinos: the first fossil deer, representing one of the earliest records of the deer family in North America. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-million-year-deer-fossils-link.html Evolution Tue, 12 Aug 2025 13:31:04 EDT news674224262 An international team of paleontologists has spent more than 15 years excavating and studying fossils from Africa to expand our understanding of the Permian, a period of Earth's history that began 299 million years ago and ended 252 million years ago with our planet's largest and most devastating mass extinction. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-fresh-fossil-africa-era-earth.html Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 11 Aug 2025 14:05:36 EDT news674139933 The downstream consequences of religion, politics and war can have far-reaching effects on the environment and on the evolutionary processes affecting urban organisms, according to a new analysis from Washington University in St. Louis. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-religion-politics-war-urban-wildlife.html Evolution Wed, 02 Jul 2025 05:00:07 EDT news670577281 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 A giant, strong-jawed salamander once tunneled through ancient Tennessee soil. And thanks to a fossil unearthed near East Tennessee State University, scientists now better understand how it helped shape Appalachian amphibian diversity. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-fossil-discovery-reveals-giant-ancient.html Paleontology & Fossils Tue, 17 Jun 2025 09:34:03 EDT news669371641 Axolotls, with their signature smiles and pink gills, are the celebrities of the salamander world. But they are more than just cute: They might also hold the secret to regenerating human limbs. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-axolotls-regenerate-limbs-uncover-secret.html Plants & Animals Tue, 10 Jun 2025 10:57:03 EDT news668771821 In 1984, an amateur paleontologist in Scotland found a remarkable specimen: a nearly complete fossil of what looked to be a lizard or salamander. Rather small in size at 20 centimeters, it would turn out to be a crucial piece in the puzzle of animal evolution. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-shot-science-age-animal-ancestor.html Evolution Thu, 29 May 2025 17:01:04 EDT news667756861 Frogs, salamanders, and other amphibians around the world face mounting threats from a devastating fungus, climate change, habitat loss—and road mortality. Among these, roads pose a uniquely immediate danger by cutting through critical migration corridors, allowing vehicles to crush millions of animals each year. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-amphibian-road-mortality-wildlife-underpasses.html Plants & Animals Thu, 29 May 2025 12:55:05 EDT news667742101 Soft-bodied robots are unlocking a new era of adaptive machines that can safely interact with the human body, squeeze through tight spaces, and propel themselves autonomously. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-pneumatic-soft-robot-mimics-rotating.html Biotechnology Thu, 22 May 2025 09:51:05 EDT news667126258 The call of American bullfrogs was deafening when scientists from the University of California, Davis, first began researching the impact of invasive bullfrogs on native northwestern pond turtles at Yosemite National Park. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-native-turtles-yosemite-invasive-bullfrogs.html Plants & Animals Tue, 20 May 2025 13:13:39 EDT news666965615 The number of species does not increase evenly when going from local ecosystems to continental scales—a phenomenon ecologists have recognized for decades. Now, an international team of scientists, including researchers from the German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) and the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), has developed a new theory to explain the three distinct phases typical of species distributions across scales. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-front-garden-continent-biodiversity-evenly.html Ecology Wed, 30 Apr 2025 15:10:06 EDT news665244602