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. In the study of bacteria, a longstanding dogma has held that two molecular machines—RNA polymerase, which leads the way in transcribing DNA into RNA, and ribosomes, which bring up the rear translating RNA into proteins—worked so closely in tandem that they were effectively attached. This close coupling of transcription and translation in bacteria was thought to be fundamental to gene expression, in part because the trailing ribosome could shield nascent gene products from an effective and omnipresent quality-control protein called Rho. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-purine-heavy-dna-sequences-bacillus.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 02 Jul 2026 17:50:02 EDT news702230221 Due to increasing heat and drought, forests are turning brown more often before autumn, when leaf senescence normally occurs. It is often unclear whether the trees are actively shedding foliage to avoid a breakdown in water transport or whether browning leaves are a consequence of irreversible damage caused by both heat and drought. As a result, the resilience of forests to climate extremes could be overestimated, WSL researchers warn in a recent commentary. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-brown-fall.html Plants & Animals Thu, 02 Jul 2026 17:40:05 EDT news702217544 Many fungi lead triple lives—acting as deadly insect pathogens, decomposers in the soil, and helpful partners living inside and transferring insect-derived nitrogen to plant roots. Scientists have long wondered what allows a single species to pull off these very different roles. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-broader-fungus-diet-insects.html Ecology Thu, 02 Jul 2026 15:40:01 EDT news702216721 Vision shapes how many animals find food, avoid danger and navigate their world. In animals with two eyes, eye placement is often linked to lifestyle: predators such as lions tend to have forward-facing eyes that help them judge distance, while prey animals such as deer typically have eyes positioned on the sides of the head, providing a wider view of their surroundings. Eye placement can reveal much about ecology, yet most of what we know comes from animals with only two eyes. Spiders present a fascinating challenge to this picture. Most species possess eight eyes, arranged in remarkably diverse configurations, raising the question of how these patterns relate to hunting strategy. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-behavior-evolution-spider-eye.html Plants & Animals Thu, 02 Jul 2026 15:00:03 EDT news702216541 The giant trees of tropical forests are important allies in the fight against climate change because of their ability to store carbon, yet they are still poorly understood by science. However, a study published in the journal Science reveals a crucial survival mechanism: These trees, which exceed 70 meters (230 feet) in height, have no difficulty transporting water to their tops and are no more vulnerable than smaller trees. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-giant-tropical-trees-meters-stay.html Plants & Animals Thu, 02 Jul 2026 14:00:12 EDT news702200401 Decades-old hospital samples have helped University of East Anglia (UEA) researchers uncover how a deadly antibiotic-resistant "superbug" quietly tightened its grip across the globe. It lurked in hospital corridors for decades, largely unnoticed by the wider public. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-hidden-decades-hospital-superbug-built.html Evolution Wed, 01 Jul 2026 19:00:03 EDT news702118986 Published in Nature Climate Change, new research from the University of Wisconsin–Madison finds that reaching net-zero emissions by midcentury would substantially improve public health in the United States. However, climate strategies that heavily depend on carbon dioxide removal are likely to lead to worse pollution, air quality and climate-related premature deaths than scenarios that prioritize direct emissions reductions and rely less on carbon dioxide removal (CDR). https://phys.org/news/2026-07-emissions-carbon-yearly.html Environment Wed, 01 Jul 2026 18:20:04 EDT news702138790 Bugs run rampant in the summer, and if you have ever suffered a mosquito bite and regretted not putting on bug spray, you should know about nature's insect repellent: the Indiana bat. Federally endangered since 1967, the Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) helps with pest control and supports tree growth in forests, but its habitat has been shrinking. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-tree-size-age-habitat-recovery.html Plants & Animals Wed, 01 Jul 2026 17:20:09 EDT news702137060 A new big-data analysis of the U.S. pinpoints how urban design aids the health of city residents—especially when cities provide walking opportunities, greenery and mixed-use streets with a blend of commercial and residential activity. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-walkable-greener-neighborhoods-linked-physical.html Environment Wed, 01 Jul 2026 15:20:08 EDT news702126481 The thermometer reads 95°F (35°C) in Brooklyn, and vulnerable individuals need information to take appropriate action. New York City officials must gather facts quickly to provide updates on cooling centers, power outages and other details that could save lives. Are these details best gleaned from simple, low-complexity methods or AI-based tools? https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ai-emergencies-simple.html Environment Wed, 01 Jul 2026 13:40:10 EDT news702127021 A study is reframing a fundamental question in plant evolution: What made trees possible? Researchers from Cal Poly Humboldt, Yale University, the University of Hohenheim in Germany and the Czech Academy of Sciences set out to understand how trees evolved and what allowed them to become some of the largest and longest-living organisms on Earth. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-trees-drought.html Evolution Wed, 01 Jul 2026 09:20:03 EDT news702114962 The pangolin is a midsize mammal found only in Africa and Asia. The pangolins' scales make them unique, but these scales have become their undoing. Pangolins are poached for their scales, making them the most highly trafficked mammals in the world and, consequently, at high risk of extinction. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-himalayan-pangolin-emerges-distinct-species.html Plants & Animals Wed, 01 Jul 2026 05:00:10 EDT news701941621 Plants need nitrogen to grow. Many legumes meet this need through a symbiotic relationship: They harbor bacteria that fix atmospheric nitrogen and make it available to the plant. Until now, it was largely unclear how a perennial plant regulates this symbiosis without destroying its bacterial partners. An international team led by TU Braunschweig has now described a previously unknown mechanism: The black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) employs a newly discovered family of small proteins that specifically "reprogram" its symbiotic bacteria for nitrogen fixation while keeping them alive. The findings are published in Science Advances. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-black-locust-deploys-peptides-root.html Plants & Animals Tue, 30 Jun 2026 18:00:03 EDT news702042901 Over 300 million years ago, a minnow-sized fish died and fell to the bottom of a prehistoric swamp near the village of Trawden, Lancashire, in northwest England. The remains of this tiny fish—known as Trawdenia planti—became fossilized, embedding proof of its existence in a layer of soapstone sandwiched between coal seams in the Burnley coalfields. By some combination of marine chemistry, mineral composition of the seafloor, timing and luck, not only was the bony skeleton of this fish preserved, but also the soft neural tissues of its brain. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-tiny-ancient-fish-fossil-brain.html Evolution Tue, 30 Jun 2026 12:40:02 EDT news702032614 For millennia, farming in Switzerland did not reduce plant diversity but helped increase it, University of Basel researchers have shown in a detailed reconstruction covering the past 7,000 years. Only recent decades paint a different picture. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-human-biodiversity.html Ecology Tue, 30 Jun 2026 11:40:02 EDT news702031622 How does a stripy tree snail hide from hungry birds? The Hypselostyla camelopardalis from the Philippines and Reinia variegata from Japan have both evolved a form of dynamic camouflage to survive. Their light-colored patterns vanish in the rain, and the shell turns dark brown, similar to damp tree bark. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-camouflaging-snails.html Plants & Animals Tue, 30 Jun 2026 10:00:03 EDT news702030541 Boreal forests are being clear-cut faster than some of their wildlife and plant species can recover, with a few failing to return even 100 years after harvesting, according to University of Alberta-led research. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-boreal-forest-species-recover-years.html Plants & Animals Mon, 29 Jun 2026 16:40:06 EDT news701956682 The number of plant species in many ecosystems in Europe has grown rather than shrunk over the last 100 years. However, this is not necessarily cause for celebration, as this local increase is primarily due to generalists and non-native species, which compete with the original native species. In addition, the overall number of species has not increased across Europe. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-europe-diversity-habitat-disruption-ecological.html Plants & Animals Mon, 29 Jun 2026 16:20:01 EDT news701956621 A new estimate of insect species globally finds that there may be 8 million to 14 million more species than people thought, with few of them discovered. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-insect-species-previously-thought.html Plants & Animals Mon, 29 Jun 2026 15:00:05 EDT news701942881 In ecology, the principle holds that the more diverse and heterogeneous a habitat is, the more different species it supports. To promote species diversity in forests, clearings are therefore created for nature conservation purposes, or deadwood is deliberately left in place. For many species, such as birds, bats and beetles, this structural diversity is indeed beneficial. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-spiders-benefit-seemingly-monotonous-forests.html Plants & Animals Mon, 29 Jun 2026 14:00:06 EDT news701953868 An associated set of gigantic vertebrae belonging to the iconic extinct megalodon, or megatooth shark, that had been missing in action since the 1980s was discovered, providing new information about the shark's lifestyle. Two Museum of Southern Jutland staff members, Mette Elstrup and Trine Sørensen, and a researcher at Aarhus University, Henrik Lauridsen, teamed up with a scientist in the United States and another in Australia and took a renewed look at a once-lost vertebral specimen of Otodus megalodon, the fossil shark that lived nearly worldwide about 15 million to 3.6 million years ago. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-lost-megalodon-vertebrae-resurface-foot.html Paleontology & Fossils Sun, 28 Jun 2026 20:10:01 EDT news701686081 Fossils tucked away in a museum drawer and identified merely as "feline" are actually from a very ancient and enigmatic saber-toothed cat that inhabited North America more than 5 million years ago. Newly identified by a UC Berkeley paleontologist, the nearly complete skull helps clarify how these large-fanged felines evolved over millennia before going extinct about 10,000 years ago. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-newly-fossil-evolutionary-history-saber.html Evolution Sat, 27 Jun 2026 14:00:01 EDT news701360015 What did the very first complex vertebrate brain look like? To find out, scientists turned to an unlikely time traveler: the lamprey, a jawless, eel-like fish whose body plan has barely changed in roughly 360 million years. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-lamprey-brain-atlas-reveals-million.html Evolution Sat, 27 Jun 2026 09:00:01 EDT news701617513 Biologists group animals with similar traits into broad categories called orders. Despite their similarities, animal species in the same order can have very different average lifespans. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-primate-evolution-aging-stable-million.html Evolution Sat, 27 Jun 2026 07:40:01 EDT news701690542 When biologists study cooperation in animals, they usually offer just a single task at a time. But what happens when animals can choose among several opportunities to work together? Biologists at Utrecht University discovered that this can make a remarkable difference. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-animal-behavior-distorted-view-cooperation.html Plants & Animals Fri, 26 Jun 2026 10:20:03 EDT news701684942 Forests and land play an important role in absorbing carbon dioxide emissions, but current models and forecasts don't incorporate a surprising ecological discovery: Despite more available carbon, climate change and warmer temperatures are slowing forest growth. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-forest-growth-carbon-storage.html Earth Sciences Thu, 25 Jun 2026 17:20:03 EDT news701617905 A unique cache of plant fossils from volcanic deposits in New Mexico contradicts the common narrative that flowering plants were minor players in Earth's forests until dinosaurs disappeared 66 million years ago. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-fossils-upend-catastrophist-narrative-flourished.html Evolution Thu, 25 Jun 2026 14:00:11 EDT news701590742 The tropical rainforests of Central and South America are among the most biodiverse places on Earth. Costa Rica alone is home to half a million species, five times more than exist in the entire country of Canada, despite the former having 200 times less land area than the latter. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-widespread-butterfly-species-disguise.html Plants & Animals Thu, 25 Jun 2026 09:40:01 EDT news701594281 Medications can save lives, yet for some drugs, the concentration in a patient's bloodstream determines whether a treatment is effective or whether harmful side effects may occur. Researchers at the Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology (Leibniz IPHT) in Jena, Germany, have developed a sensor surface capable of detecting drugs in blood plasma with high sensitivity while offering significantly greater stability than comparable silver-based surfaces. Their findings have been published in Advanced Science. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-silver-sensor-sensitive-based-drug.html Bio & Medicine Tue, 23 Jun 2026 16:30:04 EDT news701448661 Many bat species emit echolocation calls and use the returning echoes to find their way, detect the presence of fluttering insects, and locate and catch them. A new study investigated this behavior in greater horseshoe bats foraging in the wild. An international team, including researchers from the University of Tübingen, "flew" with bats via GPS recording tags with microphones. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-horseshoe-echolocation-background-echoes-fluttering.html Plants & Animals Tue, 23 Jun 2026 15:20:07 EDT news701437262