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. Decades of climate change have not left Europe's mountain vegetation unscathed. However, the changes observed do not always match expectations. As a new international study by a research team led by researchers from the University of Vienna, the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the BOKU University shows, alpine vegetation has shifted significantly towards warmth-associated species. However, the direct link between this so-called thermophilization and local warming is surprisingly weak. The study has recently been published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-europe-mountain-summits-vegetation-ways.html Evolution Fri, 14 Aug 2026 18:00:01 EDT news705935104 Over 4 million hectares (9.9 million acres) of protected tropical forest—an area double the size of Wales—have been lost to wildfires since 2001. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-wildfires-destroyed-area-tropical-forest.html Earth Sciences Fri, 14 Aug 2026 16:00:01 EDT news705925203 According to a new study led by researchers from Brazil and Germany, the main system that transports heat from one end of the Atlantic Ocean to the other may undergo sudden changes in intensity driven by climate change similar to what we are experiencing now, even when it is already weakened. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-sediments-brazil-northeast-coast-reveal.html Earth Sciences Fri, 14 Aug 2026 13:00:04 EDT news705931022 Three factors—spectacular images, a high death toll and strong personal ties—make it more likely that the media in one country will report on a natural disaster in another, according to a study by the University of Bonn, the University of Warwick and Imperial College London, which has been published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-climate-driven-droughts-rarely-international.html Environment Fri, 14 Aug 2026 10:20:01 EDT news705921028 The Huashan rock art landscape in southern China, close to the border with Vietnam, is a remarkable UNESCO World Heritage site. Thousands of images are painted on river cliffs across more than 80 locations stretching 260 kilometers (162 miles). They depict people, musical instruments, boats, animals, weapons and many other figures, and date back at least 2,000 years. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-human-blood-ancient-chinese-art.html Archaeology Fri, 14 Aug 2026 10:00:01 EDT news705842919 Salt and sugar from the sea can rise as far as the free troposphere, thereby influencing both cloud formation and the Arctic climate. This is the finding of balloon measurements carried out by a team of researchers on Spitsbergen in autumn 2021 and spring 2022. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-arctic-balloon-samples-marine-sugars.html Earth Sciences Fri, 14 Aug 2026 09:40:01 EDT news705916225 An analysis of 103 European cities' climate-neutral plans for 2030 (including 22 capital cities) shows that municipalities are planning to rely on carbon removal to compensate for about a fifth of their emissions. This would mean removing roughly 61 million tonnes of emissions from the atmosphere—close to Austria's annual emissions. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-eu-cities-compensate-emissions-carbon.html Environment Fri, 14 Aug 2026 05:00:05 EDT news705752702 There's good news and bad news for folks who love a good coat of ice on the Great Lakes for the activities and businesses it supports. The good news is that, after decades of declining annual average ice cover, there's reason to believe that trend could slow or even temporarily reverse. That's according to new research from the Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research, or CIGLR, at the University of Michigan. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-great-lakes-ice-temporary-respite.html Earth Sciences Thu, 13 Aug 2026 17:40:07 EDT news705846181 If you want to know how rapidly pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere will affect future forest ecosystems, you have to look into the distant past. The researchers behind a new study published in Science have done just that, reconstructing the forest canopy of 56 million years ago, during a massive and abrupt emission of carbon into the atmosphere during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). For the first time, the study's authors used fossilized leaf cells to reconstruct the tree canopy of the PETM, Earth's most recent period of comparable global warming, with chilling implications for our near future. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-paleontologists-reconstruct-forests-million-years.html Ecology Thu, 13 Aug 2026 14:00:06 EDT news705678121 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 Satellite images can be used to estimate how much carbon forests store as aboveground biomass (AGB) and how biomass varies in different forests. In a study published in the journal Nature, a team of researchers affiliated with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), the University of Maryland, NASA and the Universidade Federal dos Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri, Brazil, analyzed 16 million 2020 NASA-GEDI satellite estimates of biomass from forests in the Amazon, the Congo Basin and Southeast Asia. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-satellite-reveal-tropical-forests-differently.html Earth Sciences Thu, 13 Aug 2026 12:20:12 EDT news705840962 A new joint study from Constructor University and Princeton University in the Journal of the American Chemical Society focuses on PC645, a protein complex that contributes to cryptophyte algae's ability to photosynthesize efficiently using specialized light-harvesting pigments that can capture energy from dim, blue-green underwater light. During photosynthesis, the pH inside the algae can fluctuate significantly, affecting how they manage light energy. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-nature-dimmer-algae-photosynthesis-ph.html Biochemistry Thu, 13 Aug 2026 10:20:03 EDT news705831782 For several years, climate scientists have shown that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) could come to a halt if the world warms too much. New research from Utrecht University shows that this picture is incomplete: The pace of warming also determines whether the AMOC stays stable. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-rapid-atlantic-circulation-2c-slower.html Earth Sciences Thu, 13 Aug 2026 05:00:06 EDT news705752641 The iconic grassland savannas of Africa are geographically extensive and important for both local fauna and the global climate. But where did they come from, and how will they change in the future? Ongoing warming, rising CO2 levels and shifting rainfall patterns are likely to profoundly change these ecosystems. These effects are difficult to predict because they can alter ecosystems in competing ways. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-african-grasslands-million-year-earlier.html Earth Sciences Wed, 12 Aug 2026 19:40:04 EDT news705763783 The severe, drought-fueled fires now burning across much of the American West and Canada may be scorching forests so thoroughly that they cannot recover to the forests they once were, new research shows. A study by Colorado State University, Western Colorado University and others found that the fastest-moving forest fires not only burn more area but also burn more severely, leaving fewer surviving trees to reseed the landscape and opening the door to different species and vegetation types. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-fast-wildfires-western-forests-recovering.html Ecology Wed, 12 Aug 2026 17:50:01 EDT news705772441 New research involving the University of Liverpool has provided comprehensive insights into the largest flood event in Europe over the past millennium—the flood traditionally known as "St. Mary Magdalene's Flood" of 1342. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-europe-worst-medieval-highlights-successive.html Earth Sciences Wed, 12 Aug 2026 16:50:04 EDT news705769501 The DNA of Asian elephants tells a concerning story. Although all four subspecies are under pressure, there are considerable differences in their genetic health. In an article published in the journal Genome Biology and Evolution, researchers show how whole-genome analyses can help identify more precisely which populations are most vulnerable and where conservation measures could have the greatest impact. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-dna-highlights-genetic-vulnerability-asian.html Ecology Wed, 12 Aug 2026 16:50:02 EDT news705755261 Scorching heat waves, severe cold snaps and other extreme weather events are limiting where species can exist—and affecting biodiversity estimates—for more than 500 North American bird species, according to a new, Yale–led study. The issue is particularly acute in the Great Plains and southwestern regions of the United States, where species ranges and total species counts are significantly overestimated when variable and extreme weather are not considered, the study says. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-severe-weather-key-predictor-bird.html Ecology Wed, 12 Aug 2026 16:40:06 EDT news705755761 Scientists from Brazil and other countries have discovered a new species of frog in the flooded forests of the western Amazon. They named it Adenomera varcena. This finding significantly advances our understanding of Amazonian biodiversity and cryptic diversity, or cases in which two or more animals appear identical but are actually different species. To distinguish this species, the researchers analyzed details such as the frog's call and DNA. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-frog-species-amazon-forests.html Plants & Animals Wed, 12 Aug 2026 15:10:04 EDT news705765001 For thousands of years, the Anindilyakwa people have lived in deep connection with the waters surrounding Groote Eylandt, a remote island in the Gulf of Carpentaria. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-rangers-scientists-vulnerable-reefs-remote.html Plants & Animals Wed, 12 Aug 2026 14:00:01 EDT news705671161 River and canal ships generate roughly a quarter of the world's shipping carbon dioxide emissions, according to new research published in Nature Climate Change. And that's despite the fact that these bodies of water make up less than 1% of Earth's total navigable waterways. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-river-shipping-emits-quarter-global.html Environment Wed, 12 Aug 2026 11:20:03 EDT news705747097 From the American West to Europe, droughts are drying up rivers, fueling destructive fires and reshaping ecosystems. They are also changing the spread of infectious diseases, leading to surges in illnesses like cholera and West Nile virus around the world. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-drought-reshaping-infectious-diseases.html Ecology Wed, 12 Aug 2026 11:00:11 EDT news705749461 Tropical forests store enormous amounts of carbon and harbor most of the world's terrestrial biodiversity, but scientists fear that increasingly severe droughts threaten their ability to survive and continue absorbing carbon from the atmosphere. A new study published in Nature offers unexpected hope, however, and shows that tropical trees may be more adaptable to drought than scientists had previously believed. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-tropical-trees-unexpected-drought-puerto.html Plants & Animals Wed, 12 Aug 2026 11:00:10 EDT news705656761 Researchers say a spike in temperatures during an ice age 304 million years ago could inform what climate scientists are learning about rapidly changing conditions today. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-late-paleozoic-ice-age-event.html Earth Sciences Tue, 11 Aug 2026 18:00:01 EDT news705672841 Understanding how marine ecosystems respond to a warming ocean requires detailed records of past temperatures. An international research team led by Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) and the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (MPIC) in Mainz has found a new way to reconstruct daily seawater temperatures over a four-month period. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-daily-ocean-temperatures-red-algae.html Environment Tue, 11 Aug 2026 17:20:04 EDT news705672115 A vaccine only protects a whole community if enough people get it, including those who would stay safe anyway once their neighbors are covered. The same tension runs through climate action and social movements: The shared payoff arrives only when enough people pitch in. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-based-rewards-cooperation-free-riders.html Mathematics Tue, 11 Aug 2026 17:00:03 EDT news705681417 From nuclear energy to lab-grown meat, the list of effective but unpopular climate solutions is long. A new University of Colorado Boulder study sheds light on why people reject or accept some proposed sustainability technologies: If it doesn't seem natural, they won't go for it. And that holds across political ideologies. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-naturalness-emerges-key-driver-climate.html Environment Tue, 11 Aug 2026 16:40:01 EDT news705670561 Platypuses rescued during a severe drought quickly returned to their old routines after being released back into the wild, suggesting emergency rescues can help protect vulnerable populations. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-platypuses-quickly-months-captivity.html Plants & Animals Tue, 11 Aug 2026 11:20:03 EDT news705663603 The genetic diversity of the largetooth sawfish (Pristis pristis), a critically endangered ray, has plummeted over the past century and a half, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. The species once lived in tropical waters worldwide but has disappeared from much of its former range. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-historical-dna-reveals-largetooth-sawfish.html Ecology Tue, 11 Aug 2026 08:00:04 EDT news705585534 Communities living in Colombia thousands of years ago achieved an engineering wonder of the world based on cooperation among family groups without top-down government, a new study shows. Archaeologists argue that policymakers in Colombia should now adopt a similar strategy to solve the country's current water management crisis. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ancient-colombians-built-huge-centralized.html Archaeology Tue, 11 Aug 2026 05:00:05 EDT news705585182