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. Ocean plastic pollution is accidentally on the menu for southern giant petrel chicks. Even small nibbles of it may affect their physiology during development, according to a study from the University of California, Davis, and Argentina's National Research Council (CONICET). https://phys.org/news/2026-08-small-amounts-ocean-plastic-affect.html Plants & Animals Mon, 31 Aug 2026 19:20:06 EDT news707410981 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 Despite protections, blue whales remain endangered, primarily because of the risk of collisions with ships. MBARI's Blue Whale Observatory uses a suite of technologies to study these animals and their primary food source, krill, in the Monterey Bay region. The findings from this body of research can help resource managers protect these majestic animals. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-precise-giants-reveals-blue-whales.html Plants & Animals Mon, 31 Aug 2026 16:00:04 EDT news707399617 Emissions from aircraft that use leaded aviation gasoline are a significant source of environmental pollution in neighborhoods near regional airports, according to a new study by researchers at Oregon State University and Portland State University. The findings were published in Communications Sustainability. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-small-plane-fuel-sevenfold-oregon.html Environment Mon, 31 Aug 2026 15:40:06 EDT news707399605 As one moves north, Maine's kelp forests are being overtaken by dense mats of carpet-like turf algae. The steady decline of kelp and transition into this new state are altering the ecosystem all the way down to the microbial level, according to a new study in PNAS from Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-loss-kelp-forests-reverberates-microbial.html Ecology Mon, 31 Aug 2026 15:00:08 EDT news707389502 Data from many sources, including NASA, have shown a significant decrease in Arctic sea ice since 1979. However, the processes driving the melting and freezing of sea ice are complex, and fluctuations occur throughout the year. Short-term variations in temperature, winds, ocean convection and water salinity within a certain region can also affect how much ice can reform or melt. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-anomalous-odden-ice-tongue-unusual.html Earth Sciences Mon, 31 Aug 2026 13:30:01 EDT news707399596 Europe is no stranger to powerful windstorms, but some storms capable of causing serious damage have an unusual origin. Tropical cyclones can occasionally travel north from lower latitudes and reach Europe, where they can bring damaging winds and heavy rain even after losing some of their tropical characteristics. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-uk-ireland-greatest-rare-tropical.html Earth Sciences Mon, 31 Aug 2026 10:00:07 EDT news707137390 The evolutionary histories of Earth and Mercury differ fundamentally. The smallest planet, closest to the sun, likely began cooling early on, much like a setting pudding: As early as about 1 billion years after its formation, Mercury's volcanic activity came to a halt, and a solid, continuous "rock skin" formed on the planet's surface. Earth's crust, on the other hand, is still in motion: Volcanism and plate tectonics are constantly stirring up the "Earth pudding." Exactly what Mercury's unique volcanic past looked like and how it shaped its current appearance remain unclear. However, researchers can gain important clues from the composition of its surface. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-mercury-crust-deeper-hotter-volcanic.html Planetary Sciences Fri, 28 Aug 2026 12:40:01 EDT news707135642 Rock weathering, the breakdown and dissolving of rocks and minerals caused by their exposure to water, air and biological life, is a major regulator of Earth's atmospheric CO2 levels and climate. Throughout Earth's history, rock weathering has been faster during warm periods with increased atmospheric CO2 levels. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-bacteria-weathering-carbon.html Earth Sciences Fri, 28 Aug 2026 10:20:01 EDT news707129918 Corals that partner with heat-tolerant algae may be better equipped to survive warming oceans—but that resilience comes with an unexpected trade-off, according to a new study from Boston University published in Science Advances. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-tolerant-corals-vulnerable-disease.html Plants & Animals Thu, 27 Aug 2026 17:50:01 EDT news707069821 Just a few minutes of freezing and thawing can have a decisive impact on how ferrihydrite, the most reactive iron mineral in cold soils, permafrost and glaciers, transforms, according to researchers at Umeå University. As climate warming intensifies freeze-thaw cycles and extends them into new regions, ice is becoming an increasingly important driver of Earth's ecosystems. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-minutes-fate-iron-nature.html Earth Sciences Thu, 27 Aug 2026 16:20:03 EDT news707062142 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 Sea turtles are famous for being prodigious wanderers. Guided by Earth's magnetic field, ocean currents and the sun, they tend to crisscross the seas in search of food, returning to the region of their birth every few years to breed. So when scientists discovered a population of sea turtles that appear to be very much homebodies, they were taken aback. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-galpagos-yellow-sea-turtles-homebodies.html Plants & Animals Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:01 EDT news706880270 Spreading finely crushed basalt across farmland has been promoted as a relatively simple way to remove large quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But a new study led by Cornell researchers suggests the real-world potential of this method, known as enhanced weathering, may be far smaller than widely cited estimates. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-basalt-weathering.html Earth Sciences Wed, 26 Aug 2026 16:40:03 EDT news706964666 The use of fossil fuels alters both the concentration and the carbon isotope composition of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Since surface water exchanges carbon dioxide with the atmosphere, this also alters the isotopic composition of the carbon dissolved in the ocean. In a new study, a team from MARUM—Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen has now determined how deep this so-called Suess effect has already penetrated into the North Atlantic. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-fossil-fuel-carbon-fingerprint-deep.html Earth Sciences Wed, 26 Aug 2026 15:20:03 EDT news706962542 They live in some of the most inaccessible waters on Earth, where ocean temperatures hover around freezing. Because they move through areas that humans rarely reach, they have been able to help researchers with a special task. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-narwhals-uncover-unique-deepest-east.html Environment Wed, 26 Aug 2026 14:00:04 EDT news706881181 Saturn's moon Enceladus sports a thick shell of ice surrounding a liquid water ocean. As though scraped by an enormous claw, four parallel cracks slash across its south pole. Each about 500 meters (1,600 feet) deep, 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) across and 130 kilometers (81 miles) long, the fissures spew water vapor and other materials from the subsurface ocean directly into space. But the origin of these "tiger stripes" is mysterious. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ocean-motion-enceladus-tiger-stripes.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 26 Aug 2026 13:20:15 EDT news706960681 Stanford researchers have offered an explanation for why some sizzling, lava-covered worlds nestled tightly around their stars can retain their atmospheres. At such close quarters, intense stellar radiation should strip away a planet's air. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-lava-exoplanets-retain-atmospheres-billions.html Astrobiology Wed, 26 Aug 2026 11:40:04 EDT news706957007 A new study by University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa researchers shows that nearly 23% of short-finned pilot whales that stranded over 13 years in the main Hawaiian Islands ingested several pounds of plastic ropes, netting, fishing gear and plastic bags discarded in the ocean. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-tangled-plastic-fishing-gear-whales.html Plants & Animals Wed, 26 Aug 2026 11:20:06 EDT news706956718 A new study that combines paleoclimate data and climate models suggests that large volcanic eruptions can disrupt the relationship between atmospheric circulation patterns over the tropical Indian and Pacific oceans. In addition, human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are now driving an unprecedented breakdown in interbasin coupling, according to researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). https://phys.org/news/2026-08-volcanic-eruptions-climate-disrupt-link.html Earth Sciences Wed, 26 Aug 2026 05:00:02 EDT news706872181 Researchers at the University of St Andrews have gained unprecedented insight into marine mammal behavior when they become tangled in fishing nets. In a paper published Aug. 26 in Royal Society Open Science, researchers from the Sea Mammal Research Unit and Scottish Oceans Institute at St Andrews discovered that their passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) systems, deployed on a gill net, had unintentionally recorded a bycatch event. This is thought to be the first time this kind of recording has taken place in such detail. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-porpoise-entanglement-real-revealing.html Plants & Animals Tue, 25 Aug 2026 19:10:01 EDT news706808402 Can a city's seawall stand up to a blockbuster storm? Will a region's power grid hold against record-breaking heat? And can a town's firefighting resources contain a major wildfire? https://phys.org/news/2026-08-inches-york-city-ai-plausible.html Earth Sciences Tue, 25 Aug 2026 14:40:05 EDT news706875841 When a star reaches its final stages of life, it ends in a bright, powerful explosion called a supernova and scatters material across the universe. A new study led by a University of Hawai'i at Mānoa researcher has discovered that the moon's mixed-up soil can be read as a cosmic time capsule for exploding stars. The work is published in the journal Physical Review Letters. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-lunar-soil-cosmic-capsule-stars.html Astronomy Tue, 25 Aug 2026 13:40:05 EDT news706874864 During the Late Cretaceous period, parts of Egypt were covered in water. A new study, published in the journal Cretaceous Research, describes new evidence that this tropical sea was home to a diverse community of sharks. The study adds five new species to the region's history, found in what the authors refer to as a "shark graveyard." https://phys.org/news/2026-08-egypt-home-diverse-shark-community.html Paleontology & Fossils Tue, 25 Aug 2026 11:30:02 EDT news706874558 Tide levels can vary by almost a meter across a single bay, according to a new study that uses decades of satellite images to measure tides at the scale of individual beaches. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-tides-vary-meter-bay-decades.html Earth Sciences Tue, 25 Aug 2026 05:00:04 EDT news706793263 Marine heat waves and extreme ocean acidification events are each damaging on their own. But when both stressors hit simultaneously, their individual effects can be exacerbated. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-marine-acidification.html Earth Sciences Mon, 24 Aug 2026 18:40:01 EDT news706803421 A new study has reconciled a long-standing paradox in the South Asian summer monsoon cycle. Climate scientists have discovered why geological records from land and sea have told opposite stories about monsoons throughout history and found that rising temperatures over Southern Africa reduce upwelling in the Arabian Sea, which could damage marine productivity and fisheries. The work is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-climate-scientists-monsoon-puzzle-fisheries.html Earth Sciences Mon, 24 Aug 2026 11:20:05 EDT news706788601 The future of Maine's lobster industry may depend on a creature the size of a sesame seed. Researchers at the University of Maine have discovered that planktonic baby lobsters, or larvae, preferentially feed on Calanus finmarchicus, a tiny, calorie-rich zooplankton species, during one of the most vulnerable stages of their lives. Their new study upholds a theory advanced by scientists in the past decade that may be relevant to recent declines in Maine's lobster harvest. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-tiny-ocean-plankton-clues-future.html Plants & Animals Mon, 24 Aug 2026 11:00:02 EDT news706785241 Sometimes science throws up the unexpected. When a team of researchers set out to model river erosion in Canada's High Arctic, they did not expect the findings to defy common sense. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-arctic-riverbeds-erode-faster-unfrozen.html Earth Sciences Sat, 22 Aug 2026 11:20:05 EDT news706614377 A human, an octopus, and a coral could hardly look more different—yet deep inside their cells, their chromosomes still carry recognizable pieces of a genome inherited from an animal ancestor that lived more than 600 million years ago. Since then, their chromosomes have fused, split and rearranged countless times. Today, thousands of animal genomes have been sequenced. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-animal-genomes-irreversible-evolutionary-highways.html Evolution Sat, 22 Aug 2026 09:00:04 EDT news706454425