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. Orangutans seek out plants with antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and wound-healing properties, new research shows. Based on 20 years of observations of orangutans in Indonesian Borneo, scientists assessed how often the animals ate plants with known medicinal benefits. The findings, published in Scientific Reports, suggest orangutans eat combinations of plants in specific sequences—consistent with "self-medication" seen in other species. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-orangutans-medicinal-patterns-medication.html Plants & Animals Thu, 18 Jun 2026 10:40:05 EDT news700993307 In a seismic shift since Kew's inaugural State of the World report 10 years ago, the sixth State of the World's Plants and Fungi report, published June 16, 2026, brings together expertise from more than 400 scientists across 40 countries to explore how new technology is transforming the race to save nature. The report argues technology can be nature's ally, with digital tools exposing critical gaps in scientific knowledge and highlighting where action is most urgently needed to safeguard plants and fungi. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-digital-tools-reveal-hidden-extinctions.html Plants & Animals Mon, 15 Jun 2026 19:00:07 EDT news700748402 The Arctic and northern high latitudes are warming about 2–4 times faster than the global average, allowing ancient permafrost to thaw and release stored carbon. These permafrost soils currently store roughly one-third of the world's organic soil carbon, much of which has remained frozen for thousands of years. As the soils thaw, organic matter from dead plants and animals within them starts to decompose, and greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, are released. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-northern-permafrost-carbon-source-earlier.html Earth Sciences Mon, 15 Jun 2026 12:59:59 EDT news700747125 Researchers including a number from the University of Exeter, have identified the most urgent unanswered questions about peatlands, providing a global roadmap to guide future science and policy for one of the planet's most important and threatened ecosystems. The paper, "Priority research questions in global peatland science," is published in Communications Earth & Environment. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-earth-unanswered-reshape-climate-action.html Earth Sciences Tue, 28 Apr 2026 13:00:03 EDT news696598042 By analyzing peat cores, researchers have shown how populations of nesting seabirds have fluctuated on a sub-Antarctic island over 8,000 years. They found that bird numbers rose and fell alongside shifts in climate, offering new clues about how future climate change could impact seabird populations. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-ancient-seabird-guano-reveals-climate.html Environment Wed, 15 Apr 2026 16:50:01 EDT news695486221 Organic soils cover less than 9% of Norway's land area, and about 65,000 hectares are currently used as agricultural land. Emissions from these areas are presently estimated at more than 2 million tons of CO₂ equivalents per year. This is equivalent to the emissions from 400,000 fossil-fueled cars. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-emissions-cultivated-peat-soils-assumed.html Earth Sciences Wed, 15 Apr 2026 10:40:02 EDT news695464441 The movement patterns of waterfowl, including ducks, swans and geese, may affect the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza in bird populations, according to a new study from the University of Georgia. The findings are published in the journal Ecology Letters. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-bird-flu-impacted-waterfowl.html Plants & Animals Tue, 07 Apr 2026 14:00:03 EDT news694780202 A new study reveals an unprecedented increase in wildfires in tropical peatlands during the 20th century. "Unprecedented burning in tropical peatlands during the 20th century compared to the previous two millennia" is published in Global Change Biology. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-charcoal-reveal-unprecedented-wildfires-tropical.html Earth Sciences Tue, 17 Mar 2026 05:00:01 EDT news692900581 Ice cores taken from glaciers reveal the air pollution of the past, using atmospheric particles incorporated in snow that fell on the glacier and became ice. Now, scientists have extracted a record of thousands of years' worth of air pollution from 9.5 meters of ice at the Weißseespitze glacier, close to the border between Austria and Italy. But this ice is under threat from global warming, and scientists warn that it is now a race against time to capture critical climate information locked in these glaciers before it's gone forever. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-alpine-ice-cores-medieval-volcanoes.html Earth Sciences Fri, 13 Mar 2026 01:00:01 EDT news692538181 The Amazon rainforest is famous for storing massive amounts of carbon in its trees and soils, helping regulate the global climate. Yet a paper published in New Phytologist shows that one of South America's largest carbon-storing ecosystems exists in an often-overlooked grassy savanna: the Cerrado in Brazil. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-wetlands-brazil-cerrado-carbon-storage.html Earth Sciences Thu, 12 Mar 2026 10:00:04 EDT news692436781 In the face of climate change, permafrost peatland wildfires could play more of a role in the destructive cycle of global warming, University of Alberta research suggests. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-permafrost-peatlands-carbon-years-wildfires.html Earth Sciences Thu, 05 Mar 2026 09:40:04 EST news691924621 Wildfires in the northern boreal forests of Alaska, Canada, Scandinavia, and Russia may be more damaging to the climate than previously thought, a new UC Berkeley-led study suggests. That's because these fires don't just burn through trees; they can also penetrate deep into the carbon-rich layers of soil underneath many boreal forests, releasing carbon that has been accumulating for hundreds or even thousands of years. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-underestimating-true-carbon-northern-wildfires.html Earth Sciences Fri, 27 Feb 2026 14:00:05 EST news691342862 Eastern Canada has seen a rise in the number of hurricane- and near-hurricane strength events battering its maritime areas, with particularly violent storms in 2003 (Hurricane Juan), 2019 (Dorian) and 2022 (Fiona). While this seems to be a recent phenomenon, the region has experienced this kind of surge in activity before, according to a new Concordia University study. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-canada-magdalen-islands-peatlands-vital.html Earth Sciences Tue, 24 Feb 2026 18:20:01 EST news691166102 Researchers at ETH Zurich have now discovered for the first time that large blackwater lakes in the extensive peatlands of the central Congo Basin are releasing ancient carbon. To date, climate researchers had assumed that carbon was stored safely for millenia in the peat. How the carbon is mobilized from the peat to the lake, where it is finally released to the atmosphere, is still unknown. Climate changes and altered land use, especially the conversion of forest to cropland, could exacerbate this trend—with consequences for the global climate. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-peatland-lakes-congo-basin-carbon.html Earth Sciences Mon, 23 Feb 2026 05:00:05 EST news690809329 The Arctic is warming faster than the rest of the planet, with average temperatures increasing by about 4°C in the last four decades. A new study, led by the University of Exeter, shows peatlands have expanded since 1950, with some peatland edges moving by more than a meter a year. The work has been published in Global Change Biology. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-arctic-peatlands-temperatures.html Earth Sciences Fri, 13 Feb 2026 05:10:01 EST news690110041 Using a new method to track groundwater levels and greenhouse gas emissions, researchers uncover the climate impact of Southeast Asia's peatlands. In Indonesia, Malaysia, and other parts of Southeast Asia, vast areas spanning up to 300,000 square kilometers have emerged over thousands of years as plants grow and thrive in dense tropical peat swamp forests, then die and slowly decompose in waterlogged, low-oxygen conditions. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-tropical-peatlands-major-source-greenhouse.html Earth Sciences Fri, 30 Jan 2026 11:11:43 EST news688993861 Wetlands make up only about 6% of the land area but contain about 30% of the terrestrial organic carbon pool. Therefore, CO2 emissions from wetlands are central to the global climate balance. In Denmark, the plan is to flood 140,000 hectares of low-lying land such as bogs and meadows as part of the Green Tripartite Agreement. Flooding such areas will slow down the decomposition of organic material in the soil and keep the CO2 in the soil rather than allowing it to be released to the atmosphere and contribute to the greenhouse effect. At least, that has been the rationale until now. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-wetlands-greatest-climate-benefit.html Earth Sciences Thu, 29 Jan 2026 10:34:45 EST news688905241 In its natural state, peatland is one of the largest carbon stores in nature. This is because the soil is so waterlogged and low in oxygen that dead plant material breaks down very slowly. The plants do not fully decompose but instead accumulate over thousands of years, forming thick layers of peat. When a peatland is drained for agricultural use, the water level drops and oxygen enters the peat layer. Microorganisms can then break down the old plant material much faster, releasing carbon that has been stored for many years as the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO₂). https://phys.org/news/2026-01-higher-cultivated-peatland-north.html Earth Sciences Tue, 27 Jan 2026 16:59:39 EST news688755541 The number of wildland fires burning in the Arctic is on the rise, according to NASA researchers. Moreover, these blazes are burning larger, hotter, and longer than they did in previous decades. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-ice-arctic-regime.html Earth Sciences Wed, 14 Jan 2026 09:12:40 EST news687604322 With an estimated 30–40% of the United States' food supply ending up as waste, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, food science and horticulture experts teamed up to study if it could lay the foundation for growing the next bunch of crops. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-food-compost-effective-potting.html Biotechnology Fri, 09 Jan 2026 05:03:25 EST news687157381 As fires burn the landscape, they spew airborne gases and particles, though their impact on air pollution might be underestimated. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-wildland-emit-air-pollution-previously.html Environment Mon, 29 Dec 2025 08:00:05 EST news685643881 An elusive wild cat long feared extinct in Thailand has been rediscovered three decades after the last recorded sighting, conservation authorities and an NGO said Friday. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-elusive-wild-cat-extinct-rediscovered.html Plants & Animals Fri, 26 Dec 2025 12:40:13 EST news685975155 Female turkeys could be running the roost for years to come. New research from the University of Georgia published in the Journal of Avian Biology found that the gender of turkey offspring may depend on whether the birds are living in an area full of hunters. And that trend could have big implications for the future of turkey populations. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-pressure-female-turkeys-daughters.html Plants & Animals Tue, 23 Dec 2025 12:31:17 EST news685715461 Only 7% of Europe's original area of peatlands remain. What's more: their climate boundaries are shifting. An international study led by Wageningen University as part of the WaterLANDS project analyzed the current distribution of peatlands and mapped their likelihood of remaining under future climate scenarios. They conclude that climate change will massively impact peatland functioning except for the most cool and wet parts of northern Scandinavia, Ireland, Scotland and in the mountains. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-climate-threatens-europe-peatlands.html Environment Sat, 06 Dec 2025 08:00:02 EST news684150846 For the first time, researchers have produced a detailed, high-resolution map of peatlands in the EU, showing that these areas emit twice as much greenhouse gases than previously thought. The research, led by eco-hydrologist Quint van Giersbergen of Radboud University, has been published in Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-degraded-peatlands-emit-greenhouse-gas.html Earth Sciences Wed, 03 Dec 2025 21:00:02 EST news683988719 Iron-nitrogen-carbon catalysts have the potential to replace the more expensive platinum catalysts currently used in fuel cells. This is shown by a study conducted by researchers from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB), Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) and universities in Tartu and Tallinn, Estonia. The research is published in the journal ACS Nano. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-peat-sustainable-precursor-fuel-cell.html Nanomaterials Tue, 25 Nov 2025 15:27:04 EST news683306822 Scientists have revealed that ancient bogs in the Southern Hemisphere hold clues to a major shift in Earth's climate thousands of years ago. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-ancient-bog-growth-reveals-shifting.html Earth Sciences Wed, 19 Nov 2025 15:47:04 EST news682789620 In a recent study by Dr. Heather McKillop and Dr. E. Cory Sills, a complete Late Classic Maya residential compound discovered preserved in mangrove peat below the sea floor of the Punta Ycacos Lagoon was analyzed. The work is published in the journal Ancient Mesoamerica. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-maya-salt-compound-underwater-belize.html Archaeology Thu, 16 Oct 2025 08:54:57 EDT news679823692 Humans could learn a thing or two from orangutans when it comes to maintaining a balanced, protein-filled diet. Great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia, orangutans are marvels of adaptation to the vagaries of food supply in the wild, according to an international team of researchers led by a Rutgers University-New Brunswick scientist. The critically endangered primates outshine modern humans in avoiding obesity through their balanced choices of food and exercise, the scientists found. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-feast-famine-orangutans-flexible-diets.html Plants & Animals Wed, 27 Aug 2025 14:00:20 EDT news675502261 When we walk into a forest, we often think less about the shade or the silence and more about the invisible work trees do—pulling carbon dioxide out of the air and storing it in their trunks, roots and soils. Forests are our oldest, most reliable carbon banks. Yet, when we dove into the data, we realized something unsettling: The financial systems designed to reward forests for this service often undervalue them. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-global-forests-vast-carbon-wealth.html Environment Wed, 27 Aug 2025 08:00:01 EDT news675428785