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. Beavers could engineer riverbeds into promising carbon dioxide sinks, according to a new international study led by researchers at the University of Birmingham. The paper, published in Communications Earth & Environment, has for the first time calculated the carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted and sequestered due to engineering work done by beavers in suitable wetland areas. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-beavers-stream-corridors-persistent-carbon.html Earth Sciences Wed, 18 Mar 2026 09:20:02 EDT news693042241 Between 1347 and 1353, Europe was gripped by the most catastrophic pandemic in its history: the Black Death. Killing many millions, the plague wiped out between one-third and a half of Europe's population. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-black-death-counterintuitive-effect-human.html Ecology Thu, 05 Mar 2026 13:30:02 EST news691937822 Many large herbivores that once roamed modern-day Panama have declined or died out—including the 6-meter-long giant ground sloth and elephant-related creatures called Cuvieronius. New research suggests that introducing large herbivores in Panama's forests could fill the gap left by extinct species. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-rewilding-gap-left-panama-lost.html Ecology Tue, 03 Mar 2026 12:40:04 EST news691754198 Protected natural areas across Europe are changing. Climate change, with rising temperatures and heavy rainfall, is turbocharging the growth of shrubs and trees, choking the flowers and insects that need the light and heat of open spaces. Traditionally, this scenario prompts nature managers to reach for chainsaws and brush cutters to keep the landscape open. But researchers at Aarhus University and the Natural History Museum, Aarhus, Denmark, can now show that horses and cattle represent a more effective method of nature management given adequate time to do their work. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-feral-horses-cattle-resilient-nature.html Plants & Animals Mon, 02 Mar 2026 18:00:04 EST news691684741 Centuries after they were wiped out, the reintroduction of beavers to the UK is gathering pace. Following a government announcement allowing beavers to be released in the wild, a flurry of reintroductions are planned for 2026 and beyond. Beavers could soon be coming to a river near you. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-beavers-reintroduced-uk-year.html Plants & Animals Thu, 12 Feb 2026 18:20:01 EST news690113612 A new genetic study examines an unusually large hybridization event that followed the Fukushima nuclear accident, when escaped domestic pigs bred with wild boar. The research shows that domestic pig maternal lineages sped up generational turnover, rapidly diluting pig genes. The findings reveal a mechanism likely operating wherever feral pigs and wild boar interbreed. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-fukushima-pig-boar-hybrids-reveal.html Plants & Animals Mon, 09 Feb 2026 16:20:02 EST news689856229 Corn is a colossal grain in the global food and feed chain, with the U.S. producing roughly 30% of the world's supply, or nearly 278 million metric tons in the 2024–25 growing season alone. But its journey from wild grass to staple crop began in central Mexico with teosinte (from the Nahuatl word "teocintli," meaning "sacred corn"). Over thousands of years, domestication and selective breeding transformed teosinte into the corn we enjoy at backyard barbecues today. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-rewilding-corn-reveals-roots-forgot.html Plants & Animals Thu, 22 Jan 2026 14:20:02 EST news688313941 Scientists have uncovered the mummified remains of cheetahs from caves in northern Saudi Arabia. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-mummified-cheetahs-discovery-species-arabic.html Ecology Thu, 15 Jan 2026 11:00:01 EST news687607173 For decades, researchers have focused on the problem of overgrazing, in which expanding herds of cattle and other livestock degrade grasslands, steppes and desert plains. But a new global study reveals that in large regions of the world, livestock numbers are substantially declining, not growing—a process the authors call destocking. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-overlooked-decline-grazing-livestock-opportunities.html Ecology Mon, 12 Jan 2026 15:00:01 EST news687187681 When postdoctoral researcher Matthew Zipple releases lab mice into a large, enclosed field just off Cornell's campus, something remarkable happens. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-cages-fields-lab-mice-anxiety.html Plants & Animals Mon, 15 Dec 2025 13:30:02 EST news685027545 Beaver-created wetlands increase pollinator numbers, boosting biodiversity, according to new research by the University of Stirling. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-beavers-boost-declining-pollinators-reveals.html Plants & Animals Thu, 13 Nov 2025 10:22:42 EST news682251757 Urban trees are essential to the health of cities and their residents: they cool neighborhoods, filter pollution from the air, support biodiversity, and improve human well-being. But these benefits depend in part on the tree microbiome, which influences tree health, stress tolerance, and interactions with the environment. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-qa-essential-role-urban-tree.html Ecology Mon, 06 Oct 2025 12:43:51 EDT news678973424 The dodo has been extinct for more than 300 years, but that isn't stopping Dallas' Colossal Biosciences from trying to resurrect the 3-foot-tall, flightless bird. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-resurrection-dodo-bird-closer-colossal.html Plants & Animals Mon, 22 Sep 2025 09:27:33 EDT news677752048 Japan's declining population in agricultural regions could be having a damaging impact on biodiversity—a trend that could spread through East Asia and Europe as global fertility rates fall—according to an international study. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-japan-rural-population-linked-ongoing.html Ecology Thu, 12 Jun 2025 13:26:50 EDT news668953605 Understanding the acceleration of human impacts on the environment is key to addressing the complex planetary and social challenges of the Anthropocene. But even as the inter-relatedness of environmental, political, and social processes becomes clearer, the conditions that produce sustainable outcomes remain little understood. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-early-medieval-european-collapse-imbalanced.html Archaeology Mon, 21 Apr 2025 15:00:01 EDT news664188706 On our planet, at any one moment, billions of animals are on the move. From migratory birds, insects, marine mammals and sharks connecting distant continents and seas, to bees and other insects pollinating our crops, to grazing animals roaming across the plains, and the foxes and hedgehogs visiting urban gardens. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-animal-movements-global.html Plants & Animals Tue, 08 Apr 2025 14:39:04 EDT news663341941 More than a quarter of our planet's natural "geomorphs"—animals such as beavers and hippos that, collectively, can reshape entire landscapes—are threatened or have shrinking populations, a new study says. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-animal-geomorphs-threat.html Plants & Animals Wed, 12 Mar 2025 15:08:33 EDT news661010908 Animals are not just inhabitants of the natural world—they are its architects. A new study led by Professor Gemma Harvey from Queen Mary University of London has revealed how hundreds of species shape the landscapes we depend on, from vast termite mounds visible from space to hippos carving drainage systems and beavers creating entire wetlands. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-animals-architects-earth-global-reveals.html Plants & Animals Mon, 17 Feb 2025 15:00:01 EST news659005802 Pangolins are unique as they are the only mammal to be covered in scales. Even though they are scaly, photos of them are typically met with "awwws" from the viewers, who find them adorable. Importantly, though, pangolins play an essential role in maintaining their ecosystem. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-celebrating-world-pangolin-day-genomes.html Plants & Animals Fri, 14 Feb 2025 09:01:00 EST news658746048 Some efforts to preserve or rewild natural habitats are shifting harmful land use to other parts of the world—and this could drive an even steeper decline in the planet's species, according to a team of conservation scientists and economists led by the University of Cambridge. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-wildlife-habitats-wealthy-nations-extinctions.html Plants & Animals Thu, 13 Feb 2025 14:00:17 EST news658652881 The extinction of hundreds of bird species caused by humans over the last 130,000 years has led to substantial reductions in avian functional diversity—a measure of the range of different roles and functions that birds undertake within the environment—and resulted in the loss of approximately 3 billion years of unique evolutionary history, according to a new study published in Science. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-true-global-impact-species-loss.html Evolution Thu, 03 Oct 2024 14:00:02 EDT news647164501 Europe's abandoned farmlands could find new life through rewilding, a movement to restore ravaged landscapes to their wilderness before human intervention. A quarter of the European continent, 117 million hectares, is primed with rewilding opportunities, researchers report August 15 in the journal Current Biology. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-european-landscape-rewilded.html Ecology Thu, 15 Aug 2024 11:00:02 EDT news642929281 In a rare opportunity to study carnivores before and after wolves were reintroduced to their ranges, researchers from the University of Wisconsin–Madison found that the effects of wolves on Isle Royale have been only temporary. And even in the least-visited national park, humans had a more significant impact on carnivores' lives. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-wolves-reintroduced-isle-royale-temporarily.html Plants & Animals Wed, 26 Jun 2024 13:06:56 EDT news638626011 Giant lizards called heath goannas could save Australian sheep farmers millions of dollars a year by keeping blowfly numbers down—and must be prioritized in conservation schemes to boost native wildlife, say researchers. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-australia-giant-lizards-sheep-eaten.html Plants & Animals Tue, 25 Jun 2024 05:00:01 EDT news638461790 The onset of solar maximum has resulted in severe geomagnetic storms, with the possibility of aurora borealis events this weekend as far south as the northern United States. Do not be alarmed if you see awesome displays of light over your neighborhood, it is just a solar wind disturbance passing through the magnetosphere. This week, we reported on a cute but endangered marsupial, the table manners of supermassive black holes and what ultra-processed Tostitos Scoops may be doing to your heart. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-saturday-citations-dietary-habits-humans.html Other Sat, 11 May 2024 08:30:01 EDT news634562769 Global biodiversity has declined between 2% and 11% during the 20th century due to land-use change alone, according to a large multi-model study published in Science. Projections show climate change could become the main driver of biodiversity decline by the mid-21st century. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-climate-main-driver-biodiversity-decline.html Ecology Thu, 25 Apr 2024 14:00:01 EDT news633255602 At the end of the last ice age, large herds of bison roamed across Europe. But by 1927, the European bison became extinct in the wild, with only about 60 individuals remaining in captivity. Scientists have long debated the exact causes of the grazers' near extinction, and how much humans were to blame. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-areas-rewilding-european-bison.html Plants & Animals Wed, 13 Dec 2023 10:24:00 EST news621685437 Research results published in the journal, Nature, show that realistic global forest carbon potential is approximately 226 gigatonnes (Gt) of carbon. The study, which involved hundreds of scientists around the world, highlights the critical importance of forest conservation, restoration, and sustainable management in moving towards international climate and biodiversity targets. The researchers stress that this potential can be achieved by incentivizing community-driven efforts to promote biodiversity. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-diverse-forests-huge-carbon-potential.html Earth Sciences Mon, 13 Nov 2023 11:00:02 EST news619090210 Introducing llamas (Llama glama) into land exposed by retreating glaciers can speed the establishment of stable soils and ecosystem formation, mitigating some of the harmful effects of climate change, according to experimental research conducted by scientists at The University of Texas at Austin and partner institutions in Peru. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-llamas-mitigate-effects-climate.html Plants & Animals Wed, 04 Oct 2023 13:26:36 EDT news615644792 Large herbivores can protect local nature by eating and trampling on biodiversity-threatening invasive plant species. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-natural-weapon-large-herbivores-invasive.html Plants & Animals Tue, 05 Sep 2023 13:03:09 EDT news613137786