https://phys.org/ en-us Latest news from Utah State University From fundamental biological units as tiny as genes to complex societies, ecological systems rely on cooperation. All manner of organisms can benefit from working together to survive in a dog-eat-dog world. "Mutualism is a common example of interspecies cooperation," says Utah State University ecologist Valerie Martin. "Scientists have long studied mutualisms between plants and pollinators, but understanding their origin and maintenance remains a challenge. Curiously, exploitative behaviors—including cheating—are rampant among mutualists and we're trying to understand why." https://phys.org/news/2026-02-bee-bandits-yeast-nectar-behavior.html Plants & Animals Mon, 09 Feb 2026 16:35:37 EST news689877301 Nitrogen, upon which all life on Earth depends, may hold the key for explaining how early life on the planet evolved and how it could evolve on other planets. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-resurrected-enzyme-secrets-life-earth.html Genetics Fri, 23 Jan 2026 07:50:03 EST news688312200 A critique from a team led by Utah State University ecologist Dan MacNulty and published in Forest Ecology and Management has prompted a formal correction to a high-profile study on aspen recovery while raising broader questions about how scientific conclusions are drawn and defended in complex ecological systems. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-highlights-yellowstone-aspen-ecosystem-response.html Plants & Animals Thu, 22 Jan 2026 06:36:31 EST news688286161 Across all domains of life, immune defenses foil invading viruses by making it impossible for the viruses to replicate. Most known CRISPR systems target invading pathogens' DNA and chop it up to disable and modify genes, heading off infections at the (cellular) pass. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-crispr-discovery-diagnostic-covid-flu.html Biotechnology Wed, 07 Jan 2026 11:00:20 EST news686827933 Algae is a ubiquitous feature in waterways throughout the globe, including western North America. Slippery, green epilithic algae is a familiar sight on river rocks. Toxic blue-green algae—cyanobacteria—is a visually interesting, yet worrisome phenomenon. Increasingly prevalent filamentous algae, with its long, voluminous green strands joins the picture, and is presenting new questions for scientists, recreationalists and land managers. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-filamentous-algae-blooms-river-ecosystems.html Ecology Sun, 04 Jan 2026 12:27:59 EST news686752032 Humans and farm animals share a common affliction: inflammation. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-natural-biliverdin-analog-microalgae-safer.html Agriculture Wed, 03 Dec 2025 20:00:04 EST news683990018 A new analysis challenges one of the most publicized claims about Yellowstone's wolves. In a detailed comment published in Global Ecology and Conservation, researchers from Utah State University and Colorado State University demonstrate that the 2025 study by Ripple et al. overstated the ecological effects of wolf recovery in Yellowstone National Park. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-strong-yellowstone-trophic-cascade-wolf.html Plants & Animals Tue, 21 Oct 2025 16:03:03 EDT news680281382 West Nile Virus was once a nominal concern for Utahns but since August 2003, when it was first detected in the Beehive State, infections in Utah residents have steadily risen. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-ecologists-disease-mosquitoes-hybrids-north.html Ecology Mon, 20 Oct 2025 15:27:04 EDT news680192821 Utah State University's Space Dynamics Laboratory has released open-source software to detect potentially harmful shooting stars, called bolides—bright meteors that explode as they enter Earth's atmosphere. The software can be downloaded from GitHub. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-space-dynamics-lab-source-software.html Space Exploration Thu, 25 Sep 2025 11:16:03 EDT news678017761 It's not easy eating green. Most plants are heavily defended with chemicals to deter plant eaters. For these herbivores, getting enough to eat, while minimizing exposure to toxins, is a persistent challenge that shapes their foraging choices. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-dna-metabarcoding-uncovers-woodrats-approach.html Ecology Mon, 15 Sep 2025 15:00:03 EDT news676799821 All life on Earth depends on enzymes—natural proteins—that act as catalysts to hasten chemical reactions and keep biological processes functioning. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-chemists-photobiocatalytic-approach-carbon-nitrogen.html Biochemistry Mon, 18 Aug 2025 11:46:52 EDT news674736408 Exactly 100 years ago, famed Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger (yes, the cat guy) postulated his eponymous equation that explains how particles in quantum physics behave. A key component of quantum mechanics, Schrödinger's Equation provides a way to calculate the wave function of a system and how it changes dynamically in time. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-bridging-worlds-physicists-holographic-principle.html General Physics Tue, 06 May 2025 13:42:03 EDT news665757721 About 240 miles long, Utah's Wasatch Fault stretches along the western edge of the Wasatch Mountains from southern Idaho to central Utah, running through Salt Lake City and the state's other population centers. It's a seismically active normal fault, which means it is a fracture in Earth's crust that has moved many times in the past. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-slickrock-geoscientists-explore-utah-wasatch.html Earth Sciences Wed, 30 Apr 2025 02:50:01 EDT news665197468 Understanding the material basis of adaptive evolution has been a central goal in biology dating back to at least the time of Darwin. One focus of current debates is whether adaptive evolution relies on many mutations with small and roughly equal effects, or is it driven by one or a few mutations that cause major changes in traits. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-genetic-basis-evolution-complex-chromosomal.html Evolution Thu, 17 Apr 2025 14:00:11 EDT news664114081 Wildlife conservation is critical to sustaining the planet's biodiversity and health. But putting together a conservation plan is a tall order. First of all, you need to determine what species you're conserving, along with their numbers, habitat needs, threats and how they fit into a complex ecosystem. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-utah-ecologists-beehive-state.html Plants & Animals Tue, 25 Mar 2025 17:10:06 EDT news662141402 Iron oxide minerals are found in rocks around the globe. Some are magnetic, and some of them rust—especially when exposed to water and oxygen. These characteristics provide clues about the history of these minerals. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-geoscientists-tool-chronicle-unexplained-gaps.html Earth Sciences Wed, 05 Mar 2025 16:13:24 EST news660413600 Food productivity is dependent on the availability of fertilizer, says Utah State University biochemist Lance Seefeldt. "We need nitrogen to survive, but we can't take it in from the air," says Seefeldt, professor and head of USU's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-genetic-nitrogen-fixation-food-crops.html Biotechnology Fri, 08 Nov 2024 11:04:28 EST news650286259 "Sometimes the crazy ideas lead to watershed improvements." That was a key takeaway from research conducted by Utah State University, published in the American Society of Civil Engineer's Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-collaborative-generates-lessons-lake.html Environment Wed, 31 Jul 2024 06:29:52 EDT news641626187 A long-standing debate among evolutionary scientists goes something like this: Does evolution happen in a predictable pattern or does it depend on chance events and contingency? That is, if you could turn back the clock, as celebrated scientist Stephen Jay Gould (1941–2002) described in his famous metaphor, "Replaying the Tape of Life," would life on Earth evolve, once again, as something similar to what we know now, or would it look very, very different? https://phys.org/news/2024-05-biologists-recurring-evolutionary-insects.html Plants & Animals Fri, 24 May 2024 14:00:01 EDT news635441522 People depend on natural ecosystems of trees, grasses and shrubs to capture carbon from the atmosphere and pull it underground to slow the decline toward climate-change disaster. Ironically, these same protected spaces also tend to be highly photogenic hot-spots for tourism. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-tallies-total-carbon-impact-tourism.html Environment Wed, 03 Apr 2024 17:01:00 EDT news631382454 An overlooked and long-neglected type of forest has vast capacity to rebound, enhancing species diversity and resilience to climate change, according to an international team of forest scientists. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-europe-forgotten-forests-21st-century.html Plants & Animals Wed, 27 Mar 2024 14:00:02 EDT news630748621 Satellites encircling the Earth collect a bounty of water data about our planet, yet distilling usable information from these sources about our oceans, lakes, rivers and streams can be a challenge. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-bridging-gap-scientists-satellites.html Earth Sciences Fri, 15 Mar 2024 12:03:04 EDT news629722981 The world's freshwater systems are in a sort of a climate-change cocktail—rising temperatures, fluctuating levels of environmental acidity and shifting concentrations of dissolved nutrients that settle into the lakes, ponds and wetlands of the world are tweaking the recipe of these complex and delicate freshwater systems, causing fundamental shifts in the way they function. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-atmosphere-algae-mountain-lakes.html Environment Tue, 06 Feb 2024 10:51:10 EST news626439064 In the frigid seas halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole, two types of animals browse the palatable vegetation of a high-tundra archipelago, munching on thick moss, cropped grasses, and low-lying shrubs. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-blitzen-geese-outpace-reindeer-impacts.html Plants & Animals Thu, 14 Dec 2023 15:05:04 EST news621788701 For a century fire ecologists have worked to decipher a complex question—what does a "normal'' wildfire year look like in the West? That's a hard question to answer for many reasons, but new research from a team in the Quinney College of Natural Resources shows that thanks to the state's unique landscapes, Utah's wildfire patterns may never fit into what is considered "normal" for other Western states. The research is published in the journal Fire. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-strange-unique-patterns-utah-wildfires.html Ecology Mon, 04 Dec 2023 16:20:03 EST news620929201 A Utah State University professor and her team has found a possible solution for treating age-related macular degeneration, one of the leading causes of vision loss for older adults. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-11-biological-validate-alternative-treatments-amd.html Ophthalmology Fri, 03 Nov 2023 16:10:30 EDT news618246619 Since the HMS Beagle arrived in the Galapagos with Charles Darwin to meet a fateful family of finches, ecologists have struggled to understand a particularly perplexing question: Why is there a ridiculous abundance of species some places on Earth and a scarcity in others? What factors, exactly, drive animal diversity? https://phys.org/news/2023-10-global-precipitation-patterns-driver-animal.html Evolution Tue, 24 Oct 2023 17:21:04 EDT news617386861 Researchers at Utah State University have successfully demonstrated that hagfish slime proteins can accurately replicate membranes in the human eye. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-09-hagfish-membrane-age-related-macular-degeneration.html Medical research Wed, 13 Sep 2023 14:41:03 EDT news613834861 When we think of soil, most of us think of dirt on the ground. But a surprising amount of the planet's soil thrives in the treetops of old-growth forests, high above terra firma. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-treetops-ecologist-canopy-soil-abundance.html Plants & Animals Fri, 04 Aug 2023 12:48:44 EDT news610372119 New analysis of samples collected from underneath Greenland's ice sheet reveal the Arctic island was much greener as recently as 416,000 years ago. The findings overturn previous views that Greenland's continental glacier, which covers about 80 percent of the 836,3000-square-mile land mass, has persisted for the last two and a half million years. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-greenland-greener-history-previously-thought.html Earth Sciences Sat, 22 Jul 2023 10:30:01 EDT news609085593