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. A researcher from the University of North Carolina Asheville has published the first comprehensive checklist of the native terrestrial reptiles of the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), drawing on 20 years of collaborative fieldwork to create a single illustrated reference for scientists, conservationists and nature enthusiasts. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-decades-fieldwork-native-reptiles-turks.html Ecology Thu, 27 Aug 2026 08:20:09 EDT news707034173 Australia's lizards and snakes are facing a far more precarious future than previously understood, with a new review led by Monash University researchers revealing that around 127 species, or just over 13% of Australia's terrestrial lizards and snakes, are now likely to be threatened with extinction—almost double previous estimates. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-australia-lizards-snakes-faster-previously.html Plants & Animals Wed, 26 Aug 2026 17:00:06 EDT news706966958 For decades, light has been used to understand the molecular structures of matter. A sample is irradiated with light, and measurements determine the wavelengths at which it is absorbed. Since each molecule absorbs light at very specific wavelengths that depend on its structure, the resulting absorption spectrum acts like a molecular fingerprint. For individual molecules, however, this signal is vanishingly small and mostly indistinguishable from noise. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-molecule-photon-entanglement-imperceptible-recoil.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 26 Aug 2026 11:00:14 EDT news706866181 Researchers at UC Santa Barbara's National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) are blazing a trail through the Wild West of AI-assisted science, with a field guide aimed at environmental data scientists. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-field-wild-west-ai-environmental.html Environment Wed, 26 Aug 2026 10:00:05 EDT news706955941 In a dry shrubland, a gecko sprints toward shelter. Its greatest danger is not a predator, although hawks circle overhead and sand cats wait in ambush. Rather, its most pressing concern is dehydration. Its skin is paper-thin; water can evaporate from its body into the dry air more quickly than it can replenish it. Fortunately, evolution has given it an adaptation: thin, nanoscopic hairs, called setulae, that cover its body and trap moisture. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-nanoscale-hairs-gecko-skin-moisture.html Plants & Animals Tue, 25 Aug 2026 11:00:03 EDT news706779841 Last winter was tough for marmots living high in the Colorado mountains, where researchers say two-thirds of one population died while hibernating because of insufficient snow cover. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-fat-marmot-week-spotlight-alpine.html Ecology Fri, 21 Aug 2026 13:40:11 EDT news706535574 In the last few centuries, mammals and other animals have been going extinct at least 100 times faster than they did before humans arrived on the scene. So who will be next? Which species are most likely to survive, and which will die out? https://phys.org/news/2026-08-extinctions-extinction-today.html Plants & Animals Thu, 20 Aug 2026 15:30:02 EDT news706456261 Eclipses may be wondrous, but nothing beats seeing the northern and southern lights from space. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-eclipses-space-northern-southern.html Space Exploration Thu, 20 Aug 2026 04:15:47 EDT news706418110 Many animals obtain information about others from scent marks left in the environment, including urine. Because these marks remain after the sender has left, they allow animals to communicate across space and time. But odor molecules evaporate, degrade and change after release. How, then, can a scent mark continue to convey reliable information about who left it? https://phys.org/news/2026-08-year-mystery-cat-kidney-linked.html Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 19 Aug 2026 11:00:26 EDT news706194782 Adoptions are on hold for thousands of dogs and cats in Texas, potentially putting the animals at risk of being euthanized, because of efforts to stop the spread of the New World screwworm, an insect that has crossed the border from Mexico into the United States for the first time in 60 years. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-world-screwworm-texas-pet.html Veterinary medicine Wed, 19 Aug 2026 10:07:04 EDT news706352792 Rat poisons used in homes, businesses and on farms are moving into South Africa's wildlife, according to new research from the Urban Caracal Project, a key research and education initiative based in the Institute for Communities and Wildlife in Africa (iCWild) at the University of Cape Town, together with international collaborators from the Institute for Game and Wildlife Research (IREC) and the Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (CSIC) in Spain. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-cape-town-caracals-expose-hidden.html Plants & Animals Wed, 19 Aug 2026 07:00:07 EDT news706333141 A new AI framework, known as SHIC-XE, has been developed to detect signs of pain in horses from video analysis while providing stable, anatomically consistent explanations for its decisions. The framework was developed by an international team of researchers led by Dr. Marcelo Feighelstein, head of the Artificial Intelligence Systems Engineering Program at Tel-Hai University's new Cluster of Engineering and Advanced Computing. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ai-pain-animals-theyre.html Biotechnology Tue, 18 Aug 2026 17:30:04 EDT news706291501 An African bat whose presence in Sicily had remained an unresolved zoological mystery for almost two centuries has now been documented on Pantelleria Island. A study published in Global Ecology and Conservation reports the first solid evidence of the Egyptian slit-faced bat (Nycteris thebaica) in Europe, adding not only a new bat species but also the first representative of the family Nycteridae to the European fauna. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-african-overlooked-centuries-europe.html Plants & Animals Tue, 18 Aug 2026 15:10:01 EDT news706282441 A major push is underway to catch and vaccinate more than 5,000 little penguins in Victoria to protect them against the virulent H5N1 bird flu. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-penguins-vaxxed-bird-flu.html Ecology Tue, 18 Aug 2026 10:40:05 EDT news706266782 A distinctive black or dark brown lesion that appears on the eyes of some cats has long puzzled veterinarians. Now, researchers have identified two elements that may help explain what is happening inside the affected cornea. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-elements-clues-mysterious-black-eye.html Veterinary medicine Mon, 17 Aug 2026 12:20:08 EDT news706181222 Scientists from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador officially described Pristimantis milpe, an abundant and widely distributed species that had been confused with another species for more than a century. To solve the mystery, researchers reviewed historical specimens collected in Ecuador during the 19th century and preserved at the Natural History Museum in London. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-mystery-london-discovery-ecuadorian-frog.html Plants & Animals Thu, 13 Aug 2026 17:20:04 EDT news705846001 Feral cats and foxes now roam across almost all of Australia. These predators are a major reason why many species have been driven to extinction. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-safe-havens-australian-mammals-invasive.html Plants & Animals Thu, 13 Aug 2026 17:20:02 EDT news705853982 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 Charting a better future will require redressing the problems of the past. That's one reason many countries have begun to return dispossessed land to Indigenous peoples. The goal of Indigenous land restitution is to empower disadvantaged communities and entrust land management back to the region's traditional stewards. In many cases, these programs also carry expectations of broad environmental benefits. However, there's been relatively little research testing this assumption. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-indigenous-restitution-empowers-communities-environmental.html Environment Thu, 13 Aug 2026 12:00:07 EDT news705840061 Fourth-year veterinary students matched—and experienced clinicians outperformed—an AI-enabled digital stethoscope in diagnosing heart murmurs and arrhythmias in cats and dogs, according to a new study from North Carolina State University. The study emphasizes the importance of human expertise when using AI-assisted technology, particularly with instruments designed for "universal" usage. The research is published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-human-clinicians-outperform-ai-stethoscope.html Biotechnology Wed, 12 Aug 2026 12:20:09 EDT news705753527 According to new research, viewers often dismiss, trivialize or even romanticize signs of cat distress during "play" interactions, raising concerns for cat welfare. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-internet-cats.html Plants & Animals Wed, 12 Aug 2026 10:20:06 EDT news705745323 You walk in a park. Children are playing, people are walking their dogs, and then you hear someone say, "Who's my little sweetie?" You turn around expecting to see a stroller. But someone is sitting beside a dog, speaking in the same voice they would use with a baby. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-humans-baby-voice-pets.html Social Sciences Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:00:05 EDT news705735555 For most healthy people, Cryptococcus is an unnoticed infection. The immune system walls it off in the lungs and keeps it dormant for life. But in patients undergoing cancer chemotherapy, recovering from an organ transplant, living with HIV or taking newer immunosuppressing drugs for autoimmune disease, the fungus can reactivate, spread to the brain and cause meningitis. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-uncovering-cryptococcus-shifts-silent-infection.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 10 Aug 2026 17:30:01 EDT news705600902 A favorite toy or treat can become dangerous in an instant if it gets lodged in your pet's airway. Because choking is a terrifying emergency for pets and their owners, Dr. Christine Rutter, a clinical associate professor at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, shares what every pet owner and pet sitter should know about recognizing choking and responding safely. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-veterinarians-case-pet-dog-cat.html Veterinary medicine Mon, 10 Aug 2026 11:40:06 EDT news705574921 Nature is not doing well in Australia. Many unique mammals, birds and insects are struggling. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-australia-pledged-nature-lost-ecosystems.html Ecology Sun, 09 Aug 2026 13:20:01 EDT news705322320 Using light to process quantum information is one of the most promising approaches to building future quantum computers. Light particles, known as photons, are excellent carriers of quantum information, but their lack of natural interactions has created a major challenge for researchers seeking to build systems capable of performing a full range of computations. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-shifting-architecture-versatility-photonic-quantum.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 07 Aug 2026 17:00:01 EDT news705325201 A new study by ancient DNA researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, used paleogenomics to create a genetic roadmap to help guide the restoration of another iconic species once on the brink of extinction: the North American bison. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-decoding-north-american-bison-genome.html Plants & Animals Thu, 06 Aug 2026 18:10:01 EDT news705256562 Around 15 years ago, I created a Facebook page for my cat, Sandi. Friends thought it was weird. Today, social media accounts for cats attract millions of followers, cats travel in backpacks and strollers, and surveys consistently show that the overwhelming majority of owners regard their pets as family. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-cats-tamer-people.html Evolution Thu, 06 Aug 2026 15:00:03 EDT news705237842 Matt Walker couldn't pet a dog without sneezing—until he and other scientists used a gene editing technique to produce a hypoallergenic beagle named Bailey. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-gene-beagles-future-option-people.html Biotechnology Wed, 05 Aug 2026 11:35:13 EDT news705148484 Living among large predatory carnivores could actually make you safer. A study published in the journal Current Biology found that pumas—wild cats also known as mountain lions, cougars or panthers—change deer behavior, leading to fewer collisions with cars on roadways. In areas where puma occupancy is high, the authors report a significant reduction in the total expected number of collisions over a 5-year period. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-pumas-roads-safer-drivers-prey.html Plants & Animals Wed, 05 Aug 2026 11:00:11 EDT news705059578