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. The formation of complex terrestrial ecosystems was a significant innovation in the evolutionary history of life on Earth. This event signified the expansion of life beyond marine environments and marked the beginning of a new phase in the diversification of terrestrial biota. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-texas-fossil-reveals-early-insects.html Evolution Thu, 27 Aug 2026 17:20:05 EDT news707064181 A large-scale study of nearly 700 species reveals the evolutionary relationships and history of Neogastropoda, a diverse group of marine snails. The findings provide new evidence for their single origin, identify four new families and reveal a previously undetected burst of diversification in the early Cenozoic. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-shell-predators-early-cenozoic-boom.html Plants & Animals Mon, 24 Aug 2026 16:30:01 EDT news706806241 From a fishing trawler in the Adriatic, Italian scientists gently release thousands of tiny octopuses in the hope of fighting an invasive crab species that has devastated local fisheries. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-italian-scientists-octopus-crab-invasion.html Plants & Animals Wed, 19 Aug 2026 04:30:02 EDT news706332058 Researchers at the Department of Energy's (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the University of Tennessee (UT), Knoxville, have made an advance by using a natural substance from fungi called chitin to create hydrogels that are significantly stronger and tougher. This new material could lead to safer medical devices, longer-lasting coatings and other innovations that improve everyday technology and health care. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-fungal-chitin-route-tougher-hydrogels.html Biotechnology Tue, 11 Aug 2026 17:00:05 EDT news705670982 Inspired by naturally occurring mats and balls of seaweed, researchers have created highly porous, superadhesive meshes capable of capturing both large and small microplastic particles—a longstanding challenge in the field. The mesh can clean microplastics from both saltwater and freshwater and is made from sustainable, widely available biopolymers. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-tangled-seaweed-size-cleaners-ocean.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 05 Aug 2026 14:00:11 EDT news705069181 Research in the International Journal of Materials and Product Technology describes a metal-free dye-fixing process that could help make natural plant dyes more practical for high-performance textiles, addressing a longstanding obstacle to their wider use in sustainable clothing. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-metal-free-dyes-durable-textiles.html Materials Science Tue, 04 Aug 2026 22:40:03 EDT news705071139 Nate Rouette and his brother Nelson went shark fishing on Cape Cod hoping for an exciting catch, but were shocked by what they reeled in—a tropical species of shark with a reputation for eating everything it can swallow. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-tiger-shark-caught-massachusetts.html Ecology Tue, 04 Aug 2026 02:45:16 EDT news705030273 In late June, whale watchers in southwest Western Australia sounded the alarm. They had seen far fewer humpback whales at a time when they normally migrate up from the Southern Ocean to calve and feed. Numbers were 60% below normal. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-falls-whale-sightings-rare-seabirds.html Plants & Animals Fri, 31 Jul 2026 08:00:01 EDT news704698202 Permafrost in the Arctic stores large quantities of organic carbon. When frozen ground thaws or coastal sections erode, this carbon can enter the sea, where microorganisms can break it down and convert it into climate-damaging greenhouse gases. The extent to which this carbon actually enters the atmosphere, however, and how much remains in the ocean have hardly been quantified to date. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-arctic-ocean-permafrost-carbon-firmly.html Earth Sciences Fri, 31 Jul 2026 05:00:03 EDT news704553542 Ports rank among the most disturbed marine environments. Pollutants like trash, oil and toxins from antifouling paints tend to accumulate in enclosed harbors. Invasive species arriving in ballast water may displace native wildlife, while ship propellers, sonars and dredging cause noise pollution that can interfere with animal communication. There is thus a great need for effective ways to clean up harbors. One promising method is renaturalization, in which hardy species that can survive under these conditions are deliberately introduced to act as pioneers. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-chicken-kidney-sponge-outstanding-polluted.html Ecology Thu, 30 Jul 2026 00:00:02 EDT news704470921 A simple, low-dose leaf spray could give farmers a practical new tool to keep growing tomatoes on land that salt has rendered increasingly unproductive, according to a study led by a researcher at The University of Texas at El Paso. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-spray-tomatoes-salty-soils.html Biotechnology Mon, 27 Jul 2026 17:30:01 EDT news704390881 Hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor host a broad range of rare and unusual ecosystems. They can be spread far apart, yet there is often overlap among the creatures that inhabit them. Researchers, including those from the University of Tokyo, are answering a long-standing question in this field about how creatures migrate between hydrothermal vents. Their approach involves inspecting the chemical nature of limpet shells to reconstruct their likely journeys, yielding some surprising results. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-deep-sea-larvae-sunlight-hydrothermal.html Ecology Wed, 15 Jul 2026 14:00:09 EDT news703318177 Hyperiid amphipods are a small but anatomically diverse group of shrimp-like crustaceans with remarkable adaptations for life in the ocean's twilight zone. A team of researchers from MBARI, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, GEOMAR, the University of Western Australia and the Florida Museum of Natural History leveraged 30 years of video observations from MBARI's robotic submersibles to study the evolution of eye complexity in hyperiid amphipods. The team recently published its findings in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-reveals-evolution-remarkable-eyes-deepsea.html Evolution Wed, 15 Jul 2026 12:00:01 EDT news703326587 The Space Aquaculture Project at Okayama University of Science is an ambitious research initiative aimed at cultivating fish and crustaceans on the moon and Mars, which are expected to serve as food production bases for future space exploration. The project ultimately seeks to improve astronauts' quality of life through better food options in space. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-shrimp-behavior-simulated-microgravity.html Plants & Animals Mon, 13 Jul 2026 13:54:20 EDT news703169626 The world's largest whale graveyard has been discovered at the bottom of the Indian Ocean by Chinese scientists, who found that the vast expanse of both new and ancient carcasses supports huge communities of deep-sea life. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-world-largest-whale-graveyard-chinese.html Plants & Animals Sat, 11 Jul 2026 12:50:01 EDT news700314309 A new Stanford-led study offers the clearest picture yet of how some ocean life survived our planet's biggest mass extinction while most animals did not. About 252 million years ago, 96% of marine species and 70% of land animals died off during the Permian–Triassic extinction event, known as the "Great Dying." Not all branches of the evolutionary tree were affected evenly, however. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-link-mass-extinction-dominant-marine.html Evolution Fri, 10 Jul 2026 07:42:09 EDT news702888087 Usually there's safety in numbers, but it doesn't always work that way. Fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) filter-feed on immense shoals of krill, engulfing colossal mouthfuls of water containing up to 144 kg of the crustaceans. But then the mighty creatures expel the water by squeezing it out through the racks of baleen lining their mouths. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-krill-buildup-fin-whale-filter.html Plants & Animals Thu, 09 Jul 2026 18:00:01 EDT news702794203 High above the rainforest floor, tiny ponds form in the leaves of plants perched on tree branches. Frogs breed in these ponds, alongside insects, microbes and even tiny crustaceans, creating miniature ecosystems suspended high in the canopy. These are the bromeliads—the remarkable plant family that also gave us air plants, the towering 12-meter (39-foot) "Queen of the Andes", and the pineapple on your terrible pizza. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-hummingbirds-pineapples-ancient-relationship-evolutionary.html Evolution Thu, 09 Jul 2026 15:00:11 EDT news702820861 Scientists from a handful of universities across the country have made innovative use of satellite images from NASA to determine the diet of Antarctic Adélie penguins across the continent by studying their icy feces with a fidelity and frequency that could be captured only by space technology. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-penguin-poo-satellites-reveal-global.html Ecology Thu, 09 Jul 2026 11:00:02 EDT news702807956 A comprehensive study of more than 1,100 springs in the American West warns that critical biodiversity hot spots are facing a mounting extinction crisis. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-biodiversity-hotspots-american-west-extinction.html Ecology Wed, 08 Jul 2026 11:20:01 EDT news702722041 Whether mussels, crustaceans or fish, marine animals have been responding to environmental crises with a reduction in body size for hundreds of millions of years. A new study by Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), in conjunction with the Universities of Warsaw and Lille, now shows that this phenomenon, known as the "Lilliput effect," is especially pronounced during phases of strong global warming. The researchers see it as a warning sign regarding changes to today's climate. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-paleontological-climate-marine-animals.html Evolution Fri, 03 Jul 2026 11:40:05 EDT news702290246 New research has begun to lift the lid on the global online trade in land crabs, leading scientists to call for closer monitoring and regulation to better understand any effects it may be having on native populations and global biodiversity. The study, published in Oryx, highlights how the tropical aquatic aquarium trade, a multimillion-dollar industry, has evolved to include sales of both hermit crabs (anomurans) and true crabs (brachyurans), growing significantly in popularity over the last two decades. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-online-global-brachyuran-crabs.html Ecology Fri, 03 Jul 2026 11:40:04 EDT news702287965 During his morning runs, Rod Keogh had no doubt that the whale poo he saw washed up on the beach had value. Science has finally caught up with him. Samples collected by the South Australian man have contributed to a groundbreaking study of the diets and microbiomes of southern right whales, led by Macquarie University in Sydney and Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland. The study is now published in the journal Molecular Ecology. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-beachcomber-fuels-whale-breakthrough.html Ecology Fri, 03 Jul 2026 08:50:06 EDT news702287382 How did a large crab end up trapped inside a plastic bottle with an opening smaller than its body? Hiroshima University researchers investigated this unusual marine mystery, revealing a lesser-known impact of marine plastic pollution on crustaceans. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-crab-plastic-bottle-survives-months.html Plants & Animals Thu, 02 Jul 2026 09:00:01 EDT news702199921 Climate change is not only warming our lakes and rivers, it is also changing what invasive species eat. A new experimental study published in Limnology and Oceanography Letters shows that temperature-driven diet shifts in an invasive crustacean could alter its ecological role in freshwater food webs. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-shift-freshwater-crustaceans-greener-diet.html Plants & Animals Tue, 30 Jun 2026 17:20:10 EDT news702047881 When the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool turned green with algae just days after a US$15 million renovation, the U.S. government scrambled for chemicals and expensive technical solutions to fix the iconic landmark. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-pool-pond-green-algae-dont.html Environment Fri, 26 Jun 2026 09:20:06 EDT news701674321 For decades, the rivers of the Murray-Darling Basin have been heavily regulated by dams and irrigation networks. As a result, the volume of water entering the ocean is about 60% smaller than 100 years ago. But nature broke through during massive floods over the summer of 2022–23, when heavy rains filled the basin's waterways. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ocean-gains-huge-murray-gave.html Earth Sciences Fri, 26 Jun 2026 08:00:01 EDT news701673541 In a rapidly changing climate landscape, the plants we rely on for food, textiles and more face a multitude of challenges, including rising temperatures, drought and disease. Caltech's Gözde Demirer, the Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering, uses genetic engineering tools to make crops more resilient to such threats and enhance plant health. Now, she and a team of Caltech researchers have found a new solution to an old problem in an unlikely source: the zebra finch. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-bird-derived-gene-tool-inserts.html Biotechnology Mon, 22 Jun 2026 18:30:06 EDT news701368321 When Jasmin Imran Alsous peered down her microscope lens, she expected to see chaos—a mishmash of tangled cells. She was viewing the inside of a male fruit fly's sperm storage organ, using a powerful microscope at the CCBScope Observatory, the experimental biology lab at the Center for Computational Biology (CCB) at the Simons Foundation's Flatiron Institute in New York City. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-thousands-nature-longest-sperm-tiny.html Evolution Mon, 22 Jun 2026 14:20:15 EDT news701353213 If you've noticed more whales visiting local waters, you're not imagining it: Vancouver's gargantuan guests are here thanks to the season, great grub and conservation successes, researchers say. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-qa-whales-vancouver-legally.html Plants & Animals Wed, 17 Jun 2026 19:20:01 EDT news700931574