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. In a deep, dark part of the Gulf of Mexico, the number of marine animals plummeted by about 60% in the years following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion, a new study found. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-marine-life-declined-gulf-mexico.html Ecology Tue, 20 Oct 2026 05:39:07 EDT news711693484 Conservation groups on Sunday condemned the death of a dolphin transferred from France to a Spanish marine park, saying it added to the deaths of other sea mammals recently moved to Spain from Canada. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-groups-alarmed-marine-mammals-deaths.html Ecology Sun, 11 Oct 2026 13:31:37 EDT news710944271 During the 2023–2024 El Niño, about 75% of the world's tropical forest areas experienced at least six months of unprecedented simultaneous drought and heat. According to a study published in Earth's Future, this scenario offers more than just a snapshot of an extreme event; it offers a preview of the "new normal" for the next two decades if greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-extreme-drought-el-nio-tropical.html Earth Sciences Wed, 07 Oct 2026 09:00:06 EDT news710523301 Where are the great marine animals of the Mediterranean, such as the fin whale, the sperm whale or the bottlenose dolphin? How does their distribution change over a few weeks? All indications suggest that these species shift between marine areas in a remarkably short time and over relatively small spatial scales. Some species, such as the striped dolphin, maintain a relatively stable presence in certain areas, while others, such as the fin whale, move and concentrate in different areas from one observation campaign to the next. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-tracking-fin-whale-sperm-mediterranean.html Plants & Animals Wed, 30 Sep 2026 17:20:17 EDT news710001961 Chemicals affect biological species in different ways, posing a major challenge for assessing environmental chemical risks. However, the mechanisms behind these differences have remained largely unknown. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-uncovering-speciesspecific-chemical-sensitivity-focusing.html Biochemistry Mon, 28 Sep 2026 17:40:05 EDT news709821713 When Marineland Canada in Niagara Falls, Ontario, closed in September 2024, it had no regular income to support the care of the 30 belugas and four dolphins housed there. To ensure their welfare, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums led an international effort to relocate the animals to the United States and Spain. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-homes-whales-dolphins-isnt-easy.html Ecology Sun, 27 Sep 2026 14:00:06 EDT news709376669 Plesiosaurs swam into river deltas to vomit up shells and other indigestible elements of their marine meals, suggests new research published by Cambridge University Press. The behavior resembles that of today's fur seals and marine crocodiles. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-queasy-plesiosaurs-swam-shore-vomit.html Paleontology & Fossils Tue, 22 Sep 2026 19:00:01 EDT news709201289 Is a dog's bark simply an expression of emotion, or does it contain specific information that humans cannot understand? Artificial intelligence (AI) can already analyze thousands of animal sounds and identify patterns that would go unnoticed by the human ear. But researchers are asking a far more ambitious question: Could technology one day help us understand what animals are actually saying? https://phys.org/news/2026-09-dog-ai-decode-animal-communication.html Plants & Animals Tue, 22 Sep 2026 17:00:10 EDT news709314361 Sulfur-crested cockatoos are surprisingly smart. In Australian cities such as Brisbane and Sydney, they've learned how to turn on drinking fountains by twisting the handle with their feet. In Sydney, they're even able to lift the lids of municipal garbage cans to get to the leftover food scraps inside. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-sydney-cockatoos-reveal-animal-culture.html Plants & Animals Mon, 21 Sep 2026 19:20:01 EDT news709217257 Denny Glover was hoping for a big catch when he went fishing with buddies on the Sacramento River, but he wasn't expecting a fully grown humpback whale. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-humpback-whale-california-river-miles.html Ecology Sat, 19 Sep 2026 10:08:16 EDT news709031271 A rare Australian sea lion (Neophoca cinerea) on Kangaroo Island has been confirmed to have died from highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu. The sea lion had recently been attacked by a shark, weakening it. Testing revealed that the virus caused its death. Another dead sea lion is being tested. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-bird-flu-australian-sea-lion.html Ecology Wed, 16 Sep 2026 18:40:01 EDT news708788881 A dolphin that harasses fish until they regurgitate their food—then swoops in to steal it—has astonished University of the Sunshine Coast researchers who have documented this novel feeding strategy. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-food-dolphin-shortcut-easy-meal.html Plants & Animals Tue, 15 Sep 2026 10:20:06 EDT news708683888 While the highly virulent avian influenza strain has only recently been discovered on Australian shores, researchers at Deakin University have been working behind the scenes for years, anticipating what an outbreak might look like. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-bird-movements-track-global-virus.html Plants & Animals Sun, 06 Sep 2026 17:00:01 EDT news707401817 A study published in the journal Oikos, titled "Forecasting the impact of food-provisioning and other stressors on a marine top-predator population," found that without protective management, the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin population off Bunbury would fall from 350 to eight over 100 years. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-dolphin-tourism-contributes-decline.html Plants & Animals Wed, 02 Sep 2026 13:00:08 EDT news707557147 The brain cells you see in the above image help an African fish decode electric signals to spot prey, scan its murky surroundings and communicate with its fellows. By rigorously mapping how these cells in the electrosensory lobe are wired together, scientists at Columbia's Zuckerman Institute and their colleagues reveal how this brain area continually learns to filter out interference that would otherwise blind the fish's electric sense. They report their findings in Nature. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-electric-fish-brain-cells.html Plants & Animals Wed, 02 Sep 2026 11:00:14 EDT news707400715 The tide came in last week carrying thousands of dead sardines onto South Africa's south coast, and by dawn, stretches of Gqeberha's shoreline were flecked with silver. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-deadly-virus-stalks-south-africa.html Ecology Mon, 31 Aug 2026 14:10:01 EDT news707401631 H5N1 bird flu has been detected in a dead dolphin in South Australia, state officials said Friday, the first case of its kind in the country. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-bird-flu-dead-dolphin-south.html Ecology Fri, 28 Aug 2026 04:20:01 EDT news707108931 A new study by University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa researchers shows that nearly 23% of short-finned pilot whales that stranded over 13 years in the main Hawaiian Islands ingested several pounds of plastic ropes, netting, fishing gear and plastic bags discarded in the ocean. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-tangled-plastic-fishing-gear-whales.html Plants & Animals Wed, 26 Aug 2026 11:20:06 EDT news706956718 Researchers at the University of St Andrews have gained unprecedented insight into marine mammal behavior when they become tangled in fishing nets. In a paper published Aug. 26 in Royal Society Open Science, researchers from the Sea Mammal Research Unit and Scottish Oceans Institute at St Andrews discovered that their passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) systems, deployed on a gill net, had unintentionally recorded a bycatch event. This is thought to be the first time this kind of recording has taken place in such detail. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-porpoise-entanglement-real-revealing.html Plants & Animals Tue, 25 Aug 2026 19:10:01 EDT news706808402 The reproductive life of sea cucumbers has come under the microscope as University of the Sunshine Coast researchers battle overfishing of the marine creatures. Sea cucumbers—which can spawn by wobbling their heads and ejecting reproductive cells—are of particular interest to Center for Bioinnovation Ph.D. student Paul Wright. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-sea-cucumber-clues-rebuild-populations.html Plants & Animals Wed, 19 Aug 2026 09:20:01 EDT news706339381 For dolphins, the ocean is a world of sound. Their whistles carry social information, helping them communicate and stay connected, while echolocation—rapid-fire clicks—functions like underwater sonar, helping them navigate their surroundings and detect potential prey. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-snooping-dolphins-acoustic-clues-hotspots.html Plants & Animals Tue, 18 Aug 2026 10:40:07 EDT news706263421 "WHALE AT ONE O'CLOCK!" Eager cruise passengers zipping around New York's southern shores rush to the starboard bow: A humpback whale is up for air, a breathtaking sighting set against Manhattan's iconic skyline. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-whales-joy-york-threats-boat.html Ecology Tue, 18 Aug 2026 04:50:03 EDT news706245197 Four more belugas have arrived at a Chicago aquarium as part of a plan to move Canada's last remaining captive whales from a shuttered theme park to aquariums in the United States and Spain. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-belugas-chicago-aquarium-shuttered-canadian.html Ecology Sat, 15 Aug 2026 07:40:02 EDT news705983202 Fishing nets remain the most common cause of death among common dolphins that strand on Cornwall's coast, new research shows. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-fishing-nets-main-death-cornwall.html Plants & Animals Thu, 13 Aug 2026 12:00:02 EDT news705839408 From spears and the invention of the wheel to smartphones and robots, human societies have been building and using tools from the beginning. Human tool use has helped conquer new environments, increase communication and ultimately alter the course of human evolution. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-dolphins-tools-fish-mothers.html Plants & Animals Tue, 11 Aug 2026 11:20:01 EDT news705662221 Hong Kong's weather observatory posted a record high temperature of 36.9°C (98°F) on Sunday as Typhoon Dolphin swept warm air over the city, the meteorological service said. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-hong-kong-weather-observatory-high.html Environment Sun, 09 Aug 2026 14:53:13 EDT news705505970 Australia is now confronting an outbreak of a deadly bird flu strain. As of Monday, the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus had been detected in 78 wild birds across mainland Australia. Until now, there had been no evidence of a large-scale outbreak. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-bird-flu-decimated-south-america.html Ecology Wed, 05 Aug 2026 08:20:02 EDT news705136142 Risso's dolphins around the British Isles are part of a single population—genetically distinct from those elsewhere in the Atlantic, new research shows. Scientists studied the DNA of dolphins that stranded in England, Scotland and Wales from 1992 to 2016. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-genetic-analysis-distinct-risso-dolphin.html Plants & Animals Mon, 03 Aug 2026 11:40:04 EDT news704971621 Two plants that cause neurotoxicity and paralysis in the tiniest doses are also known to counter pain, malaria, cancer and pests. For the first time, researchers discovered a way to recreate these powerful compounds in the lab, helping lead the way to improved, naturally sourced therapeutics. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-deadly-blooms-genetic-blueprint-hard.html Agriculture Sat, 01 Aug 2026 07:00:06 EDT news704728495 On a boat off the coast of California, Sara Lesser gazes wistfully at dozens of dolphins playing in the vessel's wake. This summer, extreme heat is making such a scene increasingly rare. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-whales-hungry-pelicans-marine-california.html Ecology Mon, 27 Jul 2026 03:00:04 EDT news704339408