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. Harmful algal blooms pose serious threats to people, animals and the environment. The University of Toledo's Dr. Jeanine Refsnider counts it as a positive discovery that northern map turtles tend to steer clear, as she and an undergraduate collaborator recently reported in the Journal of Great Lakes Research. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-northern-turtles-lake-erie-algal.html Plants & Animals Thu, 10 Sep 2026 12:20:06 EDT news708252187 The silkworm moth, whose caterpillars have been used in silk production since antiquity, may have been brought to southern Central Asia 4,000 years ago—nearly 2,000 years earlier than previously assumed—according to new research from Washington University in St. Louis. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-silkworm-cultivation-predates-silk-road.html Archaeology Thu, 23 Jul 2026 14:00:10 EDT news704014982 A team of astronomers has discovered a third planet orbiting the star Beta Pictoris. The new planet, Beta Pictoris d, is 100 times fainter than Beta Pictoris b—the first planet discovered in the same system—and is among the lightest exoplanets ever imaged from the ground. After spotting the planet using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT), the team found it had been hiding in archival observations spanning more than a decade. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-faintest-planet-imaged-earth-years.html Astronomy Wed, 15 Jul 2026 08:00:06 EDT news703174094 When bright green water appeared in the newly renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, it drew national attention and sparked political finger-pointing. The culprit: cyanobacteria—sometimes called blue-green algae—a type of bacteria that can produce toxins harmful to people, pets and wildlife. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-dc-algal-bloom-reveals-threat.html Environment Mon, 29 Jun 2026 19:20:29 EDT news701958241 Algal blooms in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C., have long been a visible public nuisance. When the pool turned green again on June 15, less than two weeks after President Donald Trump's US$14 million renovation, it sparked outrage, a rush to use chemical treatments and even claims of sabotage by "radical left lunatics." https://phys.org/news/2026-06-science-algae-bloom-lincoln-memorial.html Environment Mon, 29 Jun 2026 18:00:01 EDT news701955344 NOAA and its research partners are forecasting a moderate harmful algal bloom (HAB) in western Lake Erie this summer. This year's bloom is expected to measure 3.5 on the HAB severity index, with a potential range of 3 to 4.5. Experts from NOAA and their government and academic partners discussed the 2026 Seasonal Forecast of Harmful Algal Blooms for Lake Erie during a free public webinar on June 25 hosted by Ohio Sea Grant and Stone Laboratory. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-moderate-algal-bloom-western-lake.html Environment Fri, 26 Jun 2026 11:20:03 EDT news701684461 As humans, we live out our lives on a planet that is constantly sweeping through a cosmic ocean littered with ancient debris from the formation of the solar system. For the most part, our world glides silently through space, shielded by Earth's thin atmosphere. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-sonic-booms-meteors-energy-hundreds.html Planetary Sciences Sat, 20 Jun 2026 17:30:01 EDT news700747537 University of Notre Dame researchers analyzed 42 years of biological records from the Great Lakes, unveiling how per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), or "forever chemicals," have moved across the region, contaminating a variety of wildlife. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-year-tracks-chemicals-great-lakes.html Environment Thu, 18 Jun 2026 14:00:05 EDT news701004422 A new telemetry study published in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences finds that the method used to raise juvenile lake sturgeon before stocking has little bearing on how the fish behave after release—an important finding for ongoing efforts to restore the species to the Maumee River and other Ohio rivers. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-tracks-juvenile-sturgeon-ohio-reintroduction.html Plants & Animals Tue, 16 Jun 2026 08:40:04 EDT news700810082 As toxic algal blooms intensify around the world, a renowned Bowling Green State University researcher continues to lead the global conversation on how to prevent them, keeping the university and its Center for Great Lakes and Watershed Studies at the forefront of water-quality research. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-year-scientists-algal-blooms.html Ecology Thu, 11 Jun 2026 10:20:06 EDT news700389711 Municipalities and federal agencies monitor U.S. waters for microcystins, a toxin produced by harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie, but a University of Michigan study shows that the blooms produce a greater range of potentially toxic compounds than previously known. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-lake-erie-forbidden-soup-rotating.html Environment Wed, 27 May 2026 13:20:51 EDT news699100681 Buffalo's legendary snowfall totals are largely the result of one unlucky geographic reality: the city sits east of the Great Lakes instead of west. Anyone who has lived through a winter in Buffalo, Cleveland or any snowbelt city knows that prevailing westerly winds pick up moisture from the lakes and dump lake-effect snow on their eastern shores. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-ancient-iceberg-reveal-reverse-great.html Earth Sciences Wed, 13 May 2026 15:56:40 EDT news697906562 A new peer-reviewed study conducted by researchers at The University of Toledo and University of Missouri provides some of the first rigorous experimental evidence that goldfish—one of the world's most popular pets—can dramatically change freshwater ecosystems when released or they escape into the wild. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-pet-pest-invasive-goldfish-reshaping.html Ecology Tue, 28 Apr 2026 12:40:03 EDT news696595982 New observations and simulations by a team of researchers led by MPE reveal that a massive binary star near our galaxy's center is responsible for creating a series of enigmatic gas clouds—compact gas clumps that help feed the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*. The study is published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-mysterious-gas-clouds-milky-black.html Astronomy Thu, 23 Apr 2026 12:00:08 EDT news696159422 As the West faces increasingly destructive wildfires, land managers rely on mechanical thinning to reduce hazardous fuels and restore forest health. But one obstacle continues to slow this work down: Thinning costs are notoriously difficult to estimate from one project to the next. Uncertainty around those numbers raises concerns that outdated cost estimates may be holding critical restoration projects back. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-hurdles-forest.html Ecology Sun, 12 Apr 2026 08:00:04 EDT news694777871 Algae blooms make a pond's surface shine in mesmerizing green hues. But if the microorganisms responsible are cyanobacteria, they can also release toxins that harm humans and wildlife alike. A team reporting in ACS ES&T Water has designed a "set it and forget it" system for distributing algaecide using specialized buoys tethered at the site of a bloom. In tests, the buoys removed nearly all cyanobacteria without the need for frequent reapplication. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-algae-blooms-bacteria-buoys.html Cell & Microbiology Sun, 05 Apr 2026 10:00:02 EDT news694105176 Some brands of bottled water contain significantly higher levels of microplastics than tap water, according to new research by scientists who have developed a novel method for detecting these tiny particles. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-bottled-worse-microplastics.html Environment Mon, 02 Feb 2026 10:36:12 EST news689250901 No matter where you live in the United States, you have likely seen headlines about PFAS being detected in everything from drinking water to fish to milk to human bodies. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-pfas-great-lakes-fish.html Environment Thu, 29 Jan 2026 01:00:01 EST news688827404 Warm Arctic waters and cold continental land are combining to stretch the dreaded polar vortex in a way that will send much of the United States a devastating dose of winter weather later this week with swaths of painful subzero temperatures, heavy snow and powerline-toppling ice. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-meteorologists-blame-polar-vortex-moisture.html Environment Wed, 21 Jan 2026 13:30:28 EST news688224590 Archival discoveries including a 19th-century autobiography transform our understanding of Shadrach Byfield, an English veteran of the War of 1812 who buried his own amputated arm and designed a custom prosthesis. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-british-redcoat-lost-memoir-reveals.html Archaeology Wed, 14 Jan 2026 19:00:04 EST news687541559 Growing up in the 1970s, I took for granted the trash piles along the highway, tires washed up on beaches, and smog fouling city air. The famed "Crying Indian" commercial of 1971 became a symbol of widespread environmental damage across the United States. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-dirty-environmental-cleanup-laws-huge.html Environment Mon, 05 Jan 2026 13:00:19 EST news686840402 Trees contain valuable information about Earth's past, so much so that studying their rings may help fill in hidden gaps in Ohio's environmental history. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-trees-spruce-future-efforts.html Earth Sciences Fri, 19 Dec 2025 05:38:38 EST news685345081 More than half the people in jail or prison in the U.S. have been diagnosed with substance use disorder (SUD). By law, inmates in New York State with opioid use disorder must be provided with medication-assisted treatment within 24 hours of intake. So it's often incarceration that gives many of these people their first real chance at recovery. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-people-opioid-disorder-prison-stay.html Social Sciences Wed, 10 Dec 2025 11:34:35 EST news684588841 When University at Buffalo chemists analyzed samples of water, fish, and bird eggs, they weren't surprised to find plenty of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). After all, these "forever chemicals" turn up nearly everywhere in the environment. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-tracking-chemicals-food-web-isomers.html Biochemistry Tue, 02 Dec 2025 16:32:24 EST news683915521 An international research team led by PD Dr. Florian Peissker at the University of Cologne has used the new observation instrument ERIS (Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph) at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) facility in Chile to show that several so-called "dusty objects" follow stable orbits around the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* at the center of our galaxy. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-stars-defy-black-hole-stable.html Astronomy Fri, 28 Nov 2025 10:40:06 EST news683548405 The world has changed dramatically in the decade since leaders celebrated a historic climate agreement in Paris a decade ago, but not quite in ways they expected or wanted. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-landmark-paris-agreement-path-world.html Environment Sun, 09 Nov 2025 14:28:42 EST news681920916 Two hundred years ago, on Oct. 26, 1825, New York Gov. DeWitt Clinton boarded a canal boat by the shores of Lake Erie. Amid boisterous festivities, his vessel, the Seneca Chief, embarked from Buffalo, the westernmost port of his brand-new Erie Canal. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-erie-canal-big-ditch-america.html Environment Mon, 20 Oct 2025 23:00:01 EDT news680191086 If you visit the Erie Canal today, you'll find a tranquil waterway and trail that pass through charming towns and forests, a place where hikers, cyclists, kayakers, bird-watchers and other visitors seek to enjoy nature and escape the pressures of modern life. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-erie-canal-200th-anniversary-technological.html Environment Wed, 15 Oct 2025 12:19:05 EDT news679749542 Finally, something to unite President Donald Trump, his Democratic opponents and the Canadians he's threatening to annex: a ferociously hungry carp. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-americans-canadians-machine-carp.html Ecology Sun, 05 Oct 2025 12:40:01 EDT news678886283 A new nationwide database developed by researchers at Northern Arizona University is helping land managers answer a long-standing question: Are fuel treatments actually reducing wildfire risk? https://phys.org/news/2025-09-nationwide-database-track-wildfire-treatments.html Environment Wed, 10 Sep 2025 10:05:03 EDT news676717501