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. Temperatures have warmed dramatically across the equatorial Pacific Ocean in 2026, signaling the onset of a strong and potentially historic El Niño. These events can affect weather around the world, and the intensity of recent El Niño events is raising alarm that, as global temperatures rise, they are becoming stronger and more destructive. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-galpagos-corals-el-nio-events.html Environment Fri, 28 Aug 2026 18:20:01 EDT news707126515 Coral reef fish that are exposed to motorboat noise grow up smaller and less able to dodge predators, new research shows. Scientists played either boat noise or natural reef sounds to a species from the Great Barrier Reef called the spiny chromis, both as embryos and soon after hatching. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-motorboat-noise-stunts-growth-impairs.html Plants & Animals Fri, 28 Aug 2026 13:20:07 EDT news707136241 Female humpback whales off the coast of Brazil now have their pick of mates, who slap the water with their tails and jostle for attention—a scene that would have been unthinkable a few decades ago. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-legend-humpback-whales-comeback-brazil.html Plants & Animals Fri, 28 Aug 2026 11:40:05 EDT news707127609 Thirty-five years on—well, 12 million, technically—Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park continues to offer important glimpses of prehistoric life in Nebraska. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-tracks-tooth-reveal-bone-dogs.html Paleontology & Fossils Fri, 28 Aug 2026 11:40:04 EDT news707135102 When Ashley Dayer was walking on the beach with her 8-year-old son recently, he stopped her before she got too close to a group of shorebirds. "Momma, stop. We have to walk around the shorebirds," he told her. Dayer smiled. That moment was the perfect example of the human behavior change she and conservation partners have spent more than a decade trying to encourage along beaches used by both people and imperiled shorebirds. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-shorebirds-space-beach-big-difference.html Plants & Animals Fri, 28 Aug 2026 10:00:06 EDT news707118782 The southern humpback whale migration is in full swing. Tens of thousands of whales are now making their journey from warm Australian waters in the north to their cold feeding grounds in Antarctica. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-videos-capture-humpback-whales-snack.html Plants & Animals Thu, 27 Aug 2026 21:40:01 EDT news707034237 Plastic pollution is one of the most urgent environmental challenges of the 21st century. As larger plastic debris breaks down through mechanical, photochemical and biological processes, it forms microplastics that have been detected in water, soil, air and even the human body. Among these materials, polyamide microplastics are of particular concern because polyamide is widely used in textiles, fishing gear, packaging and engineering materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-polyamide-microplastics-emitting-carbon-quantum.html Nanomaterials Thu, 27 Aug 2026 15:40:01 EDT news707063942 Every spring, many monarch butterflies drift back into Florida on orange-and-black wings that have captivated scientists for generations. They arrive quietly, fluttering through fields and roadsides, stopping at nectar plants to feed and lay eggs on patches of milkweed. Soon, their offspring emerge and begin dispersing across the landscape. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-tiny-transmitters-monarch-migration-mysteries.html Ecology Thu, 27 Aug 2026 12:20:04 EDT news707049542 With their charming waddles, heat-conserving huddles and tuxedo-like plumage, emperor penguins are among the world's most recognizable animals. Recent satellite surveys estimate that hundreds of thousands of the flightless birds live in 66 colonies spread around Antarctica's inaccessible, frozen coastlines. But those numbers could fall in the coming decades because emperor penguins rely on landfast (or fast) ice—a type of sea ice attached to the shoreline—to breed, raise chicks and molt. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-emperor-penguin-colonies-reveal-decades.html Plants & Animals Thu, 27 Aug 2026 12:20:01 EDT news707048941 When an athlete swings upside down atop a 7-meter (23-foot) pendulum, it may seem like a feat of strength, courage or technique. A new study suggests it is something more fundamental: a striking demonstration of how intelligence emerges from the interaction of brain, body and environment. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-physics-kiiking-estonia-extreme-sport.html General Physics Thu, 27 Aug 2026 12:09:22 EDT news707051333 While a colleague traveled along the East Coast from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico collecting oysters, Northeastern University bioinformatics graduate student Megha Prasad worked away at her computer. She zeroed in on DNA, the molecule containing instructions for making proteins that shape the critters' traits. It also holds the key to their adaptation to the changing climate. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ai-uncover-oyster-dna-linked.html Ecology Thu, 27 Aug 2026 09:00:07 EDT news707033222 A research team has uncovered fundamental molecular mechanisms governing the formation of tendons and ligaments, which are essential for musculoskeletal integration. Understanding these mechanisms could pave the way for the regeneration of tendons, ligaments and their attachment sites, known as entheses, which have limited capacity for functional repair after injury because of their poor vascularization. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-team-evolutionarily-tendon-ligament.html Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 26 Aug 2026 20:40:01 EDT news706955922 For centuries, scientists have been fascinated by the remarkable coordinated movements of flocking birds, swarming insects and schooling fish. Researchers have studied these natural phenomena to understand the rules of interactions between individuals that can produce complex group-level behavior. A collaboration of physicists and neurobiologists at the University of California San Diego has been studying schools of micro glassfish (Danionella cerebrum) to understand how the interactive mental processes of individual fish produce group-level decisions. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-virtual-reality-reveals-glassfish-synchronize.html Plants & Animals Wed, 26 Aug 2026 19:40:02 EDT news706974061 Can DNA traces in just two liters (0.5 gallons) of water reveal how a river's biodiversity changes over the course of a year? A study by the University of Duisburg-Essen using the River Lippe as an example shows how biodiversity in freshwater ecosystems can be monitored comprehensively, efficiently and at comparatively low cost. The results have now been published in the journal Ecological Indicators. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-genetic-reveal-river-residents-species.html Ecology Wed, 26 Aug 2026 14:40:03 EDT news706955997 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 Researchers have identified a broad range of biological properties of pomegranate with potential medical applications, including antimicrobial, antiparasitic, antioxidant, immunomodulatory, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, liver-supporting and wound-healing effects. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-pomegranate-emerges-natural-phytobiotic-veterinary.html Biotechnology Tue, 25 Aug 2026 17:20:01 EDT news706894501 For generations, summer in Europe has been languid and dreamy, bringing fine weather and lengthy days on sunny beaches and terraces. But in 2026, the brutal reality of climate change forced its way into daily life. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-summer-climate-reality-europe.html Environment Tue, 25 Aug 2026 14:40:01 EDT news706880664 With no tall trees reaching to the sky, Alaska's North Slope tundra can look desolate—especially to outsiders from the Lower 48 who are used to in-your-face greenery. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-lush-knee-high-jungle-arctic.html Environment Tue, 25 Aug 2026 12:43:19 EDT news706880571 During the Late Cretaceous period, parts of Egypt were covered in water. A new study, published in the journal Cretaceous Research, describes new evidence that this tropical sea was home to a diverse community of sharks. The study adds five new species to the region's history, found in what the authors refer to as a "shark graveyard." https://phys.org/news/2026-08-egypt-home-diverse-shark-community.html Paleontology & Fossils Tue, 25 Aug 2026 11:30:02 EDT news706874558 You've probably heard that eating fish and other seafood is good for your health. One of the main reasons is that seafood is an excellent source of two important omega-3 fats called EPA and DHA. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-climate-halve-omega3-fatty-acids.html Ecology Tue, 25 Aug 2026 11:00:07 EDT news706867564 New James Cook University research has used highly sensitive environmental DNA (e-DNA) techniques to find two species of threatened frogs in places they've never been seen before—and find another still struggling to recover from past disease outbreaks. The research is published in the journal Conservation Science and Practice. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-tiny-threatened-frogs.html Ecology Tue, 25 Aug 2026 10:40:08 EDT news706866902 What did ordinary people really eat in premodern Japan, beyond the dishes described in cookbooks and the bones discarded at urban waste pits? Reconstructing past diets at the level of individual food items is remarkably difficult. Traditional archaeological approaches and stable isotope analysis of human skeletons reveal broad dietary categories—such as reliance on marine fish and C3 plants. But they cannot show which specific taxa or tissues each person consumed, nor how access differed among social groups in a stratified society like premodern Japan. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ancient-dental-calculus-reveals-diverse.html Archaeology Tue, 25 Aug 2026 08:00:03 EDT news706859821 Namibia has granted environmental clearance for an offshore phosphate mining project that paves the way for the world's first commercial seabed-dredging operation for the mineral, despite opposition from green groups and the fishing industry. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-namibia-paves-phosphate-atlantic-ocean.html Environment Tue, 25 Aug 2026 05:00:08 EDT news706851062 Tide levels can vary by almost a meter across a single bay, according to a new study that uses decades of satellite images to measure tides at the scale of individual beaches. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-tides-vary-meter-bay-decades.html Earth Sciences Tue, 25 Aug 2026 05:00:04 EDT news706793263 My students and I encountered a mystery. We were partnering with the Missouri Department of Conservation to monitor for fish presence and abundance in the Missouri Ozarks. We visited half a dozen rivers and streams across the region and collected a few cups of water from each. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-fish-dna-ozark-streams-reveals.html Ecology Mon, 24 Aug 2026 14:40:02 EDT news706794255 During periods of heavy rainfall, pipes known as storm overflows aim to prevent excess water from overflowing into the sewage system. But this is not always the case. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-sewage-doesnt-pollution.html Environment Mon, 24 Aug 2026 13:00:01 EDT news706792981 A new study has reconciled a long-standing paradox in the South Asian summer monsoon cycle. Climate scientists have discovered why geological records from land and sea have told opposite stories about monsoons throughout history and found that rising temperatures over Southern Africa reduce upwelling in the Arabian Sea, which could damage marine productivity and fisheries. The work is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-climate-scientists-monsoon-puzzle-fisheries.html Earth Sciences Mon, 24 Aug 2026 11:20:05 EDT news706788601 The future of Maine's lobster industry may depend on a creature the size of a sesame seed. Researchers at the University of Maine have discovered that planktonic baby lobsters, or larvae, preferentially feed on Calanus finmarchicus, a tiny, calorie-rich zooplankton species, during one of the most vulnerable stages of their lives. Their new study upholds a theory advanced by scientists in the past decade that may be relevant to recent declines in Maine's lobster harvest. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-tiny-ocean-plankton-clues-future.html Plants & Animals Mon, 24 Aug 2026 11:00:02 EDT news706785241 Australia is one of the world's great ocean nations. It is home to more marine species than any other country, with ocean ecosystems spanning all five of the world's climate zones, from the coral-rich tropics to the icy shores of Antarctica. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-hundreds-scientists-australia-oceans.html Ecology Mon, 24 Aug 2026 08:20:05 EDT news706773602