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 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 The confirmation of Australia's first mainland death of a mammal from bird flu last week highlights New Zealand's challenge in managing the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-bird-flu-stay-nz-response.html Veterinary medicine Fri, 28 Aug 2026 09:20:03 EDT news707117101 Eagles are symbols of hunting prowess. Known as top predators wherever they live, they are often assumed to kill as their primary mode of obtaining food. However, a new study published in the Journal of Raptor Research reports the first confirmed case of sustained carrion use by Verreaux's eagles (Aquila verreauxii) in the Arabian Peninsula, suggesting that the species' diet may be more adaptable than previously realized. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-eagles-specialists-reveal-unexpected-goat.html Plants & Animals Fri, 28 Aug 2026 08:40:03 EDT news707124661 Australia said Friday it would evacuate workers from a research station on a remote island over the "psychosocial" risk posed by a potential outbreak of the highly contagious H5N1 avian influenza. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-australia-evacuate-antarctic-base-bird.html Environment Fri, 28 Aug 2026 04:40:02 EDT news707108960 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 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 Why do humans rely on XY chromosomes to determine sex, while birds use ZW—and many reptiles use neither, letting temperature decide instead? Sex determination is remarkably diverse across the animal kingdom. In genotypic sex determination (GSD), sex is encoded in the genome: XX individuals are female and XY males in humans and most mammals, while in the ZW system, found in birds and some reptiles, males are ZZ and females ZW. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-xy-zw-gecko-chromosomes-reveal.html Evolution Thu, 27 Aug 2026 14:00:08 EDT news707044201 The genome—which contains genes encoded in DNA—acts as the fundamental blueprint of life. But what you might not know is that, in addition to this genetic information, we have something akin to an "instruction manual" for how genes should be handled. This instruction manual is known as the epigenome. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-wisdom-egg-cell-oocyte-epigenetic.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 27 Aug 2026 13:40:01 EDT news707051398 We share our planet with millions of plants and animals. This variety of life is known as biodiversity, a term encompassing everything from microscopic genes to entire ecosystems, such as deserts and vibrant coral reefs. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-species-discoveries-reveal-emerging-biodiversity.html Ecology Thu, 27 Aug 2026 08:20:04 EDT news707032202 The deadly rabies virus was once common across Europe. A bite from an infected dog, wolf or fox could be fatal. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-iconic-australian-mammals-real-bird.html Plants & Animals Thu, 27 Aug 2026 08:00:02 EDT news707031902 A protein that sticks cells and tissues together has been found to have a surprising second job: helping cells that are packed into a continuous sealed layer, also known as epithelial cells, engulf nearby dead cells. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-cellular-epithelial-tissues-engulf-dead.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 27 Aug 2026 05:00:07 EDT news706984261 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 Researchers at the University of Cincinnati have identified a potential new target to prevent the spread of Chagas disease. The parasitic infection is transmitted through the bite of the kissing bug in Central and South America and, more recently, in the United States. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-chagas-parasite-survival-antimalarial-style.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 26 Aug 2026 13:40:06 EDT news706961281 The sights and sounds of the Jurassic era are long gone, and we will never know for sure what that ancient world looked and sounded like. Fossils can offer clues, and reconstructions can give us a sense of the noises some animals might have made. Now scientists have turned their attention to insects and reconstructed the calls of Jurassic relatives of modern-day crickets and katydids (grasshopper-like insects). https://phys.org/news/2026-08-reconstructed-jurassic-insect-evoke-million.html Evolution Wed, 26 Aug 2026 12:50:01 EDT news706966915 Bats are anomalies in the mammalian world—they fly, have long lifespans and rarely get cancer. Scientists now suspect the bat immune system enables them to live longer without disease, according to a new study published today in Nature. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-dna-virus-defense-longevity-cancer.html Evolution Wed, 26 Aug 2026 11:00:08 EDT news706874342 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 University of Oregon biologists have resurrected prehistoric proteins up to 160 million years old that carry natural antimicrobial properties. The revived molecules could inspire the design of new treatments for antibiotic-resistant infections, a pressing global health issue. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-scientists-resurrect-ancient-proteins-antibiotic.html Biotechnology Tue, 25 Aug 2026 14:00:07 EDT news706801801 A study published in the journal Ecological Monographs indicates that large mammals, such as tapirs, peccaries, agoutis and deer, alter the chemical composition of litter and soil in tropical forests of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. As a result, they increase nutrient availability and, possibly, soil fertility. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-large-mammals-soil-chemistry-fertility.html Plants & Animals Tue, 25 Aug 2026 08:20:03 EDT news706859836 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 Marine heat waves and extreme ocean acidification events are each damaging on their own. But when both stressors hit simultaneously, their individual effects can be exacerbated. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-marine-acidification.html Earth Sciences Mon, 24 Aug 2026 18:40:01 EDT news706803421 Dung beetles could provide scientists with a new way to uncover the animals living in Singapore's forests, including elusive species that are difficult to spot with conventional wildlife surveys. NTU researchers found that DNA preserved in the insects' guts can reveal the mammals, birds and other vertebrates whose waste they have fed on. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-dung-beetles-insights-biodiversity-singapore.html Plants & Animals Mon, 24 Aug 2026 15:20:01 EDT news706794585 A mule has helped researchers build the most complete reference genomes to date for horses and donkeys, giving scientists access to complex regions of DNA that earlier versions could not fully capture. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-mule-scientists-clearest-horse-donkey.html Evolution Mon, 24 Aug 2026 14:20:04 EDT news706792861 Possums are among New Zealand's most destructive introduced mammals. They damage native forests, prey on wildlife and remain a major target of the country's Predator Free 2050 program. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-bush-ai-nz-wilderness-holdout.html Ecology Mon, 24 Aug 2026 12:40:11 EDT news706785722 When news broke over the weekend that Australia's first mainland case of bird flu in a mammal—the death of a long-nosed fur seal—had been detected, I felt deep sadness and dread for what's likely to come next. We should expect large-scale deaths of mammals, in addition to birds. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-australia-bird-flu-response-late.html Veterinary medicine Mon, 24 Aug 2026 09:00:02 EDT news706776661 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 Age isn't just a number for one of the ocean's top apex predators. It's a mystery University of Georgia researchers are solving. A new UGA study has determined how to estimate the age of sharks by analyzing changes to individual animals' DNA. Known as epigenetic clocks, these scientific age estimators focus on chemical alterations known as DNA methylation to measure wear and tear on an animal's cells, providing a noninvasive, fast and accurate assessment of an animal's age. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-shark-dna-age.html Ecology Fri, 21 Aug 2026 11:40:04 EDT news706527066 A study by the National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN-CSIC), the National Research Center on Human Evolution (CENIEH) and the University of Alcalá offers a new explanation for the decline of African megaherbivores. These animals, weighing more than a tonne (2,200 pounds) and today including elephants and hippopotamuses, are known for acting as ecosystem engineers. The results, published in Nature Communications, reveal that their loss of diversity throughout history was not due to their being more vulnerable to extinction, as had previously been proposed, but rather that their decline was driven by particularly low rates of speciation—the emergence of new species. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-scarce-emergence-species-drove-decline.html Ecology Thu, 20 Aug 2026 19:40:04 EDT news706455541 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 Hundreds of dead birds are now being reported as the lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu begins to spread across Australia. Government reports show the virus is circulating in resident birds. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-bird-flu-worst-australia-overseas.html Ecology Thu, 20 Aug 2026 11:20:01 EDT news706437961