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. When public health researchers want to know whether diseases such as COVID-19 or polio are circulating in a community, they can look for genetic evidence in wastewater. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-mosquito-toilet-west-nile-hedwig.html Ecology Mon, 14 Sep 2026 13:20:01 EDT news708605701 Tasmanian devils are among Australia's most distinctive mammals. Stocky, powerful and famously noisy, wild populations are now restricted to Tasmania. But this was not always the case. In fact, thousands of years ago, devils could be found across mainland Australia. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-tasmanian-devils-people-outback-western.html Archaeology Fri, 11 Sep 2026 10:20:01 EDT news708338241 What makes birdsong beautiful? Answering this question could help us understand how soundscapes make the natural world relaxing for humans, opening the door to improving parks, upgrading the design of stressful places like waiting rooms and promoting conservation through birds with especially lovely songs. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-scientists-key-ingredients-birdsong-pretty.html Plants & Animals Wed, 02 Sep 2026 00:00:01 EDT news707389981 Northern spotted owl populations are approaching or have already crossed functional extinction across large areas of the Pacific Northwest, a new study, published in Ecological Applications found. Researchers used artificial intelligence and advanced monitoring methods to assess long-term trends at an unprecedented scale. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-extinction-areas-critical-northern-owls.html Plants & Animals Tue, 25 Aug 2026 11:40:02 EDT news706868664 When I first arrived in Peru's Allpahuayo-Mishana National Reserve in 2005, a local youth surprised me with an offer to sell me a live owl, despite the fact that we were in a protected area where commercial hunting was prohibited. We set the owl free together, but this turned out to be an early lesson about the vulnerability of tropical protected areas to exploitation, even when laws and policies had been put in place to protect them. At that time, Allpahuayo-Mishana was a newly designated protected area with no paid staff except for its director, who was stationed in the nearby city of Iquitos. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-bird-eye-view-illegal-consequences.html Plants & Animals Mon, 24 Aug 2026 17:40:06 EDT news706783338 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 Rat poisons used in homes, businesses and on farms are moving into South Africa's wildlife, according to new research from the Urban Caracal Project, a key research and education initiative based in the Institute for Communities and Wildlife in Africa (iCWild) at the University of Cape Town, together with international collaborators from the Institute for Game and Wildlife Research (IREC) and the Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (CSIC) in Spain. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-cape-town-caracals-expose-hidden.html Plants & Animals Wed, 19 Aug 2026 07:00:07 EDT news706333141 Newly published research offers some of the clearest evidence yet of why the invasive barred owl has become one of the greatest threats to the northern spotted owl and delivers encouraging evidence that managing barred owl populations can restore old-growth habitat for spotted owl recovery. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-gps-tracking-reveals-invasive-barred.html Ecology Thu, 13 Aug 2026 13:40:01 EDT news705841681 Nature is not doing well in Australia. Many unique mammals, birds and insects are struggling. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-australia-pledged-nature-lost-ecosystems.html Ecology Sun, 09 Aug 2026 13:20:01 EDT news705322320 The dodo has been extinct for more than 300 years, wiped out within decades of humans arriving on its home island of Mauritius, but it lives on in the public imagination. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-dodos-werent-stupid-historians.html Paleontology & Fossils Sat, 08 Aug 2026 10:00:01 EDT news705231121 With summer comes the warmth and sunshine that wine grapes need to thrive. It also comes with more vineyard-destroying rodents. To keep vermin at bay while reducing the need for harmful pesticides, California vineyards have been turning to an avian ally: barn owls. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-wine-country-barn-owls-eco.html Ecology Thu, 30 Jul 2026 07:00:01 EDT news704610181 Researchers have developed a DNA vacuum that can suck genetic traces from animals out of the air and reveal which animals live in an area. In two new studies, the researchers collected air samples in three natural areas in Denmark and showed that the method can be used to map local wildlife. This brings them a major step closer to better monitoring biodiversity using DNA from the air. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-dna-vacuum-captures-animal-air.html Ecology Sun, 26 Jul 2026 10:30:03 EDT news704030586 My wife stared at me in shock as I ripped open the package. The FedEx driver hadn't even made it back to his truck as I held the item up overhead like a trophy. Fumbling for words, she asked: "Why on earth did you buy a Speedo … with dinosaur tear-away trunks?" https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ads-scrolling-social-media.html Social Sciences Mon, 20 Jul 2026 09:40:03 EDT news703748941 A study published in Ecography has assessed how climate change may be destabilizing interactions between predators and prey in the wild—specifically, how owl–prey interactions have responded to environmental variability and resource availability over 24 years in the semi-arid ecosystem of Bosque Fray Jorge National Park in Chile. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-climate-affects-interactions-owls-prey.html Plants & Animals Wed, 08 Jul 2026 03:00:03 EDT news702571207 Employees' biological clocks do more than determine when they reach for coffee; they fundamentally shape how, when and why people help each other at work. A study published in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes introduces the concept of "time-extension self-efficacy" (TESE)—an individual's belief in their ability to successfully wake up earlier or stay up later than usual. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-hour-day-employee-biological-clocks.html Economics & Business Thu, 02 Jul 2026 19:20:01 EDT news702225842 Trauma from vehicle collisions caused the majority of documented deaths for the Pueo (Hawaiian short-eared owl), according to a statewide study led by researchers at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. The findings represent the most extensive mortality assessment to date for this culturally significant raptor, which is native to the Hawaiian Islands. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-hawaiian-short-eared-owl-deaths.html Plants & Animals Mon, 29 Jun 2026 13:00:01 EDT news701949422 White barn owls are effective killing machines. They fly silently through the night air and swoop down on unsuspecting prey with their sharp talons. But they have something you would think goes against being a stealth predator: their white feathers. And perhaps this visual giveaway would be even worse when they glow in the moonlight. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-white-barn-owls-moonlight-startle.html Plants & Animals Tue, 23 Jun 2026 10:20:30 EDT news701427418 It was something infectious disease expert Heather Ferguson never expected to see in her lifetime: a mosquito-borne virus originally from Africa spreading in Scotland. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-experts-probe-mosquito-virus-scotland.html Ecology Tue, 16 Jun 2026 06:00:01 EDT news700801654 A fossil bed in northwestern China is littered with the remains of hundreds of prehistoric birds—including some whose broken bones were crushed into pellets, similar to those coughed up by modern owls. For years, scientists guessed that a larger predatory animal must have hunted these ancient birds, but they never found direct fossil evidence of this predator. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-newfound-velociraptor-cousin-glided-wings.html Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 04 Jun 2026 14:20:04 EDT news699792422 In tropical forests, much of the biodiversity can be heard before it is seen. Birds call, insects buzz and frogs croak, creating complex soundscapes that reflect the presence of different species. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-rainforest-ai-biodiversity.html Plants & Animals Fri, 22 May 2026 07:00:03 EDT news698648161 Azara's owl monkeys, a small primate species found in South America, are heavier today than those that lived a quarter-century ago, and evidence suggests that rising temperatures might have driven the weight gain, according to a Yale-led study of a wild population. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-climate-spurs-weight-gain-owl.html Plants & Animals Wed, 20 May 2026 14:03:45 EDT news698504595 Some birds sing to attract a mate. Others dance or display colorful feathers. But in the moonlit forests and shrublands of northern Argentina, one bird courts romance by snapping its wrists together, producing a sharp clapping sound scientists have puzzled over for decades. Now, researchers have captured the behavior in detail for the first time, revealing how scissor-tailed nightjars create one of the most curious sounds in the avian world. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-birds-dark-flirt-nightjars-reveal.html Plants & Animals Tue, 19 May 2026 19:40:03 EDT news698426881 Restoring dry forests in the Pacific Northwest, shaped by frequent low-intensity fire and widely spaced trees, often means thinning dense stands that accumulated after decades of fire suppression. This can make forests healthier and more resilient to wildfire, but it can raise concerns about protecting wildlife that depend on dense tree cover, including the northern spotted owl. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-forest-owl.html Ecology Tue, 12 May 2026 07:20:03 EDT news697788422 Polar bears are intensely curious animals. That curiosity often brings them into contact with people and can put both species at risk from one another. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-polar-approach-human-infrastructure-complex.html Plants & Animals Fri, 01 May 2026 08:20:01 EDT news696837722 Got a mouse in your house? That thought alone may terrify you. Now imagine if mice were scampering through your house, rummaging in your pantry or even running across your face at night. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-australian-farmers-potential-mouse-plague.html Ecology Sat, 25 Apr 2026 18:30:01 EDT news696244552 Whether you've sought them out or not, you've probably encountered parenting content creators on social media at some point in the last two decades. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-primates-parent-young-strict-parenting.html Plants & Animals Tue, 21 Apr 2026 19:40:04 EDT news695997542 Florida's coral reefs are under siege. Since 2014, Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) has spread rapidly across the Florida Reef Tract and Caribbean, killing vast numbers of reef-building corals and leaving behind dead skeletons where once-thriving reefs supported diverse marine life. Despite the severity of the crisis, little is known about how these diseases affect the microscopic structure of coral skeletons—the pores, densities and thicknesses that give reefs their strength and resilience. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-hidden-stony-corals-revealed-3d.html Ecology Tue, 14 Apr 2026 16:00:01 EDT news695391121 Kaʻiulani Murphy is quick to spot white terns flapping their wings when she's guiding Polynesian voyaging canoes across the Pacific. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-seabird-native-hawaii-life-honolulu.html Ecology Thu, 02 Apr 2026 01:08:15 EDT news694310860 The UN Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) on Sunday approved the listing of 40 new species for international protection, including the snowy owl featured in the Harry Potter saga. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-forty-migratory-species-international-body.html Plants & Animals Mon, 30 Mar 2026 05:00:08 EDT news694063880 As human-caused climate change continues to raise temperatures across the globe, understanding how birds regulate their temperature is vital for their conservation. But how much heat birds emit—an invisible spectrum of radiation known as mid-infrared—has never been studied, until now. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-birds-space-hidden-feathers.html Plants & Animals Sun, 22 Mar 2026 12:00:06 EDT news693044582