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. Meltwater rivers flowing from Svalbard glaciers are carrying ancient methane from rocks beneath the ice into the open air, new research published in Nature Communications shows. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-svalbard-glaciers-flush-ancient-methane.html Earth Sciences Tue, 08 Sep 2026 05:00:11 EDT news708012901 Over the summer, Europe provided a stark new set of images of climate change. Wildfires raced across forests and grasslands, rivers and reservoirs dried up in droughts, and extreme heat disrupted everyday life. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-climate-images-scarier-action.html Environment Mon, 07 Sep 2026 09:00:01 EDT news707986982 Relatively few people have been to the Arctic, and even fewer have set foot in Antarctica. Most people rely on imagination and the media to visualize these landscapes and the ways they are changing. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-arctic-season-week-longer-1980s.html Earth Sciences Thu, 03 Sep 2026 18:00:06 EDT news707664112 New research led by University College Dublin has rewritten a key chapter in Irish prehistory, revealing that bones long thought to mark the beginning of farming in Ireland belong to bear and wild boar, not cattle. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-bone-analysis-held-theory-farming.html Archaeology Tue, 18 Aug 2026 12:20:07 EDT news706264981 When people think about climate change and animals, they might picture melting sea ice, drought-stricken landscapes or species struggling in the wild. Far less attention is given to the animals living in our care. Yet as heat waves become more frequent, intense and unpredictable, zoos may be facing one of the biggest animal welfare challenges of the coming decades. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-zoos-ready-climate.html Ecology Mon, 17 Aug 2026 15:40:05 EDT news706190821 Our sun is capable of storms far bigger than we've ever recorded. Studying the world's oldest trees suggests we could soon be due one of these gargantuan events. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ancient-trees-enormous-solar-storm.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 17 Aug 2026 14:00:06 EDT news706186321 NASA is planning to send three small rovers to the moon with a single instruction: Work out among yourselves how to explore a patch of ground. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-exploring-moon-require-rovers.html Space Exploration Sat, 15 Aug 2026 14:00:01 EDT news705830940 A floating research station resembling a giant aluminum igloo on Sunday set out from France to begin a long-term mission in the Arctic that will see it drift with the polar ice in one of the most hostile environments. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-igloo-france-polar-exploration-mission.html Earth Sciences Mon, 20 Jul 2026 05:20:01 EDT news703743048 After decades of analyzing reams of lunar rocks back here on Earth, the canonical view of the moon was that it was anhydrous; that it had extraordinarily little water. That all began to change in 2009 with new data from NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) and the much-ballyhooed evidence of water ice in the moon's permanently shaded polar regions (PSRs). https://phys.org/news/2026-07-moon-chemically-bound-deep-interior.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 13 Jul 2026 22:20:01 EDT news703154539 East Antarctica hosts the largest ice sheet on Earth, containing enough water to raise global sea levels by 52 meters (171 feet) were it to fully melt. Yet scientists have been puzzled for decades about how and why this ice sheet formed. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-antarctica-froze-millions-years-arctic.html Earth Sciences Mon, 06 Jul 2026 12:00:10 EDT news702550982 When trying to attract and recognize potential mates, animals are known to rely on various signals, traits and behaviors. In the case of birds, these signals can typically include a wide range of sounds—such as trills, whistles, chirps or melodious notes defined as "songs"—as well as the color and movement of their feathers. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-songs-play-greater-role-plumage.html Evolution Fri, 03 Jul 2026 08:20:04 EDT news702042111 Bottlenose dolphins in the Adriatic Sea are spending much of their time following trawlers to scavenge for food, scientists say. The Adriatic seabed has been plowed by bottom trawlers for decades, resulting in ecosystem damage. Many apex predators are no longer present there. Only bottlenose dolphins are left, and the frequency of their presence around fishing trawlers—up to 76% of the trawlers inspected by scientists off Marche, Italy, were followed by dolphins—suggests they may be struggling to hunt normally. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-bottlenose-dolphins-adriatic-sea-heavily.html Plants & Animals Fri, 03 Jul 2026 00:00:01 EDT news702201181 European brown bears are masters of survival: These animals have weathered Pleistocene climate fluctuations and survived the cycles of ice ages and interglacial periods to the present day. Zoologists have now investigated the origins of this evolutionary flexibility: 3D analyses of bear jaws show that certain chewing structures in the lower jaw of brown bears have apparently adapted very flexibly to changing climatic conditions. SNSB zoologist Anneke van Heteren has now published her findings in the journal Comptes Rendus Palevol. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-climate-resilience-brown-years-revealed.html Evolution Wed, 01 Jul 2026 12:40:11 EDT news702123721 The latest heat wave sweeping across Europe is a stark reminder that it is the world's fastest-warming continent, stretching into an Arctic that is heating at an even greater pace. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-europe-world-fastest-continent.html Environment Tue, 23 Jun 2026 13:48:54 EDT news701441301 Norwegian authorities on Tuesday announced that avian influenza has been documented in a polar bear for the first time in Europe, in the Svalbard region in the Arctic. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-norway-europe-case-bird-flu.html Ecology Wed, 20 May 2026 05:19:08 EDT news698473012 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 Scientific expeditions require months of planning before scientists can acquire the first data. A bark cuts through the Arctic silence, waking Anna up. She slept only three hours after collecting the last sample. Anna reaches for her rifle, exits the tent, and steps onto the midnight ice. She pets the guard dog she rented a few days earlier. It might be a false alarm, but she scans the darkness for polar bears, hoping her training pays off. She cannot afford to lose the samples. Nor her life. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-scientists-remote-environments.html Earth Sciences Mon, 30 Mar 2026 21:10:01 EDT news694089894 To protect the vulnerable biodiversity of the Arctic, researchers from the University of Alberta and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (SDZWA) have identified a new conservation strategy in western Hudson Bay: using polar bears as an "umbrella species" to guide where protection is needed most. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-polar-umbrella-species.html Ecology Wed, 25 Mar 2026 07:00:31 EDT news693640777 As climate change reshapes Arctic food webs, ringed seals will swim into risky polar bear territory if the menu is varied enough. This is the central finding of a new study published in Ecology Letters. UBC researchers tracked 26 ringed seals and 39 polar bears in eastern Hudson Bay, using GPS and dive information to analyze how the animals found, and avoided becoming, food. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-death-polar-varied-meal.html Plants & Animals Wed, 18 Mar 2026 18:20:04 EDT news693065462 Polar bear encounters with humans are a regular concern for scientists and communities near polar bear habitats, but new research is showing the bears' reasons for coming in contact with humans might not be what was initially expected. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-polar-insight-human-animal-encounters.html Ecology Tue, 10 Mar 2026 16:40:02 EDT news692354316 Their icy hunting grounds are rapidly shrinking, but polar bears in Norway's remote Svalbard archipelago have defied the odds by bulking up instead of wasting away, a study said Thursday. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-svalbard-polar-gained-fat-rapid.html Plants & Animals Sat, 28 Feb 2026 14:30:01 EST news688919443 Arctic sea ice has large effects on the global climate. By cooling the planet, Arctic ice impacts ocean circulation, atmospheric patterns, and extreme weather conditions, even outside the Arctic region. However, climate change has led to its rapid decline, and being able to make real-time predictions of sea ice extent (SIE)—the area of water with a minimum concentration of sea ice—has become crucial for monitoring sea ice health. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-accurately-arctic-sea-ice-real.html Earth Sciences Tue, 03 Feb 2026 11:00:01 EST news689243401 The body conditions of polar bear (Ursus maritimus) populations around the Norwegian island of Svalbard have improved despite sea ice losses, according to new findings. The findings differ from previously published observations of polar bear population declines coinciding with sea ice loss across the Arctic. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-svalbard-polar-fat-reserves-sea.html Plants & Animals Thu, 29 Jan 2026 11:00:01 EST news688813442 Shortly after her arrival last fall, Amelia Gray met Hudson, and the pair hit it off immediately. They touched their noses together in greeting and chuffed—a soft, breathy, snorting sound that signals affection or reassurance. Amelia Gray rolled on her back, gently pawing at her counterpart. Later that same day, they played in the pool together. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-chicago-brookfield-zoo-effort-polar.html Plants & Animals Tue, 27 Jan 2026 19:30:01 EST news688721393 The Arctic has experienced its hottest year since records began, a US science agency announced Tuesday, as climate change triggers cascading impacts from melting glaciers and sea ice to greening landscapes and disruptions to global weather. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-arctic-unprecedented-climate-impacts-cascade.html Environment Tue, 16 Dec 2025 14:01:02 EST news685115997 New research reveals a link between rising temperatures and changes in polar bear DNA, which may be helping them adapt and survive in increasingly challenging environments. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-polar-survive-warmer-climates.html Plants & Animals Thu, 11 Dec 2025 20:00:06 EST news684664381 If I asked you to imagine your dream snog, chances are it wouldn't be with a Neanderthal; burly and hirsute as they may be. However, my team's new research suggests that these squat beefcakes might have been right up your ancestors' street. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-evolve-humans-neanderthals-smooch.html Evolution Sat, 22 Nov 2025 10:50:01 EST news682771679 An international team of marine scientists has identified and assessed major threats to marine megafauna, which are needed to inform conservation strategies. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-main-threats-marine-life-boost.html Ecology Tue, 18 Nov 2025 10:21:03 EST news682683661 A research team has found that summer rainfall in the Arctic would increase by about 17% under 2°C global warming, approximately 16% of which is attributed to sea ice retreat. Their findings were published in Geophysical Research Letters. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-sea-ice-humidification-high-arctic.html Earth Sciences Mon, 17 Nov 2025 10:42:42 EST news682598558 A new international study led by researchers from Aarhus University and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) reveals that small bats can be just as efficient predators as lions—and often more successful. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-tiny-lion-strategy-energy-capture.html Plants & Animals Fri, 31 Oct 2025 11:00:08 EDT news681032701