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. The Hammerschmiede clay pit near Pforzen in the eastern Allgäu is famous for its wealth of finds: Besides fossils of two early anthropoid apes, the remains of numerous vertebrate species have been uncovered in 11.6-million-year-old river sediments—but until now, very few birds. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-rare-bird-fossils-bavaria-reveal.html Ecology Thu, 10 Sep 2026 19:20:05 EDT news708270181 How to teach children to care about the environment? Beyond including climate change and biodiversity in the curriculum, researchers argue that environmental ethics—how we frame the relationship between humans and nature—matter just as much. According to a study published in Ecological Economics, elementary school students respond more strongly, at least in the short term, when nature is framed around what it does for them rather than its value in itself. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-nature-kids-environmental.html Education Fri, 21 Aug 2026 12:40:05 EDT news706533481 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 For the first time, researchers have discovered a new species of extinct amphibian from Ice Age Los Angeles at La Brea Tar Pits: a spadefoot toad they have named Spea labreae. Only one other extinct Pleistocene amphibian from North America has ever been found (a tree frog from Florida). https://phys.org/news/2026-08-species-ice-age-toad-la.html Ecology Wed, 05 Aug 2026 03:00:01 EDT news705052441 Minor cuts and scrapes usually heal in time, but losing a finger or a whole limb? For most vertebrates, that's a done deal. Unless, of course, you've got the self-healing machinery of an axolotl. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-axolotl-code-regrow-limbs-stay.html Molecular & Computational biology Tue, 28 Jul 2026 08:00:07 EDT news704443502 In the late 1990s in the Ajimu region of Japan's Oita Prefecture, researchers discovered three fossilized vertebrae belonging to the Cryptobranchidae family of giant salamanders. These were embedded in the Tsubusugawa Formation, Pliocene-era strata of lake deposits dating back approximately 3.5 million years. The strata have also yielded fossils of animals that no longer roam Japan, such as elephants and crocodiles, revealing a glimpse of an era much warmer and more humid than Japan's current climate. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-fossils-decades-reveal-extinct-million.html Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 09 Jul 2026 11:34:27 EDT news702815638 New research is redefining the morphological and functional existence of anatomical "neck" regions to better include previously exempted vertebrates such as fishes and amphibians, changing the status quo of what it means to have a neck. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-fishes-amphibians-dont-necks.html Plants & Animals Wed, 08 Jul 2026 12:00:03 EDT news702638666 How did a large crab end up trapped inside a plastic bottle with an opening smaller than its body? Hiroshima University researchers investigated this unusual marine mystery, revealing a lesser-known impact of marine plastic pollution on crustaceans. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-crab-plastic-bottle-survives-months.html Plants & Animals Thu, 02 Jul 2026 09:00:01 EDT news702199921 Researchers in Taiwan have developed a cell-free extracellular matrix material from axolotl skin that helped mouse burn wounds close faster and show signs of reduced fibrotic scarring. The findings suggest that one of nature's most remarkable regenerators may inspire future strategies for burns, chronic wounds and surgical injuries, but the approach is not yet a treatment for human wounds. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-axolotl-skin-matrix-wounds-scarring.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 24 Jun 2026 10:20:05 EDT news701512940 For her doctoral dissertation, Yale's Nathalie Alomar decided to study a small amphibian that appeared to have eluded the forces of evolution. She found that there is more to its evolution than meets the eye. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-woodland-salamanders-millions-years-physiology.html Plants & Animals Tue, 23 Jun 2026 13:00:06 EDT news701433661 Imagine returning to a favorite hiking trail 15 years after your first visit and discovering that many of the plants and animals that once lived there are gone. While these species may still exist elsewhere, these disappearances—known as local extinctions—are among the clearest signs that climate change is already transforming ecosystems and threatening species across the globe. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-climate-local-extinction-temperate-regions.html Plants & Animals Thu, 18 Jun 2026 17:00:06 EDT news701013034 A team led by Raju Tomer, professor of biological sciences at Columbia University, has created a new design for microscopes and microscope lenses that could push 3D tissue imaging beyond state-of-the-art systems while drastically cutting costs and complexity. Details of the design were published in the journal Nature Biotechnology. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-3d-microscope-technology-captures-high.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 09 Jun 2026 05:00:08 EDT news700151821 An international research team has discovered that the fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra) is biofluorescent. A study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science shows that the salamander reflects turquoise light when exposed to ultraviolet radiation. This phenomenon had gone unnoticed until now, despite decades of research on this amphibian species. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-salamanders-reveal-hidden-turquoise-exposed.html Plants & Animals Wed, 27 May 2026 09:20:05 EDT news699091141 If the eastern red-backed salamander has an equivalent of Usain Bolt, Sophia Zaslow is determined to find it. Since her undergraduate years, the Binghamton University doctoral student in biological sciences has conducted sprint trials on the common salamander species, to determine aspects of its physiological fitness. Zaslow's article on her undergraduate research titled "Intra-morph body coloration may correlate with performance in the eastern red-backed salamander" appears in the Canadian Journal of Zoology. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-red-shift-gauges-salamanders-sprint.html Plants & Animals Tue, 26 May 2026 20:20:03 EDT news699031022 The Mexican axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) is famous because adults look like overgrown babies, or tadpoles, retaining juvenile features as adults and capable of remarkable regeneration of lost limbs or tails. New studies at the National Autonomous University of Mexico have revealed a new species related to this living form. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-fossil-salamander-species-famous-axolotl.html Plants & Animals Tue, 26 May 2026 17:40:01 EDT news699005399 It may sound too bizarre to be true, but the Amazon molly (Poecilia formosa), a fish that inhabits rivers, lakes, and swamps in Mexico and Texas, exists over much of its range in populations that are 100% female. In 1932, the Amazon molly became the first known vertebrate to reproduce by cloning itself, producing all-female populations. A new genetic study published in Nature has given scientists insights into the longstanding mystery about how and why this happens. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-asexual-lizards-virgin-births-clones.html Plants & Animals Fri, 22 May 2026 09:40:02 EDT news698661362 Environmental conservation is one of the most pressing debates across the world. For decades, it has often been viewed as a choice between strict government regulation and voluntary community action. However, a new research study on the conservation of Tokyo's Zushi-Onoji satoyama introduces a more effective approach that combines both. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-gentle-power-successful-environmental.html Environment Fri, 15 May 2026 11:23:48 EDT news698062983 For centuries, the inability to regrow lost body parts has been considered a defining limitation of humans and other mammals. While animals like salamanders can regenerate entire limbs, humans are left with scar tissue. But new research from the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) suggests that this limitation may not be permanent. Instead, the capacity for regeneration may still exist—hidden within the body's normal healing process. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-humans-regrow-tissue-science-closer.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 23 Apr 2026 15:00:01 EDT news696165421 Investigating a common gene in three very different species—salamanders, mice and zebrafish—scientists have discovered the potential for a novel gene therapy aimed at eventually regrowing limbs in humans, according to new research published this week. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-regrowing-human-limbs-salamander-gene.html Biotechnology Thu, 16 Apr 2026 14:40:07 EDT news695562421 Some animals can regrow lost body parts. Salamanders and frog tadpoles can rebuild entire limbs after amputation. Mammals cannot. For decades, biologists have tried to understand why. Now a team led by Can Aztekin at EPFL (now at the Friedrich Miescher Laboratory of the Max Planck Society) has discovered that oxygen plays a crucial role in limb regeneration. By comparing amputated limbs from frog tadpoles and embryonic mice, the researchers found that the way cells sense oxygen determines whether regeneration can even begin. The study is published in Science. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-oxygen-amphibians-regenerate-limbs-mammals.html Plants & Animals Thu, 09 Apr 2026 14:00:01 EDT news694880761 The half leaf-fingered geckos (Hemiphyllodactylus) are a diverse group with more than 70 recognized species and a distribution range from southern India and Sri Lanka, through Indochina and Southeast Asia, to the western Pacific region. As a result of its cryptic lifestyle and small body size, its diversity had been neglected until a recent surge of integrative taxonomic research, which combines different lines of evidence, most importantly molecular and morphological data. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-gecko-species-vietnam.html Plants & Animals Tue, 31 Mar 2026 10:30:01 EDT news694169152 The ability to sense environmental temperature, which helps animals move away from suboptimal locations and find those with ideal temperatures, involves various channels on sensory neurons that open at specific temperature ranges. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-amino-acids-salamanders-cold-sensitivity.html Plants & Animals Wed, 25 Mar 2026 03:10:04 EDT news693563701 In a dry riverbed in Brazil, in a dense forest near the Amazon, a team of paleontologists found a fossilized jawbone from an ancient animal. Over the course of their fieldwork, they found eight similar bones, each around six inches long—but no other bones that they could confidently use to complete a skeleton for one of these mystery animals. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-ancient-eater-jaw-sideways-teeth.html Paleontology & Fossils Tue, 03 Mar 2026 19:10:08 EST news691774442 The Kimberley region in the northwest corner of Western Australia is full of rugged ranges and gorges, and long stretches of red soil and rocky ground. The dry seasons are long, and the wet seasons often flood the Martuwarra Fitzroy River—an artery to the Indian Ocean—in the region's south. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-million-year-amphibian-fossils-australia.html Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 23 Feb 2026 09:30:01 EST news691060681 Around 250 million years ago, what is today scorching desert in remote northwestern Australia was the shore of a shallow bay bordering a vast prehistoric ocean. Fossils recovered from this region over 60 years ago, and almost forgotten in museum collections, have now shed new light on the earliest global radiations of land-living animals adapting to life in the sea. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-globe-ancient-sea-salamander-fossils.html Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:10:01 EST news690798624 A study conducted by researchers at the University of Liège on a large population of Japanese giant salamanders—one of the largest amphibians in the world—reveals that above a certain size, a spectacular transition occurs in the diet of this species, propelling it to the top of the river food chain. The Japanese giant salamander (Andrias japonicus)—an endemic and emblematic species of the country—fascinates scientists with its exceptional size, reaching up to 1.5 meters in length. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-gigantism-diet-superpredator-japanese-giant.html Plants & Animals Thu, 05 Feb 2026 09:58:32 EST news689507881 On a frigid April day, Brock University Professor of Biological Sciences Glenn Tattersall, then-Ph.D. student Danilo Giacometti and wildlife researcher Patrick Moldowan ventured out into Ontario's Algonquin Provincial Park hoping to take in a rare sight. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-supercooling-salamanders-canadian-winters.html Plants & Animals Mon, 19 Jan 2026 12:06:14 EST news688046761 Imagine a healthy forest, home to a variety of species: Birds are flitting between tree branches, salamanders are sliding through leaf litter, and wolves are tracking the scent of deer through the understory. Each of these animals has a role in the forest, and most ecologists would argue that losing any one of these species would be bad for the ecosystem as a whole. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-wolves-absent-eastern-north-america.html Plants & Animals Thu, 18 Dec 2025 12:18:37 EST news685282682 In the aftermath of historically severe wildfires in 2020, a study of Cascade Range watersheds found that stream vertebrates are doing surprisingly well, highlighted by flourishing fish populations. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-devastating-wildfires-watersheds-thick-fish.html Plants & Animals Tue, 16 Dec 2025 11:04:22 EST news685105441 The axolotl, a type of salamander that stays in the tadpole form throughout its life, is a master of regeneration. Axolotls have been observed to regrow several body parts, including limbs, eyes, and even parts of their brains. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-axolotls-regenerate-functional-thymus.html Plants & Animals Mon, 08 Dec 2025 12:50:04 EST news684420086