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. 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 New research conducted by paleontologists from the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (MfN) and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin reveals a burst in jaw variety in the earliest amniotes—which includes the ancestors of all reptiles, birds and mammals. The international team led by former MfN doctoral student Dr. Jasper Ponstein analyzed more than 200 fossilized jaws from periods when tetrapods first adapted to life on land. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-jaw-versatility-enabled-ecological-success.html Evolution Thu, 04 Dec 2025 10:10:33 EST news684065402 Farmers plant or preserve riparian buffers for various reasons, such as improving water quality, controlling erosion, or maintaining hunting habitat. Now, a new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign underscores the benefits of riparian buffers to terrestrial biodiversity, finding that for every 10% increase in forest cover, an additional species is present. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-terrestrial-biodiversity-tree-agricultural-landscapes.html Ecology Wed, 03 Dec 2025 00:00:02 EST news683912763 Conservation programs are often too focused on a single charismatic species, Hai-Tao Shi at Hainan Normal University in China and colleagues warn in a perspective article publishing December 2nd in the open-access journal PLOS Biology. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-scientists-greater-focus-ecosystems-charismatic.html Plants & Animals Tue, 02 Dec 2025 14:00:02 EST news683809921 In southeast Queensland, roughly 250 kilometers from Brisbane, lies the tiny town of Murgon. Located on Wakka Wakka Country, it's home to about 2,000 people—and one of the most important fossil sites in the world. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-million-years-australia-oldest-crocodile.html Evolution Sun, 16 Nov 2025 12:30:01 EST news682172595 A new study of nearly 800 barred owls on the West Coast shows the invasive predator feeds on 29 species given special conservation status by federal and state governments. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-barred-owl-westward-migration-threatens.html Plants & Animals Tue, 11 Nov 2025 09:42:04 EST news682076521 The California tiger salamander relies on seasonal ponds to breed. But for decades, the species has been under pressure from non-native salamanders introduced in the 1950s and 1960s for use as fishing bait. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-ponds-endangered-california-tiger-salamander.html Plants & Animals Tue, 04 Nov 2025 15:11:04 EST news681491461 A new University of Kentucky study used environmental DNA (eDNA) to search 90 sites across 73 rivers for Eastern hellbenders—large, secretive salamanders nicknamed "snot otters" and "lasagna lizards" for their mucus secretions and the skin folds that help them breathe. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-kentucky-hellbenders-survive.html Ecology Fri, 31 Oct 2025 07:20:05 EDT news681114002 Biologists have long been fascinated by the ability of salamanders to regrow entire limbs. Now Harvard researchers have solved part of the mystery of how they accomplish this feat—by activating stem cells throughout the body, not just at the injury site. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-axolotls-flight-network-regenerate-body.html Plants & Animals Fri, 24 Oct 2025 11:00:09 EDT news680515441 What's lurking in your freezer: a lasagna or deep-frozen pizza? Conservationists rely on freezers too—but they run much cooler than your model, with the thermostat set to a frosty -196°C, the temperature of liquid nitrogen. You won't find any burgers in there. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-animals-ice-conservationists-freezers-biobank.html Plants & Animals Tue, 23 Sep 2025 10:20:05 EDT news677841601 Illinois once harbored more than 8 million acres of wetlands. By the 1980s, all but 1.2 million wetland acres had been lost, filled in for development or drained to make way for agriculture. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-illinois-wetlands-longer-federal.html Plants & Animals Tue, 23 Sep 2025 06:42:08 EDT news677828521 A new study published in the journal Science of The Total Environment has significant bearing on the hackneyed joke about chickens and their numerous reasons for crossing roads. In Florida, there's a good chance that the chicken crossed the road because it had completed its year-long conscripted service as a disease sentinel, a sort of early alarm signal for mosquito virus activity across the state. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-disease-experts-team-museum-west.html Ecology Tue, 16 Sep 2025 17:02:07 EDT news677260921 Frogs, toads, salamanders and other amphibians are disappearing as fast as—or faster than—any other class of animals around the world, succumbing to a variety of threats, like emerging infectious diseases. According to new research from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, one promising way to protect frogs from a particularly deadly fungal disease may be less useful than previously thought thanks to waterways polluted by a treatment for infections: antibiotic drugs. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-antibiotic-pollution-amphibian-decline-potential.html Ecology Mon, 15 Sep 2025 12:52:04 EDT news677159521