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. President Donald Trump's administration will no longer treat the unintentional killing of protected wildlife as unlawful, officials confirmed Thursday, in a shift conservationists say could gut the Endangered Species Act (ESA). https://phys.org/news/2026-09-trump-administration-overhauls-key-endangered.html Ecology Thu, 17 Sep 2026 17:40:04 EDT news708869005 When picturing a scaled, toothy Tyrannosaurus rex stomping across North America, building nests and eating other dinosaurs, it's easy to forget that scientists have gleaned everything we know about T. rex from clues left more than 60 million years ago. While the presence of fossils in Alaska suggested that this prehistoric ancestor of birds was already on the evolutionary path from cold-blooded reptile to warm-blooded avian, there wasn't a way to take T. rex's temperature—until now. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-tyrannosaurus-rex-teeth-reveal-body.html Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 16 Sep 2026 14:00:19 EDT news708777841 Like all other snakes, sea snakes shed their skin as they grow. But because they live near the surface of the open ocean, they don't have the benefit of removing their old skin by slithering against a hard surface. Instead, they wriggle into a pretzel and use the friction generated by their scales to get the job done. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-planes-snake-scientists-crab-species.html Plants & Animals Fri, 11 Sep 2026 09:40:02 EDT news708335546 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 Harmful algal blooms pose serious threats to people, animals and the environment. The University of Toledo's Dr. Jeanine Refsnider counts it as a positive discovery that northern map turtles tend to steer clear, as she and an undergraduate collaborator recently reported in the Journal of Great Lakes Research. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-northern-turtles-lake-erie-algal.html Plants & Animals Thu, 10 Sep 2026 12:20:06 EDT news708252187 First Nations ranger groups working in protected areas such as national or marine parks have identified illegal commercial fishing as a major concern for the Northern Territory's green turtle populations, a study led by Charles Darwin University (CDU) and James Cook University (JCU) has found. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-nations-ranger-knowledge-reveals-threats.html Ecology Thu, 10 Sep 2026 07:40:04 EDT news708238741 Nawee Changpirom has spent years working to rescue trafficked wildlife in Thailand, but even he can sometimes hardly believe the creatures he has found: leopards, hornbills and, once, an anteater. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-online-undercover-trafficked-wildlife-thailand.html Ecology Thu, 10 Sep 2026 04:20:04 EDT news708231834 Feeding stations providing food and water for wild birds are contributing to the spread of disease-causing parasites among farmland birds, researchers have said, with birds three times more likely to catch a parasite from these resources. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-food-stations-wild-birds-contributing.html Plants & Animals Fri, 04 Sep 2026 15:20:04 EDT news707747402 Along the sandy banks of northern India's Chambal River, crocodile-like gharials glide silently through the water—but if a gharial spots a stranger, the quiet may be punctuated by a series of explosive pops. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-gharial-patterns-gecko-uncover-reptiles.html Plants & Animals Thu, 03 Sep 2026 11:20:16 EDT news707653174 A study provides the first large-scale empirical evidence that seagrass meadows act as a critical safety net for millions of coastal people living in extreme poverty across the Indo-Pacific. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-underwater-meadows-sustain-millions-extreme.html Environment Thu, 03 Sep 2026 04:00:02 EDT news707484181 As climate warming pushes many species toward cooler environments, high-elevation areas are expected to play an increasingly important role in biodiversity conservation. A new study by the Great Hollow Nature Preserve & Ecological Research Center (New Fairfield, Connecticut) suggests that streams in New York's Catskill Mountains and other mountain ranges of the northeastern U.S. could become important refugia for one of the region's most imperiled freshwater turtles, the wood turtle (Glyptemys insculpta). https://phys.org/news/2026-09-mountains-climate-refugia-north-america.html Plants & Animals Wed, 02 Sep 2026 07:00:03 EDT news707540942 Thirty-five years on—well, 12 million, technically—Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park continues to offer important glimpses of prehistoric life in Nebraska. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-tracks-tooth-reveal-bone-dogs.html Paleontology & Fossils Fri, 28 Aug 2026 11:40:04 EDT news707135102 In July 2026, more than 200 community members gathered at Mandoon Bilya (Helena River) in Perth's eastern suburbs. They planted more than 3,000 native plants as part of a wetland restoration project. The hopeful scene was a stark contrast to what the river might have become. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ai-centers-australia-indigenous-policy.html Social Sciences Fri, 28 Aug 2026 08:20:03 EDT news707115902 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 Using a new combination of computational tools to analyze ancient DNA, Yale researchers have discovered two ancient, extinct giant tortoise lineages that once lived on the Galapagos Islands. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-degraded-dna-reveals-extinct-galapagos.html Evolution Thu, 27 Aug 2026 09:40:03 EDT news707039701 Sea turtles are famous for being prodigious wanderers. Guided by Earth's magnetic field, ocean currents and the sun, they tend to crisscross the seas in search of food, returning to the region of their birth every few years to breed. So when scientists discovered a population of sea turtles that appear to be very much homebodies, they were taken aback. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-galpagos-yellow-sea-turtles-homebodies.html Plants & Animals Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:01 EDT news706880270 Moving threatened sea turtle nests to cooler, safer parts of the beach can save entire clutches from rising tides and extreme heat, but new research suggests it may have hidden consequences for the hatchlings that emerge. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-turtle-eggs-hidden-consequences.html Plants & Animals Tue, 25 Aug 2026 13:30:01 EDT news706881369 During the Late Cretaceous period, parts of Egypt were covered in water. A new study, published in the journal Cretaceous Research, describes new evidence that this tropical sea was home to a diverse community of sharks. The study adds five new species to the region's history, found in what the authors refer to as a "shark graveyard." https://phys.org/news/2026-08-egypt-home-diverse-shark-community.html Paleontology & Fossils Tue, 25 Aug 2026 11:30:02 EDT news706874558 A British zoo on Friday hailed the recovery of a cancer-stricken python named after Hollywood star Jodie Foster, which became the first snake to receive an innovative treatment combining surgery and electrochemotherapy (ECT). https://phys.org/news/2026-08-cancer-treatment-python-jodie-foster.html Veterinary medicine Fri, 21 Aug 2026 05:00:01 EDT news706505172 Tsetse flies transmit some of Africa's most persistent parasitic diseases. They have affected human health, livestock production and rural development for generations, across a region spanning millions of square kilometers in 37 sub-Saharan countries. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-bloodsucking-insect-mouth-tsetse-fly.html Plants & Animals Wed, 19 Aug 2026 16:20:05 EDT news706359001 A study examining how feral water buffalo interact with landscapes has uncovered the pest's disastrous impacts on northern long-necked turtles in the Top End's tropical wetlands. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ecological-existential-threat-wildlife-iconic.html Plants & Animals Tue, 18 Aug 2026 07:00:01 EDT news706247341 Florida State University researchers studying male green sea turtles off the coast of Brazil have discovered two distinct migration strategies, with some turtles traveling up to 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) after breeding while others remain in the same area year-round. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-turtle-uncover-migration-strategies-male.html Plants & Animals Mon, 17 Aug 2026 11:00:05 EDT news706179121 South America was a frightening place during the Miocene. More than 10 million years ago, a vast lake covered much of the continent, home to giant turtles and crocodylians. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-giant-crocodylians-dominated-food-chain.html Ecology Sun, 16 Aug 2026 21:00:04 EDT news705927781 Some cynodonts may have been giving birth to live young much sooner in evolutionary history than previously assumed. A new Frontiers in Mammal Science study has offered the first compelling evidence that cynodonts may have been viviparous—a reproductive mode characterized by live birth. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-million-year-fossil-story-mammalian.html Evolution Thu, 13 Aug 2026 00:00:02 EDT news705656222 Scientists have described a new species of lizard from the high mountain forests of western Thailand and have given it a name straight out of an American fantasy drama television series: Acanthosaura syrax, named after Syrax, the dragon ridden by Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen in "House of the Dragon." https://phys.org/news/2026-08-species-mountain-horned-dragon-thailand.html Plants & Animals Mon, 10 Aug 2026 10:40:04 EDT news705575461 The Mauritian dodo—a global symbol of human-caused extinction and one of the world's largest pigeons—may not have deserved its reputation as a silly simpleton and may have been the only member of its group to live in the dark. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-dodo-birds-clever-thought.html Ecology Sat, 08 Aug 2026 11:20:01 EDT news705161909 When most baby turtles hatch, their sex depends on the temperature of the sand or soil where their mother laid her eggs. Warm incubation produces females, while cool nests produce males. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-antenna-cell-appendage-turtle-embryos.html Plants & Animals Fri, 07 Aug 2026 16:00:01 EDT news705323701 A new study by San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance researchers has identified a less invasive way to estimate the body temperature of hatchling Mojave desert tortoises, offering scientists a promising tool for studying endangered reptiles while reducing disturbance and handling stress. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-invasive-thermal-imaging-endangered-hatchling.html Plants & Animals Thu, 06 Aug 2026 10:40:01 EDT news705226322 A Pacific island leader says there were "no consultations" before the U.S. announced swaths of nearby ocean could be auctioned for deep-sea mining exploration, telling AFP the industry faced strong opposition among his people. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-pacific-islands-alarmed-trump-deep.html Environment Thu, 06 Aug 2026 04:40:01 EDT news705204578 Dinosaurs are famous for being big, from the towering Tyrannosaurus rex to the colossal Apatosaurus. But a new study published today in the journal Evolution by scientists at the American Museum of Natural History and Princeton University suggests that one of the greatest mysteries of dinosaur evolution isn't how some species became giants—it's why even the smallest dinosaurs never became truly tiny. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-tiny-dinosaurs-explores-evolution-biggest.html Evolution Wed, 05 Aug 2026 10:00:05 EDT news705050822