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. 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 Neuroscientists have uncovered new insights into a key evolutionary question: Why can humans talk when most animals can't? The journal Science published the research led by Emory University and the New College of Florida. The findings suggest that seals and sea lions may have vocal flexibility as a side effect of developing a brain "bypass" for voluntary breath control. This same bypass allowed them to adapt to aquatic life. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-sea-lions-clues-evolution-vocalization.html Plants & Animals Thu, 12 Mar 2026 17:10:01 EDT news692553061 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 The ancestors of our furry cats and dogs once looked similar to today's modern mongoose, a mammal with a long body and small, round ears. In fact, all members of the order Carnivora, which includes a variety of mammalian species, such as bears, wolves and even seals, evolved from these 'mongoose-like' creatures. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-qa-climate-shifts-drove-carnivores.html Evolution Wed, 17 Dec 2025 15:59:43 EST news685209541 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 In the animal kingdom, penises can be spiked, split, corkscrewed—even detachable. They're one of the most diverse structures in biology. The human penis is so uniform, it's an anatomical outlier. Understanding why penises evolved, and why they differ so widely, also helps explain why humans have one at all. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-world-animal-penises-reveal-humans.html Plants & Animals Fri, 28 Nov 2025 12:00:34 EST news683553581 A new paper by University of Rhode Island post-doctoral researchers Emily Sperou and Renato Borras-Chavez published in the journal Polar Biology discusses a unique phenomenon observed in a reclusive Antarctic animal: postmortem attentive behavior, or PAB, in the solitary leopard seal. The two are members of URI's CEAL Lab in the Department of Natural Resources Science. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-mothers-deceased-pups-unique-mammalian.html Plants & Animals Tue, 18 Nov 2025 11:57:04 EST news682689422 The next time you breathe, consider this: Photosynthesis of algae, powered by iron dust in the ocean, made it possible. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-track-iron-deficiency-disrupts-photosynthesis.html Environment Thu, 14 Aug 2025 16:56:04 EDT news674409361 As the Arctic warms faster than anywhere else on Earth, animals that have evolved to survive the cold face unprecedented challenges. While scientists are learning more about how modern wildlife responds to environmental change, we still know little about how species coped in the past. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-dna-analysis-year-bones-arctic.html Ecology Sun, 10 Aug 2025 11:40:02 EDT news673695178 Scientists have uncovered the remains of a vast animal community that lived in the European Arctic 75,000 years ago. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-scientists-uncover-year-arctic-animal.html Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 04 Aug 2025 16:11:30 EDT news673542669 Artificial intelligence sea ice forecasting systems could help predict and protect the migration routes of endangered caribou in the Canadian Arctic, according to a new study. The research, led by British Antarctic Survey (BAS) scientists in partnership with The Alan Turing Institute, WWF and the Government of Nunavut, demonstrates how this technology could assist local agencies in protecting critical migration routes which cross areas of land and sea ice. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-ai-tool-aids-caribou-arctic.html Ecology Thu, 29 May 2025 10:17:03 EDT news667732619 A small bone found 30 years ago at Dinosaur Cove in southeastern Australia could turn what we know about the evolution of echidnas and platypuses on its head. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-extremely-rare-event-bone-analysis.html Evolution Mon, 28 Apr 2025 15:00:09 EDT news665050741 Through intensive breeding, humans have pushed breeds such as pug dogs and Persian cats to evolve with very similar skulls and "smushed" faces, so they're more similar to each other than they are to most other dogs or cats. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-pugs-persian-cats-similar-smushed.html Evolution Mon, 28 Apr 2025 15:00:05 EDT news665048173 The Arctic's "Last Ice Area" (LIA)—a vital habitat for ice-dependent species—might disappear within a decade after the central Arctic Ocean becomes ice-free in summer, which is expected to occur sometime around mid-century, a new study by McGill University researchers using a high-resolution model has found. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-ice-area-arctic-sooner-previously.html Earth Sciences Mon, 27 Jan 2025 16:48:03 EST news657218881 At the most northerly tip of the UK, looking north from the island of Muckle Flugga, Shetland, the cold wind whips up the sea and gannets dive. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-arctic-ocean-north-pole-marine.html Environment Thu, 02 Jan 2025 13:57:56 EST news655048674 The Pacific walrus, a critically important resource for Alaska and Chukotka Native communities, is subject to rapid habitat loss associated with climate change and increasing human activity in the Arctic. New research published in The Journal of Wildlife Management assessed the sustainability of varying degrees of Pacific walrus harvest to the end of the 21st century under different climate and human disturbance scenarios. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-sustainability-pacific-walrus-population-years.html Plants & Animals Wed, 04 Dec 2024 11:16:46 EST news652533403 By examining ancient walrus DNA, an international research team led by Lund University in Sweden have retraced the walrus ivory trade routes of the Viking Age. They found that Norse Vikings and Arctic Indigenous peoples were probably meeting and trading ivory in remote parts of High Arctic Greenland, several centuries before Christopher Columbus "discovered" North America. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-retracing-walrus-ivory-viking-age.html Archaeology Mon, 30 Sep 2024 11:13:03 EDT news646913581 A new discovery by a team of paleontologists, led by Dr. Mathieu Boisville (University of Tsukuba, Japan), has uncovered a new species of the extinct genus Ontocetus from the Lower Pleistocene deposits in the North Atlantic. This species, named Ontocetus posti, displays surprising similarities in feeding adaptations to the modern walrus (Odobenus rosmarus), highlighting an intriguing case of convergent evolution. The research is published in the journal PeerJ. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-species-extinct-walrus-mammal-north.html Plants & Animals Tue, 13 Aug 2024 07:00:01 EDT news642693841 A study led by Baylor University biologist Sarah Kienle, Ph.D., and published in the journal Polar Biology has unveiled the first paired observations of sexual behavior and vocalizations in wild leopard seals. Kienle and her team's third published study on the mysterious leopard seal represents a major advance in understanding the behavior of one of the most difficult apex predators to study on Earth. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-team-courtship-leopard-coast-south.html Plants & Animals Thu, 18 Jul 2024 16:20:03 EDT news640538401 Informal political polls conducted on X/Twitter during both the 2016 and 2020 U.S. presidential elections were significantly skewed by questionable votes, many of which may have been purchased from troll farms. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-social-media-polls-deliberately-skew.html Political science Tue, 16 Jul 2024 13:10:14 EDT news640354211 In the summer of 2022, a research cruise detected a massive harmful algal bloom (HAB) in the Bering Strait region of western Alaska. This expedition provided a dramatic example of science utilizing new technology to track a neurotoxic HAB, and effectively communicate information that protects remote coastal communities in real-time. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-massive-algal-bloom-arctic-prompts.html Environment Wed, 10 Jul 2024 16:27:05 EDT news639847621 The Arctic is in the hotseat of climate change, warming four times faster than anywhere else on Earth. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-climate-arctic-green.html Environment Tue, 18 Jun 2024 14:36:20 EDT news637940176 In the first successful attempt to calibrate walrus counts from satellite imagery, scientists used drones to validate animal counts in Svalbard, Norway. On this International Day for Biological Diversity, the researchers describe how this study is a big step towards using satellite imagery as a non-invasive method to monitor walruses in the Arctic. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-drones-validate-walrus-satellite-images.html Plants & Animals Thu, 23 May 2024 16:09:36 EDT news635699371 The first case of a walrus dying from bird flu has been detected on one of Norway's Arctic islands, a researcher said Monday. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-walrus-dies-bird-flu-arctic.html Ecology Mon, 29 Apr 2024 12:13:26 EDT news633611601 One in seven species of deepwater sharks and rays are threatened with extinction due to overfishing, according to a new eight-year study released today in the journal Science. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-deepwater-sharks-rays-extinction.html Plants & Animals Thu, 07 Mar 2024 16:18:02 EST news629050681 Risks to migrating mammals, birds and fishes are rising, a landmark report has warned. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-migratory-fish-mammals-birds-extinction.html Plants & Animals Mon, 12 Feb 2024 13:26:03 EST news626966761 While the sounds of our oceans may be familiar to us through the lens of nature documentaries, from the haunting calls of whales to the barks of some fish, this acoustic environment can provide a wealth of knowledge to scientists regarding the complex interplay of nature and humanity. Not only this, but ocean soundscapes can record environmental changes, hinting at the ever-evolving underwater world and its response to climate change. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-arctic-ocean-soundscapes-reveal-mammal.html Plants & Animals Mon, 06 Nov 2023 09:40:01 EST news618485528 Conservationists fear a rise in the buying and selling of mammoth tusks, known as the "ice ivory" trade, poses a new threat to elephants. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-boom-ice-ivory-mammoth-tusks.html Plants & Animals Fri, 13 Oct 2023 09:17:04 EDT news616407421