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. A dome-fronted submersible sinks beneath the waves off Indonesia, heading down nearly 1,000 meters in search of new species, plastic-eating microbes and compounds that could one day make medicines. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-submersibles-revealing-deep-sea.html Earth Sciences Mon, 26 Jan 2026 02:08:01 EST news688615583 Under glaring laboratory lights, a research assistant extends his forearm and carefully inverts a mesh-topped container onto his skin to allow a wriggling mass of bed bugs to feed on his blood, all in the name of science. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-malaysian-scientists-bed-bugs-crime.html Other Tue, 25 Nov 2025 04:33:47 EST news683267621 A new global synthesis published today in Nature Reviews Biodiversity reveals how seabirds act as powerful connectors between marine and terrestrial ecosystems and why protecting seabirds is a powerful opportunity when tackling the triple crises of climate change, failing ocean health, and biodiversity loss. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-global-reveals-seabirds-critical-connectors.html Plants & Animals Mon, 27 Oct 2025 13:00:01 EDT news680788240 In a new study, researchers from North Carolina State University have compared numbers of juvenile blue crabs across three nursery habitats in Pamlico Sound, both pre- and post-fishery decline, and found that while adult populations declined and have remained low, juvenile populations remained the same during both periods. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-explanation-north-carolina-blue-crab.html Plants & Animals Wed, 24 Sep 2025 15:36:03 EDT news677946962 A research team led by Prof. Huang Diying from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS) has identified three species of Jurassic orthopterans—an insect group that includes grasshoppers, crickets and katydids—with forewing patterns nearly identical to the leaves of bennettitales, an extinct, cycad-like seed plant. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-jurassic-insects-leaf-wings-china.html Evolution Fri, 05 Sep 2025 13:41:04 EDT news676298462 You are probably familiar with kangaroos. Wallabies too, and most likely quokkas as well. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-australia-marsupial-species-theyre-extinct.html Ecology Fri, 05 Sep 2025 09:25:05 EDT news676283102 The sliteye shark has been recorded for the first time on the Great Chagos Bank, the world's largest coral atoll structure—marking a major advance in understanding the geographic range of this near-threatened species. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-sliteye-shark-remote-indian-ocean.html Plants & Animals Thu, 14 Aug 2025 14:10:06 EDT news674399401 Researchers at IMDEA Materials Institute have developed a streamlined and industrially scalable methodology to design and control microstructure in nickel-based superalloys manufactured by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF), a key additive manufacturing process. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-pathway-microstructure-3d-ni-based.html Materials Science Thu, 07 Aug 2025 12:41:03 EDT news673789258 More than a decade since the start of the longest ocean warming event ever recorded, scientists are still working to understand the extent of its impacts. This unprecedented heat wave, nicknamed "The Blob," stretched thousands of kilometers over North America's western coastal waters, affecting everything from the smallest plankton to the largest marine mammals. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-world-longest-marine-upended-ocean.html Ecology Wed, 06 Aug 2025 11:49:04 EDT news673699741 Natural marine habitats like kelp forests and seagrass beds could play a vital role in protecting Scotland's coastline from flooding and erosion, according to new research. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-kelp-scotland-coast-erosion.html Ecology Tue, 05 Aug 2025 12:50:01 EDT news673615865 A Smithsonian-led team of researchers have discovered North America's oldest known pterosaur, the winged reptiles that lived alongside dinosaurs and were the first vertebrates to evolve powered flight. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-north-america-oldest-pterosaur-unearthed.html Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 07 Jul 2025 15:00:01 EDT news671101022 Shellfish beds or reefs, formed by mussels and oysters, have declined worldwide. Sterre Witte, who conducted her Ph.D. research at the NIOZ Coastal Systems department, has investigated how we can counteract this decline. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-sturdy-nursery-shellfish-predator-buffet.html Plants & Animals Wed, 02 Jul 2025 15:30:05 EDT news670687925 Seagrasses are critical to coastal ecosystems—offering habitat, stabilizing the seafloor and buffering wave energy—but globally they're increasingly under threat. Beginning in 2011, a series of intense algal blooms—fueled by pollution and nutrient overload—wiped out vast stretches of vital seagrass beds in Florida's Indian River Lagoon (IRL). https://phys.org/news/2025-06-green-seaweed-seagrass-slugs-pose.html Ecology Wed, 11 Jun 2025 09:47:04 EDT news668854021 Ever since a few enterprising bed bugs hopped off a bat and attached themselves to a Neanderthal walking out of a cave 60,000 years ago, bed bugs have enjoyed a thriving relationship with their human hosts. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-bed-bugs-human-pest.html Evolution Wed, 28 May 2025 00:00:01 EDT news667483801 A Perspective proposes a pathway to improvements in sustainability of marine ecosystems and resources in China. Based on environmental accounting used in China's terrestrial ecosystems, the approach would implement policy and governance to ensure accountability for sustainable use of marine systems. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-accounting-marine-ecosystems-china-greater.html Environment Tue, 20 May 2025 16:45:02 EDT news666978301 Scientists at Washington State University have found that juvenile European green crabs can do as much damage as adults to shellfish and native sea plants, calling into question current methods to eradicate the invasive crustaceans. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-kids-hungry-juvenile-european-green.html Plants & Animals Mon, 12 May 2025 08:56:03 EDT news666258961 While an abundance of parasites might seem like a bad thing, their absence actually signals trouble in the environment. Parasites are found throughout nature and are part of nearly every major animal group. Many ecosystems with rich wildlife also have a wide variety of parasites, since parasites depend on specific hosts to survive. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-parasites-indian-river-lagoon-big.html Ecology Wed, 07 May 2025 09:27:05 EDT news665828822 A fossilized creature found in a South African roadside quarry 25 years ago finally has an official name. The small, segmented, crustacean-like creature, dated to 444 million years ago, can now be introduced as Keurbos susanae. It belongs to the arthropod group of animals, which accounts for about 84% of all known species that exist today, including insects, spiders and crabs. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-marine-fossil-south-africa-kind.html Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 05 May 2025 14:32:03 EDT news665674321 A global infestation of bed bugs after World War II was nearly eradicated in the 1950s with the use of the pesticide dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane, commonly known as DDT, a chemical that has since been banned. Since then, this urban pest has been enjoying a resurgence in populations globally and has displayed resistance to an array of insecticides used for their control. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-evidence-potential-bed-bug-insecticide.html Biotechnology Tue, 22 Apr 2025 06:07:04 EDT news664520822 Published in the journal Ocean and Coastal Management, the research set out to establish the value of local ecological knowledge (LEK) and its ability to generate high-quality habitat maps around five Greek islands in the eastern Aegean Sea. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-artisanal-fishers-accurate-satellites-environmental.html Plants & Animals Tue, 25 Mar 2025 06:28:04 EDT news662102881 Marine scientists are calling for beachgoers who find weedy seadragons washed up on the shore to photograph them and send details to researchers at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). https://phys.org/news/2025-03-wild-weather-linked-weedy-seadragon.html Plants & Animals Tue, 18 Mar 2025 09:57:05 EDT news661510622 As climate change accelerates, finding effective solutions that deliver outsized impact becomes increasingly crucial. Now, new research from Chapman University shows that a tiny marine mollusk native to the U.S. West Coast may hold the key to more effective coastal restoration. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-tiny-sea-slug-big-impact.html Plants & Animals Thu, 06 Mar 2025 04:45:04 EST news660458701 As ecosystems around the planet undergo rapid transformations, policymakers and land managers are grappling with a pressing question: When is it time to stop resisting ecological changes and accept a new normal? https://phys.org/news/2025-02-invasive-green-crabs-lessons-ecosystem.html Ecology Tue, 04 Feb 2025 07:25:28 EST news657876317 A mussel bed along Northern California's Dillon Beach is as healthy and biodiverse as it was about 80 years ago, when two young students surveyed it shortly before Pearl Harbor was attacked and one was sent to fight in World War II. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-mussel-bed-surveyed-world-war.html Ecology Thu, 16 Jan 2025 12:26:58 EST news656252813 A polar vortex that has hit much of the U.S. with ice and snow has dealt a glancing blow to Florida, dropping coastal temperatures and causing the Sunshine State's manatee population, still recovering from a mass starvation event several years ago, to seek warmer waters. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-manatees-congregate-power-winter-storms.html Ecology Wed, 15 Jan 2025 03:50:01 EST news656134733 Scientists mapped near-gap-free and near-error-free genomes of a susceptible bed bug strain and a superstrain around 20,000 times more insecticide-resistant, offering the broadest look yet at the full scope of their resistance mutations. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-bed-bugs-genomes-unprecedented-wont.html Plants & Animals Tue, 17 Dec 2024 13:24:05 EST news653664241 Historical observations and model computations point to the Rhine system having crossed a tipping point. Since extreme peak flows in the 1990s, the Waal has gradually attracted more water at the Pannerdense Kop bifurcation. This is shown in research by TU Delft, Leiden University, Utrecht University, and Rijkswaterstaat published in Geophysical Research Letters. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-waal-river-potential-rhine-shift.html Earth Sciences Tue, 17 Dec 2024 10:18:19 EST news653653091 When a forest is lost to development, some effects are obvious. Stumps and mud puddles across the landscape, a plowed field or houses a year after that. But deforestation isn't just a loss of trees; it's a loss of the countless benefits that forests provide—one of which is control of disease. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-deforestation-malaria-bed-nets-effectiveness.html Ecology Thu, 05 Dec 2024 07:30:31 EST news652606226 A team of researchers from Xi'an Jiaotong University, Tianmushan Laboratory, and the National University of Singapore has pioneered a new method for crafting an ultra-strong, ductile alloy using 3D printing technology. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-3d-method-crafts-stronger-ductile.html Analytical Chemistry Thu, 07 Nov 2024 09:27:03 EST news650194021 The Caribbean US territory of Puerto Rico, likened to a "floating island of garbage" at a Republican rally in New York, on Wednesday announced the creation of a new marine reserve to protect manatees and other species. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-island-garbage-puerto-rico-marine.html Ecology Thu, 31 Oct 2024 04:10:01 EDT news649565968