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 recent study by geophysicists at Washington State University offers insight into how nutrients may reach the subsurface ocean of Europa, one of Jupiter's moons and a leading candidate for extraterrestrial life in the solar system. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-salty-ice-pathway-life-sustaining.html Astrobiology Tue, 20 Jan 2026 09:41:43 EST news688124462 Sharks are the most feared predators in the sea, and their survival hinges on fearsome teeth that regrow throughout their lives. But changes in the ocean's chemistry could put those weapons at risk. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-sharks-famous-fearsome-teeth-ocean.html Plants & Animals Fri, 16 Jan 2026 10:50:03 EST news687782961 Oregon State University research into marine protected areas plays a crucial role in the historic High Seas Treaty that goes into effect Jan. 17. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-historic-ocean-treaty-safeguard-sustainably.html Environment Thu, 15 Jan 2026 15:30:28 EST news687713402 Coral reefs are often described as biodiversity hotspots, but new research shows they also act as powerful regulators of the microscopic life in the surrounding ocean. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-coral-reef-daily-pulse-reshapes.html Plants & Animals Thu, 01 Jan 2026 13:00:04 EST news686307045 Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, have already leveraged the vast troves of geolocation data from vessel-tracking systems to pinpoint where whales and other large marine species are endangered by ship traffic and industrial fishing. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-fishing-fleet-tracking-reveal-shifts.html Plants & Animals Mon, 22 Dec 2025 15:00:03 EST news685359002 On Dec. 11, the California Fish and Game Commission voted to extend the closure of the recreational red abalone fishery for another decade, keeping the ban in place until April 2036. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-california-red-abalone-fishing-years.html Plants & Animals Sat, 13 Dec 2025 09:10:01 EST news684752917 What can an ancient supernova teach scientists about Earth and celestial objects? This is what a study recently published in Astronomy & Astrophysics hopes to address as a team of scientists investigated the interaction of the remnants of supernova that occurred 10 million years ago with Earth. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand how Earth is influenced by celestial objects and what this could mean for the future of life on Earth, along with potentially habitable worlds beyond Earth. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-gaia-constraints-myr-nearby-supernova.html Astronomy Mon, 01 Dec 2025 10:21:38 EST news683806861 Florida State University oceanographers have discovered a significant connection between small-scale microbial processes and ecosystem-wide dynamics, offering new insights into the mechanisms driving marine carbon storage. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-oceanographers-framework-carbon-ocean.html Earth Sciences Mon, 24 Nov 2025 16:19:26 EST news683223541 Researchers at the University of California, Irvine and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have identified stormlike circulation patterns beneath the Antarctic ice shelves that are causing aggressive melting, with major implications for global sea level rise projections. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-antarctic-ice-loss-linked-storms.html Earth Sciences Tue, 18 Nov 2025 05:00:05 EST news682597981 New research from the University of St Andrews has found that some coastal areas will become much more acidic than previously anticipated. With added atmospheric CO2, these areas are acidifying more quickly than thought, posing an existential threat to coastal economies around the world. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-coastal-ocean-acidification-advancing-faster.html Earth Sciences Thu, 13 Nov 2025 05:00:05 EST news682172161 Berry Glacier, a tributary of the Getz Ice Shelf in West Antarctica, has deteriorated dramatically in the past three decades, according to researchers in the Department of Earth System Science at the University of California, Irvine. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-track-massive-ice-loss-berry.html Earth Sciences Tue, 11 Nov 2025 11:30:02 EST news682083001 As global marine biodiversity faces increasing threats from climate change, pollution, and overfishing, understanding the complex dynamics of ocean ecosystems is more urgent than ever. The Asia-Pacific region (APR) is home to the world's most diverse marine life, yet efforts to monitor and protect these ecosystems are often fragmented across national boundaries and scientific disciplines. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-key-asia-pacific-marine.html Ecology Wed, 05 Nov 2025 10:57:04 EST news681562622 Sometime between 1381 and 1391, an earthquake exceeding magnitude 8.0 rocked the northeastern Caribbean and sent a tsunami barreling toward the island of Anegada. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-coral-skeletons-left-medieval-tsunami.html Earth Sciences Thu, 16 Oct 2025 15:25:03 EDT news679847101 Scientists are increasingly turning to AI to model future changes in the climate. However, existing approaches often face a trade-off between accuracy, speed, and computational cost. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-climate.html Environment Mon, 06 Oct 2025 13:20:01 EDT news678975423 The Gulf of Maine is warming faster than 99% of the world's oceans, raising concerns for its $2 billion-a-year American lobster fishery. Scientists at William & Mary's Batten School & VIMS have been studying the impacts of ocean acidification and warming on lobster reproduction, and the results of their most recent research suggest the rising temperatures pose the greatest risk. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-gulf-maine-pose-threat-american.html Plants & Animals Fri, 03 Oct 2025 12:14:09 EDT news678712443 Snailfish living in deep-sea trenches in the Pacific and Indian oceans may have wider geographic distributions than previously thought, according to a researcher at The University of Western Australia. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-wider-deep-sea-snailfish.html Plants & Animals Tue, 30 Sep 2025 09:30:01 EDT news678442796 It is often seen as the scourge of modern society, littering our highways, byways and beaches. But now a new study argues that modern plastics are also a valuable archive documenting activities and behaviors at a crucial time in our human history. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-modern-plastics-important-archaeological.html Archaeology Mon, 15 Sep 2025 15:20:03 EDT news677168105 Earth's climate is a dynamic system of interconnected physical processes and events occurring around the globe. Many of these processes are coupled so that changes in one event or process in one geographical area will result in changes in many other geographical areas. It is one of the challenges in climate science to understand the various processes, how they affect each other and how they change over time and space. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-exploring-dynamic-interactions-el-nio.html Earth Sciences Tue, 19 Aug 2025 15:52:04 EDT news674837521 A research team from the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC) has published a study in Communications Biology showing how ocean acidification and warming—two of the main consequences of global climate change—can simultaneously affect the structure, mineral composition, and microbiome of bryozoans, colonial invertebrates crucial for forming marine habitats. The findings point to potentially serious ecological consequences under a scenario of accelerated climate change. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-ocean-architects-combined-impact-acidification.html Ecology Tue, 12 Aug 2025 12:51:04 EDT news674221861 Adding crushed calcium carbonate—limestone—to agricultural fields can remove tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year while improving crop yields, a Yale-led study published in Nature Water found. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-adding-limestone-farmland-boosts-carbon.html Ecology Thu, 07 Aug 2025 12:40:01 EDT news673789096 Every day, as the sun sets, billions of small animals make their way from the depths of the ocean to the surface to feed. As the next day begins, these zooplankton swim back down. It's the largest synchronous migration on the planet, responsible for carrying vast amounts of carbon from the ocean surface to the deep. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-migrating-zooplankton-play-key-role.html Earth Sciences Thu, 31 Jul 2025 08:56:41 EDT news673170995 A new study by an international team of researchers has revealed the huge role Indian Ocean fisheries play in feeding the world and supporting nutritional security. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-indian-ocean-fisheries-play-outsized.html Ecology Fri, 11 Jul 2025 09:28:05 EDT news671444880 Northern Australia's annual monsoon season brings relief to drought-stricken lands and revitalizes crops and livestock for farmers. But a study of 150,000 years of climate records shows that the monsoon is likely to intensify—triggering a higher risk of flooding while worsening the impact of droughts in East Asia. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-tree-pollen-reveals-years-monsoon.html Earth Sciences Wed, 09 Jul 2025 06:41:03 EDT news671262061 New research finds that not only will climate change make heat waves hotter and longer, but the lengthening of heat waves will accelerate with each additional fraction of a degree of warming. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-duration-faster-global.html Earth Sciences Tue, 08 Jul 2025 15:43:12 EDT news671208188 A patch of the Atlantic Ocean just south of Greenland is cooling while much of the world warms. The origin of this "cold blob" has been linked to weakening ocean currents that help regulate global climate—called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). A team of scientists led by Penn State has found a weakening AMOC impacts not just the ocean but also the atmosphere, and that these two factors may contribute equally to the cold anomaly. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-ocean-atmosphere-equally-responsible-atlantic.html Earth Sciences Tue, 01 Jul 2025 09:50:02 EDT news670581660 What methods can be used to identify subsurface oceans on the five largest moons of Uranus: Ariel, Umbriel, Titania and Oberon, and Miranda? This is what a recent study presented at the 56th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC 2025) hopes to address as a team of scientists from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) investigated potentially using radio science on the Uranus Orbiter and Probe (UOP) concept mission, which was designated as a high priority Flagship-class mission by the 2023–2032 Planetary Science Decadal Survey. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-flyby-mission-strategies-oceans-uranus.html Space Exploration Fri, 27 Jun 2025 11:54:04 EDT news670244041 On the first day of the One Oceans Science Congress (OOSC) in France, it was clear this was not a normal science conference. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-scientists-manifesto-ocean.html Earth Sciences Mon, 16 Jun 2025 10:43:05 EDT news669289382 The amount of farmed seafood we consume—as opposed to that taken wild from our waters—is soaring every year, making aquaculture an ever-more important source for many diets, and a response to overfishing. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-farmed-production-fish-seaweed-soaring.html Agriculture Mon, 09 Jun 2025 04:50:01 EDT news668662955 Deep sea sediments contain treasure troves of information about marine ecosystems and past climate scenarios, yet remain understudied clues into Earth's environmental future, according to researchers. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-sediment-cores-pacific-highs-reveal.html Earth Sciences Fri, 06 Jun 2025 12:16:35 EDT news668430986 As the planet's oceans are gradually warmed by the effects of climate change, a huge area in the North Atlantic stands out as an unusual zone of relative cooling. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-amplify-north-atlantic-climate-anomaly.html Earth Sciences Thu, 05 Jun 2025 09:55:04 EDT news668336102