Invasive Species News

January 21, 2026

Top Headlines

Scientists Found the Soil Secret That Doubles Forest Regrowth

Jan. 15, 2026 New research shows tropical forests can recover twice as fast after deforestation when their soils contain enough nitrogen. Scientists followed forest regrowth across Central America for decades and found that nitrogen plays a decisive role in how ...

Forest Loss Is Driving Mosquitoes’ Thirst for Human Blood

Jan. 15, 2026 In the rapidly disappearing Atlantic Forest, mosquitoes are adapting to a human-dominated landscape. Scientists found that many species now prefer feeding on people rather than the forest’s diverse wildlife. This behavior dramatically raises the ...

This Sweet Fruit Is Packed with Hidden Health Compounds

Jan. 14, 2026 Scientists are taking a closer look at monk fruit and discovering it’s more than just a sugar substitute. New research shows its peel and pulp contain a rich mix of antioxidants and bioactive compounds that may support health. Different varieties ...

“Marine Darkwaves”: Hidden Ocean Blackouts Are Putting Sealife at Risk

Jan. 14, 2026 Scientists have identified a newly recognized threat lurking beneath the ocean’s surface: sudden episodes of underwater darkness that can last days or even months. Caused by storms, sediment runoff, algae blooms, and murky water, these “marine ...

Extreme Heat Is Breaking Honey Bees’ Natural Cooling System

Jan. 13, 2026 Honey bees can normally keep their hives perfectly climate-controlled, but extreme heat can overwhelm their defenses. During a scorching Arizona summer, researchers found that high temperatures caused damaging temperature fluctuations inside hives, ...

Zombie Worms Are Missing and Scientists Are Alarmed

Dec. 28, 2025 When researchers lowered whale bones into the deep ocean, they expected zombie worms to quickly move in. Instead, after 10 years, none appeared — an unsettling result tied to low-oxygen waters in the region. These worms play a key role in breaking ...

New Ghost Marsupial Related to the Kangaroo Found in Australia

Dec. 13, 2025 Researchers analyzing ancient fossils from caves across Western Australia have uncovered a completely new species of bettong along with two new woylie subspecies—remarkable finds made bittersweet by signs that some may already be ...

A Silent Ocean Pandemic Is Wiping Out Sea Urchins Worldwide

Dec. 12, 2025 A sudden, unexplained mass die-off is decimating sea urchins around the world, including catastrophic losses in the Canary Islands. Key reef-grazing species are reaching historic lows, and their ability to reproduce has nearly halted in some ...

New Fossils in Qatar Reveal a Tiny Sea Cow Hidden for 21 Million Years

Dec. 12, 2025 Fossils from Qatar have revealed a small, newly identified sea cow species that lived in the Arabian Gulf more than 20 million years ago. The site contains the densest known collection of fossil sea cow bones, showing that these animals once thrived ...

Scientists Capture Flu Viruses Surfing Into Human Cells in Real Time

Dec. 4, 2025 Scientists have captured a never-before-seen, high-resolution look at influenza’s stealthy invasion of human cells, revealing that the cells aren’t just helpless victims. Using a groundbreaking imaging technique, researchers discovered that our ...

Stunning New 3D Images Reveal Yellow Fever’s Hidden Structure

Nov. 27, 2025 University of Queensland researchers visualized yellow fever virus particles at near-atomic detail, uncovering major structural differences between vaccine and virulent strains. The insights could lead to better vaccines and treatments for yellow ...

Scientists Discover a Hidden Deep Sea Hotspot Bursting with Life

Nov. 26, 2025 Beneath the waters off Papua New Guinea lies an extraordinary deep-sea environment where scorching hydrothermal vents and cool methane seeps coexist side by side — a pairing never before seen. This unusual chemistry fuels a vibrant oasis teeming ...

Latest Headlines

updated 1:38am EST

A Once-in-a-Generation Discovery Is Transforming Dairy Farming

Jan. 18, 2026 A Michigan dairy farm took a gamble on a new kind of soybean—and it paid off fast. After feeding high-oleic soybeans to their cows, milk quality improved within days and feed costs dropped ...

A Devastating Cotton Virus Lurked Undetected in U.S. Fields for Nearly 20 Years

Jan. 13, 2026 A damaging cotton virus thought to be a recent invader has actually been hiding in U.S. fields for nearly two decades. New research shows cotton ...

When the Oceans Died and Life Changed Forever

Jan. 11, 2026 A rapid climate collapse during the Late Ordovician Mass Extinction devastated ocean life and reshuffled Earth’s ecosystems. In the aftermath, jawed vertebrates gained an unexpected edge by ...

A Hidden Chemical War Is Unfolding Inside Spruce Trees

Jan. 8, 2026 Spruce bark beetles don’t just tolerate their host tree’s chemical defenses—they actively reshape them into stronger antifungal protections. These stolen defenses help shield the beetles from ...

This Strange Ancient Snake Was Hiding in a Museum for Decades

Dec. 31, 2025 A strange little snake fossil found on England’s south coast has finally revealed its secrets—more than 40 years after it was discovered. The newly named Paradoxophidion richardoweni lived around ...

Earth’s Worst Extinction Was Followed by a Shockingly Fast Ocean Comeback

Dec. 30, 2025 A spectacular fossil trove on the Arctic island of Spitsbergen shows that marine life made a stunning comeback after Earth’s greatest extinction. Tens of thousands of fossils reveal fully aquatic ...

Back from the Dead: “Extinct” Fish Rediscovered in a Remote Bolivian Pond After 20 Years

Dec. 25, 2025 A tiny fish long feared lost has resurfaced in Bolivia, offering a rare conservation success story amid widespread habitat destruction. Moema ...

Why Evolution Rewarded Ants That Sacrificed Protection

Dec. 22, 2025 Some ants thrive by choosing numbers over strength. Instead of heavily protecting each worker, they invest fewer resources in individual armor and produce far more ants. Larger colonies then ...

This “mushroom” Is Not a Fungus, It’s a Bizarre Plant That Breaks All the Rules

Dec. 20, 2025 Balanophora is a plant that abandoned photosynthesis long ago and now lives entirely as a parasite on tree roots, hidden in dark forest undergrowth. ...

Ancient Oceans Were Ruled by Super Predators Unlike Anything Today

Dec. 19, 2025 Long before whales and sharks, enormous marine reptiles dominated the oceans with unmatched power. Scientists have reconstructed a 130-million-year-old marine ecosystem from Colombia and found ...

From Biting Flies to Feathered Dinosaurs, Scientists Reveal 70 New Species

Dec. 19, 2025 Researchers announced over 70 new species in a single year, including bizarre insects, ancient dinosaurs, rare mammals, and deep-river fish. Many were found not in the wild, but in museum ...

Giant Sea Monsters Lived in Rivers at the End of the Dinosaur Age

Dec. 15, 2025 Giant mosasaurs, once thought to be strictly ocean-dwelling predators, may have spent their final chapter prowling freshwater rivers alongside dinosaurs and crocodiles. A massive tooth found in North ...

Doomed Ants Send a Final Scent to Save Their Colony

Dec. 3, 2025 Ant pupae that are fatally sick don’t hide their condition; instead, they release a special scent that warns the rest of the colony. This signal prompts worker ants to open the pupae’s cocoons ...

Scientists Discover Why Anacondas Stayed Giants for 12 Million Years

Dec. 3, 2025 Ancient anaconda fossils show that the snakes became giants soon after emerging in Miocene South America. Their size has stayed stable for over 12 million years, even though other huge reptiles went ...

The Five Great Forests That Keep North America’s Birds Alive

Nov. 22, 2025 Migratory birds that fill North American forests with spring songs depend on Central America’s Five Great Forests far more than most people realize. New research shows these tropical strongholds ...

A Mysterious Black Snake Hidden for Centuries Is Now Named for Steve Irwin

Dec. 5, 2025 Researchers have uncovered a new species of wolf snake on Great Nicobar Island and named it Lycodon irwini in tribute to Steve Irwin. The glossy black, non-venomous snake grows up to a meter and ...

Nectar Wars Between Bumble Bees and Invasive Ants Drain the Hive

Nov. 13, 2025 Bumble bees battling invasive Argentine ants may win individual fights but ultimately lose valuable foraging time, putting pressure on colonies already strained by habitat loss, disease, and ...

Secret Underwater Language of Hawaiian Monk Seals Has 25 New Calls

Nov. 17, 2025 Scientists have revealed that Hawaiian monk seals produce far more underwater vocalizations than previously believed. Their newly discovered 25-call repertoire includes complex combinations and a ...

Animals Are Developing the Same Chronic Diseases as Humans

Nov. 17, 2025 Across the planet, animals are increasingly suffering from chronic illnesses once seen only in humans. Cats, dogs, cows, and even marine life are facing rising rates of cancer, diabetes, arthritis, ...

Tiny Bee With Devil Horns Discovered in Western Australia

Nov. 25, 2025 A horned native bee dubbed Megachile lucifer has been discovered in Western Australia’s Goldfields. Identified while surveying a rare wildflower, the species stood out with its unusual ...

New Research Uncovers Hidden Divide in West Coast Killer Whales

Nov. 20, 2025 Scientists confirmed that West Coast transient killer whales actually form two separate groups split between inner and outer coastal habitats. Inner-coast whales hunt smaller prey in shallow, ...

Scientists Finally Discover What’s Fueling Massive Sargassum Blooms

Nov. 19, 2025 Massive Sargassum blooms sweeping across the Caribbean and Atlantic are fueled by a powerful nutrient partnership: phosphorus pulled to the surface by equatorial upwelling and nitrogen supplied by ...

DNA in Seawater Reveals Lost Hammerhead Sharks

Nov. 8, 2025 A revolutionary eDNA test detects endangered hammerhead sharks using genetic traces left in seawater, eliminating the need to capture or even see them. This powerful tool could finally uncover where ...

A 480-Million-Year-Old Parasite Still Infects Oysters Today

Nov. 5, 2025 Researchers discovered fossil evidence showing that spionid worms, parasites of modern oysters, were already infecting bivalves 480 million years ago. High-resolution scans revealed their distinctive ...

A New Microscopy Breakthrough Is Revealing the Oceans’ Invisible Life

Nov. 2, 2025 A pandemic-era breakthrough has allowed scientists to literally expand our view of plankton. By using ultrastructure expansion microscopy, researchers visualized the inner workings of hundreds of ...

Japan’s New “samurai Jellyfish” Is Simply Stunning

Nov. 1, 2025 Scientists in Japan have discovered Physalia mikazuki, a previously unknown species of Portuguese man-of-war, in northern waters for the first time. DNA and anatomical analysis confirmed it as ...

The Surprising Reason Bees Replace Their Queens

Nov. 22, 2025 Worker bees stage coordinated revolts when viral infections weaken their queen and lower her pheromone output. This disruption drives many of the queen failures that beekeepers struggle with today. ...

Scientists Turn Flower Fragrance Into a Mosquito Killer

Oct. 27, 2025 A team of researchers has developed a floral-scented fungus that tricks mosquitoes into approaching and dying. The fungus emits longifolene, a natural scent that irresistibly draws them in. It’s ...

Scientists Just Found a Surprising Twist in Earth’s Extinction Story

Oct. 27, 2025 Extinction rates are not spiraling upward as many believe, according to a large-scale study analyzing 500 years of data. Researchers found that species losses peaked about a century ago and have ...

Scientists Discover 14 Strange New Species Hidden in the Deep Sea

Nov. 2, 2025 Scientists are revolutionizing how new marine species are described through the Ocean Species Discoveries initiative. Using advanced lab techniques, researchers recently unveiled 14 new species from ...