Record numbers for rare butterfly eggs as hedges grow wild
9 February 2026 - Conservationists have recorded the highest number of Brown Hairstreak butterfly eggs ever found in parts of southern England, following changes in how hedgerows are managed. The results, reported by Butterfly Conservation, underline the critical importance of allowing hedges to grow naturally for one of Britain's most secretive and threatened butterflies. (more)

Mysterious dark matter may be better understood through a new map of far-off galaxies
7 February 2026 - A new high-resolution map of distant galaxies may help scientists understand a mysterious invisible substance that helps hold the universe together. ...The latest map, created with images from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, is the most detailed yet over such a large patch of sky. It has twice the resolution of previous attempts using the Hubble Space Telescope and captures hundreds of thousands of galaxies over the past 10 billion years. (more)

Indian teacher who created hundreds of learning centers wins $1 million Global Teacher Prize
6 February 2026 - An Indian teacher and activist known for creating hundreds of learning centers and painting educational murals across the walls of slums won the $1 million Global Teacher Prize on Thursday (5 February). Rouble Nagi accepted the award at the World Governments Summit in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, an annual event that draws leaders from across the globe. (more)

Dark matter, not a black hole, could power Milky Way's heart
5 February 2026 - Our Milky Way galaxy may not have a supermassive black hole at its center but rather an enormous clump of mysterious dark matter exerting the same gravitational influence, astronomers say. (more)

Feeling chirpy: how listening to birdsong can boost your wellbeing
5 February 2026 - Paying attention to the calls of our avian neighbours can reduce stress, find scientists in Germany. A new study shows that paying attention to the treetop melodies of our feathered friends can boost wellbeing and bring down stress levels. Previous research has shown that people feel better in bird-rich environments. (more)

Scientists discover molecule in space that hints at origin of life
5 February 2026 - Scientists have discovered the largest organic molecule containing sulfur -- a key ingredient for life -- ever identified in interstellar space. The researchers call the discovery a ''missing link'' in scientists' understanding of the cosmic origins of life's chemistry. (more)

Glimpsing the quantum vacuum: Particle spin correlations offer insight into how visible matter emerges from 'nothing'
4 February 2026 - Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have uncovered experimental evidence that particles of matter emerging from energetic subatomic smashups retain a key feature of virtual particles that exist only fleetingly in the quantum vacuum. The finding offers a new way to explore how the vacuum -- once thought of as empty space -- provides important ingredients needed to transform virtual 'nothingness' into the matter that makes up our world. (more)

Physicists get a peek at how matter is born from 'nothing'
4 February 2026 - A window into how visible matter emerges from the 'nothing' of vacuum has been opened by physicists at the Brookhaven National Laboratory's Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) in New York. The researchers found that particles of matter emerging from high-energy subatomic collisions often retain a key feature -- particle spin -- of the 'virtual particles' that exist only fleetingly in the quantum vacuum. (more)

Did we just see a black hole explode? Physicists think so -- and it could explain (almost) everything
3 February 2026 - In 2023, a subatomic particle called a neutrino crashed into Earth with such a high amount of energy that it should have been impossible. In fact, there are no known sources anywhere in the universe capable of producing such energy -- 100,000 times more than the highest-energy particle ever produced by the Large Hadron Collider, the world's most powerful particle accelerator. However, a team of physicists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst recently hypothesized that something like this could happen when a special kind of black hole, called a 'quasi-extremal primordial black hole,'explodes. (more)

UK: A twenty-year review shows rewilding brings nature roaring back
2 February 2026 - A two-decade ecological review at Knepp Wilding shows that rewilding has driven a dramatic recovery in wildlife on the 3500-acre estate in Sussex. Surveys reveal a 900% increase in breeding birds and a 500% rise in nightingales, alongside major gains in butterflies, dragonflies, and other species. (more)

US: The Green River flows 'uphill.' Geologists think they finally know why.
2 February 2026 - The Colorado River tributary in northeastern Utah has baffled geologists for 150 years. ...An international research team now believes they can explain this longtime mystery behind one of North America's most prominent river systems. (more)

US: What to know about Groundhog Day traditions and Punxsutawney Phil
2 February 2026 - The handlers of a groundhog named Punxsutawney Phil at Gobbler's Knob in western Pennsylvania announced that he saw his own shadow Monday morning, thereby predicting six more weeks of winter and not an early spring. ...It's part of a tradition rooted in European agricultural life, marking the midpoint between the shortest day of the year on the winter solstice and the spring equinox. (more)

US: From eviction to co-stewardship: Indigenous communities reclaim park lands
29 January 2026 - In January 2026, the movement for Indigenous Co-stewardship has reached a historic tipping point, marking a shift from the ''fortress conservation'' model (which historically evicted native peoples to create ''wilderness'') to a collaborative partnership that honors ancestral ties. It represents a tangible step toward decolonization, transforming parks from symbols of loss into sites of reconciliation. (more)

Dark Energy Survey releases new analysis of how the universe expands
28 January 2026 - Data from six-year galaxy mapping project narrows down the possible models for how the universe behaves. The Dark Energy Survey collaboration is releasing results that, for the first time, combine all of the data from an intensive six-year mapping of galaxies in the universe. The new analysis, of millions of galaxies mapped with a telescope located in the Chilean Andes, yielded new, tighter constraints that narrow down the possible models for how the universe behaves. (more)

Dark energy survey scientists release analysis of all six years of survey data
27 January 2026 - The Dark Energy Survey Collaboration collected information on hundreds of millions of galaxies across the universe using the U.S. Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera, mounted on the U.S. National Science Foundation Victor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at CTIO, a program of NSF NOIRLab. Their completed analysis combines all six years of data for the first time and yields constraints on the universe's expansion history that are twice as tight as past analyses. (more)

US: The ''literacy ecosystem'' takes hold
27 January 2026 - Communities across the U.S. have successfully begun reversing pandemic-era literacy declines by creating ''literacy ecosystems'' -- partnerships between teachers, families, and nonprofits to ensure books and coaching are accessible to every child. (more)

Irish and Iraqi artists build bonds through shared musical journey
26 January 2026 - At a time when increasing debates on cultural identity shape how communities see one another, the musicians of Macalla are quietly carving out a different kind of narrative. The eight-piece ensemble connects musicians from Londonderry's North West Folk Collective with artists from Iraq's Mshakht Collective. Their cross-cultural collaboration has been three years in the making and recently featured prominently at one of the UK's largest international folk and world music festivals. (more)

How beekeeping is helping Zambia save its forests
25 January 2026 - Zambian farmers are using new beehives to earn new income while helping protect the country's shrinking forests. Traditionally, honey harvesting in [Zambia's rural Copper Belt region] involved destroying trees. Local beekeepers would cut into wild hives in standing trees, damaging forest cover. But NGOs and businesses have now introduced ... box hives, which allow bees to thrive without forcing deforestation. (more)

2026 will mark another milestone for tiger restoration in Kazakhstan
24 January 2026 - In the first half of 2026, Kazakhstan's Amur tiger reintroduction program will reach another pivotal milestone with the planned arrival of a small group of tigers from Russia. Between January and June, three to four Amur tigers are expected to be translocated, marking the next major step in restoring this iconic predator to Central Asia. Restoring tigers to protected landscapes is not only a symbolic achievement but also an ecological imperative. (more)

The Wild Side of 2025 -- Celebrating the year's many successes in the global rewilding movement
24 January 2026 - From Quolls to Hyenas, Seagrass to Whales, countless species are thriving, their home land-and-seascapes restoring, and as a result entire ecosystems returning to health across all continents. Rewilders are having a global impact; planting seeds of hope through a wide range of positive actions. (more)

Wind and solar overtook fossil fuels for EU power generation in 2025, report finds
23 January 2026 - Wind and solar overtook fossil fuels in the European Union's power generation last year, a report has found, in a 'major tipping point' for clean energy. ...Analysts said the trend was driven by a boom in solar, which generated a record 13% of EU power. ...'Solar alone grew by more than 20% in a single year, proving that clean power can scale faster than any conventional technology,' [said Petras Katinas, an analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, who was not involved in the report]. (more)

Across the forgotten walls of a Hong Kong island, a flock of bird murals rises
22 January 2026 - A flock [of birds] has landed in Wang Tong Village, a peaceful corner of Lantau Island on Hong Kong's southwestern edge. But this flock is unlike others: Its birds are made of paint. They exist on murals designed for a larger purpose -- not merely to draw attention to forgotten places but to tell the story of the extraordinary journeys birds undertake. (more)

UK: Rare birds on rise at Sussex's Knepps Estate, survey reveals
21 January 2026 - An ecological review at Knepp in West Sussex, a former farm that has become one of the UK's best-known rewilding sites, revealed a 916% rise in breeding birds in the southern part of the estate since 2007. The variety of butterfly species has also doubled on parts of the estate and the abundance of dragonflies and damselflies has risen by nearly 900%. (more)

Cow astonishes scientists with rare use of tools
20 January 2026 - Scientists are rethinking what cattle are capable of after an Austrian cow named Veronika was found to use tools with impressive skill. The discovery, reported by researchers in Vienna, suggests cows may have far greater cognitive abilities than previously assumed. (more)