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U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program
The U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program (NMMP) is a program administered by the U.S. Navy which studies the military use of marine mammals (principally Bottlenose Dolphins and California Sea Lions) and trains animals to perform tasks such as ship and harbour protection, mine detection and clearance, and equipment recovery. The NMMP has received much sensational coverage in the media, in some part because of the unusual nature of the program and the controversial concept of using intelligent marine mammals for military purposes. The NMMP was classified until the early 1990s, which also contributed to speculation about its true nature and even its proper title, with some referring to it as the Cetacean Intelligence Mission.
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Plants & Animals News
February 13, 2026
Feb. 12, 2026 A new scientific review challenges the headline-grabbing claim that Yellowstone’s returning wolves triggered one of the strongest trophic cascades on Earth. Researchers found that the reported 1,500% surge in willow growth was based on circular ...
Feb. 12, 2026 Coral reefs, worth an estimated $9.8 trillion a year to humanity, are in far worse shape than previously realized. A massive international study found that during the 2014–2017 global marine heatwave, more than half of the world’s reefs suffered ...
Feb. 10, 2026 Life’s story may stretch further back than scientists once thought. Some genes found in nearly every organism today were already duplicated before all life shared a common ancestor. By tracking these rare genes, researchers can investigate how ...
Feb. 9, 2026 Forests around the world are quietly transforming, and not for the better. A massive global analysis of more than 31,000 tree species reveals that forests are becoming more uniform, increasingly dominated by fast-growing “sprinter” trees, while ...
Feb. 8, 2026 Your gut is home to trillions of bacteria that constantly “sense” their surroundings to survive and thrive. New research shows that beneficial gut microbes, especially common Clostridia bacteria, can detect a surprisingly wide range of chemical ...
Feb. 8, 2026 Researchers have found a surprising way to turn sunflower oil waste into a powerful bread upgrade. By replacing part of wheat flour with partially defatted sunflower seed flour, breads became dramatically richer in protein, fiber, and ...
Feb. 8, 2026 Scientists have uncovered promising clues that compounds found in Aloe vera could play a role in fighting Alzheimer’s disease. Using advanced computer modeling, researchers discovered that beta-sitosterol—a natural plant compound—strongly ...
Feb. 8, 2026 Tiny marine plankton that build calcium carbonate shells play an outsized role in regulating Earth’s climate, quietly pulling carbon from the atmosphere and helping lock it away in the deep ocean. New research shows these microscopic engineers are ...
Feb. 8, 2026 Pumas returning to Patagonia have begun hunting mainland penguins that evolved without land predators. Scientists estimate that more than 7,000 adult penguins were killed in just four years, many of them left uneaten. While the losses are dramatic, ...
Feb. 5, 2026 Kemp’s ridley sea turtles, one of the most endangered sea turtle species on Earth, live in some of the noisiest waters on the planet, right alongside major shipping routes. New research reveals that these turtles are especially sensitive to ...
Feb. 3, 2026 Plants make chemical weapons to protect themselves, and many of these compounds have become vital to human medicine. Researchers found that one powerful plant chemical is produced using a gene that looks surprisingly bacterial. This suggests plants ...
Feb. 3, 2026 Even in some of the most isolated corners of the Pacific, plastic pollution has quietly worked its way into the food web. A large analysis of fish caught around Fiji, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu found that roughly one in three contained ...
Latest Headlines
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Feb. 12, 2026 Scientists studying a rock sample collected by NASA’s Curiosity rover have uncovered something tantalizing: the largest organic molecules ever ...
Feb. 12, 2026 For the first time, deadly H5N1 bird flu has been confirmed as the cause of a wildlife die-off in Antarctica, killing more than 50 skuas during the 2023–2024 summers. Researchers on an Antarctic ...
Feb. 11, 2026 Life may have started in sticky, rock-hugging gels rather than inside cells. Researchers suggest these primitive, biofilm-like materials could trap and concentrate molecules, giving early chemistry a ...
Feb. 11, 2026 Avian malaria is spreading across Hawaiʻi in a way scientists didn’t fully grasp until now: nearly every forest bird species can help keep the disease alive. Researchers found the parasite at 63 ...
Feb. 11, 2026 Your cat’s purr may say more about who they are than their meow ever could. Scientists discovered that purrs are stable and uniquely identifiable, while meows change dramatically depending on ...
Feb. 11, 2026 Hundreds of millions of years ago, the first animals to crawl onto land were strict meat-eaters, even as plants had already taken over the landscape. Now scientists have uncovered a ...
Feb. 10, 2026 A bonobo named Kanzi surprised scientists by successfully playing along in pretend tea party experiments, tracking imaginary juice and grapes as if they were real. He consistently pointed to the ...
Feb. 9, 2026 Scientists have discovered that DNA behaves in a surprising way when squeezed through tiny nanopores, overturning a long-held assumption in genetics research. What researchers once thought were knots ...
Feb. 9, 2026 Baker’s yeast isn’t just useful in the kitchen — it may also be built for space. Researchers found that yeast cells can survive intense shock waves and toxic chemicals similar to those on Mars. ...
Feb. 7, 2026 A newly discovered deep-sea creature has become an unlikely Internet star. After appearing in a popular YouTube video, a rare chiton found nearly three miles beneath the ocean surface sparked a ...