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. There were many ways in which the elites of ancient Roman society flaunted their wealth. They built vast villas, sponsored extravagant games and imported luxury goods. And military top brass, at least those stationed at an Egyptian port, may have advertised their status with a pet monkey at their side. That's one of the insights from the analysis of 35 monkey burials in an ancient animal cemetery in Berenike on the east coast of Egypt. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-ancient-roman-officers-pet-monkeys.html Archaeology Wed, 10 Dec 2025 10:10:01 EST news684583498 Coral reefs may seem like paradise, but they are being degraded by a range of global and local factors, including climate change, poor water quality, and overfishing. New research reveals that connections between reefs help stabilize reef health, reducing the risk of collapse, and that a dual approach—improving conditions on both land and sea—may be the best way to protect these crucial ecosystems. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-coral-reefs-boost-health.html Plants & Animals Tue, 09 Dec 2025 15:30:04 EST news684516411 Income inequality is one of the most important measures of economic health, social justice and quality of life. More reliably trackable than wealth inequality, which was recently given a gloomy report card by the G20, income inequality is particularly relevant to immediate economic relief, mobility and people's everyday standard of living. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-subnational-income-inequality-revealed-regional.html Economics & Business Fri, 05 Dec 2025 05:00:01 EST news684000866 More than 99% of the world's 7.7 billion people have one or more of their environmental rights threatened, according to new research. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-billions-environments-violate-human-rights.html Environment Mon, 10 Nov 2025 09:49:04 EST news681990541 New research reports the functional extinction of Acropora corals from Florida's Coral Reef. Scientists have documented catastrophic mortality of these critically endangered corals following a record-setting marine heat wave in 2023 that marked the ninth mass bleaching event for the region. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-catastrophic-loss-florida-staghorn-elkhorn.html Plants & Animals Thu, 23 Oct 2025 16:20:04 EDT news680455201 DNA within dried feces dating from more than 1,000 years ago provides valuable insights into the pathogens that plagued ancient Mexican peoples, according to a study published in PLOS One by Drew Capone of Indiana University, U.S., and colleagues. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-ancient-dna-clues-intestinal-parasites.html Archaeology Wed, 22 Oct 2025 14:00:07 EDT news680282041 In July 2025, Uganda's courts swiftly dismissed a petition challenging the legality of polygamy, citing the protection of religious and cultural freedom. For most social scientists and policymakers who have long declared polygamy a "harmful cultural practice," the decision was a frustrating but predictable setback in efforts to build healthier and more equal societies. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-rethinking-polygamy-upends-conventional-advantages.html Social Sciences Tue, 21 Oct 2025 13:01:05 EDT news680270461 Climate change is drying landscapes and raising temperatures faster than many species can adapt. A research paper from Colorado State University offers a rare empirical look at how these pressures are already reshaping wildlife through the lens of the yellow warbler—a common migratory bird. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-yellow-warbler-lens-response-rapid.html Plants & Animals Mon, 29 Sep 2025 15:00:06 EDT news678375961 What is the secret of supercentenarians? While there is no magical "elixir of life" that allows us to live forever, this incredibly rare group of people who live to be 110 years or older appears to have some biological advantage. To identify the factors that underlie extreme longevity, scientists conducted a comprehensive study of Maria Branyas, who was the world's oldest verified living person at the time of the study. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-world-longest-person-reveals-rare.html Molecular & Computational biology Thu, 25 Sep 2025 12:50:04 EDT news678022825 For decades, the Tijuana River has carried millions of gallons of untreated sewage and industrial waste across the U.S.-Mexico border. The river passes through San Diego's South Bay region before emptying into the ocean, recently leading to more than 1,300 consecutive days of beach closures and water quality concerns. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-tijuana-river-toxic-pollutes-air.html Earth Sciences Thu, 28 Aug 2025 14:00:04 EDT news675517126 Candida, a type of fungus, can spread throughout the body via the bloodstream, leading to organ damage and sepsis. Recently, the incidence of candidiasis has surged due to the increase in immunosuppressive therapies, medical implants, and transplantation. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-gene-based-nanotherapy-approach-drug.html Bio & Medicine Wed, 09 Jul 2025 04:28:38 EDT news671254111 A first-of-its-kind study by researchers at Michigan State University reveals that individuals who experience the most distress and impairment in daily functioning from social media use are more likely to believe fake news. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-problematic-social-media-linked-belief.html Social Sciences Wed, 07 May 2025 15:20:01 EDT news665849911 Rivers, streams, lakes, and reservoirs aren't just scenic parts of our landscape—they're also vital engines for life on Earth. These inland waters "breathe" oxygen, just like we do. But a new study led by Utrecht University researchers shows that we've been suffocating them during the last century, an era also known as the Anthropocene. The research, published today in Science Advances, reveals that the way oxygen is produced and used in inland waters has dramatically changed since 1900. The culprit? Human activities. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-oxygen-inland-human-blame.html Earth Sciences Fri, 04 Apr 2025 14:00:01 EDT news662984761 Dr. Luiz Pezo-Lanfranco and his colleagues have published a study on child mortality at the Quebrada Chupacigarro Cemetery (QCC) in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-reveals-harsh-realities-childhood-pre.html Archaeology Fri, 28 Feb 2025 12:30:02 EST news659871803 They may both be Olympic host cities, but Salt Lake City and Los Angeles, the major population hubs of their respective states, are very different places. However, they both experience poor air quality and share valley topography that traps pollutants during weather inversions. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-emissions-tale-cities-salt-lake.html Environment Thu, 27 Feb 2025 13:01:58 EST news659883709 For young salmon, the journey along the San Joaquin River in Central California is no small feat. Every spring and fall, thousands of these fish—each as long as a pinky finger—embark on a 350-mile race, swimming day and night and dodging predators along the way to reach the Pacific Ocean. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-young-salmon-gauntlet-danger-en.html Ecology Mon, 24 Feb 2025 13:35:26 EST news659626521 The incarceration rate of Black Americans has fallen sharply in the 21st century, according to a new study, but the trend has coincided with a rise in imprisonment of white Americans with no college education. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-class-emerges-key-factor-prison.html Social Sciences Mon, 10 Feb 2025 14:11:15 EST news658419071 Nearly 3.5 billion people live in the messy transition zone between cities and wild places, where agriculture abuts homes; suburbs sprawl into the forest; and humans, wildlife, and livestock readily intermix. This wildland-urban interface (WUI) covers just 5% of Earth's land surface, but it could provide prime habitat for the transmission of zoonotic diseases from their wildlife hosts to people, according to a new study led by the Yale School of the Environment. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-highlights-impact-rapid-urbanization-emergence.html Environment Wed, 05 Feb 2025 16:16:58 EST news657994612 A transdisciplinary team of AMBER and CRANN researchers from the School of Chemistry at University College Cork (UCC) and the School of Physics at Trinity College Dublin (TCD) has developed sensor technology for wearable air quality monitors that alert individuals of their exposure to hazardous gases. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-sensors-wearables-real-hazardous-gases.html Nanomaterials Fri, 31 Jan 2025 11:29:03 EST news657545341 Six months after the Marshall Fire destroyed more than 1,000 houses in Boulder County, Colorado, more than half of residents of surviving homes in the area reported physical symptoms—including headaches, sore throats or a strange taste in their mouth—that they attributed to poor air quality, a new CU Boulder study has found. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-months-marshall-colorado-residents-struggle.html Environment Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:50:04 EST news654195001 Many recent studies assume that elderly people are at particular risk of dying from extreme heat as the planet warms. A new study of mortality in Mexico turns this assumption on its head: it shows that 75% of heat-related deaths are occurring among people under 35―a large percentage of them ages 18 to 35, or the very group that one might expect to be most resistant to heat. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-high-preferentially-young.html Environment Fri, 06 Dec 2024 14:00:01 EST news652701579 Researchers from Stockholm University, Bocconi University, and the Rockwool Foundation have studied poverty's lasting impact across generations in wealthy countries. By examining the United States, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Germany, the team found that welfare systems play a significant role in whether children born into poverty will remain poor as adults. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-multi-country-significant-differences-poverty.html Social Sciences Wed, 06 Nov 2024 11:38:03 EST news650115482 Based on the data from the Magellan-Clay telescope in Chile, astronomers have performed a chemo-dynamical study of a very metal-poor star known as HE 2315−4240. Results of the study, published on the preprint server arXiv, yield important insights into the nature of this star. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-metal-poor-star.html Astronomy Sun, 13 Oct 2024 09:00:01 EDT news647782882 In a new study, astronomers report novel evidence regarding the limits of planet formation, finding that after a certain point, planets larger than Earth have difficulty forming near low-metallicity stars. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-formation-super-earths-proven-limited.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 09 Sep 2024 15:52:04 EDT news645115921 In a study published in The Astrophysical Journal, scientists have proposed the features of the rapid neutron capture process (r-process) nucleosynthesis in a novel scenario: common envelop jet supernovae (CEJSNe). The study sheds new light on the origin of elements, especially beyond the lanthanides. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-features-nucleosynthesis-heavy-elements.html Astronomy Mon, 26 Aug 2024 09:26:03 EDT news643883161 A report by a multi-institutional team of environmental scientists suggests that if everyone in the world adopted the EAT-Lancet planetary health diet, global dietary greenhouse gas emissions would drop by 17%. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-planetary-health-diet-emissions-environmental.html Environment Wed, 14 Aug 2024 12:20:01 EDT news642855298 A surprising discovery about the evolution of our galaxy using data from the Gaia mission found a large number of ancient stars on orbits similar to that of our sun. They formed the Milky Way's thin disk less than 1 billion years after the Big Bang, several billion years earlier than previously believed. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-discovery-ancient-stars-stellar-thin.html Astronomy Wed, 31 Jul 2024 09:59:25 EDT news641638761 Using the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC), astronomers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and elsewhere have discovered a new extremely r-process-enhanced star in the Milky Way's thin disk. The finding was reported in a research paper published July 16 on the pre-print server arXiv. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-extremely-star.html Astronomy Tue, 23 Jul 2024 08:30:01 EDT news640885682 If we want cleaner air, fewer forest fires, and less severe climate change, a new UC Riverside study shows we must reduce aerosol pollution and greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide at the same time. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-unbalanced-air-quality-forest.html Environment Wed, 29 May 2024 10:18:04 EDT news636196679 Researchers using a novel method of measuring long-term wildfire smoke exposure have found that Indigenous communities in California are exposed to disproportionate amounts of dangerous particulate matter—sometimes far beyond what has been previously known. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-wildfire-disproportionately-affects-california-indigenous.html Environment Thu, 29 Feb 2024 12:27:05 EST news628432022