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. Farming is central to life in Zambia, with about 60% of the country's labor force relying on rain-fed agriculture for their livelihood or income. Seasonal rains shape planting and harvesting, and temperatures can rise to 40°C. On small farms, men generally manage livestock such as cattle and cash crops like maize, while women maintain vegetable gardens and cultivate crops like cassava. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-zambia-farmers-dangerous.html Environment Wed, 04 Feb 2026 12:04:46 EST news689429042 Reports that Victoria Police are issuing anti-association orders to "youth gang members" has sparked fresh debate about how to best deal with youth gang violence in Australia. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-young-people-gangs-evidence-based.html Social Sciences Sat, 31 Jan 2026 12:40:02 EST news688912635 Child sexual abuse cases involving female perpetrators are confronting and distressing. When these cases make the news, they often provoke shock and outrage. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-australian-women-sexually-abused-children.html Social Sciences Sun, 25 Jan 2026 13:10:01 EST news688222887 Researchers have deciphered the diet of an important nomadic people in Eastern European history. By analyzing dental calculus, they have provided the first direct evidence that the diet of the Scythians included milk from various ruminants and horses. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-iron-age-dental-plaque-reveals.html Archaeology Wed, 21 Jan 2026 14:00:03 EST news688207381 Some situations in life are zero-sum. On Super Bowl Sunday, two teams take the field but only one will emerge victorious, Vince Lombardi Trophy in hand. In a presidential election, only one candidate can win enough votes to take the nation's highest office. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-grandma-life-sum-game.html Social Sciences Wed, 17 Dec 2025 13:10:25 EST news685199401 Cities do not always grow in a straight line. Like living organisms, they experience growth, maturity, and sometimes decline. This decline, known as urban shrinkage, is a natural phase in the urban life cycle. It is common in industrialized cities, marked by aging social infrastructure resulting from population decline. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-trends-factors-urban-shrinkage-medium.html Social Sciences Thu, 11 Dec 2025 19:00:01 EST news684673959 Most poverty-fighting efforts focus on meeting basic material needs, such as food and shelter. But this overlooks the psychological and cultural factors that shape how people take action in their lives. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-poverty-require-cultural-wisdom-cash.html Social Sciences Fri, 14 Nov 2025 13:04:04 EST news682347841 Loneliness is quietly emerging as one of the most significant health issues in Australia, and it can affect people of all ages, backgrounds and life stages. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-lonely-friends.html Social Sciences Thu, 06 Nov 2025 00:40:01 EST news681557858 What we choose to study—whether fine art or finance—is one of the most influential decisions in our lives. It shapes not only career trajectories, but also income, fertility, and well-being. As access to education is expanding, what we study now plays a bigger role than how long we study in shaping life outcomes. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-genetics-choice-academic-field.html Social Sciences Tue, 04 Nov 2025 13:10:05 EST news681483990 Humans evolved large brains and flat faces at a surprisingly rapid pace compared to other apes, likely reflecting the evolutionary advantages of these traits, finds a new analysis of ape skulls by UCL researchers. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-humans-evolved-fastest-apes-3d.html Plants & Animals Tue, 21 Oct 2025 19:10:03 EDT news680194664 We're beginning to build a better picture of just how many people are affected by intimate partner violence—a crisis that disproportionately impacts women and girls. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-factors-violent-partner.html Social Sciences Thu, 09 Oct 2025 11:00:01 EDT news679224742 Long shifts, irregular working hours, high time pressure, and social isolation: the work of freight train drivers is both physically and mentally demanding. A better understanding of the specific work-related stresses faced by freight train drivers can help make the profession more sustainable and attractive in the long term. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-key-psychosocial-stress-factors-freight.html Social Sciences Wed, 24 Sep 2025 12:34:03 EDT news677936041 The important work of foster care needs to be reflected in more support for caregivers in critical areas, including for caregivers who might face frequent violence from their children. New research led by Flinders University investigates difficult questions around making physical and verbal abuse of caregivers by children in out-of-home care a form of family and domestic violence. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-foster-kinship-adult-caregivers.html Social Sciences Tue, 22 Jul 2025 10:30:03 EDT news672396050 The peer-reviewed study, "The Earth4All scenarios: Human well-being on a finite planet towards 2100," uses a system dynamics-based modeling approach to explore two future scenarios: Too Little Too Late, and the Giant Leap. The model presented in the paper provides the scientific basis for the analysis and policy recommendations of Earth for All: A Survival Guide for Humanity, published in 2022. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-human-finite-planet-humanity-crossroads.html Earth Sciences Fri, 04 Jul 2025 07:00:02 EDT news670827385 What was life like some 8,000–9,000 years ago for the people on the East Mound at Çatalhöyük, an important Neolithic settlement in central Anatolia? And what role did women hold in their society? https://phys.org/news/2025-06-dna-analysis-matriarchal-society-neolithic.html Archaeology Fri, 27 Jun 2025 14:25:09 EDT news670253103 New research from Adelaide Business School at the University of Adelaide provides a framework for understanding the growing consumer interest in no, low and mid (NLM) alcohol wines. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-framework-consumer-demand-mid-alcohol.html Economics & Business Thu, 12 Jun 2025 12:10:01 EDT news668947538 When formulating climate policy, too little attention is paid to social factors and too much to technological breakthroughs and economic reasons. Because citizens are hardly heard in this process, European governments risk losing public support at a crucial moment in the climate debate. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-effective-climate-policy-impossible.html Political science Tue, 27 May 2025 12:27:03 EDT news667567621 The benefits of pet companionship have been widely researched and celebrated. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-social-inclusion-pet-companionship.html Social Sciences Mon, 26 May 2025 13:22:04 EDT news667484521 African elephants are the largest land animals on Earth and significantly larger than their relatives in Asia, from which they are separated by millions of years of evolution. Nevertheless, Asian elephants have a 20% heavier brain, as scientists from Humboldt-University of Berlin and the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) were able to demonstrate together with international colleagues. They also showed that elephant brains triple in weight after birth. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-asian-elephants-larger-brains-african.html Plants & Animals Tue, 20 May 2025 11:54:04 EDT news666960841 Children who have lived through a series of adverse childhood experiences also face an increased risk of homelessness during their childhood, according to a new study from the University of Cincinnati School of Social Work. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-links-adverse-childhood-higher-homelessness.html Social Sciences Mon, 12 May 2025 12:01:04 EDT news666270062 Many video calls in 2020 began with "Can you hear me?" Digital work was still relatively uncommon in Germany at the time, and many struggled with both the technology and the new form of communication. A recent study by four WISNA professors from the University of Duisburg-Essen has examined whether the COVID-19 lockdowns actually improved the digital skills of people in Germany. The study has been presented at the Conference of Human-Computer Interaction (CHI 2025), which took place in late April in Yokohama, Japan. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-pandemic-lockdowns-digital-skills.html Social Sciences Tue, 06 May 2025 16:16:03 EDT news665766961 People with disabilities experience high levels of harassment online, including microaggressions and slurs. However, social media platforms frequently fail to address reports of disability-based harassment and offer only limited tools that simply hide hateful content. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-personalized-ai-tools-combat-ableism.html Social Sciences Tue, 29 Apr 2025 11:42:04 EDT news665145722 Americans are more likely to discuss climate change with family and friends if they feel worried or at risk, perceive society as supportive of pro-climate behaviors or see global warming depicted in the media, according to a study published in the open-access journal PLOS Climate by Margaret Orr from George Mason University College of Humanities and Social Sciences in Fairfax, Virginia, and colleagues. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-social-norms-exposure-media-coverage.html Social Sciences Thu, 17 Apr 2025 14:00:02 EDT news664115881 Men experiencing intimate partner violence turn to harmful coping strategies due to limited services and persistent social stigma, according to a new Simon Fraser University study. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-male-ipv-survivors-lack-stigma.html Social Sciences Tue, 15 Apr 2025 13:24:03 EDT news663942241 Why do some animals solve problems while others don't? The new study from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, now featured on the cover of Oikos, tackles this question with an unexpected star: the wild house mouse. This research dives into how different personality types—especially traits like boldness and shyness—influence innovation. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-timid-tinkerers-shy-mice-persistent.html Plants & Animals Thu, 03 Apr 2025 13:17:42 EDT news662905058 Urban parks in Kumasi, the capital city of Ghana's Ashanti region, are fast disappearing or in decline. Kumasi was designed 60 years ago as a "garden city", with green belts, parks and urban green spaces. These have been encroached on by developments and are in a poor condition. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-kumasi-garden-city-green-spaces.html Environment Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:38:40 EST news659277514 Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development have identified who is most susceptible to online misinformation and why. Their meta-analysis reveals surprising patterns in how demographic and psychological factors—including age, education, political identity, analytical thinking, and motivated reflection—affect people's ability to assess the accuracy of information. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-easily-falls-misinformation.html Social Sciences Wed, 05 Feb 2025 10:02:13 EST news657972126 The stereotype that women are much more talkative than men is pervasive across many cultures, but a widely reported study by University of Arizona researchers in 2007 refuted the claim, finding that men and women speak roughly the same number of words per day—around 16,000. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-women-words-daily-men-midlife.html Social Sciences Mon, 03 Feb 2025 15:49:19 EST news657820149 Extreme weather is becoming more destructive as the world warms, but how can we say that climate change intensified the fires in Los Angeles, typhoons in the Philippines, or flooding in Spain? https://phys.org/news/2025-01-science-linking-climate-weather-disasters.html Environment Wed, 29 Jan 2025 13:05:20 EST news657378315 You wake up at 7:00 and reflexively reach for your phone. Between the stream of emails, WhatsApps and breaking news alerts, you see a worrying reminder: you averaged 11 hours of daily screen time last week. You swipe the notification away and open TikTok, where a woman in a matching athleisure set and glossy, slicked-back ponytail urges you to "get ready with me for my 5-9 before my 9-5." https://phys.org/news/2025-01-understanding-time-control-why-we.html Social Sciences Wed, 29 Jan 2025 09:36:40 EST news657365796