https://phys.org/science-news/education/ en-us Phys.org provides latest news on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education Intelligent people tend to perform better at school and at work, as numerous studies have shown. But what happens in domains where incentives such as good grades or financial rewards don't apply and where socioeconomic status is not a significant factor? Wine knowledge is a case in point. Intelligence researcher Maximilian Krolo of Saarland University has investigated whether intelligence can predict the acquisition of deep knowledge in a specialized domain. The findings have now been published in the journal Intelligence & Cognitive Abilities in an article co-authored with Professor of Psychology Timothy C. Bates of the University of Edinburgh. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-bright-people-wine-higher-intelligence.html Social Sciences Tue, 25 Aug 2026 19:40:03 EDT news706889575 Large language models (LLMs) are making writing styles more similar without changing the overall meaning, according to an analysis of more than 880,000 texts across different writing types published in Nature Human Behaviour. The findings indicate that using LLMs could make it more difficult to identify important clues about aspects of a person's identity, personality and mental health from their language. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-chatbots-similar-identity-personality.html Social Sciences Tue, 25 Aug 2026 10:40:04 EDT news706868528 Up until two years ago, using large language models was still considered a special skill that everyone was encouraged to learn. Now, it is ubiquitous, especially in writing research papers that eventually become part of the scientific knowledge we build around a subject. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-marker-words-sharp-ai-biomedical.html Education Mon, 24 Aug 2026 16:00:07 EDT news706796832 Some teenagers are happy to wait for a bigger reward tomorrow rather than cash in today. Others would rather take the sure thing now—or gamble on a risky, high-payoff bet. According to a new study, these everyday differences in patience and risk appetite are more than personality quirks. They help determine which program a high school graduate chooses—and, with it, the shape of their working life for decades to come. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-patience-longer-paths-faster-growth.html Economics & Business Fri, 21 Aug 2026 13:20:01 EDT news706532281 From the daily weather forecast to a baseball player's batting average to an individual's risk of developing lung cancer, understanding statistics can help people in the United States navigate their lives, according to Mark Ramos, assistant research professor of health policy and administration at Penn State. However, more than half of adults in the U.S. reported knowing little or nothing about basic statistical concepts, according to a recent study led by Ramos. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-adults-lack-basic-statistical.html Mathematics Fri, 21 Aug 2026 11:20:03 EDT news706525741 When we read a news story about a new cancer treatment, an Alzheimer's breakthrough or an innovative technology, we rarely think about everything that happens behind the scenes before that information reaches newspapers, radio or television. Scientists publish their findings in specialist journals, and journalists decide which of those papers are worth reporting to the public. This selection shapes the scientific information available to society, influences public opinion on specific topics and creates trends of interest that may even affect which areas of research receive more or less funding in the future. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-lab-headlines-news-dont.html Social Sciences Thu, 20 Aug 2026 15:50:01 EDT news706456741 Machine learning models can identify jazz pianists from recordings and reveal the musical "fingerprints" that make individual performers recognizable, according to a study investigating 20 famous jazz pianists. The research, published in Nature Machine Intelligence, could offer insight into artist attribution and style, cultural heritage, and music education. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-iconic-jazz-musicians.html Social Sciences Mon, 17 Aug 2026 18:00:01 EDT news706190762 Scientists are increasingly relying on powerful data sources and tools that they often cannot fully understand, inspect or verify, according to a new study. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-black-technologies-undermine-confidence-scientific.html Social Sciences Sat, 15 Aug 2026 07:00:02 EDT news705830101 A widely cited Nature cover article from 2023 claimed that scientific innovation has significantly declined in recent decades. This finding was based on a citation analysis of large sets of metadata concerning scientific papers and patents. Researchers from Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and KU Leuven have found that incomplete reference data account for most of the alleged decline in scientific disruption. Their article is also published in the journal Nature. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-science-disruptive-years-delay.html Education Wed, 12 Aug 2026 15:50:01 EDT news705765301 Students who attended public school pre-K performed better academically through high school than those in family-based child care, according to new research from Florida International University. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-year-pre-impacts-child-academic.html Education Wed, 12 Aug 2026 13:00:05 EDT news705748412 A new study from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management found that research proposals showing stronger signs of AI-assisted writing were four percentage points more likely to receive funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ai-grant-narrowing-ideas.html Economics & Business Tue, 11 Aug 2026 19:20:03 EDT news705679801 Many parents have mixed feelings about the unrestricted use of artificial intelligence (AI) for schoolwork. They are concerned about the potential impact on their child's ability to learn but also don't want them to be left behind if other young people are using AI. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ai-homework-parents-pay-subscriptions.html Social Sciences Thu, 06 Aug 2026 19:40:01 EDT news705254582 Students who open a personal social media account earlier in adolescence appear to perform worse on later standardized tests, according to a study in Nature Human Behaviour based on 5,227 Italian students. The authors speculate that these differences may be attributable to excessive social media engagement and disruptions to students' attention. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-kids-social-media-earlier-worse.html Social Sciences Mon, 03 Aug 2026 14:40:06 EDT news704980981 How do students actually use AI learning assistants? A new research paper by IU International University of Applied Sciences provides the first robust answers to this question. For the study "Using AI-based Learning Assistants in Higher Education: A Large-Scale Descriptive Analysis," the research team led by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Kristina Schaaff, Dr. Valerie Hekkel and Quintus Stierstorfer analyzed anonymized usage data from approximately 77,000 IU online students who were using the Learning Companion Syntea at the time of the study. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ai-mirrors-student-online-learners.html Education Sun, 02 Aug 2026 10:20:01 EDT news704721316 A scientific paper reads as a clean progression from question to result. And yet, research almost never happens that way. Experiments fail, conversations redirect projects, and none of it survives into print. When the founders of a field retire, their tacit knowledge goes with them, and nothing records that it existed. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-inverting-seminar-recover-scientific-papers.html Education Fri, 31 Jul 2026 05:00:01 EDT news704619901 Currently popular biographies of famous scientists may demotivate—rather than inspire—children's desire to study or pursue careers in science, according to researchers who studied the messages in 422 bestselling children's books. Study leader Jessica Gladstone, a professor of educational psychology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, said that while parents and educators often use these books to try to spark children's interest in science through exposure to role models, their narratives tend not to support this goal. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-scientists-biographies-demotivate-children-science.html Social Sciences Tue, 28 Jul 2026 18:20:07 EDT news704474581 A puzzle that can tell players how fast they think on their feet has been developed by a University of Leeds researcher. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-psychologist-puzzle-fast.html Social Sciences Tue, 28 Jul 2026 07:40:02 EDT news704442961 School cellphone bans might seem like a good way to improve learning for elementary school children, but new research published in Behavioral Sciences shows that simply owning a cellphone correlates with worse reading comprehension. Whether a child brings the phone to school made no difference in reading comprehension, the team of UCLA psychologists and researchers found. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-kids-cellphones-poorer-comprehension-scores.html Social Sciences Mon, 27 Jul 2026 18:50:01 EDT news704390462 A learner stands in a room with a bottle, a cup and a book. The task is to figure out, step by step, where each object belongs in the room. Under the table? Or perhaps on the chair? A humanoid robot gives the instructions—but in Swahili, a language the learner does not know. To solve the puzzle, the learner must gradually decipher what the robot is saying. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-robot.html Social Sciences Fri, 24 Jul 2026 16:00:02 EDT news704120005 Early-career funding has a bigger impact on women than men when it comes to their careers in science, according to a new study from City St George's, University of London. While the study found that successful applicants in both groups secure more future research funding than unsuccessful applicants, it also found that successful female applicants receive more citations and are cited more often in their field than female applicants who did not receive funding. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-early-career-funding-scientific-citations.html Economics & Business Mon, 20 Jul 2026 17:20:01 EDT news703781521 The worry of becoming stupid isn't new; it dates back to the time of the Greek philosopher Socrates, who insisted that writing would destroy memory and weaken the mind. Then came calculators, GPS and computers, all of which again raised concerns that we might forget basic mental skills and lose the battle against cognitive offloading. Cognitive offloading is the act of reducing mental effort by using external tools or aids to handle tasks that have historically relied solely on memory or internal processing. A similar sentiment is being observed with the advent of AI. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ai-stupid-weaken-skills-built.html Mathematics Mon, 20 Jul 2026 11:10:01 EDT news703760650 Studies published in prestigious academic journals receive more attention from scholars and media outlets, shaping public discourse and potentially accelerating academic careers. While the path to publication is often murky, a new analysis of more than 110,000 papers submitted to Science and Science Advances—two leading journals published by the world's largest general science association—reveals that Western scientists, larger teams, top-ranked universities and select regions have slight advantages in acceptance rates. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-reveals-editorial-trends-science-journals.html Education Wed, 15 Jul 2026 14:00:30 EDT news703325741 Scientists from prestigious universities and large research groups are significantly more likely to have their research published in general-interest, top-tier scientific journals. Meanwhile, authors based in China and those studying politics, economics, gender or other social issues face a significant disadvantage. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-analysis-prestige-topic-published.html Social Sciences Wed, 15 Jul 2026 14:00:01 EDT news703318133 Imagine opening a difficult book in a quiet room. The first page is dense. You read one paragraph, then reread it. Nothing "clicks" yet. Your brain is doing what learning often requires: spending effort before the reward arrives. Then your phone lights up. One thumb movement, and the situation changes completely. A joke, a message, a clip, a tiny social reward: all available instantly, all requiring almost no effort. The book has not become harder and, definitely, your intelligence has not disappeared. But the book now feels more expensive, because another activity nearby offers a much better bargain: reward now, effort almost zero. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-instant-digital-rewards-hard-worthwhile.html Social Sciences Thu, 02 Jul 2026 16:40:01 EDT news702221821 Reading difficulties, like dyslexia, are common and often affect achievement and outcomes during school and later in life. A new study, published in Current Biology, reports that current methods used to test for reading disabilities in young children may be missing a certain subgroup of children whose reading issues stem from visual-processing difficulties. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-language-based-screeners-kids-struggle.html Education Wed, 24 Jun 2026 13:00:01 EDT news701522868 In the minds of many people, math lives in the classroom—on blackboards, in textbooks, and in tests. New research from Amber Simpson, associate professor in the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Educational Leadership at Binghamton University's College of Community and Public Affairs, shows how math is happening all around us, especially at home, and that families don't even realize the role they play in how children experience mathematics. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-math-lesson-children-kitchen-table.html Education Wed, 17 Jun 2026 21:20:02 EDT news700931562 Can your behavior in third grade predict outcomes in high school and beyond? A new study, published in Developmental Psychology, says yes. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-grade-impulses-linked-academic-adulthood.html Education Thu, 11 Jun 2026 19:00:03 EDT news700414921 A dribble and a jump shot, followed by a fractions task. That is what physical education classes looked like for a group of pupils, and the pupils not only found the lessons more engaging than usual—they also became better at mathematics with a basketball in their hands, according to a new study from the University of Copenhagen. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-basketball-mathematics-children-boost-math.html Mathematics Wed, 10 Jun 2026 12:40:04 EDT news700308601 A major new study led by researchers at Queen Mary University of London has revealed that noncognitive skills—such as motivation, curiosity, academic interest and self-belief—play a key role in translating children's genetic dispositions into academic achievement. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-children-attitudes-play-key-role.html Education Tue, 09 Jun 2026 15:40:05 EDT news700233370 Recent technological advances and the introduction of new digital media platforms have dramatically changed how people learn and source information about topics that interest them. Some recent studies have found that while browsing online or scrolling down social media platforms, users tend to spend under one minute on average on individual videos. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-short-videos-hinder-fragmenting-attention.html Education Thu, 04 Jun 2026 08:40:04 EDT news699715452