https://phys.org/science-news/sci-other/ en-us The latest news on chemistry, math, archaeology, biology, chemistry, mathematics and science technologies. Researchers reported this week a deadly outbreak of plague in Siberia 5,500 years ago, revealing that Yersinia pestis evolved lethal genetic traits far earlier than suspected. A drug developed for heart tissue repair may also help kidney tissue repair and regeneration. And neighborhood socialization opportunities could shape children's brain development. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-saturday-citations-intermittent-fasting-chronic.html Other Sat, 20 Jun 2026 08:20:01 EDT news701085204 A paper on new research into the cause of death of Simonetta Vespucci, model for the world-renowned Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli, has been published by researchers at Queen Mary University of London, Universita Campus Bio-Medico di Roma and the University of California in the journal Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-explanation-mystery-death-botticelli-birth.html Other Tue, 16 Jun 2026 17:30:01 EDT news700844162 This week's notable citations: Astronomers believe collapsing stars could spawn mini universes. Chimpanzees do not like unfairness. And a single dose of psilocybin temporarily restored function in an 80-year-old with Alzheimer's disease. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-saturday-citations-jaxa-collaboration-toy.html Other Sat, 13 Jun 2026 08:20:01 EDT news700486404 A leather bag made from Tyrannosaurus rex cells failed to sell Thursday, the Paris auction house Drouot said, commenting that bids were well below expectations. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-leather-bag-rex-cells-auctioned.html Other Thu, 11 Jun 2026 13:38:08 EDT news700403867 Researchers in Spain and Japan tested a broad range of pedestrians in varying group sizes to see whether there were any patterns in their turning behaviors, and what factors influenced them, if any. It turns out that the vast majority of people prefer counterclockwise turning. Most factors, such as culture or gender, made little difference. Only age showed a noticeable but small change, in that younger people followed this pattern more strongly. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-people-inherent-counterclockwise-motion-reveals.html Other Wed, 10 Jun 2026 05:00:07 EDT news700215182 This week, researchers reported that GLP-1 medications may influence the biology of aging. Hidden meltwater in deep Antarctic coastal waters has a strong climate impact. And a novel prostate cancer treatment reduced risk of disease progression by half in a clinical trial. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-saturday-citations-greenland-sharks-quantum.html Other Sat, 06 Jun 2026 09:00:01 EDT news699879140 Our capacity for innovation, rather than being the work of random variation, is based on an intrinsic understanding of how the world works, claim Karolinska Institutet and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam researchers in a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-people-player.html Other Mon, 01 Jun 2026 17:20:03 EDT news699548667 Highlights from the last week of May, 2026: A key climate tipping point is disrupting the Arctic Ocean food chain (more of a lowlight, I guess). Scuba-diving tourism may not be the benefit to coral reef systems that we once thought, and might actually be unsustainable. And an experimental mRNA vaccine showed promising results against strains of Ebola. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-saturday-citations-failure-cellular-mortality.html Other Sat, 30 May 2026 09:20:02 EDT news699280662 Many of the most exciting discoveries in science involve highly specialized knowledge and making connections between far-flung facts. Scientists must combine deep analysis with broad reasoning strategies. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-ai-scientists-reveal-fundamental-limits.html Other Sun, 24 May 2026 15:00:02 EDT news698500420 John Hammond voice: "Welcome... to Saturday Citations." We're talking about different types of T. rexes today, along with some unwelcome news about cardiovascular health, but this week also brought news about the connection between poor grip strength and depression; scientists have improved knowledge of sea level rise and confirm it's accelerated since 1960; and researchers provided new insights into how the human hand developed from those of our ape-like ancestors. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-saturday-citations-rexes-guidance-scientists.html Other Sat, 23 May 2026 08:50:01 EDT news698671661 This week in science news: Are you a mosquito magnet? Here's why. Researchers using topological mathematics have uncovered a hidden rule in abstract art that corresponds to people's perceptions. And scientists developed a technology to create new electrical connections between specific neurons that could improve resilience to stress. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-saturday-citations-prehistoric-dentistry-aging.html Other Sat, 16 May 2026 09:00:02 EDT news698063559 This week, researchers reported that the human brain is capable of sophisticated language processing while in an unconscious state during general anesthesia. An informatics and computing professor found that the Climate TRACE consortium has underestimated vehicle carbon emissions in cities by a staggering 70%. And archaeologists excavated and photoscanned a prehistoric man-made island located in a Scottish loch. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-saturday-citations-psychedelic-therapeutics-interoception.html Other Sat, 09 May 2026 08:30:02 EDT news697453274 The Pentagon on Friday released a first batch of secret files documenting reported sightings of unidentified flying objects—some dating back to the 1940s—fanning speculation over whether alien life exists. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-flying-discs-orbs-newly-pentagon.html Other Fri, 08 May 2026 13:36:47 EDT news697466184 Researchers at the University of Vermont have uncovered a powerful new insight about how language works—one that overturns a cornerstone assumption in psychology, linguistics, and artificial intelligence that has stood for more than 70 years. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-human-language-deep-safety-bias.html Other Wed, 06 May 2026 14:00:02 EDT news697292341 We're focusing on space news this week, but we did cover the usual amount of local news down here in Earth's gravity well: A new Tokamak reactor regime sustained stable plasma fusion for one full minute. An anomaly in global sea level rise turns out to be due to deep ocean heating. And Chinese researchers report that they found microplastics in every part of both healthy and diseased human brains. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-saturday-citations-spaaa-aaace.html Other Sat, 02 May 2026 09:00:01 EDT news696857370 Artificial intelligence can undoubtedly help scientists with their academic papers by summarizing research and helping to improve writing. However, one downside is that it has led to a wave of poorly written submissions and reviews, according to a new study published in Organization Science. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-journal-ai-academic-publishing-quality.html Other Fri, 01 May 2026 14:40:06 EDT news696849537 This week, researchers reported that malaria influenced population distribution in Africa thousands of years ago. Mathematicians at MIT report that classical physics formulations can explain quantum phenomena. And a study found that electron spin causes mirror-image molecules to behave differently from one another. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-saturday-citations-cruise-ship-pathogen.html Other Sat, 25 Apr 2026 08:50:01 EDT news696250389 Spanish Renaissance master El Greco is often considered one of the greatest painters of all time, and many of his artworks are displayed in galleries around the world. His painting The Baptism of Christ is generally believed by art historians to have been unfinished at the time of his death in 1614 and completed by his son, Jorge Manuel. But new research using AI suggests that the artist may have played more of a role in completing the work than previously thought. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-brushstroke-ai-reopens-centuries-mystery.html Archaeology Mon, 20 Apr 2026 10:35:52 EDT news695900068 People often solve simple arithmetic problems, such as basic addition, subtraction, multiplication or division, in their minds. The precise mental processes they rely on to solve these problems, however, are not entirely clear. Researchers at Université de Bordeaux and UCLouvain recently tried to better understand how humans tackle simple math mentally by tracking the size of their pupils. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-mental-math-shortcut-pupil-dilation.html Mathematics Sat, 18 Apr 2026 13:50:01 EDT news695482943 This week in science news: Researchers are calling to exploit sewage waste and manure to break U.S. synthetic fertilizer dependence. Wasps have begun disrupting the 10-million-year mutualism of ants and plants. And scientists have taken a step toward using CRISPR to silence the extra chromosome in Down syndrome. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-saturday-citations-neuroinflammaging-treatment-stuns.html Other Sat, 18 Apr 2026 09:10:01 EDT news695642585 In an analysis of a video-assisted, pitch-side review of soccer (UK football) referee calls in the English Premier League, referees overturned their original call 95% of the time. However, these decisions had no statistical link to crowd size, the score or quarter when the call was made, or whether the call was regarding the home versus away team. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-referee-decisions-soccer-frequently-overturned.html Other Wed, 15 Apr 2026 14:00:08 EDT news695464857 Happy Saturday! This week, researchers reported on the familiar phenomenon of speeding away from a slower-driving car only to have it catch up at the next traffic light—they've named it Voorhees law, after the well-known movie slasher who always catches up to his victims. A study finds that nonpsychotropic cannabinoid CBD reverses brain damage in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. And scientists are testing methods to regrow joints damaged by arthritis. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-saturday-citations-octopus-behavior-children.html Other Sat, 11 Apr 2026 09:00:02 EDT news695044047 The history of science and technology is marked by major breakthroughs—the theory of evolution, the splitting of the atom, the development of antibiotics—and a research team including faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York, has developed a method to help pinpoint discoveries that reshaped the course of science. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-breakthroughs-science-large-scale-analysis.html Other Wed, 01 Apr 2026 14:00:06 EDT news694194001 Magicians often talk while performing their acts, using a type of speech called "patter." This can include scripted dialog, storytelling, and interactions, and is often used to entertain and manage audiences, with many people—including magicians—believing that it can even misdirect spectators and make sleight-of-hand tricks harder to spot. But does patter actually pull focus and make it difficult for viewers to see what's happening? A new study published in Scientific Reports tests that assumption directly—and the results are surprising. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-magicians-doesnt-eyes-card-monte.html Other Wed, 01 Apr 2026 08:40:01 EDT news694251354 To date, the main role of AI in scientific research has been to assist with narrow tasks such as discovering chemical structures, analyzing data or predicting protein shapes. But now, the technology has broken new ground with a fully AI-generated paper passing peer review at a major machine-learning conference workshop. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-ai-paper-peer.html Other Mon, 30 Mar 2026 13:40:06 EDT news694094745 This week, we learned that across the animal kingdom, sperm cells have a short shelf life. A study implicated autoantibodies in the development of long COVID. And among its other drawbacks, the weedkiller glyphosate may foster the spread of multidrug-resistant bacteria. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-saturday-citations-birthday-cetaceans-quantifying.html Other Sat, 28 Mar 2026 09:00:02 EDT news693831274 This week, among a lot of other important findings, we learned that emperor cichlid fish have gaze sensitivity and dislike it if you look at them—or especially their children. England is looking for a solution to its 5-billion-liter water deficit. And a high-fiber diet isn't only healthy for you—it also benefits your parasitic tapeworms! https://phys.org/news/2026-03-saturday-citations-merging-brown-dwarfs.html Other Sat, 21 Mar 2026 08:30:01 EDT news693226847 Humans really do rule the world. We took over fast and far, more than any other wild vertebrates. We inhabit nearly every corner of the world, and can thrive in deserts, tropical rainforests and even extremely cold climates. But how? Scientists say we did it through not only biological evolution, but another system: cultural evolution. That is what makes us so special. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-humans-planet-role-cultural-evolution.html Other Tue, 17 Mar 2026 17:30:03 EDT news692981821 The More You Know: This week, researchers successfully reconstructed videos from the brain activity of mice. According to a new study, female birds are more likely to sing when their extended families help with childcare. And mathematicians have disproven a decades-old classical geometry rule by constructing two compact, self-contained torus objects that have the same metric and mean curvature but are structurally different on a global scale. So that's neat. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-saturday-citations-neurology-huge-croc.html Other Sat, 14 Mar 2026 09:00:02 EDT news692620799 What we learned this week: Left-handed people may have a psychological edge in competition. Humanoid robots can now do creepy parkour through the uncanny valley. And if you've ever cared for an elderly cat, a new study highlights a biological quirk that could explain why they're so prone to kidney disease. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-saturday-citations-bad-news-footballers.html Other Sat, 07 Mar 2026 08:30:01 EST news692017248