https://phys.org/ en-us Latest news from Stanford University Researchers have developed a volcanic rock formula that cuts carbon emissions by 67%, potentially offering an affordable alternative to increasingly scarce cement additives. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-volcanic-formula-cement-emissions-thirds.html Engineering Thu, 09 Apr 2026 13:10:01 EDT news694957125 As warming temperatures spread dengue to new regions, Stanford researchers are using AI-powered drones to hunt down hidden mosquito breeding sites. Anyone who has left water standing in a wading pool or empty flower pot knows how quickly mosquitoes arrive. But these backyard nuisances can spawn serious diseases: dengue, chikungunya, and Zika are all transmitted by mosquitoes breeding in water that collects in shallow containers. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-drones-ai-flight-combat-mosquito.html Wed, 08 Apr 2026 11:20:02 EDT news694861202 A new map of a brain circuit specific to chronic pain suggests a promising route to treatment for the roughly 60 million Americans living with persistent pain, according to a study published in Nature. The study showed that silencing the specific cells that drive this circuit eased chronic pain while preserving acute pain responses—in other words, the body's ability to signal danger. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-newly-chronic-pain-circuit-pathways.html Wed, 01 Apr 2026 15:20:07 EDT news694272601 The Artemis II mission launches this week as a first step toward returning to the moon and reaching Mars. Materials scientist Debbie Senesky explains the material tech that makes these missions possible. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-astronauts-safe-deep-space.html Space Exploration Wed, 01 Apr 2026 11:20:01 EDT news694258378 James Zou is a computer scientist at Stanford University who has been exploring how large language models (LLMs) can assist scientific peer review—and more broadly, how AI agents might accelerate research. It is a provocative topic in the scientific community and an important one to wrestle with as AI's capabilities grow. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-03-exploring-ai-role-scientific-peer.html Machine learning & AI Tue, 31 Mar 2026 10:10:01 EDT news694169330 A Stanford study shows that jail-based hepatitis C programs could cut new infections by nearly half among people who inject drugs, potentially providing a major boost to lagging U.S. efforts to meet national hepatitis C elimination goals. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-based-hepatitis-infections.html Mon, 30 Mar 2026 12:00:11 EDT news694089452 A new Stanford University study has helped solve a mystery about dramatic swings in sea ice extent around Antarctica. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-antarctic-sea-ice-growth-sudden.html Earth Sciences Sat, 28 Mar 2026 07:00:01 EDT news693896147 Protein-maxxing—the social media-fueled trend of maximizing dietary protein at every opportunity—is showing no sign of slowing. That's in part because the federal government has weighed in with nutrition guidelines that emphasize the consumption of meat and dairy and an increase in the recommended dietary allowance of protein by 50% to 100% over the previous RDA. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-qa-protein.html Fri, 27 Mar 2026 11:00:05 EDT news693826141 In a new study published in Science, Stanford computer scientists showed that artificial intelligence large language models are overly agreeable, or sycophantic, when users solicit advice on interpersonal dilemmas. Even when users described harmful or illegal behavior, the models often affirmed their choices. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-03-ai-overly-affirms-users-personal.html Consumer & Gadgets Thu, 26 Mar 2026 14:00:18 EDT news693667021 The economic damage yet to come from carbon dioxide emitted decades ago far exceeds the harm it has wrought so far, according to a new Stanford University study. The research, published in Nature, puts a dollar value on the harm done to individual nations and the world by carbon dioxide emitted over time by countries and major companies. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-co8322-emissions-bigger-future-economic.html Environment Wed, 25 Mar 2026 12:00:05 EDT news693648541 Jack Welch, the legendary General Electric CEO, was infamous for firing the bottom 10% of his workforce every year, without exception. The company's market cap rose substantially during Welch's tenure, but his "rank and yank" ritual was divisive. If you knew your job was always on the line, the logic went, you would push harder and generate results. Yet what did this approach do to the employees who had to constantly compete with each other to keep their jobs? https://phys.org/news/2026-03-cooperative-workplaces-boost-freedom.html Social Sciences Tue, 24 Mar 2026 14:40:08 EDT news693573181 What if AI could predict the next financial meltdown? Sounds like a promising idea, yet as new research finds, the devil is in the details. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-ai-financial-crisis.html Economics & Business Tue, 24 Mar 2026 10:20:07 EDT news693565836 Proteins, one of the smallest building blocks of life on Earth, hold promise for answering some of biology's biggest questions. Consisting of amino acids strung together into peptide chains, these molecules perform much of the work inside living cells. While they execute life's most essential functions with apparent ease, decoding their precise sequence and structure has long been one of biology's hardest challenges. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-protein-sequencing-advance-insights-life.html Biotechnology Wed, 18 Mar 2026 06:00:03 EDT news692980021 Diseases historically absent from the United States have been showing up in Florida, Texas, California and other U.S. states in recent years. To understand why, look to Peru. That's where researchers from Stanford and other institutions analyzed the connection between a cyclone and a massive outbreak of dengue fever, a mosquito-borne viral disease that can cause fever, rash, and life-threatening symptoms like hemorrhage and shock. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-warmer-wetter-cyclone-weather-peru.html Environment Tue, 17 Mar 2026 11:00:07 EDT news692867488 Geneticist Anne Brunet explores what aging really is, how lifestyle choices might influence longevity, and the promising frontiers of aging research. Aging is a process that affects us all. But how many of us can clearly define what happens in our bodies when we age? For an inevitable and universal experience, it's shockingly mysterious. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-science-aging-qa-geneticist.html Tue, 17 Mar 2026 08:10:08 EDT news692952962 Stanford Medicine pediatric hematologist Agnieszka Czechowicz, MD, Ph.D., has devoted her research career to improving treatments for rare blood disorders. She's an expert in Fanconi anemia, a genetic disease that interferes with DNA repair and blood cell production. By age 12, most people with the disease experience a life-threatening complication called bone marrow failure, in which the body's blood-cell factory stops functioning. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-prenatal-stem-cell-treatment-rare.html Fri, 13 Mar 2026 12:30:02 EDT news692613621 Surprise parties. Marriage proposals. Sports upsets. Bank collapses. Military sneak attacks. Why do some unexpected events catch us completely off guard while others don't? For years, political scientists, security analysts, and financial gurus have tried to understand how information can be used to forecast what comes next and, through post-mortems, diagnose why certain predictions fail. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-style-amplify.html Fri, 13 Mar 2026 10:20:07 EDT news692613317 By midlife, an animal's everyday behaviors can signal how long it is likely to live. That is the striking conclusion of a new study in which researchers put scores of short-lived fish under continuous, lifelong surveillance to explore how behavior and aging are linked. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-lifetime-motion-reveals-architecture-aging.html Thu, 12 Mar 2026 14:00:08 EDT news692522662 As tech giants race to power AI data centers and extreme weather becomes more frequent, America's electrical grid is straining under conditions it was not built to handle. Alice Hill, senior director for resilience policy on the National Security Council during the Obama administration, has a message for business leaders and policymakers: prepare now. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-03-qa-ai-era-america-energy.html Energy & Green Tech Wed, 11 Mar 2026 17:20:07 EDT news692467861 The conversation around AI and art generally swings between two extremes: a flood of AI slop or the total automation of creative work. The more desirable approach may be an AI that behaves as a useful collaborator. But thus far, visual artists working with text-to-image tools confront frustrating basic hurdles in their abilities to direct AI. Ask an AI to create an image of a house? Not too difficult. Direct it to make the house red, with four front-facing windows, a chimney, and ivy covering the left side? Good luck. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-03-ai-artists-creative-ground.html Machine learning & AI Wed, 11 Mar 2026 11:50:01 EDT news692448397 A Stanford study shows simple digital prompts can motivate people taking GLP-1 medications to make lifestyle changes. It's a simple premise: What if something as small as a digital nudge could put someone on the path to healthier habits while taking GLP-1 medications? https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-qa-small-glp-users-healthier.html Wed, 11 Mar 2026 11:40:03 EDT news692447702 By 2050, up to half the world's urban population will face water scarcity. A new model of water supply, demand, and policies in a drought-prone city of 7 million in India shows how policies could prevent the poor from bearing the heaviest burden. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-path-fast-cities.html Earth Sciences Wed, 11 Mar 2026 05:02:56 EDT news692424124 Numerous sensors allow smartphones to silently witness everything we do, says Ian Kim, a postdoctoral fellow in psychology at Stanford University. They count each smartphone owner's steps, measure their sleep, record where they are, log their every tap, swipe, and scroll, recognize their faces, and capture screenshots of what they're looking at as they go about their lives. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-source-privacy-focused-platform-aims.html Fri, 06 Mar 2026 16:40:03 EST news692025121 A Stanford Law report reveals California's inadequate monitoring of dairies and feedlots, highlighting the need for stronger regulatory enforcement to protect groundwater quality and community health. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-oversight-failures-california-dairies.html Environment Fri, 06 Mar 2026 15:00:02 EST news692019991 After decades of intense research, surprises in the realm of semiconductors—materials used in microchips to control electrical currents—are few and far between. But with a pair of published papers, materials engineers at Stanford University debut a promising approach to using a well-studied semiconductor to improve infrared light-emitting diodes and sensors. They say the approach could lead to smaller, sleeker, and less expensive infrared technologies for environmental, medical, and industrial uses. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-infrared-devices-century-materials.html Condensed Matter Thu, 05 Mar 2026 19:20:01 EST news691948681 Polls consistently show overwhelming support for measures like universal background checks and raising the minimum age for gun purchases. But Congress rarely acts. A new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences helps explain why. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-pro-anti-gun-pac-contributions.html Political science Wed, 04 Mar 2026 16:00:03 EST news691856572 Stanford researchers have combined two microscopy techniques to create a one-of-a-kind instrument that can show cell structures interacting in real time at an unprecedented 120-nanometer resolution—the highest achieved without the use of fluorescent labels. This new "label-free" technology, called Interferometric Image Scanning Microscopy, or iISM, will allow scientists to observe cellular structures in their wider context, including their responses to intrusions, such as pathogens or drugs. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-kind-microscope-reveals-cells-unprecedented.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 04 Mar 2026 15:20:03 EST news691851257 Thousands of companies around the world now regularly disclose aspects of their water use as part of corporate commitments to environmental, social, and governance goals. Yet reliable measures of corporate water withdrawals and discharges—and their impacts on local water quality and ecosystems—have been limited. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-metric-reveals-true-footprint-corporations.html Environment Sat, 28 Feb 2026 09:00:01 EST news691150956 Researchers with the Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience have modified a well-known immune protein to spark the growth of new neurons, ease brain inflammation, and improve cognition in old mice. The findings, published in the journal Immunity, could open new avenues for understanding and treating neurodegenerative diseases in humans. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-immune-therapy-brain-aging.html Neuroscience Tue, 24 Feb 2026 10:40:03 EST news691150801 More extreme weather and shifting growing seasons are putting pressure on school meal programs, which serve nearly half a billion children worldwide. Jennifer Burney, a professor of Earth system science and of environmental social sciences in the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, studies these changes and how they affect children's health and well-being. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-key-facts-climate-school-meal.html Environment Tue, 24 Feb 2026 08:40:05 EST news691142884