https://phys.org/ en-us Latest news from The Conversation Some people seem naturally tidy. Their keys are always in the same place, clothes make it into the closet, and their kitchen counter remains mysteriously visible. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-messy-person-tidy-doomed.html Social Sciences Wed, 09 Sep 2026 08:20:02 EDT news708154681 Southeast Asia has spent decades trying to tackle haze from forest fires. Yet every few years, the region finds itself breathing it again. The transboundary environmental problem has become a recurrent phenomenon in the region. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-southeast-asia-haze-asean.html Earth Sciences Tue, 08 Sep 2026 22:00:02 EDT news708097457 Squinting through my binoculars, I scanned the dense branches of a black spruce, trying my best to catch a glimpse of the thin legs of a small black, white and yellow songbird. I was on the hunt for a yellow-rumped warbler—a bird affectionately called "butter-butt" by birdwatchers after the distinctive buttery yellow patch of feathers above its tail. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-tiny-backpacks-reveal-secret-circuitous.html Plants & Animals Tue, 08 Sep 2026 21:20:03 EDT news708088155 Across southern Europe, increasingly extreme heat, wildfire and intense rainfall are forcing planners to consider how one event can alter the risk of the next. Portugal's exceptionally wet winter and another summer of wildfire risk are an example of this. As a professor of architecture and climate change adaptation who has been following the cyclical nature of weather extremes in the Pinhal Interior region since the deadly 2017 fires, I explain why prevention must connect forests, settlements, slopes and waterways. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-portugal-pinhal-interior.html Earth Sciences Tue, 08 Sep 2026 18:20:01 EDT news708097681 The work break room can be a place of rest, gossip, fun or recovery. But it can also be a cause for complaint when yesterday's fish dinner becomes a smelly microwaved lunch. For most people, microwaving fish at work is a big no-no. It has even led to armed confrontations. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-microwaving-fish-bad.html Biochemistry Tue, 08 Sep 2026 18:00:05 EDT news708097534 Pregnancy and early motherhood can be challenging under any circumstances for adolescents. But in Kenya, the challenges are huge. Many pregnant and parenting adolescents face stigma, interrupted education, financial hardship, strained family relationships and limited social support. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-simple-group-therapy-depressed-teen.html Tue, 08 Sep 2026 16:40:01 EDT news708097868 Given its speed, scale and scope, the Bundibugyo Ebola virus disease that broke out in the Democratic Republic of Congo in mid-2026 could become a global epidemic. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-drc-ebola-outbreak-potential-global.html Tue, 08 Sep 2026 16:20:04 EDT news708088142 We can all see the huge waste of talent this represents for the young people concerned and society as a whole. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-based-young-peoples-strengths-alleviate.html Education Tue, 08 Sep 2026 16:20:02 EDT news708088134 You may know the feeling. You're supposed to have finished work for the day, but later, during your evening meal, you start mentally preparing for tomorrow's meeting. Or you have a quick check of your emails while you half-watch TV. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-autonomy-paradox-freedom-powerless.html Economics & Business Tue, 08 Sep 2026 15:40:04 EDT news708092582 It has been two decades since Facebook introduced the News Feed—letting loose a world in which algorithms would shape ever more of our lives. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-facebook-news-age-algorithm-years.html Consumer & Gadgets Tue, 08 Sep 2026 15:00:04 EDT news708097501 Children across Europe have returned to school after a summer of extreme heat. As the climate warms, one question is becoming harder to ignore: How can students learn when classrooms become dangerously hot? https://phys.org/news/2026-09-hot-climate-children-chances-birth.html Environment Tue, 08 Sep 2026 14:40:07 EDT news708092521 This summer, you may have wondered why you are seeing so few insects squished on your car's windshield compared with a road trip several years ago. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-squished-insects-windshield.html Ecology Tue, 08 Sep 2026 13:40:03 EDT news708088422 More than 1.4 billion people worldwide live with high blood pressure (hypertension). It's the single biggest metabolic risk factor for early death—driving diseases such as heart attacks, strokes and kidney failure and dementia. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-nuts-day-linked-high-blood.html Tue, 08 Sep 2026 12:20:10 EDT news708088051 Every time you make a phone call, stream a video or connect to Wi-Fi, your device is sending and receiving invisible signals through the air. So are your baby monitor, garage door opener, GPS, weather-monitoring satellites and the radars keeping planes safely apart. All of these rely on the same invisible resource: the radio spectrum. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-ai-ease-competition-scarce-space.html Telecom Tue, 08 Sep 2026 12:00:08 EDT news708087182 For at least two decades, thousands of Americans have been going to Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Brazil to look for ayahuasca, a psychoactive brew traditionally used in sacred ceremonies in South America. Ayahuasca contains the psychedelic compound DMT, N,N-Dimethyltryptamine, and researchers are studying its effects on several conditions, including depression and addiction. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-huachuma-andean-psychedelic-cactus-western.html Tue, 08 Sep 2026 12:00:05 EDT news708086882 For more than a decade, children in Year 6—the final year of elementary school in England—have taken the grammar, punctuation and spelling test as part of their Key Stage 2 Standard Assessment Tests (SATs). This GPS test has shaped how grammar is taught in elementary schools. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-compulsory-grammar-england-schools-children.html Education Tue, 08 Sep 2026 10:40:04 EDT news708075782 Astronauts who undergo long-duration spaceflight aboard the International Space Station often return with health problems that resemble some age-related conditions in people on Earth. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-astronauts-tackle-aging-earth.html Space Exploration Tue, 08 Sep 2026 10:20:08 EDT news708075182 Not so long ago, we thought the ocean was an inexhaustible resource. There would always be plenty more fish in the sea. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-oceans.html Ecology Tue, 08 Sep 2026 09:00:04 EDT news708067741 I spent six days on a small fishing boat in the middle of the English Channel in July trying to catch a thresher shark. The weather was fickle, even at the height of summer. My colleague, ecologist Lucy Hawkes, and I were with two anglers who probably hold more experience of Channel thresher sharks than anyone alive. Between us, we caught nothing. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-anglers-england-sharks.html Plants & Animals Tue, 08 Sep 2026 08:40:03 EDT news708067622 Universities are increasingly introducing artificial intelligence (AI) teaching tools into classrooms. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-students-gain-ai-chatbots-university.html Education Tue, 08 Sep 2026 08:20:03 EDT news708067562 Ovarian cancer has a particularly poor survival rate. Only one in two women will live five years beyond their diagnosis. There is no effective screening test, and symptoms can be hard to spot. This means ovarian cancer is often diagnosed when it is already well advanced. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-fallopian-tubes-ovarian-cancer.html Tue, 08 Sep 2026 08:20:01 EDT news708067801 Several chronic diseases—obesity, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers—have been linked to lifestyles and diets high in calories, based on processed foods and lacking diversity and nutritional value. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-farm-animals-benefit-health.html Plants & Animals Tue, 08 Sep 2026 08:00:08 EDT news708067142 The 2026 Australian pollen season has started, with some people in the eastern states reporting that their hay fever symptoms have begun earlier than normal. Compared with last year, satellite imaging suggests the eastern states have experienced more vegetation growth during late winter and early spring. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-australian-pollen-season-early-eastern.html Tue, 08 Sep 2026 08:00:04 EDT news708067202 The federal government has introduced draft digital duty of care legislation designed to protect Australians from online harms. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-digital-duty-laws-tech-platforms.html Social Sciences Tue, 08 Sep 2026 07:40:02 EDT news708066962 Most of the countryside around the Holnicote estate in Somerset has been dry and dusty for most of the summer. But one corner remains conspicuously green. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-beavers-drought.html Ecology Mon, 07 Sep 2026 22:40:01 EDT news707998621 What if much of what we thought we knew about women's health and fitness was suddenly called into question? https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-big-assumption-women-health-years.html Mon, 07 Sep 2026 20:40:01 EDT news707998604 Crime levels are falling for most offenses across the UK—but the public doesn't necessarily feel safer. It's a human trait to focus on frightening information in the news or on social media—but it could also mean that people are more fearful about crime than they need to be. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-crime-falling-doesnt-safer-uk.html Social Sciences Mon, 07 Sep 2026 20:00:01 EDT news708013920 When you think of conservation in Australia, chances are you'll think of a national park. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-indigenous-areas-vital-nature-australia.html Environment Mon, 07 Sep 2026 19:20:01 EDT news707992894 Meteorologist James Stagg gave what many regard as the most important weather forecast in history in June 1944. The fate of more than 150,000 Allied troops preparing to invade the Normandy beaches on D-Day and the future of the war in Europe depended on Stagg and his forecasting teams. Get the forecast wrong and an already perilous invasion might not succeed, prolonging the war. In the briefing room at Southwick House near Portsmouth, waiting for the forecast, sat General Dwight D. Eisenhower. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-war-drama-pressure-depicts-dday.html Environment Mon, 07 Sep 2026 17:20:01 EDT news707993203 The first five years of life lay an important foundation for children's future schooling, health and earnings. Yet over 77% of children in sub-Saharan Africa don't have access to early childhood care and education. This places them at risk of not reaching their development potential. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-child-years-life-african-explores.html Education Mon, 07 Sep 2026 16:40:01 EDT news708014217