https://phys.org/science-news/ en-us The latest science news on archaeology, fossils, mathematics, and science technology from Phys.org Gender differences in poverty rates in the United States may be associated with women's differing circumstances—particularly the burden of dependent children—rather than inherent to gender itself, according to a study published in PLOS One by Patti Fisher of Virginia Tech, U.S. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-childcare-burden-gender-gap-poverty.html Social Sciences Wed, 11 Mar 2026 14:00:13 EDT news692367481 Humans perceive emotional expressions displayed by non-human primates and spontaneously mimic these expressions, according to a study published in the open-access journal PLOS One by Ursula Hess from Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany, and colleagues. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-primate-reveal-empathy-humans-mirror.html Social Sciences Wed, 11 Mar 2026 14:00:10 EDT news692353105 In a new analysis, racial and ethnic disparities in fatal shootings of U.S. residents by police varied widely between states. Roland Neil of the RAND Corporation in California, U.S., and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS One. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-racialethnic-disparities-people-fatally-shot.html Social Sciences Wed, 11 Mar 2026 14:00:07 EDT news692354766 The news media is shaping reproductive narratives and stigma around childlessness, presenting it as a threat to national interests, a deviation from moral or cultural norms, as a risk and, sometimes, as a legitimate life path. In an article published in PLOS Global Public Health, Julia Schröders of Umeå University, Sweden, and colleagues, conclude that understanding these narratives will allow the development of media literacy initiatives to destigmatize and support more equitable health communication. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-news-media-representations-contribute-stigma.html Social Sciences Wed, 11 Mar 2026 14:00:06 EDT news692354764 Employment can be a powerful gateway to independence, dignity, and belonging. Yet for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), that gateway remains limited. Although work supports better health, social connection, and a sense of purpose, only about 15% of individuals with IDD are employed in competitive, integrated work settings. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-augmented-reality-job-boosts-people.html Economics & Business Wed, 11 Mar 2026 13:40:01 EDT news692444443 The climate measures currently in place are unlikely to meet Paris Climate Agreement targets. Whether further political measures can move us closer to the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees and combating climate change depends heavily on public opinion and political support. Researchers at ETH Zurich led by Keith Smith, Senior Researcher in Professor Thomas Bernauer's research group, conducted a large-scale survey across 13 EU countries to find out which measures are publicly and politically acceptable, and why. Their findings are published in Nature Climate Change. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-climate-policies-voters-fate.html Political science Wed, 11 Mar 2026 11:20:03 EDT news692442241 The growing paleopathological literature shows that scurvy was not a rare problem among people living in the ancient Asia-Pacific tropics. Scurvy is increasingly identified throughout the region, primarily in children but also in adults. In a study published in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, Dr. Chloe Boucher and her colleagues conducted a follow-up paleopathological study of a young adult male from the Philippines' Metal Period (~2000–1800 BP), previously identified as having suffered from hip ankylosis. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-ancient-filipino-skeleton-reveals-rare.html Archaeology Wed, 11 Mar 2026 10:20:03 EDT news692440099 Going vegan is a life-changing decision. Successfully committing to eating only ethically sourced, non-exploitative products—no dairy, no honey, no eggs, no animal output of any kind—can be daunting, especially in a society where most people are omnivorous. Foregoing meat and other animal products purely for ethical reasons can cause tension between vegans and their friends, families, partners, businesses and even other vegans. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-vegans-complex-skills-omnivorous-society.html Social Sciences Tue, 10 Mar 2026 22:10:03 EDT news692363011 When considering the challenges faced by children with developmental language disorder (DLD), it's natural to think of difficulties they have in understanding and using language. What tends to get overlooked, however, is how the disorder impacts how their functioning in society. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-language-difficulties-hinder-young-children.html Social Sciences Tue, 10 Mar 2026 18:40:01 EDT news692357629 When the first case of COVID-19 in the U.S. emerged in January 2020, many Americans began to confront the reality of death. Six years later, researchers at the University of Florida and Hanyang University in South Korea are revealing how people's sense of their own mortality during the pandemic influenced whether they traveled within their local communities. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-city-country-thoughts-death-choices.html Social Sciences Tue, 10 Mar 2026 18:20:06 EDT news692354327 Texas busing programs that transported newly arrived immigrants to Democratic-led cities boosted President Donald Trump's vote share in affected counties during the 2024 election, according to a new study from the USC Price School of Public Policy and the University of North Texas. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-texas-controversial-migrant-busing-voting.html Social Sciences Tue, 10 Mar 2026 17:20:01 EDT news692380801 Playing a virtual reality game can increase a person's sense of altruism and influence levels of empathy, according to a new study from University of Oregon researchers. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-virtual-reality-games-player-desire.html Social Sciences Tue, 10 Mar 2026 17:10:06 EDT news692354342 For some children, everyday demands such as "brush your teeth" or "time to get off of your computer game," can trigger intense anxiety and extreme resistance. When this type of response affects everyday life, it may fit into the pattern of behavior known as pathological demand avoidance, or PDA. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-child-pathological-demand.html Social Sciences Tue, 10 Mar 2026 15:50:01 EDT news692357828 The use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools, spearheaded by generative AI, is expanding into various spheres of society, including the labor market. A study conducted by the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) and published as open access has examined the occupational health and safety implications of this technology. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-chatbots-lines-impact-ai-workplace.html Economics & Business Tue, 10 Mar 2026 15:10:01 EDT news692373541 David Cutler is in the spotlight for his work on a tasty-sounding mathematics problem. In January, the New York Times featured a research paper authored by Cutler and Neil Sloane, the founder of The On-line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences. Titled "Cutting a Pancake with an Exotic Knife," the paper explores the "lazy caterer problem," or how to cut a pancake or other circular object into the most pieces with the fewest cuts. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-student-fresh-solutions-pancake-problem.html Mathematics Tue, 10 Mar 2026 14:20:01 EDT news692362537 A research team led by a CNRS researcher has for the first time accurately determined the age of the cave paintings at Font-de-Gaume (Les Eyzies) in Dordogne (southwestern France), according to a study published on March 9, 2026, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-absolute-dating-paleolithic-dordogne.html Archaeology Tue, 10 Mar 2026 13:40:04 EDT news692362521 Companies risk being criticized as hypocritical when their words and deeds don't match—even if those discrepancies are decades apart, Cornell-led research finds. In a series of studies involving nearly 5,000 participants, real and fictional organizations were deemed hypocritical for inconsistencies separated by more than a half-century—if, for example, they accepted a government bailout in 2008 after having opposed bailouts in the 1960s. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-distant-expose-companies-hypocrisy.html Social Sciences Tue, 10 Mar 2026 12:40:01 EDT news692363391 The tongue-in-cheek Ig Nobel awards will be held in Europe for the first time this year because the United States has become "unsafe" for international prize-winners to visit, the organizers have announced. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-ig-nobel-prizes-europe-unsafe.html Other Tue, 10 Mar 2026 12:20:04 EDT news692363166 Sports betting continues to explode across the country. Online gambling platforms have become mainstream, are heavily marketed by celebrities and star athletes—and increasingly popular among young adults. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-madness-storm.html Social Sciences Tue, 10 Mar 2026 12:10:06 EDT news692362990 New analysis of ancient parrot DNA has revealed that vibrant Amazonian parrots were transported alive across the Andes to coastal Peru centuries before the Inca Empire, highlighting a sophisticated pre-Inca, long-distance trade network spanning rainforest, highlands and deserts. The international team of researchers, including scientists from The Australian National University (ANU), analyzed parrot feathers that were discovered at Pachacamac, Peru—one of the preeminent religious centers of the Andean civilization—far outside the birds' native rainforest range. The research is published in Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-ancient-parrot-dna-reveals-sophisticated.html Archaeology Tue, 10 Mar 2026 12:00:07 EDT news692293141 High temperatures have long been empirically linked to violence, conflict, and aggression at the societal level—a troubling pattern in a warming world. Alessandra Cassar and colleagues sought to explore the effect of high heat on individual egalitarianism, resource maximization, selfishness, spite, and competitiveness. The study is published in PNAS Nexus. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-prosociality.html Social Sciences Tue, 10 Mar 2026 10:20:03 EDT news692356262 Does modernization—economic growth, technological advancement, globalization, increased education, and urbanization—reduce cultural differences? Conventional wisdom suggests that as nations get richer and more educated, a globalized, modern culture emerges featuring low birth rates, high divorce rates, and an overall focus on the individual. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-modernization-differences-cultures.html Social Sciences Tue, 10 Mar 2026 10:10:02 EDT news692356081 When choosing an education or job, your choice is not only based on skills and opportunities. Your personality plays a notable role, too—and according to new research, certain traits can cause you to disregard certain types of work. This is also true for people who score high on the so-called Dark Factor of Personality (D), which represents one's tendency to put one's own interests above those of others, e.g., via using aggressiveness, cheating, or manipulation as a means to that end. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-dark-personality-people-job-chosen.html Social Sciences Tue, 10 Mar 2026 10:00:03 EDT news692355016 A study led by McKenna Litynski, a Ph.D. graduate in anthropology and adjunct assistant professor at the University of Wyoming, confirms that ancient needles and awls enabled humans to survive in cold climates and shows these tools served a variety of purposes beyond clothing production, from medicine to ceremony. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-ancient-needles-awls-survival-medicine.html Archaeology Tue, 10 Mar 2026 09:20:01 EDT news692350681 Indigenous people in the United States are at higher risk of fatal police violence in and around American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN) reservations, according to the first comprehensive national study on the subject from researchers at Drexel University's Dornsife School of Public Health and the University of Washington. The study, using data on the 203 AIAN people killed by police from 2013 through 2024, is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The authors hope this work will inform policy action to better protect these communities. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-indigenous-peoples-higher-fatal-police.html Social Sciences Mon, 09 Mar 2026 19:40:02 EDT news692291521 Who among us hasn't put off doing something we know we need to do while scrolling through just a few more TikToks, Instagram reels or YouTube shorts? New research from the William Allen White School of Journalism & Mass Communications at the University of Kansas has found that college students with lower self-control, stronger habitual short-form video use and who tended to use them to escape and fulfill the need to belong were prone to procrastinating via such short clips. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-students-tend-procrastinate-short-video.html Education Mon, 09 Mar 2026 14:00:04 EDT news692281981 Teenagers who use social media more frequently may show slightly higher empathy, according to a new meta-analysis by researchers at Georgia State University. The study, a systematic review published in the Journal of Adolescence, analyzed data from 13 studies involving more than 10,000 adolescents with an average age of about 16. It found a small positive association between social media use and overall empathy. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-experts-idea-social-media-teen.html Social Sciences Mon, 09 Mar 2026 13:50:02 EDT news692281861 For many coffee drinkers, choosing milk for their coffee shop order often involves navigating a growing list of choices, each carrying different expectations around taste, digestibility, cost, and more. A new study in the Journal of Dairy Science provides a closer examination of how consumers make these decisions, investigating what drives the choice between dairy milk and plant-based milk alternatives in coffee, as well as how the availability of lactose-free dairy milk influences those preferences. The results reveal that the coffee shop market has a potentially underserved group of consumers who might prefer lactose-free milk in their drink orders—and would visit coffee shops more if it were available. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-lactose-free-opportunity-boost-dairy.html Economics & Business Mon, 09 Mar 2026 13:40:02 EDT news692281561 A new study from researchers at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill finds that middle and high school students spend nearly one-third of the school day on their smartphones, checking them dozens of times, often for social media and entertainment, with frequent checking linked to weaker attention and impulse control. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-teens-school-day-smartphones-frequent.html Education Mon, 09 Mar 2026 11:00:05 EDT news692017561 A page long believed to have been lost from the Archimedes Palimpsest, one of the most important surviving manuscripts of antiquity, has been identified at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Blois, central France, by a CNRS researcher. Initial analysis confirms that the page corresponds to page 123 of the Palimpsest and contains a passage from Archimedes' treatise "On the Sphere and the Cylinder," Book I, Propositions 39 to 41. The discovery is presented in an appearing in Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-lost-page-archimedes-palimpsest-blois.html Archaeology Mon, 09 Mar 2026 10:40:03 EDT news692268829