https://phys.org/science-news/ en-us The latest science news on archaeology, fossils, mathematics, and science technology from Phys.org Many New York City eighth-graders—particularly those from underserved communities—aren't applying to academically competitive high schools where they could succeed, according to new Cornell research. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-nyc-students-aim-higher-high.html Education Tue, 18 Aug 2026 19:40:02 EDT news706284372 Researchers at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, examined the ideological stance of large language models—artificial intelligence systems trained to understand and generate human language—and discovered that when informed of a user's political views, they tend to mirror those views. According to the researchers, this behavior could exacerbate political polarization in Brazil. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-artificial-intelligence-ideological-chameleon-deepen.html Social Sciences Tue, 18 Aug 2026 19:30:01 EDT news706293961 Work intensity is significantly higher under poor line managers, according to new research led by Bayes Business School (City St George's, University of London) that could have strong implications for global occupational health and productivity. The study is published in the Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-links-bad-bosses-greater-intensity.html Economics & Business Tue, 18 Aug 2026 19:10:03 EDT news706293241 The Canadian government recently introduced AI for All, a national artificial intelligence strategy that has two focuses: building trust and creating opportunity. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-canada-ai-strategy.html Education Tue, 18 Aug 2026 18:20:03 EDT news706277402 A new study shows that fewer children had encounters with the U.S. child welfare system in the years before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and that this decline continued over the following years. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-covid-children-likelihood-contact-child.html Social Sciences Tue, 18 Aug 2026 18:00:01 EDT news706276201 You've heard of gig workers, freelancers and temporary employees. But do you know about marginal workers? Accounting for about one in six U.S. jobs, it's a huge category of people who are going nowhere fast in the workplace—and don't really have much say about that. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-employees-left-margins.html Social Sciences Tue, 18 Aug 2026 17:50:03 EDT news706292581 A new study found that people's beliefs about the harmfulness of an illegal substance are stronger predictors of support for both punishment and court-mandated treatment than beliefs about who is to blame. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-drug-policies-communicate-safety-user.html Social Sciences Tue, 18 Aug 2026 17:40:03 EDT news706276142 Workplace conflict has played a foundational role in theories about how people interact on the job. In a recent paper, researchers developed a new measure of how conflict is expressed among workers that highlights how the ways individuals voice their dissent vary in terms of oppositional intensity and directness. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-workplace-conflict-team.html Social Sciences Tue, 18 Aug 2026 17:20:01 EDT news706276081 The Australian state of Victoria was due to enforce a legal right to work from home starting in September 2026. But just weeks away from its implementation, the new premier, Ben Carroll, announced a year's delay in response to fierce business opposition. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-home-reward.html Economics & Business Tue, 18 Aug 2026 16:20:09 EDT news706273741 Artificial intelligence can develop solutions that humans would be unlikely to discover on their own. But what happens when machines do more than solve individual problems and actually discover entirely new solution strategies? And can such discoveries become part of human knowledge? https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ai-discoveries-human-cultural-evolution.html Social Sciences Tue, 18 Aug 2026 15:30:03 EDT news706283281 Right-leaning Canadians' trust in the bodies that manage Canadian elections has declined significantly since 2019, a McGill-led research team has found. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-canadians-canada-electoral.html Political science Tue, 18 Aug 2026 15:20:02 EDT news706271701 Economists have long used measures of public sentiment about the economy to forecast a wide range of key financial outcomes, like consumer spending and gross domestic product growth. Now, researchers at Penn State, Florida International University, the University of Cincinnati and California State University, Fresno, have used an artificial intelligence-driven approach that analyzes media coverage data and uncovered a significant connection between the public's perception of the economy and hedge fund returns. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-qa-media-coverage-sentiment-hedge.html Economics & Business Tue, 18 Aug 2026 15:00:03 EDT news706271522 Universities are increasingly turning to oral exams to stop students from using artificial intelligence (AI) to cheat. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-oral-exams-comeback-ai-problems.html Education Tue, 18 Aug 2026 13:40:11 EDT news706267142 New research led by University College Dublin has rewritten a key chapter in Irish prehistory, revealing that bones long thought to mark the beginning of farming in Ireland belong to bear and wild boar, not cattle. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-bone-analysis-held-theory-farming.html Archaeology Tue, 18 Aug 2026 12:20:07 EDT news706264981 Young people who have lived in public housing for at least 10 years are significantly less likely to commit crimes or become victims of crime than their peers in the general population, a study by researchers from the University of Otago, Wellington—Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka, Pōneke found. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-young-people-housing-involved-crime.html Social Sciences Tue, 18 Aug 2026 12:00:10 EDT news706264441 A practitioner article published in the SMS Explorer, "AI Will Help Formulate Strategy, But Should Never Finish It," by Michael Olenick challenges a growing assumption in the business world: that generative AI can take strategy off executives' plates. As AI tools grow more capable, the debate has shifted from whether AI can contribute to strategy to whether it should lead it. Olenick, drawing on more than two decades of AI-aided strategy research, argues it should not—and explains precisely where the line must be drawn. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ai-strategy.html Economics & Business Tue, 18 Aug 2026 11:40:09 EDT news706264021 Following another series of alleged killings of women across Australia, the country has once again found itself asking familiar questions: How many more women have to die before we act? What more should governments do? Why does this violence keep happening? https://phys.org/news/2026-08-boys-rarely-taught-domestic-violence.html Social Sciences Tue, 18 Aug 2026 11:20:07 EDT news706263962 Looksmaxxing, fibermaxxing, proteinmaxxing, T-maxxing. There are so many TikTok trends that promise to optimize our lives. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-young-men-voicemaxxing-women.html Social Sciences Tue, 18 Aug 2026 11:00:10 EDT news706263602 In Korean, the term "aegyo" denotes a playful cuteness put on by adults to win someone's affection, typically in romantic contexts. This is usually accomplished with bashful expressions or a childlike manner of speaking sometimes known as "baby talk" in Western cultures. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-korean-aegyo-speech-cute-adults.html Social Sciences Tue, 18 Aug 2026 11:00:04 EDT news706202762 From wall-mounted smartphone docks to old-fashioned coiled-phone handsets, a growing trend for retro phone accessories may be a sign that many people are looking for ways to create distance from their smartphones. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-retro-trend-reveals-desire-disconnect.html Social Sciences Tue, 18 Aug 2026 10:20:08 EDT news706263062 Simultaneous belief in logically incompatible claims is linked to conspiratorial thinking, according to a study that models belief using a Bayesian framework. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-link-incoherent-beliefs-conspiracism.html Political science Tue, 18 Aug 2026 10:00:08 EDT news706262762 A baby sits on the floor and reaches toward a red ball on the floor and grunts. The mother responds, "Do you see the ball?" She picks it up, holds it in front of the baby and says, "Do you want to hold the ball?" The baby shrieks in excitement as the mother hands the ball to the baby. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-caregivers-agents-infants-interactions-differ.html Social Sciences Tue, 18 Aug 2026 08:20:01 EDT news706255682 Going back to school can be an exciting time for students from elementary school through college, whether it's finding the perfect outfit to wear on the first day, returning to campus or filling a chalkboard with career dreams. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-school-stress-doesnt.html Social Sciences Tue, 18 Aug 2026 07:20:03 EDT news706252382 The Theban Necropolis, opposite Luxor, consists of more than 400 tombs. In a new Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology study, researchers in Spain examined part of one of these tombs—chamber three in tomb TT 209—to reconstruct how this burial space was used and reused between its construction during the Twenty-fifth Dynasty (754–656 BCE) and the Ptolemaic period (305–30 BCE), when it was abandoned. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ancient-egyptian-tomb-burial-trends.html Archaeology Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:01 EDT news705920701 People's ability to successfully navigate career changes depends on their adaptability and flexibility—skills that can be developed through training transition "muscles," according to Sarah Wittman, assistant professor of management at Costello College of Business and of industrial-organizational psychology (by courtesy) at George Mason University. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-career-chaotic-based-workout-routine.html Social Sciences Mon, 17 Aug 2026 23:20:02 EDT news706193485 Research in the International Journal of Business Information Systems discusses a sector-specific framework to help telecommunications companies assess how effectively they use big data. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-telecoms-action-dimension-readiness.html Economics & Business Mon, 17 Aug 2026 21:00:02 EDT news706179619 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 Students around the world are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT to find answers to questions about physics, according to a new study led by researchers at Bar-Ilan University. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-google-chatgpt-physics-students-conversational.html Education Mon, 17 Aug 2026 16:40:01 EDT news706193532 It took nearly 15 years, researchers around the world and enough computing power to search through a universe of possibilities to answer one question: Who goes first? https://phys.org/news/2026-08-dice-board-gaming-complex-problem.html Mathematics Mon, 17 Aug 2026 16:20:01 EDT news706188830 Flinders University researchers examined AOD VET provision in Australia in 2024, comparing it with a 2011 review, and found there has been a contraction in programs despite a major increase in the share of private providers—while demand for qualified support workers continues to increase. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-opportunities-alcohol-drug-staff.html Economics & Business Mon, 17 Aug 2026 16:00:03 EDT news706191422