https://phys.org/science-news/sci-other/ en-us The latest news on chemistry, math, archaeology, biology, chemistry, mathematics and science technologies. Fed up with funding restrictions surrounding her research on links between climate change and health, American epidemiologist Sheryl Magzamen has left the United States for Canada. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-canada-eyes-hostile.html Other Wed, 09 Sep 2026 08:40:02 EDT news708154850 Babies smell wonderful—at least to their parents. An international research team of Ilona Croy, Tomasz Frackowiak, Thomas Hummel and Agnieszka Sorokowska investigated why teenagers lose this special olfactory advantage and has now been awarded an Ig Nobel Prize for the research. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-ig-nobel-prize-winners-reveal.html Other Thu, 03 Sep 2026 17:10:06 EDT news707670735 Ten research teams were honored Thursday at a satirical science awards ceremony that was hosted outside the U.S. for the first time due to travel concerns. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-scientists-cockroach-nose-ig-nobel.html Other Thu, 03 Sep 2026 14:47:53 EDT news707665654 Japanese scientist Hideki Shirakawa, co-winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize in chemistry for discovering and developing conductive polymers, has died. He was 90. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-japanese-scientist-shirakawa-winner-nobel.html Other Thu, 03 Sep 2026 12:20:40 EDT news707656814 Walk into a corner of a newsroom somewhere and you can often find it affixed to a bulletin board, perhaps peeking out from behind the coffee pot: the Society of Professional Journalists's Code of Ethics. It's less than a thousand words, fitting neatly on a poster. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-century-journalists-voluntary-ethics-code.html Other Tue, 01 Sep 2026 12:05:44 EDT news707483127 Do you sometimes wish that you had telepathic or other supernormal powers? About 100 years ago, some of the greatest minds in philosophy thought there were people who had such abilities. In fact, they even suggested that perhaps horses and dogs could have them too. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-psychic-horse-clever-hans-science.html Other Thu, 27 Aug 2026 11:00:11 EDT news707042461 Watchdog science journalism has become a fundamental tool to counter scientific malpractice, such as publication fraud, abuse and political and corporate manipulation of science. A study by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) has mapped for the first time the rise of this type of journalism in Ibero-America through interviews with 15 journalists from the region who have investigated prominent cases of bad science. The work, the first to study this practice in the region, has just been published in the journal Media and Communication. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-journalism-key-combating-bad-science.html Other Thu, 13 Aug 2026 12:20:04 EDT news705841336 Skin appearance plays an important role in the perception of age, health and attractiveness. Of course, skin appearance is affected by actual skin condition, but previous research has also found that it is affected by adjacent surfaces (e.g., eyebrows, eyes and lips). https://phys.org/news/2026-08-beauty-contrast-hair-background-skin.html Other Tue, 11 Aug 2026 20:00:01 EDT news705684181 People from different cultural backgrounds are tickled in remarkably similar ways. They laugh, resist and are usually tickled by family members or friends. They are also ticklish in the same body regions. These are among the findings of a study published recently in Nature Human Behaviour by Ziliang Xiong and Konstantina Kilteni of the Donders Institute at Radboud University in collaboration with Karolinska Institutet. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ticklish-cultures-complex.html Other Mon, 10 Aug 2026 13:40:01 EDT news705587401 This week, researchers reported finding nanoplastics in Antarctic soils for the first time, suggesting they were delivered via long-range atmospheric transport. A study associates the use of hormonal birth control with the risk of brain tumors. And researchers developed a new drug against metastatic prostate cancer using human proteins. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-saturday-citations-blue-zone-longevity.html Other Sat, 11 Jul 2026 09:00:04 EDT news702889645 More than half of publicly accessible restrooms in key areas of Atlanta are unavailable to the public, according to a new study by researchers at the Georgia State University School of Public Health. The consequences of inadequate public sanitation are more than just an inconvenience, said Assistant Professor April Ballard, who co-leads the school's Center on Health and Homelessness. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-atlanta-restrooms-inaccessible.html Other Tue, 07 Jul 2026 17:00:04 EDT news702647599 Howdy, pards, here's a quick roundup of the week's science news: Moose, previously thought to be a transplanted species, are actually native to Colorado. A digital twin of a two-year-old child's brain revealed neural signatures linked to autism. And a new gel treatment for severed spinal cords restored mobility in lab animals. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-saturday-citations-earthquakes-event-horizons.html Other Sat, 27 Jun 2026 09:10:01 EDT news701696929 Dare to jump up close to the defender, aim for a long jump distance, and use your time in the air to read the game. These are some of the keys to the perfect wing shot in handball, according to a bachelor's thesis from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, conducted in collaboration with the handball team Redbergslids IK. The study identifies five success factors for the best wing shots, while also showing that different players can succeed with very different technical solutions. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-wing-shot-handball.html Other Thu, 25 Jun 2026 13:00:04 EDT news701603293 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 The Dan David Prize will award nine historians and archaeologists with $300,000 to recognize their work and support future research, the foundation announced Tuesday. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-dan-david-prize-awards-scholars.html Other Tue, 16 Jun 2026 16:18:25 EDT news700845490 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 model built by researchers from the University of Liverpool's Management School predicts an England-Spain FIFA World Cup 2026 final, with Spain the favorite to lift the trophy—a repeat of recent major tournament history. The supercomputer correctly predicted England's second-place finish at Euro 2024. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-supercomputer-world-cup-results.html Other Fri, 12 Jun 2026 13:40:05 EDT news700488901 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 The World Cup pitches cover so much ground they'll be hard to ignore. The crews that put them there would prefer if fans didn't notice them at all. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-world-cup-pitches-result-years.html Other Sat, 06 Jun 2026 07:40:01 EDT news699949132 Team Australia kicked it long from the goalkeeper. Switzerland took a slower approach and preferred short passes over long drives. Spain, on the other hand, tended to string the ball with sharp, sideways passes across the field. Those are a few of the takeaways from passing-style graphics that Northeastern University's Network Science Institute developed of the top soccer teams at the FIFA World Cup 2022 that showcased their most distinctive passing clusters. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-network-science-world-cup.html Mathematics Thu, 04 Jun 2026 12:40:06 EDT news699793501 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 Another day, another literary scandal involving AI. It has been alleged that the judges of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize have been duped by an author using AI in his winning entry. Jamir Nazir's The Serpent in the Grove, which won for the Caribbean region, was then published in leading literary magazine Granta, along with other winning entries. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-commonwealth-writers-prize-ai-allegations.html Other Fri, 22 May 2026 07:40:05 EDT news698650261 The American academic research engine has long been the envy of the world. Generally well-funded, labs in the United States have been able to attract the best minds who generate breakthroughs and train the next generation workforce that powers the U.S. economy. But since the start of the second Trump administration in January 2025, new federal policies have destabilized the American scientific enterprise. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-trump-administration-science-policies-affected.html Other Tue, 19 May 2026 23:20:04 EDT news698413520 One of the last outsiders to make authorized visits to India's only "uncontacted" tribe says it may be time to reconnect with the isolated people—in order to shield them from an encroaching world. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-encroaching-world-threatens-india-uncontacted.html Other Mon, 18 May 2026 05:20:01 EDT news698298740