https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. When people think about democracy, they tend to think about national elections, parliaments or the policies of national governments. Even the recent special election in Holborn and St Pancras showed that democratic events are often framed around what they mean for the fortunes of national leaders, rather than what they mean for daily life within a community. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-ways-cities-democratic-values.html Political science Thu, 22 Oct 2026 13:00:01 EDT news711877636 Imagine you have a bag you really like. It felt like "the one" when you bought it. Over time, it starts to look worn. There are some scuffs on it. Nothing is actually wrong with the bag, and it still works exactly as it should. Yet, once you notice those imperfections, you start thinking about buying a new one to replace it. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-scuff-bag-dent-suddenly.html Social Sciences Wed, 21 Oct 2026 16:20:05 EDT news711797302 As she sat across from me drinking tea, Coretta—a pseudonym to protect her identity—shared her dismay about living in a central Florida community because of the control exercised by her homeowners association, or HOA. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-florida-residents-hoas-private-reshaping.html Environment Wed, 30 Sep 2026 17:00:17 EDT news710001895 Few consumers realize that a property's poor energy rating can directly affect their ability to obtain a mortgage. In the future, flood and other climate-related risks will also play a greater role in lending decisions. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-home-energy-affecting-mortgagesoon-climate.html Economics & Business Wed, 30 Sep 2026 15:20:17 EDT news709992931 The use of racially discriminatory housing maps in the 1930s, a practice known as "redlining," perpetuated multigenerational cycles of poverty and segregation that continue today. While redlining shaped cities, its legacy does not fully explain current urban patterns of privilege and disadvantage, a new study finds. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-today-urban-inequality-legacy-redlining.html Social Sciences Fri, 25 Sep 2026 07:40:06 EDT news709538341 Segregation is a multidimensional phenomenon deeply intertwined with historical, social and ecological contexts. Yet this more integrated perspective has received limited attention in the Global South. A recent study focusing on the city of Valdivia offers an exception, examining three key historical moments: colonization, the devastating 1960 earthquake and current struggles to protect urban wetlands. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-urban-segregation-history-ecology-inequality.html Social Sciences Mon, 21 Sep 2026 20:00:01 EDT news709221182 Douglas Seiler painstakingly sourced papyrus and reed pens from Egypt and traditional lampblack ink from Japan, then paid some high school students to inscribe the papyrus with lines from Star Wars and the Bible and a quote from the '60s sci-fi TV show The Outer Limits. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-year-scrolls-scientists.html Archaeology Fri, 18 Sep 2026 15:00:04 EDT news708957783 Safety and security challenges are creating unprecedented strain for frontline property management professionals, according to a new bilingual survey conducted by Portland State University's Center for Real Estate. Initiated after industry partners raised alarms about changing workplace conditions, the study offers insight into the daily risks experienced by property management staff at multifamily and commercial properties. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-frontline-safety-mount-property-survey.html Economics & Business Tue, 15 Sep 2026 13:40:05 EDT news708697142 Money market funds (MMFs) that grow rapidly when equity markets are soaring pose a systemic risk to global financial systems, new academic research reveals. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-fast-money-funds-linked-exuberant.html Economics & Business Thu, 10 Sep 2026 21:20:01 EDT news708262318 Tracking rent prices may help businesses and policymakers understand where inflation is headed months in advance of government inflation reports, according to researchers at Penn State's Smeal College of Business who developed the Penn State/ACY Alternative Inflation Index. The Penn State index was recently incorporated into the Bloomberg Terminal, a software system that serves financial professionals with real-time market data, news and analytics. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-qa-rent-prices-reveal-inflation.html Economics & Business Wed, 09 Sep 2026 07:00:01 EDT news708146761 When an early draft of "Work from Home and the Office Real Estate Apocalypse," co-authored by Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, the Earle W. Kazis and Benjamin Schore Professor of Real Estate at Columbia Business School, began circulating in 2022, it quickly became one of the most talked-about papers in real estate and urban economics. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-paper-office-apocalypse.html Economics & Business Mon, 31 Aug 2026 08:20:01 EDT news707382902 From high in the hills around Las Vegas, tourist Choune Osterero gazes down at the line of chalky mineral deposits left on the rocks around Lake Mead as the level of America's largest reservoir has dropped over the last quarter-century of drought. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-climate-america-largest-reservoir.html Environment Thu, 27 Aug 2026 05:20:03 EDT news707023146 When people shop for a home, they tend to focus on the information listings put front and center: price, floor area, number of bedrooms and location. Rarely do listings show how a home can shape a household's carbon footprint through energy use and commuting. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-homebuyers-homes-higher-carbon-footprints.html Environment Thu, 20 Aug 2026 10:40:06 EDT news706437842 The reproductive life of sea cucumbers has come under the microscope as University of the Sunshine Coast researchers battle overfishing of the marine creatures. Sea cucumbers—which can spawn by wobbling their heads and ejecting reproductive cells—are of particular interest to Center for Bioinnovation Ph.D. student Paul Wright. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-sea-cucumber-clues-rebuild-populations.html Plants & Animals Wed, 19 Aug 2026 09:20:01 EDT news706339381 After multiple severe heat waves in a single summer, French residents are increasingly factoring high temperatures into their home hunts, realtors say, bumping up features such as shutters, air conditioning and indirect sunlight on their priority lists. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-hot-french-buyers-rethink-housing.html Environment Tue, 11 Aug 2026 12:20:09 EDT news705664343 Nature is not doing well in Australia. Many unique mammals, birds and insects are struggling. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-australia-pledged-nature-lost-ecosystems.html Ecology Sun, 09 Aug 2026 13:20:01 EDT news705322320 A 19th-century real estate agent created the world's first version of Rightmove more than 160 years before the birth of online property previews. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-historic-discovery-19th-century-estate.html Social Sciences Wed, 05 Aug 2026 15:20:01 EDT news705154933 Scientific reports, political directives and national plans follow one after another, urging regions to adapt to new climate realities. Yet one question remains: How do adaptation initiatives among local communities and businesses actually unfold on the ground? While announcements of public or government-backed projects or regulatory frameworks often take center stage, other, far more discreet grassroots forms of action or reorganization are at work, which can be grouped under the term "silent adaptation." https://phys.org/news/2026-08-climaterelated-silent-coping-strategies.html Environment Mon, 03 Aug 2026 13:40:01 EDT news704979301 Scorching summer temperatures have disrupted life for millions of Europeans, but for winegrowers in Italy and France who are harvesting their grapes unusually early, the hot weather offers pros as well as cons. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-french-italian-winegrowers-earliest-harvest.html Environment Fri, 31 Jul 2026 13:20:03 EDT news704718622 Birds are facing a crisis—nearly 3 billion birds have been lost across North America since 1970 as a result of human activities affecting birds and their habitats. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-birdsafe-glass-norm-collisions.html Plants & Animals Mon, 27 Jul 2026 16:40:02 EDT news704375761 Increases to the standard federal tax deduction implemented in 2018 were made permanent a year ago, and researchers are beginning to understand the downstream effects on state and local governments. The increased deduction meant many taxpayers received a bigger tax break by taking the standard deduction instead of itemizing their expenses, including state and local taxes (SALT). However, a Penn State research team has found that lower-income taxpayers who take the standard deduction have become more likely to vote against local spending for repairing or building infrastructure or other community services. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-qa-federal-taxes-impact-local.html Economics & Business Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:00:03 EDT news703750622 Cells are crowded, dynamic places where thousands of molecules interact in tight quarters. Until now, scientists lacked a reliable way to see many of these molecular interactions as they happen. Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago have now developed a new imaging method that allows scientists to see previously hidden enzyme activities in small regions across the whole cell. The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, open new possibilities for understanding how cells process information. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-cell-imaging-method.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 14 Jul 2026 15:40:05 EDT news703255069 Investors looking for higher returns may want to focus on a company's location instead of its growth potential, according to a new study led by researchers at Penn State. They found that portfolios built to consider company headquarter location and the housing market together could produce returns three times higher than portfolios focused on growth stocks alone. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-company-growth-higher-investment.html Economics & Business Wed, 20 May 2026 13:00:02 EDT news698498102 Melbourne home sellers and landlords lost up to $55 million a week as sales prices and rents declined after the second severely restrictive COVID-19 lockdown (July 2020) to attract buyers and renters who were relocating to less restrictive lockdowns outside the city, a QUT-led study has found. The findings are published in the journal Real Estate Economics. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-severe-covid-lockdowns-home-sellers.html Economics & Business Tue, 21 Apr 2026 10:00:01 EDT news695983381 Asian immigrants are both the fastest-growing and highest-earning immigrant ethnic group in the United States, facts that have caught the attention of many economists interested in how these groups—whether investors or residents—impact housing prices, K-12 education, and other important aspects of community life. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-community-effects-asian-immigrants-housing.html Economics & Business Fri, 17 Apr 2026 08:00:03 EDT news695625961 Mississippi State researchers have developed an updated version of a widely used forestry decision-making tool, improving accessibility and usability while maintaining its analytical strength. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-forestry-decision-software.html Ecology Sat, 11 Apr 2026 06:31:24 EDT news695107861 Cities are often described as living archives of human memory. Walk through an old neighborhood in an Islamic city like Fez in Morocco or Cairo in Egypt, and you can see layers of history in its streets and buildings. Traces of the past remain visible in everyday life. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-cities-history-alive.html Environment Thu, 09 Apr 2026 16:40:02 EDT news694958103 Peri-urban agriculture in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) is in a critical situation after decades of decline. A new study conducted by the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB) highlights the dramatic reduction of peri-urban farming in the region, with losses of up to 70% of agricultural land, largely driven by urban expansion, real estate speculation, and the low profitability of the agricultural sector. Currently, only 8.5% of the metropolitan region is devoted to agriculture, equivalent to about 16 square meters per inhabitant. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-barcelona-metropolitan-area-lost-agricultural.html Ecology Fri, 27 Mar 2026 11:50:02 EDT news693830941 The São Paulo Metropolitan Area (SPMA) in Brazil has approximately 22 million inhabitants and consumes an average of 61.6 cubic meters (61,600 liters) of water per second. Although nearly the entire public water supply originates from surface sources, it is estimated that about 18% of total consumption relies on aquifers through approximately 14,000 private wells. Aquifers contribute approximately 347 million cubic meters of water per year. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-groundwater-contamination-poorly-paulo-metropolitan.html Environment Fri, 20 Mar 2026 10:40:07 EDT news693220861 On the sloping shoreline of the Greek Aegean island of Milos, a vast construction site has left a gaping wound into the island's trademark volcanic rock. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-greece-cycladic-islands-swept-concrete.html Environment Thu, 12 Feb 2026 04:20:02 EST news690090741