Researchers have carried out the most comprehensive geoarchaeological survey of Egypt's Karnak Temple near Luxor—one of the ancient world's largest temple complexes and a UNESCO World Heritage site welcoming millions of tourists every year.| phys.org
In 2022, archaeologists worked on the ancient DNA from a number of early medieval cemeteries, and found two individuals that stood out. One was from Updown Eastry in Kent, known as Updown girl, and the other was a young man from Worth Matravers in Dorset. Both were dated to the 7th century and both appeared to have west African heritage.| phys.org
Written accounts tell the story of the Zanj rebellion—a slave revolt that took place in the late 9th century in southern Iraq. Some of the rebels were enslaved Africans working in various sectors of the local economy.| phys.org
Archaeologists have analyzed the DNA of two unrelated individuals buried in 7th-century-AD cemeteries on the south coast of England, revealing that they both had recent ancestors, likely grandparents, from West Africa.| phys.org
Hawaiian "super corals" that have recovered despite living in warm and acidic water offer a glimmer of hope that dying reefs across the world could be saved, a new study says.| phys.org
The Colorado River, which provides water across the Southwest, has lost about 20% of its flow in the last quarter-century, and its depleted reservoirs continue to decline. But negotiations aimed at addressing the water shortage are at an impasse, and leaders of environmental groups say the secrecy surrounding the talks is depriving the public of an opportunity to weigh in.| phys.org
Researchers at the University of California, Irvine and other institutions have spotted a contradiction in worldwide wildfire trends: Despite a 26% decline in total burned area from 2002 to 2021, the number of people exposed to wildfires has surged by nearly 40%.| phys.org
The most coveted position in corporate America—the board of directors—historically has been criticized for excluding women and other underrepresented groups. Over the past several decades, however, state legislation and pressure from investors have motivated firms to increasingly recruit female directors.| phys.org
For more than five centuries, Leonardo Da Vinci has been celebrated as a visionary artist, scientist, and inventor, known for his extraordinary talent and groundbreaking experiments. Today, an international collaboration known as the Leonardo DNA Project is closer than ever to uncovering the biological secrets of the greatest genius of the Renaissance.| phys.org
What's the real age of Norwegian stave churches?| phys.org
A study by Michael Gerlich at SBS Swiss Business School has found that increased reliance on artificial intelligence (AI) tools is linked to diminished critical thinking abilities. It points to cognitive offloading as a primary driver of the decline.| phys.org
At his farm in southern Spain, Francisco Campos looked worriedly at a green sea of centuries-old olive trees that he fears will face the ax to make way for a proposed solar park.| phys.org
A team of international scientists has discovered new fossils at a field site in Africa that indicate Australopithecus, and the oldest specimens of Homo, coexisted at the same place in Africa at the same time—between 2.6 and 2.8 million years ago. The paleoanthropologists discovered a new species of Australopithecus that has never been found anywhere.| phys.org
Geography as a school subject is under pressure. There aren't enough qualified teachers and it loses out to other subjects in school. In many countries, important aspects are left out of the curricula.| phys.org
University of Iowa researchers have successfully tested a technique that stimulates a gene to prevent craniosynostosis, a condition that causes infants' skulls to close prematurely.| phys.org
Air pollution from oil and gas is causing 91,000 premature deaths and hundreds of thousands of health issues across the United States annually, with Black, Asian, Native American and Hispanic groups consistently the most affected, finds a major new study led by researchers at UCL and the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI).| phys.org
Annual rates of marine mammal strandings have increased in the last 30 years, across all species of dolphins, whales and porpoise native to Scottish waters.| phys.org
Daily science news on research developments, technological breakthroughs and the latest scientific innovations| phys.org
Among the biggest culprits of plastic pollution in the ocean and along shorelines are thin plastic shopping bags, which have low recycling rates and often become litter when they blow away in the wind. Once there, they can entangle animals and break down into harmful microplastics. As awareness of this problem has grown, more than 100 countries have instituted bans or fees on plastic bags. But what effect those policies are having on the amount of plastic litter in the marine environment has ...| phys.org
Teenagers can seem to have their phones glued to their hands—yet they won't answer them when they ring. This scenario, which is all too familiar to many parents, can seem absurd and frustrating, or even alarming to some.| phys.org
Since 1990, more than 2.5 million people have died as a direct or indirect result of civil conflict in Africa. One of the causes of conflict, which increasingly involves clashes between predominantly Muslim herding and Christian farming communities, may well have been competition over agricultural resources, brought on by the hotter, drier conditions in the last 30 years.| phys.org
Organic chemistry, the chemistry of carbon compounds, is the basis of all life on Earth. However, metals also play a key role in many biochemical processes. When it comes to "marrying" large, heavy metal atoms with light organic compounds, nature often relies on a specific group of chemical structures: porphyrins. These molecules form an organic ring; in its center, individual metal ions such as iron, cobalt, or magnesium can be "anchored."| phys.org
When a disease-causing virus or other organism is transmitted from one species to another, most of the time the infection sputters and dies out. On rare occasions, the infection can perpetuate transmission in the new host species and cause a pandemic. For example, scientists are keeping a close eye on H5N1, highly pathogenic avian influenza, which causes bird flu and has been found in cows and humans. But is there a way to anticipate when infections will die out on their own and when they wil...| phys.org
Electricity flows through wires to deliver power, but it loses energy as it moves, delivering less than it started with. But that energy loss isn't a given. Scientists at Penn State have found a new way to identify types of materials known as superconductors that allow power to travel without any resistance, meaning no energy is lost.| phys.org
One of the defining features of an arctic environment is permafrost, which covers almost 10% of Earth's surface and remains entirely frozen year round. With temperatures reaching more extreme levels more frequently, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has awarded a two-year, $957,013 grant to Penn State Professor Ming Xiao, to investigate the effect on permafrost and how its melting could expose contaminants to the environment.| phys.org
Creating meaningful opportunities for students to help shape their own education isn't simply a matter of inviting them to speak up. According to new research led by Penn State College of Education Professor Dana Mitra, it requires a careful balance of teacher mindsets, relationships and practical skills—what the study terms cognitive mindsets, emotive "heartsets" and intention-building skillsets.| phys.org
Similar to humans, plants can become infected with more than one virus at a time, opening the door for more severe infections and new disease variants. But these mixed infections are often under-studied and poorly understood.| phys.org
For seaside communities reducing their pollution, nitrogen is a prime target. Often found in agricultural runoff and human waste, nitrogen and the nitrogen-containing nitrate molecule can enter coastal waters as a critical nutrient for algae. Its abundance leads to a surplus of algal blooms, upsetting delicate balances of plant and marine life.| phys.org
For small-scale farmers up against floods, droughts and other dramatic climate events, diversifying income sources can mean financial safety—a lifeline as crop-growing conditions destabilize. But in Nepal, where natural hazards rank among the most severe in the world, how farmers perceive climate-related risks often leads them to double down on agriculture instead of exploring other livelihoods, according to a study led by a Penn State researcher.| phys.org
Corn was domesticated from its ancestor teosinte in central Mexico beginning about 9,000 years ago by humans selectively breeding the wild plant, transforming its small, hard-shelled kernels into the large, palatable ears of corn we know today. Over the centuries, root traits of corn—now the most widely planted crop in the U.S., and second globally (by acreage)—evolved in response to both changing environmental conditions and human agricultural practices.| phys.org
New computer simulations that model every atom of a protein as it folds into its final three-dimensional form support the existence of a recently identified type of protein misfolding.| phys.org
If an extraterrestrial intelligence were looking for signs of human communications, when and where should they look? In a new study, researchers at Penn State and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California analyzed when and where human deep space transmissions would be most detectable by an observer outside our solar system and suggest that the patterns they see could be used to guide our own search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI).| phys.org
Daily science news on research developments, technological breakthroughs and the latest scientific innovations| phys.org
Climate change is not new: temperatures have been rising for decades as a result of global warming. In South Africa's city of Pietermaritzburg, four low-income urban communities have experienced drought, heat waves, severe hailstorms, devastating flooding events that killed hundreds of people and displaced thousands, and wildfires as a result of climate change. Environmental scientist Sithabile Hlahla interviewed people in 378 homes there and found that they were not coping well with climate ...| phys.org
A public‑private partnership between Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory has led to a new artificial intelligence (AI) approach that is faster at finding what's known as "magnetic shadows" in a fusion vessel: safe havens protected from the intense heat of the plasma.| phys.org
Large language models (LLMs), advanced artificial intelligence (AI) models trained to analyze and generate texts in different human languages, have become increasingly widespread over the past few years. Since the release of the conversational platform ChatGPT, which relies on different versions of an LLM called GPT, these models have become widely used by individuals worldwide, while also making their way into some professional and research settings.| phys.org
Deep neural networks (DNNs), the machine learning algorithms underpinning the functioning of large language models (LLMs) and other artificial intelligence (AI) models, learn to make accurate predictions by analyzing large amounts of data. These networks are structured in layers, each of which transforms input data into 'features' that guide the analysis of the next layer.| phys.org
Half of U.S. adults report using at least one "major AI tool," but public attitudes about artificial intelligence regulation remain divided nationwide, according to a new survey.| phys.org
Neutrinos are tiny and neutrally charged particles accounted for by the Standard Model of particle physics. While they are estimated to be some of the most abundant particles in the universe, observing them has so far proved to be highly challenging, as the probability that they will interact with other matter is low.| phys.org
Australia's First Nations history stretches back many tens of thousands of years, rich in depth and diversity. Archaeological research has revealed much about this deep past, but it has rarely captured the gestures of the ancestors—their movements, postures and physical motions. Material traces like tools and hearths tend to survive; fleeting movements usually do not.| phys.org
Two new studies find that leaders are less likely to empower followers who raise concerns about workplace decisions, even though these "challenging voice" employees play a critical role in highlighting problems and identifying solutions. The studies also outline what drives these decisions.| phys.org
What turns a democratically elected leader into an authoritarian? The process is rarely abrupt. It unfolds gradually and is often justified as a necessary reform. It is framed as what the people wanted. All this makes it difficult for citizens to recognize what is happening until it's too late.| phys.org
A newly published study has found that males of some of our earliest known ancestors were significantly larger than females. The pronounced difference in body size present in both Australopithecus afarensis (the East African species that includes the famous fossil "Lucy") and A. africanus (a closely related southern African species) suggests the ancient hominins may have lived in social systems marked by intense competition among males, leading to the substantial size disparity among the sexes.| phys.org
A startling milestone has been reached in Florida's war against the invasive Burmese pythons eating their way across the Everglades.| phys.org
It's a phenomenon many preschoolers know well: When you mix cornstarch and water, weird things happen. Swish it gently in a bowl, and the mixture sloshes around like a liquid. Squeeze it, and it starts to feel like paste. Roll it between your hands, and it solidifies into a rubbery ball. Try to hold that ball in the palm of your hand, and it will dribble away as a liquid.| phys.org
Researchers looking into the origin of domestic cats have long considered that cats likely accompanied early farmers during the Neolithic, spreading through Europe alongside the adoption of agriculture.| phys.org
The successful development of sustainable georesources for the energy transition is a key challenge for humankind in the 21st century. Hydrogen gas (H2) has great potential to replace current fossil fuels while simultaneously eliminating the associated emission of CO2 and other pollutants.| phys.org
There is a very small chance that an asteroid capable of taking out an entire city could strike Earth in less than eight years. But even if this asteroid is hurtling our way, humanity is now able to defend itself against such a threat, experts say.| phys.org
Social media influencers who are passionate about environmental causes can help the tourism industry inspire tourists to engage in pro-environmental behavior to help mitigate waste and pollution, according to a new study from researchers in the Penn State School of Hospitality Management.| phys.org
African Perspectives on Agroecology is a new book with 33 contributions from academics, non-governmental organizations, farmer organizations and policy makers. It is free to download, and reviewers have described it as a "must read for all who care about the future of Africa and its people." The book outlines how agroecology, which brings ecological principles into farming practices and food systems, can solve food shortages and environmental damage caused by mass, commercial farming. We aske...| phys.org
Low-moisture foods such as dried fruits, seeds, tree nuts and wheat flour were once considered to carry minimal microbial risks. However, the increased number of outbreaks linked to bacteria-contaminated low-moisture foods has resulted in product recalls, lawsuits and financial losses.| phys.org
The invasive pigweed Palmer amaranth, first found in New York soybean fields in 2019, has been dubbed the "spotted lanternfly of weeds" for its ability to spread quickly and wreak havoc on crops. Now a new study sheds light on how formidable an opponent the weed is for New York state growers—and offers a way forward.| phys.org
To produce light, lasers typically rely on optical cavities, pairs of mirrors facing each other that amplify light by bouncing it back and forth. Recently, some physicists have been investigating the generation of "laser light" in open air without the use of optical cavities, a phenomenon known as cavity-free lasing in atmospheric air.| phys.org
Along the shores of East Africa's Lake Victoria, in Kenya, women fisherfolk including those known for being victims of sexual exploitation, are harnessing the Internet of Things (IoT) to help them counter their abusers while enhancing their incomes, writes Joseph Davis Weddi.| phys.org
