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Science News

Latest science news, discoveries and scientific developments.

'Mpox has not disappeared': Why the infectious disease is still spreading in the US and may be here to stay
Science News

'Mpox has not disappeared': Why the infectious disease is still spreading in the US and may be here to stay

Mpox spread across the world in 2022, triggering tens of thousands of cases in countries where the infection was once rarely seen. Although the disease has since fallen out of news headlines, mpox (formerly called monkeypox) continues to circulate. Now, recent data suggests that the viral illness may soon be endemic to the United States, meaning it will circulate in the country consistently.Previously, mpox cropped up sporadically in the U.S. via travelers who had visited African countries where the disease is endemic, as well as imported, infected animals that spread the virus to people. Cases have fallen substantially since the peak of the outbreak in 2022, but they haven't disappeared. A ...

📅 2026-10-06 10:00:00    •    Live Science
Mpox is still spreading in the US — here's what to know about vaccines, symptoms and treatment
Science News

Mpox is still spreading in the US — here's what to know about vaccines, symptoms and treatment

Mpox is an infectious disease caused by a poxvirus, meaning a virus in the same family as smallpox. The infection was formerly known as monkeypox.Historically, mpox was endemic to Africa, and the virus consistently spread in the continent's central, eastern and western regions. In 2022, an unprecedented global outbreak spurred the widespread transmission of mpox in places that had seen only sporadic cases in the past. Today, many countries affected by that outbreak — including Germany, Portugal and the United States — are still contending with local mpox transmission. Here's what to know about the virus, how it spreads and how to prevent infection.What to know about mpox in the U.S.Mpox is s...

📅 2026-10-06 10:00:00    •    Live Science
Scientists finally see how nature moves energy so efficiently
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Scientists finally see how nature moves energy so efficiently

Researchers have captured key steps in a chemical reaction that helps nature transfer energy with remarkable efficiency. Ultrafast X-rays revealed how changes involving electrons and protons are closely linked to the rearrangement of surrounding water molecules. Because similar reactions drive photosynthesis and other energy-conversion processes, the technique could help scientists develop better catalysts, fuel cells, and flow batteries.

📅 2026-10-06 07:49:51    •    ScienceDaily
A few drops of this Japanese tree oil may help you sleep more soundly
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A few drops of this Japanese tree oil may help you sleep more soundly

In a small study, sleeping near the scent of Hinoki root essential oil was linked to fewer nighttime awakenings, better morning alertness, and brain-wave changes associated with smoother sleep onset. The findings suggest an overlooked forestry byproduct could someday become a natural ingredient in sleep and relaxation products.

📅 2026-10-06 04:33:58    •    ScienceDaily
Tropical trees built homes for ants. Wasps are taking them over
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Tropical trees built homes for ants. Wasps are taking them over

Predatory wasps are hijacking shelters built by tropical trees for their ant defenders, potentially disrupting an ancient partnership that protects the plants from hungry insects. The takeover is far more common in disturbed landscapes such as oil palm plantations and could have lasting consequences for forest recovery and evolution.

📅 2026-10-06 03:12:36    •    ScienceDaily
Carefree shoppers most likely to receive retail discounts, study finds
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Carefree shoppers most likely to receive retail discounts, study finds

Research involving Durham University Business School reveals how retailers target customers most likely to spend more. Shoppers who take a more carefree approach to spending are more likely to receive personalized discount codes from retailers, according to the research.

📅 2026-10-06 02:40:01    •    Phys.org
Exploring systemic racism as the default explanation for disparities
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Exploring systemic racism as the default explanation for disparities

Much of the field of sociology treats systemic racism as its default explanation for racial disparities rather than as an open question that requires further investigation and evidence, according to a recent position paper. The assumptions and moralization surrounding the origins of race-based disparities have undermined the discipline and made it difficult—and professionally costly—to challenge the concept, says author Ilana Redstone, a professor of sociology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

📅 2026-10-06 02:20:02    •    Phys.org
Neutrons, rotating black holes, and a galactic PeVatron at the center of the Milky Way
Science News

Neutrons, rotating black holes, and a galactic PeVatron at the center of the Milky Way

Galactic black holes are cosmic mitochondria, powerhouses of the universe. Most of the energy these supermassive black holes produce comes from the material surrounding them: superheated plasma in their accretion disks interacting with tremendous magnetic fields. But there is a more direct way to extract energy from a black hole. It's known as the Penrose process, and a new study asks whether we could discover a signature of this process.

📅 2026-10-06 01:20:01    •    Phys.org
MIT scientists find a hidden cancer risk of the keto diet
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MIT scientists find a hidden cancer risk of the keto diet

A ketogenic diet increased small-intestinal tumors in cancer-prone mice while reducing tumors in the colon, revealing a strikingly different response within neighboring parts of the gut. Researchers traced the increased risk not to ketones, but to the way intestinal stem cells processed the diet’s high levels of fat. That fat-burning activity pushed the cells to multiply more rapidly, potentially raising the chance of cancerous changes.

📅 2026-10-06 01:18:45    •    ScienceDaily
Why some Indigenous communities don't resist oil extraction in their territories
Science News

Why some Indigenous communities don't resist oil extraction in their territories

More than half of the Ecuadorian Amazon has been marked for oil drilling, overlapping with Indigenous territories and areas of high biodiversity. The ecological and cultural impacts of oil extraction are well documented and have fueled some of Latin America's most prominent environmental movements. Yet at the local level, extraction is not always met with resistance.

📅 2026-10-06 01:00:01    •    Phys.org
Global soil erosion outpaces natural recovery, report warns
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Global soil erosion outpaces natural recovery, report warns

Isaac Larsen, an associate professor in the College of Natural Sciences' Department of Earth, Geographic, and Climate Sciences, is a lead author of "Status of the World's Soil Resources 2026," a new report produced by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) that draws on recent scientific literature and contributions from hundreds of experts around the world.

📅 2026-10-06 00:40:02    •    Phys.org