Scientific Discoveries

Explore the latest scientific discoveries, science news, breakthroughs and developments from around the world.

Latest Scientific Discoveries

All News →
Exploring systemic racism as the default explanation for disparities
Science News

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
Science News

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
Science News

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
Game simulator shows how math can guide decisions when resources are limited
Science News

Game simulator shows how math can guide decisions when resources are limited

In "Bloons Tower Defense," the goal is to stop balloons from reaching the end of a track by strategically placing towers along the route. These towers vary in cost, range and attack power, and they also take up valuable space. The game becomes increasingly difficult with each round. Where you place a tower therefore determines not only how effective it is now but also which options remain available later in the game.

📅 2026-10-06 00:00:01    •    Phys.org
'Digital ibuprofen' offers Chinese youth comfort through cute characters facing familiar struggles
Science News

'Digital ibuprofen' offers Chinese youth comfort through cute characters facing familiar struggles

In China, young people are encountering a myriad of challenges, from societal pressures around success to life in a highly surveilled society, that have led them to turn to the internet in search of a balm to soothe their pain. What has emerged is a host of content called "digital ibuprofen"—viewed as a way to numb the anxieties of modern living.

📅 2026-10-05 23:40:01    •    Phys.org
Attention can't be bought, so brands turn to memes
Science News

Attention can't be bought, so brands turn to memes

The funniest post you saw this week may not have come from a friend; it may have come from a brand. Whether it is Kohl's, Wendy's, or Netflix, brands are behaving more like internet users than traditional advertisers.

📅 2026-10-05 23:20:01    •    Phys.org
Unusual senses: The secret superpowers of amphibians and reptiles
Science News

Unusual senses: The secret superpowers of amphibians and reptiles

The Surinam toad is one of the strangest frogs on Earth. Flat-bodied, tiny-eyed and adapted to the murky waters of the Amazon basin, it hunts well despite having very poor vision. When a fish swims close, the frog suddenly opens its mouth and sucks the prey inside in a fraction of a second.

📅 2026-10-05 23:00:02    •    Phys.org