Scientific Discoveries

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

Latest Scientific Discoveries

All News →
What a locust can teach us about how neuromodulators alter odor processing
Science News

What a locust can teach us about how neuromodulators alter odor processing

When you walk into a bakery and smell fresh cookies, the enticing smell draws you in. After you eat a handful of cookies, though, the same smell likely doesn't send you back for more. Researchers in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis sought to determine the biological mechanisms in the brain that controllably alters odor-evoked behavior by using an unlikely model—a locust.

📅 2026-10-05 22:40:10    •    Phys.org
Rhinos and elephants can cause huge problems if reintroduced badly—here's how to get it right
Science News

Rhinos and elephants can cause huge problems if reintroduced badly—here's how to get it right

Moving large animals around is a seductive idea in conservation. If there are plenty of animals in one place and too few in another, moving some between the two seems an obvious solution. Sometimes it is. But with animals as large, mobile and socially complicated as elephants and rhinos, the move itself can turn out to be the straightforward part.

📅 2026-10-05 22:40:01    •    Phys.org
Quantum interactions may have locked early universe's fields into existing energy states
Science News

Quantum interactions may have locked early universe's fields into existing energy states

The universe may be trapped in its own comfort zone, and a researcher in the College of Engineering and Computer Science has helped explain why it cannot seem to leave. A new study suggests the universe could be locked into its current state by the same kinds of quantum effects that scientists study when trying to preserve fragile information inside a quantum computer.

📅 2026-10-05 22:20:09    •    Phys.org
Does increased childcare funding help mothers into work?
Science News

Does increased childcare funding help mothers into work?

Since Labor won the 2024 general election, policy focused on children in the early years—from birth to school age—and their parents has moved sharply up the political agenda.

📅 2026-10-05 22:20:01    •    Phys.org
Forests are dying along North Carolina's coast—and it's speeding up
Science News

Forests are dying along North Carolina's coast—and it's speeding up

A new study finds that coastal forest loss in North Carolina's Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula began accelerating after 2010 and may still be speeding up. The study also found that North Carolina lost more than 20% of its coastal forest between 1985 and 2021.

📅 2026-10-05 22:00:10    •    Phys.org
Rare insect discovery reveals a new species from the dinosaur age
Science News

Rare insect discovery reveals a new species from the dinosaur age

Some 99 million years ago, during the age of the dinosaurs, a tiny insect belonging to a species previously unknown to science became trapped in tree resin. The resin hardened and turned into amber, and the fossil preserved within it has now enabled a team of researchers from the School of Zoology and The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History to identify and describe a new species: Cretodorus noonoo, or "Noo-Noo."

📅 2026-10-05 21:40:14    •    Phys.org
How psychopathic traits shape language
Science News

How psychopathic traits shape language

Popular culture often depicts people with psychopathy as cold, emotionless and hollow, but a recent University of Mississippi study found that the language associated with psychopathic traits is more complicated than often described.

📅 2026-10-05 21:40:09    •    Phys.org
Long-term logging experiment reveals how protecting the forest floor helps preserve soil carbon
Science News

Long-term logging experiment reveals how protecting the forest floor helps preserve soil carbon

Forest soils store an estimated 40% of the world's terrestrial carbon, but estimates suggest that around 15–30% of that soil carbon is lost when a forest is harvested. Tracking such losses can be tricky: wildfires, insects, disease and past forest management can all affect forest soil carbon stores, and tree type, climate and harvesting method can all affect how much carbon is lost.

📅 2026-10-05 21:20:15    •    Phys.org
Experts deem empowering neurologists and neurology trainees to perform lumbar punctures at bedside a worthwhile goal
Science News

Experts deem empowering neurologists and neurology trainees to perform lumbar punctures at bedside a worthwhile goal

Many medical specialties now require graduating doctors to be skilled in point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) for diagnosing patients and performing procedures. POCUS uses a portable ultrasound device to help clinicians make fast, accurate medical decisions. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education lists this skill as an official milestone for graduation. Even though training is improving for its potential use in treating head, eye and nerve conditions, POCUS is only moderately used by neurologists dealing with some neurological conditions.

📅 2026-10-05 21:20:11    •    Phys.org
Ancient DNA evidence narrows down when people first reached the Americas
Science News

Ancient DNA evidence narrows down when people first reached the Americas

One of the unresolved mysteries about the history of the Americas is when the first people arrived. Despite extensive debate centering on genetic, archaeological and environmental evidence, there is still no consensus or conclusive proof. Did they enter before, during or after the coldest period of the last ice age, known as the Last Glacial Maximum? Evidence from recent analysis of ancient DNA is providing fresh clues.

📅 2026-10-05 21:00:12    •    Phys.org
Standard 3D printers let labs build and adapt tools for bacterial research
Science News

Standard 3D printers let labs build and adapt tools for bacterial research

Studying microorganisms requires instruments with extremely high precision. Such instruments are expensive and take a long time to manufacture using traditional methods, which has slowed progress in the field. It has also been difficult for the biologists who use these instruments to participate directly in their development.

📅 2026-10-05 21:00:08    •    Phys.org