Scientific Discoveries

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

Latest Scientific Discoveries

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Subjective and objective difficulty of English texts are relatedā€”but not the same
Science News

Subjective and objective difficulty of English texts are relatedā€”but not the same

Evaluating the difficulty of English texts used in educational materials and language assessments is a central concern in English language education. Traditionally, researchers have relied on objective measures of text difficulty based on linguistic features, including characteristics of words and sentences. However, learners can differ substantially in how difficult they perceive the same text to be. To examine the relationship between objective and subjective text difficulty, the researchers investigated the extent to which objective estimates correspond with learners' perceptions. The work is published in the journal Reading and Writing.

šŸ“… 2026-09-28 22:00:13    ā€¢    Phys.org
Meteor hit Oklahoma 100 million years later than previously thought
Science News

Meteor hit Oklahoma 100 million years later than previously thought

Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have rewritten a small part of Oklahoma's geologic history with global implications for ancient life. Below the surface of the small town of Ames, Oklahoma, a meteor impact site spans miles. The crater is buried by sedimentary strata in the subsurface, but it remains an important marker of Oklahoma's ancient past and present-day economy; the Ames impact structure is a major oil and gas producer.

šŸ“… 2026-09-28 21:50:01    ā€¢    Phys.org
Mapping the 'social network' of proteins in the cell to understand how genes shape living things
Science News

Mapping the 'social network' of proteins in the cell to understand how genes shape living things

One of biology's fundamental questions is how our genes shape who we are. Adrian Serohijos and Stephen Michnick, professors in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine at UniversitĆ© de MontrĆ©al's Faculty of Medicine, are studying the relationship between genotype and phenotypeā€”that is, how DNA becomes RNA, then protein, and ultimately gives rise to observable characteristics in an individual or any other living organism. "We're trying to unravel the mechanisms of the genome, specifically how the information it encodes is processed inside the cell," Serohijos says.

šŸ“… 2026-09-28 21:40:02    ā€¢    Phys.org
Water-stable catalyst could bring carbon-bond chemistry closer to use in living cells
Science News

Water-stable catalyst could bring carbon-bond chemistry closer to use in living cells

Olefin metathesis is one of the most important reactions in organic chemistry for forming carbonā€“carbon bondsā€”for example, in the production of pharmaceuticals, plastics and complex natural products. However, previous ruthenium catalysts that enable this reaction have faced a major challenge: They rapidly degrade in aqueous or biological environments, making their use in natural systems such as cells or blood extremely difficult.

šŸ“… 2026-09-28 21:20:08    ā€¢    Phys.org
Ancient spearheads reveal how Ice Age humans learned the land
Science News

Ancient spearheads reveal how Ice Age humans learned the land

At the end of the last ice age, early humans crisscrossed the Americas following seasons, rivers and game, often with a trusty spear in hand. Nearly 13,000 years later, archaeologists are using those spearheads to study how America's first inhabitants understood risk.

šŸ“… 2026-09-28 21:20:05    ā€¢    Phys.org
Hibernating bacteria can invade hospitals and survive outer spaceā€”but their energy budget reveals a weakness
Science News

Hibernating bacteria can invade hospitals and survive outer spaceā€”but their energy budget reveals a weakness

A spore is a bacterium's survival capsule: dried almost solid and wrapped in protein armor, with its chemical processes shut down. Bacteria enter this state of hibernation when environmental conditions are unfavorable. What's left is close to indestructible: It can survive boiling, desiccation, radiation and the vacuum of space. NASA once bolted Bacillus spores to the outside of a satellite and left them in orbit for nearly six years; the ones shielded from sunlight were able to come back to life upon returning to Earth.

šŸ“… 2026-09-28 21:10:01    ā€¢    Phys.org
Who's really No. 1? Statisticians build a better way to make sense of competing sports rankings
Science News

Who's really No. 1? Statisticians build a better way to make sense of competing sports rankings

Who, really, is the best player in baseball? Ask five sports media outlets and you may get five different answers. Rankings can vary dramatically from one source to another, change from year to year and leave out different players altogether, making it difficult to determine where there is genuine consensus and where opinions diverge.

šŸ“… 2026-09-28 21:00:08    ā€¢    Phys.org
Why are employees reluctant to disclose AI use to their bosses?
Science News

Why are employees reluctant to disclose AI use to their bosses?

Countless employees across the country are experimenting with artificial intelligence (AI) to streamline workflows and increase productivity. Yet many are keeping these solutions to themselves.

šŸ“… 2026-09-28 21:00:01    ā€¢    Phys.org
Parking policy masks anti-Muslim discrimination for communities building new mosques
Science News

Parking policy masks anti-Muslim discrimination for communities building new mosques

When the Islamic Society of Santa Barbara welcomed its community to its newly built mosque in 2019, nearly 19 years had passed since it purchased the property. The city's permitting process alone took 10 years. The project faced delays during 16 public hearings, at which residents of the suburban town of Goleta raised concerns, particularly about where worshippers would park their cars.

šŸ“… 2026-09-28 20:40:09    ā€¢    Phys.org
Invasive marine species set to take advantage of rising seas
Science News

Invasive marine species set to take advantage of rising seas

More than two-thirds of newly flooded coastlines worldwide could become suitable habitat for 122 non-native marine speciesā€”including Chinese mitten crabs, Pacific oysters and Asian tiger shrimpā€”by the middle and end of this century. The research, published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, identifies coastal regions at heightened risk, including the eastern United States, the Gulf of Mexico, coastlines bordering the North Sea, southeastern China and northern Australia.

šŸ“… 2026-09-28 20:40:01    ā€¢    Phys.org