Scientific Discoveries

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The importance of measuring stress in hedgehogs and how a new method could enhance welfare
Science News

The importance of measuring stress in hedgehogs and how a new method could enhance welfare

How can we tell when a hedgehog is stressed? Ph.D. researcher Emily Harper explains how her new research has validated a non-invasive method for measuring stress by analyzing hormones in hedgehog feces. The method could help researchers understand how different stressors, or threats, affect hedgehog health and welfare, supporting conservation and rehabilitation of this declining species.

📅 2026-09-16 22:00:08    •    Phys.org
A sharper picture of a pandemic: Uncovering the complex history of the plague after the Black Death
Science News

A sharper picture of a pandemic: Uncovering the complex history of the plague after the Black Death

The Black Death is often remembered as a single catastrophic event that swept across Europe between 1347 and 1353, killing millions. Yet the disease did not disappear after that first devastating outbreak. For more than four centuries, plague continued to return in recurring waves, reshaping communities, economies and societies across Europe and beyond. A new study led by researchers at the University of Tartu sheds fresh light on this long and complex history by analyzing the DNA of the plague bacterium preserved in archaeological human remains. The study is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

📅 2026-09-16 22:00:06    •    Phys.org
AI struggles to decipher 'animal language' because sound doesn't equal meaning, experts say
Science News

AI struggles to decipher 'animal language' because sound doesn't equal meaning, experts say

In recent years, numerous attempts have been made to use artificial intelligence to decipher the communication of bats, whales, birds and other animals. However, a new study led by a team of researchers from Tel Aviv University points to a fundamental problem with this approach: AI models focus on the physical properties of a sound, but this does not mean they understand the meaning attributed to it by the animal receiving it.

📅 2026-09-16 21:40:05    •    Phys.org
Time of day may be key in speech therapy for youth
Science News

Time of day may be key in speech therapy for youth

For young people with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS), a disorder that affects the brain's ability to plan and coordinate the movements needed for speech, speech difficulties can persist well beyond childhood. Unlike many childhood speech disorders that improve with age, people with childhood CAS may continue to experience speech errors into adolescence and young adulthood and often require intensive, individualized therapy.

📅 2026-09-16 21:40:01    •    Phys.org
Iron, sulfur and purple light unlock greener carbon-carbon bond formation
Science News

Iron, sulfur and purple light unlock greener carbon-carbon bond formation

Much of organic chemistry, including the type used to create and alter medicinal drugs, relies on modifying carbon bonds. Rice University's Julian West has been developing a less expensive, faster and more environmentally friendly way to catalyze these reactions, with a breakthrough published in the journal Nature Catalysis.

📅 2026-09-16 21:30:02    •    Phys.org
Bacterial invasion proteins could improve detection of live crop pathogens
Science News

Bacterial invasion proteins could improve detection of live crop pathogens

Scientists, clinicians, seed companies and others may soon have a new tool in their toolkit for detecting bacterial pathogens, thanks to a new study by researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences. The research—published in Journal of Microbiological Methods—details a new method for detecting Pseudomonas syringae, a common bacterium that infects a wide variety of crops, vegetables and woody ornamentals.

📅 2026-09-16 21:20:08    •    Phys.org
AI can be more comforting than a person—our research shows why
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AI can be more comforting than a person—our research shows why

Some of us now use generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) to talk through difficult feelings. We may ask a chatbot to write an email or plan a vacation, but we also tell it that we have had a rotten day or feel anxious about a presentation.

📅 2026-09-16 21:20:02    •    Phys.org
Ultrathin membranes unlock nano-infrared views of biomolecules in water
Science News

Ultrathin membranes unlock nano-infrared views of biomolecules in water

Very small biological samples and even individual biomolecules can now be examined under near-physiological conditions with high confidence at the BESSY II infrared beamline using a newly validated and improved technique: nanoscale infrared (IR) spectroscopy (s-SNOM) with ultrathin silicon-based membranes.

📅 2026-09-16 21:10:01    •    Phys.org
1,700-year-old fragment of the 'Odyssey' discovered between pages of Dutch library book
Science News

1,700-year-old fragment of the 'Odyssey' discovered between pages of Dutch library book

A researcher was perusing a collection of old Egyptian texts in a Dutch library when he stumbled upon a torn piece of parchment containing a pivotal story: a section from Homer's "Odyssey." The fragment appears to be from a pocket edition of the epic produced in Egypt around A.D. 300.The researcher, Mark de Kreij, a Greek literature expert and professor at Radboud University in the Netherlands, found the parchment while studying early Christian manuscripts that the Utrecht University library purchased in the mid-20th century, according to a Sept. 14 statement from Utrecht University. Among a collection of Egyptian and Greek texts, de Kreij found a tiny piece of parchment with words he recogn...

📅 2026-09-16 20:12:40    •    Live Science
Newfound 'baby' planet smashes record for youngest known world
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Newfound 'baby' planet smashes record for youngest known world

Astronomers have confirmed a world less than a million years old as the youngest known planet, using data from archives. Called Elias 2-24 b, the baby planet is still whirling in its natal disk of dust and gas.

📅 2026-09-16 20:00:02    •    Phys.org
Muon rings enable precise calibration of telescopes at the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory
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Muon rings enable precise calibration of telescopes at the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory

Research initiated as part of a bachelor's thesis in physics at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) has culminated in a new analytical description of the muon-based calibration of dual-mirror Cherenkov telescopes. The work solves a problem that had remained open for more than 30 years because of the geometric complexity of these optical systems: determining precisely how much Cherenkov light produced by a muon reaches the camera, taking into account the shadows cast by the secondary mirror and the camera itself.

📅 2026-09-16 19:50:01    •    Phys.org