https://phys.org/science-news/sci-other en-us The latest news on chemistry, math, archaeology, biology, chemistry, mathematics and science technologies. The largest and longest-lasting society formed by people who escaped slavery and their descendants endured for a century in northeastern Brazil, and it continues to be a potent political symbol of Black pride today. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign history professor Marc Hertzman wrote about the settlement and how memories of it survive in his book, "After Palmares: Diaspora, Inheritance, and the Afterlives of Zumbi." https://phys.org/news/2024-11-history-brazil-longest-maroon-society.html Other Political science Thu, 07 Nov 2024 15:27:03 EST news650215621 A new study highlights key challenges and tensions in research ethics, particularly in light of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, and calls for the adoption of new research ethics policies. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-compliance-conversation-guidelines-ethical.html Other Mon, 04 Nov 2024 12:01:59 EST news649944115 This week, researchers reported the world's second-tiniest toad, winning the silver in the Brachycephalus contest. Chemists at UCLA disproved a 100-year-old organic chemistry rule. And researchers in Kenya report that elephants don't like bees, which could be a conservation boon (for the elephants. And maybe also the bees?). Additionally, scientists addressed an old thought experiment about monkeys and the theater, physicists correlated dark energy with the black hole population in the universe, and a group of Antarctic seals were found to be highly strategic and also adorable: https://phys.org/news/2024-11-saturday-citations-chimpanzee-playwrights-nature.html Other Sat, 02 Nov 2024 08:30:01 EDT news649678408 African book publishing is in a rare moment of transformation, according to a new report. It's an industry that has historically survived at the mercy of multinational publishing houses and donor funding. These arrangements, subject to the dictates of capitalism or aid, have not been sustainable. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-african-publishing-revolutionized-explores-trends.html Other Education Thu, 31 Oct 2024 16:20:01 EDT news649607609 I'm standing in a basement kitchen prodding at a sheep's liver, looking for marks on its smooth surface. People crowd around to film the proceedings, since I'm here to ask a question that everyone wants to know the answer to: will Donald Trump win the US election? https://phys.org/news/2024-10-ancient-mesopotamians-sheep-liver-donald.html Other Thu, 31 Oct 2024 15:30:04 EDT news649606867 Throughout accounts of 17th-century witch trials in Europe and North America, physical features alone were considered undeniable proof of witchcraft. The belief was that the devil branded witches' bodies with symbolic, material marks—such as unusual growths or blemishes. This led to routine bodily inspections in witch trials. The discovery of such marks was thought to be strong medical and scientific evidence of witchcraft and frequently sealed the victim's fate. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-moles-birthmarks-red-hair-anatomical.html Other Social Sciences Thu, 31 Oct 2024 11:47:03 EDT news649594021 What keeps you up at night? Bank account woes? An impending work presentation? Analyzing that embarrassing thing you said in the seventh grade? https://phys.org/news/2024-10-nightmare-fuel-scariest.html Other Wed, 30 Oct 2024 12:50:56 EDT news649511449 Medieval people have a reputation for being superstitious—and many of the supernatural phenomena found in the pages of medieval chronicles, miracle stories and romances are still alive in modern culture. Think ghosts, werewolves, demons, vampires, fairies and witches. But while (almost all) people today regard these beings as entirely fictional, many medieval people believed in them. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-supernatural-beliefs-medieval-people-elves.html Other Social Sciences Tue, 29 Oct 2024 15:07:04 EDT news649433221 This time of year, I often run across articles proclaiming Halloween a modern form of the pagan Irish holiday of Samhain—pronounced SAW-en. But as a historian of Ireland and its medieval literature, I can tell you: Samhain is Irish. Halloween isn't. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-opinion-ancient-irish-credit-halloween.html Other Social Sciences Tue, 29 Oct 2024 13:10:06 EDT news649426202 This week, physicists suggested that quantum entanglement may be really, really fast rather than instantaneous, and could be measured at an attosecond scale. Paleontologists discovered a fossilized mammal in Colorado that may have lived alongside dinosaurs in the Late Cretaceous. And scientists with the U.S. Geologic Survey reported that up to 95 million people may be relying on drinking water contaminated with PFAS chemicals. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-saturday-citations-comprehension-revisiting-tardigrade.html Other Sat, 26 Oct 2024 08:50:01 EDT news649078775 This week, researchers discovered a near-Earth microquasar that sheds new light on sources of relativistic outflows. Doctors reported finding a triphallic gentleman. And neuroscientists reported on modest cognitive boosts from short (or "acute," in clinical jargon) bursts of exercise. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-saturday-citations-brown-dwarf-dwarfs.html Other Sat, 19 Oct 2024 08:30:01 EDT news648468905 Digital media technology has changed journalism considerably, and perhaps most obviously in data journalism. Data journalism uses the power of data analysis and visualization to develop news stories that can be highly engaging and accessible to the public. Yet, as this particular form of journalism matures, there are obstacles to its efficient sharing and consumption. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-simplistic-outdated-communication-tools-narrows.html Other Wed, 16 Oct 2024 14:50:02 EDT news648308699 I teach a course on New England witchcraft trials, and students always arrive with varying degrees of knowledge of what happened in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-dogs-implicated-salem-witch-trials.html Other Tue, 15 Oct 2024 13:40:02 EDT news648215284 The 2024 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Nihon Hidankyo, the Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Sufferers Organizations. Many of these witnesses have spent their lives warning of the dangers of nuclear war—but initially, much of the world didn't want to hear it. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-godzilla-monster-humanity-urgent.html Other Mon, 14 Oct 2024 13:30:02 EDT news648128987 This week, astronomers considered whether dark energy varies over cosmic timescales. Via neutron analysis, physicists revealed that some Early Iron Age swords were altered recently by swindlers in order to be more historically exciting. And a professor in New Jersey solved two fundamental problems that have baffled mathematicians for decades. Additionally, there were developments in children's crafting supplies, carbon sequestration and the shifting map of the universe: https://phys.org/news/2024-10-saturday-citations-plastic-woke-tree.html Other Sat, 12 Oct 2024 09:00:02 EDT news647870577 As an award-winning scientist, Peter Dodge had made hundreds of flights into the eyes of hurricanes—almost 400. On Tuesday, a crew on a reconnaissance flight into Hurricane Milton helped him make one more, dropping his ashes into the storm as a lasting tribute to the longtime National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration radar specialist and researcher. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-hurricane-scientist-flight-noaa-ashes.html Other Fri, 11 Oct 2024 01:57:19 EDT news647830632 The volunteers who take part in search-and-rescue operations and then support disaster survivors belong to organizations that have become more formal and established over the past decade. That's what we found after spending more than four years volunteering alongside eight of these groups to better understand their role and the motivations of the people who participate in these efforts. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-cajun-navy-hurricane-volunteers.html Other Social Sciences Thu, 10 Oct 2024 12:40:01 EDT news647782266 The sudden emergence of witch trials in early modern Europe may have been fueled by one of humanity's most significant intellectual milestones: the invention of the printing press in 1450. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-witch-manual-social-networks-ignite.html Other Social Sciences Tue, 08 Oct 2024 14:42:12 EDT news647617326 The Nobel prizes may be one of the most famous and prestigious awards in the world—but who was the man behind them? As I explain in my lectures about Alfred Nobel, the inventor and entrepreneur has left a lasting legacy with the annual prizes he established in 1901 for physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace (the Nobel prize for economic sciences was established much later, in 1968). https://phys.org/news/2024-10-extraordinary-life-alfred-nobel.html Other Mon, 07 Oct 2024 15:04:03 EDT news647532241 US scientist Gary Ruvkun, who on Monday won the Nobel Prize in Medicine with fellow American Victor Ambros for their discovery of microRNA, said winning the honor was like "an earthquake". https://phys.org/news/2024-10-nobel-earthquake-ruvkun.html Other Mon, 07 Oct 2024 08:15:08 EDT news647507703 Cancer research or drugs treating cardiovascular illnesses could win a Nobel Prize on Monday when a week of laureate announcements kicks off, bringing a ray of optimism to a world beset by crises. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-cancer-cardiovascular-drugs-nobel-prize.html Other Mon, 07 Oct 2024 04:04:47 EDT news647492680 Leading academic publisher Springer Nature made its stock market debut Friday, one of the few initial public offerings in Frankfurt this year despite the exchange's strong performance. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-publisher-springer-nature-stock-debut.html Other Fri, 04 Oct 2024 10:53:03 EDT news647257980 Wars, a refugee crisis, famine and artificial intelligence could all be recognized when Nobel Prize announcements begin next week under a shroud of violence. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-nobel-prizes-backdrop-wars-famine.html Other Fri, 04 Oct 2024 10:47:23 EDT news647257621 Next week's Nobel Prize announcements will crown achievements that made the world a better place, a glimmer of optimism amid a spiraling Middle East conflict, war in Ukraine, famine in Sudan and a collapsing climate. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-nobels-glimmer-global-crises-mount.html Other Thu, 03 Oct 2024 04:28:52 EDT news647148524 Artificial intelligence is already disrupting industries from banking and finance to film and journalism, and scientists are investigating how AI might revolutionize their field—or even win a Nobel Prize. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-ai-day-nobel-prize.html Other Thu, 03 Oct 2024 04:22:42 EDT news647148149 A rare collection of 300-year-old petitions gives voice to the forgotten women who cared for England's most vulnerable children while battling their local authorities. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-early-foster-gave-poor-women.html Other Social Sciences Wed, 02 Oct 2024 19:00:01 EDT news647082767 The European Union's chief on Tuesday warned that the continent was "losing ground" in the global technology race and must boost research spending to "turn the tide". https://phys.org/news/2024-10-eu-eyes-reclaim-global-science.html Other Tue, 01 Oct 2024 13:19:02 EDT news647007537 Argentine biochemist Alejandro Nadra worries that President Javier Milei's budget cuts will undo his scientific quest to unravel the cause of genetic diseases that disable and kill millions. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-scientists-underfunded-argentina-verge-collapse.html Other Tue, 01 Oct 2024 04:30:28 EDT news646975822 As summer approaches, the threat of bushfires looms. Earlier this month, an out-of-control blaze in Sydney's northern beaches burnt more than 100 hectares of bushland, threatening nearby homes. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-immersive-cinema-firefighters-megafires.html Other Mon, 30 Sep 2024 10:30:01 EDT news646910780 This week, biologists tracked down a mysterious group of orcas near Chile; Hubble spotted a black hole jet that causes stars along its trajectory to erupt; and researchers explained mysterious craters that began appearing in Siberian permafrost in the 2010s. But you're probably here for cheese, cosmology and octopuses, so here you go: https://phys.org/news/2024-09-saturday-citations-octopuses-shift-supervisors.html Other Sat, 28 Sep 2024 09:10:01 EDT news646654936