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Tech Xplore / Report calls for AI toy safety standards to protect young children

AI-powered toys that "talk" with young children should be more tightly regulated and carry new safety kitemarks, according to a report that warns they are not always developed with children's psychological safety in mind. ...

Mar 12, 2026
Tech Xplore / Shortest paths research narrows a 25-year gap in graph algorithms

Most of you have used a navigation app like Google Maps for your travels at some point. These apps rely on algorithms that compute shortest paths through vast networks. Now imagine scaling that task to calculate distances ...

Mar 12, 2026
Phys.org / Local droplet etching yields more symmetric quantum dots for integrated photonics

Light-based quantum technologies, such as quantum communication and photonic quantum computing, require reliable sources of individual photons and, ideally, pairs of entangled photons. Semiconductor quantum dots are promising ...

Mar 12, 2026
Phys.org / How much do nontargeted analyses really see? A model maps chemical blind spots

In a study published in Analytical Chemistry, researchers from the University of Amsterdam's Van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences (HIMS) reveal a sobering reality regarding nontargeted chemical analysis. Although ...

Mar 12, 2026
Phys.org / Selfish sperm hijack Overdrive gene to kill healthy rivals

A new University of Utah-led study has discovered the mechanism behind a decades-old evolutionary mystery—how "selfish chromosomes" cheat the rules of genetic inheritance. The researchers found that rogue chromosomes hijack ...

Mar 12, 2026
Phys.org / Shell game: How oysters enlist help from microbes

For an oyster, creating an internal environment for calcification that forms its distinctive hard shell is essential. But new Harvard research has found that these bivalves may outsource the work, coordinating with microbes ...

Mar 12, 2026
Phys.org / Japanese scientists discover how falling cats almost always make perfect landings

When cats fall, they usually land on their feet. This uncanny ability to right themselves before hitting the ground has long puzzled scientists. Now, a team from Yamaguchi University in Japan has the answer, and it's all ...

Mar 10, 2026
Phys.org / What keeps centrioles together: NuSAP's newly mapped role in centrosome integrity

Biologists at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have uncovered how the protein NuSAP safeguards tiny structures inside cells called centrioles, revealing a mechanism linked to developmental disorders such as microcephaly ...

Mar 12, 2026
Phys.org / Wolves kill—and ravens remember where

When a wolf pack runs down its prey, the first on the scene is often the raven. Even before the predators have had time to dig in, the ravens are already in line, waiting to take advantage of the odd scrap of meat that becomes ...

Mar 12, 2026
Phys.org / The bizarre sex life of mayflies: Micro-CT scans reveal ins and outs of swarm Kamasutra

A new study on mayflies of the genus Ecdyonurus illustrates just how multifaceted and surprising reproductive behavior in nature can be. Entomologists at the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart (SMNS), using state-of-the-art ...

Mar 12, 2026
Phys.org / Lost page of legendary Archimedes palimpsest found in France

It all started off as a joke, a French researcher told AFP. But what the team found was a piece of history—a long-lost page from a legendary manuscript by ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes which had been languishing, ...

Mar 12, 2026
Phys.org / Allowing atoms to come and go can open the door to better materials modeling

Most materials, especially metals and ceramics, are crystals. Their atoms are arranged in three-dimensional lattices that repeat the same exact pattern, over and over again. But there's a well-known saying in materials science: ...

Mar 12, 2026