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Phys.org / Worker bumble bees help determine which baby bee will become queen

Every bumble bee colony has a queen, but a new study led by researchers at Penn State suggests the process of determining which baby bee reigns supreme may be less monarchal than the royal title suggests. The study, published ...

May 18, 2026
Phys.org / Innovative Mars rovers 'swim' through the sand

Some animals can move efficiently beneath granular surfaces. These include the sandfish (Scincus scincus), a lizard native to the Sahara. It can burrow into the sand and then literally "swim" through the desert sand to hunt ...

May 19, 2026
Phys.org / Hurricane forecasts have improved dramatically, saving lives, but federal cuts stretch NOAA to the breaking point

The 2026 Atlantic hurricane season starts June 1, and while a developing El Niño might result in a tamer season than in the past few years, all it takes is one big storm hitting a populated area to make it a bad hurricane ...

May 19, 2026
Phys.org / Historic co-determination helps monasteries navigate digital change across three countries

Why do some organizations survive across the centuries while others founder when faced with technological disruption? A new study by the University of Zurich shows that historically developed monastic forms of co-determination ...

May 19, 2026
Phys.org / How wasted infrared light could boost solar panels, night vision and 3D printing

Researchers at UNSW Sydney have developed a nanoscale device that converts low-energy infrared and red light into higher-energy visible light, a breakthrough that could eventually improve solar panels, sensing technologies, ...

May 18, 2026
Phys.org / Historical DNA connects 1.3 million living relatives to 17th-century Maryland settlers

As the United States prepares to mark its 250th anniversary, researchers from 23andMe Research Institute, Harvard University, and the Smithsonian Institution have teamed up to study one of the country's founding settlements: ...

May 14, 2026
Medical Xpress / 'The right patchwork': New studies examine tobacco regulation

Health warnings first appeared on cigarette packaging 60 years ago. Researchers and health professionals have described tobacco as addictive since the 1970s. Yet nearly 50 million people in the United States—one in five adults—still ...

May 20, 2026
Phys.org / Survey reveals students' mixed feelings about writing with artificial intelligence

Most students use AI—but their attitudes toward it are ambivalent. On the one hand, they see it as helpful for working more efficiently, broadening their knowledge, and overcoming writing difficulties. On the other, they ...

May 19, 2026
Phys.org / New economics study finds that ICE activity has upended the US childcare workforce

When U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations come to town, it can create a landscape of fear, chilling commerce and school attendance, and now, new research shows that it affects childcare workers.

May 18, 2026
Phys.org / This single mother must learn quickly—or her colony won't survive

Being a single mother of 20 is no joke, especially if the survival of a whole species depends on it. A queen bumblebee faces this very challenge when she lays her first eggs in the spring: She is utterly alone, with no worker ...

May 18, 2026
Medical Xpress / Ebola strain spreading in Congo and Uganda has no approved vaccine

As a deadly outbreak of Ebola virus spreads in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on May 17, 2026, that it is transferring "a small number of Americans" who ...

May 19, 2026
Medical Xpress / Kids who take risks at play make faster, smarter decisions in traffic

Children who take more risks on the playground make safe decisions more quickly when crossing a busy street. That's the central finding of a new study by researchers from UBC and Queen Maud University College in Norway, and ...

May 19, 2026