Frontiers | Science news

Health

Published on 09 Feb 2026

Brief, intensive exercise helps patients with panic disorder more than standard care

A key technique of cognitive behavioral therapy for panic disorder is interoceptive exposure, where patients learn to tolerate the physical effects of panic attacks through repeated simulated exposure. Now, scientists have shown in a randomized controlled trial that brief intermittent intensive exercise is more effective at reducing the severity of panic disorder than relaxation therapy.

Image: Jamiesrabbits on flickr. Licensed under CC BY 2.0

Health

Published on 29 Jan 2026

Reducing drug deaths from novel psychoactive substances relies on foreign legislation, but here’s how it can be tackled closer to home

Guest editorial by Ric Treble and Caroline Copeland, authors of a new Frontiers in Pharmacology article that examined the impact of national and international legislation on the emergence of new psychoactive substances in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Health

Published on 19 Jan 2026

Decades of suffering: Long-term mental health outcomes of Kurdish chemical gas attacks

Researchers found exceptionally high levels of trauma among survivors of a notorious atrocity: the 1988 chemical attack on Halabja in Kurdistan.

Health

Published on 18 Dec 2025

Global food systems driving twin crises of obesity and global heating

A major review in Frontiers in Science highlights how tackling unsustainable food systems—reflected by our changing food environment—is urgent for both health and climate.

Image credit: Public domain via Wikimedia Commons, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Mond-vergleich.svg

Neuroscience

Published on 20 Oct 2025

Do animals fall for optical illusions? What fish and birds can teach us about perception

Dr Maria Santacà describes how not only how fish and birds perceive their worlds, but also how ecological pressures shape the evolution of perception.

Neuroscience

Published on 07 Oct 2025

Instructions help you remember something better than emotions or a good night’s sleep

Scientists find that words you’ve been told to recall are better remembered than words with negative emotional connotations — but surprisingly, sleeping doesn’t help.

Neuroscience

Published on 03 Sep 2025

Happy music could help you recover from motion sickness

Listening to joyful music helped study participants with motion sickness recover better than other participants — while sad music helped less than doing nothing.

Vantage point of the Murin-an garden in Kyoto the researchers used for the experiment in summer. Credit: Ueya Kato Zoen.

Neuroscience

Published on 15 May 2025

Seeing well-designed gardens could relax us almost immediately because we look at them differently

In well-designed gardens, our gaze shifts quicker and more often. Researchers believe this could be key to understanding the relaxing effects gardens can have on viewers.

Bison in Lamar Valley. Credit: Yellowstone National Park via flickr.

Environment

Published on 10 Feb 2026

Bison hunters abandoned long-used site 1,100 years ago to adapt to changing climate

As drought and rising organizational demands for larger hunting operations hit at the same time, ancient hunters adapted to severe droughts by shifting the way and where they hunted, study shows

A Bushveld sengi (Elephantulus intufi), photographed by Dr Maria Oosthuizen

Environment

Published on 27 Jan 2026

96% accurate footprint tracker for tiny mammals could help reveal ecosystem health

New footprint identification technology can identify ecosystem-critical species which were once only distinguishable by DNA.

Belugas swim in the sea off Alaska. Photo taken by Lisa Barry with permission from NOAA Fisheries

Environment

Published on 21 Jan 2026

DNA tests reveal mysterious beluga family trees

Groundbreaking DNA analysis of Alaskan beluga whales shows both males and females have many different mates.

Environment

Published on 22 Aug 2025

Wildfires can raise local death rate by 67%, shows study on 2023 Hawaiʻi fires

Scientists studying the devastating Lāhainā, Maui fires of August 2023 found that deaths were two-thirds higher than expected that month — and 367% higher during the most intense week of the blaze.

Psychology

Published on 08 Dec 2025

Are you more likely to buy a one-star-reviewed item if it’s just for an acquaintance? Here are five articles you won’t want to miss

With less than one month before the holidays, many of us are gearing up for the annual Christmas shopping extravaganza. We’re highlighting five articles you won’t want to miss before hitting the shops.

Psychology

Published on 13 Aug 2025

Now you see me, now you don’t: how subtle ‘sponsored content’ on social media tricks us into viewing ads

Scientists find that people mostly avoid social media ads when they see them, but many ads blend in seamlessly.

Psychology

Published on 24 Jul 2025

Students more likely to pass oral exams at noon — and that might apply to job interviews, too

Physiological rhythms could explain why Italian university students were more likely to fail exams early or late in the day.

A group of students sit together at a table.

Psychology

Published on 07 May 2025

Humans prefer to put more effort into empathizing with groups than with individuals

Study participants asked to choose whether to empathize with or describe people preferred to empathize with groups, despite finding it difficult and distressing.

Concept design for a rectangular space telescope, modeled after the Diffractive Interfero Coronagraph Exoplanet Resolver (DICER), a notional infrared space observatory, and the James Webb Space Telescope. Credit: Leaf Swordy/Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Space sciences and astronomy

Published on 01 Sep 2025

Circle versus rectangle: finding ‘Earth 2.0’ may be easier using a new telescope shape

Guest editorial by Prof Heidi Newberg, an astrophysicist at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and author of a new Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences article

Space sciences and astronomy

Published on 25 Feb 2025

Laser-powered device tested on Earth could help us detect microbial fossils on Mars

Scientists successfully identify microbe fossils in terrestrial rocks like those found on Mars, opening up the possibility of searching for fossils on the Red Planet.

Space sciences and astronomy

Published on 06 Feb 2025

Efforts to find alien life could be boosted by simple test that gets microbes moving

Scientists explored microbial movement as a possible biosignature to detect life on Mars and beyond, cheaper and faster than ever before.

Space sciences and astronomy

Published on 03 Feb 2025

Can ocean-floor mining oversights help us regulate space debris and mining on the Moon?

Space belongs to no-one, yet many nations and private entities now plan to lay their claim on its resources. In a recent Frontiers in Space Technologies article, Nishith Mishra, Martina Elia Vitoloni and Dr Joseph Pelton shared their thoughts about how plans to exploit the ocean floors could impact the way resources from space are used and managed.

Frontiers | Science news

Science news

To reach net-zero, reverse current policy and protect largest trees in Amazon, urge scientists

Frogs new to science and proof we’d rather look anywhere but at spiders: Here are Frontiers’ photo highlights of the month

Brief, intensive exercise helps patients with panic disorder more than standard care

Rich medieval Danes bought graves ‘closer to God’ despite leprosy stigma, archaeologists find

Latest posts

Frogs new to science and proof we’d rather look anywhere but at spiders: Here are Frontiers’ photo highlights of the month

Advancing research integrity in 2025: leading with action and impact

Rich medieval Danes bought graves ‘closer to God’ despite leprosy stigma, archaeologists find

Bison hunters abandoned long-used site 1,100 years ago to adapt to changing climate

Brief, intensive exercise helps patients with panic disorder more than standard care

Are cats ‘vegan’ meat eaters? Study finds why isotopic fingerprint of cat fur could trick us into thinking that way

Categories

Health

Brief, intensive exercise helps patients with panic disorder more than standard care

Reducing drug deaths from novel psychoactive substances relies on foreign legislation, but here’s how it can be tackled closer to home

Decades of suffering: Long-term mental health outcomes of Kurdish chemical gas attacks

Global food systems driving twin crises of obesity and global heating

Neuroscience

Do animals fall for optical illusions? What fish and birds can teach us about perception

Instructions help you remember something better than emotions or a good night’s sleep

Happy music could help you recover from motion sickness

Seeing well-designed gardens could relax us almost immediately because we look at them differently

Environment

Bison hunters abandoned long-used site 1,100 years ago to adapt to changing climate

96% accurate footprint tracker for tiny mammals could help reveal ecosystem health

DNA tests reveal mysterious beluga family trees

Wildfires can raise local death rate by 67%, shows study on 2023 Hawaiʻi fires

Psychology

Are you more likely to buy a one-star-reviewed item if it’s just for an acquaintance? Here are five articles you won’t want to miss

Now you see me, now you don’t: how subtle ‘sponsored content’ on social media tricks us into viewing ads

Students more likely to pass oral exams at noon — and that might apply to job interviews, too

Humans prefer to put more effort into empathizing with groups than with individuals

Space sciences and astronomy

Circle versus rectangle: finding ‘Earth 2.0’ may be easier using a new telescope shape

Laser-powered device tested on Earth could help us detect microbial fossils on Mars

Efforts to find alien life could be boosted by simple test that gets microbes moving

Can ocean-floor mining oversights help us regulate space debris and mining on the Moon?

Frontiers | Science news

To reach net-zero, reverse current policy and protect largest trees in Amazon, urge scientists

Frogs new to science and proof we’d rather look anywhere but at spiders: Here are Frontiers’ photo highlights of the month

Brief, intensive exercise helps patients with panic disorder more than standard care

Rich medieval Danes bought graves ‘closer to God’ despite leprosy stigma, archaeologists find

Latest posts

Frogs new to science and proof we’d rather look anywhere but at spiders: Here are Frontiers’ photo highlights of the month

Advancing research integrity in 2025: leading with action and impact

Rich medieval Danes bought graves ‘closer to God’ despite leprosy stigma, archaeologists find

Bison hunters abandoned long-used site 1,100 years ago to adapt to changing climate

Brief, intensive exercise helps patients with panic disorder more than standard care

Are cats ‘vegan’ meat eaters? Study finds why isotopic fingerprint of cat fur could trick us into thinking that way

Categories

Climate action

Earth science

eBooks

Engineering

Environment

Featured news

Frontiers news

Health

Humanities

Impact analysis

Health

Brief, intensive exercise helps patients with panic disorder more than standard care

Reducing drug deaths from novel psychoactive substances relies on foreign legislation, but here’s how it can be tackled closer to home

Decades of suffering: Long-term mental health outcomes of Kurdish chemical gas attacks

Global food systems driving twin crises of obesity and global heating

Neuroscience

Do animals fall for optical illusions? What fish and birds can teach us about perception

Instructions help you remember something better than emotions or a good night’s sleep

Happy music could help you recover from motion sickness

Seeing well-designed gardens could relax us almost immediately because we look at them differently

Environment

Bison hunters abandoned long-used site 1,100 years ago to adapt to changing climate

96% accurate footprint tracker for tiny mammals could help reveal ecosystem health

DNA tests reveal mysterious beluga family trees

Wildfires can raise local death rate by 67%, shows study on 2023 Hawaiʻi fires

Psychology

Are you more likely to buy a one-star-reviewed item if it’s just for an acquaintance? Here are five articles you won’t want to miss

Now you see me, now you don’t: how subtle ‘sponsored content’ on social media tricks us into viewing ads

Students more likely to pass oral exams at noon — and that might apply to job interviews, too

Humans prefer to put more effort into empathizing with groups than with individuals

Space sciences and astronomy

Circle versus rectangle: finding ‘Earth 2.0’ may be easier using a new telescope shape

Laser-powered device tested on Earth could help us detect microbial fossils on Mars

Efforts to find alien life could be boosted by simple test that gets microbes moving

Can ocean-floor mining oversights help us regulate space debris and mining on the Moon?