Phys.org media bias and reliability
AllSides and Ad Fontes Media place Phys.org in the centre. We have seen it on 24 published stories of ours.
The short answers
Is Phys.org biased?
AllSides and Ad Fontes Media place Phys.org in the centre. An outlet rating describes a broad pattern in its output, not every article it publishes.
Is Phys.org left or right?
AllSides and Ad Fontes Media place Phys.org in the centre. In the three-way grouping used on story pages, that puts it under Centre.
Is Phys.org reliable?
The factual-reliability assessments we hold for Phys.org are Ad Fontes Media: Very high factuality; Media Bias/Fact Check: High factuality. These are outlet-level assessments, not a guarantee that every report is correct.
What Phys.org has been covering
Our account of each story, written from every outlet that ran it, with Phys.org’s own report linked underneath.
Researchers have identified a new wild cat species, Leopardus tilcayo, in Bolivia's Yungas forest. The small feline, measuring about 45-46 cm and weighing 1.4 kg, is the first new wild cat species described in more than 100 years.
Phys.org reported it asMeet Earth's newest wild cat species, the first named in over a century (opens Phys.org in a new tab)
Scientists are engineering soybeans with deeper root systems to improve climate resilience and enhance carbon sequestration. The Salk Institute, with funding from the Bezos Earth Fund, is leading this research, identifying and editing genes to promote root growth and carbon storage.
Phys.org reported it asScientists hope deeper-rooted soybeans can withstand climate extremes and store more carbon (opens Phys.org in a new tab)
Global freshwater reserves have fallen significantly, with the World Meteorological Organization reporting 2025 as one of the driest years for river flows in 35 years. The UN warns the water cycle is becoming more unpredictable, potentially exacerbated by El Niño.
Phys.org reported it asGlobal water report reveals drying rivers and erratic swings between too little and too much (opens Phys.org in a new tab)
Astronomers have confirmed Elias 2-24 b as the youngest exoplanet discovered to date, with an age of less than one million years. The Jupiter-sized planet, located 450 light-years away, is still within its natal disk of dust and gas, prompting a re-evaluation of planet-formation models.
Phys.org reported it asNewfound 'baby' planet smashes record for youngest known world (opens Phys.org in a new tab)
A major scientific report indicates Greenland and Antarctica have lost between 11.3 and 12.5 trillion tons of ice since 1979. This loss has contributed to a global sea level rise of approximately 3 to 3.14 centimeters, primarily driven by accelerated glacier flow into the ocean.
Phys.org reported it asSpeeding glaciers drive half a century of polar ice loss (opens Phys.org in a new tab)
Microplastics are pervasive in the environment, from ocean depths to soil. Scientists are working on detection methods, with over 200 tons of plastic particles entering soils and waters annually, a significant portion reaching agricultural land and waterways.
Phys.org reported it asMicroplastics fall across rural Switzerland, adding over 200 tons yearly to land and water (opens Phys.org in a new tab)
August 2026 was the hottest month on record globally, tying with July 2023, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service. The record heat was attributed to human-caused climate change and a strong El Niño event, with sea surface temperatures also reaching new highs.
Phys.org reported it asAugust hottest month ever recorded globally as huge El Niño emerges (opens Phys.org in a new tab)
Analysis of prehistoric human remains from Indonesia has revealed evidence of habitual drug use dating back approximately 25,000 years. This predates agriculture and suggests humans may have been consuming psychoactive substances much earlier than previously understood.
Phys.org reported it asIce Age origins of one of humanity's oldest drug habits discovered (opens Phys.org in a new tab)
OpenAI has announced that an internal AI model has produced a solution to the Navier-Stokes existence and smoothness problem, one of mathematics' seven Millennium Prize Problems. The company claims approximately 10,000 AI agents worked on the problem for 88 hours. However, mathematicians have expressed skepticism due to the lack of a publicly disclosed proof.
Phys.org reported it asOpenAI says 10,000 AI agents cracked one of math's hardest problems in 88 hours (opens Phys.org in a new tab)
A new study reveals that young chimpanzees develop unique vocal patterns specific to their populations as they mature. These differences, observed in grunts, whimpers, and laughter, become more pronounced as the animals age, challenging previous assumptions about the fixed nature of chimpanzee calls.
Phys.org reported it asChimpanzees have accents too, study finds (opens Phys.org in a new tab)
The New Glenn rocket exploded during a static-fire test on 29 May 2026 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Infrasonic waves from the blast travelled up to 1,684 km across the US, according to a study in The Seismic Record.
Phys.org reported it asBlue Origin's New Glenn explosion shows infrasound can detect rocket accidents from up to 1,700 kilometers away (opens Phys.org in a new tab)
A United Nations report published on September 2, 2026, states that global temperatures are likely to exceed the 1.5°C warming threshold within a few years. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) calls for rapid emissions cuts and carbon removal to limit damage.
Phys.org reported it asGlobal warming will exceed limit, UN says in a report that maps path to get back below danger zone (opens Phys.org in a new tab)
A geomagnetic superstorm on 11 November 2025 caused GPS errors exceeding 10 metres across the continental United States, disrupting satellite signals for hours. Scientists warn the timing, outside planting season, averted agricultural losses estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars.
Phys.org reported it asGeomagnetic superstorm shook GPS accuracy across the US—its timing may have averted agricultural losses (opens Phys.org in a new tab)
The UK is expected to be confirmed as having experienced its hottest summer on record in 2026, according to provisional Met Office data. The season saw five heatwaves, while much of England and all of Wales remain in drought.
Phys.org reported it asUK chalks up hottest summer on record for second year running (opens Phys.org in a new tab)
NASA's Roman Space Telescope has successfully launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. The observatory is designed to study dark matter, dark energy, and exoplanets, collecting vast amounts of data to deepen our understanding of the universe.
Phys.org reported it asNASA's Roman telescope set to launch on cosmic mapping mission (opens Phys.org in a new tab)
Flash floods and landslides swept away villages along the Nepal-Tibet border, killing at least 165 people. Experts suggest a glacial collapse, not an earthquake, was the cause, with climate change and the region's topography exacerbating the risks.
Phys.org reported it asHow a glacier collapse may have caused Nepal-Tibet disaster (opens Phys.org in a new tab)
Bearded capuchin monkeys hunt small animals like lizards and rodents when plant foods are scarce, according to a study published in PLOS One. Male monkeys hunt more frequently and target more dangerous prey than females, and both sexes prefer the fat-rich brains and guts of their prey.
Phys.org reported it asWhen fruits and veggies are scarce, monkeys hunt for meat (opens Phys.org in a new tab)
Researchers used buried organic cotton underwear as an indicator of soil biological activity. The experiment, involving nearly 1,000 volunteers across Switzerland, found that land use was the most significant factor influencing decomposition rates, with private gardens showing the highest activity.
Phys.org reported it asBuried underwear shows land use is key to soil health (opens Phys.org in a new tab)
The US Agriculture Department plans to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, removing logging restrictions on over 40 million acres of national forest. The move, announced by Secretary Brooke Rollins, aims to reduce wildfire risks but is opposed by environmental groups who say it will increase them.
Phys.org reported it asUS moves to open vast tracts of pristine forests to logging (opens Phys.org in a new tab)
A wildfire in Belgium’s High Fens nature reserve burned over 27 square kilometres on 15 August 2026, forcing 600 residents to evacuate. Over 250 emergency personnel, including firefighters from Belgium and Germany, were deployed, with EU assistance from Sweden, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic.
Phys.org reported it asBelgium races to tame huge wildfire creeping toward Germany (opens Phys.org in a new tab)
Who says so
2 organisations have published a rating for this outlet, in their own words. Where they disagree, the disagreement is the useful part and it is left standing.
How reliably it reports fact
A rating of the newsroom in general, by others, and a different thing from the Trust score we publish on each story, which judges one piece of reporting.
Very high factuality
Who owns it
We hold no ownership record for Phys.org.
Where it publishes from
What we have seen ourselves
Counted across the stories this site has published, which is the only denominator a reader can check: every one of them has a page, and every page lists the reports it was written from.
- Stories
- 24
- Reports listed
- 24
- We could read
- 8
- First seen
- 4 August 2026
16 of those reports were paywalled or blocked to us. Our reading of this outlet is built on the 8 we could open, not on everything it published.
A blindspot is measured against one side of the spectrum. Phys.org is rated centre, so there is no side for it to be counted against and we publish no figure here.
Across the 24 stories of ours where at least three of the reports we listed carried a time, we logged no report earlier than Phys.org’s on 2 of them. Overall it filed a median of 22 hours after the earliest report we logged.
Measured 22 September 2026. Last seen in a coverage list 21 September 2026. Ratings pulled 7 September 2026.
Other outlets rated the same way
Publishers carrying the same published leaning as Phys.org, also publishing from United Kingdom, ordered by how often we have seen them on a story. Sharing a rating is not the same as being alike.
Think this page is wrong?
The leanings above are published by AllSides, Ad Fontes Media and Media Bias/Fact Check, and we republish them rather than make them. If you think one is misapplied, the strongest place to say so is with the organisation that made it, and every verdict here links to their page.
What we are responsible for is everything else: the ownership chain, where Phys.org publishes from, which of our stories we have listed it on, and whether we have the right publisher at all. Tell us what is wrong and an editor reads it.
Report something wrong on this page
Anything we correct is written up in the public corrections log. We do not publish reader votes as a rating, because an unattributed rating is the thing this site exists to argue against.
Every rating on this page is a named third party’s published work, republished with its author and, where one exists, a link to it. Our own coverage record is the section we measure ourselves. Neither is a judgement of any individual report: those are scored story by story, and the reasoning is on our methodology page.