A new theory of what drives partisan conflict and hostility
Partisan conflict can be largely explained as differing views on two crucial tasks of society, according to a new theory developed by a pair of prominent social scientists......»»
South Sudan May See the First Permanent Mass Displacement Due to Climate Change
Protracted flooding has engulfed the country’s Sudd region due to more water entering the Nile upstream, which is driving conflict and disease and is potentially leaving the region uninhabitable......»»
Soil pH drives microbial community composition: Study shows how bacteria work together to thrive in difficult conditions
Though a founding concept of ecology suggests that the physical environment determines where organisms can survive, modern scientists have suspected there is more to the story of how microbial communities form in the soil......»»
Energy transmission in quantum field theory requires information: Research finds surprisingly simple relationship
An international team of researchers has found a surprisingly simple relationship between the rates of energy and information transmission across an interface connecting two quantum field theories. Their work was published in Physical Review Letters.....»»
AI chatbots might be better at swaying conspiracy theorists than humans
Co-author Gordon Pennycook: "The work overturns a lot of how we thought about conspiracies." Enlarge / A woman wearing a sweatshirt for the QAnon conspiracy theory on October 11, 2020 in Ronkonkoma, New York. (credit: Stephanie.....»»
Music industry’s 1990s hard drives, like all HDDs, are dying
The music industry traded tape for hard drives and got a hard-earned lesson. Enlarge / Hard drives, unfortunately, tend to die not with a spectacular and sparkly bang, but with a head-is-stuck whimper. (credit: Getty Images).....»»
Observational study supports century-old theory that challenges the Big Bang
A Kansas State University engineer recently published results from an observational study in support of a century-old theory that directly challenges the validity of the Big Bang theory......»»
Ancient DNA from Rapa Nui (Easter Island) refutes best-selling population collapse theory
Rapa Nui or Te Pito o Te Henua (the navel of the world), also known as Easter Island, is one of the most isolated inhabited places in the world. Located in the Pacific, it lies over 1,900 km east of the closest inhabited Polynesian island and 3,700 k.....»»
Fluctuating hydrodynamics theory could describe chaotic many-body systems, study suggests
Although systems consisting of many interacting small particles can be highly complex and chaotic, some can nonetheless be described using simple theories. Does this also pertain to the world of quantum physics?.....»»
Archaeologists challenge theory of violent Steppe invasion in Iberia Peninsula
A study by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and the University of Murcia (UM) challenges the theory that warrior groups with a "Steppe" genetic component originating from Eastern Europe violently replaced the male population of the Iberia.....»»
New research sinks old theory for the doldrums, a low-wind equatorial region that stranded sailors for centuries
During the Age of Sail, sailors riding the trade winds past the equator dreaded becoming stranded in the doldrums, a meteorologically distinct region in the deep tropics. For at least a century, scientists have thought that the doldrums' lack of wind.....»»
Scientists prove long-standing wave amplification theory
Physicists at the University of Southampton have tested and proven a 50-year-old theory for the first time using electro-magnetic waves. They have shown that the energy of waves can be increased by bouncing "twisted waves"—those with angular moment.....»»
References to ancient Britain linked to hostility online
Political posts on social media that most frequently referenced ancient history tended to be more extreme, hostile and overwhelmingly negative in tone than average, finds a new study by researchers from UCL and the University of Edinburgh......»»
Alien Spaceships Could Be Detected Using Gravitational Waves
The concept of space-time makes Star Trek-style warp drives theoretically possible, and researchers have proposed a way of detecting their use......»»
New Waymo data shows self-driving tech drives safer than humans
Self-driving technology company Waymo said its robotaxis are making roads safer in the markets where it operates — and sharing data to back those claims......»»
Schools urged to teach children how to spot conspiracies and fake news
Young people are as engaged and interested in current affairs as ever, but social media is siloing their opinions and making fake news hard to spot, and schools are the places to tackle this, according to a conspiracy theory expert......»»
Meta lobbied for child safety bill to blame Apple, but Apple’s own lobbying got it off the hook
Apple has its share of frenemies, and Meta is certainly one of them. Though the two companies have a mutually beneficial relationship, they have often found themselves in deep points of conflict. The latest drama? Per The Wall Street Journal, Meta lo.....»»
Simulation study explores how gift giving drives social change
New findings provide quantitative criteria for classifying social organizations in human history, together with potential explanatory variables that can be empirically measured for anthropology, history and archaeology, according to a study published.....»»
Replica symmetry breaking in 1D Rayleigh scattering system: Theory and validations
In both the natural world and human society, there commonly exist complex systems, such as climate systems, ecological systems, and network systems. Due to the involvement of numerous interacting elements, complex systems can stay in multiple differe.....»»
How thinking about death—mortality salience—drives early Halloween shopping and retail trends
It's becoming as much of a tradition as costumed trick-or-treaters and skeletons crawling across lawns studded with cardboard gravestones: candy corn and jumbo bags of Snickers start popping up on grocery store shelves a few weeks after Independence.....»»
Why are food prices still so high? What is price gouging—and why is it so complicated?
Vice President Kamala Harris' proposal to ban price gouging by grocers and food companies seemed to do more than just stir up the usual partisan bickering: it set off a highly technical debate between economists, food executives and policy experts ov.....»»