Q&A: Using social science to forecast societal change
Pandemic impacts on people everywhere brought a unique opportunity for social scientists to study and forecast changes in society. The Forecasting Collaborative was founded in 2020 by Dr. Igor Grossmann, associate professor of psychology at the Unive.....»»
How social structure influences the way people share money
People around the globe often depend on informal financial arrangements, borrowing and lending money through social networks. Understanding this sheds light on local economies and helps fight poverty......»»
A method of "look twice, forgive once" can sustain social cooperation
The theory of indirect reciprocity holds that people who earn a good reputation by helping others are more likely to be rewarded by third parties, but widespread cooperation depends on agreement about reputations......»»
Who lives in the rainforest treetops? DNA-collecting drone provides insights
Squinting into the treetops won't reveal the tiny organisms up there. But these creatures leave clues, in the form of DNA, on the leaves and branches. Now, researchers report in Environmental Science & Technology that they have developed a way to col.....»»
A social media platform that is actually good for democracy?
Technology is often seen as a threat to democracy, with the surge in AI capabilities the latest big concern......»»
Mysterious orca group near Chile tracked down, revealing newly discovered hunting skills
Off the coast of Chile, in waters filled with krill and anchovy by the Humboldt Current system, live an elusive and little-known population of orcas. Thanks to citizen science and years of dedicated surveillance, a team of scientists led by Dr. Ana G.....»»
Ecuador capital "under attack" from five wildfires
Firefighters battled five blazes on the outskirts of Ecuador's capital Quito on Wednesday, as wildfires continue to rip through South American nations turned into tinderboxes by droughts linked to climate change......»»
Florida girds for arrival of "catastrophic" Hurricane Helene
An increasingly powerful hurricane threatening "catastrophic," dangerous storm surges and flooding was forecast to smash into Florida's Gulf coast on Thursday, as thousands of residents evacuated towns along the US state's shoreline......»»
NASA analysis shows irreversible sea level rise for Pacific islands
In the next 30 years, Pacific Island nations such as Tuvalu, Kiribati, and Fiji will experience at least 8 inches (15 centimeters) of sea level rise, according to an analysis by NASA's sea level change science team. This amount of rise will occur reg.....»»
Brazil must reinforce protection of forests to meet climate change mitigation goals, study warns
As it prepares to host the 30th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP 30, the first COP to be held in the Amazon) in November 2025, Brazil is at a crucial moment. Its greenhouse gas emissio.....»»
Study defines a safe operating space for major rivers in the Ganges Delta, India
An international study led by the University of Glasgow is the first to define a safe operating space (SOS) for major rivers in the Ganges Delta, which will enhance resilience in one of the world's most vulnerable deltas to global climate change......»»
Researchers explore novel approach to map forest dieback in satellite images
Forests and woodlands cover one third of Earth's surface and play a critical role in carbon sequestration, water regulation, timber production, soil protection, and biodiversity conservation. Accelerated by climate change, the decline of these and ot.....»»
Climate change is easier to study when it"s presented as a game, says researcher
Climate change is among the more difficult but important topics to teach to young people. It involves complicated science and data, and it can be really depressing, given the bleak picture it paints of Earth's future......»»
Gender equity paradox: Study finds sex differences in reading and science are largest in gender-equal countries
A new study reveals that sex differences in academic strengths are found throughout the world and girls' relative advantage in reading and boys' in science is largest in gender-equal countries......»»
How synchronization supports social interactions: Taking turns during conversations may help coordinate cues
Turn-taking dynamics of social interactions are important for speech and gesture synchronization, enabling conversations to proceed efficiently, according to a study published September 25, 2024, in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Tifenn Fauviaux.....»»
How professional sports leagues that embrace social justice causes could influence politics
Given that 77 percent of people in Canada and 57 percent of people in the United Kingdom watch a sports team regularly—compared to the 60 percent of people who turn out to vote in Canada and the U.K.—it's clear sports have an important and persis.....»»
How coral and sediments helped to reconstruct 2.6 million years of climate history
Today's climate change is man-made. The consensus in the climate science community is unequivocal, but in order to determine just how exceptional current climate change is, we have had to contextualize the present on a much longer time scale. To do t.....»»
Investigating "climate burnout" to learn how people can maintain motivation to fight climate change
As the occurrence of weather extremes continues to escalate, the climate change movement now grapples with a new challenge, "climate burnout.".....»»
Current economic system fails examination by sustainability experts
Our current economic system is based on poor science and should not be used to guide government decision-making when faced with threats to existence like climate change. That's the conclusion of a new paper led by UNSW Sydney sustainability scientist.....»»
Florida girds for arrival of Helene as powerful hurricane
Thousands of residents on Wednesday began evacuating parts of coastal Florida as the US state braces for Hurricane Helene, forecast to barrel ashore as a powerful, potentially deadly storm......»»
Cryo-ET study provides viral close-up of HTLV-1, the "overlooked cousin of HIV"
In collaboration with the University of Minnesota and Cornell University, Martin Obr and Florian Schur from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) provide new details into the architecture of HTLV-1 (Human T-cell Leukemia Virus Type 1.....»»