205 words Elite philanthropy mainly self-serving - Philanthropy among the elite class in the United States and the United Kingdom does more to create goodwill for the super-wealthy than to alleviate social ills for the poor, according to a new meta-analysis.
293 words Study finds the label "straight" promotes negative judgments of gay men, particularly among highly religious people
121 words Researchers have found that tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive component of marijuana, stays in breast milk for up to six weeks, further supporting the recommendations to abstain from marijuana use during pregnancy and while a mother is breastfeeding.
104 words Decades of research reveals very little difference between male and female brains - once brain size is accounted for, any differences that remained were small and rarely consistent from one study to the next, finds three decades of data from MRI scans and postmortem brain tissue studies.
118 words A device called the 'kelp elevator' tested on the Southern California coast grows energy-rich algae four times faster than nature, proving the potential for mass-produced seaweed to power vehicles with biofuel harvested from the ocean.
118 words Science Discussion Series: Social media has never been a larger part of the sociopolitical landscape than in the last few years. We are researchers who study the impacts of social media on our beliefs and behaviors. Ask Us Anything!
179 words Single-issue voters drive senators to ignore majority - US senators seeking re-election “flip-flop” on bills related to gun and environmental policies, playing to preferences of single-issue voters rather than majority, which could explain why bills don’t pass, even with overwhelming support.
160 words Twitter experiment shows clear self-selection into social media “echo chambers” due to political preferences. Users are 3 times more likely to follow others they are aligned with in political terms. This suggests the lack of cross-partisan relationships on social media isn’t only due to algorithms.
122 words The Paris Agreement aims to keep global warming by 2100 to below 2 °C, but the probability of this is only 5% based on current trends. To have an even chance of staying below 2 °C, country-based rate of emissions reductions should increase by 80% beyond nationally determined contributions.
113 words Singapore, with almost 200,00 migrant workers exposed to COVID-19 and more than 111,000 confirmed infections, has had only 20 ICU patients and 1 death, because of highly effective mass testing, contact tracing and isolation, finds a new study in JAMA.
134 words Fecal transplant turns cancer immunotherapy non-responders into responders - Scientists transplanted fecal samples from patients who respond well to immunotherapy to advanced melanoma patients who don’t respond, to turn them into responders, raising hope for microbiome-based therapies of cancers.
235 words Newly licensed autistic drivers crash less than other young drivers - Researchers found that compared with their non-autistic peers, young autistic drivers have lower rates of moving violations and license suspensions, as well as similar to lower crash rates.
133 words Major depressive disorder is thought to be caused by a decrease in the number and flexibility of neural synapses. Researchers found that one psychedelic dose of psilocybin in pigs increased the number of synapses and made serotonin signaling more effective
145 words Childhood neglect was associated with Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism, which in turn were related to greater levels of malevolent creativity as adults, who were more likely to think about ways to take revenge on others, fabricate lies to simplify a situation, and pull pranks.
122 words Overweight and healthy is a big fat lie, obesity study finds
144 words The COVID-19 pandemic has led to significant worsening of already poor dietary habits, low activity levels, sedentary behaviour, and high alcohol consumption among university students
139 words Shortening the workweek reduces smoking and obesity, improves overall health, study of French reform shows
173 words The rise of comedy-news programs, like Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert or John Oliver, may actually help inform the public. A new neuroimaging study using fMRI suggests that humor might make news and politics more socially relevant, and therefore motivate people to remember it and share it.
166 words The lack of respect and open-mindedness in political discussions may be due to affective polarization, the belief those with opposing views are immoral or unintelligent. Intellectual humility, the willingness to change beliefs when presented with evidence, was linked to lower affective polarization.
163 words How individuals with dark personality traits react to COVID-19 - People high in narcissism and psychopathy were less likely to engage in cleaning behaviors. People with narcissism have a negative response to the pandemic as it restricts their ability to exploit others within the social system.