ScienceDaily: Society - October 01, 2024
Top society research news
Where flood policy helps most -- and where it could do more
A Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) program provides important flood insurance relief, researchers say. But due to its design, it's used more in communities with greater means to protect themselves, while lower-resourced areas benefit less.
Coral reef destruction a threat to human rights
A human rights-based approach to coral reef protection could ensure governments are held to account for safeguarding marine ecosystems.
Image: khaniitech/Shutterstock.com
Getting to zero emissions: A call for unified energy planning
To help speed decarbonization, state regulators should reconceive of gas and electric utilities as serving the same purpose, according to a new report. Without coordinated action, the energy transition could become slower, more expensive, and more inequitable, the authors warn.
Study suggests simple steps may improve team ethics
Instead of ending a group meeting asking if anyone has any questions, a professor suggests asking participants if they can think of anything that can go wrong with the plan discussed.
New brain-mapping tool may be the 'START' of next-generation therapeutics
Scientists debut START, a new tool for mapping the brain's intricate neuronal connections with unparalleled precision. They demonstrate START's ability to identify the connectivity patterns of transcriptomic neuronal subtypes, and explain how the tool will help us design novel therapeutics that target certain neurons and circuits with greater specificity, efficacy, and fewer side effects.
Honey, I shrunk the city: What should declining Japanese cities do?
A researcher examined the nonlinear multidimensional factors that correlate with population changes according to city size. The results indicate that population changes correlated with the financial strength index as an economic-related factor in medium-sized cities.
Vast 'stranded assets' if world continues investing in polluting industries
Continued investment in carbon-intensive industries will drastically increase the amount of 'stranded assets' as the world moves to net-zero emissions, researchers warn.
Support for meat rationing to protect climate
Rationing of goods such as meat and fuel can both effectively and fairly reduce consumption with high climate impact. Almost 40 percent of the public say they could accept such measures.
How are pronouns processed in the memory-region of our brain?
How social structure influences the way people share money
A study of informal finance finds that in East Africa, money moves in very different patterns depending on whether societies are structured around family units or age-based groups.
A method of 'look twice, forgive once' can sustain social cooperation
Using mathematical modeling, researchers found a way to maintain cooperation without relying on complex norms or institutions.
Alarming surge: Global crisis of childhood overweight and obesity
Since 1990, childhood obesity has nearly doubled globally, with the U.S. at the forefront. Addressing pediatric obesity requires a multifaceted approach from tackling the influence of social media and advertising on children's food choices to increasing physical activity.
How synchronization supports social interactions
Turn-taking dynamics of social interactions are important for speech and gesture synchronization, enabling conversations to proceed efficiently, according to a new study.
Digital biomarkers shedding light on seasonality in mood disorders
Wrist-based activity sensors worn by individuals with depression and those without over the course of two weeks provided evidence for the relationship between daily sunlight exposure and physical activity, according to a new study.
Lack of food -- not money -- drives poaching in East African national parks, study finds
Researchers conducted a survey of 267 households near Mkomazi National Park in northern Tanzania and found that food security was much more important than financial or educational security in motivating people to engage in poaching or illegal grazing in the park.
New research explored the exacerbating and attenuating factors of despair-induced climate burnout to learn how people can overcome despair and maintain motivation to fight climate change.
Citizen scientists help discover microplastics along the entire German coastline
The AWI's citizen science project 'Microplastic Detectives' has analyzed 2.2 tons of sand from German coasts for microplastics.
Night-time noise linked to restless nights for airport neighbors, study finds
A research team combined measurements from activity monitors and questionnaires for a new study of impact of aircraft noise on sleep. Higher levels of noise were associated with disturbed sleep quality measured by activity monitors. Noise had little impact on sleep duration but higher likelihood of reporting sleeplessness.
Air pollution exposure during early life can have lasting effects on the brain's white matter
Exposure to certain pollutants, like fine particles (PM2.5) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), during pregnancy and childhood is associated with differences in the microstructure of the brain s white matter, and some of these effects persist throughout adolescence.
Major boost in carbon capture and storage essential to reach 2°C climate target
Large expansion of carbon capture and storage is necessary to fulfill the Paris Climate Agreement. Yet a new study shows that without major efforts, the technology will not expand fast enough to meet the 2 C target and even with major efforts it is unlikely to expand fast enough for the 1.5 C target.
Bodily awareness could curb scams and fraud against older adults, study suggests
People were better at detecting lies when they were more attuned to signals from their body, according to a new study.
Growing divide: Rural men are living shorter, less healthy lives than their urban counterparts
With an aging population and fewer physicians available, the burden on rural communities is set to grow.
Multilingual gossip in Elizabethan London
Stranger churches in early modern London had 'eyes everywhere' to hear, spread and dispel gossip in multiple languages, according to new research.
Outbreak detection under-resourced in Asia, study finds
A new study has revealed that despite the recent pandemic, outbreak detection efforts remain under-resourced in South and Southeast Asia, with only about half the countries reviewed having integrated pathogen genomic surveillance initiatives in their national plans. The study also identifies key priorities to enhance the preparedness of the region against future pandemics.
Lengthened consonants mark the beginning of words
Speech consists of a continuous stream of acoustic signals, yet humans can segment words from each other with astonishing precision and speed. To find out how this is possible, a team of linguists has analysed durations of consonants at different positions in words and utterances across a diverse sample of languages. They have found that word-initial consonants are, on average, around 13 milliseconds longer than their non-initial counterparts. The diversity of languages for which this effect was found suggests that this might be a species-wide pattern -- and one of several key factors for speech perception to distinguish the beginning of words within the stream of speech.