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Fervent Fans Keep Faith With Heroes Even After ‘Immoral Acts’, Study Finds

Analysis of posts from thousands of social media users either side of a scandal – the dramatic fall of YouTube celebrity Logan Paul – shows how hard it is for us to update our beliefs about those we support, even when they behave in appalling ways.

Assessments Of Thinking Skills May Misrepresent Poor, Inner-City Children In The US

Some of the assessment tools that measure children’s thinking skills in the US may have provided inaccurate information about poor, urban students because they are modelled on wealthier – mostly white – populations.

UK Policing: Psychological Damage Among Officers Heightened By Bad Working Conditions

Nationwide study of over 12,000 officers suggests rates of trauma-induced disorder Complex PTSD are exacerbated by factors such as too little time and support, and lack of say over working hours.

UK Police Fail To Meet 'Legal And Ethical Standards' In Use Of Facial Recognition

Researchers devise an audit tool to test whether police use of facial recognition poses a threat to fundamental human rights, and analyse three deployments of the technology by British forces – with all three failing to meet “minimum ethical and legal standards”.

Companies’ ‘Deforestation-Free’ Supply Chain Pledges Have Barely Impacted Forest Clearance In The Amazon

More companies must make and implement zero-deforestation supply chain commitments in order to significantly reduce deforestation and protect diverse ecosystems, say researchers.

Rewarding Accuracy Instead Of Partisan Pandering Reduces Political Divisions Over The Truth

Researchers argue that the findings hold lessons for social media companies and the “perverse incentives” driving political polarisation online.

Lack Of Computer Access Linked To Poorer Mental Health In Young People During COVID-19 Pandemic

Cambridge researchers have highlighted how lack of access to a computer was linked to poorer mental health among young people and adolescents during COVID-19 lockdowns.

Hunter-Gatherer Childhoods May Offer Clues To Improving Education And Wellbeing

Hunter-gatherers can help us understand the conditions that children may be psychologically adapted to because we lived as hunter-gatherers for 95% of our evolutionary history. Paying greater attention to hunter-gatherer childhoods may help economically developed countries improve education and wellbeing.

COP Must Reverse Rising Pessimism Over Building Sector Decarbonisation

Social media engagement with climate policy events is vital to reducing building emissions and ensuring environmental justice, research led by Cambridge suggests

Most Young People’s Well-Being Falls Sharply In First Years Of Secondary School

Research based on data from 11,000 students charted an across-the-board fall in well-being, regardless of circumstances, between ages 11 and 14.

COVID Has 'Ruptured' Social Skills Of The World’s Poorest Children, Study Suggests

Two interlinked studies, involving 8,000 primary pupils altogether, indicate children lost at least a third of a year in learning during lockdown.

Pedestrians Choose Healthy Obstacles Over Boring Pavements, Study Finds

Up to 78% of walkers would take a more challenging route featuring obstacles such as balancing beams, stepping stones and high steps, research has found. The findings suggest that providing ‘Active Landscape’ routes in urban areas could help tackle an 'inactivity pandemic' and improve health outcomes.

Paying Farmers To Create Woodland And Wetland Is The Most Cost-Effective Way To Hit UK Environment Targets

Study of farmer preferences shows that turning whole areas of farmland into habitats comes with half the price tag of integrating nature into productive farmland, if biodiversity and carbon targets are to be met.

Men May Not ‘Perceive’ Domestic Tasks As Needing Doing In The Same Way As Women, Philosophers Argue

By adding a gender dimension to the theory of “affordance perception” and applying it to the home, a new hypothesis may help answer questions of why women still shoulder most housework, and why men never seem to notice.

Insulation Only Provides Short-Term Reduction In Household Gas Consumption

First study to look at long-term effect of home insulation in England and Wales finds fall in gas consumption per household was small and only lasts a few years.

Childhood Mental Health Problems Resulting From Early-Life Adversity Drive Poorer Cognitive Performance In Adolescence, Study Suggests

Early-life adversity has long-term effects on children’s mental health, which in turn affects cognitive functioning as teenagers, say researchers. However, if mental health improves over time this outcome can be alleviated.

Interfering In Big Decisions Friends And Family Take Could Violate A Crucial Moral Right, Philosopher Argues

We have a moral duty to allow others to make ‘transformative choices’ such as changing careers, migrating and having children, a new study argues. This duty can be outweighed by competing moral considerations such as preventing murder but in many cases we should interfere with far greater caution.

Cinema Has Helped 'Entrench' Gender Inequality In AI

Study finds that just 8% of all depictions of AI professionals from 100 years of film are women – and half of these are shown as subordinate to men.

Molecular Hijacking: Cancer Gene Re-Programs ‘Protein Factories’ To Stimulate Cell Growth

CANCER The ribosomes, the ‘protein factories’ in our cells, can be altered by cancer genes, a new study from the University of Copenhagen shows. This has implications for our understanding of both normal development and diseases such as cancer.

Common Drugs Affect Our Gut Microbiome Differently, With Good And Bad Impacts On Health

GUT BACTERIA Gut bacteria are both positively and negatively influenced by common medicines, new European research shows. Medications that lower cholesterol and blood pressure are associated with a healthier composition and function of gut bacteria, while gastric acid inhibitors and antibiotics interfere with health-promoting bacterial communities.