Social Sciences

Three months ago, you left your country fearing for your life. Now, you're learning to navigate a new city, where the street signs are in a new language. You're learning to navigate social interactions that operate on slightly different rules. You're applying for jobs to support your family. You've figured... Read more

Conspiracy theories and incitement to harassment and violence abound on mainstream social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. But the extreme content is often mixed with ironic play, memes and hashtags, which makes it difficult for authorities and media to know how to respond.... Read more

Long-term relationships built on a foundation of trust between communities, researchers and the natural world can transform science, education and climate adaptation. That is the central message of a study published in Emotion, Space and Society by Scott Laursen, a climate adaptation extension specialist with the University of Hawaiʻi at... Read more

Carlotta Rigotti, postdoctoral researcher at eLaw—Center for Law and Digital Technologies, has published a new article, "Desire in Code: Legal Perspectives on Sex Robots and Consent," in Law, Culture and the Humanities.... Read more

National anthems are more than music for ceremonies—they reflect the unique cultural and geographical characteristics of nations. A new study published in Scientific Reports has analyzed the emotional characteristics of 176 national anthems using machine learning and music information retrieval (MIR).... Read more

Every weekend, thousands of New Zealand children pull on team jerseys, play on well-kept fields, and benefit from the quiet dedication of volunteers. Few stop to think about where the money comes from for uniforms, buses or tournament fees.... Read more

Home-based working in the UK has been declining since the peak of the COVID pandemic—from 49% of the working population at its height to around 14% now.... Read more

Was the Franco dictatorship a cause or consequence of the Spanish Civil War? Was Einstein a medieval scientist? Confusions like these are quite common among secondary school students, who tend to learn history as a rote series of names and dates in varying degrees of detail.... Read more

First-year undergraduates who grew up with overly cautious or controlling parents tend to experience increased anxiety when faced with stresses associated with the transition to university, researchers from McGill University and the University of California (Los Angeles) have found. "Parental overprotection moderates the association between recent stressor exposure and anxiety... Read more

Science journalists aren't particularly concerned about so-called "predatory journals," confident that they have the skills and intuition needed to avoid reporting on problematic research. For many, a journal's reputation and name-recognition are decisive factors in assessing the quality of scientific research—but this could be exacerbating existing imbalances in science and... Read more

Enduring competitive pressure not only changes young people's behavior, but also their personality: they become less prosocial. This is shown in a new study from the University of Würzburg published in the Journal of the European Economic Association.... Read more

Researchers from the HSE Institute of Education conducted a sociological study at four small, non-selective universities and revealed, based on 135 interviews, the dual nature of student care at such institutions: a combination of genuine support with continuous supervision, reminiscent of parental care. This study offers the first in-depth look... Read more

Walk into most art galleries with children, and you'll hear the familiar refrain "look but don't touch." This instruction reveals something troubling about how cultural institutions understand learning. Museums have become temples to visual consumption, where knowledge is received through eyes rather than constructed through bodies.... Read more

Picture this: One day while drinking your morning coffee, you are reminded of a friend from your past. You have not spoken to this person in some time, but you remember them fondly and wonder how they are doing. You pick up your phone and start typing a message to... Read more

A new study reveals how AI chatbots exploit teenagers' emotional needs, often leading to inappropriate and harmful interactions. Stanford Medicine psychiatrist Nina Vasan explores the implications of the findings.... Read more