The "right to repair" movement is gaining steam as consumers push corporations to offer them more freedom to fix products—from cars to dishwashers to toys.

The world has never had more data, more models or more economists. It has rarely felt more out of control. Uncertainty, not risk, has become the defining condition of our era. Central bankers invoke it. Political leaders use it to defer decisions and justify extraordinary ones. Academics are struggling to adapt their theories to a brave new world of unexpected outcomes and erratic policy choices. The IMF's World Uncertainty Index—which tracks how often the word appears in economic and political reporting across 143 countries—has been running at historically elevated levels for the better part of a decade, with fresh spikes after every major shock.

Oxford's 2024 Word of the Year, "brain rot," refers to the loss of intelligence or critical thinking skills due to the overconsumption of specific types of content, most often in the digital sphere. A Binghamton University doctoral student has published findings that help explain how the structural forces of large tech companies make it difficult to focus, read and even engage in democracy.

New research is shedding light on how comparing ourselves to others affects happiness and life satisfaction. Led by McGill University researchers, the study shows that people who feel worse off financially than their peers are more likely to report signs of languishing, even when their actual income is similar. The paper is published in the journal Social Science & Medicine.

Human skeletal biologists traditionally provide sex estimations as part of establishing biological profiles (skeletal sex, age-at-death, stature, ancestry/population affinity) for skeletonized remains, often using the shapes and sizes of the pelvis, long bones and skull, among other bones in the body. While analytical methods portray skeletal sex differences as almost purely binary (female or male), a person's sex—including hormones, genetics, external anatomy, internal anatomy and the skeleton—can be more varied than either female or male.

Change can be hard—especially when you're used to receiving change. Switching from cash-based to digital payment methods can be a difficult sell, particularly in developing economies, poorer neighborhoods and among older people who have gotten used to cash. But digital payments have certain advantages for both businesses and consumers, and a Cornell-led research team explored ways to spur adoption of modern payment technology.

More than 2.6 million Canadians work for themselves, and according to an annual RBC poll conducted in 2025, 59% of Canadians aspire to own a business—the highest level since 2017.

Imagine you poll your friends on how many minutes per pound to roast a turkey. Five respond with 15 minutes; one answers 33 minutes. The most popular model of conformity, the French-Harary-DeGroot model (or more commonly, DeGroot model), assumes that you would carefully weigh all six recommendations, calculating a cooking time of 18 minutes per pound. But under a model of conformity previously published by SFI Complexity Postdoctoral Fellow Kaleda Denton and colleagues, you would disregard the outlier and move ahead with 15.

The CEO of dating app Hinge recently suggested that generation Z, "struggling to have the confidence to put themselves out there," needs AI to help them find love. Apparently, without AI tools, younger people will struggle to express who they really are.

Listening to someone who disagrees with you on a controversial topic, but shares basic values, might not change your mind—but it could moderate an extreme position, reducing polarization, new Cornell economics research finds.

Adults vary in how easily they learn new languages. While previous studies suggest this variability may be due to the distribution of groups of brain areas involved in attention, control and memory, a direct link has been lacking. Using a large sample of participants (101 people), Gangyi Feng, from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and colleagues explored whether individual differences in the organization of these brain systems can explain variability in language learning in adulthood. This work was published in JNeurosci.

Growing up in Los Angeles, Sydney Scott was accustomed to Whole Foods and "organic" labels. Yet instead of simply filling her cart, she found herself asking why those labels were so compelling to many people.

While most businesses have introduced AI in the workplace to enhance employee productivity, an Auburn University information systems researcher cautions that under certain circumstances, AI deployment can inadvertently zap the motivation of its highest-performing workers, which could diminish the company's overall profit.

Archaeologists have discovered a game board carved into the steps of a medieval bathhouse in the Moroccan town of Walīla (the Roman city of Volubilis). The find is a rare example of a medieval game board that can be securely dated.

When citizens feel a bigger tax pinch, political corruption goes down and voter turnout rises. That's a key finding from new research led by Washington State University, which found that a higher tax burden is associated with increased civic engagement and citizen monitoring of public officials.

More than 3,000 Australians die by suicide each year, yet one of the strongest known drivers of suicide risk—unemployment—remains largely overlooked in Australia's suicide prevention programs. Now, Adelaide University researchers are calling for a fundamental shift in how suicide is prevented, arguing that work, unemployment and financial insecurity must be recognized as critical factors in Australia's suicide prevention response.

People who are hesitant to try insect-based foods may enjoy the experience more than they expect—and can become more open to expanding their diets in the future, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

As global audiences follow ongoing conflicts, stories of personal sacrifice often stand out. New research from the Kelley School of Business shows that people across the United States consistently view self-sacrificial actions as more heroic and inspiring—even when they lead to the same outcome.

We see glass objects every day and often don't think much about them. Mass-produced glass has become so cheap we barely think about the things it allows us to do.

The increased public attention on racial injustice after the murder of George Floyd influenced how Black and white employees interacted at work, new University of Washington research suggests. The study, recently published in the Academy of Management Journal, examines how major societal events tied to race and injustice can shape workplace behavior. Researchers specifically investigated how the heightened salience of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement impacted cooperation between Black and white coworkers.