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Can a robot tutor give too much help? Why timing matters

24 July 2026 at 21:00
A learner stands in a room with a bottle, a cup and a book. The task is to figure out, step by step, where each object belongs in the room. Under the table? Or perhaps on the chair? A humanoid robot gives the instructions—but in Swahili, a language the learner does not know. To solve the puzzle, the learner must gradually decipher what the robot is saying.

Can a robot tutor give too much help? Why timing matters

24 July 2026 at 21:00
A learner stands in a room with a bottle, a cup and a book. The task is to figure out, step by step, where each object belongs in the room. Under the table? Or perhaps on the chair? A humanoid robot gives the instructions—but in Swahili, a language the learner does not know. To solve the puzzle, the learner must gradually decipher what the robot is saying.

Unraveling the climate behind the collapse of Bronze Age civilizations

24 July 2026 at 19:00
The most severe droughts in the ancient Eastern Mediterranean arose when multiple natural climate cycles coincided, according to a new study from Stockholm University published in Science Advances. The findings shed new light on the climate conditions surrounding the Late Bronze Age collapse and may help improve understanding of future drought risks in a warming world.

Community context shapes corporate response to violence in street protests

24 July 2026 at 17:00
When violence takes place during street protests, how do corporate leaders respond? According to new research by Forrest Briscoe, professor of organizational behavior at the ILR School, the answer depends on other community characteristics that people can use to help interpret the reasons for that violence. In particular, Briscoe focused on whether the community has a long history of protests turning violent regardless of the issue being protested—and, separately, whether the community has a history of events that validate the protestors' main grievance.

Fossilized wood reveals 300 million years of Earth's history

24 July 2026 at 15:00
Many people are familiar with fossilized wood as a decorative item from a museum shop. However, the fact that it can preserve the geological history of entire regions spanning millions of years is a new discovery. A research team led by geologist Dr. Steffen Trümper from the University of Münster has now demonstrated for the first time that fossilized wood is a natural archive from which the geological history of an entire region over hundreds of millions of years can be deduced.

How does parent‑child interaction therapy work? And who can use it?

24 July 2026 at 14:00
Children thrive when parents are warm and responsive to their needs while also providing clear guidance and setting limits. This is known as authoritative parenting. But most parents will tell you authoritative parenting is easier said than done, especially when children have frequent intense emotions, big behaviors, meltdowns and outright defiance.

National study finds reports of past-year sexual harassment more than doubled since 2018

24 July 2026 at 12:00
Nearly a decade after the #MeToo movement reshaped public conversations about sexual harassment, a new study from the Newcomb Institute at Tulane University finds that Americans are reporting experiences of sexual harassment at far higher rates than they did before the movement.

Alan Turing's gay short story reveals 'fun, cheeky' man who loved sex and literature

24 July 2026 at 00:10
A startling new study of a little-known, unpublished short story by Alan Turing challenges our understanding of the man who played a key role in cracking the Nazis' Enigma code, developed the theoretical underpinnings of the first computers and laid the groundwork for the development of artificial intelligence.

Less cannabis use among adolescents, but social disparities persist

23 July 2026 at 19:40
Past studies have shown that cannabis use during adolescence is associated with a variety of negative impacts—including emotional distress, adverse academic outcomes, and brain development and functioning—that can persist into adulthood. Though there has been an overall decrease in cannabis use among Minnesota adolescents over the past decade, prior studies have been limited in their ability to examine the nuances in this trend—particularly differences in use among social groups.

Virtual café experiment finds Japanese participants keep greater distance than Italians

23 July 2026 at 19:40
How close do we stand to other people during a social interaction? The distance we maintain between our body and that of another person—known as interpersonal distance—is a fundamental aspect of everyday life. It influences our sense of comfort, safety, intimacy and tendency to approach or avoid others. This distance can vary depending on the context, the characteristics of the other person, our emotional state, and our personal and social background.

Quantum randomness helps neural network recognize troublesome handwritten digits

23 July 2026 at 19:20
Quantum computing and AI are among the most rapidly developing modern technologies. AI, in the form of machine learning, has been deployed for decades to recommend movies and TV shows and make it easier to search for images. Over the past several years, large language models have permeated even more facets of daily life, from writing emails to producing images, videos and songs in response to requests expressed in a few written lines.

A computer in a liquid: Hundreds of oscillating particles compute complex patterns

23 July 2026 at 18:40
Researchers at the Universities of Konstanz and Stuttgart have demonstrated a new approach to computation: a computer made from a few hundred microscopic particles oscillating in a liquid. Instead of processing information through carefully fabricated electronic circuits, their system performs computations by harnessing the complex collective dynamics of interacting particles.

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