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Archaeologists uncover 4,000-year-old evidence of siege warfare in ancient Mesopotamia

At Kurd Qaburstan, an ancient site in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, archaeologists have uncovered the first substantial group of cuneiform administrative tablets found in the Erbil region, along with evidence of large-scale destruction, mass graves and citywide fortifications. Together, the discoveries are providing one of the clearest archaeological records yet uncovered of siege warfare and urban life during the Middle Bronze Age.

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Everyone wants to think they're open‑minded. Here's why most people aren't

Most people think they are open-minded and would like others to perceive them as such. But for the things that matter mostβ€”religious beliefs, for example, or the meaning of lifeβ€”few of us are genuinely willing to consider that we might be wrong, let alone do the hard work of revising beliefs. At a fundamental level, we humans are somewhat closed-minded.

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How biodiversity loss could raise borrowing costs and deepen debt risks worldwide

Financial markets are blind to the economic costs of biodiversity loss, leaving several countries at risk of defaulting on debt, according to new research published in Nature. While environmental degradation is recognized as a serious financial risk, sovereign debt markets currently have no way of accounting for it, leaving US$83 trillion in assets open to mispricing.

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Colonial ties may reshape 2026 World Cup odds, 1,500 simulations suggest

Colonial legacies continue to shape competitive outcomes in international football. A research team led by the University of Zurich has used about 1,500 simulations of the upcoming World Cup to show that former colonial powers benefit from access to a broader pool of talent, while formerly colonized nations face lower chances of success.

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Parents helping kids enjoy math may boost achievement as much as content support

How do children learn math? It's shaped by what they know as well as their motivation and engagement. Historically, research on children's math learning has been focused on parents' cognitive practices (such as math talkβ€”informal conversations that involve math), however emerging evidence shows how parents' motivational practices (encouraging independence and helping children enjoy math) may also play a critical role in their math abilities.

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War on drugs or war on the poor? How bandit hunting formed a cover for Mexico's counterinsurgency campaign

If the drug trade has helped define the modern Mexican state, writes the author of a new article in The Social History of Alcohol and Drugs, so too have wars on drugs. In "From Bandit Hunting to a War Against 'Social Poisoners': Counterinsurgency as Drug War and Drug War as Counterinsurgency in 1960s–1970s Southern Mexico," author Alexander AviΓ±a argues that the strategies eventually employed against Mexican drug traders were first developed in the violent suppression of rural guerrilla movements.

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How cultural backgrounds shape financial forecasts

There's a funny thing about facts. Two people can look at the same ones but interpret them very differently, depending on their styles of thinking. On Wall Street, analysts with short-term or long-term orientations may issue different financial forecasts for the same company, says Yong Yu, professor of accounting at the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin.

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People have an inherent preference for counterclockwise motion, study reveals

Researchers in Spain and Japan tested a broad range of pedestrians in varying group sizes to see whether there were any patterns in their turning behaviors, and what factors influenced them, if any. It turns out that the vast majority of people prefer counterclockwise turning. Most factors, such as culture or gender, made little difference. Only age showed a noticeable but small change, in that younger people followed this pattern more strongly.

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Examining doctoral students' attitudes toward AI chatbots and ChatGPT use in higher education

Researchers from the University of Phoenix College of Doctoral Studies have published research examining graduate students' attitudes toward artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots and their reported use of ChatGPT in higher education environments. The article, "Relationship between Students' Attitudes toward Artificial Intelligence (AI) and their usage of AI Chatbots," appears in the International Journal of AI in Pedagogy, Innovation, and Learning Futures.

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