On the edge of the Mongolian steppe, overlooking where two rivers meet, lies an ancient cemetery. Buried within are two families, traced through ancient DNA across six generations, surrounded by dozens of "strangers." The obvious assumption is that this was a family cemetery. But a recent study used machine learning and a technique borrowed from evolutionary biology to reveal that what really mattered was wealth, status and political power, not blood.

A one-off training session increased how much time fathers spent with their children and on chores by about two hours a week, reports a new study from the University of Tokyo. A team in Japan provided male employees and their managers with either information on positive office attitudes toward paternity leave or a work-life balance training session. The former corrected common misconceptions, but fathers who attended the training reported real behavioral change. This unexpectedly freed up 3.6 hours of time that mothers used for their own work. The study shows how small workplace interventions can have wider positive impacts for families and businesses.

Researchers reported this week a deadly outbreak of plague in Siberia 5,500 years ago, revealing that Yersinia pestis evolved lethal genetic traits far earlier than suspected. A drug developed for heart tissue repair may also help kidney tissue repair and regeneration. And neighborhood socialization opportunities could shape children's brain development.

Instagram use could influence not only how we see our bodies, but also how our brain perceives the bodies we inhabit as "ours." In short, it could erode our sense of self to the point of no longer recognizing ourselves in our own bodies, or feeling "at home" within them.

Whether someone prefers Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo—arguably two of the world's greatest footballers today—may be associated with their political outlook, according to the results of an international survey led by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore).

DNA testing kits are often gifted for Father's Day, Christmas and special occasions. The idea of learning more about yourself and unearthing some long-forgotten family history is certainly appealing to many, but a psychologist has warned that these presents can come with profound psychological implications.

Excavations in Nijmegen-West have uncovered large sections of a Roman bathhouse. It is the largest bathhouse complex from the Roman period in the Netherlands. Radboud researcher Stephan Mols can often be found at the excavation site. "The new finds show that the Romans did not regard this city as a backwater. The buildings were even larger and more imposing than we had previously thought."

This week, a group of Australian primary school principals called for more male primary school teachers, saying boys needed more "male role models."

Scientists working on the revolutionary 'R' programming language invented at the University of Auckland have won a top award intended to be a Nobel Prize for statisticians.

Building more apartments will not solve Australia's housing affordability crisis unless policymakers address rising house prices and investor activity, new research shows. Australia's housing affordability crisis is being driven less by a shortage of apartments than by systemwide price pressures originating in the market for freestanding homes, according to new research.

Should you marry that person? Quit a steady career to retrain? Move across the country, away from aging parents? Sit with any of these and watch your mind spin. You weigh what you'd gain against what you'd lose. You run the numbers. And still no answer arrives.

Financial markets are governed by a combination of rational and irrational forces, statistical probabilities and "animal spirits." It takes fluency in both to understand the market, let alone beat it. Yet market actors, including asset traders, now frequently use machine-learning techniques to help generate predictions of future asset prices.

Breaking up with a loved one is often a painful life experience, one that is difficult to recover from. Researchers from SWPS University, however, suggest that a simple step can help. Writing down the story of a past relationship increases the effectiveness of thinking about the past and future in close relationships. It is also associated with a better understanding of the causes of relationship breakdown, they write in the journal PLOS One.

The RINO project was born from the discovery of unusual marks on rhinoceros teeth recovered from the prehistoric Payre site in France's Rhône Valley. The study of fossil rhinoceros teeth from this Middle Paleolithic site, dating to around 250,000–130,000 years ago, provides unprecedented evidence that Neanderthals used them as tools.

Can technology really replace human relationships? As philosophy scholars who focus on human happiness and on artificial intelligence (AI), we tackle this question in a recent paper.

We have built tools that save us hours at work. So why do so many people feel worse for using them? The answer has less to do with AI and more to do with what we have always believed work is supposed to cost us.

Ensuring the research that we all rely on—whether for our health, environment or economy—is trustworthy is important for universities, governments and business. Unfortunately, academic misconduct is a growing concern, with researchers breaking the rules, such as making up results or copying others' work, making their research untrustworthy.

Public debates about transgender issues are often framed as disagreements over evidence or safety. In my new article published in the International Journal of Transgender Health, I argue current policy shifts are better understood as part of a recognizable escalation pattern.

The identity of a centuries-old shipwreck discovered off the south coast of England, holding 400 gold coins, has finally been identified as the Dutch trading ship "Dom van Keulen," which left Morocco for the Netherlands in the autumn of 1633.

Millions of Californians, in every part of the state, live with an uneasy day-to-day preoccupation: Housing is so expensive here, food and gas and utilities are so expensive—would it make sense to pull up stakes and leave for another state?