❌

Reading view

AI teaches asset traders not to sweat the small stuff

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.

  •  

Describing past relationship as a story may help women process breakups

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.

  •  

Did Neanderthals use rhinoceros teeth as tools?

The RINO project was born from the discovery of unusual marks on rhinoceros teeth recovered from the prehistoric Payre site in France's RhΓ΄ne 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.

  •  

Drivers of academic misconduct by professors and research students revealed

Ensuring the research that we all rely onβ€”whether for our health, environment or economyβ€”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.

  •  

Early-career scientists build national infrastructure to bridge science and policy

A new Special Report in the journal BioScience introduces the Scientist Network for Advancing Policy (SNAP), a student-led, nonpartisan, grassroots coalition founded in 2025 to empower early-career researchers to engage with science policy, advocacy and public communication. The report details the ways in which SNAP is reshaping the role of scientists in their communities.

  •  

Q&A: Do high-pressure environments encourage moral disengagement?

Why do individuals and organizations sometimes rationalize decisions that conflict with their stated values? According to Leah P. Hollis, professor of education policy studies in the Penn State College of Education, the answer may lie in "moral disengagement"β€”a psychological process through which people justify actions that might otherwise conflict with ethical or institutional standards.

  •  

Screens dominate the dinner table, with 77.6% of parents using devices

Food has always had a unique way of bringing people together. It becomes especially evident during family mealtimes, when children and adults gather around the table to share more than just a meal. They share stories, catch up on their day and discuss issues they are dealing with. The scene at the dinner table has, however, changed. People still sit together, but attention often shifts away from the conversation to the devices in their hands.

  •  

California's home insurance crisis is spreading beyond wildfire country

Realizing the dream of homeownership comes with a cold reality for millions of people in California: more expensive insurance premiums that cover less. Increasingly, the only option for some homeowners is the California Fair Access to Insurance Requirements (FAIR) Plan, a state-mandated backstop that, until recently, primarily provided coverage in places conventional insurers would not touch because of wildfire risk.

  •  

Tourism firms face complex path to sustainability

Tourism businesses across Aotearoa New Zealand are working to become more sustainable, but a new study shows the process is complex and rarely straightforward. The research, based on in-depth interviews, data analysis and site visits with established tourism operators across the country, examines how businesses move from good intentions to more sustainable ways of working.

  •  

The best math lesson for children might be happening at your kitchen table, shows study

In the minds of many people, math lives in the classroomβ€”on blackboards, in textbooks, and in tests. New research from Amber Simpson, associate professor in the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Educational Leadership at Binghamton University's College of Community and Public Affairs, shows how math is happening all around us, especially at home, and that families don't even realize the role they play in how children experience mathematics.

  •  

'Youniversalism' measures growing reliance on personal truth

It has often been suggested that we now live in a "post-truth" world. People increasingly rely on their own feelings as a yardstick for what is true. Psychologists at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) have now developed the "Youniversalism" scale to allow them to measure people's belief in subjective and experiential truths. The research is published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.

  •  

Displaying video reviews later in shopping process supports buyer decision-making, boosts sales

Instead of going to stores to compare products, Americans have increasingly turned to watching online video reviews. As far back as a decade ago, 55% of Americans reported they'd watched online reviews of products, according to Pew Research. As of late 2024, Pew found 62% were relying on the video platform TikTok to view product reviews or recommendations.

  •  

'Contaminated' cultures: Can conservation protect nature while excluding Indigenous peoples?

At an international heritage symposium in Japan, I heard a word that stayed with me: "contaminated." The discussion concerned whether Indigenous peoples needed to be named explicitly in a new World Heritage framework. One argument was that Indigenous cultures had changed through contact, survival and adaptation, and therefore no longer required distinct recognition. I found that deeply troubling.

  •  

Ancient curse tablet bears rare Greek inscription with binding spell intended to harm enemies

Heidelberg University researchers have deciphered the inscription on an ancient curse tablet, which was once used to invoke deities and demons in order to harm an enemy. The "magical" artifact from the Roman province of Lower Germania was discovered during excavations carried out in the Dutch municipality of Heerlen. The lead tablet, which dates to the 2nd century A.D., is distinctive in that it contains not a Latin but an ancient Greek text in the Egyptian style, as Dr. Rodney Ast, academic director at the Institute for Papyrology, explains.

  •  
❌