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Training class increases time fathers spend with children and on housework, improving mothers' access to work

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.

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Next-generation database reduces AI hallucinations and improves accuracy by 78%

One of the greatest weaknesses of AI agents that read and understand vast amounts of enterprise data is "hallucination"—the generation of plausible-sounding but factually incorrect information. KAIST researchers have developed a next-generation database technology capable of understanding documents, data and relationships among entities all at once.

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How AI helps World Cup referees make the call

More than 1.5 billion people worldwide are expected to watch the 2026 World Cup finals. With that many fans scrutinizing every pass, touch and goal, FIFA is leaning on advanced computer vision technology to help referees make faster, more accurate calls on the way to crowning this year's victors.

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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.

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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"—a psychological process through which people justify actions that might otherwise conflict with ethical or institutional standards.

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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.

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Combining lessons from ants and birds to improve AI

Combining ideas inspired by ant colonies and flocks of birds may hold the key to unlocking more effective artificial intelligence, according to a researcher at Missouri S&T. "With the way AI algorithms are currently structured, they sometimes settle on an answer that seems good enough and stop searching before finding one that may be much better," says Dr. Donald Wunsch, director of Missouri S&T's Kummer Institute Center for AI and Autonomous Systems. "It's important that we find ways to help these algorithms keep searching instead of stopping too soon. When AI is used in areas that affect people's health, safety or cost of living, the difference between good enough and great can have significant implications."

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'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.

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'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.

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Et si les astéroïdes avaient créé la vie sur Terre ?

Une nouvelle étude révèle comment le terrible bombardement d'astéroïdes subi par la Terre il y a quatre milliards d'années a, contre toute attente, créé les incubateurs parfaits pour faire naître la vie.Bienvenue dans ce nouvel épisode de Futura Planète ! Aujourd'hui, on plonge quatre milliards...

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