Social Studies

When the federal government brings its toughest environmental enforcement actions against polluters, they tend to be in communities of greater wealth, not the most polluted places. That's the takeaway from a new paper co-authored by a Washington State University researcher that examined criminal prosecutions by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency... Read more

Pickup basketball and neighborhood kickball are less common now than for generations past, giving way to more organized and formal youth sports intended to help kids get ahead, a new study suggests.... Read more

A recently discovered Greek inscription at the base of a column inside the Great Mosque of Homs in Syria has rekindled a longstanding scholarly debate about the exact location of the Temple of the sun, whose high priest ascended to the Roman imperial throne in the third century AD under... Read more

Traumatic experiences can have ripple effects that permeate across many aspects of people's lives. For students, adverse childhood experiences have been shown to impact attention, memory, language development and relational functioning—the exact skills learning relies on.... Read more

Loneliness and social isolation are now recognized as major public health threats, prompting governments to explore technological solutions. Research from Monash University argues new AI "digital companions" marketed as a solution for loneliness are profoundly unethical, and could even increase social isolation.... Read more

When lawmakers name bills after victims of tragedy—such as Megan's Law or the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993—public support surges, but this emotional boost may come at the expense of sound policymaking, according to research published in the journal Psychology, Public Policy, and Law.... Read more

Turning on the "For You" algorithm on X (formerly Twitter) may shift users' political opinions toward more conservative views, suggests research involving nearly 5,000 X users. These effects are shown to persist even after users return to a chronological feed, according to a new paper published in Nature.... Read more

Rapid technological and scientific advances have fueled a huge wave of innovation over the past decades. The speed of global innovation is known to be dependent on the exchange of knowledge and skills between different nations worldwide.... Read more

Reports of widespread "dating burnout" and a cultural shift toward heteropessimism—a feeling of disappointment or despair at the state of relations between men and women—have caused panic in the media and dating apps.... Read more

Picture this: A group of girls are sitting at a table in the lunchroom when a boy walks by. One girl turns to another girl and laughingly says, "Oh, isn't that your boyfriend? You should go kiss him!"... Read more

The moon crossed the sun's path on February 17, causing what is known as an annular solar eclipse. The sun was not covered completely, but the moon blocked enough of its light to leave a fiery ring. Unless you're deep in the southern hemisphere, you won't have noticed.... Read more

Travel and dating apps like Grindr are reshaping how some queer men in relationships negotiate sex and intimacy—often through careful discussion and agreed boundaries rather than secrecy, challenging assumptions that such encounters are reckless, according to new research from the University of Surrey.... Read more

Fake news generated by AI is often perceived as more credible than texts written by humans. That worries linguist Silje Susanne Alvestad. In 2017, "fake news" was chosen as the new word of the year by the Language Council of Norway. But what are the linguistic features of fake news,... Read more

Along with cricket, thongs and backyard barbecues, the arrival of the annual Australian Lamb ad has become synonymous with an Australian summer. What began back in 2005 as a pitch to get Australians eating more lamb has since become a yearly cultural icon that tackles an issue that resonates with... Read more

Persistent concerns about poor behavior in UK secondary schools have led to the widespread implementation of disciplinary behavior management strategies. These include the use of isolation rooms, where children are sent to work alone.... Read more