12 best ways to get cars out of cities – ranked by new research: A stretch of the Champs-Élysées around the Arc de Triomphe in Paris is due to be pedestrianised by 2030. Shutterstock Question: what do the following statistics have in common? The second-largest (and growing) source of climate pollution in Europe. The leading …
Cannabis: how it affects our cognition and psychology – new research: Agave Photo Studio Agave Photo Studio/Shutterstock Cannabis has been used by humans for thousands of years and is one of the most popular drugs today. With effects such as feelings of joy and relaxation, it is also legal to prescribe or take in several …
Farmers are finding a new following on social media – our research suggests it could help with isolation: Farmers are at increased risk of loneliness and isolation. David George/Unsplash In the wake of a chaotic Brexit and an ongoing pandemic, farmers in the UK are experiencing high levels of isolation and loneliness. A poll in …
Growing up in a city can harm your spatial skills – new research: Manhattan is griddy. Shutterstock The science fiction film Tron Legacy opens with voice of main character, Kevin Flynn, musing of a digital world of his creating: The Grid. The Grid. A digital frontier. I tried to picture clusters of information as they …
Don’t underestimate the value of giving feedback – new research shows people want to receive it: GaudiLab/Shutterstock Imagine you’re talking to someone and they have a big green piece of something they ate for lunch in their teeth. Do you tell them? Whether you do might depend on who they are (you might be more …
Using animals for scientific research is still indispensable for society as we know it: Shutterstock Kenya’s national airline – Kenya Airways – made headlines when it announced it would stop transporting monkeys for animal research. This followed an accidental highway crash in Pennsylvania, in the US, which involved a truck transporting monkeys that had been …
Sweeteners may be linked to increased cancer risk – new research: The sweetener aspartame is found is many common foods and drinks, such as diet sodas. Kmpzzz/ Shutterstock Sweeteners have long been suggested to be bad for our health. Studies have linked consuming too many sweeteners with conditions such as obesity, type 2 diabetes and …
How to connect social science research to policy in Nigeria: Shutterstock Research is a means to an end. It produces new knowledge that helps to improve welfare. Social science research in particular connects directly to the challenges of less developed countries like Nigeria. It is generally aimed at strengthening policies and practices for economic growth, …
COVID bailouts helped politically connected businesses more than others – new research: Shutterstock/steved_np3 COVID has been a painfully expensive ordeal for countries across the world. Aside from the medical cost of vaccines, testing and treatment, economic aid for furlough schemes and sector bailouts dealt a serious blow to public finances. Nations responded by distributing vast …
How spider silk could one day be used in cancer treatment – new research: Vadym Lesyk/Shutterstock Cancer is simultaneously one of the most common and devastating diseases in our society. So working out new ways to treat it is an enduring scientific challenge. A protein called p53 plays a key role in the body’s immune …
Thinking of welcoming a Ukrainian refugee into your home? Our research can help you be a good host: People wait for a train to Poland at Lviv railway station, Ukraine, in February 2022. Bumble Dee / Shutterstock The UK government has announced a scheme allowing people to open up their homes to refugees fleeing the …
How lockdown highlighted educational inequality in Ireland – new research: Ostanina Anna/Shutterstock Children in Ireland experienced one of the longest school closures among rich countries during the first wave of the pandemic. School children lost 141 days of face-to-face instruction during the 2019-2020 academic year. I and other researchers have been tracking the impact of …
Why big firms are rarely toppled by corporate scandals – new research: Shutterstock/Donatas Dabravolskas Everyone makes mistakes. And that includes the world’s biggest companies, which are reliably prone to gaffes, errors of judgment and wrongdoing. Some of these moments could even be labelled as corporate scandals – the kind of incident which shoves firms into …
If you love ASMR you might be more sensitive, our research finds: Do you ever experience a tingling sensation in your scalp when someone whispers? If you recognise that feeling, then you may well be acquainted with the phenomenon that’s gathered millions of followers over the last few years, and has been dubbed “autonomous sensory …
COVID: a two-year journey through lockdowns, lives lost and life-saving research: Andriy Onufriyenko/Getty Images It’s been two years since the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, and its disease, COVID-19 were declared a global public health emergency. During this period, there have been over 433 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, including over 6 million deaths, reported to the …
Sports betting: how in-play betting features could be leading to harmful gambling – new research: Wpadington/Shutterstock With the rapid convergence of the gambling and technology spheres over recent years, sports betting has become more accessible, more customisable and more complex. Gone are the days where punters were limited to betting on the winner or loser …
Ukraine: what will end the war? Here’s what research says: In a matter of days, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has escalated to one of the biggest military conflicts in Europe since the second world war. The fog of war can obscure our view of who is winning, who is losing, and how long all of …
COVID: risk of severe disease could be in your blood, new research finds: MarySan/Shutterstock Multiple factors play a role in complex diseases like COVID, and knowing what they are is important for predicting how different people will be affected. Early on in the pandemic, being older, overweight or smoking were identified as increasing your risk …