The ‘anomie’ concept – that the society is disintegrating and losing moral standards – explains why people with low socio-economic status trust politics less than those with a higher one, concludes a new study published in the scientific journal Social Psychological Bulletin. The study was conducted by two Belgian researchers, Thierry Bornand (ULB and IWEPS) and Olivier Klein (ULB) in...
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How Stock Market Inefficiencies Can Affect the Real Economy
Mutual fund investors are known to be vulnerable to fluctuating market conditions. What is less well understood is how corporate managers are affected by waves of investor optimism. A Luxembourgish researcher has published a study in the Springer Nature journal Financial Innovation, where he argues that corporate managers and investors are jointly caught up in...
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Where the Witches Were Men: A Historian Explains What Magic Looked Like in Early Modern Russia
The word “witches” makes many Americans think of women working in league with the devil. But that hasn’t always been the face of sorcery. Most of Catholic and Protestant Europe embraced the idea of magic as a satanic craft practiced by women, and strong, independent women were kept in line through such accusations. In Orthodox...
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‘Alternative Facts’ Are Cons, Illinois Tech Philosopher’s Paper Argues—and Journalists Can Help Quash Them
Journalists need not cover both sides of an argument when one side is advancing what experts widely regard as a con, Illinois Institute of Technology John and Mae Calamos Endowed Chair in Philosophy J. D. Trout argues in his latest publication. “The Epistemic Virtues of a Closed Mind: Effective Science Reporting in the Golden Age of the...
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Extreme Weather and Climate Events Likely to Drive Increase in Violence Towards Women, Girls, and Sexual and Gender Minorities
As the climate crisis leads to more intense and more frequent extreme weather and climate-related events, this in turn risks increasing the amount of gender-based violence experienced by women, girls, and sexual and gender minorities, say researchers. In a study published in The Lancet Planetary Health, a team led by a researcher at the University of...
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Food Insecurity and Water Insecurity Go Hand in Hand, Study Finds
About one-tenth of the world’s population suffers from hunger and nearly one in three people face food insecurity, according to recent estimates. Yet behind those stark figures lurks another, closely related threat: water insecurity. In a new 25-country study, researchers report a strong link between water insecurity—a lack of reliable access to sufficient water—and food...
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As Biden Fights Overdoses, Harm Reduction Groups Face Local Opposition
Casey Malish had just pulled into an intersection in the 2nd Ward when a woman with tattoos and pinkish hair unexpectedly hopped into the back seat of his gray Mazda. He handles outreach for the Houston Harm Reduction Alliance, a nonprofit that helps drug users like her stay alive. The woman, Desiree Hess, had arranged...
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Race Is Often Used as Medical Shorthand for How Bodies Work. Some Doctors Want to Change That.
Several months ago, a lab technologist at Barnes-Jewish Hospital mixed the blood components of two people: Alphonso Harried, who needed a kidney, and Pat Holterman-Hommes, who hoped to give him one. The goal was to see whether Harried’s body would instantly see Holterman-Hommes’ organ as a major threat and attack it before surgeons could finish...
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Covid Funding Pries Open a Door to Improving Air Quality in Schools
Many U.S. schools were in dire need of upgrades — burdened by leaking pipes, mold, and antiquated heating systems — long before the covid-19 pandemic drew attention to the importance of indoor ventilation in reducing the spread of infectious disease. The average U.S. school building is 50 years old, and many schools date back more...
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Keeping Web-Browsing Data Safe from Hackers
Malicious agents can use machine learning to launch powerful attacks that steal information in ways that are tough to prevent and often even more difficult to study. Attackers can capture data that “leaks” between software programs running on the same computer. They then use machine-learning algorithms to decode those signals, which enables them to obtain...