In a sprawling secondhand clothing market in Ghana’s capital, early morning shoppers jostle as they search through piles of garments, eager to pluck a bargain or a designer find from the stalls selling used and low-quality apparel imported from the West. At the other end of the street, an upcycled fashion and thrifting festival unfolds...
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Can Family Members Talk Politics During the Holidays?
Home for the holidays? Cal State Fullerton educator William Toledo, who prepares future teachers to guide possibly controversial conversations about politics in middle and high school classrooms, says the same tools used in classrooms can apply to holiday gatherings. The process of listening to a person and trying to understand their way of thinking is still...
Online Health Care Reviews Turned Negative Following Covid Pandemic
After the COVID-19 pandemic struck, online reviews of health care facilities dropped signficiantly, and they have not yet fully recovered, according to a new analysis led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. More than half of reviews on the online platform, Yelp,now are negative, flipping the pre-COVID picture....
Self-Assembling Proteins Can Be Used for Higher Performance, More Sustainable Skincare Products
If you have a meticulous skincare routine, you know that personal skincare products (PSCPs) are a big business. The PSCP industry will reach $74.12 billion USD by 2027, with an annual growth rate of 8.64%. With such competition, companies are always looking to engineer themselves an edge, producing products that perform better without the downsides...
Caste Differentiation in Ants
Superorganismal social insects Scientists from the University of Copenhagen have revealed how a specific hormone regulates ant caste differentiation by phenotypic measurements of organ-level developmental changes and matching transcriptome analyses. Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) on November 4th, 2024, the study entitled “Juvenile hormone as...
Simplicity Is Key to Understanding and Achieving Goals
People’s preference for simple explanations of any situation is connected to their desire to execute tasks efficiently, finds a new study from the University of Waterloo. “These findings show that our preference for simpler explanations mirrors how we evaluate actions. Simplicity isn’t just valued in explanations—it’s part of how we think about achieving results efficiently,” said...
Peaches Spread Across North America Through Indigenous Networks
Spanish explorers may have brought the first peach pits to North America, but Indigenous communities helped the ubiquitous summer fruit really take root, according to a study led by a researcher at Penn State. The study, published in Nature Communications, shows that Indigenous political and social networks and land use practices played key roles in the...
Earliest Fish-Trapping Facility in Central America Discovered in Maya Lowlands
An archaeologist from the University of New Hampshire and her team have collected data which indicates the presence of a large-scale pre-Columbian fish-trapping facility. Discovered in the Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary (CTWS), the largest inland wetland in Belize, the team dated the construction of these fisheries to the Late Archaic period (cal. 2000-1900 BCE), pre-dating...
Black Men — Including Transit Workers — Are Targets for Aggression on Public Transportation
Black men on buses and trains — whether as passengers or transit workers — face hostile encounters that threaten their sense of safety and well-being, according to a new study by a Keough School of Global Affairs sociologist. By reinforcing racist tropes that they are dangerous or invisible, these encounters can also erode Black men’s sense of...
These Peruvian Women Left the Amazon, but Their Homeland Still Inspires Their Songs and Crafts
Sadith Silvano’s crafts are born from ancient songs. Brush in hand, eyes on the cloth, the Peruvian woman paints as she sings. And through her voice, her ancestors speak. “When we paint, we listen to the inspiration that comes from the music and connect to nature, to our elders,” said Silvano, 36, from her home...