The holiday-suicide myth, the false claim that the suicide rate rises during the year-end holiday season, persisted in some news coverage through the 2021-22 holidays, according to U.S. media data collected and analyzed by the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania. In fact, although the U.S. suicide rate increased in 2021 after...
Mothers in Egypt, where women’s employment remains ‘concerningly low’, can play an important part in shaping their daughters’ employment stability from a young age, says new research by Lancaster University. The study, by Dr. Mariam Abouelenin and Professor Yang Hu, of Lancaster University, looked at Egyptian mothers’ employment during their daughter’s adolescence and found that...
At the end of a bad day, how do you feel about yourself? The answer could indicate not only how your self-perception formed, but also how it renews, according to experimental results from a research group in Japan. They published their findings on October 10 in Cognitive Therapy and Research. “People with psychiatric disorders including...
Conventional wisdom suggests that people with the most demanding jobs would have the most trouble sleeping. However, a new study by researchers at the University of South Florida reveals that the relationship between work demands and a good night’s rest is more nuanced. In fact, their results show that having too few job demands can...
A bright, sunny, cloudless day might seem like the optimal setting for solar cells. But too much sun, and too much heat, can actually reduce the efficiency of photovoltaics. As operating temperature rises by 1 degree Celsius, traditional silicon-based solar cells will lose about 0.5% efficiency. In a typical photovoltaic plant, where modules operate nearly...
First, the bad news: Nothing is free. Moving the world energy system away from fossil fuels and into renewable sources will generate carbon emissions by itself, as construction of wind turbines, solar panels and other new infrastructure consumes energy—some of it necessarily coming from the fossil fuels we are trying to get rid of. The...
Even people who tend to think conventionally, such as accountants or insurance adjusters, can be creative, a recent study suggests, if they can look at emotional situations in a different light. In a set of experiments, researchers found that conventional thinkers, those who rank low on openness to new ideas and experiences, came up with...
Earth is currently in the midst of a mass extinction, losing thousands of species each year. New research suggests environmental changes caused the first such event in history, which occurred millions of years earlier than scientists previously realized. Most dinosaurs famously disappeared 66 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous period. Prior to...
62% believe drinking coffee in moderation has clear health benefits 86% agreed that regular, moderate intake of coffee improves alertness and 67% agreed that coffee consumption is associated with an improvement in overall sports performance However, gaps in knowledge were identified regarding the associations between coffee intake and key non-communicable diseases A new report by the European...
This holiday season is expected to set another record for online sales, according to the National Retail Federation. But if consumer habits mirror previous years, 20% to 30% of the merchandise will be returned. It’s a big financial hit and logistical challenge for retailers that cover all the shipping, sorting and processing. “Supply chain managers...
