Society

New research from the College of Engineering lays out in detail why ranked-choice voting, combined with multi-member legislative districts, promotes fair representation, particularly when it comes to blunting gerrymandering—the party in power's ability to map a district to its political advantage.... Read more

Much of the discourse surrounding the lack of women in leadership revolves around their personality traits. Yet, numerous studies have shown that programs aimed at making women push themselves forward for leadership roles has a limited effectiveness in improving gender diversity. So, what can organizations do to address the gender... Read more

The chances of a teenager getting involved in politics is linked to how much education their parents had, according to UCL and University of Roehampton researchers.... Read more

In the United States, politically appointed officials make decisions on the procurement of goods and services from the public purse that benefit the incumbent president. New research from the University of Gothenburg now shows that the more politicized an administration is, the more often public procurement is used to favor... Read more

Any democratic nation in the world holding a legislative or presidential election in the late 1960s could expect around 77% of its citizens to turn up to vote. These days, they can expect more like 67% – a decline that is both problematic and puzzling.... Read more

An internal Facebook report found that the social media platform's algorithms—the rules its computers follow in deciding the content that you see—enabled disinformation campaigns based in Eastern Europe to reach nearly half of all Americans in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election, according to a report in Technology Review.... Read more

According to psychologists, in addition to our physiological immune system we also have a behavioral one: an unconscious code of conduct that helps us stay disease-free, including a fear and avoidance of unfamiliar—and so possibly infected—people.... Read more

Refugees often endure extreme hardships as they seek shelter and security far from their homelands. Unfortunately, after arriving in foreign countries, refugees often endure suspicions about their motives and apprehension about their perceived religious and political ideologies.... Read more

Those in ex-mining areas are also less likely to vote for new populist and nationalist parties compared to socio-economic counterparts elsewhere. Researchers argue that the modern Left may have lost these communities to "apathy and cynicism."... Read more

The latest episodes of so-called Havana syndrome, a series of unexplained ailments afflicting U.S. and Canadian diplomats and spies, span the globe. They include two diplomats in Hanoi, Vietnam—which disrupted Vice President Kamala Harris's foreign travel schedule—in August, several dozen reports at the U.S. Embassy in Vienna earlier this year,... Read more

The internet is playing an increasingly prominent role in radicalisation, with a particular rise in the use of open social media platforms, according to a comprehensive analysis of the online activity of convicted extremists in England and Wales.... Read more

Northwestern University researchers assessing the response to COVID-19 for child care programs in Illinois have found the state's efforts to bolster child care access to first responders while stabilizing the market were equitable and largely successful.... Read more

The Queensland Police Service (QPS) is expected to begin a trial using artificial intelligence (AI) to determine the future risk posed by known domestic violence perpetrators.... Read more

There is broad bipartisan support among self-identified liberals and conservatives that social media companies should add warning labels to posts that contain misleading information, or that could lead to the spread of misinformation, data from a new study by Northeastern researchers in the College of Arts, Media and Design shows.... Read more

Vaccine refusal is a major reason COVID-19 infections continue to surge in the U.S. Safe and effective vaccines have been available for months, but as of mid-September 2021, only 65% of eligible American adults are fully vaccinated. In many areas, a majority of eligible adults haven't taken advantage of the... Read more

Six of the 11 Michigan cities that have come under state emergency management since 1990 also saw changes to their municipal drinking water systems, the most common being rate increases, water shutoffs for nonpayment and the privatization of water services or infrastructure.... Read more

Last year COVID-19 seemed simple. It was horrific, but the arguments about what to do were fairly straightforward.... Read more

Nearly half of global youth surveyed (45 percent) say climate anxiety and distress is affecting their daily lives and functioning—according to results from the largest scientific study into climate anxiety in children and young people, to be presented at a special event today (Tuesday 14 September 2021)... Read more

A new international report led by the Third Generation Project at the University of St Andrews reveals the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on internally displaced persons in Somaliland.... Read more

This week, a new Australian political biography will appear on bookshelves. This is The Accidental Prime Minister, an examination of Scott Morrison by journalist Annika Smethurst.... Read more

A new report raises concerns about the policing of the pandemic and shows that racially minoritised communities have been most harshly affected—being more likely to be stopped by the police, threatened or subject to police violence and falsely accused of rule-breaking and wrong-doing.... Read more

Data published today to the Prescription Drug Policy System at PDAPS.org highlight the complex and often contradictory drug policy landscape in the United States.... Read more

People with extreme political views that favor authoritarianism—whether they are on the far left or the far right—have surprisingly similar behaviors and psychological characteristics, a new study finds.... Read more

A study of sexual violence in Kenya during the COVID-19 pandemic finds that children were more likely than adults to be attacked by somebody familiar to them, and incidents were more likely to happen during the daytime in the attacker's home.... Read more

The COVID-19 pandemic has added to the challenges facing African countries, including poverty, inequality and unemployment.... Read more

As evacuees and refugees from Afghanistan start their new lives in Australia, their ability to navigate the digital world will be crucial. Our research, published today, reveals how newly arrived refugees use digital technologies as they begin this new chapter.... Read more

South Australia has begun a trial of a new COVID app to monitor arrivals into the state. SA Premier Steven Marshall claimed "every South Australian should feel pretty proud that we are the national pilot for the home-based quarantine app."... Read more

During a disaster people with disability are often invisible. They are left out because systems set up before disasters make it hard for them to be involved.... Read more

Building a new transit line or a highway almost always takes longer than initially planned. A new study suggests that the biggest contributor to such delays isn't necessarily the design, planning or even construction phases. Instead, it's the time required for local or provincial authorities to decide what exactly they... Read more

Clear communication with the public about COVID-19 vaccines is important because vaccination remains the best way to prevent the spread of the virus, according to Texas A&M University crisis communications expert Timothy Coombs.... Read more

Schools across England lack the resources and training to teach pupils how to reject and discuss dangerous extremist views and ideologies according to a major new study by UCL researchers and commissioned by education charity SINCE 9/11.... Read more

A Texas law that aims to eliminate almost all abortions in the state is part of a long-standing nationwide movement to restrict the right to abortion. The Texas law went into effect on Sept. 1, 2021, and severely limits the right to have an abortion in that state.... Read more

When Professor Emily Ryo was 11, she and her sister were separated from their parents for two years when the parents immigrated to the U.S. from South Korea. The experience influenced Ryo's scholarly research toward immigration law and policy.... Read more

You may have already downloaded to your phone a digital certificate proving you have received one or two doses of a COVID vaccine. Its dark-green color calls to mind the "Green Pass" now in use in European countries, which is required to gain access to venues such as restaurants, museums... Read more

A team, including Lancaster University academics, have taken the first crucial steps to stamp out the worldwide atrocities of witchcraft, including ritual killings, with the successful acceptance of a United Nations Resolution.... Read more

Nearly 20 years after the United States' invasion of Afghanistan, the cost of its global war on terror stands at $8 trillion and 900,000 deaths, according to a new report from the Costs of War project at Brown University.... Read more

COVID-19 has been described as a "housing disease". Overcrowded living conditions make it easier for the virus to spread, and statistics show a link between overcrowding and mortality from COVID.... Read more

The COVID-19 pandemic put a lot of attention on the role of parks and green spaces —particularly in large cities. But, not all of this attention has been positive.... Read more

In the spring of 2020, with global supply chains for medical equipment crumbling under the stresses of the COVID-19 pandemic, states turned to the federal government for help. Since 1998, the United States has maintained the Strategic National Stockpile, a cache of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies intended for emergency use.... Read more

As the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina on Aug. 29 approached, New Orleans residents were bracing for another disaster, Hurricane Ida. This year, similar to last, the country will be hit by an above-average number of extreme weather events, including major hurricanes, flooding and wildfires.... Read more

Terrorism is not a successful communication strategy. After an attack, the attention quickly shifts from the terrorists to authorities and citizens. This is what Jeanine de Roy van Zuijdewijn argues in her dissertation: The aftermath: meaning-making after terrorist attacks in Western Europe. "A year after an attack there is hardly... Read more

Imagine you are asked to rank the counties in Pennsylvania in terms of number of COVID-19 infections. Or you may be asked to rank the following cities in Pennsylvania based on their populations: Harrisburg, Allentown, Erie and State College.... Read more

Women already considered vulnerable visited the sexual assault center in Trondheim far more often than others.... Read more

Studies show that anti-Korean sentiment in Japan has grown steadily in the past decade, despite the growing acceptance of more visibly "foreign" Southeast Asian migrants in Japan. A University of Notre Dame researcher conducted two years of ethnographic fieldwork in a historic Korean ghetto in Osaka, Japan, to shed light... Read more

A new study out today provides the most compelling evidence to-date that China is deliberately reducing its population of Uyghurs—a Muslim minority ethnic group—through enforced birth control, forced displacement of citizens and internment in sinister "re-education camps."... Read more

Compare human social behavior at a country level and you will find differences. Japan has the highest score whereas the Netherlands is just above average. This is what psychologist Niels van Doesem discovered in research with an international team of 64 colleagues in 61 industrialized countries. Their findings have published... Read more

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, U.S. President George W. Bush's approval ratings shot up from near 50 percent to over 80 percent. High-profile, international terrorist attacks typically produce this effect, which political scientists call a "rally 'round the flag"—constituents increase their support for incumbent presidents and prime ministers when their... Read more

Researchers from the University of Melbourne and University of Queensland have analysed negative attitudes towards Asian people in both the United States and Australia to better understand the factors that contribute to these prejudices.... Read more

Low and uneven turnout is a serious problem for local democracy. However, simply moving off-cycle, local elections to be held on the same day as statewide and national contests doubles voter turnout and leads to an electorate that is considerably more representative in terms of race, age, class and partisanship,... Read more

The level of public acceptance of evolution in the United States is now solidly above the halfway mark, according to a new study based on a series of national public opinion surveys conducted over the last 35 years.... Read more