Religion

People living with HIV are less likely to receive potentially lifesaving cancer treatment if they live in communities with lower income levels and educational attainment, according to a new US national study.

What is the secret to happiness? Does happiness come from within, or is it shaped by external influences such as our jobs, health, relationships and material circumstances? A new study shows that happiness can come from either within or from external influences, from both, or neither -- and which is true differs across people.

Many people around the world believe in karma -- that idea that divine justice will punish people who do bad deeds and reward those who good. But that belief plays out differently for oneself versus others, according to new research.

Body appreciation differs between Middle-Eastern and Western societies, a new international study can reveal, highlighting how cultural and family influences shape body image and eating behaviors in young women. The study surveyed over 850 women aged 18-25 in Australia and Lebanon, examining the roles that mothers and sisters play in shaping body dissatisfaction, body appreciation, and eating patterns.

Just steps from the center of Tikal, a 2,400-year-old Maya city in the heart of modern-day Guatemala, a global team of researchers has unearthed a buried altar that could unlock the secrets of a mysterious time of upheaval in the ancient world. The altar, built around the late 300s A.D., is decorated with four painted panels of red, black and yellow depicting a person wearing a feathered headdress and flanked by shields or regalia. The face has almond-shaped eyes, a nose bar and a double earspool. It closely resembles other depictions of a deity dubbed the 'Storm God' in central Mexico.

Mindfulness, total sleep quality, and alcohol consumption may help explain why people who stay up late have a greater risk of depression, according to a new study.

'Fake it till you make it' might be common advice to climb the corporate ladder, but new research shows that this attitude could also adversely affect job satisfaction and mental health.

Large, undisturbed forests are better for harboring biodiversity than fragmented landscapes, according to recent research. Ecologists agree that habitat loss and the fragmentation of forests reduces biodiversity in the remaining fragments. But ecologists don't agree whether it's better to focus on preserving many smaller, fragmented tracts of land or larger, continuous landscapes. The study comes to a clear conclusion.

A team of researchers has developed an advanced physics-based AI-driven tool to aid the forensic investigation of traumatic brain injuries (TBI).

A team of researchers has outlined a new approach for better understanding the depths of animal consciousness, a method that may yield new insights into the similarities and differences among living organisms.

Two seemingly opposite spiritual practices -- Buddhist jhana meditation and the Christian practice of speaking in tongues -- have more in common than previously thought, a new study suggests. While one is quiet and deeply focused, and the other emotionally charged and expressive, both appear to harness the same cognitive feedback loop to create profound states of joy and surrender.

A fragment of 'lost' music found in the pages of Scotland's first full-length printed book is providing clues to what music sounded like five centuries ago. Scholars have been investigating the origins of the musical score -- which contains only 55 notes -- to cast new light on music from pre-Reformation Scotland in the early sixteenth-century. Researchers say the tantalizing discovery is a rare example of music from Scottish religious institutions 500 years ago, and is the only piece which survives from the northeast of Scotland from this period.

Economists looked at test scores and school attendance for Chicago-area kids before and after a bug infestation wiped out the city's ash trees. Education outcomes for low-income students went down, highlighting how the impacts of ecosystem degradation are disproportionately felt by disadvantaged communities.

A study by a team of scientists finds that AI systems are also prone to social identity biases, revealing fundamental group prejudices that reach beyond those tied to gender, race, or religion.

In a new study, feelings of distress and reduced ability to cope with stress were associated with traditional paranormal beliefs, but not with new age philosophy.

Engineers have invented a protective coating for concrete pipes that could help drastically reduce the formation of fatbergs in sewers.

An interdisciplinary team of researchers has developed a machine learning framework that uses limited water quality samples to predict which inorganic pollutants are likely to be present in a groundwater supply. The new tool allows regulators and public health authorities to prioritize specific aquifers for water quality testing.

Encouraging quietness during zoo trips can help visitors better appreciate their inhabitants and lead to more fulfilling, respectful and informative experiences, a new paper argues.

Expanded treatment options, increased naloxone distribution and targeted education campaigns likely led to a 37% reduction in overdose deaths from opioids combined with stimulant drugs other than cocaine, according to the results of a large federally funded study.

A new study evaluated the effects of citizenship status on physician specialty choice and practice location among U.S. citizen and non-citizen international medical graduates (IMGs), which account for a quarter of all active physicians in the U.S. Citizenship status has significant effects on IMGs' choices of specialties and practice locations. Though non-citizen IMGs were historically found to be more likely to specialize in primary care and work in rural areas and shortage areas, the proportion has declined over the past decade. Strategies to recruit physicians to specialize in primary care, and especially to practice in underserved areas, should be tailored to the unique characteristics of IMGs.

On a bright autumn afternoon, a plain wooden box crafted by a local cabinet shop containing skeletal remains was returned to its final resting place during a simple reburial ceremony in Brentwood. Researchers and students from the University of New Hampshire's Forensic Anthropology Identification and Recovery (F.A.I.R.) Lab worked for two years with town officials and the New Hampshire state archaeologist to investigate and document the remains, which were uncovered more than 20 years ago during construction and were identified as being from a farm for paupers during the mid-1800's, commonly known as a poor farm.

Visitors to vineyards enjoyed their tours more when they heard enhanced sounds of diverse birdsong, new research has found.

Global evidence has revealed that women's environmental quality of life is key to their overall quality of life and health, according to a new study.

Stranger churches in early modern London had 'eyes everywhere' to hear, spread and dispel gossip in multiple languages, according to new research.

As urban centers in mountainous regions grow, more people are driven to build on steeper slopes prone to slow-moving landslides, a new study finds. Slow-moving landslides are frequently excluded from estimates of landslide risk, but they could threaten hundreds of thousands of people globally, the researchers conclude.

Out-of-body experiences, such as near-death experiences, can have a 'transformative' effect on people's ability to experience empathy and connect with others, new research explains.

New research highlights the growing problem of death ideation and the increasing rates of both loneliness and suicidal thoughts among older individuals. The study explores the critical issue of social disconnection and its link to a 'wish to die' among older adults.

The study highlights the remarkable resilience of older adults (median age 86) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Disruptions to their routines led many to discover new hobbies like gardening and painting and explore virtual activities such as online yoga. While 51% experienced psychosocial issues such as anxiety and depression, 86% did not see worsening of their medical conditions and supported pandemic precautions. Despite the hardships, including the loss of residents and increased use of antidepressants and telehealth, many found joy and growth in their altered circumstances.

An assistant clinical professor developed a specialized dance and movement therapy (DMT) program to meet the unique needs of youth from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds to foster a sense of community and connection.

A new essay explores which conditions must be met for consciousness to exist. At least one of them can't be found in a computer.

In low- and middle-income countries, anemia reduction efforts are often touted as a way to improve educational outcomes and reduce poverty. A new study evaluates the relationship between anemia and school attendance in India, debunking earlier research that could have misguided policy interventions.

Rising to power in the wake of the Classic Maya collapse, Chichen Itz was among the largest and most influential cities of the ancient Maya, but much about its political connections and ritual life remain poorly understood. Close kin relationships, including two pairs of identical twins, suggests a connection to the Maya origin myths of the Popol Vuh.

Americans' interest in a potentially harmful 'magic mushroom' is soaring, according to a new study. The scientists suggest that the growing market for Amanita muscaria may be sparked in part by emerging clinical research supporting the safety and efficacy of psilocybin as a treatment for depression.

While mentally stimulating activities and life experiences can improve cognition in memory clinic patients, stress undermines this beneficial relationship.

Conversational agents (CAs) such as Alexa and Siri are designed to answer questions, offer suggestions -- and even display empathy. However, new research finds they do poorly compared to humans when interpreting and exploring a user's experience.

Researchers offer insights into the ethical dilemmas and legal complexities surrounding brain organoids, especially those derived from human fetal tissue. Their findings advocate for thorough regulatory frameworks to ensure that scientific and medical progress in this field is conducted responsibly and ethically, with strong regulations supported by sound ethical and legal principles.

A new study looks at 110 years of income tax history across the U.S. and notes out-migration by wealthy Americans.

A new data crowdsourcing platform aims to preserve the sound of Romeyka, an endangered millennia-old variety of Greek. Experts consider the language to be a linguistic goldmine and a living bridge to the ancient world.

School quality ratings significantly reflect the preparation of a school's students, not just the school's contribution to learning gains, according to new research.

Many parents recognize increasing mental health concerns among children, reflected by the 1 in 5 who say they're open to allowing a child to take a mental health day.

Potters of different cultural backgrounds learn new types differently, producing cultural differences even in the absence of differential cultural evolution. The research has implications for how we evaluate the difference of archaeological artifacts across cultures.

Many Indigenous peoples and local communities around the world are leading very satisfying lives despite having very little money. This research shows that many societies with very low monetary income have remarkably high levels of life satisfaction, comparable to those in wealthy countries.

New algorithms close the gap in deepfake detectors' accuracy across races and genders.

Does thinking about faith make religious people more likely to take leaps? A new study says yes, finding that participants were more likely to take risks when thinking about God as a benevolent protector.  The study specifically looked at American Christians and 'morally neutral' risks. 

And after nearly two years of fighting, war is destroying Ukraine’s cultural heritage on a scale not seen since World War II, according to new research.

How do women picture the partner of their dreams? And how does this vary between women based on their age? A team of researchers has investigated the complex relationships between age and preferences for a partner in a large, international sample of single women. The study found that most preferences for a partner showed no variation between women of different ages. However, higher age was linked to a preference for confident and assertive partners, as well as acceptance of a larger age range, in particular a higher acceptance of a partner being younger than oneself. Age was also linked to the parenting intentions of the ideal partner: consistently high in importance until approximately age 28 and then decreasing thereafter.

High-intensity, often catastrophic, wildfires have become increasingly frequent across the Western U.S. Researchers quantified the value of managed low-intensity burning to dramatically reduce the risk of such fires for years at a time.

Roughly two decades ago, a community-wide reckoning emerged concerning the credibility of published literature in the social-behavioral sciences, especially psychology. Several large scale studies attempted to reproduce previously published findings to no avail or to a much lesser magnitude, sending the credibility of the findings -- and future studies in social-behavioral sciences -- into question. 

A new report finds that drastic changes are approaching if risks to our fundamental socioecological systems are not addressed.  The Interconnected Disaster Risks Report 2023 warns of six risk tipping points ahead of us: Accelerating extinctions; Groundwater depletion; Mountain glaciers melting; Space debris; Unbearable heat; and an Uninsurable future.

Being suspended from school or sent to the office is tied to a big drop in grade point average (GPA), especially for Black and Latinx children, according to researchers. 

Why do we dream? A product of our brain's neurophysiology, dreaming is a complex experience that can take on many emotional tones and simulate reality to varying degrees. As a result, there is still no clear answer to this question. A study compared the dreams of two forager communities, in Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo, with those of individuals living in Europe and North America. It showed that the first two groups produced more threatening, but also more cathartic and socially-oriented dreams than the Western groups. These results show how strong are the links between the socio-cultural environment and the function of dreams.

People from diverse religious backgrounds in the United States view curiosity about religion as morally virtuous, according to new research. Atheists also view this curiosity as moral, although less moral than a lack of religious curiosity.

Studies show that on any given morning, about 40 percent of the working population recalls its dreams. New research shows that when dreams are first recalled, people often draw connections between their dreams and waking lives, and the connections they draw alter how they think, feel and act at work.

What if there was a more effective way to coach and inspire your employees? Athletes? Students? Even your kids? A new study suggests there is. Their newly published work used neuroimaging to peer into the brains of participants as they responded to two different styles of coaching. The researchers wanted to see what happens in the brain that either helps people grow or causes them to resist change.

As artificial intelligence expands across more professions, robot preachers and AI programs offer new means of sharing religious beliefs, but they may undermine credibility and reduce donations for religious groups that rely on them.

A new survey shows that the largely Indigenous population of Greenland is highly aware that the climate is changing, and far more likely than people in other Arctic nations to say they are personally affected. Yet, many do not blame human influences -- especially those living traditional subsistence lifestyles most directly hit by the impacts of rapidly wasting ice and radical changes in weather.

A model sailing boat which represents a key part of a project working to banish single use plastics has embarked on a global tour that will help its message reach thousands more people and communities across the planet.

Knowing how cultural evolution happens also means we can harness it for the larger good, creating a more just and sustainable world, according to a new article.

Researchers are learning more about ancient graffiti -- and their intriguing comparisons to modern graffiti -- as they produce a state-of-the-art 3D recording of the Temple of Isis in Philae, Egypt.

Using archaeological findings and survey data on contemporary gender attitudes, political scientists find individuals who live in areas that historically favored men over women display more pro-male bias today than those who live in places where gender relations were more egalitarian centuries ago. Findings speak to the power of cultural transmission of gender norms.