A new study suggests what’s flushed down the drain can offer a real-time snapshot of what communities are eating.  

Researchers at Duke University School of Medicine and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill analyzed tiny fragments of plant and animal DNA from wastewater samples across 19 North Carolina communities representing 2.1 million people to reveal how economics, immigration, and geography influence what's on our plates.

A study of University of California social science faculty tested several common explanations and found that none told the full story.

Across 21 studies, researchers confirmed that people learned attitudes from a single trust interaction, whether positive or negative. But negative experiences were harder to dispel. The rise in distrust after a negative experience was about double the boost in trust after a good exchange. Surprisingly, the same effects did not occur when people interacted with artificial intelligence, because participants did not see those interactions as social.

In a new book, University of Copenhagen associate professor Séamus Power outlines three realistic scenarios for the future of the world economy – ranging from escalating inequality to fairer forms of capitalism.