Quitting tobacco could give a major economic uplift to the incomes of more than 20 million households in India, suggests an economic analysis published in the open access journal BMJ Global Health.  While the greatest impact would be felt in rural areas and among the poorest households, 7 million middle income families would also stand to benefit, the estimates suggest.

Superglue, penicillin, X-rays, the pacemaker: All are examples of “happy accidents” – inventions by individuals trying to do one thing, and winding up with something superior to the original objective. But can serendipity be “harnessed,” to make it actually work for a company? Researchers from Cornell University think that reflecting on unintended outcomes might lead to more and better ideas.

As global population aging advances and countries face shrinking workforces, a new study focusing on China by IIASA researchers and colleagues from Nanjing University reveals how economic growth can persist despite these changes in age structures.

In an era when most TikTok videos are prerecorded, can a band with a new single create a tighter bond with fans by debuting via livestream instead? Can a business do the same when promoting a new product? New research from the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin suggests they could. “It’s not that there’s actually something different about the video itself. It’s that we know that it’s live right now, and that breaks down barriers between our world and the world on the other side of the screen.” One quality weakened the liveness effect: not being able to see a performer’s face. When viewers saw only a musician’s hands, they felt less connected, even though they were watching the same performance.