Cause of partner’s death linked to widowhood mortality – differences more pronounced in cohabiting couples
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 1-Dec-2025 20:11 ET (2-Dec-2025 01:11 GMT/UTC)
Researchers at the University of Oulu have identified significant differences in mortality among widows and widowers from cohabiting versus married relationships, depending on the deceased partner’s cause of death. Accidental death increases the surviving partner’s mortality risk more than death from illness. Mortality rises particularly sharply among those who had been living in cohabitation.
Arts-based approaches effectively capture the complex and layered experiences of displaced young people, a new study from the University of Eastern Finland shows. Conducted among Afghan refugee youth living in Iran, the study participants were invited to draw and write about their life. Using an arts-based approach and social representations theory, the study explored how young people make sense of life between two cultures and how they envision their future.
About 170 years ago a large bundle of stone tools was deliberately buried close to a waterhole in the hard dirt of the remote outback.
Who buried them and for what purpose? Why were they never retrieved?
Archaeologists from Griffith University, who discovered the hoard, are searching for answers.
Dr Yinika Perston, from the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, noticed a handful of stones poking out of the soil in an area just north of the town of Boulia, far West Queensland.
She investigated further and discovered a pile of 60 large Aboriginal stone “tulas”, special flaked stone tools that were hafted onto a handle and used for woodworking.
They were important tools, used across most of the continent to make objects such as boomerangs, wooden coolamon dishes, shields and clapsticks.
The research team moved fast to complete the excavation.
“This region’s climate is harsh.” Dr Perston said.
“Even while we were excavating, bushfires raged to the north, preventing some of the team from joining us.
Once we found the cache, we knew were in a race against time to recover the tools before they were washed away in the next flood”.
The team used scientific methods to analyse the tools, working closely with the Pitta Pitta, who hold Native Title for the area where the collection was found.
“Innovation and connection helped the Pitta Pitta people survive the region’s harsh climates.
If they could not find resources locally, they bartered along vast trade routes.
It’s possible this cache was a bundle of specially-made artefacts that were intended for trading.” Dr Perston proposed.
The team attempted to figure out when, how and possibly why these tulas were buried.
Quartz grains in the soil can be dated using a method called optically stimulated luminescence, or OSL.
This technique uses decay rates in quartz to calculate when the grains were last exposed to sunlight.
Using this method meant the team had to collect samples from the centre of the cache on a dark and moonless night.
Dating revealed a 95% probability the tulas were buried sometime between 1793 and 1913.
The nearby town of Boulia was established around 1879, and the Burke River police camp operated from 1878 to 1886.
“We think the Pitta Pitta ancestors were likely planning to trade the tools in these caches when the time came, but for some reason never retrieved them.” said Dr Perston.
“One possible reason for this may be due to disruption caused by European arrival – but the dates aren’t precise enough to be sure.
“What we can say, is that this cache reveals how planning, resource management and collective cooperation allowed Aboriginal people to not only survive, but thrive, in this harsh environment.”
About 170 years ago a large bundle of stone tools was deliberately buried close to a waterhole in the hard dirt of the remote outback.
Who buried them and for what purpose? Why were they never retrieved?
Archaeologists from Griffith University, who discovered the hoard, are searching for answers.
Dr Yinika Perston, from the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, noticed a handful of stones poking out of the soil in an area just north of the town of Boulia, far West Queensland.
She investigated further and discovered a pile of 60 large Aboriginal stone “tulas”, special flaked stone tools that were hafted onto a handle and used for woodworking.
They were important tools, used across most of the continent to make objects such as boomerangs, wooden coolamon dishes, shields and clapsticks.
The research team moved fast to complete the excavation.
“This region’s climate is harsh.” Dr Perston said.
“Even while we were excavating, bushfires raged to the north, preventing some of the team from joining us.
Once we found the cache, we knew were in a race against time to recover the tools before they were washed away in the next flood”.
The team used scientific methods to analyse the tools, working closely with the Pitta Pitta, who hold Native Title for the area where the collection was found.
“Innovation and connection helped the Pitta Pitta people survive the region’s harsh climates.
If they could not find resources locally, they bartered along vast trade routes.
It’s possible this cache was a bundle of specially-made artefacts that were intended for trading.” Dr Perston proposed.
The team attempted to figure out when, how and possibly why these tulas were buried.
Quartz grains in the soil can be dated using a method called optically stimulated luminescence, or OSL.
This technique uses decay rates in quartz to calculate when the grains were last exposed to sunlight.
Using this method meant the team had to collect samples from the centre of the cache on a dark and moonless night.
Dating revealed a 95% probability the tulas were buried sometime between 1793 and 1913.
The nearby town of Boulia was established around 1879, and the Burke River police camp operated from 1878 to 1886.
“We think the Pitta Pitta ancestors were likely planning to trade the tools in these caches when the time came, but for some reason never retrieved them.” said Dr Perston.
“One possible reason for this may be due to disruption caused by European arrival – but the dates aren’t precise enough to be sure.
“What we can say, is that this cache reveals how planning, resource management and collective cooperation allowed Aboriginal people to not only survive, but thrive, in this harsh environment.”
New research shows 71% of women report consuming alcohol-free and/or low-alcohol drinks during pregnancy
As 6 in 10 say advice about these alternatives is lacking, many turn to internet and social media for information
Experts say clarity on advice is vital, as the Government set to consult on changing the upper strength ‘alcohol free’ threshold to 0.5% ABV in-line with international standards
Patients with major depressive disorder, including those who have not responded to first-line antidepressants, may benefit from short-term nitrous oxide treatment, a major meta-analysis led by the University of Birmingham and published in eBioMedicine has found.
Rising inflation, shifting interest rates and geopolitical tensions can push companies into crisis, necessitating freezes of salary increases, changing benefits, cutting employees’ perks or reducing headcount. For employees, such drastic changes can result in experiencing a “psychological contract breach,” a perception that their organization failed to meet its obligations and promises, leading to negative views of their employers. Research finds that these negative views can be mitigated by companies engaging in corporate social responsibility. When employees think of their company as conscientious, kind and socially responsible, they believe that the company didn’t intentionally commit the breach but was forced to do so due to circumstances beyond its control.