EurekAlert! News by Subject: Social & Behavior - News by Subject: Social & Behavior

Social & Behavior

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 4-May-2025 21:09 ET (5-May-2025 01:09 GMT/UTC)

Design and imagination as essential tools during the climate crisis

Delft University of Technology
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In Nature Partner Journals, ten researchers advocate the use of imagination in tackling the climate crisis. They focus specifically on urbanising river deltas, which are of great social and economic importance and highly vulnerable to climate change. "We scientists should not merely outline doomsday scenarios," says Professor Chris Zevenbergen. "Create a vision for people to believe in and work towards.”

Journal: npj Ocean Sustainability

MSU expert: How AI can help people understand research and increase trust in science

Michigan State University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

New research from David Markowitz, associate professor of communication at Michigan State University, demonstrates that AI-generated summaries may help restore trust in scientists and, in turn, encourage greater public engagement with scientific issues.

Journal: PNAS Nexus

These wild chimpanzees play as adults to better cooperate as a group

Cell Press
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Compared to children, adults don’t play as much, but social play into adulthood is considered a universal human trait. Play has a role in building tolerance, cohesion, bonding, and cooperation. By comparison, play in adults of other species has been considered rare, and yet a new study reported in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on November 21 shows that some chimpanzees, like people, continue to play often throughout their entire lives and especially before engaging in acts that require collective cooperation.

Journal: Current Biology

Does feminism begin at home?

SWPS University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Are attitudes to feminism shaped at home, through the relationship with the mother? Or are there other factors that influence women's worldview in this regard? Paula Pustułka, PhD, an associate professor at SWPS University in Warsaw, investigated these issues among Polish women.

Journal: Women s Studies International Forum

ISB study highlights AI’s potential and pitfalls in scouring health data

Institute for Systems Biology
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) researchers have gained new insights into the strengths and limitations of using artificial intelligence (AI) to identify social determinants of health from electronic health records.

Journal: Journal of Medical Internet Research

Clinical language describing pregnancy loss can actively contribute to grief and trauma

University College London
Reports and Proceedings

The language used in many healthcare settings to describe pregnancy loss exacerbates the grief and trauma experienced by some individuals and can affect mental health following the loss, according to research led by a UCL academic.

In the first study of its kind, published today, social scientists from UCL, led by Dr Beth Malory (UCL English Language & Literature), gathered data from 391 participants from across the UK with lived experience of pregnancy loss to provide guidance for mass communication around loss.

Femicide in Israel 2024: Persistent trends, stark disparities

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Reports and Proceedings

In 2024, femicide in Israel persisted at a rate comparable to the previous year, with 20 cases reported, averaging 1.81 per month. Half of the victims were Israeli Arabs, highlighting a disproportionate representation given their 21% share of the population. Most victims knew their perpetrators, often a husband or family member, and the murderers typically shared the same ethnic background. Stabbings were the most common method of killing. Alarmingly, only 20% of victims had sought police assistance for prior domestic violence. A significant data gap exists between police records and the findings of the Israel Observatory on Femicide (IOF), which documented 37 murders compared to the police’s 29, emphasizing disparities in case investigations and indictments, particularly within the Arab community.