The use of social media is contributing to declining attention spans, emotional volatility, and compulsive behaviours among young people, reveals a new report by NTU Singapore and Singapore-based research agency Research Network, in collaboration with US-based AI platform ListenLabs.ai.

The study, conducted across Singapore and Australia, surveyed 583 young people aged 13 to 25, and their parents. It found that prolonged social media use is associated with difficulties in sustaining focus, increased emotional fatigue, and behaviours resembling addiction. 

This is the first cross-cultural study of its kind to explore the societal effects of social media from both Eastern and Western perspectives, using an advanced AI-powered interview platform that enables emotionally attuned, large-scale conversations with young people and their parents.

These findings also complement earlier neuroscience studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which show that social media activates the brain’s dopamine reward pathways in ways that closely resemble addictive behaviour. The report is the first in a new series of white papers aimed at informing public discourse and policymaking on Gen Z’s digital use.

Understanding how our brain interprets social hierarchy or facial emotions may be key to advancing our knowledge of anxiety and mood disorders. This is the aim of the project led by researcher Maya Visser at the Universitat Jaume I in Castelló, which studies the role of the anterior temporal lobe (ATL) in the brain network that gives meaning to social and emotional concepts.

The anterior temporal lobe (ATL) has traditionally been understudied due to the geometric distortions produced in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which have hindered accurate analysis of this region. However, previous studies by the NFN group at the Universitat Jaume I have used specific techniques to overcome these limitations and have demonstrated the ATL’s involvement in processing meaning and in making social and emotional decisions.

A new study from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem reveals that Neanderthals living in two nearby caves in northern Israel—butchered their food in noticeably different ways. Despite using the same tools and hunting the same prey, groups in Amud and Kebara caves left behind distinct patterns of cut-marks on animal bones, suggesting that food preparation techniques may have been culturally specific and passed down through generations. These differences cannot be explained by tool type, skill, or available resources, and may reflect practices such as drying or aging meat before butchering. The findings provide rare insight into the social and cultural complexity of Neanderthal communities.

A study by The University of Osaka and the National Institute for Environmental Studies aimed to understand how different rewards influence citizen contributions to biodiversity data. Using the Biome app, 830 users joined a one-week experiment offering either cash, donation-based, or no incentives for posting nature photos. Cash increased total posts, while donations encouraged sharing of rare species. The study reveals how tailoring incentives can improve both the quantity and quality of biodiversity data collected through citizen science.