The Social Robotics Group of the Robotics Lab at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) has developed an innovative methodology based on artificial intelligence (AI) that allows a pet-type assistive robot to recognize the people it interacts with. The prototype, named Mía, is currently being tested in Madrid City Council day centers for the personalized affective stimulation of elderly people with cognitive decline.

A new study led by University of Maine researchers and published in The Rural Educator identifies strategies to make it easier for K-12 schools to make outdoor education part of their school curricula and culture. The study examined a rural Maine school that stood out for the breadth of its outdoor learning opportunities. Through interviews with teachers, administrators, parents and community partners, lead author Lauren Jacobs identified several factors that helped make outdoor education successful, including strong community support, collaboration among staff, dedicated outdoor learning spaces and a school culture that valued learning outside the classroom.

Most Americans, even those who most appreciate AI, strongly support more regulation of it, a new survey by Johns Hopkins University researchers finds.

More than 70% of Americans want the right to interact with a human rather than an AI in medical, legal, educational and government settings. This proposed regulation and others were endorsed across party lines and by both regular users of AI and novices.

In the new book "Nation and Gender in Higher Classical Music Education: Intersectional Perspectives", Swedish researchers describe how some of the most prestigious higher education in classical music in Europe still inform inform both the teaching and the repertoire about male genius and national character. The study focuses on the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music (1875) in Budapest, Hungary; the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (1919) in Tallinn, Estonia; and the Sibelius Academy (1882) in Helsinki, Finland. Their identity is largely based on notions of nation and gender. This can be partly explained by the countries’ ongoing struggles for independence at the time when the academies were founded.

A study of 52 college students found that VR mindfulness meditation improved emotion regulation, relaxation, and mindful attention more than audio-only practice. The strongest results came from a self-developed EEG-interactive VR forest that changed in response to users' brain signals, while lavender scent improved relaxation but appeared to reduce concentration.

Based on their 18-year long cohort study, researchers at Tohoku University have found which depressive symptoms have the most impact on the “healthspan” (remaining years of healthy living) of older adults, and how this differs for men compared to women.