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Social & Behavior

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 23-Oct-2026 16:17 ET (23-Oct-2026 20:17 GMT/UTC)

Genetic risk for PTSD may vary depending on the type of trauma experienced, data from more than 140,000 individuals suggests

Taylor & Francis Group
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A groundbreaking study reveals that your genes may make you more vulnerable to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from certain types of trauma—particularly childhood neglect—than from others.

Journal: European Journal of Psychotraumatology
Funder: UK Research and Innovation

Rich neighborhoods more likely to burn

University of California - Riverside
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Frequently located on hillsides and in canyons surrounded by wildlands, one of the most comprehensive studies to date shows rich neighborhoods are more likely to catch fire. However, they are also likely to recover faster than lower-income areas.

Journal: npj Urban Sustainability

Gender representation key to women’s job interest, study suggests

Emory University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Women prefer to work in fields with more female representation, which may help explain why women remain in the minority in many professions, suggests new research by Emory psychologists.

Journal: PLOS One
Funder: Templeton World Charity Foundation

Temperature measurement error may cause climate-impact studies to understate impacts by 15% or more

Wake Forest University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

When policymakers and city officials plan for climate change, they rely on economic studies showing how extreme heat impacts violent crime, public health, energy grids and crop yields. However, a new study published in the Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists reveals a hidden problem in that research: the temperatures used in many climate-impact studies can contain substantial measurement error, leading researchers to misestimate the true impacts of temperature and, on average, potentially understate climate impacts by at least 15%.

Incarceration may escalate criminal behavior in South Africa

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Allowing petty offenders in South Africa to remain in the community may reduce their risk of committing serious crimes compared with imprisonment, according to a study published September 16, 2026, in the open access journal PLOS One by Farai Nyabadza of the University of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Journal: PLOS One

We may soon be able to read long-lost ancient scrolls damaged by eruption of Mt. Vesuvius

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

X-ray technology and artificial intelligence — along with the discovery of lead in the ink of fragments of a collection of ancient Roman scrolls — could soon help scientists read long-lost texts buried by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE, according to a study published September 16, 2026, in the open access journal PLOS One by Douglas Seiler, an affiliate of the University of California Berkeley, USA, Jacob Michael LaManna from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA, David Kreimer from University of California Berkeley, USA, and colleagues.

Journal: PLOS One

Republicans are more likely than Democrats to support political violence

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Republicans and conservatives are more likely than Democrats or liberals to justify political violence in 17 surveyed situations, according to a study published September 16, 2026, in the open access journal PLOS One by Garen J. Wintemute from the University of California Davis and colleagues.

Journal: PLOS One

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