News 2019

The billion-dollar pet industry now has a growing market dedicated to wearable devices but new research from the University of Bristol has found these devices capture more data on the owners rather than their pets. Consumers have the option to track location, activity and health data of their pets but the Bristol Cyber Security Group have found these wearables do not always acknowledge the privacy implications for the humans and their data.

New research from two UC Berkeley professors shows that exposure to opioids in the home can double the chances someone else in the home gets a prescription to the addictive painkillers. (Flickr photo by Michael Chen, shared under CC 2. Introducing an opioid painkiller into a home can double the chances someone else living in the home seeks out the addictive drugs on his or her own, according to a new paper from two UC Berkeley researchers.

Sharing data may be a vital element in ending illegal fishing - a crime currently robbing nations of approximately $23 billion annually while also undermining legal fisheries management and industry practices. A perpetrator of human trafficking, smuggling, human rights violations and environmental degradation, illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing poses a serious threat to the economies, environment and security of nations.

Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, is a game-changer for the field of manufacturing, enabling significant savings of cost, time and materials. In traditional manufacturing, parts are manufactured in large quantities at centralized factories, then shipped out to consumers. But with the growth of AM, many wonder whether this technology will cause a shift from this centralized model to a more distributed model, in which facilities in different locations coordinate to fill manufacturing needs.

The hotter the day the more likely US immigration judges are to make harsher decisions - a new study by the universities of Ottawa, Canada and Sussex, England can reveal. The study, published in the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics , analyses the impact of outdoor temperatures on high-stakes decisions made in 207,000 US immigration cases.

The more money there is in a lost wallet, the more likely it is to be returned to its owner, researchers from the Universities of Zurich, Michigan and Utah show in a global study. They explain the surprising result with the fact that dishonest finders have to adapt their self-image, which involves psychological costs that can exceed the material value of the wallet.

Garden centres need to provide more information about bee-friendly plants, according to new research Garden centres in the south east need to provide more information about pollinator-friendly plants, according to new research from the University of Sussex. In a study focused on the public attitudes and behaviours towards pollinator-friendly planting, researchers discovered that 52% of people thought garden centres didn't offer enough information despite believing that they'd be the 'best place' to turn to for advice.

A new report by Stanford scholars lays out the problems U.S. millennials face as a result of decades-long rising inequality. Problems they experience include rising mortality rates and increased poverty among those without college degrees. Millennials - young adults in their 20s and 30s - earn less money without a college degree and are more likely to die prematurely from suicide or drug overdose than previous generations, according to a new report from the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality.

When Sandie Read was diagnosed with dementia at 57, she felt a mixture of fear, anxiety and depression. Fifteen years later and not only is she offering support to fellow sufferers but she's also working with researchers to improve the way people communicate and interact with those living with the condition.

A new report prepared by University of Queensland sustainability and energy technology experts aims to push Australia closer to "energy literacy". Researchers reported that householders were confused and there was concern across industry and government around issues such as energy pricing, power reliability and carbon emissions.

A $6M grant from the California Energy Commission will go toward developing a cost-effective, scalable, emission detection approach for the state Methane, a potent greenhouse gas that traps about 30 times more heat than carbon dioxide, is commonly released from rice fields, dairies, landfills, and oil and gas facilities - all of which are plentiful in California.

16 May 2019 As the UK heads towards a cashless society, experts have warned changes to infrastructure - including easy access to free ATMs - are leaving some of the most deprived communities behind. New research from the University of Bristol's Personal Finance Research Centre shows deprived neighbourhoods, often those where people are most likely to rely on cash, are rapidly witnessing the disappearance of their free cashpoints.

Workers in Flint, Michigan protest in favor of a $15 minimum wage earlier this month. A new study from UC Berkeley shows that a 10 percent increase in the minimum wage could prevent suicides. (Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP) Increasing the minimum wage and expanding a tax credit for low-wage workers may prevent more than 1,200 suicides each year, according to a new working paper by a team of UC Berkeley researchers.

As states take the lead in confronting climate change, their flagship policy is a program that requires that a certain percentage of the state's electricity come from renewable sources. But a new working paper co-authored by University of Chicago scholars found that these popular programs-enacted in 29 states and the District of Columbia-are inefficient in reducing carbon emissions and come at a high cost to consumers.

Research on 144 countries reveals opportunities and pitfalls of this fast-growing sector David Colgan Seafood farming in the ocean — or marine aquaculture — is the fastest growing sector of the global food system, and it shows no sign of slowing. Open-ocean farms have vast space for expansion, and consumer demand continues to rise.

The map on the left shows countries where per capita GDP increased or decreased as a result of global warming between 1961 and 2010. The map on the right shows the same information from 1991, after economic data became available for more countries. (Image credit: Noah Diffenbaugh and Marshall Burke) The gap between the economic output of the world's richest and poorest countries is 25 percent larger today than it would have been without global warming, according to new research from Stanford University.

UNIGE researchers have found that we are more confident in our decisions - and execute our choices more quickly - if we're chasing a reward.. but we're more flexible when trying to avoid being punished. Does the potential to win or lose money influence the confidence one has in one's own decisions' Does either of them help learn more quickly? Researchers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, in collaboration with the University of Amsterdam and ENS Paris, investigated confidence bias in a learning context through a system of monetary punishment and reward.

Findings published by a team of researchers from Freie Universität Berlin and Technische Universität Berlin in cooperation with the Berlin Social Science Center and Ohio State University No 100/2019 from Apr 16, 2019 Everyday decisions, like which product to buy from the shelf at the store, depend on how much time a person spends gazing at an item beforehand, according to a study.

People bid less in auctions that have more bidders, new research suggests. Economists from the University of Sydney and the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) have co-authored a new study that challenges conventional thinking about auctions and is applicable to real-life bidding situations including property auctions.

People's feelings about their own financial situation had the greatest influence on them voting to leave the EU, according to new research which challenges the widely-held belief that it was the old and unhappy who swung the Brexit vote. Academics at the Universities of Bristol, Warwick and ETH Zurich, analysed the views of 8,000 prospective voters to determine what factors led to anti-EU sentiment.