news 2024

In a new study, Yale researchers employed fuzzy cognitive mapping to better understand how volunteering benefits poor women in Jordan. In the global South, volunteer programs are framed by policymakers and scholars as an effective vehicle for empowering women living in poverty. But this narrative often rests on scant knowledge of the perspectives and experiences of a key set of local stakeholders: the volunteers.

Research surveys show warnings issued by world leaders are taken equally seriously whether issued on social media or through formal statements. Over 180 world leaders maintain social media accounts, and some of them issue policy warnings to rivals and the public on these platforms rather than relying on traditional government statements.

Task force aims to ensure trust in research Artificial intelligence (AI) generates texts, videos and images that can hardly be distinguished from those of humans - with the result that we often no longer know what is real. Also researchers are increasingly being supported by AI. An international task force has now developed principles for the use of AI in research to ensure trust in science.

Most of the deepfakes (videos with fake hyper-realistic recreations) generated by artificial intelligence (AI) that spread through social media feature political representatives and artists and are often linked to current news cycles. This is one of the conclusions of research by the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) that analyses the formal and content characteristics of viral misinformation in Spain arising from the use of AI tools for illicit purposes.

In a new study, researchers used online surveys conducted primarily when Donald Trump was president to show that both Republican and Democratic voters provided explicit moral justification for politicians' statements that were factually inaccurate, especially when they aligned with their personal politics.

Sergi Morales, researcher at the Department of Constitutional Law, Political and Administrative Sciences of the University of Valencia. A study by Sergi Morales, a researcher at the University of Valencia, provides a detailed definition of linguistic domination, for the first time from the perspectives of political theory and political science.

Study: Feeling misinformed' The role of perceived difficulty in evaluating information online in news avoidance and news fatigue doi.org/10.1080/1461670X. As people have more difficulty distinguishing fact from fiction in the United States, they are more likely to feel news fatigue and avoid news altogether, according to a University of Michigan study.

The University of Glasgow has contributed to research that finds only 40% of people in England trust their police force. The study, commissioned by the Economic and Social Research Council (ERSC), spotlights London's Metropolitan Police as the area where women trust the least - and Conservative voters have higher levels of trust in the force.

The climate crisis, farmers' protests, the rise of right-wing parties, ongoing disputes in government, wars in Ukraine and the Middle East: the crisis is becoming a permanent feature of politics and society. In view of the enormous challenges, does a socio-ecological transformation even stand a chance? The BMBF junior research group "Mentalities in flux" (flumen) at Friedrich Schiller University Jena investigated this question.

Report provides up-close look at pro-democracy conservatives In contrast to those who reject the results of the 2020 election, nearly a third of Republicans accept the results, trust institutions, and appreciate diverse political perspectives Pro-democracy conservatives appreciate diverse political ideas, value journalism, and trust institutions including elections, according to a new report that defines this quiet but potentially powerful movement.

Study: Crowding at the ballot box: Germ aversion and voting methods in the 2020 U.S. general election (DOI: 10.1111/pops. Voters opted to pick candidates in 2020 by mail-in ballots, avoiding poll sites due to COVID-19 concerns rather than because of political party efforts to promote specific voting methods, according to a new University of Michigan study.

People who live near a refugee center tend to develop a more positive attitude to asylum seekers compared to people who live further away. They are also less likely to support anti-immigration parties. This is the conclusion of research conducted by economist Sigrid Suetens and her team. The study suggests that this positive attitude is a result of contact between local residents and refugees.

Study: When social media attack: How exposure to political attacks on social media promotes anger and political cynicism Political anger and cynicism are rising in the United States and in many democracies worldwide, and both are associated with exposure to political attacks on social media, a new University of Michigan study shows.

People's feelings about how morally divided a society is in the lead-up to an election can cause them to have extreme reactions if the result doesn't go their way, like the 6 January 2021 attacks on the US Capitol, new research from The Australian National University (ANU) has shown. The researchers argue that voters' sense of division, even if inflated and misguided, can prove crucial.

The public and politicians do not see eye to eye in prioritising plastic pollution, according to new research. As the UK's political parties gear up to do battle for No. 10, a team of researchers from the Birmingham Plastics Network and the Institute for STEMM in Culture and Society (ISTEMMiCS), have published findings of a YouGov survey which show that there is a significant mismatch between the UK public and MPs, when it comes to prioritising the environmental impact of plastics.

What factors determine which countries people migrate to? Tim Müller from the Berlin Institute for Empirical Integration and Migration Research (BIM) has analysed this in a study of 160 countries. According to the study, important pull factors for migration are not so much social benefits, but rather good job opportunities, democratic conditions and the national language.

US researchers launch PEPAdb (Prehistoric Europe's Personal Adornment database), an online and accessible tool with data on personal adornment items in recent prehistory. After decades of data collection, the US Quantitative Archaeology and Archaeological Science research group has carried out the configuration and deployment of a website with data on personal adornment in recent Prehistory on an intercontinental scale: PEPAdb.

There is very little difference between people living in eastern and western Germany or those in rural and urban areas when they assess their quality of life. This surprising result is one of the key findings of the Germany Monitor 2023 , a newly developed annual scientific study that provides a new perspective on the social and political attitudes and assessments of the German population.