news

Media - 12.05.2023

Hoe vloek jy? How do you swear?
Study to investigate swearing and bilingualism in South Africa A study by the University of Vienna, in collaboration with researchers from South Africa and the United Kingdom, is investigating the different emotional responses bilingual people have towards swear words in their different languages. The study will focus on English-Afrikaans bilingualism, examining the perceptions of swear words and swearing behaviors of English-Afrikaans bilinguals in South Africa.

Health - Media - 12.05.2023

Smoke signals
Smoke signals: Reddit users concerned by health risks of vaping Researchers use artificial intelligence to analyze thousands of posts on the popular online forum, gaining valuable insights into how people think about vaping A new artificial intelligence analysis of thousands of posts from the popular online discussion forum Reddit reveals that vapers are concerned about e-cigarettes' possible impact on everything from their respiratory, gastrointestinal, and cardiovascular systems to their mental and sexual health and sleep patterns.

Media - 21.04.2023

Social media data provides first glimpse at increased popularity of air conditioning worldwide
With temperatures rising worldwide, more and more people globally consider air-conditioning an essential element of living. However, air-conditioning units are also rather power-hungry and are likely to increase energy consumption in areas where they are used often. To limit the impact of air-conditioners on our energy grids and our climate, we need data to better understand where they're sold globally.

Media - 18.04.2023

Using social media activity to monitor and respond to population displacement in Ukraine
A new study by Oxford's Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science estimates that 5.3 million people in Ukraine were internally displaced in less than three weeks following Russia's invasion on 24 February 2022. Whilst data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees showed that 5.8 million people in Ukraine crossed the border to neighbouring countries in early May 2022, little was known about the movements of the 38 million people who remained.

Politics - Media - 06.03.2023

Rewarding accuracy instead of partisan pandering reduces political divisions over the truth
Researchers argue that the findings hold lessons for social media companies and the -perverse incentives- driving political polarisation online. Shifting the motivations to post on social media could help rebuild some of the shared reality lost to political polarisation Sander van der Linden Offering a tiny cash reward for accuracy, or even briefly appealing to personal integrity, can increase people's ability to tell the difference between misinformation and the truth, according to a new study.

Media - 28.02.2023

A study analyses fake interaction services on social media
A study by the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) and IMDEA Networks analyses fake interaction services on social media. In addition to cataloguing the fraudulent ecosystem of "likes", views, followers or online visits, the study points out the economic models that sustain it and the high level of personalisation that these services offer.

Physics - Media - 17.02.2023

This ’Harry Potter’ light sensor achieves magically high efficiency of 200 per cent
Using green light and a double-layered cell, PhD researcher Riccardo Ollearo has come up with a photodiode that has sensitivity that many can only dream of. Solar panels with multiple stacked cells are currently breaking records. Remarkably, a team of researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology and TNO at Holst Centre have now managed to make photodiodes - based on a similar technology - with a photoelectron yield of more than 200 percent.

Politics - Media - 08.02.2023

Free speech vs. harmful misinformation
Study reveals how people resolve dilemmas in online content moderation Online content moderation is a moral minefield, especially when freedom of expression clashes with preventing harm caused by misinformation. A study by a team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, University of Exeter, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and University of Bristol examined how the public would deal with such moral dilemmas.

Media - 01.02.2023

Why reflecting on your values before opening your mouth makes for happier relationships
A new psychology study finds if people are asked to reflect on their life values before engaging in discussions, debates are more convivial and harmonious. Ever found yourself angry at a situation and in desperate need to tell the world about it by ranting to anyone who-ll listen? Maybe it's time to pause; inhale and reflect on what values you hold dear.

Psychology - Media - 23.01.2023

When mental health moves through social media
Can a Tweet or a post on Instagram tell us something about our mental health? How meaningful is the relationship between well-being and the use of these platforms? To answer these questions, Marta Fadda, a researcher in bioethics at Università della Svizzera italiana, Oliver Grübner, a health geographer, and Marcus Wolf, a psychologist, at the University of Zurich conducted a series of studies to demonstrate the usefulness of social platforms for mental health research.

Social Sciences - Media - 20.01.2023

When the screen harms the teen
Adolescents face problems of lowered self-esteem and higher risk of symptoms associated with eating disorders by spending so much time on social media, a new study finds. CONTENU - Patricia Conrod Increased social media use by teenagers is associated with a decrease in their self-esteem and a growth of symptoms associated with eating disorders, according to a new Canadian study.

Politics - Media - 16.01.2023

Russian Twitter campaigns didn’t influence voting behavior
Study on the 2016 US presidential election Russian Twitter campaigns during the 2016 US presidential race primarily reached a small subset of users, most of whom were highly partisan Republicans, shows a new study. In addition, the international research team found that despite Russia's influence operations on the platform, there were no measurable changes in attitudes or voting behavior among those exposed to this foreign influence campaign.

Media - 09.01.2023

Should editors burn their fingers on algorithms?
Do you only see news about Britney Spears popping up on a newspaper's website? Then there's probably an algorithm gone haywire.

Media - Health - 14.12.2022

Majority of Swiss Trust Science, Some Remain Skeptical
Swiss people's interest and confidence in science increased during the pandemic but has now returned to pre-Covid levels, the 2022 edition of the Science Barometer Switzerland has shown.

Health - Media - 30.11.2022

Alternative medicine loses the support of the main Spanish newspapers
Researchers Lorena Cano Orón (University of Valencia) and Emilia H. Lopera Pareja (Energy, Environmental and Technological Research Centre) highlight that the media have changed from a mainly favourable attitude towards alternative medicine, a series of practices deviant from integrated medicine in the western health system, to another more sceptical.

Media - 28.09.2022

’A good death’ in the daily press
Over the last few decades, there has been a change in the way in which we relate to death. Newspaper articles provide an insight into what we consider a 'good' or 'dignified' death. According to research carried out by Radboud university medical center and Radboud University, the articles have revealed that, in the case of the elderly, a good death is primarily associated with having lived a full life and a self-chosen end of life.

Media - 01.09.2022

Spiders caught in a web of Internet lies
It's no secret that the internet and social media fuel rampant spread of misinformation in many areas of life. A collective of researchers, including Catherine Scott , Postdoctoral Fellow in McGill University's Lyman Lab, have explored this phenomenon as it applies to news about spiders. The verdict? Don't blindly trust anything you read online about these eight-legged arthropods-or anything else for that matter-and always consider the source.

Media - Health - 05.08.2022

Media stories inspire young people to help during the pandemic
During the Covid pandemic, media stories have been proven to inspire young people to help others. Helping others also often gave them a feeling of satisfaction. This is the conclusion of researchers from Radboud University and Erasmus University Rotterdam in a newly published article. The research sheds new light on the effects of the pandemic on young people, according to Rebecca de Leeuw, Assistant Professor of Communication Science at Radboud University.

Media - 15.06.2022

Flawed research not retracted fast enough to prevent spread of misinformation
Flawed research not retracted fast enough to prevent spread of misinformation, study finds Could Twitter discourse function as a 'red flag' system for problematic research? Retracting academic papers does not dampen the reach of problematic research in online platforms as intended. Instead, research that is later retracted is often widely circulated online, both by news outlets and social media, and the cycle of attention that it receives typically dies away before the retraction even happens, according to research by the University of Michigan and Northwestern University.

Media - 16.05.2022

Youth and information
Nearly one-third of young people in Switzerland have little to no interest in the news. Various studies show that daily world events are of secondary importance to them. They rarely use information sources and thus develop limited literacy in dealing with and processing news, which makes them more susceptible/vulnerable to misinformation.