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Social media networks have proved to be fertile ground for the rise of populism, providing a mostly unfettered space for polarising discourse and spread of misinformation. Around the globe, the rise of populism has made political resilience and stability increasingly challenging. Help may come from an unexpected partner: for the first time, researchers in finance and economics are using a combination of models and theories from finance, robotics, economics and natural sciences to quantitatively study the data linked to the increase and pervasiveness of populism in social media.

" Can a marriage without sex be a happy one? " asked an article in the New York Times Magazine last year. Based on 30 married couples who reported on their relationships in interviews, a journalist put forward the thesis that a sexless married life does not necessarily mean that relationship satisfaction suffers - a surprising finding, as it is generally accepted that a fulfilling sex life is an elementary component of a happy relationship.

There is evidence that media reports of individuals who talk about successfully overcoming a suicidal crisis can have a preventive effect on other people in a similar situation. Researchers at the University of Vienna and the Medical University of Vienna have now been able to show that this effect, also known as "Papageno effect", also applies to posts on Instagram and other social media platforms.

Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) has carried out a study which shows the desire among Spanish society to have mechanisms in place which ensure the veracity of the news they receive through the media on health issues.

A research team from the Medical University of Vienna, the University of Vienna and the Yale School of Public Health has analysed the way breastfeeding and commercial milk formula are presented in more than 2,500 articles in Austrian print and online media over a period of two decades (2002-2022).

Finding hidden biases in Wikipedia's multilingual content New tool analyzes and addresses cultural disparities across language versions, paving the way for more balanced information Cultural and social biases significantly influence Wikipedia's multilingual content, according to a team of researchers that includes a computer scientist from Johns Hopkins University.

Artificial intelligence (AI) may be a weapon of mass disinformation, but a recent report has demonstrated that its impact thus far has been limited Voters in nearly 100 countries - including Taiwan, the US and Senegal - went to the polls this year, and AI was often used during the election campaigns.

When Bloomingdale's opened its first "Bloomie's- store in 2021, it seemed like a natural evolution. After all, loyal customers had affectionately used the nickname for years. But new research suggests this marketing strategy - known as nickname branding - might actually harm brand performance and customer perception.

Librarians are stressed and fear being attacked according to new UCD research examining the impact of protests against inclusive LGBTQ+ library material. In a study funded by the Irish Research Council (now incorporated into Research Ireland), the experiences of Ireland's public library staff forced to deal with reactionary agitation while maintaining their need to serve diverse communities is documented.

Study: negative body image among teens is a global issue. A new study by University of Waterloo researchers found that the majority of young people on social media were dissatisfied with their bodies. Researchers say this is a global issue. Negative body image, or body dissatisfaction, occurs when a person has persistent negative thoughts and feelings about their body and is associated with poor psychological and physical health, especially in young people, according to similar studies.

Attacks against LGBTQI+ communities are increasing in Ireland, according to a new report. When Ireland legalised same-sex marriage in May 2015, it was seen as evidence of a seismic shift in public opinion towards LGBTQIA+ individuals and groups. Nearly a decade on, however, hostilities against these communities has have increased significantly.

Social media is negatively impacting the life satisfaction of Australian high school students, according to the latest findings from Australia's largest survey of young people. The study found non-binary students who regularly use social media reported the lowest levels of life satisfaction. Meantime, TikTok, Reddit and Twitch users who identified as male or female all'had lower life satisfaction than those who did not use these platforms.

Young people exposed to social media posts by celebrities and influencers who endorse nicotine products are more susceptible to smoking or vaping, University of Queensland research has found. Dr Carmen Lim from UQ's National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research led a study which assessed the survey responses of more than 5,600 young people who didn't smoke or vape, and who used social media in the previous month.

An external study of Twitter in 2022 estimated that between a third and two thirds of accounts on the social media site were bots. And many of these automatons flooding social media are dispatched to sow political polarization, hate, misinformation, propaganda and scams. The ability to sift them out of the online crowds is vital for a safer, more humane (or at least more human) internet.

Do you find yourself doom-scrolling, or spending more time than you should consuming negative news on the internet and social media and want to stop? Well, there's now an app for that. Researchers from the University of Waterloo have created Mindful Scroll , a mobile app that helps users transition from doom-scrolling to adding mindfulness into their daily routines.

New research by our Psychology department has found that White Western women are less positive about their bodies and feel greater media pressure to be thin than Black Nigerian and Chinese women. The study looked at how age and culture impacts on women's positivity and pride about their bodies and the sociocultural pressures they experience.

Even though social media is free to use, research found many US university students would pay to quit it - if only they could beat their fear of missing out. Peter Martin Crawford School of Public Policy Social media is a problem for economists. They don't know how to value it. It has long been argued that it ought to be  in the national accounts  as part of gross domestic product.

Job candidates often seek any advantage to secure employment, and a new study investigates a less-than-typical source: retweets from researchers on social media. The University of Michigan study indicates that when prominent economists retweet job market papers-which are doctoral students' main academic work for job applications-with comments, it significantly boosts visibility and recognition for candidates.

Young Australians are being exposed to an alcohol advertisement on social media every 2 minutes and 43 seconds on average, according to University of Queensland research. PhD candidate Brienna Rutherford from UQ's National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research examined the social media accounts of 125 university students aged 17 to 25, and found they had been exposed to almost 800 alcohol advertisements.

According to the United Nations (UN) population projections, the population of Africa will continue to grow strongly in the course of this century, while on other continents population growth will decline in the near future. New research by Jeroen Smits from Radboud University and Lamar Crombach from ETH Zurich suggests that population growth in Africa might slow down faster than predicted by these projections.