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Professor Marc Verboord of the Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication, together with colleagues from the international research project INVENT, shows that there is a positive effect of participation in cultural activities and conversations on how people feel in daily life. What effect cultural participation has on people's emotional well-being is a question that has long preoccupied cultural researchers.

A new study by researchers in the UK and Denmark, published in Digital Health , provides the first publicly accessible analysis of global downloads for menstrual tracking apps. While the market for menstrual tracking apps is rapidly growing, there have been no large-scale analyses about why users download these apps, and particularly few studies on their use in the Global South.

When scientists acknowledge the limits of their knowledge, people trust them more and are more likely to follow scientific recommendations An international team led by the University of Pittsburgh and with the participation of the University of Vienna has investigated mechanisms of trust in science.

The importance of cryptocurrencies has increased significantly in recent years. In Switzerland, 11 percent of the population invest in crypto assets.

In western Germany, approval of xenophobic statements has increased significantly, bringing it closer to attitudes in the east. In the eastern German states, satisfaction with democracy as it is practised in Germany is at its lowest level since 2006. These are the key findings of the Leipzig Authoritarianism Study 2024, which was presented today (13 November) at the Federal Press Conference in Berlin under the title "United in Resentment" by Oliver Decker and Elmar Brähler from the Competence Center for Right-Wing Extremism and Democracy Research at Leipzig University.

Scientists say the findings might shed light on the link between loneliness and mental health conditions such as anxiety disorders, which are on the rise in young people. People in their late teens experience an increased sensitivity to threats after just a few hours left in a room on their own - an effect that endures even if they are interacting online with friends and family.

Friends play an essential role in everyone's life, offering companionship and a safe space to share personal thoughts and feelings. A recent University of Michigan study reveals important information about the patterns and supportive functions of friendships among African Americans. One intriguing aspect is that separated, divorced, widowed and never-married individuals interacted with friends more frequently than married ones.

A study has found that the voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise (VCFSE) sector played a 'crucial' role supporting Greater Manchester communities during the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccine rollout - but that their contribution has been undervalued and under-recognised by the wider health system.

From the moment of arrival in the Netherlands, asylum seekers and status holders face a variety of policies. The report 'With Policy Ahead' examined the effects of reception, distribution and integration policies on the integration of Syrian status holders. Migration scholars from Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) collaborated on this report, which is a partnership between WODC, CBS, RIVM and EUR.

A new study published in the journal Nature Communications examines the use of ochre in southern Africa and shows that the earth mineral has been used there as a dye and for ritual purposes for almost 50,000 years. The researchers analyzed 173 samples from 15 Stone Age sites and reconstructed methods of ochre extraction, the use of ochre, and transportation networks, considering local strategies and long-distance exchange.

A study published in "Scientific Reports", in which the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) participates, shows that our quick impressions based on pictures of faces barely overcome chance when assessing a person's willingness to cooperate. Although intuition seems to play a role in identifying cooperators, the results suggest that the cues visible in static images are not sufficient to accurately predict cooperative behaviors.

Like people, birds have fewer friends as they age, but the reasons why are unclear. New research suggests they may just have no drive to. In humans, it's often been assumed that older people have fewer friends because they're pickier about who they spend their time with. There's also the issue that there are fewer people of their own age around.

Almost nine in 10 young adults in the UK believe that removing a condom during sex without the other person's permission is sexual assault, and around half support prison time as a penalty, finds a new study by UCL researchers. This is the first UK study to cover views on non-consensual condom removal.

Rising numbers of houses and flats listed as short-term lets on Airbnb are associated with higher rates of crimes such as burglaries and street robberies right across London, according to the most detailed study of its kind. There may be social consequences to turning large swathes of city neighbourhoods into hotels with little regulation Charles Lanfear Latest research has revealed a "positive association" between the number of properties listed as Airbnb rentals and police-reported robberies and violent crimes in thousands of London neighbourhoods between 2015 and 2018.

Long-term experiment shows that social narratives have an influence on performance In their new study, psychologist Christina Bauer from the University of Vienna and her international team show the influence societal narratives can have on students' self-image and their performance. The researchers presented reverse narratives to socio-economically disadvantaged students: instead of portraying them as weak, they emphasized their strengths.

Disadvantaged communities are not seeing significant benefit from years of urban regeneration in east London and local residents report feeling more insecure than ever about their livelihoods, finds a new report by UCL researchers. The report, " Prosperity in East London 2021-2031 " looked at living standards across five east London Boroughs where there have been significant physical, economic and social changes in the last few decades.

Coastal, rural and areas in the North of England are less able to withstand and recover from adverse events, according to new research which highlights regional disparities in community resilience. The analysis shows that regionally, Yorkshire and the Humber and the North East had the lowest resilience scores, while London and the South East had the highest.

How does the increasingly heated public discourse on feminist and LGBTIQ+ issues affect individuals and communities in everyday life? What difficulties do they face in Germany and how do they confront them? The Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts investigated these questions as part of the European Horizon project RESIST.

The dental health benefits of adding fluoride to drinking water may be smaller now than before fluoride toothpaste was widely available, an updated Cochrane review has found. The team of researchers from the Universities of Manchester, Dundee and Aberdeen reviewed the evidence from 157 studies which compared communities that had fluoride added to their water supplies with communities that had no additional fluoride in their water.

Faculty of Arts researchers' work finds that girls and non-binary youth who experience teen dating violence are at elevated risk. It's well-known that adults who are victims of intimate-partner violence are also often victims of traumatic brain injury, including concussions. But whether this association exists in younger people who experience teen dating violence (TDV) has not been examined.