news

Media - Social Sciences - 03.05.2018

What’s in a name: how language influences our perception of suicide
Communication scientists show that word choice in media reports on suicide has a measurable impact on public opinion. In an empirical study published in Social Science & Medicine , an international team of researchers from the University of Munich, KU Leuven and the Medical University of Vienna show that the specific German word used in media reports of suicides has a measurable impact on how readers perceive and evaluate the act of suicide.

Health - Media - 26.04.2018

Cancer risk in over 60s underrepresented despite high diagnosis rates
Older adults are largely obscured in the media representation of cancer and cancer experience, despite over three quarters of all cancers in the UK diagnosed in those aged over 60. The research, led by the University of Glasgow and funded by Cancer Research UK, found that articles featuring personal cancer stories more frequently focus on younger people.

Politics - Media - 17.04.2018

Study looks at social media humour during US election
New research from The Australian National University (ANU) has looked at the use of humour on Twitter during the 2016 US Presidential election. The study found that 35 per cent of election related posts used humour, and that Hillary Clinton supporters were almost three times more likely to use jokes than Donald Trump supporters.

Media - Economics - 21.03.2018

What this Stanford scholar learned about clickbait will surprise you
With real-time web analytics, journalists and editors now know more about traffic to their stories than ever before. But it doesn't always result in the best stories. Angèle Christin explored the influence of these metrics in an American and a French newsroom. We've all been lured by captivating headlines from online news publications: You'll never believe it.

Social Sciences - Media - 08.03.2018

On Twitter, false news travels faster than true stories
A new study by three MIT scholars has found that false news spreads more rapidly on the social network Twitter than real news does - and by a substantial margin. "We found that falsehood defuses significantly farther, faster, deeper, and more broadly than the truth, in all categories of information, and in many cases by an order of magnitude," says Sinan Aral, a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management and co-author of a new paper detailing the findings.

Astronomy / Space Science - Media - 22.02.2018

What have we learned about TRAPPIST-1 during this last year?
Just a year ago, on the 22 February 2017, at a press conference at NASA headquarters, an international team of researchers revealed the existence of a unique exoplanetary system, made up of seven planets orbiting a small nearby star. Known as TRAPPIST-1, this system created a hug buzz on the Web, in the media, and within the scientific community.

Media - 21.02.2018

Social media and internet not cause of political polarisation
 New Oxford University research suggests that social media and the internet are not the root of today's fragmented society, and echo chambers may not be the threat they are perceived to be. In fact, only a small proportion of the population, at most, is influenced by echo chambers. The argument against echo chambers is well documented: helped by social media algorithms, we are increasingly choosing to interact in safe spaces, with people who think and act like us - effectively preaching our opinions to the converted.

Health - Media - 22.01.2018

Young viewers exposed to 'excessive alcohol content' in Geordie Shore
Nearly 80 per cent of all scenes throughout season 11 of MTV's popular hyper-reality show Geordie Shore contained alcohol content or alcohol use according to the results of a new study published today by researchers at the universities of Bath and Nottingham. The authors behind the paper - published in the journal Alcohol & Alcoholism - suggest that more needs to be done to protect young viewers from alcohol imagery and its harmful effects, including a potential review of age classification policy for the programme.

Media - Health - 11.01.2018

Kids’ sleeping habits disrupted by sneaky media use
ANN ARBOR-Preschoolers who spend more time watching television, playing video games or using computers-especially if they're sneaky at bedtime-get less sleep, say University of Michigan researchers. Increased media use is linked to a shorter night sleep and a longer daytime nap for preschoolers, according to a new study by Jessica Moorman and Kristen Harrison of the U-M Department of Communication Studies.

Media - 29.11.2017

Conspiracy thinking less likely with greater news media literacy, study suggests
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The more you know about the news media and how it works, the less likely you are to believe conspiracy theories - even ones you might find politically tempting. That's the conclusion University of Illinois journalism professor Stephanie Craft and her research colleagues reached in a study being published next month in the journal Communication and the Public.

Health - Media - 15.11.2017

Risk from Antibiotic Resistance Continues to Be High
Worldwide survey of antibiotics researchers indicates uncertainty about number of deaths - New survey tool helps gather global expert opinions on existential issues No 316/2017 from Nov 15, 2017 Researchers say that it is difficult to quantify the true extent of the threat of antibiotic resistance for humanity.

Media - Administration - 08.11.2017

Strong Digital Well-Being in Switzerland
Reading the news, posting holiday pictures, or watching cat videos on YouTube - the internet can be used for many things.

Pedagogy - Media - 29.08.2017

Apps ‘don’t affect children’s language development’ if parents still read stories
Watching television or playing with smart phone apps does not have any effect on children's language development - providing they still spend time reading, researchers have found. A study from the University of Salford and Lancaster University, published in the Journal Of Children And Media , has found that as long as parents or carers spend time reading with young children, and this time is not reduced in place of television or touchscreen devices such as iPads, children's exposure to these media should have no effect on the size of their vocabulary.

Health - Media - 14.08.2017

Binge-watching ‘The Walking Dead’’ You might feel like a zombie yourself
ANN ARBOR-Binge-watching is a great way for young adults to catch up on multiple episodes of their favorite television series like "The Walking Dead" or "Game of Thrones," but it comes at a price. New research by the University of Michigan and the Leuven School for Mass Communication Research in Belgium found that higher binge-viewing frequency leads to poorer sleep quality, more fatigue and increased insomnia, while regular TV viewing does not.

Media - 18.07.2017

One third of fake images go undetected in recent study
A third of manipulated images go undetected in new University of Warwick research Researchers took photos of real world scenes and edited them in different ways - showed a group of participants a variety of original and altered images 58% of the original, unaltered images were identified - and only 65% of the manipulated photos were spotted (just above results participants would get from choosing randomly) Photo manipulation is easier now than e

Media - Life Sciences - 22.05.2017

Sunflower genome reveals symphony of genes involved in oil production and flowering
Less than one year after the decoding of the sunflower genome, in-depth analyses of said genome have revealed the hundreds of genes that work together to regulate flowering, and those that are involved in the production of oil.

Media - 18.05.2017

Washington state house prices up 12.1 percent compared to the first quarter of last year
Washington state's housing market showed the continuing effects of high demand in the first quarter of 2017, according to the Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies at the University of Washington. The statewide median sales price rose to $324,300 in the first quarter, 12.1 percent higher than the same time period last year.

Media - Pedagogy - 25.04.2017

Rated PG: Parental guidance relinquished to kids regarding digital media
ANN ARBOR?Parents can toss out the owner's manual for that new smartphone or tablet'they can get all the digital assistance they need from their teens. According to a new study, more children are guiding their parents on how to use digital media, especially newer media forms such as smartphones, tablets and apps.

Media - 06.04.2017

Wikipedia articles on plane crashes show what we remember
Oxford University researchers have tracked how recent aircraft incidents or accidents trigger past events and the factors making some consistently more memorable than others. Using the English version of Wikipedia, they analysed articles about airline crashes between 2008 and 2016. They then measured how the traffic to articles about airline crashes or incidents before 2008 changed due to more recent events.

Media - Politics - 27.03.2017

Link between watching light entertainment TV and voting for populist politicians
People exposed to light entertainment television like soap operas may be more likely to vote for populist politicians according to a new study co-authored by an economist at Queen Mary University of London. The researchers investigated the political impact of light entertainment television in Italy over the last 30 years during the phased introduction of Silvio Berlusconi's commercial TV network Mediaset.