From Social Psychology Network
Source: Science In 1953, civil rights activist James Baldwin wrote that "people are trapped in history and history is trapped in them"—an observation that would ring all too familiar to researchers studying racial health disparities in the U.S. today. A study published by the National Academies of Science, suggests that slavery may still cast a long shadow on the country's well-being,…
Source: United Press International - Health News On Tuesday, the Trump administration finalized rule changes that ban the use of Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program funds for gender identity healthcare for children. The new rule—the administration's latest move to bar access to such healthcare—will go into effect on October 13. President Trump lauded the changes in a post…
Source: Science A wave of wildfires across Southern Europe has so far this year burned more than half a million hectares—an area equivalent to Grand Canyon National Park—far exceeding the area burned by August 2025, the worst year on record. Indeed, since the 1980s, the number of "fire weather" days—scorching, dry, breezy days—has more than doubled across much of the…
Source: PBS News Hour A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a Trump administration lawsuit that accused Harvard University of turning a blind eye to harassment of Jewish students. The decision said that the administration failed to prove an ongoing violation of federal civil rights laws. Harvard wrote in a statement that it "cares deeply about members of our Jewish and Israeli community and…
Source: PBS News Hour A New Mexico court has ordered Instagram and Facebook parent company Meta to pay $567 million to address harms to young people from its platforms. Most of the money will be used to treat young people and increase awareness and prevention. The penalty is in addition to $375 million ordered against Meta in March after determining the company knowingly harmed children's mental…
Source: PsyPost A new study has found that feeling grateful increases a person's willingness to help others. However, experiencing gratitude does not make individuals immune to the bystander effect—a psychological phenomenon in which people are less likely to intervene when other bystanders are present. The findings suggest that gratitude boosts overall helpfulness but does not change our…
Source: CBS News - U.S. News Technology giant Meta revealed Wednesday that one of its artificial intelligence models hacked another organization during testing—the third time in recent weeks that an AI model has improperly accessed a third-party company. In a statement provided to CBS News, Meta said that "a misconfiguration by Irregular, an independent testing company Meta uses,…
Source: Al Jazeera A new poll of U.S. adults finds that more are feeling a personal impact from extreme heat, yet a smaller number believe in climate change. The poll, released Thursday by The Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, surveyed 1,165 Americans in late July. According to the survey, 66% of Americans believe climate change is happening, down from 73% last year,…
Source: Google News - Health Artificial Intelligence has been used to design new viruses that are fully functional and can replicate in the laboratory, say U.S. researchers. It is the first time AI has designed whole genomes. The resulting 16 novel viruses were created to infect bacteria and pose no threat to people, and the breakthrough has been labelled a "very significant turning point" in…
Source: Al Jazeera What was once considered exceptionally hot European weather, such as temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit in Prague, are becoming the norm. According to Europe's Copernicus Climate Change Service, late May and June heatwaves brought average daily temperatures more than 10C (18F) above the norm in parts of France, the U.K., and Spain—a rise in temperature so large that…
Source: United Press International - Health News Minnesota in May became the first state in the nation to pass legislation banning the practice of using AI to digitally remove clothing from a pictured individual. Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company, xAI—which develops the chatbot and image generator Grok—then filed the suit over the ban Tuesday, but a federal judge turned down…
Source: PsyPost You are sniffing right now. On top of each ordinary breath, you take roughly 240 extra small inhalations an hour, sampling the air without any idea you're doing it. We know because people born without a sense of smell don't—and put a normal smeller in an odorless room, and the habit fades within the hour. That's one of 101 findings below, all from peer-reviewed research. And…
Source: Google News - Health A GLP-1 pill a day may help keep problem drinking at bay. Researchers have conducted a small randomized trial of oral semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy, for people with alcohol use disorder. Compared to those taking a placebo, people on semaglutide reported fewer days of heavy drinking, among other benefits. The findings, published in the…
Source: DW- top stories By May, a record-breaking 20 million tourists had visited Mexico so far in 2026. But with increased tourism comes a heightened risk of human trafficking and sexual exploitation—especially of women and children. Said one woman who suffered this fate, these crimes happen "because there are bad people who sell other people. And there are bad people who buy other people."…
Source: CBS News - U.S. News Three different versions of Anthropic's artificial intelligence model Claude "gained unauthorized access" to outside organizations on three separate occasions during testing that was supposed to keep them away from "real-world" systems, the company reported on Thursday. The announcement comes just days after rival company OpenAI first revealed that its models…
Source: CarbonBrief Rising temperatures are redistributing the risk of childhood malaria in Africa, resulting in areas of "new risk" in the east and south of the continent but also "relief hotspots" in western Africa. This is according to a new study, published in Nature, which provides the "most comprehensive look to date at the impact of climate change on any infectious disease." The World…
Source: DW- top stories Poland's highest court on Tuesday overturned a law that would have led to the legal recognition of same-sex spouses who married in other EU member states and subsequently moved to Poland. The government in Warsaw had been moving to accommodate a ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union saying that majority-Catholic Poland, which does not permit same-sex…
Source: United Press International - Health News Americans' approval of the job performance of the U.S. Supreme Court has dropped to a record low of 33%, a Gallup poll released Tuesday shows. The dip in approval in this year's poll was largely driven by Republicans, who approved of the court by a near-record high of 79% last year; that percentage has fallen to 58%—the lowest by Republicans…
Source: Science Daily - Top Health Dreams are not random mental noise. A large study of more than 3,700 dream and waking reports found that what we experience during sleep is shaped by both our personalities and the world around us. Rather than simply replaying daily events, the dreaming brain mixes memories, emotions, imagined possibilities, and familiar settings into vivid new scenarios. The…
Source: Al Jazeera Cuba's president has accused the United States of carrying out "cold-bloodedly calculated genocide" against his people and seeking to seize the Caribbean island nation. President Miguel Diaz-Canel lashed out during a rally on Sunday commemorating the start of the Cuban Revolution in 1953. His anger was a reaction to Washington's continued pressure, including a crippling oil…