Social sciences

An EU project will deploy 10 new light electric vehicles in smart city Trikala to show citizens the benefits of driving three- and four-wheel electric vehicles in urban areas.

Researchers have identified genetic variants linked to the search for life’s meaning and happiness.

Scientists have shown that prolonged intake of chemical compounds found in marijuana has a negative impact on brain function and memory.

An EU initiative incorporates climate science, hydrology and economics data to help decision-makers boost resilience and adaptation capacity.

Satellite images of ancient irrigation channels in Spain’s Sierra Nevada National Park could help mitigate the impact of climate change in the region.

Researchers argue that cancer treatment protocols have the potential to benefit from game-theoretic models. Their work could help oncologists improve outcomes in patients with metastatic cancer.

A team of researchers have proposed a new test that rapidly examines dogs for exposure to a parasite transmitted by sand flies. The test could be used in monitoring the effectiveness of sand fly control efforts.

Researchers have found that the visually impaired use temporal information to detect the location of sounds in their environment.

Novel system achieves significant reductions in energy consumed for heating and cooling electric car interiors.

Researchers have shown that city size is a significant factor in determining migration patterns.

A piece of pottery found off the coast of Indonesia finally reveals the origins of a sunken ship transporting ceramics and luxury goods.

A multidisciplinary research team is harnessing modern technology to provide new types of evidence on war crimes and human rights violations.

New guidelines show the way to making Europe’s cities more resilient to natural and man-made disasters.

New research shows that the more Europe’s youth visit other Member States, the more civically engaged they will become at home.

Stephen Hawking, the most famous scientist in the world, had a lot to say during his life about topics other than the Big Bang and black holes. Here’s a roundup of the British physicist’s views on everything from aliens to the greatest mystery of all time.

With their growing use in recent years, genetic tests have received a lot of attention. A new study explored how they are evaluated.

New research shows that analysis of forest semantics and its diversity across languages could have a bearing on forest policies and agendas.

Findings overturn the belief that modern humans were Earth’s first artists. Our extinct, distant cousins the Neanderthals seem to hold that distinction now.

A new mathematical framework taking into account ‘crosstalk’ and incorporating the impact of players’ interactions in simulations of repeated social dilemmas could help better analyse cooperation dynamics within a population.

A new study has shown that if we human beings discovered that we’re not alone in the universe, we would probably take this earth-shattering news actually rather well.

Cooperation is one of the pillar of successful communal living, with the convention that those who break the social norms are punished. Researchers have traced evolutionary evidence for this urge for justice in six-year-old children and chimpanzees, with both showing an interest in being present when justice is meted out.

A prehistoric human upper jawbone fragment, including a row of teeth, has been found in a cave in Israel. Dating from about 180 000 years ago, the fossil is almost twice as old as any previous remains of Homo sapiens discovered outside Africa.

Scientists have been searching for over two decades to explain how the Arctic is contaminated with toxic mercury pollution. A new study sheds light on the likely process, while warning of its hazards to humans and the environment.

800 million tweets seem to point in one clear direction, the time of day and time of year when the people tweeted impacts on how positive the content is.

Apps allowing citizens to report crimes or incidents are now commonplace, but they generally fail to adapt local contexts, cultures and sensibilities. SecureU, a new app that addresses this shortcoming, is currently being tested in five European cities.