Social sciences

Many EU-funded projects are working towards advancing robotics to assist people with overcoming societal challenges, such as providing care for the elderly or providing disaster relief. An academic who worked on one such project has now argued that author Isaac Asimov’s Laws of Robotics are not the moral guidelines that they appear and should be updated.

Researchers and scientists have provided a clearer picture into the true dangers of progressive brain diseases in repeated head sport injuries that must now be tackled head-on.

Researchers and psychologists have published a new study to identify the killer moves which make women better dancers.

Part-supported through the EU-funded SOMA project, robotics researchers have developed versatile robotic grippers to pick thousands of supermarket items.

An EU-funded researcher has made a major contribution to a landmark report over the English Premier League’s failure to meet the needs of disabled fans.

Increasing political polarisation in western democracies was starkly highlighted in 2016 with the UK’s vote for Brexit and the election of Donald Trump in the United States. Such polarisation will likely continue to be a key societal factor as 2017 unfolds and consequently, more attention is being placed on a need to understand the scientific and psychological reasons that drive humans to identify enemies based on race, political beliefs and other perceived threats.

Various studies have established the link between high body-mass index (BMI) in pregnancy and overweight newborn babies. But does this link apply to children and teenagers? New research funded in part under the OBESITYDEVELOP project has set out to verify this hypothesis.

Part-supported through the EU-funded LUMINOUS project, neuroscientists have developed a revolutionary brain-computer interface with those in complete locked-in state (CLIS).

US-based researchers have identified how the compound lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) attaches to serotonin receptors in the brain and why it is so potent.

A new technology combining photoacoustics with ultrasounds has enabled the University of Twente to differentiate between arthritic and healthy fingers, diagnose liber fibrosis and even measure blood velocity. Soon, this device could also be tested for mapping the likes of skin cancer, burns or hardening of the arteries.

The EU-funded DISEASES project has been exploring how the Victorians diagnosed, understood and dealt with many of the phenomena related to stress and overload that characterise today’s modern globalised society. One intriguing discovery has been on the Victorian emphasis on phobias, particularly ailurophobia – the fear of cats.

Researchers have found that our increasing thirst for digital technology can have negative effects on our mental and physical health, neurological development and personal relationships.

It is a well-known fact that Facebook is more than a social media channel. Each year, the company makes about 4 billion dollars in advertising revenues. What people advertising on Facebook did not know until now, however, is how much profit their own activity actually generates.

Many contemporary artworks are endangered due to their extremely fast degradation processes. NANORESTART – a project developing nanomaterials to protect and restore this cultural heritage – has created a 3D printed artwork with a view to testing restoration methods.

Six months on from the UK’s decision to leave the European Union, researchers are still trying to ascertain how and why the Leave campaign was ultimately victorious. In new research partly supported by the EU-funded PHEME and SOBIGDATA projects, 3 million tweets were analysed over a 6-month period that showed immigration was by far the most important issue driving Leave voters.

EU-funded researchers have created a database of previously unavailable Arabic, Persian and Turkish texts dating from the 13th to 16th centuries.

A new study released by the EU-funded FUTURE SKY SAFETY project has reported that half of airline pilots believe that fatigue is not taken seriously by airlines, raising questions about safety within the European aviation industry.

Following the granting of a young British girl’s instructions to be cryogenically preserved so she can be revived in the future when a cure for cancer exists, there has been intense debate inside and outside the scientific community on both the viability of cryogenic freezing but also on the ethical issues thrown up by the procedure. Once again, it raises the centuries-old question that defines the conflict between modern science and ethics: Even if we could do something, should we?

EU-funded researchers have found that the body clock breaks down when light and temperature are out of sync, affecting activity levels.

In a newly published report that was supported by the EU-funded ANTICORRP project, Transparency International has highlighted how citizens in Europe and Central Asia view corruption as one of the biggest problems facing their country.

A recently published study part supported by the EU-funded NEOMILK project has outlined widespread evidence of prehistoric milk production in southern Europe.

EU-funded mathematicians under the HDSPCONTR project have developed a series of algorithms and mathematical models that can predict and influence the behaviour of social groups.

EU-funded research into rare Medieval documents has shed light on how language was used to assert imperial power over a diverse population under the Mediterranean Almohad Empire.

With less than a week to go before American voters are asked to choose between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in arguably the most important US presidential election in a generation, scientists and psychologists are shedding light on the underlying factors of what drives an individual’s decision to vote for one candidate or party over another.

EU-funded researchers have been investigating the lives of migrants and migrant families both in Europe and in their country of origin to better understand the impact migration has on their life course.