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Policy proposals with the most votes may not always be the most informative. A research paper now makes the case that divisive issues — those that receive much support but also much opposition — provide valuable information in democratic deliberative processes, as they help to detect relevant demands that would not emerge via agreement rankings.
Using a large dataset of individuals from Early Neolithic Europe, we analysed DNA, diet and pathology to determine which factors most affected skeletal height. We found that the male–female height differences in north-central Europe were exceptionally large, and that the short stature of female individuals in this region possibly reflects a cultural preference to support male individuals. By contrast, in the Mediterranean, it is male individuals who were short, probably as a consequence of environmental stress.
Air pollution is a leading cause of death in the USA, with substantial disparities in its effect on different racial and ethnic groups. Ma et al. used nationwide data on air pollution and cardiovascular-disease mortality rates, and find that air pollution disproportionately effects non-Hispanic Black people compared to non-Hispanic white people.
In this Perspective, the authors examine the psychological factors that shape attitudes towards AI tools, while also investigating strategies to overcome resistance when AI systems offer clear benefits.
Artificial intelligence tools and systems are increasingly influencing human culture. Brinkmann et al. argue that these ‘intelligent machines’ are transforming the fundamental processes of cultural evolution: variation, transmission and selection.
As screen time becomes more and more present in the lives of children, parents need the best information to help to guide their decisions. By collating all of the meta-analytic evidence from across the field, we hope to provide that evidence.
Meng-Chuan Lai reviews the literature on mental health challenges faced by autistic individuals. The author proposes a framework of four contributing themes to aid personalized formulation: social–contextual determinants, adverse life experiences, autistic cognitive features and shared genetic and early environmental predispositions.
Trends in interpersonal violence have been reconstructed using data on violence-related injuries from more than 3,500 excavated skeletons from the ancient Middle East. Documenting variations in the patterns of violence in this key historical setting broadens perspectives on the long history of conflict.
We identified two components of honesty — ‘belief speaking’ and ‘fact speaking’ — in public-facing communication by US politicians. For Republicans, belief speaking is strongly associated with the sharing of untrustworthy information. Fact speaking is associated with the sharing of more reliable information, irrespective of party affiliation.
We proposed a confidence metric and analysed data from five large surveys that spanned 30 years in Europe and the USA. We found that both overconfidence and negative attitudes towards science peak at intermediate knowledge levels.
We trained an artificial intelligence (AI) system to recommend different interactions and connections between humans playing a group game together. Through trial and error, the AI system learned to take an encouraging approach to uncooperative individuals, keeping them engaged with the group and boosting cooperation levels for everyone.
Zero-COVID-19 strategies used hard lockdown to save human lives. Our study used modern policy evaluation tools and high-quality longitudinal, nationally representative data and found that the lives saved during Melbourne’s hard 111-day lockdown came at a high cost to parents of young dependent children, and in particular mothers, as the lockdown continued.
People tend to form partnerships with others who are similar to themselves. A new meta-analysis examines correlations between human mating partners, and finds correlations across nearly every trait studied. Education, social attitudes and substance use showed the highest correlations. Effect sizes differed between studies, suggesting potential cultural contingency.
Climate change and rising temperatures are expected to increase food insecurity globally. An analysis of 150 countries shows that heat increases food insecurity within days of exposure. Mediation analyses indicate this may be linked to heat-related effects on the capability to earn income and afford food. Low-income areas and areas with prevalent agricultural or vulnerable employment are most affected.
Despite widespread concerns that social media exacerbate incivility and partisan polarization, few solutions to address this issue have been identified. We developed a mobile chat platform to study how varying levels of anonymity shape conversations about politics. In contrast to the popular wisdom, we find that carefully structured anonymous online conversations can reduce polarization.
‘Metacognition’ refers to thinking about thinking, and its function in collective human behaviour remains largely unknown. Using a multiplayer online game and agent-based modelling, Hawkins et al. found distinctive patterns of collective intelligence that only emerge when using metacognitive social inference skills.
Analogical reasoning is a hallmark of human intelligence, as it enables us to flexibly solve new problems without extensive practice. By using a wide range of tests, we demonstrate that GPT-3, a large-scale artificial intelligence language model, is capable of solving difficult analogy problems at a level comparable to human performance.
Ancient DNA can inform reconstructions of prehistoric social organization, but most evidence comes from elite burial grounds. Rivollat et al. analyse ancient DNA and archaeological evidence from 94 individuals at a non-monumental graveyard in France: Gurgy ‘les Noisats’. Their results reveal a patrilocal community who buried relatives close to one another.
