research

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19, HEALTH & WELLNESS, VIDEO REELS

Twitter Lifted Its Ban On COVID Misinformation – Research Shows This Is A Grave Risk To Public Health

Twitter’s decision to no longer enforce its COVID-19 misinformation policy, quietly posted on the site’s rules page and listed as effective Nov. 23, 2022, has researchers and experts in public health seriously concerned about the possible repercussions. Health misinformation is not new. A classic case is the misinformation about a purported but now disproven link between autism and the MMR vaccine based on a discredited study published in 1998. Such misinformation has severe consequences for public health. Countries that had stronger anti-vaccine movements against diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) vaccines faced a higher incidence of pertussis in the late-20th century, for example. As a researcher who studies social media, I believe that reducing content moderation is a significant step...

Research Links Microaggressions With Racial Bias – They Aren’t Just Innocent Blunders

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS

Research Links Microaggressions With Racial Bias – They Aren’t Just Innocent Blunders

A white man shares publicly that a group of Black Harvard graduates “look like gang members to me” and claims he would have said the same of white people dressed similarly. A white physician mistakes a Black physician for a janitor and says it was an honest mistake. A white woman asks to touch a Black classmate’s hair, is scolded for doing so and sulks, “I was just curious.” It’s a pattern that recurs countless times, in myriad interactions and contexts, across American society. A white person says something that is experienced as racially biased, is called on it and reacts defensively. These comments and other such subtle snubs, insults and offenses are known as microaggressions. The concept, introduced in the 1970s by Black psychiatrist Chester Pierce, is now the focus of a fierce deba...

Research Shows Content Rules On Twitter Help Preserve Free Speech From Bots And Other Manipulation – Elon Musk Is Wrong

11May

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIAL MEDIA

Research Shows Content Rules On Twitter Help Preserve Free Speech From Bots And Other Manipulation – Elon Musk Is Wrong

Elon Musk’s accepted bid to purchase Twitter has triggered a lot of debate about what it means for the future of the social media platform, which plays an important role in determining the news and information many people – especially Americans – are exposed to. Musk has said he wants to make Twitter an arena for free speech. It’s not clear what that will mean, and his statements have fueled speculation among both supporters and detractors. As a corporation, Twitter can regulate speech on its platform as it chooses. There are bills being considered in the U.S. Congress and by the European Union that address social media regulation, but these are about transparency, accountability, illegal harmful content and protecting users’ rights, rather than regulating speech. Musk’s calls for free s...

An Epidemiologist Scoured The Latest Research And Has Some Answers To The Question – Do You Need A Second Booster Shot?

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19, HEALTH & WELLNESS, IN OTHER NEWS

An Epidemiologist Scoured The Latest Research And Has Some Answers To The Question – Do You Need A Second Booster Shot?

In late March 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized a second booster shot of COVID-19 vaccines for vulnerable populations in the U.S., a move that was soon after endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. People ages 50 years and older and certain immunocompromised individuals who are at higher risk for severe disease, hospitalization and death are eligible four months after receiving the initial booster shot. A second booster shot is equivalent to a fourth dose for people who received a Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna mRNA series or a third dose for those who received the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine. In Israel, people in these same vulnerable categories began receiving fourth doses in January 2022. The U.K. recently started administering a four...

Research Shows Cyberbullying Among Teens And School Bullying Are Often Linked

12Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS

Research Shows Cyberbullying Among Teens And School Bullying Are Often Linked

Over recent years, England has faced a concerning rise in cyberbullying compared to other countries. This issue has been compounded by an increase in digital activity among teenagers during COVID-19 lockdowns. Cyberbullying, sometimes called online harassment or abuse, refers to behaviours where a person repeatedly causes harm to others using electronic devices and technologies. The modern abundance of devices with internet access makes it easier for cyberbullies to remain anonymous and create multiple accounts with different identities, giving them the freedom to attack multiple social media users simultaneously, often without obstruction. There are numerous means of victimisation. These include making posts on social media intended to threaten or humiliate someone, publishing videos or...

As Nations Pour Billions Into Autonomous Weapons Research – UN Fails To Agree On ‘Killer Robot’ Ban

20Dec

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

POLITICS

As Nations Pour Billions Into Autonomous Weapons Research – UN Fails To Agree On ‘Killer Robot’ Ban

UN fails to agree on ‘killer robot’ ban as nations pour billions into autonomous weapons research. Autonomous weapon systems – commonly known as killer robots – may have killed human beings for the first time ever last year, according to a recent United Nations Security Council report on the Libyan civil war. History could well identify this as the starting point of the next major arms race, one that has the potential to be humanity’s final one. The United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons debated the question of banning autonomous weapons at its once-every-five-years review meeting in Geneva Dec. 13-17, 2021, but didn’t reach consensus on a ban. Established in 1983, the convention has been updated regularly to restrict some of the world’s cruelest conventional weapons, i...

Research Shows Family Rifts Affect Millions Of Americans – Here Are Possible Paths From Estrangement Toward Reconciliation

20Dec

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIETY

Research Shows Family Rifts Affect Millions Of Americans – Here Are Possible Paths From Estrangement Toward Reconciliation

Family relationships are on many people’s minds during the holiday season as sounds and images of happy family celebrations dominate the media. Anyone whose experiences don’t live up to the holiday hype may find this difficult or disappointing, but those feelings may be felt even more acutely among those involved in family rifts. I have done a significant amount of research on ambivalence and conflict in families, which led to a five-year study of family estrangements. At the outset, I was surprised at how little evidence-based guidance exists on the frequency, causes and consequences of family estrangement, or how those involved cope with the stress of family rifts. There are few studies published in academic journals on the topic, as well as limited clinical literature. I sought to fil...

A Research Finding That Women Are More Competitive When They’re Given An Option To Share Winnings May Help Close The Gender Pay Gap

5Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

A Research Finding That Women Are More Competitive When They’re Given An Option To Share Winnings May Help Close The Gender Pay Gap

Mary L. Rigdon, University of Arizona The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. The big idea Women are more likely to take risks and engage in competitive activities if they’re allowed to share their potential winnings with peers, according to new research I co-authored. Since one explanation of the gender pay gap is that women tend to be less competitive than men in workplace settings, this finding could lead to ways to narrow it. In a study published on Nov. 1, 2021, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Alessandra Cassar and I report an experiment in which we invited 238 undergraduate students – split almost evenly between men and women – into our labs to solve a simple numbers puzzle. We wanted to see how different types of financial incent...

New Research Shows Apple’s Child Safety Feature Warnings Can Increase Risky Sharing

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

TECHNOLOGY, VIDEO REELS

New Research Shows Apple’s Child Safety Feature Warnings Can Increase Risky Sharing

Bennett Bertenthal, Indiana University; Apu Kapadia, Indiana University, and Kurt Hugenberg, Indiana University Apple’s plan to roll out tools to limit the spread of child sexual abuse material has drawn praise from some privacy and security experts as well as by child protection advocacy groups. There has also been an outcry about invasions of privacy. These concerns have obscured another even more troublesome problem that has received very little attention: Apple’s new feature uses design elements shown by research to backfire. One of these new features adds a parental control option to Messages that blocks the viewing of sexually explicit pictures. The expectation is that parental surveillance of the child’s behavior will decrease the viewing or sending of sexually explicit photos, b...

How To Improve The Juvenile Justice System – Research And Ideas Shared By Formerly Incarcerated Teens

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

How To Improve The Juvenile Justice System – Research And Ideas Shared By Formerly Incarcerated Teens

Shiv R. Desai, University of New Mexico “They treat us like animals.” “I was called a menace to society by two judges.” These are just two of the comments made by incarcerated teens during focus group interviews inside a juvenile detention center in New Mexico. Over the course of two hourlong sessions, detained youths shared their stories of how they ran afoul of the law and discussed key strategies for how they would improve the juvenile justice system. These sessions were conducted by members of Leaders Organizing 2 Unite and Decriminalize, a youth group comprising young people ages 15 to 19. While some members are formerly incarcerated, others are allies. I was a co-facilitator of LOUD and guided the group in its research. Our main focus was to conduct what’s called a Youth Partici...