Community: Science

A COVID-19 booster shot will provide strong and broad antibody protection against the range of omicron sublineage variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in circulation, two new studies using serum from human blood samples suggest.Researchers tested neutralizing antibody levels against the BA.2 and BA.3 omicron variants and deltacron, a recombinant var...

New research has revealed the health of pugs is now different and largely worse than other dogs.

The NBA has undergone formative changes since commissioner David Stern began his tenure. Stern has endeavored to make the NBA a consumer-friendly and marketable league by implementing sanctions on physical violence. This study takes a closer look at Stern’s efforts by examining the interplay between two forms of violence in NBA basketball players on the court: “old fashioned” physical violence (PV) and symbolic violence (SV). ... Of the 117 NBA finals broadcast for twenty years from 1998 to 2018, a stratified random sample (36 games or 30.8%) of the violations and commentators’ comments were coded, providing a wide perspective on forms of violence over time. The findings reveal that although the number of PV incidents decreased, SV increased starting in 2014, to the extent that SV incidents were more frequent than PV. A thematic analysis of the commentators’ remarks associated with these incidents showed that they support and encourage PV, whereas SV tends to be perceived as harmless and therefore permissible to ignore. Unlike PV, SV is not perceived to be as worthy of media coverage. The relative lack of commentator interest is indicative of the lack of “glamour” of SV in the NBA league. It is suggested that since viewers of professional sports often emulate the players, the increase of SV within the NBA is likely to be mirrored in fans in their everyday lives and in amateur basketball players. Although the rise in SV causes fewer physical injuries in professional basketball players, it nevertheless can cause psychological harm.
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Examining the measurement of self-connection.

Molar found in Laos could be the first fossil evidence that the hominin species was far-ranging and able to adapt to different climates.

A recent study explores the psychology behind labeling ideas as conspiracy theories. The findings, published in the British Journal of Psychology, suggest that labeling a statement as a conspiracy theory does not make it less believable. Instead, less believable claims are more likely to get called conspiracy theories. ... ...
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Investigators reported, “Contrary to concerns about spillover effects, implementation of legalized non-medical cannabis coincided with decreases in alcohol and cigarette use and pain reliever misuse.”

Deaths involving alcohol use disorder increased dramatically during the pandemic, according to a new study by Cedars-Sinai investigators. The study also found that young adults 25 to 44 years old experienced the steepest upward trend in alcohol use disorder mortality.In the study, published this month in the peer-reviewed journal JAMA Network Op...

Sightings of an 'ape-man' in Indonesia could be proof the Homo floresiensis species, believed to be long extinct, is still alive today, one anthropologist has argued. But other experts are skeptical.

People struggling with their weight who are unable to do aerobic exercise can hit the gym instead and still see positive results.

Humans communicate with each other through language, which enables us talk about things beyond time and space. Do non-human animals learn to associate human speech with specific objects in everyday life? We examined whether cats matched familiar cats’ names and faces (Exp.1) and human family members’ names and faces (Exp.2). ... Cats were presented with a photo of the familiar cat’s face on a laptop monitor after hearing the same cat’s name or another cat’s name called by the subject cat’s owner (Exp.1) or an experimenter (Exp.2). Half of the trials were in a congruent condition where the name and face matched, and half were in an incongruent (mismatch) condition. Results of Exp.1 showed that household cats paid attention to the monitor for longer in the incongruent condition, suggesting an expectancy violation effect; however, café cats did not. In Exp.2, cats living in larger human families were found to look at the monitor for increasingly longer durations in the incongruent condition. Furthermore, this tendency was stronger among cats that had lived with their human family for a longer time, although we could not rule out an effect of age. This study provides evidence that cats link a companion's name and corresponding face without explicit training.
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People who can frequently recall their dreams tend to be more creative and exhibit increased functional connectivity in a key brain network, according to new research published in the journal Nature and Science of Sleep. The findings provide new insights into the neurophysiological correlates of dreaming. ... ...
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The January event was far bigger than any 20th Century volcanic event, or indeed any atom bomb test.

Studying cryptocurrency through the psychological lens of the dark tetrad offers insight into why people want to buy crypto. We are not suggesting that everyone interested in crypto displays dark tetrad traits. ...

Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A) is an international journal which publishes papers on all aspects of astronomy and astrophysics

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have studied how the screen habits of US children correlate with how their cognitive abilities develop over time. They found that the children who spent an above-average time playing video games increased their intelligence more than the average, while TV watching or social media had neither a positive nor a negative effect. ... The results are published in the journal Scientific Reports.
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FGF signals from young cerebrospinal fluid rejuvenate ageing brains.

Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system, with moons, rings and beautiful clouds.

Scientists discover why antibiotics make life-threatening fungal infections such as invasive candidiasis more probable.