Recent Science News

Anxious words in Yelp reviews rose about 20% from 2006 to 2021
An analysis of nearly 7 million Yelp reviews from 2006 to 2021 found the share of anxiety-related words rose by about 20%, across states and restaurant price levels, and faster than words for anger or sadness.

Couples who both work from home have 0.32 more children per woman, 38-country survey finds
Across 38 countries, lifetime fertility is 0.32 children per woman higher (14%) when both partners work from home at least one day a week than when neither does. In U.S. data the gap is 0.45 children.

Romance matters more to men than to women, a major research review argues
Reviewing decades of studies, psychologists conclude men chase partners harder, gain more health benefits from relationships and suffer more after breakups. In one US study 49% of men named their partner as their main confidant, against 20% of women.

Being born rich or beautiful makes creators seem less authentic, and their work suffers
In five studies, creators born into high wealth or beauty were judged less authentic than those with low or moderate privilege, which lowered ratings of what they made. Acknowledging their privilege did not help; mixed privilege softened the effect.

People who see suffering as universal and enriching cope better, five studies find
Across five studies with over 2,200 participants, seeing suffering as shared and potentially enriching was linked to less distress and better adjustment, and in a 1,151-person experiment, an enriching framing lifted mood while a universal framing raised common humanity.

Shoppers judge shrinking packages as more unfair than an equivalent price rise
Five preregistered experiments show most people accept price increases that follow cost increases as fair, but that judgment weakens or reverses when firms shrink products instead, because downsizing is seen as deceptive.

Calling a break the gap between two tasks cuts rumination and lifts performance afterwards
Framing a break as falling between two tasks, not in the middle of one, halved rumination in one experiment (20 vs 40 on a 100-point scale) and raised post-break output from 2.02 to 2.40 words found per minute.