Recent Science News

A 150-millisecond glance at matching facial emotions tells people if a crowd is a group
In two studies using about 200 Instagram group photos, people judged how unified a group was after just 150 milliseconds, and those snap judgments, driven by how similar faces' emotions were, closely matched judgments made after 3 seconds.

Religion plus social media lets regimes outsource repression to ordinary citizens
A game-theory model argues that framing repression as a sacred duty and giving people online tools to coordinate can make citizens attack even targets they know are harmless, a cheaper route to control than police or the military.

YouTube’s kids privacy settlement cut children’s videos by 18% and views by 20%
After YouTube switched off personalized ads and engagement features for made-for-kids content in January 2020, kids' channels made 18% fewer videos, original content fell 9%, manual captioning dropped 28% and views fell 20%, with small channels hit hardest.

US traffic deaths rise 15% on days blockbuster albums drop
On the release days of the 10 most streamed albums from 2017 to 2022, music streaming jumped 43% and US traffic fatalities rose 15.1%, about 18 extra deaths per release day.

People bend their taste in art toward expert critics
After seeing expert-critic ratings of visual artworks, most participants moved their own ratings closer to the experts. The shift lasted a week or more and compliance tended to rise after the day of exposure, with education, country and need for closure shaping how much people conformed.

Giant wind turbines cut nearby Danish home values by up to 12%, flicker adds 8.1%
Using 2.4 million Danish house sales, economists found modern giant wind turbines lower nearby home prices by up to 12%. Homes hit by shadow flicker from the rotor blades lose a further 8.1%.

Reddit collectors give seven reasons for buying sports cards, from nostalgia to addiction
An analysis of more than 320 Reddit comments found people collect sports cards for seven reasons: learning, identifying with athletes, investment, addiction, social connection, entertainment and escape from stress.