Pure Science

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Scrolling through endless feeds of short videos can disrupt a good night of sleep, but poor sleep might also fuel the drive to keep scrolling in a continuous loop. Researchers found that daytime tiredness acts as a gateway symptom, making...

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A recent study published in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion suggests that racial resentment plays a major role in driving conservative political beliefs among White Americans who are not religiously conservative. While...

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Researchers have mapped how the physical structures of individual brains differ from a baseline norm in people who have a history of severe violence and schizophrenia. This analytical approach highlights individual differences rather than...

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A study published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology suggests that different substances have vastly different associations with criminal behavior and police arrests. The research indicates that while some psychedelics like psilocybin...

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When romantic partners feel threatened by a potential rival, they tend to prioritize defending their bond over routinely nurturing it. Over time, this defensive focus can feed a loop of escalating jealousy and declining relationship...

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A new study published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine provides evidence that repeatedly engaging in structured sexual fantasies can improve a person’s sexual well-being and desire. Researchers found that writing about erotic scenarios a...

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An analysis of the Lothian Birth Cohort 1921 data found that older adults who engage in gardening more often tend to experience better psychological well-being, stronger physical function, and a 22% lower risk of death. Longitudinally,...

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A recent study published in Current Psychology has found that many video game players experience a specific sense of emptiness and sadness after finishing highly engaging games. The research introduces a new psychological scale to measure...

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Recent political discussions often focus on working-class voters moving away from the Democratic Party, but a new analysis provides evidence that a different shift is actually driving modern political divides. Over the last four decades,...

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People living with major depressive disorder or bipolar disorder who show heightened brain activity when viewing fearful faces possess an elevated risk of psychiatric hospitalization within a year. A complementary tendency to recognize...

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Women’s reactions to an unfaithful partner may depend on a mixture of personality traits, attachment styles, and past relationship experiences. Research investigating these personal characteristics suggests that specific behavioral...

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A recent study published in the journal Anatomical Sciences Education has found that updating Wikipedia pages for scientific organizations improves public access to accurate information. The research suggests that when experts actively...

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A 7-year longitudinal study found that adolescents who experienced more unpredictable life events tend to show higher levels of activation in the frontoparietal region of the brain during a cognitive control task. Because a maturing brain...

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A recent analysis of long-term health metrics reveals that adults with lower handgrip strength face a moderately higher risk of developing depression later in life. By pooling health information from nearly half a million people, an...

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A recent study published in the journal Dreaming suggests that demonic encounters in nightmares often follow a predictable pattern of escalating threats across multiple nights of dreaming. The research provides evidence that these...

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Growing up in a disadvantaged environment not only hinders cognitive development but also weakens a person’s default willingness to trust others later in life. A recent study published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin reveals...

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When our thoughts drift away from the task at hand, our brains might actually become better at unconsciously picking up hidden patterns in our environment. A new study to be published in the journal Neuroscience of Consciousness provides...

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Artificial intelligence chatbots regularly answer public queries about sensitive health topics such as addiction, providing mostly accurate but highly generalized information. A recent evaluation found that while chatbot responses align...

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Digital advertisements designed to discourage voting were heavily aimed at specific demographic groups during the 2016 United States presidential election. People who saw these undisclosed political advertisements were less likely to cast...

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As global temperatures rise, many people assume that worsening heat will drive residents to abandon warming regions in large numbers. However, new research published in the journal Sustainability reveals that higher temperatures alone are...

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A recent study published in The Journal of Sex Research suggests that adults with autism experience higher rates of certain types of sexual victimization compared to those without the diagnosis. The findings indicate that these...

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A recent study published in the journal Nutritional Psychiatry suggests that consuming higher amounts of specific dietary nutrients, like fiber and folate, is associated with a lower likelihood of experiencing depressive symptoms. The...

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Breathing in common air pollutants over many years may substantially raise a person’s risk of developing certain neurodegenerative diseases, pointing to an environmental driver for cognitive decline. A new study published in JAMA Network...

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A recent study has identified how specific puberty hormones relate to the physical structure and functional wiring of the adolescent female brain. The findings suggest that hormones like estradiol and testosterone are linked to distinct...

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An analysis of data collected by a pedestrian tracking system at the Eindhoven Centraal Railway Station in the Netherlands found that, after exiting a train, individuals tend to follow the same walking path as the person directly in front...

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New research published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology suggests that watching videos of natural environments, such as forests, helps people recover from stress more effectively than watching videos of urban environments. The...

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Psilocybin induces different behavioral responses in rats depending on their age and female reproductive cycles. Treating young rats with the drug, however, does not alter their behavior later in life. These outcomes indicate that...

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Learning a musical instrument may sharpen attention and vigilance from childhood through adulthood, according to new research published in the British Journal of Psychology. Researchers have long debated whether mentally demanding...

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Making snap, gut-level judgments on dating apps might leave users feeling worse about themselves than evaluating profiles methodically based on set criteria. A recent study published in Media Psychology found that while seeing a high...

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Traditional tests of intelligence and literacy may be fundamentally flawed because they force test-takers to choose a single answer rather than allowing them to express their level of confidence in different options. When people are given...

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A new study published in the journal Neuron provides evidence that the brain stores competing memories of alcohol use and the recovery from it within distinct networks of the same type of brain cell. The research suggests that the memory...

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Using artificial intelligence for creative tasks tends to make human output more uniform on a collective level. A recent preprint study provides evidence that while these tools might boost individual performance, they contribute to an...

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A set of three studies in the U.S. revealed that Americans believe that 43% of Reddit users post severely toxic comments, while 47% of Facebook users share false news online. However, in reality, such content is produced by only 3-8.5% of...

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Recent research published in Circulation Research provides evidence that a specific molecule produced by gut bacteria can protect the heart from stiffness and dysfunction by communicating directly with the brain. The study suggests that...

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A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials testing the effects of social-media-based mental health interventions found that they lead to moderate-high reductions in stress symptoms and low-moderate reductions in depression and anxiety...

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A person’s economic political views are shaped by their genetic predisposition for cognitive performance interacting with their childhood social class. People with a higher genetic likelihood for cognitive performance tend to adopt...

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People listen to true crime podcasts to satisfy a variety of psychological needs, with a strong focus on seeking information and learning about human behavior. But a new study published in the journal Psychology of Popular Media suggests...

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Millions of adults in the United States have seriously considered shooting another person at some point in their lives, representing a massive and previously unmeasured group at risk of committing armed violence. By understanding the...

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A recent study published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences provides evidence that different aspects of narcissism correspond to specific, often self-serving, patterns of religious engagement. The findings suggest that...

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A recent study mapping the human brain reveals that our perception of time does not happen all at once, but rather unfolds across a series of distinct physical processing stages. As visual information travels from the back of the brain to...

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A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that our preexisting beliefs deeply influence how we learn new information in our daily lives. By tracking eye movements and decision-making during a...

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New research published in Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry suggests that people with higher levels of everyday anxiety tend to experience more intense self-blaming emotions, along with specific changes in how...

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When couples have their first child, women generally experience a long-term drop in their income compared to their male partners. A new analysis shows that this combined loss of relative earnings is noticeably smaller for women who possess...

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A genetic tendency for a strong grip is linked to better cognitive health in older adults. Researchers recently discovered that individuals born with DNA traits favoring muscle strength also tend to experience slower mental decline as they...

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Recent research suggests that people who naturally possess higher levels of self-control tend to engage in more environmentally friendly habits over time. However, short-term changes in a person’s willpower do not directly lead to greener...

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Most people assume that rejection by a potential romantic partner is far more painful than rejection by a prospective friend. However, new research published in the European Journal of Social Psychology suggests that, when rejection is...

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A study comparing psychedelic enthusiasts and people from the general population (who also had psychedelic experiences) found that the enthusiasts tended to report much greater positive quality-of-life effects. The enthusiasts also showed...

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A recent study published in the Journal of Experimental Political Science suggests that threatening a man’s sense of masculinity might not cause him to adopt more conservative or stereotypically masculine political beliefs. By testing...

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A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that a novel drug developed using artificial intelligence can significantly reduce fentanyl consumption in animal models. The experimental medication...

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A new framework suggests that physical activity acts as an external tool to help the brain harmonize how it processes negative experiences and aversive information. The study outlines how both a single workout and a long-term exercise...