Across 27 countries, Većkalov and Geiger et al. find that scientific consensus messaging on climate change is an effective, non-polarizing tool for changing misperceptions, beliefs and worry but not support for public action.

Wu et al. show that involving citizens in local decision-making (participatory budgeting) improves civic engagement in a Chinese context.

Malanchini et al. find that non-cognitive skills increasingly predict academic achievement over development, driven by shared genetic factors whose influence grows over school years. These effects persist across socio-economic contexts and suggest the importance of fostering non-cognitive skills in education.

Analysing 2,605,224 papers spanning five decades from both the social sciences and the physical sciences, the authors examine how scientific knowledge grows. Their findings suggest that while the organization of scientific concepts is important for the growth of knowledge, the mechanisms vary across time.

How do people track information flow through social networks? New research finds that extended periods of rest, such as sleep, help people build abstract cognitive maps that identify efficient routes between remotely connected network members.

Loneliness was found to be linked to increased risk for 30 out of 56 diseases in a UK Biobank study. However, genetic analyses show that loneliness likely causes only six diseases. These findings suggest that loneliness is more a potential surrogate marker than a direct cause for most diseases.

Contier et al. show that dimensions are superior to categories at predicting brain responses to visual objects.

Frömer et al. show using EEG that stimulus-locked activity can mimic an evidence accumulation process when aligned to the response.

Do fact-checker warning labels work for those who distrust fact-checkers? Martel and Rand analyse 21 experiments and find that warning labels reduce belief in, and sharing of, false posts both on average and for those highly distrusting of fact-checkers.

Repetto et al. provide an analysis of the genetic basis of variation of neuro-related protein levels in plasma and link this to human behaviour and disorders.

An analysis in 50 countries shows large gaps between education policy and practice, which contributes to illiteracy among millions of students. Although much attention has been dedicated to policymaking, minimal attention is paid to policy implementation. To improve learning, we should pay as much attention to the latter as the former.

Caroline Solomon is a biological oceanographer and deaf. She discusses how STEM sign lexicon development contributes to inclusive education and which challenges still need to be overcome.

Brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) have the potential to revolutionize treatment for individuals with severe disabilities. As these technologies transition from the laboratory to real-world applications, they pose unique ethical challenges that necessitate careful consideration.

Authors of COVID-19 papers produced during the pandemic were overwhelmingly not subject matter experts. Such a massive inflow of scholars from different expertise areas is both an asset and a potential problem. Domain-informed scientific collaboration is the key to preparing for future crises.

To prevent eating disorders in the LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) community, we must enact safeguards for sexual and gender minority individuals to live in their bodies authentically, address stigma against and within the LGBTQ+ community, and fund research to develop a better understanding of the unique drivers of eating disorder behaviours and to tailor prevention efforts.

Climate-resilient development provides a framework to address the interlinked challenges of climate change, biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. We discuss how these global goals can be translated to the local scale so that local governments, businesses, communities and citizens can help to implement them.