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How long does the average person sleep? Here, Kocevska et al. conducted a meta-analysis including over 1.1 million people to produce age- and sex-specific population reference charts for sleep duration and efficiency.
Analysing over 50,000 government interventions in more than 200 countries, Haug et al. find that combinations of softer measures, such as risk communication or those increasing healthcare capacity, can be almost as effective as disruptive lockdowns.
The genetic variance that predicts educational attainment or intelligence test performance predicts individual-level voter turnout in a nationally representative sample and among people with psychiatric conditions, such as depression.
Findling et al. present the Weber-imprecision model of decision-making, which operates on imprecise representations of uncertainty. It produces efficient adaptive behaviour regardless of environmental volatility and fits human behaviour better than optimal adaptive models.
Physical distancing during COVID-19 was more difficult for residents of low-income US neighbourhoods. Using smartphone mobility data, Jay et al. find that days at work, not visits to other locations, explain these disparities and that state policies did not correct them.
Vosberg et al. have developed a continuous measure of biological sex in an adolescent cohort, based on quantitative traits of the brain and body. Within each sex, these ‘sex scores’ are associated with sex hormones and personality traits.
Gollwitzer et al. use smartphone mobility tracking to show that US county support for Trump in 2016 was associated with a lower reduction in mobility in March–May 2020, which in turn was associated with higher COVID-19 infection and fatality growth rates in pro-Trump counties.
An analysis of news shared on Twitter estimates the level of infodemic risk associated with COVID-19 across countries. Epidemic spread and infodemic risk co-evolve, with reliable information becoming more dominant as infection rates rise locally.
Infants listened to lullabies and other songs recorded in cultures and languages that were unfamiliar to them. They relaxed more in response to the lullabies. This suggests that infants may be predisposed to respond to common features of lullabies.
In their study of Chinese consumers, Salvo et al. find that demand for food delivery—and the generation of plastic waste—rises when ambient air quality is poor.
Assaneo et al. show that speech production timing can facilitate perception. Individuals differed in whether they utilized motor timing depending on the auditory–motor cortex connection strength.
People donate billions each year, yet giving is often ineffective. Five experiments tested an explanation for inefficient giving based on evolutionary game theory, ruling out alternative accounts based on cognitive or emotional limitations.
Hebart et al. developed a computational model of similarity judgements for 1,854 natural objects. The model accurately predicted similarity and revealed 49 interpretable dimensions that reflect both perceptual and conceptual object properties.
Using a US state-level Bayesian susceptible, exposed, infectious, removed (SEIR) compartmental model, the authors demonstrate that, in almost all states, doubling rates of contact tracing and testing while also rolling back reopening by 25–50% via social distancing can mitigate the resurgence of COVID-19.
Combining standardized achievement data for 58 countries and 12,000 US school districts with detailed weather and academic calendar information, Park et al. show that the rate of learning decreases as the number of hot school days goes up.
Controlled used of fire is one of the most outstanding achievements attributed to humankind. Artificial intelligence estimates the heating temperatures of flint tools fabricated by hominins over 300,000 years ago at Qesem Cave, providing insightful views into both advanced behaviours and the cognitive evolution of our species.
A genome-wide association study of 1.7 million individuals identified 41 genetic variants associated with left-handedness and 7 associated with ambidexterity. The genetic correlation between the traits was low, thereby implying different aetiologies.
In a study of Google News, Fischer et al. show that, unless users explicitly search for local terms, national outlets dominate, directing attention away from local news. This divide exacerbates existing news inequalities detrimental to civic health.
Using a cultural evolutionary model, this paper proposes that organizations producing goods and services—both ancient craft guilds and modern firms—evolved because they facilitate the accumulation of culture. Ethnographic data support the predictions.
In examining the impacts of the plain packaging tobacco law in Australia, Sun and colleagues uncover unintended negative consequences. In response to the policy, smokers switched from expensive to cheap cigarettes, and as smoking became less costly, they consumed more cigarettes.