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The authors used Mendelian randomization to investigate how various dimensions of socio-economic status causally affect longevity. They found a positive independent causal effect of education on longevity but no evidence for independent effects from income or occupation.
The authors show that social hierarchies have a pyramidal structure across species. From infancy, humans use this assumption to infer unobserved dominance relations.
Across 16 countries, this research finds consistent cognitive and social predictors of COVID-19 misinformation susceptibility, and shows how accuracy prompts and literacy tips reduce misinformation sharing and how wisdom of crowds can identify false claims cross-culturally.
A study in 36,516 parents across six international cohorts reveals that parental genetic effects are associated with the investments that parents make in their offspring, from adopting more healthy behaviours during pregnancy to leaving wealth to adult children.
Mignogna et al. analysed item nonresponse behaviour across 109 questionnaire items from 360,628 individuals in the UK Biobank using phenotypic and genetic data. This can inform our understanding of how item nonresponse might lead to bias in genetic studies more generally.
Using data from the UK Biobank, the authors show that large-scale neuroimaging data are required for replicable brain–phenotype associations, that this can be mitigated by preselection of individuals and that small-scale studies may have reported false positive findings.
Hindley et al. used multivariate statistical genetics tools to examine the genetic underpinnings of cognitive and personality traits and find they are shared across higher order domains of mental functioning.
A new estimate of the income distribution in the Aztec Empire on the eve of the Spanish conquest suggests that inequality was high before the arrival of the Europeans: the richest 1% held 41.8% of the total income.
In a systematic review and meta-analysis of 90 prospective cohort studies, Wang et al. find a significant association of both social isolation and loneliness with increased risk of all-cause mortality.
This meta-analysis by Chan and Albarracı́n finds that science-relevant misinformation was, on average, persistent, and corrections fared better when they were detailed, when recipients were likely familiar with both sides of the issue ahead of the study, and when the issue was not politically polarized.
Using concepts mostly familiar to fluid physicists, the authors manage to elegantly tackle the complex problem of describing large-scale brain activity patterns, providing a rich foundation for the future study of their relevance and functional importance.
Antony et al. examine the link between multi-event long-term surprises and memory formation. Combined analysis of basketball fan questionnaires and public NBA data shows that surprising events are associated with better memory across timescales.
Data suggest an inverse relationship exists between where plant diversity occurs in nature and where it is housed. This disparity persists across physical and digital botanical collections despite overt colonialism ending over half a century ago.
Natural disasters affect a region’s human capital as well as its physical capital, reducing both student achievement and educational attainment. These effects are persistent, and when monetized are of a similar magnitude as property damage.
This systematic review examines the evidence on whether and how hormone therapy for transgender people influences psychosocial functioning. Overall, the strongest evidence was found for reductions in depressive symptoms and psychological distress after hormone therapy.
Citizens often vote against the democracies they claim to cherish. Braley et al. find that in the United States, voters’ misperceptions about opposing partisans’ commitment to democracy may unintentionally contribute to this democratic backsliding.