Volume 5 Issue 11, November 2021

Scientific fieldwork can involve travel to countries where disclosing LGBTQ+ identity is unsafe. This is a significant challenge faced by LGBTQ+ scientists, writes Christina Atchison, and should be part of risk assessments and fieldwork support.

In fast-paced crises like COVID-19, making use of scientific discovery in policymaking is challenging. We should learn the lessons of the current pandemic to make science a better partner to decision-makers in future crises, Sandro Galea writes.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, conspiracy theorists have exploited the provisional nature of scientific consensus and the realities of how science is conducted to paint scientists and public health leaders as malign actors.

Reading scientific papers is a necessary part of the research enterprise, but poor writing impedes the flow of information from authors to their audiences. We argue that a return to narrative in scientific writing is not incompatible with rigour and objectivity; it can mitigate information overload and achieve the core purpose of publication: to communicate.

Monumental architecture is fundamental for understanding ancient complex societies as it is the result of coordinated projects that frame political and ceremonial activity¹. A new study documents hundreds of architectural centres in Mexico, revealing monumental architecture at a scale unimaginable even a decade ago².

Greater exposure to media coverage of traumatic events is associated with greater symptoms of post-traumatic stress. A new study by Dick et al. indicates that this relationship is stronger in youth with a specific pattern of brain activation that may make them more vulnerable to the effects of trauma.

Wagenmakers and colleagues describe seven statistical procedures that increase transparency in data analysis. These procedures highlight common ground among data analysts from different schools and find inspiration in Merton’s ethos of science.

Using lidar over an area of 85,000 km², Inomata et al. identified 478 early ceremonial complexes in southern Mexico. These discoveries offer new information for understanding the origins of Mayan civilization and its relation with the Olmecs.

Sandeford challenges the standard model of intensification using an ethnographic dataset that describes food production in 40 human societies ranging in complexity from small-scale foraging bands to large-scale agricultural states.

Scientists fear that systemic incentives lead to poor science. Stewart and Plotkin use modelling to show how a scientific process emphasizing the use of theory to select hypotheses can allow good science to thrive in the face of pressure to publish.

Brzezinski et al. establish a link between science skepticism and compliance with COVID-19 shelter-in-place policies in the United States during March and April 2020. This relationship persists after controlling for political partisanship, socio-economic factors, income, education and COVID-19 prevalence.

Trust in science is important for vaccine confidence, and this is true for countries as well as individuals. Sturgis et al. find that confidence in vaccination is higher in countries where people agree that scientists are trustworthy.

In a pre-registered meta-analysis, Parry et al. find that, when self-reported media use is compared with digital logs of media use, subjective judgements are often inaccurate. This suggests caution when self-reports are used to test associations between media use and other outcomes.

Judd and Klingberg analysed data from more than 17,000 children who performed mathematical training together with randomly assigned training on spatial tasks. The type of cognitive training had a significant impact on mathematical learning.

Using administrative data from Denmark, Sønderskov et al. find that terrorism in the country of origin is associated with poorer mental health among refugees, as indicated by an increased use of psychotropic drugs.

Existing measures of cognitive impulsivity have suboptimal reliability and validity. Here, the authors introduce a new online test battery featuring a gamified interface and show that it aids in the prediction of real-world, addiction-related problems.

Dick et al. show that in youth, post-traumatic stress related to Hurricane Irma was predicted by self-reported direct and media exposure. Furthermore, neural responses in brain regions associated with anxiety conferred particular vulnerability to media exposure.