Policy & Ethics
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 30-Oct-2025 12:11 ET (30-Oct-2025 16:11 GMT/UTC)
Dusty air is rewriting your lung microbiome
University of California - RiversidePeer-Reviewed Publication
- Journal
- mSphere
It’s not just diet: where a child lives also raises type 2 diabetes risk
Florida Atlantic UniversityPeer-Reviewed Publication
Type 2 diabetes is surging in children, now making up 24% to 45% of youth diabetes cases – up from just 1% to 2% before the mid-1990s. While obesity remains the top risk factor, new research shows early-life environments also play a powerful role. Analyzing data on more than 174,000 children nationwide, including 50,000 under age 5, the study shows that factors like poor neighborhood walkability, food insecurity, caregiver health, and exposure to processed foods through assistance programs were strongly linked to diabetes risk.
- Journal
- Pediatric Research
New study: AI chatbots systematically violate mental health ethics standards
Brown UniversityReports and Proceedings
Researchers at Brown University found that AI chatbots routinely violate core mental health ethics standards, underscoring the need for legal standards and oversight as use of these tools increases.
- Meeting
- AAAI/ACM Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Ethics and Society.
With commercial wind comes rising community home values, UConn researcher finds
University of ConnecticutPeer-Reviewed Publication
China’s hunger for meat “sustains” the consumption of natural resources in Brazil
Politecnico di MilanoPeer-Reviewed Publication
A study by the Politecnico di Milano published on Nature Food reveals the impact of the Chinese demand for animal proteins on South American water, forests and soil.
- Journal
- Nature Food
This is how happy we need to be to have lower chronic disease mortality risk
FrontiersPeer-Reviewed Publication
Research shows that greater subjective well-being can lead to enhanced immune function and a lower incidence of chronic disease. But when does happiness start to exert its positive influence, and is there a point when this effect caps out? Researchers looked at national level data from 123 countries and found there is: on a scale from zero to 10, people started gaining health benefits once they surpassed a threshold that lies at around 2.7. Once above, each 1% of additional happiness could lead to a small decrease in mortality risk from non-communicable diseases.
- Journal
- Frontiers in Medicine