Insights into the structural and cognitive dimensions that make metaphors more than rhetorical devices

Professionals working in education, policing and safeguarding are often falling back on narrow, behaviour-focused definitions of “harmful sexual behaviour” that ignore the real-life social pressures young people face, according to new research from the University of Surrey.

Researchers from the University of Southampton have found that people with emotional insecurities are more affected than others when their partners choose their phone over them.

Psychotherapy leads to measurable changes in brain structure. Researchers at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) and the University of Münster have demonstrated this for the first time in a study in “Translational Psychiatry” by using cognitive behavioural therapy. The team analysed the brains of 30 patients suffering from acute depression. After therapy, most of them showed changes in areas responsible for processing emotions. The observed effects are similar to those already known from studies on medication.

University of Texas at Arlington researcher Kathleen Preble is expanding her human trafficking research from Missouri to Texas, aiming to create a blueprint other states can use to address this growing problem.

A Michigan State University-led study published in the journal PNAS analyzed 38 million U.S. obituaries over 30 years to explore what defines a life well-lived. Researchers from MSU, Boston College, and Arizona State University examined which values people are remembered for, how cultural events shape legacies, and how obituaries reflect societal expectations of a meaningful life across demographics.

In 2024, the National Association of Realtors paid $418 million to settle an antitrust lawsuit. Part of the settlement gives homebuyers more leverage over their agents’ compensation, potentially lowering the cost of buying a home. But new research from Texas McCombs shows the settlement may not have gone far enough. John Hatfield, professor of finance, suggests more flexible compensation can benefit sellers as well as buyers. He finds that when properties offer lower commissions to buyer agents, those agents tend to steer their clients away from looking at them.