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Social & Behavior

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 20-Jun-2026 16:16 ET (20-Jun-2026 20:16 GMT/UTC)

Friend or foe? The gap between human and ai social intention perception

Tohoku University
Meeting Announcement

Humans have evolved to be able to link intentions to emotions or physical actions. This is why we may approach someone with open arms but flee if someone approaches using threatening body language. While AI can accurately identify emotions, it struggles to derive intention from them. A research group, with the help of performers from Japan and Taiwan, has helped facilitate a means to bridge this gap.

Meeting: 2026 International Conference on Automatic Face and Gesture Recognition (FG)

Scars of life: study shows impact of atopic dermatitis on educational and career choices

Elsevier
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Atopic dermatitis (AD), the most common form of eczema, impacts patients’ life trajectories beyond the physical scars. A novel study shows that adults with AD, particularly those with childhood onset, report significantly greater limitations in their educational and professional choices, with up to 38% of childhood-onset patients reporting career restrictions and more than 36% reporting constrained study choices, compared to individuals whose disease began in adulthood. The findings of the new study in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology (JID), published by Elsevier, provide a scientific basis for more comprehensive, early, and multidimensional care that goes beyond symptom control for patients with AD.

Journal: Journal of Investigative Dermatology
Funder: La Roche-Posay Laboratoire Dermatologique

Tobacco company levy could raise up to £4.9bn and prevent 10,000 hospital admissions, study suggests

University of Bath
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The UK could raise up to £4.9 billion over five years and significantly improve public health by capping tobacco prices and increasing taxes.

Research published by the University of Bath Tobacco Control Research Group and the University of Sheffield’s Addictions Research Group, provides the first real-world modelling of a proposed ‘polluter pays’ tobacco levy scheme.

The study found that the proposed policy, aimed at stopping the tobacco industry from using pricing as a marketing tool, could raise between £1 billion and £4.9 billion over five years, depending on the level of price cap and how quickly it is introduced. It could also prevent up to 10,000 hospital admissions and save almost 44,000 years of life over a 20-year period.

Journal: Social Science & Medicine
Funder: Bloomberg Philanthropies, Action on Smoking and Health UK, UK Prevention Research Partnership

Clear disclosure of social media sponsorships is linked to better advertising awareness among adolescents, but critical thinking is needed to curb purchase intent, per study of over 3,000 Taiwanese students

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Clear disclosure of social media sponsorships is linked to better advertising awareness among adolescents, but critical thinking is needed to curb purchase intent, per study of over 3,000 Taiwanese students

Journal: PLOS One

“Fake news” is more easily identified when discussed in a group, per small study of 100 Italian college students

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

“Fake news” is more easily identified when discussed in a group, per small study of 100 Italian college students

Journal: PLOS One

Researchers link specific microbiomes to archaeological bone degradation

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Well-preserved archaeological bone samples have different microbial communities than heavily degraded bone samples, providing a new understanding of how microbes contribute to bone degradation, according to a study published May 27, 2026 in the open-access journal PLOS One by Damla Kaptan from the University of Stavanger, Norway, and colleagues. This study combines detailed analyses of archaeological bone degradation with analyses of microbiome diversity, providing new insights into how microbes may contribute to long-term bone preservation and decay.

Journal: PLOS One

Greater visibility of women researchers may reduce gender gaps in self-efficacy beliefs, while influencing men graduate students’ perceptions of academic careers, per study of almost 400 participants

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Greater visibility of women researchers may reduce gender gaps in self-efficacy beliefs, while influencing men graduate students’ perceptions of academic careers, per study of almost 400 participants

Journal: PLOS One

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