Exposure to body-positive imagery and humorous content parodying negative body stereotypes on social media inspires women to take action against unrealistic beauty standards, according to a new study from the University of Surrey.  

Social media use has long been part of the everyday lives of most children and adolescents. Many of them exhibit risky, and in some cases even addictive, behaviour. While social media use can certainly have positive effects for young people, intensive use can negatively impact mental, emotional, and social well-being, leading to symptoms such as depression and anxiety, impaired attention, and sleep problems. In a discussion paper published by the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the researchers involved therefore recommend applying the precautionary principle. In the paper “Social Media and the Mental Health of Children and Adolescents”, they give policy recommendations to protect children and adolescents from the negative effects of social media, for example by setting a minimum age for access or by restricting certain functions. The paper was published on 13 August 2025 and an English translation is now available.

Patients in specialised psychiatric care face a variety of social risks that are intertwined, a new study from the University of Eastern Finland shows. Social risks tend to accumulate among the most vulnerable segments of the population. They include for example financial difficulties, housing challenges and violence.

SUMMARY: ChatGPT appeared to “think” for itself and behave like a student – improvising ideas, making mistakes, and even resisting guidance – in a University of Cambridge study that revived a 2,400-year-old maths puzzle first recorded by Plato. The researchers asked the chatbot to tackle the classic “doubling the square” problem, which lays claim to being the oldest documented maths education challenge in history. Despite knowing about Plato’s work from its training data, ChatGPT improvised its own solution to the problem, sometimes making mistakes along the way. The study suggests that while this highlights that Generative AI has limits as a maths education resource, it may also have something resembling a  “zone of proximal development”: the potential to ‘learn’ and solve new – perhaps even unsolved – problems, with careful prompting and guidance.

A study led by McGill University researchers offers insights into intergenerational memory and the experiences of children born of conflict-related sexual violence and their mothers in post-genocide Rwanda.

“These children are frequently referred to as ‘children of hate,’ and are often seen as living reminders of the brutality of genocide,” said lead researcher Myriam Denov, a professor at McGill’s School of Social Work and the Canada Research Chair in Children, Families and Armed Conflict. “Yet, what we found was a profound story of empathy, love and resilience.” Denov’s study, published in the Journal of Gender Studies, offers insights into the ways in which these Rwandan mothers and children have sought justice and built relationships with one another despite facing stigma, economic and social discrimination, and violence from their families and communities.

The researchers found that many mothers struggled with feelings of guilt and ambivalence toward their child due to the circumstances of their conception. The mothers also described finding it difficult and painful to talk to their offspring about their experiences of sexual violence. Yet, growing up, their children wanted to know the truth about their birth origins and why they didn’t have a father. When mothers managed to disclose their histories of sexual violence, some found that their bond with their child was stronger as a result. Many of the children showed a deep empathy and compassion toward their mothers.

A University of Massachusetts Amherst public health researcher has been awarded a three-year, $1.12 million grant from the National Science Foundation to lead a multinational examination of therelationship between water governance systems and the health of young children, amid a backdrop of global climate change.