Recent Science News

Pointing out who stayed silent made students 17% more willing to voice unpopular views
In an experiment with 383 UC Berkeley students, those holding socially unpopular views self-censored more. Showing students how many peers had stayed silent corrected their beliefs about public opinion and made holders of unpopular views about 17% more likely to speak.

Replying just 5 to 10 minutes later sharply cuts a freelancer’s chance of getting hired
In 11.66 million Fiverr transactions, longer reply delays meant a lower chance of winning the contract, and even 5 to 10 minute delays dramatically reduced hiring; experiments with 3,603 people showed fast replies signal future responsiveness.

Nostalgia boosts connection and meaning across 28 countries, but its triggers differ
A study of 2,606 young adults in 28 countries and Hong Kong found that recalling a nostalgic memory increased social connectedness, self-continuity and meaning in life across cultures, while its triggers varied with national wealth and climate.

Where your eyes wander can identify you, in up to 63% of cases
Gaze patterns across 700 photos identified individuals 52% to 63% of the time, against 1% to 2% by chance, and people whose gaze on social scenes was more distinctive reported fewer autistic traits.

China’s tutoring ban raised parents’ plans for more children by 7 to 8%
Surveys of Chinese parents show the 2021 ban on for-profit private tutoring raised expected total fertility by 7 to 8%, mainly because parents saw less educational competition. Birth rates also fell less in cities hit harder by the ban.

ChatGPT’s jokes beat up to 87% of human writers and matched The Onion in blind ratings
In blind tests, raters found ChatGPT 3.5's jokes funnier than those of 63% to 87% of laypeople, and its satirical headlines scored 2.37 out of 6 against 2.49 for real Onion headlines, a gap too small to be significant.

Repeating a claim makes the person who said it seem more credible too
Across four preregistered experiments with 770 participants, people rated sources as more credible when their statements had been repeated, and that boost carried over to new statements from the same sources.