Fluency in a foreign language is often thought to be about speaking quickly and using advanced vocabulary. However, researchers reveal that speakers who use common, everyday expressions sound more fluent than those who rely on rare, complex words. The study highlights the importance of mastering familiar phrases to improve fluency perception, suggesting that learners should naturally incorporate common formulaic expressions in spontaneous speech.

Obesity is at epidemic proportions in the United States where more than 40% of adults are obese and more than 70% are overweight. One common policy intervention to tackle this urgent issue is to try to improve diet quality by increasing local grocery stores that offer healthy options. However, this is not a silver bullet, but researchers are not sure why. A team of researchers developed a novel tool to help understand consumer behavior at the county level, and to study the relationship between where people shop for their food and the risk of obesity-related cancers.

New projections reveal a 4 degree Celsius rise in global temperatures would cut world GDP by around 40% by 2100 -- a stark increase from previous estimates of around 11%.

Human thermoregulation limits are lower than previously thought, indicating that some regions may soon experience heat and humidity levels exceeding safe limits for survival. The study underscores the urgent need to address climate change impacts on human health, providing vital data to inform public health strategies and climate models.

AI mental health apps may offer a cheap and accessible way to fill the gaps in the overstretched U.S. mental health care system, but ethics experts warn that we need to be thoughtful about how we use them, especially with children.

A new study found that over half of US adults experienced some form of discrimination, and individuals with high exposure to discrimination have more than five times the chances of screening positive for depression, and five times the chances of screening positive for anxiety. Compared to adults who do not experience discrimination, adults who do experience this mistreatment have nearly nine times the odds of screening positive for both depression and anxiety.

Does our ability to enjoy music have a biological basis? A genetic twin study shows that music enjoyment is partly heritable. Scientists uncovered genetic factors that influence the degree of music enjoyment, which were partly distinct from genes influencing general enjoyment of rewarding experiences or musical ability.

The way teachers manage classroom discussion with pupils plays a key role in the teaching of writing, a new study shows.

People living with Long COVID often feel dismissed, disbelieved and unsupported by their healthcare providers, according to a new study.

People with dementia can enjoy productive and rewarding working lives in the digital era, contrary to the widespread stereotype that dementia is incompatible with the use of modern technology, according to new research.

In the past, intact forests absorbed 7.8 billion tons of CO2 annually -- about a fifth of all human emissions -- but their carbon storage is increasingly at risk from climate change and human activities such as deforestation. A new study shows that failing to account for the potentially decreasing ability of forests to absorb CO2 could make reaching the Paris agreement targets significantly harder, if not impossible, and much more costly.

Renting clothes can reduce the fashion industry's enormous environmental impact, but so far, the business models have not worked very well. The best chance of success is for a rental company to provide clothing within a niche market, such as specific sportswear, and to work closely with the suppliers and clothing manufacturers.

The increasing number of people with eating disorders and a lack of national guidance for support teams has led to researchers calling for a new national strategy that includes specific guidance to support the remote delivery of eating disorder services.

To encourage scientists to speak up when people misuse science to serve political agendas, biology professor Mark Peifer of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill argues that eugenics should be included in college genetics curriculums.

People living in more disadvantaged neighborhoods may be more likely to develop dementia than people living in neighborhoods with fewer disadvantages, according to a new study. The study does not prove that neighborhood factors cause dementia; it only shows an association.

A study finds that factors beyond a person's control, like socioeconomic status and whether their mom smoked or was obese, can influence whether they are overweight or obese as teenagers or adults.

Electrical and computer engineers have developed a 'Super-Turing AI,' which operates more like the human brain. This new AI integrates certain processes instead of separating them and then migrating huge amounts of data like current systems do.

A new study shows that people in Japan treat robots and AI agents more respectfully than people in Western societies.

Many native plants in the U.S. cannot possibly move themselves fast enough to avoid climate-change driven extinction. If these native plants are going to have any chance of surviving into the future, they'll need human help to move into adjacent areas, a process known as 'managed relocation.' And yet, there's no guarantee that a plant will thrive in a new area. Furthermore, movement of introduced plants, albeit over much larger distances, is exactly how the problem of invasive species began -- think of kudzu-choked forests, wetlands taken over by purple loosestrife or fields ringed by Japanese honeysuckle. Thanks to new research from a pair of ecologists, we now have a detailed sense of which plant characteristics will help ensure successful relocation while minimizing the risk that the plant causes unwanted ecological harm.

New research has found that employers and policymakers might want to start paying attention to how workers are feeling, because employee happiness contains critical economic information.

Los Angeles has some of the strictest tree planting rules in the nation. These policies limit tree growth, worsen shade disparities and don't improve safety, researchers found. When researchers modeled looser planting restrictions in a lower-income neighborhood, potential tree space increased by nearly 26%. But narrow sidewalks and dense infrastructure still limited where larger, shade trees could thrive. Many of L.A.'s strict tree-spacing rules are internal guidelines -- not laws -- meaning they could be updated more easily to allow for more trees. Closing L.A.'s shade gap, however, will require more than policy tweaks; infrastructure investments are also needed.

By watching the ebb and flow of the brain's chemical signals, researchers are beginning to disentangle the molecular mechanisms underlying the intrinsic motivation to learn. In a new study of zebra finches, researchers show that a hit a dopamine tells baby birds when their song practice is paying off. The findings suggest that dopamine acts like an internal 'compass' to steer their learning when external incentives are absent.

A study finds NBA teams that hired more analytics staff, and invested more in data analysis, tended to win more games.

Researchers explored how the characteristics of communication networks in groups (i.e., density and centralization) affected the development of shared social identity and, as a result, group performance. The study's findings can help managers and other business leaders develop strategies to enhance the performance of their teams.

Fossil-fuel plants are increasingly being forced to stop and start production in response to changes in output from renewables. In a new study, researchers developed a dynamic competitive benchmark that accounts for start-up costs and other unit-level operating constraints. They apply their framework to Western Australia, a setting where rooftop solar capacity more than doubled between 2014 to 2018 to world-leading rooftop solar penetration rates. The study found that the large-scale expansion of rooftop solar capacity can lead to increases in the collective profitability of fossil fuel plants because competition softens at sunset--- plants displaced by solar during the day must incur start-up costs to compete in the evening.