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With their “Blursday” blend of tedium, isolation and increased social media use, successive lockdowns have created the perfect conditions for viral lies to sneak onto our screens and leak into our minds. When these lies call into question the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, they threaten the entire global strategy for pandemic recovery: namely, mass immunity.
Poetically enough, Cambridge scientists fighting the rising tide of vaccine misinformation have turned to vaccine theory itself to inform their approach. Their “psychological vaccines” generate a kind of mental immune response, which the researchers hope will help social media users better detect, deflect, and dismiss falsehoods about COVID-19 vaccines.
Vegan diets are subject to similarly strong beliefs as vaccines, with some claiming they’re healthier, and others insisting they’re harmful. We’ve cut through the noise on that one. And, if you’re looking for reasons to feel thankful this week, you could do worse than learning how astronomically lucky we are to have been granted the chance to evolve upon a continually inhabitable planet.
If you have your own strong views about this email, we’d love to hear about them – please take part in our short newsletter survey.
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Alex King
Commissioning Editor, Science + Technology
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Alexander Limbach/Shutterstock
Sander van der Linden, University of Cambridge; Jon Roozenbeek, University of Cambridge
A 'psychological vaccine' has proven effective in countering belief in COVID-19 conspiracies.
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Vegan diets are becoming increasingly popular.
RONEDYA/ Shutterstock
Keren Papier, University of Oxford; Anika Knüppel, University of Oxford; Tammy Tong, University of Oxford
Recruiting more vegans for studies in the future will help us understand how this diet affects health.
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xtock / shutterstock
Toby Tyrrell, University of Southampton
I simulated the climate on 100,000 exoplanets to find out.
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Science + Technology
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Robert Van Der Meer, University of Strathclyde ; Gillian Hopkins Anderson, University of Strathclyde
Faced unexpected rises in COVID-19 admissions, computer models can help senior managers plan the use of hospital beds.
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Wim Naudé, University College Cork
The Fourth Industrial Revolution failed to deliver; it's time that we put our faith once again in hard science.
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Aaron W Hunter, University of Cambridge
New study sheds light on how the starfish evolved.
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Health + Medicine
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Ed Feil, University of Bath
So-called 'variants of concern' have been cropping up since November.
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Rishi Gupta, UCL; Mahdad Noursadeghi, UCL
Using only routinely collected information, this tool can accurately determine whether a COVID patient's condition is likely to deteriorate.
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Environment + Energy
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Matthew Adams, University of Brighton
If all of humanity was wiped out tomorrow, it's estimated that the natural world would take at least five million years to recover from the damage humans have done to the world.
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Louise Gentle, Nottingham Trent University
Even the most mutually-beneficial evolutionary relationship can turn sour.
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Arts + Culture
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Marion Löffler, Cardiff University
Who is writing history affects how it is written.
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Beth Johnson, University of Leeds
Female sexuality and sex on screen have come a long way since the four friends were looking for love in the Big Apple.
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Business + Economy
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Sarah Hall, University of Nottingham
The UK's financial services sector has been planning for a considerably reduced market access.
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Alan Jagolinzer, Cambridge Judge Business School
Companies need to look at the way they present information, but society also needs to take financial literacy more seriously.
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Politics + Society
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Dimitris Xygalatas, University of Connecticut
Formal ceremonies and rituals can trigger psychological signals that command people's attention and strengthen the perceived importance of those moments.
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Paul Whiteley, University of Essex; Harold D Clarke, University of Texas at Dallas; Marianne Stewart, University of Texas at Dallas
New data shows how unhappy and polarised America has become – due largely to COVID-19.
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Featured events
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Cardiff University, CUBRIC, Maindy Road, Cathays, Cardiff, CF24 4HQ, Cardiff, CF14 0UP, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — Cardiff University
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East Road, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB11PT, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — Anglia Ruskin University
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