Author: dispatchtimes news

A Brisbane twin study has found that suicidal thoughts and behaviours are markedly heritable, with estimates of genetic influence ranging from 51% to 80%, substantially higher than the 39% to 41% estimated for major depressive disorder. The researchers also found that environmental factors contributing to depression were largely distinct from those shaping suicidal thoughts and behaviours. Suicidal thoughts and behaviours cover a spectrum from ideation to planning, attempts and deaths. While major depressive disorder is a strong risk factor, suicide risk cannot be explained by depression alone. Twin and family studies indicate that suicidal thoughts and behaviours are partly heritable,…

A nationally representative study of 472 adolescents aged 13 to 17 across twenty popular online platforms has found that negative experiences online are common and vary by app. The findings, published in JAMA Pediatrics, show that while some harms such as direct harassment occur at similar rates online and offline, teenagers are far more likely to encounter violent imagery or unwanted sexual content on digital platforms. The research uses the umbrella term online harms to describe a wide range of negative experiences on digital platforms, including cyberbullying, unwanted sexual advances, or exposure to content that encourages self-injury. Previous studies have…

A small pilot study in Houston suggests that tending countertop hydroponic gardens could bolster mental health and overall quality of life for people living with cancer. Thirty-six adults, average age 57, undergoing outpatient infusion therapy were given AeroGarden kits to grow vegetables at home over eight weeks. Researchers described the approach as aligning with social prescribing, a non-clinical means of supporting wellbeing through everyday activities. The aim was to explore whether indoor gardening could provide psychological relief alongside medical treatment. Hydroponics offers an indoor alternative to traditional outdoor gardening, requiring no soil and enabling year‑round cultivation with artificial light and…

A Brazilian twin study published in Personality and Individual Differences suggests that people’s beliefs about their own artistic and practical creativity are modestly influenced by genetics. The researchers say that while inherited factors matter, most differences arise from unique life experiences. The study used 196 participants forming 98 twin pairs — 79 identical and 19 fraternal — recruited in Brazil. Data collection occurred in two phases, with 74 twin pairs attending a laboratory session before the pandemic and a further 24 completing the study online later. Creativity is defined as the ability to generate original and useful ideas in response…

A small study from South China Normal University suggests our empathic responses to others’ pain are shaped by both physical attractiveness and moral history. While social judgments of character dominate our conscious pity, facial appeal appears to modulate brain activity at several processing stages. Empathy is not a single moment but unfolds in two dimensions: an automatic, emotional resonance, followed by a later, deliberate assessment of the situation. Observers are known to be influenced by cues such as attractiveness and perceived goodness, reinforcing the stereotype that beauty equates with virtue. Lead author Jiangyao Liu and colleagues set out to observe…

A new longitudinal study from Switzerland suggests that emotional disturbances experienced after reducing or stopping antidepressants are more accurately described as withdrawal reactions than relapse, a finding the researchers say could reshape how clinicians approach tapering. The work was led by Michael P. Hengartner of the Kalaidos University of Applied Sciences and tracked 32 adults in primary care as they began to discontinue their medications. The participants had been on antidepressants for an average of 42 months and were in stable remission when they planned to taper. Researchers assessed them just before tapering and again at two, four, six, eight,…

A new meta-analysis linking personality traits and attachment styles to internet pornography use has found that problematic consumption is more common among individuals with higher impulsivity, sexual compulsivity and neuroticism. The study also suggests that traits such as conscientiousness and self-control are associated with lower levels of pornography use overall. Led by Mehdi Akbari, a clinical psychologist at Kharazmi University in Iran, the research synthesised data from dozens of past studies to explore what shapes online viewing habits. The team combined results from studies measuring internet pornography use alongside personality traits or relationship attachment styles, including how people emotionally bond…

Researchers have advanced a technique known as xenocortication, enabling human brain tissue derived from stem cells to grow inside the skulls of newborn mice that have been genetically modified to lack their own cortex and hippocampus. The study, published in Nature, reports that the human grafts expand substantially, form long-distance neural connections, and respond to injuries, offering a living model to observe how human brain circuits develop and react to disease. “The main motivation was a fundamental limitation in studying disorders of the human brain,” senior author Sergiu P. Pașca, the Uytengsu Family Founding Director of the Stanford Brain Organogenesis…

Researchers report that people who see the world as inherently dangerous consistently overestimate the likelihood of everyday threats, from violent crime to animal attacks. In a series of four studies, they also found that this broad worldview colours how individuals judge unfamiliar, neutral faces as less trustworthy and more likely to be aggressive. The work is published in the Journal of Individual Differences. The researchers describe “primal world beliefs” as a framework capturing 26 broad dimensions through which people interpret reality. These beliefs cluster into four overarching categories, one of which concerns whether reality is generally safe or generally dangerous.…

A new analysis suggests that Republican members of Congress back Donald Trump’s agenda not primarily out of fear, but because they share the same voters. The research, published in PS: Political Science & Politics, argues a decades-long geographic realignment has aligned the parties’ presidential and congressional bases, producing unified policy objectives. In the American constitutional system, the president is elected nationally while members of Congress are chosen by states and local districts, creating a built-in rivalry between the branches. Recently, commentators have claimed Congress has abandoned its independent role and surrendered power to Trump; the common explanation is that lawmakers…