Researchers determine how groups make decisions
From Beats headphones' rise to prominence or a political candidate's surge in the polls to how ants and bees select a new nest site, decisions emerging from groups frequently occur without a leader.
View ArticleCell stress response and fat and obesity gene linked
In one fell swoop, Cornell researchers have discovered mechanisms that control the function of a fat and obesity gene while at the same time answering a long-standing question about how cells respond...
View ArticleThe cuckoo sheds new light on the scientific mystery of bird migration
The cuckoo is not only capable of finding its way from unknown locations; it does this through a highly complex individual decision making process. Such skills have never before been documented in...
View ArticleTraditional emergency policies fall short during floods
When it comes to floods and other crisis situations, the authorities do not always take the right decisions, because they make insufficient use of the technical information currently available....
View ArticleWhat failed drug busts are teaching world leaders about decision making
A failed drug bust is providing World Economic Forum delegates with new insights into leadership and decision making, thanks to research by Dr Cinla Akinci of the University of St Andrews' School of...
View ArticleCalifornia Coastal Commission decision-making process appears stable and...
New Stanford research shows that the California Coastal Commission's decision-making process on land use along the Golden State's coast has remained highly consistent for the last two decades.
View ArticleOpen Science environment Unicorn allows researchers and decision makers to...
Given that the most important societal needs require multidisciplinary collaboration between researchers and decision makers, a suitable environment has to be provided in the first place. A proposal,...
View ArticleSlime mold gives insight into the intelligence of neuron-less organisms
How do organisms without brains make decisions? Most of life is brainless and the vast majority of organisms on Earth lack neurons altogether. Plants, fungi and bacteria must all cope with the same...
View ArticleWhat happens when sports rules go awry?
As Wimbledon quarter finals beckon and the semi-finals of Euro 2016 are about to kick off, operational research scientists have been looking at what happens when the rules of sport are changed or when...
View ArticleCash transfers, childhood development and the labor market
Nearly every country in Latin America has a conditional cash transfer program. Poor households living below the poverty line can receive government subsidies if they agree to the program's...
View ArticleCompromise nearly guaranteed when a woman is involved in decision-making pairs
More isn't necessarily better when it comes to men making decisions together, especially if you want a middle-of-the-road compromise. That's according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research...
View ArticleDo juvenile murderers deserve life without parole?
The U.S. Supreme Court answered this question in two recent decisions (Miller v. Alabama, 2012; Montgomery v. Louisiana, 2016). "Rarely," the Court said, and only when developmental evidence shows that...
View ArticleRetirement plans under threat as workers struggle with 'pension paralysis'
Nearly half (47%) of UK employees are suffering from a crisis of confidence when it comes to making financial decisions and are agonising over their long term financial choices and health, according to...
View ArticleGame theory research reveals fragility of common resources
New research in game theory shows that people are naturally predisposed to over-use "common-pool resources" such as transportation systems and fisheries even if it risks failure of the system, to the...
View ArticleAdvertising is driving social media-fuelled fake news and it is here to stay
The rise of fake news, once only the preserve of certain types of tabloids has now become a dominant feature of social media and a subject of major concern for mainstream media.
View ArticleDictator's ideology partly determines the extent to which they can be influenced
The extent to which a dictator believes in the ideology he propagates is a crucial factor in the decision-making process of his regime. This ideological conviction also determines the extent to which...
View ArticleOpinion: Should algorithms be regulated?
Accidents involving driverless cars, calculating the probability of recidivism among criminals, and influencing elections by means of news filters—algorithms are involved everywhere. Should governments...
View ArticleTranslating the ribosome's grim role
A large number of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNA) have been found associating with the ribosome, the protein-making machinery in the cytoplasm. What the so-called 'noncoding' RNAs are doing on the...
View ArticleFish step up to lead when predators are near
Researchers from the University of Bristol have discovered that some fish within a shoal take on the responsibilities of leader when they are under threat from predators.
View ArticleCalcium dynamics regulating the timing of decision-making in C. elegans
All animals make decisions according to information, but the detailed mechanism is not known. The researchers found that, a tiny worm chooses the direction in an odor space by mathematically...
View ArticleResearchers investigate decision-making by physical phenomena
(Phys.org)—Decision-making is typically thought of as something done by intelligent living things and, in modern times, computers. But over the past several years, researchers have demonstrated that...
View ArticleBullying in organizations begets equally disruptive responses, study says
It has been said that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Now new research suggests that such a dynamic can play out in organizations, where bullying within decision-making groups appears...
View ArticleStudy examines disciplinary segregation across state prisons
Nearly one-third of offenders who violated institutional rules and regulations across state prisons received a sanction of disciplinary segregation, which prison officials based on legal and extralegal...
View ArticleSlow motion makes football referees more likely to give a red card
Video assistant refereeing in football has to be used with caution. Researchers at KU Leuven (University of Leuven), Belgium, have shown that refs are more likely to give red when they see a foul...
View ArticleWell-designed visual aids improve risk understanding
A University of Oklahoma professor, Edward T. Cokely, shows that informed decision making depends on the ability to accurately evaluate and understand information about risk in a newly published study...
View ArticleGame theory harnessed for cybersecurity of large-scale nets
Researchers have laid the groundwork for a method to improve cybersecurity for large-scale systems like the power grid and autonomous military defense networks by harnessing game theory and creating...
View ArticleThe psychology of Black Friday – how pride and regret influence spending
Black Friday is upon us once again. Deals for cut-price clothes, televisions, appliances – you name it – are popping up. And for a limited time only. While stocks last, you could snag a bargain before...
View ArticleEU breaks stalemate to renew licence on controversial weedkiller (Update 3)
EU countries broke months of deadlock on Monday when they voted to renew the licence for the controversial weedkiller glyphosate for five years after heavyweight Germany surprisingly voted in favour...
View ArticleVisitor patterns and emerging activities in national parks revealed by social...
Social media data provide a reliable information to support decision making in national parks. Researchers from the Digital Geography at the University of Helsinki have been studying whether social...
View ArticleCommunication methods do not work equally across diverse teams
More recent thought on how to reach consensus among members of diverse teams for the best outcome has been to use text rather than face-to-face communication, but new research from the University of...
View Article