News by Subject Social & Behavior

According to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) report on road safety, more than 1.3 million people die on the world's roadways each year -- and millions more are injured or disabled.

Laws to ban or curb drivers' use of cell phones and other handheld devices have greatly reduced the rate of fatalities for motorcyclists, according to a new study from Florida Atlantic University and the University of Miami. Results show that states with moderate to strong bans have motorcycle fatality rates that differ by as much as 11 percent compared to states with no bans.

Hydrogen-powered vehicles emit only water vapor from their tailpipes, offering a cleaner alternative to fossil-fuel-based transportation. But for hydrogen cars to become mainstream, scientists need to develop more efficient hydrogen-storage systems. Now, researchers reporting in ACS' Chemistry of Materials have used metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) to set a new record for hydrogen storage capacity under normal operating conditions.

A contemporary city expands; it is stitched together with communications, but lacks integrity. Districts, urban communities and practices are so heterogeneous, that they often don't interact with each other. A united space is split into fragments. Communication is replaced with alienation. Dmitry Zamyatin, geographer and researcher of culture, chief research fellow at the Graduate School of Urbanism of the Higher School of Economics, called this phenomenon a 'post-city.'

In the first study to assess the energy impact of smart technology in cars, researchers at Stevens Institute of Technology have put a number on the potential fuel-cost savings alone: $6.2 billion.

As much as 20 per cent of jet fuel burned in Norway in 2030 could be biofuel made from the country's forest residues. This alone could cut greenhouse gas emissions from Norway's aviation sector by 17 per cent.

Researchers found that small improvements to a city's ParkScore -- an evaluation of a city's park system -- could lead to more physical exercise for its residents. The Trust for Public Land created the ParkScore as an index to rank the park systems of the nation's largest 100 cities, they added.