News by Subject Social & Behavior

What happens behind the scenes when employees are accused of harassment? New research from Michigan State University revealed that almost half of accused harassers can go back to work when disputes are settled by arbitrators -- or, third-parties who resolve disputes.

Researchers at Harvard University and the Drug Enforcement Administration have designed a promising new tool that can identify smaller concentrations of drug powders than any other device. Portable, simple to use, and cost effective, the technology could provide law enforcement officers and forensic chemists a quick and accurate way to identify unknown, potentially dangerous, substances.

A social prescribing initiative, designed to improve patients' well-being and quality of life by connecting them to non-medical resources, did not prove effective overall.

A company with a gender-diverse board of directors is interpreted as revealing a preference for diversity and a weaker commitment to shareholder value, according to new research in the INFORMS journal Organization Science.

Despite years trying to bring more women to the top boards of business, the proportion of women on the committees of companies is tiny. Yet quotas, such as the 2016 statutory gender quota for supervisory board members in Germany, remain controversial. Now, researchers at the Universities of Göttingen and Mannheim have examined the attitudes of the European population to the gender quota in boards. The results were published in the journal Comparative European Politics.

Recent technological breakthroughs in artificial intelligence have made it possible for machines, or bots, to pass as humans. A team of researchers at NYU Abu Dhabi, studied study how people interact with bots they believe to be human, and how such interactions are affected once bots reveal their identity. The researchers found that bots are more efficient than humans at certain human-machine interactions, but only if they are allowed to hide their non-human nature.

Free Internet access must be considered as a human right, as people unable to get online -- particularly in developing countries -- lack meaningful ways to influence the global players shaping their everyday lives, according to a new study.