You’re in a dance club bathed in a neon-purple glow, surrounded by ghostly silhouettes that sway to the music. A stranger at the bar greets you with a flirty wave: “Hey, you look so cute!” Sparks fly. It’s all part of a virtual reality game called Rekindle, but the narrative seems real enough that you feel giddy. You break into what’s known as a genuine Duchenne smile—the kind where your mouth corners lift and your eyes squint a little. The biometric software in the headset you’re wearing scans your face and checks your muscle movements against the 70 that are involved in typical expressions. You’re happy, and your gaming PC knows it. You sink deeper into the story.
New VR game tracks player emotions in hopes of fostering empathy for marginalized communities
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A James Cook University study is challenging the belief that the greatest cost of going to court is losing a case, arguing the legal process itself can leave lasting psychological scars.This post was originally published [...]
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Mathematicians have shown that completely fair elections are—in a sense—impossible. No electoral system can guarantee both that local votes translate directly into local seats and that total seat distribution matches overall vote shares—not without an [...]
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For years, social media companies have faced pressure from users and government watchdogs to stop misinformation from distorting elections, deepening political divisions and undermining Americans’ trust in institutions. But what if dramatically reducing people’s exposure [...]
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How much of what you see on social media comes from sources that repeatedly post falsehoods? And if that content quietly vanished from your feed, would you believe anything different months later?This post was originally [...]
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Corporate climate spending now steers trillions of dollars in transition finance worldwide. Does it drive genuine climate action? Research shows that accounting flexibility alone can make a company’s reported emissions vary by roughly a factor [...]
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A lack of data on prisoner characteristics is providing an incomplete picture of who dies in prison and why, which may be contributing to preventable deaths in custody, according to a new report.This post was [...]
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He tramples things without intending to. He was created by us. He never permanently goes away. In recent years, metaphorical representations of Donald Trump as the Japanese kaiju Godzilla have become common. Now, a paper [...]
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Shoppers would pay more for their weekly groceries if it meant improved welfare for farm animals, according to new research from the University of Reading.This post was originally published on this site
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Why do some people who embrace conspiracy theories simply hold those beliefs, while others act on them? A new study published in the British Journal of Social Psychology identifies three characteristics that help determine when [...]
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Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is regaining prominence in climate policy debates in Germany. A study published in Environmental Politics examines the reasons behind this comeback and shows that the strict limits originally envisaged for [...]
