The mere presence of a pair of eyes on a sign requesting donations makes people more likely to give more. This is according to a field study in Springer’s journal Human Nature. Lead author Caroline Kelsey of the University of Virginia in the US says the findings support the idea that people tend to act according to pro-social norms when they sense that they are being watched. It also suggests that eyes play a special role in promoting cooperation in humans.
articles
Lift Off for World-First Ultrasound Levitation That Bends Around Barriers
Researchers at the University of Sussex have become the first in the world to develop technology which can bend sound waves around an obstacle and levitate an object above it.
Getting a Longer Heads-Up on El Niño
Changes in Atlantic Ocean sea surface temperatures can be used to predict extreme climatic variations known as El Niño and La Niña more than a year in advance, according to research conducted at Korea’s Pohang University of Science and Technology and published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Discovery of Inner Ear Function May Improve Diagnosis of Hearing Impairment
Results from a research study published in Nature Communications show how the inner ear processes speech, something that has until now been unknown. The authors of the report include researchers from Linköping University.
Economic Analysis Provides Watershed Moment for Environmental Groups
Economists have found that in the United States, watershed groups have had a positive impact on their local water quality.
Stanford Scientists Observe Water Storage, a Missing Piece That Could Help Explain How Glaciers Move
Stanford scientists have revealed the presence of water stored within a glacier in Greenland, where the rapidly changing ice sheet is a major contributor to the sea-level rise North America will experience in the next 100 years. This observation – which came out of a new way of looking at existing data – has been a missing component for models aiming to predict how melting glaciers will impact the planet.