It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Wednesday, July 30, 2025
MISOGYNISTIC TOXIC MASCULINITY
Women politicians receive more identity-based attacks on social media than men, study finds
Women politicians in Europe receive uncivil tweets regardless of how known they are – and woman also receive more identity-based attacks than other politicians, revealed a new study in Politics & Gender, published on behalf of the American Political Science Association by Cambridge University Press.
This study used a machine learning approach to analyse over 23 million tweets addressed to politicians in Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States, to determine the degree of incivility that female politicians face. Women in politics frequently report serious online harassment, yet the extent of this harassment and how it compares to harassment experienced by men remains understudied, or uses surveys with varying response rates. This new research aimed to address this gap.
The research found that more prominent politicians in the US, both male and female, have a higher likelihood of receiving uncivil tweets. However, women in the study’s European sample experience online incivility regardless of whether they are prominent or not, potentially creating additional barriers for women entering politics.
This incivility can include everything from sexist and misogynistic remarks to attempts to defame or humiliate, to violent threats.
Lead researcher Maarja Lühiste, Associate Professor in politics at Newcastle University, noted how incivility and threats typically differ depending on the gender of the person being addressed.
“We noticed that female candidates targeted with abusive language typically receive more morality-focused words, such as ‘vile’, ‘shame’, ‘shameful’, ‘disgraceful’, ‘hypocrite’, ‘deluded’,” Lühiste said.
“They also receive messages with more references to personal attacks – including words like ‘kill’, ‘destroy’, and ‘rape’ – rather than simple swear words.”
The research also founds that uncivil tweets targeted at Spanish and German politicians appear to use fewer deliberately abusive words than in the US and the UK – making the impoliteness sound comparatively polite.
What counts as an uncivil tweet?
The researchers defined uncivil tweets as ones that contained one or more of the following elements:
assigning stereotypes or hate speech;
undermining or excluding a social group (e.g. “women should stay at home rather than do politics”);
threatening one’s rights (freedom to speak, life preferences);
name-calling (“weirdo”, “idiot”);
aspersion (“liar”, “traitor”);
pejorative speak or vulgarity;
sarcasm;
ALL CAPS;
words or sentiments that are incendiary, obscene, or humiliating.
When Black and Latino youth aspire toward careers in science and technology, their confidence in exploring career possibilities and how they think society views their ethnic-racial group can play a crucial role in whether their dreams take root.
Such is a finding of a study by UC Riverside associate professor of psychology Aerika Brittian Loyd, UCR doctoral candidate Tate LeBlanc, and co-authors published in the Journal for STEM Education Research.
Middle and high school students who voiced higher expectations of success in exploring different career paths — along with perceptions that their racial group was viewed more positively in society — were more likely to be interested in careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), the study found.
“Our goal was to better understand what shapes early STEM aspirations among youth of color,” said LeBlanc, who led the study. “We found that few studies since 1999 have focused on early adolescents of color in this space — especially studies that look at ethnic identity and career expectations side by side.”
Loyd said the findings highlight the importance of culturally affirming science education from an early age. That starts, she said, with representation — both in the curriculum and in the classroom.
“Who are the scientists kids are learning about? Who’s teaching them about science?” Loyd asked. “If students of color only learn about white male scientists, they have to bridge that gap themselves. We can help close that gap by introducing them to a diverse group of scientists and educators who reflect their own communities.”
The research draws from surveys of middle and high school students from a larger National Science Foundation-funded project that evaluated the impact of visiting an exhibit at the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago that focused on health issues affecting the surrounding communities.
The goal of the larger study was to help students see how science could be applied to improve public health in their own neighborhoods and how STEM and health careers could empower them to make a difference. The study included 764 students, ages 11 to 17, who were surveyed about their STEM aspirations, career outcome expectations, and ethnic-racial identity.
The paper identified an indirect but powerful relationship between career exploration, social support, and identity.
Students who felt more confident in their ability to seek out information about different careers were more likely to report that their teachers, parents, and peers recognized their interest and talent in STEM. In turn, this was related to beliefs that society held positive views of their racial or ethnic group. That sense of positive regard was linked to stronger STEM aspirations.
“These ideas are connected,” Loyd said. “When students feel recognized, it shapes how they think society sees them, which may strengthen their motivation to pursue these careers.”
While not all students in the study expressed strong STEM aspirations, the authors found a broad base of “developing interest” across the sample. They caution against assuming low interest among underrepresented groups and instead recommend policies and curricula that nurture those early aspirations.
The paper’s title is “Examining the associations between ethnic‑racial identity, career outcome expectations, and STEM aspirations among Black and Latine adolescents.” Its co-authors are Juan Ramón Arvizu‑Sevilla and Bernadette Sanchez from the University of Illinois Chicago and Lauren Applebaum from the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.
Loyd and LeBlanc recommend that children and youth of color be introduced to STEM role models in early education; that science lessons reflect real-world challenges in students’ communities; that STEM educators reflect diversity; and that exploration and creativity in science outside traditional classrooms be encouraged.
Credit: Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Aeronautics (WISA), University of Waterloo
Female pilots may outperform their male counterparts in high-pressure flight situations, according to a new study led by University of Waterloo researchers.
The findings challenge traditional assumptions in aviation and suggest that women pilots may have unique strengths that could be better recognized in pilot training and evaluation systems.
“These findings are exciting because they push us to rethink how we evaluate pilots,” said Naila Ayala, lead author of the study and postdoctoral fellow in Waterloo’s Multisensory Brain and Cognition Lab.
“We can’t assume that because two pilots are looking at the same things, they will react the same way. Our study shows that women may be better at keeping control and making decisions in stressful flight scenarios.”
The research also found that despite male and female pilots having nearly identical visual attention patterns and flight experience, female pilots tend to make fewer flight control errors when stress levels increase.
This means that while both genders paid attention to the same information during a flight, women were more consistent and accurate in how they responded to it. The results highlight the importance of looking beyond surface-level indicators like visual focus when measuring pilot performance.
The researchers used a high-fidelity flight simulator to study 20 experienced general aviation pilots—10 women and 10 men—as they flew through a series of typical and emergency situations. During each scenario, the team recorded where the pilots were looking and how they responded.
The pilots all wore eye-tracking glasses and completed standardized flight tasks that included unexpected engine failures and landing challenges, designed to test their reactions under pressure. This allowed researchers to gather data on both visual attention and performance accuracy.
“Understanding how different people perform under pressure helps us build better training programs for everyone, safer cockpits, and more inclusive aviation systems,” said Suzanne Kearns, associate professor and director of the Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Aeronautics.
“At a time when the industry is facing a pilot shortage, tapping into the full potential of all pilots, regardless of gender, is more important than ever.”
The team hopes the findings will help shape future pilot training and evaluation standards by recognizing a wider range of strengths and abilities.
Kobe University plant geneticist ISHIZAKI Kimitsune thinks that the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha is an ideal model organism to study vegetative plant reproduction and over the past 10 years has been involved in decoding its genome and establishing tools for its convenient genetic manipulation.
Studying plant vegetative reproduction is key to increasing crop yield and for bioengineering. Kobe University research is making progress on studying the genetic regulation of the process in liverworts, which are ideal model plants and even a candidate for space crops.
Potatoes are tubers, ginger is a rhizome, and both are forms of vegetative plant reproduction, in which plants create structures from which genetically identical individuals can emerge. This mode of reproduction is very important for agriculture and horticulture, but there is very little research on the underlying genetic mechanism. Kobe University plant geneticist ISHIZAKI Kimitsune thinks that the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha is an ideal model organism to study this process and over the past 10 years has been involved in decoding its genome and establishing tools for its convenient genetic manipulation. He says, “Also, the liverwort is so proliferative that it is considered a nuisance to gardeners, growing back quickly no matter how often it is removed.”
The liverwort spreads through tiny, detachable buds, called “gemmae,” that form in small cups on the upper side of the liverwort’s “leaves” and are dispersed by rain, the wind or animals. Apart from this, the plant also engages in sexual production, switching from vegetative reproduction when the days become longer in summer. “In previous research, we found a gene that seemed to be involved in the formation of both gemma cups and the plant’s sexual reproductive organs. But it was completely unclear what it does, so we wanted to learn more,” says Ishizaki.
In the journal New Phytologist, the Kobe University team now reports that plants lacking the gene generally don’t form vegetative or sexual reproductive organs, and in rare cases form empty, shot-glass-shaped cups instead of the usually wide and shallow gemma cups, leading them to name the gene “SHOT GLASS.” This shows that the gene is necessary for the development of functioning reproductive structures. Studying the interactions with other genes known to be involved, they found that SHOT GLASS acts by suppressing the development of air chambers in the liverwort’s “leaves” to make space for gemma cup development, and by helping factors needed for the development of sexual reproductive organs to locate to the right place.
In addition, Ishizaki and his team found something astonishing. They knew that flowering plants, which are much more complex than the simple liverwort, have genes that are related to SHOT GLASS and likely derive from the same gene in the ancestor of all land plants. Interestingly, in flowering plants, those genes are also involved in regulating the development of the secondary meristem that, broadly speaking, makes a plant grow branches. And when they inserted the liverwort’s gene into a flowering plant that lacks one of its own versions, they found that it can even compensate for the gap its more evolved cousin left. Ishizaki explains, “This suggests that the mechanism by which plants create new buds away from the main shoot tip may be common to all land plants.”
This means that Ishizaki’s liverwort is indeed a convenient model organism to study this agriculturally important process. But the Kobe University researcher has bigger dreams. “Unlike crop plants, liverworts don’t require soil but can be grown with just fog cultivation. We are exploring the development of liverworts where the whole body is directly available as a food resource. This means it could even be used as a food source in space,” Ishizaki explains. He adds: “We are also exploring using the liverwort as an organism for the bioproduction of valuable chemical resources, which has so far practically been restricted to bacteria and yeasts. The engineering technology we are developing and the knowledge we are gathering on the plant’s biology are an important step into that direction.”
This research was funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Japan (grants 25119711, 15H01233, 17H06472, 21K15125, 19H05673, 19H05670, 20H05780), the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (grants 21J40092, 15H04391,19H03247, “Program for forming Japan’s peak research universities (J-PEAKS)”), the Japan Science and Technology Agency (grant JPMJGX23B0), the SUNTORY Foundation for Life Sciences, the Yamada Science Foundation, the Asahi Glass Foundation, the Kyoto University Foundation and the Ohsumi Frontier Science Foundation. It was conducted in collaboration with researchers from Kyoto University and Ehime University.
In the journal New Phytologist, the Kobe University team reports that the identified a gene that is necessary for the development of vegetative and sexual reproductive organs. In rare cases, plants lacking the gene form empty, shot-glass-shaped cups instead of the usually wide and shallow gemma cups, leading them to name the gene “SHOT GLASS.”
Credit
ISHIZAKI Kimitsune
Kobe University is a national university with roots dating back to the Kobe Higher Commercial School founded in 1902. It is now one of Japan’s leading comprehensive research universities with nearly 16,000 students and nearly 1,700 faculty in 11 faculties and schools and 15 graduate schools. Combining the social and natural sciences to cultivate leaders with an interdisciplinary perspective, Kobe University creates knowledge and fosters innovation to address society’s challenges.
Credit: Haruka Kato, Osaka Metropolitan University
Walking is well known to have significant health benefits, but few people achieve the daily recommended steps. Fortunately, mobile health (mHealth) applications have emerged as promising tools to promote physical activity. These apps track user activities on mobile devices to deliver health and wellness services. However, the effectiveness of these apps in increasing daily walking behavior remains underexplored, partly due to variations in their incentive structures.
Dr. Haruka Kato, Junior Associate Professor at Osaka Metropolitan University, investigated the impact of incentive design on walking behavior using a local mHealth application called HealthSmart-Senboku. Developed for residents and visitors of Senboku New-Town in Japan, this mHealth app offers unique incentive features that convert users’ daily step counts into digital rewards. HealthSmart-Senboku provides two types of incentives where users can either exchange daily walking steps for shopping coupons redeemable at selected local stores or digital train tickets for travel on Nankai Railway’s Senboku Line.
Dr. Kato’s study found that users who utilized the train ticket exchange incentive increased their daily walking by an average of 626.2 [95% CI: 0.27, 1252.2] steps/day over a five-month period. Additionally, those who used shopping coupon incentives walked 715.2 [95% CI: 277.4, 1153.0] steps/day more on average than those who did not use them.
“These findings suggest that HealthSmart-Senboku’s ticket exchange incentives effectively promote active travel,” said Dr. Kato. “The results highlight the potential of mHealth apps to encourage both physical activity and public transportation use toward Healthy New Towns through well-designed incentive systems.”
The findings were published in Journal of Transport and Health.
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About OMU
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