cultural

Scientists who reflect on their racial and ethnic identities—as well as on those of their mentees—have the potential to be better mentors. And mentees of these scientists were also more likely to say their mentors were respectful of, and held space for conversations about, race and ethnicity. Those are the take-home message from a new randomized controlled trial—the first of its kind. “Race matters in mentoring,” says Stephen Thomas, a social behavioral scientist…

The research team at a recent Scottish Parliament event promoting their findings. Credit: University of Stirling Experts at the University of Stirling are calling for the arts and culture to be prioritized in funding decisions after new research showed the significance of cultural hubs during the COVID-19 pandemic. A team led by…

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Violent extremism has been on the rise in recent years. This trend poses a global threat to international peace and security. But how do people end up as violent extremists? An international team of researchers has analyzed this question through six studies. The researchers conclude that violent…

The xx singer-songwriter and guitarist on the film that reminds her of holidays with her dad, reliving the Lionesses’ big win and her housework listeningSinger-songwriter and guitarist Romy Madley Croft was born in 1989 in London. Along with childhood friends Jamie Smith (AKA Jamie xx) and Oliver Sim, she formed the indie band the xx. In 2009 they released their debut album, xx, which earned them a Mercury prize, and was followed by Coexist and I See You. See has also collaborated with artists including Dua Lipa and…

Musician and producer Aaron Dessner was born in 1976 in Cincinnati, Ohio. He plays guitar, piano and keyboard for the National, is one half of Big Red Machine alongside Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, and has written and produced for artists including Ed Sheeran and Sharon Van Etten. In 2018 the National won a Grammy for best alternative music album with Sleep Well Beast, and in 2021 Taylor Swift’s Folklore, on which Dessner co-wrote and produced many of the songs, won album of the year. The National’s latest album, First Two…

A core from the Middle Stone Age stone tool assemblage from Bargny 1. Credit: Khady Niang Evidence from West Africa about human evolution remains scarce, but recent research has indicated unique patterns of cultural change in comparison to other regions of the continent. A new article in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution adds to our understanding with a study of the oldest directly dated archaeological site in West…

View across Boquerón Bay, Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico, with the Ortiz site in the distance. Credit: William J. Pestle, CC-BY 4.0 The earliest inhabitants of Puerto Rico might have used common burial sites and mortuary practices across many centuries, according to a study published April 26, 2023, in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by William J. Pestle of the University of Miami, Florida and colleagues.…

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain A George Washington University study offers new insights into why human cultures become more complex over time. The study finds that people combine and generalize socially acquired knowledge over time, resulting in new and more complex knowledge. The ability to combine and generalize socially learned knowledge appears to occur prior to formal schooling and may represent a unique feature of…

The actor and musician Johnny Flynn was born in South Africa in 1983 and moved to England aged two. He studied acting at Webber Douglas, going on to star in films such as Beast and Emma and as David Bowie in Stardust. His TV credits include Vanity Fair and the forthcoming Sky Atlantic drama The Lovers. As a musician, he has recorded several albums including 2021’s Lost in the Cedar Wood. Now Flynn is playing Richard Burton in The Motive and the Cue at the National Theatre, from 20 April to 15 July. He lives in east London…

Online iterated singing paradigm. (A) Participants hear a sequence of tones generated by a computer and reproduce it by singing back. Vocal reproductions are automatically analyzed, synthesized, and played to the next participant as the input melody, using a pitch-roving technique to minimize inter-trial dependencies and adjust melodies to participants’ singing range. (B) On the left, a spectrogram of a three-tone melody and corresponding vocal…