News by Subject Social & Behavior

The magnificent London mansion of Thomas Cromwell has been revealed for the first time in an artist's impression, following a new study which examines the building in unprecedented detail. Dr Nick Holder, a historian and research fellow at English Heritage and the University of Exeter, has scrutinized an exceptionally rich source of information, including letters, leases, surveys and inventories, to present the most thorough insight to-date on "one of the most spectacular private houses" in 1530s London.

A novel analysis into the acoustical similarities between Yorùbá vocalizations and a west African instrument called the dùndún found a high degree of correlation. The researchers discovered that the talking drum mimics the microstructure of the tonal language and can be categorized into four different modes. In addition, the study emphasizes the value of studying non-western culture to understand various phenomena in mainstream musicology and linguistics that go beyond western domains.

The discovery of a Roman road submerged in the Venice Lagoon is reported in Scientific Reports this week.

Led by Université de Montréal, an international team of anthropologists, geographers and earth scientists looks to the past to assess how different cultures have - and will - adapt to global warming.

New research from Binghamton University, State University of New York suggests that the demographic collapse at the core of the Easter Island myth didn't really happen.

When a head of state or government official travels to another country to meet with his/her counterpart, the high-level visit often entails a range of public diplomacy activities such as hosting a joint press conference, or attending a sports event, which aim to increase public support in the host country. A new study finds that public diplomacy accompanying a high-level visit by a national leader increases public approval in the host country.