Advertisement Worldwide, close to twice as many women as men report low back pain. RealPeopleGroup/E+ via Getty Images Jaimie Steinmetz, University of Washington and Manuela Ferreira, University of Sydney The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. The big idea Low back pain is the leading cause of disability in the world, with over 600 million people living with the condition. This is one of the key takeaways of our June 2023 study published in the journal The Lancet Rheumatology. Our systematic analysis synthesizes data from approximately 500 studies throughout the ..read more

Advertisement There isn’t a debate, however, on the health benefits of regular exercise. Maryna Terletska/Moment via Getty Images Donald M. Lamkin, University of California, Los Angeles The global fitness industry will generate over US$80 billion in revenue in 2023, estimates suggest. And why not, given the many excellent reasons to exercise? Better cardiovascular health, lower risk of Type 2 diabetes, stronger immune system – the list goes on. One of the biggest reasons many people choose to exercise is to lose weight. As a biobehavioral scientist, I study links between behavior and health ..read more

Advertisement Rainbow ears, but is Japan’s parliament listening? Lucas Calloch/@dreiimos/Unsplash, FAL Sabine Frühstück, University of California, Santa Barbara Japan has passed legislation aimed at “promoting the understanding” of members of the LGBTQ community – a watered-down bill that will do little to put the Asian country in line with fellow liberal democracies on the issue. As many reports of the bill’s passage on June 16, 2023, have noted, Japan lags far behind other G7 countries when it comes to the legal protection of sexual minorities. There has been less discussion of how the li ..read more

Advertisement Rajesh Jantilal/AFP via Getty Images Zethu Matebeni, University of Fort Hare In recent years several African countries have decriminalised same-sex relationships. But they’re not representative of the continent. In fact, queer rights at times appear to be eroding in much of the continent, with Kenya and Uganda most recently in the news for harsh laws and violence against members of the LGBTIQ+ community. We asked sociologist and queer studies scholar Zethu Matebeni five questions. How would you describe the state of LGBTIQ+ rights? The state of LGBTIQ+ rights on the continent ..read more

Advertisement The Supreme Court may require employers to be more accommodating to religious requests in the workplace. Victor Plop/500px via Getty Images Debbie Kaminer, Baruch College, CUNY The Supreme Court may soon transform the role of faith in the workplace, which could have the effect of elevating the rights of religious workers at the expense of co-workers. On April 18, 2023, the court heard oral arguments in Groff v. DeJoy, a case addressing an employer’s obligation to accommodate religious employees’ requests under federal law. The dispute involves a Christian postal worker who qui ..read more

Advertisement Studies show that consistent meditation practice is key. pixdeluxe/E! via Getty Images Rachel Goldsmith Turow, Seattle University Mindfulness and self-compassion are now buzzwords for self-improvement. But in fact, a growing body of research shows these practices can lead to real mental health benefits. This research – ongoing, voluminous and worldwide – clearly shows how and why these two practices work. One effective way to cultivate mindfulness and self-compassion is through meditation. For more than 20 years, as a clinical psychologist, research scientist and educator, I t ..read more

Advertisement The Supreme Court is the latest court to take up the question of regulating a medication used for abortions. Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images Naomi Cahn, University of Virginia and Sonia Suter, George Washington University The U.S. Supreme Court issued an emergency ruling on April 21, 2023, that allows continued access to the abortion pill mifepristone in states where abortion is legal. The court’s decision, which included few details and only indicated that Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito did not concur, follows a whirlwind legal process about wheth ..read more

Advertisement A goal of the Texas plaintiffs was to stop the practice of sending abortion medication by mail. Andrii Zorii/iStock via Getty Images Plus Jamie Rowen, UMass Amherst and Tami S. Rowen, University of California, San Francisco An early April 2023 decision by a U.S. district judge in Texas to reverse 23 years of approval of the abortion pill mifepristone has sparked explosive debate. Mifepristone is a medicine that blocks the receptors for the hormone progesterone, which is needed for fetal development. It is part of a two-step medication abortion regimen along with misoprostol, a ..read more

Advertisement The gut microbiome may play a role in regulating the body’s appetite, cognition and immune responses. nopparit/iStock via Getty Images Plus Christopher Damman, University of Washington Diet-related chronic diseases have reached a critical juncture in the U.S. Nearly half the population has prediabetes or diabetes. Over 40% are overweight or obese. One in nine people over the age of 65 has Alzheimer’s disease, the development of which researchers are exploring the potential role of diet. Poor diet is also linked to poor mental health, cardiovascular disease and cancer. It was r ..read more

Advertisement Newly released research of residents in northern California suggests that since the 2016 presidential election, some friendship groups have become more homogeneous. Steve Pfost/Newsday RM via Getty Images Mark C. Pachucki, UMass Amherst and Anthony Paik, UMass Amherst Since the 2016 presidential election, news accounts and scientific research have illustrated how defriending, a term originally associated with dropping Facebook friends, echoes in our broader, offline social lives. And what may seem like a simple decision to cut off a difficult relationship may actually deepen d ..read more