(Press-News.org) The risks of climate change to human wellbeing are serious. Appropriate mitigation and adaptation require structural changes that are only likely to occur as a result of collective climate action. Danielle Goldwert, Madalina Vlasceanu, and colleagues explored what causes people to take collective climate action in a megastudy capable of directly comparing 17 behavioral interventions. The 17 interventions were derived from an open call to behavioral scientists and advocacy experts and included various framings and arguments such as emphasizing the benefits of climate action on health and jobs or highlighting successful examples of collective action. Over 31,000 US residents, recruited through Connect by Cloud Research, an online data collection platform, were given one of the 17 interventions—or no intervention, for the control group. Participants were then given the opportunity to engage in collective climate action of various kinds. One of the most effective interventions was highlighting successful examples of collective action and emphasizing collective action’s emotional benefits to participants. This intervention increased public awareness advocacy, such as committing to attend a climate march, by ten percentage points and increased political advocacy, such as supporting political campaigns of climate-friendly representatives, by six percentage points. Appealing to the purity and sacredness of “America’s pristine nature” increased financial advocacy by six percentage points. The purity intervention was even efficacious among Republican participants. By contrast, drawing attention to the personal toll of climate disruptions was most effective in increasing personal lifestyle change commitments such as promising to fly less or eat less beef. Framing pro-environmental behavior as patriotic was the intervention most effective for nudging participants to real action: writing a letter to a representative that was actually delivered. According to the authors, the findings can help guide those who wish to galvanize the public to collective climate action.
END
Interventions that promote collective climate action
2026-01-27
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Boston University receives grant from the Michael J. Fox foundation to study mechanisms of gait improvement in Parkinson’s disease
2026-01-27
BOSTON, Mass. and PORTLAND, Maine, January 27, 2026// Boston University (BU) today announced it has been awarded a $2 million research grant from The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF). The funding will support a clinical study evaluating motor and cognitive factors associated with changes in walking for people with Parkinson’s disease who use MedRhythms’ MOVIVE (MR-005), a safe, use-at-home medical device that delivers rhythmic auditory stimulation (RAS) to support gait rehabilitation and motor function.
This study was funded through The Michael ...
Trust in PhD advisor predicts a good grad school experience
2026-01-27
The advisor-advisee relationship is central to most doctoral education models. Yet not all students trust their advisors. Danfei Hu, Jonathan E. Cook, and colleagues sought to examine the importance of this relationship to success and wellbeing in graduate school. The authors focused on the first year of graduate school, a time in which PhD students adapt to their role as scholars and in which large numbers of students drop out. In a prospective longitudinal study of 558 incoming PhD students, primarily in STEM fields, at three US research universities, the authors found that PhD ...
Engineering and the quest for peace
2026-01-27
Engineering can create weapons systems or systems for defense and wellbeing. But can engineering create peace? In a Perspective, Guru Madhavan and colleagues propose an expansive mode of engineering practice that seeks to reduce conflict. In a world where the technical choices about pumping stations for transboundary water conveyance projects can become tense diplomatic questions, engineering for peace requires the competence to build systems that work as intended, the capability to foresee how such systems might be used or misused, ...
Insilico Medicine and Qilu Pharmaceutical reach near $120 million drug development collaboration to accelerate novel cardiometabolic therapies
2026-01-27
Jan 27, 2026 -- Insilico Medicine, a clinical-stage biotechnology company powered by generative AI, and Qilu Pharmaceutical Group, a major comprehensive modern pharmaceutical enterprise in China, as well as its subsidiary Shanghai Qilu Pharmaceutical Research Center, today announced a strategic partnership on innovative drug development, leveraging Insilico’s proprietary Pharma.AI platform to jointly develop small molecule inhibitors, focusing on specific targets for cardiometabolic disease management.
According to the agreement, Insilico Medicine will utilize its proprietary Pharma.AI platform to focus on the design and optimization ...
Chungnam National University develops AI model to accelerate defect-based material design
2026-01-27
Across the physical world, many intricate structures form via symmetry breaking. When a system with inherent symmetry transitions into an ordered state, it can form stable imperfections known as topological defects. Such defects are found everywhere, from the large-scale structure of the universe to everyday materials, making them a powerful way to study how order emerges in complex systems.
We have a tool to study these defects: nematic liquid crystals. In these materials, molecules can rotate freely while remaining roughly aligned, providing a clear and controllable ...
Identification of the central pathological substrate of bipolar disorder as paraventricular thalamic nucleus
2026-01-27
Bipolar disorder (BD) is a major mental disorder, affecting 1% of the global population. Patients suffering from BD frequently experience manic and depressive episodes, which disrupt interpersonal relationships and social confidence. While conventional therapies can mitigate the symptoms for some patients, they are also associated with adverse effects and treatment resistance in many, highlighting the urgent need for pathology-driven diagnosis and therapeutic intervention.
The thalamus, especially the paraventricular ...
A new route to synthesize multiple functionalized carbon nanohoops
2026-01-27
The field of nanomaterials is witnessing a transformative shift at the intersection of organic chemistry and molecular engineering. Among the most promising molecular structures are carbon nanohoops, of which [n]cycloparaphenylenes ([n]CPPs) are a representative example.
These ring-shaped structures represent the smallest possible slices of carbon nanotubes, which themselves are a widely renowned material of the 21st century.
Given that their structures can, in principle, be precisely tuned at the atomic level, nanohoops hold great potential as molecular components for next-generation optoelectronic ...
Integrated smart contact lens technology for real-time intraocular pressure monitoring
2026-01-27
Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness among people who are unable to monitor and manage their intraocular pressure (IOP) daily. The current tools for IOP measurement are not portable, convenient, easily accessible, or capable of continuous (24/7) monitoring. These limitations in existing IOP devices are a major contributor to inadequate ocular health management in glaucoma patients. This mismanagement could result in severe and irreparable problems for patients.
This problem is particularly concerning, considering that one of the factors behind increased IOP is age. As the global population ...
New Boston University study identifies CTE as cause of dementia
2026-01-27
EMBARGOED by Alzheimer’s & Dementia until 7 a.m., ET, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026
Contact: Gina DiGravio, 617-358-7838, ginad@bu.edu
New Boston University Study Identifies CTE as Cause of Dementia
Researchers found those with advanced CTE had four times increased odds for having dementia
Boston–The largest study of its kind from the Boston University CTE Center reveals that chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) should be recognized as a new cause of dementia.
The research, published online today in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s ...
Applied physics researchers explore impact of mathematically structured sound to selectively interact with cells.
2026-01-27
New York, NY — Researchers at AppliedPhysics.org have published an exploratory study in Biosystems examining whether mathematical acoustic signal structure can influence cellular response independent of intensity. The work investigates Bioacoustics Signaling, focusing on quasiperiodic acoustic signals derived from Fibonacci sequences with potential relevance to cancer research. It reports preliminary evidence that cells respond most strongly at different wavelength regimes, suggesting that acoustic selectivity may be achievable through signal design rather ...