Helping adolescents feel competent and purposeful may improve grades

Encouraging adolescents to feel capable and purposeful – rather than just happy – could improve their academic results as well as their mental health, according to new research which recommends changing how wellbeing is supported in schools. The University of Cambridge study, involving over 600 teenagers from seven English schools,…

More active Older adults have a better quality of life

The same was also true for increases in the amount of sedentary time, such as watching TV or reading. The researchers say this highlights the need to encourage older adults to remain active. Physical activity – particularly when it is moderate-intensity and raises your heart rate – is known to…

Moveable wooden-walls House might be a cheaper, greener alternative

House-owners the world over consider ‘knocking through’ walls to achieve more open-plan living or changing layouts to accommodate new arrivals or circumstances. The results may be impressive, but they come at a sizeable financial and environmental cost. But what if it wasn’t necessary to demolish internal brick and/or plaster walls…

Weak policies, political ideologies, risk jeopardize plans to tackle health and climate change

Writing in the journal Science and Public Policy, Professor Marteau argues that this ‘evidence-neglect’ is a result of incentive structures that encourage politicians to set ambitious policy goals while simultaneously disincentivising them from implementing the policies needed to achieve them, and of political ideologies and interests that conflict with effective…

Clean, sustainable fuels made ‘from thin air’ and plastic waste

Researchers from the University of Cambridge developed a solar-powered reactor that converts captured CO2 and plastic waste into sustainable fuels and other valuable chemical products.   In tests, CO2 was converted into syngas, a key building block for sustainable liquid fuels, and plastic bottles were converted into glycolic acid, which…

Tropical butterflies’ wings could help them withstand climate change

In fact, tropical species’ ability to keep cool at higher air temperatures means they are more able to “thermoregulate” and keep a balanced body temperature compared to their evolutionary cousins in milder climates. Scientists say that the strategies of butterflies from Central America to stay cool mean they could actually…

Limited resources leave school leaders with few options to manage poor behaviour

The findings are from a qualitative study which investigated why more school leaders are not exploring alternative approaches to behaviour management. It argues that resource limitations and other concerns have left teachers feeling trapped within the prevailing system of mounting punishments. Under this, more than a thousand students are excluded,…