Pub Date : 2026-01-02DOI: 10.1038/s41562-025-02391-3
Anne E Urai, Anna van 't Veer, Eiko I Fried, Clare Kelly
{"title":"How to change research culture with participatory workshops.","authors":"Anne E Urai, Anna van 't Veer, Eiko I Fried, Clare Kelly","doi":"10.1038/s41562-025-02391-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02391-3","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":19074,"journal":{"name":"Nature Human Behaviour","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":15.9,"publicationDate":"2026-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145892762","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-02DOI: 10.1038/s41562-025-02346-8
Sotiris Vandoros, Ichiro Kawachi
{"title":"Tariffs and economic uncertainty threaten public health","authors":"Sotiris Vandoros, Ichiro Kawachi","doi":"10.1038/s41562-025-02346-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41562-025-02346-8","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":19074,"journal":{"name":"Nature Human Behaviour","volume":"10 1","pages":"1-2"},"PeriodicalIF":15.9,"publicationDate":"2026-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145892750","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-31DOI: 10.1038/s41562-025-02368-2
{"title":"Immature orangutans require cultural knowledge to develop mature diets.","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41562-025-02368-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02368-2","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":19074,"journal":{"name":"Nature Human Behaviour","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":15.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145878678","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-30DOI: 10.1038/s41562-025-02356-6
Baoshuai Zhang, Jiajing Zheng, Lei Sun, Yuanyuan Zhang, Zhenlong Gao, Zhaohui Han, Pengfei Sheng, Xingxiang Zhang, Juan Wang, Panxin Du, Jianxue Xiong, Xin Chang, Ke Wang, Bangyan Wang, Kongyang Zhu, Rui Wang, Xiaomin Yang, Tianyou Bai, Yu Xu, Gao Wu, Chuan-Chao Wang, Shaoqing Wen, Anchuan Fan
The Eastern Zhou period (771-221 BC), characterized by social stratification, was marked by important inequality. Here the authors analyse 32 skeletons from Songzhuang Cemetery in Henan Province using sex-specific peptides, ancient DNA and isotopes to explore multidimensional inequality in sexes, diet and mobility. DNA and proteomic analyses show that young women were marginalized as sacrificial victims (22 out of 26 human sacrifices were female). Carbon and nitrogen isotopic analyses suggest dietary differences by social class, with the nobility consuming more high-protein and millet-based diets than sacrificial companions, who themselves show intra-group dietary variation (δ13Cbone,nobles = -8.6‰; δ13Cbone,human sacrifice group one = -10.9‰; δ13Cbone,human sacrifice group two = -14.1‰; δ15Nbone,nobles = 11.6‰; δ15Nbone,human sacrifice group one = 8.5‰; δ15Nbone,human sacrifice group two = 7.7‰). Enamel and dentin isotope data indicate that these dietary inequalities were established from childhood (δ13Cenamel,nobles = -1.5‰; δ13Cenamel,human sacrifice group one = -3.8‰; δ13Cenamel,human sacrifice group two = -6.9‰). Strontium and oxygen isotope evidence shows that a high proportion of the nobles were non-local migrants. Genetic analysis reveals a genealogy linking four noblewomen to a sacrificial victim, highlighting the importance of kinship and marital alliances in maintaining social status. Despite class rigidity, dental isotope sequences in M18 reveal that two individuals experienced childhood dietary shifts, indicating rare class mobility.
{"title":"Multidisciplinary analyses and ancient DNA reveal social inequality and mobility in the Central Plains during the Eastern Zhou period in China.","authors":"Baoshuai Zhang, Jiajing Zheng, Lei Sun, Yuanyuan Zhang, Zhenlong Gao, Zhaohui Han, Pengfei Sheng, Xingxiang Zhang, Juan Wang, Panxin Du, Jianxue Xiong, Xin Chang, Ke Wang, Bangyan Wang, Kongyang Zhu, Rui Wang, Xiaomin Yang, Tianyou Bai, Yu Xu, Gao Wu, Chuan-Chao Wang, Shaoqing Wen, Anchuan Fan","doi":"10.1038/s41562-025-02356-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41562-025-02356-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The Eastern Zhou period (771-221 BC), characterized by social stratification, was marked by important inequality. Here the authors analyse 32 skeletons from Songzhuang Cemetery in Henan Province using sex-specific peptides, ancient DNA and isotopes to explore multidimensional inequality in sexes, diet and mobility. DNA and proteomic analyses show that young women were marginalized as sacrificial victims (22 out of 26 human sacrifices were female). Carbon and nitrogen isotopic analyses suggest dietary differences by social class, with the nobility consuming more high-protein and millet-based diets than sacrificial companions, who themselves show intra-group dietary variation (δ<sup>13</sup>C<sub>bone,nobles</sub> = -8.6‰; δ<sup>13</sup>C<sub>bone,human sacrifice group one</sub> = -10.9‰; δ<sup>13</sup>C<sub>bone,human sacrifice group two</sub> = -14.1‰; δ<sup>15</sup>N<sub>bone,nobles</sub> = 11.6‰; δ<sup>15</sup>N<sub>bone,human sacrifice group one</sub> = 8.5‰; δ<sup>15</sup>N<sub>bone,human sacrifice group two</sub> = 7.7‰). Enamel and dentin isotope data indicate that these dietary inequalities were established from childhood (δ<sup>13</sup>C<sub>enamel,nobles</sub> = -1.5‰; δ<sup>13</sup>C<sub>enamel,human sacrifice group one</sub> = -3.8‰; δ<sup>13</sup>C<sub>enamel,human sacrifice group two</sub> = -6.9‰). Strontium and oxygen isotope evidence shows that a high proportion of the nobles were non-local migrants. Genetic analysis reveals a genealogy linking four noblewomen to a sacrificial victim, highlighting the importance of kinship and marital alliances in maintaining social status. Despite class rigidity, dental isotope sequences in M18 reveal that two individuals experienced childhood dietary shifts, indicating rare class mobility.</p>","PeriodicalId":19074,"journal":{"name":"Nature Human Behaviour","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":15.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145864040","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-26DOI: 10.1038/s41562-025-02386-0
Júlio César Claudino Dos Santos
{"title":"Rethinking classroom design to improve learning.","authors":"Júlio César Claudino Dos Santos","doi":"10.1038/s41562-025-02386-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02386-0","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":19074,"journal":{"name":"Nature Human Behaviour","volume":"12 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":29.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145836112","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-23DOI: 10.1038/s41562-025-02331-1
Dawei Wang, Difang Huang, Haipeng Shen, Brian Uzzi
Human–machine partnerships are increasingly used to address grand societal challenges, yet knowledge of the comparative strengths of humans and machines to innovate is nascent. Here we compare the ability of humans (N = 9,198) and large language models (LLMs, N = 215,542 observations) to generate novel ideas in an established creativity task. We present three key results. First, human creativity on average is slightly higher than that of LLMs. Second, creativity differences are pronounced at the extremes of the distribution, with humans exhibiting greater variability and higher levels of creativity in the right-hand tail of the distribution. Third, attempts to increase the creativity of LLMs through instructing LLMs to take on genius personas or different demographic roles lifted performance up to a threshold beyond which the output became opposite real-life patterns, whereas strategic prompt-engineering efforts yielded mixed to negative results. We discuss the implications of our findings for human–machine collaboration and problem solving.
人机合作越来越多地用于解决重大的社会挑战,但关于人类和机器在创新方面的比较优势的知识还处于萌芽阶段。在这里,我们比较了人类(N = 9198)和大型语言模型(llm, N = 215,542个观察结果)在既定创造力任务中产生新想法的能力。我们提出了三个关键结果。首先,人类的创造力平均略高于法学硕士。其次,创造力差异在分布的极端是明显的,在分布的右尾部,人类表现出更大的可变性和更高水平的创造力。第三,试图通过指导法学硕士扮演天才角色或不同的人口角色来提高法学硕士的创造力,将绩效提升到一个阈值,超过这个阈值,产出就会变成与现实生活相反的模式,而战略性的即时工程努力产生了好坏参半的结果。我们讨论了我们的发现对人机协作和问题解决的影响。
{"title":"A large-scale comparison of divergent creativity in humans and large language models","authors":"Dawei Wang, Difang Huang, Haipeng Shen, Brian Uzzi","doi":"10.1038/s41562-025-02331-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02331-1","url":null,"abstract":"Human–machine partnerships are increasingly used to address grand societal challenges, yet knowledge of the comparative strengths of humans and machines to innovate is nascent. Here we compare the ability of humans (N = 9,198) and large language models (LLMs, N = 215,542 observations) to generate novel ideas in an established creativity task. We present three key results. First, human creativity on average is slightly higher than that of LLMs. Second, creativity differences are pronounced at the extremes of the distribution, with humans exhibiting greater variability and higher levels of creativity in the right-hand tail of the distribution. Third, attempts to increase the creativity of LLMs through instructing LLMs to take on genius personas or different demographic roles lifted performance up to a threshold beyond which the output became opposite real-life patterns, whereas strategic prompt-engineering efforts yielded mixed to negative results. We discuss the implications of our findings for human–machine collaboration and problem solving.","PeriodicalId":19074,"journal":{"name":"Nature Human Behaviour","volume":"371 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":29.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145808145","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-23DOI: 10.1038/s41562-025-02361-9
Erik Lamontagne, Vincent Leroy, Sean Howell, Sylvie Boyer, Bruno Ventelou
Here we explore the well-being of sexual and gender diverse (LGBTQ+) people using three socioecological dimensions of homophobia, family, community and national and their socioeconomic status via a convenience sample of 82,324 participants. Participants from the Middle East and North Africa reported the lowest subjective well-being (mean 4.78, s.d. of 2.70), followed by Eastern Europe and Central Asia (mean 5.22, s.d. of 2.13). The Structural Homophobic Climate Index (β = −1.68, 95% confidence interval (CI) −2.38 to −0.99) and family-level homophobia (β = −0.84, 95% CI −0.87 to −0.81) were negatively related to LGBTQ+ well-being. Economic precarity significantly interacted with the negative association between homophobia and participants’ well-being. The weight of a country’s homophobic climate on well-being was nearly halved for economically secure participants compared with those economically deprived. Participants unaware of their human immunodeficiency virus status reported the lowest well-being (β = −0.20, 95% CI −0.23 to −0.16) controlling for homophobia. Public health measures should address homophobic stigma and discrimination, focusing on the lowest socioeconomic strata.
{"title":"Homophobia, economic precarity and the well-being of sexual and gender diverse people in a 153-country survey","authors":"Erik Lamontagne, Vincent Leroy, Sean Howell, Sylvie Boyer, Bruno Ventelou","doi":"10.1038/s41562-025-02361-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02361-9","url":null,"abstract":"Here we explore the well-being of sexual and gender diverse (LGBTQ+) people using three socioecological dimensions of homophobia, family, community and national and their socioeconomic status via a convenience sample of 82,324 participants. Participants from the Middle East and North Africa reported the lowest subjective well-being (mean 4.78, s.d. of 2.70), followed by Eastern Europe and Central Asia (mean 5.22, s.d. of 2.13). The Structural Homophobic Climate Index (β = −1.68, 95% confidence interval (CI) −2.38 to −0.99) and family-level homophobia (β = −0.84, 95% CI −0.87 to −0.81) were negatively related to LGBTQ+ well-being. Economic precarity significantly interacted with the negative association between homophobia and participants’ well-being. The weight of a country’s homophobic climate on well-being was nearly halved for economically secure participants compared with those economically deprived. Participants unaware of their human immunodeficiency virus status reported the lowest well-being (β = −0.20, 95% CI −0.23 to −0.16) controlling for homophobia. Public health measures should address homophobic stigma and discrimination, focusing on the lowest socioeconomic strata.","PeriodicalId":19074,"journal":{"name":"Nature Human Behaviour","volume":"47 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":29.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145808177","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-23DOI: 10.1038/s41562-025-02366-4
Jianan Huang, Cong Cao, Hong Liu
China’s national academies have long served as barometers of academic development and scientific prestige. We use publicly available information to develop a dataset comprising 3,534 academy member profiles spanning 1905 to 2023. Using this dataset, we examine the evolving composition of China’s academic elite. Here we show that despite increasing globalization, the proportion of foreign-educated academy members has declined, while scholars from underrepresented regions—Western China and developing countries (or the Global South)—have benefited from preferential inclusive policies. Some elite-level returnee academics experience research underperformance upon returning. These trends reflect a broader shift towards academic indigenization and have wider implications for meritocracy, mobility and the sustainability of China’s talent strategies. This study examines complex reasons behind the above developments.
{"title":"Indigenization and inclusion in Chinese academia","authors":"Jianan Huang, Cong Cao, Hong Liu","doi":"10.1038/s41562-025-02366-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02366-4","url":null,"abstract":"China’s national academies have long served as barometers of academic development and scientific prestige. We use publicly available information to develop a dataset comprising 3,534 academy member profiles spanning 1905 to 2023. Using this dataset, we examine the evolving composition of China’s academic elite. Here we show that despite increasing globalization, the proportion of foreign-educated academy members has declined, while scholars from underrepresented regions—Western China and developing countries (or the Global South)—have benefited from preferential inclusive policies. Some elite-level returnee academics experience research underperformance upon returning. These trends reflect a broader shift towards academic indigenization and have wider implications for meritocracy, mobility and the sustainability of China’s talent strategies. This study examines complex reasons behind the above developments.","PeriodicalId":19074,"journal":{"name":"Nature Human Behaviour","volume":"27 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":29.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145808175","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-23DOI: 10.1038/s41562-025-02359-3
Jacques Pesnot Lerousseau, Christopher Summerfield
Do humans learn like transformers? We trained both humans (n = 530) and transformer networks on a rule learning task where they had to respond to a query in a sequence. At test, we measured ‘in-context’ learning (generalize the rule to novel queries) and ‘in-weights’ learning (recall past experiences from memory). Manipulating the diversity and redundancy of examples in the training distribution, we found that humans and transformer networks respond in very similar ways. In both types of learner, redundancy and diversity trade off in driving in-weights and in-context learning, respectively, whereas a composite distribution with a balanced mix of redundancy and diversity allows the two strategies to be used in tandem. However, we also found that while humans benefit from dynamic training schedules that emphasize diverse examples early, transformers do not. So, while the same data-distributional properties promote learning in humans and transformer networks, only people benefit from curricula.
{"title":"Shared sensitivity to data distribution during learning in humans and transformer networks","authors":"Jacques Pesnot Lerousseau, Christopher Summerfield","doi":"10.1038/s41562-025-02359-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02359-3","url":null,"abstract":"Do humans learn like transformers? We trained both humans (n = 530) and transformer networks on a rule learning task where they had to respond to a query in a sequence. At test, we measured ‘in-context’ learning (generalize the rule to novel queries) and ‘in-weights’ learning (recall past experiences from memory). Manipulating the diversity and redundancy of examples in the training distribution, we found that humans and transformer networks respond in very similar ways. In both types of learner, redundancy and diversity trade off in driving in-weights and in-context learning, respectively, whereas a composite distribution with a balanced mix of redundancy and diversity allows the two strategies to be used in tandem. However, we also found that while humans benefit from dynamic training schedules that emphasize diverse examples early, transformers do not. So, while the same data-distributional properties promote learning in humans and transformer networks, only people benefit from curricula.","PeriodicalId":19074,"journal":{"name":"Nature Human Behaviour","volume":"24 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":29.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145808189","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}