October 28, 2024: Morality shifts with the seasons, new ways to confront debilitating fears, and dismantling the ISS will create a lot of junk. —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | | The International Space Station orbits Earth. dima_zel/Getty Images | | | • The controlled destruction of the International Space Station will produce a huge scattering of space junk. Here's the plan for how to deal with it. | 8 min read | | | • Fast-moving wildfires are the most damaging type of wildfire, and they're happening more often because of climate change. | 3 min read | | | Jasmin Merdan/Getty Images | | | People's sense of morality shifts with the seasons, according to a study of hundreds of thousands of people. According to so-called moral framework theory, which identifies major principles that determine social behavior, people are more likely to align with more conservative ideals during the spring and fall.
The details: Researchers analyzed more than 230,000 online survey responses recorded over more than a decade from people in the U.S., along with smaller groups in Canada and Australia, about their feelings of right and wrong. The survey questions gauged loyalty (devotion to one's own group), authority (respect for leaders and rules), and purity (cleanliness and piety). Alignment with these ideals dipped during summer and winter.
What the experts say: Moral values may shift with the seasons as anxiety shifts with the seasons. Using a 90,000-respondent survey dataset, and Internet search data, the researchers found that anxiety levels also peak in spring and fall. "There is a close relationship between anxiety and threat," says University of Nottingham psychologist and study co-author Brian O'Shea. If people feel more vulnerable to getting sick in certain seasons they tend to be more distrustful, more xenophobic and more likely to conform to majority opinion. | | | Unconsciously Face Your Fears | What is the best way to confront phobias and debilitating fears? Unconscious exposure to spiders and trauma-inducing situations may be an effective antidote. In several studies, researchers showed study participants "very brief exposures" (VBEs) to their triggers through subliminal images for a few hundredths of a second, followed by innocuous images for longer stretches.
Why this matters: Traditional exposure therapy (which involves confrontation of deep-seated fears) does work, but the process is difficult and therapy dropout rates can be as high as 45 percent.
What the experts say: Unconscious exposure therapy might be best in conjunction with traditional exposure therapy, says psychologist Paul Siegel of Purchase College. "This can take the edge off," Siegel says. "I've seen it can reduce someone's fears just enough so that it's easier for them to engage in exposure, and I'd say clinically, that's really the goal." | | | • Research debunking shaken baby syndrome has accumulated, and so too have successful legal challenges to criminal convictions based on the diagnosis. Despite the findings, Robert Roberson remains on death row, at risk of execution. Science is constantly evolving, and our legal system should be no different, write Jeff Kukucka and David Faigman, a psychology researcher and professor of law, respectively. | 5 min read | | | There are only a couple more hours for you to inform the future of Scientific American! If you haven't already, please click the box above or find our reader survey here and tell us how we can improve our publication. | It's an honor to be on this journey of scientific discovery with you! If you like the content in this newsletter and want to dive deeper, consider a subscription to Scientific American! We have special discounts for Today in Science readers. And email me anytime with feedback or comments: newsletters@sciam.com. See you tomorrow. | —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | Subscribe to this and all of our newsletters . | | | | Scientific American
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