Social Sciences

Distracted drivers cause thousands of deaths in car crashes every year. Robert Gray is making driving safer by finding the best ways to bring people's attention back to the road. --by Diane Boudreau

A new study shows that early modern humans on the South African coast used fire in toolmaking as long as 72,000 years ago. The work offers evidence that complex cognition in humans developed earlier than scientists previously thought. --by Carol Hughes

You shouldn't use your teeth to open a beer bottle or crack a nut--you'd break a tooth or even your jaw. But our earliest ancestors could have done it. Super-strong jaws in our 2.5-million-year-old relatives helped them adapt to changes in food sources in their environment. --by Jodi Guyot

The United States is a "litigation-happy" society, with citizens just waiting for the opportunity to sue. This belief is widely accepted and widely proclaimed–but is it true? Not really. --by Diane Boudreau

People narrate their lives through stories, especially as they age. Kevin McHugh has found that the cinema offers a compelling laboratory for examining this process. --by Melissa Olson-Petrie

Youngtown, Ariz., used to be an age-restricted retirement community, but not anymore. Kevin McHugh calls the change the "unraveling of an idea." --by Melissa Olson-Petrie

Find out how Arizona residents feel about the results of the presidential election, why they voted the way they did, and what they think the GOP should do to revive itself nationally.

The stereotype that Asian Americans are smarter and more successful than other ethnic groups is alive and well. It can lead policy-makers to ignore very real problems within that group, a new report says. --by Judith Smith

Not having enough clean water to meet basic needs is difficult in and of itself. But when it comes to emotional distress, new research show that the social inequalities that lead to this scarcity are more hurtful than the lack of water itself. --by Rebecca Howe

As top news headlines trumpet American economic woes, U.S. presidential candidates struggle to reassure panicked investors. But how exactly does the economy influence voting behavior? Researchers are finding out.