**A Hyper-Catalan Series Solution to Polynomial Equations, and the Geode**

“_....the hyper-Catalan numbers 𝐶𝐦 count the number of subdivisions of a polygon into a given number of triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, etc. (its type 𝐦), and we show that their generating series solves a polynomial equation of a particular geometric form. This solution is straightforwardly extended to solve the general univariate polynomial equation._”

Wildberger, N. J. and Rubine, D. (2025) ‘A Hyper-Catalan Series Solution to Polynomial Equations, and the Geode’, The American Mathematical Monthly, pp. 1–20. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/00029890.2025.2460966.

**Threshold fertility for the avoidance of extinction under critical conditions**

“_The results indicate that the fertility rate should exceed 2.7 to avoid extinction. The extinction threshold is reduced by a female-biased sex ratio. We argue that the present results explain the observed phenomena of female-biased births under severe conditions as an effective way to avoid extinction._”

Cuaresma DCN, Ito H, Arima H, Yoshimura J, Morita S, et al. (2025) Threshold fertility for the avoidance of extinction under critical conditions. PLOS ONE 20(4): e0322174. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0322174.

#OpenAccess #OA #Research #Article #DOI #Fertility #Extinction #Population #Anthropology #Academia #Academics @anthropology

**At the far end of everything: A likely Ahrensburgian presence in the far north of the Isle of Skye, Scotland**

“_ he people who made these artefacts originated in the mainland of northwest Europe, crossed Doggerland into what is now Britain, and eventually reached the far north of the Isle of Skye. Here, they adapted to live in a fragmented, fluctuating, and volatile environment amid melting glaciers, mountains, and oceans—vastly different from the low-lying environments of their homelands on the northwestern edge of the Great European Plain._”

Hardy, K., Barlow, N.L.M., Taylor, E., Bradley, S.L., McCarthy, J. and Rush, G. (2025), At the far end of everything: A likely Ahrensburgian presence in the far north of the Isle of Skye, Scotland. J. Quaternary Sci. https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3718.

#OpenAccess #OA #Research #Article #DOI #Archaeology #Archaeodons #History #Ahrensburgian #Climate #YoungerDryas #Scotland #Europe @archaeodons

**Profiling misinformation susceptibility**

"_Multilevel modelling showed that Generation Z, non-male, less educated, and more conservative individuals were more vulnerable to misinformation._"

Kyrychenko, Y. et al. (2025) 'Profiling misinformation susceptibility,' Personality and Individual Differences, 241, p. 113177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2025.113177.

#OpenAccess #OA #Article #Study #DOI #Misinformation #FakeNews #ConspiracyTheories #Personality #Psychology #Academia #Academics @psychology

**Company-State at Home: The East India Company and the Fiscal System in Eighteenth-Century Britain**

“_This article shows that fiscal capacity was not created only by government bureaucracies: the ‘company-state at home’ model presented here complements the narrative of the ‘fiscal-military state’ by showing that much fiscal revenue from trade was realized through the action of the English East India Company (EIC). Lacking the capacity to enact exhaustive laws, carry out complex calculations, or effectively manage a large bureaucracy, the English state relied on the administrative capacity of the EIC to collect customs on the East Indies trade._”

Karolina Hutková, Ernesto Dal Bó, Lukas Leucht, Noam Yuchtman, Company-State at Home: The East India Company and the Fiscal System in Eighteenth-Century Britain, Past & Present, 2025;, gtaf009, https://doi.org/10.1093/pastj/gtaf009.

#OpenAccess #OA #Article #DOI #History #Histodon #Histodons #UK #UnitedKingdom #Britain #India #EastIndiaCompany #C18th #Academia #Academics @histodon @histodons

**Tel Shiqmona during the Iron Age: A first glimpse into an ancient Mediterranean purple dye ‘factory’**

“_It is the only site in the Near East or around the Mediterranean—indeed, in the entire world—where a sequence of purple-dye workshops has been excavated and which has clear evidence for large-scale, sustained manufacture of purple dye and dyeing in a specialized facility for half a millennium, during the Iron Age (ca. 1100–600 BCE)._”

Shalvi G, Sukenik N, Waiman-Barak P, Dunseth ZC, Bar S, et al. (2025) Tel Shiqmona during the Iron Age: A first glimpse into an ancient Mediterranean purple dye ‘factory’. PLOS ONE 20(4): e0321082. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0321082.

#OpenAccess #OA #Research #DOI #Article #Ancient #Culture #Archaeology #Archaeodons #IronAge #Mediterranean #Academia #Academics @archaeodons

**Breaking Free of the Iron Cage: The Individualization of American Religion**

“_Our longitudinal analysis captures a dramatic shift in the American religious landscape, showing how people are breaking free from religious institutions and exploring more personalized forms of faith that resonate with their values._”

Schnabel, L., Horwitz, I., Hekmatpour, P., & Schleifer, C. (2025). Breaking Free of the Iron Cage: The Individualization of American Religion. Socius, 11. https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231251327442 (Original work published 2025)

#OpenAccess #OA #Research #Article #DOI #Religion #Society #Culture #Sociology #Academia #Academics @sociology

**Empires and their Languages: Reflections on the History and the Linguistics of Lingua Franca and Lingua Sacra**

“_Our interest in the history of lingua franca and lingua sacra is a contemporary one, and while examining a range of historic cases we will start from a modern point de vue, using concepts, categories and analyses from contact linguistics. Beyond history and linguistics, we will draw also on disciplines such as anthropology, cultural history, theology, the social history of language, Wissensgeschichte, global intellectual history, and so forth._”

Salverda, Reinier (2018). Empires and their Languages: Reflections on the History and the Linguistics of Lingua Franca and Lingua Sacra. In: Multilingualism, Lingua Franca and Lingua Sacra. Berlin: Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften. DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.34663/9783945561133-04.

#Languages #Linguistics #Academia #Academics #DOI @linguistics

**Evidence of the Zanclean megaflood in the eastern Mediterranean Basin**

“_Our findings provide evidence for a large amplitude drawdown in the Ionian Basin during the MSC, support the scenario of a Mediterranean-wide catastrophic flood at the end of the MSC, and suggest that the identified sedimentary body is the largest known megaflood deposit on Earth._”

Micallef, A., Camerlenghi, A., Garcia-Castellanos, D. et al. Evidence of the Zanclean megaflood in the eastern Mediterranean Basin. Sci Rep 8, 1078 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-19446-3.

#OpenAccess #OA #Article #DOI #Geology #Geomorphology #Geophysics #Sedimentology #Flood #Mediterranean #Academia #Academics @geology

**Computational analysis of US congressional speeches reveals a shift from evidence to intuition**

“_We find that evidence-based language has continued to decline since the mid-1970s, together with a decline in legislative productivity. The decline was accompanied by increasing partisan polarization in Congress and rising income inequality in society._”

Aroyehun, S.T., Simchon, A., Carrella, F. et al. Computational analysis of US congressional speeches reveals a shift from evidence to intuition. Nat Hum Behav (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02136-2.

#OpenAccess #OA #Article #DOI #Language #Linguistics #Psychology #Politics #USPol #USA #US #UnitedStates @psychology @linguistics

**Recurrent humid phases in Arabia over the past 8 million years**

“_Wetter conditions likely facilitated mammalian dispersals between Africa and Eurasia, with Arabia acting as a key crossroads for continental-scale biogeographic exchanges._”

Markowska, M., Vonhof, H.B., Groucutt, H.S. et al. Recurrent humid phases in Arabia over the past 8 million years. Nature (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08859-6.

#OpenAccess #OA #Article #DOI #Geography #Arabia #Climate #Academia #Academic @geography

**Hunter-gatherer sea voyages extended to remotest Mediterranean islands**

“_Here we describe chronological, archaeological, faunal and botanical data that support the presence of Holocene hunter-gatherers on the Maltese islands. At this time, Malta’s geographical configuration and sea levels approximated those of the present day, necessitating seafaring distances of around 100 km from Sicily, the closest landmass._”

Scerri, E.M.L., Blinkhorn, J., Groucutt, H.S. et al. Hunter-gatherer sea voyages extended to remotest Mediterranean islands. Nature (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08780-y.

#OpenAccess #OA #Article #DOI #Archaeology #Arcaheodons #Palaeoecology #Migration #Academia #Academics @archaeodons

**Known unknowns in the North. Uncertain maps of the Arctic in early modern times**

“_By zooming in on world maps and North Pole maps from the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries and examining them in a long-term chronological sequence, we can follow lines and lands that appear and disappear and trace the winding paths of mapping processes and practices through the centuries._”

van Netten, djoeke (2025) ‘Known unknowns in the North. Uncertain maps of the Arctic in early modern times’, International Journal of Cartography, pp. 1–20. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/23729333.2025.2478270.

#OpenAccess #OA #Research #Article #DOI #Map #Maps #Cartography #EarlyModern #Europe #NorthPole #Arctic #Academia #Academic @earlymodern

**Unpacking the effects of materialism on interpersonal relationships: A cognitive approach**

“_Three studies (N = 1389) employing correlational and experimental methodologies showed that materialism leads to heightened expectations and standards for a significant other, which are associated with poorer interpersonal outcomes. Specifically, materialism heightens the ideal standards that one has for a close other around achievement (e.g., ambition) and positive image (e.g., attractiveness), which are linked to higher conflict and lower relational satisfaction._”

Moldes, O. (2025). Unpacking the effects of materialism on interpersonal relationships: A cognitive approach. British Journal of Social Psychology, 64, e12795. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12795.

#OpenAccess #OA #Article #DOI #Psychology #Relationships #Materialism #Academia #Academic @psychology

**“Turning right”? An experimental study on the political value shift in large language models**

“_Our findings reveal that while newer versions of ChatGPT consistently maintain values within the libertarian-left quadrant, there is a statistically significant rightward shift in political values over time, a phenomenon we term a ‘value shift’ in large language models._”

Liu, Y., Panwang, Y. & Gu, C. “Turning right”? An experimental study on the political value shift in large language models. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 12, 179 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-04465-z.

#OpenAccess #OA #Article #DOI #Rightwing #Politics #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Technology #Tech #LLMS #Academia #Academics @ai

**Beyond the River, Under the Eye of Rome**

“_Hart delves into the cultural and political impacts of Rome's interactions with Transdanubian peoples, emphasizing the Sarmatians of the Hungarian Plain, whose long encounter with the Roman Empire, he argues, created a problematic template for later dealings with Goths and Huns based on misapplied ethnographic and ecological tropes._”

https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.11453670.

#OpenAccess #OA #DOI #Read #Nonfiction #Book #Ebook #Bookstodon #History #Histodon #Histodons #Europe #Romans #Academia #UniversityPress @bookstodon @histodon @histodons

**Qaryat al-Fāw/Qaryatum dhāt Kāhilim: On the identity of the god Kahl**

“_Despite his name being recorded in various texts and inscriptions on numerous objects that confirm his role as the city's patron god, scant information exists regarding his attributes or sphere of influence. Nonetheless, clues on some of his characteristics can be gleaned from coins bearing his likeness._”

de Lara, J. (2024). Qaryat al-Fāw/Qaryatum dhāt Kāhilim: On the identity of the god Kahl. Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy, 35, 136–154. https://doi.org/10.1111/aae.12249.

#OpenAccess #OA #Article #DOI #Archaeology #Archaeodons #Arabia #Mythology #Academia #Academic @archaeodons