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University of Kansas

Public research university in Lawrence, Kansas, with faculty conducting studies across fields including journalism, genetics, and economics.

Current stories

scienceOne report1 publisher

An Alaskan ridge above the Tanana River yields three Ice Age occupations spanning 1,100 years

University of Kansas researchers report more than 80,000 specimens from an Alaskan ridge occupied 13,800 to 12,700 years ago. Three dated components allow a comparison across 1,100 years, if finds are reported component by component.

Publishers:phys.org

Reality

Evidence62
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+10
Incentives
Not scored
Confidence50
scienceOne report1 publisher

Statistics tested on bison shrink the sex gap in paleontology's classic uintathere example

University of Kansas researchers found that about 30 Uintatherium anceps skulls lack the clear two-group split expected if the sexes differed sharply. Run on known-sex bison, the same tests split the sexes almost perfectly, so the long-cited fossil contrast looks overstated.

Publishers:phys.org

Reality

Evidence45
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+15
Incentives
Not scored
Confidence40
scienceOne report1 publisher

First people likely reached the Americas 14,000 to 20,000 years ago, Kansas-led review argues

Bethany Potter's University of Kansas team argues the evidence best fits people reaching the Americas 14,000 to 20,000 years ago. The paper reweighs published genetic, archaeological and climate evidence in a debate that still has no conclusive proof.

Publishers:phys.org

Reality

Evidence40
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+15
Incentives
Not scored
Confidence40
scienceOne report1 publisher

Genetic evidence puts the arrival of Indigenous Americans' ancestors at no earlier than 21,000 years ago

Kansas researchers say genetic evidence puts the arrival of today's Indigenous peoples' ancestors in the Americas no earlier than 21,000 years ago. That bound weighs against entry before the ice age's coldest peak, though the authors say gaps in sampling leave room for earlier groups.

Publishers:livescience.com

Reality

Evidence45
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+15
Incentives
Not scored
Confidence40
scienceOne report1 publisher

Colonizers recorded 85.7% of primary sources in widely used online lessons on imperialism

University of Kansas researchers found colonizers recorded 85.7% of the primary sources in 46 sets of open online materials used to teach imperialism. Teachers increasingly rely on such materials because many districts cannot afford or access print textbooks.

Publishers:phys.org

Reality

Evidence45
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+20
Incentives
Not scored
Confidence50
investOne report1 publisher

Adding unpaid housework to GDP lowers 55 years of US growth by 0.2 points a year

The GAO values unpaid household work at up to $6 trillion a year, a fifth of GDP. The BEA series that counts it grew 6.1% a year from 1965 through 2020, against 6.3% for headline GDP, and that gap compounds to about 11%.

Publishers:fortune.com

Reality

Evidence62
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+22
Incentives38
Confidence58
scienceOne report1 publisher

A drop in J/psi production at sub-proton scales strains conventional nuclear shadowing

ALICE turned near-miss lead collisions into a photon beam and scanned momentum transfer down to a resolution of 0.2 femtometers, about a quarter of a proton. The drop in J/psi production it found there was not expected.

Publishers:sciencedaily.com

Reality

Evidence58
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+25
Incentives62
Confidence55
scienceOne report1 publisher

Media literacy tracked trust in 1,300 Indian adults. WhatsApp use tracked the opposite.

Two University of Kansas surveys move a Western research staple to India. Media literacy was the strongest predictor of institutional trust, and it did not predict civic engagement at all.

Publishers:phys.org

Reality

Evidence42
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+18
Incentives58
Confidence38