Insights into the hidden histories and deeper meanings of Taylor Swift’s latest album are published in a special roundtable of the journal Public Humanities, published by Cambridge University Press.

A new study visualizes three decades of income inequality data, the most comprehensive worldwide mapping to be done at a subnational level. The results confirm worsening income inequality for areas with over 3.6 billion inhabitants but also reveals hidden ‘bright spots’ where policy may be closing the gap.

A comprehensive analysis of 383 U.S. cities reveals a striking pattern: most have rings of isolation in suburban areas and segregated pockets of near the urban core, that are shaped by race, wealth, and proximity to downtown, finds a new study by UCL researchers.

Many patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) suffer from abdominal pain even between acute inflammatory flare-ups. Altered processing of pain in response to fear may be involved. This is the conclusion of a research team at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, involving Dr. Hanna Öhlmann. The researchers compared the perception of pain in healthy individuals and patients with IBD using a learning experiment. Based on their findings, they recommend the development of personalized treatments that take such psychological mechanisms into account. The study was published in the scientific magazine PAIN on November 26, 2025.

Words reflecting diversity language have appeared less frequently in grants awarded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) since the 2024 US presidential election, with a 25% relative decrease between January 2024 and June 2025, finds a study in the Christmas issue of The BMJ.