News and Opinion

July Highlights from the Humanities and Social Sciences Communities

From friendship and population change to neuroscience and AI, July’s Humanities and Social Sciences Community highlights offered fresh perspectives on some of today’s most intriguing questions. Explore the posts below and discover the conversations that captured our attention this month.
Yuanxin Zhang Aug 07, 2026

July brought a diverse mix of conversations to the Humanities and Social Sciences Communities, from friendship and population change to neuroscience and AI. The posts featured below reflect some of the topics that captured our attention and offer plenty of thought-provoking reading for the summer. 

If something here captures your interest, it is well worth exploring the full posts, and I would welcome any thoughts you may wish to share in the comments! 

Celebrating Humanities & Social Sciences Festival

Earlier this year, we held an internal Springer Nature Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) Festival. Across a series of keynote presentations, town halls, panel discussions, lightning talks, quizzes, and social events, we celebrated our rich HSS research output in book and journal article form, and our heritage, highlighting the impact and value of what we publish.  

HSS Festival Series Posts  

In June and July, a series of short videos and accompanying blog posts were published based on lightning talks that were delivered by Springer Nature colleagues during the festival. They build on individual experience to tell compelling stories about what we publish and why we value our work with academic communities in the varied disciplines that comprise the Humanities and the Social Sciences.   

Explore some of the Festival highlights below! 

What Makes Us Human? 

This short video highlights some impactful Humanities and Social Sciences research published by Springer Nature and explores the enduring value of these disciplines. 

Friendship and Belonging 

On 30 July, the International Day of Friendship celebrates the power of relationships in building understanding, trust, and community. These posts explore friendship from different perspectives and remind us why meaningful human connections matter. 

Why Friendship Matters 

@Harry Blatterer 

If we ever needed evidence that loneliness is most acutely felt in a crowd, digital sociality clearly shows that numbers of friends, like numbers of likes, cannot indicate depth of connection.

Why do friendships matter so much, yet receive so little attention from social scientists? Drawing on themes from his book Everyday Friendships: Intimacy as Freedom in a Complex World and his forthcoming work Friendship and Sociality, Harry explores friendship through questions many of us recognise: what helps us trust others, why friendships sometimes drift apart, and how digital life may be changing the way we connect.  

Read the full blog post for a fresh perspective on one of the most familiar, yet often overlooked, parts of everyday life. 

 

The Power of Women's Friendships 

@Molly Beck @Teresa Martinez-Quiles 

What brings women together, and what helps friendships endure across differences in background and experience? In this interview, @Teresa Martinez-Quiles discusses her forthcoming book Women’s Friendships in Contemporary Diasporic Fiction, exploring how friendships between women can offer support for connection. Drawing on contemporary literature, she examines how gender, race, and social class shape relationships, while also highlighting the ways friendship can help bridge those differences. 

Read the full post for some perspectives on women’s friendship. 

Population and Society 

World Population Day on 11 July, encourages reflection on how demographic change shapes societies around the world. These posts explore population trends, reproductive health, and the social challenges and opportunities linked to a growing and changing global population. 

Preparing for an Ageing World 

@Juliette Ruth Kleemann @Mohamed Ismail 

As populations age around the world, how can health and care systems prepare for growing demand? In this Behind the Paper interview, @Mohamed Ismail discusses his research on long-term care needs across the Middle East and North Africa, exploring the challenges of population ageing and care dependency. The conversation highlights why better evidence, forward planning, and equitable care systems are essential for supporting ageing populations in the years ahead. Read the full interview to learn more.  

Interested in learning more? Explore other World Population Day posts recently shared by @Juliette Ruth Kleemann. 

 

Young People's Futures in Focus 

@Angela Yang

What does the future look like for the next generation? Bringing together research from across the Discover portfolio, this post explores topics ranging from population trends and sustainability to youth wellbeing, employment, mental health, and future aspirations. Together, these studies highlight how demographic change intersects with some of the most important social, economic, and health challenges facing young people today. 

Read the full post to explore the research and perspectives featured in Discover journals. 

Human and Machine 

As digital technologies become increasingly embedded in everyday life, several posts this month explored how humans interact with machines and how technology is reshaping research itself. 

What Basketball Can Teach Us About the Brain 

@Miguel Angel Contreras Altamirano @Stefanie Dehnen

Can we study brain activity while people move naturally, rather than sitting still in a laboratory? In this fascinating Behind the Paper post, the authors share how they used a portable research setup to follow basketball players as they took free throws in real-world conditions. The study offers a glimpse into how the brain and body work together during complex movements. 

Read the full post to discover how researchers are taking the study of human behaviour beyond the lab. 

 

When AI Mirrors Us 

@Santiago Castiello de Obeso @Daniel Lametti 

Why do some AI tools feel easier to talk to than others? In this Behind the Paper post, researchers explore whether people feel more connected to AI that seems a little more like themselves. Their findings suggest that similarity matters, raising interesting questions about how we might interact with AI in the future. 

Read the full post to find out what makes some AI feel more familiar than others. 

This month’s posts explore a wide range of topics, from friendship and society to technology and human behaviour. I hope they inspire you to discover something new and encourage you to explore the full posts. Thanks for reading, and feel free to join the conversation in the comments! 

 

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