Retail and Services News

June 26, 2025

Top Headlines

Landmark Report Reveals Key Challenges Facing Adolescents

May 20, 2025 — Poor mental health, rising obesity rates, exposure to violence and climate change are among the key challenges facing our adolescents today, according to a global ...

Is Virtual-Only Couture the New Clothing Craze?

May 7, 2025 — As fast fashion continues to fill wardrobes and landfills at a staggering pace, new research suggests that the future of fashion might lie not in fabric, but in ...

When It Comes to Obesity-Related Cancers, Where You Shop for Food Matters

Apr. 2, 2025 — Obesity is at epidemic proportions in the United States where more than 40% of adults are obese and more than 70% are overweight. One common policy intervention to tackle this urgent issue is to try to improve diet quality by increasing local ...

Renting Clothes for Sustainable Fashion -- Niche Markets Work Best

Mar. 28, 2025 — Renting clothes can reduce the fashion industry's enormous environmental impact, but so far, the business models have not worked very well. The best chance of success is for a rental company to provide clothing within a niche market, such as ...

Study Documents Impacts of Large-Scale Entry of Rooftop Solar Panels on Competition

Mar. 25, 2025 — Fossil-fuel plants are increasingly being forced to stop and start production in response to changes in output from renewables. In a new study, researchers developed a dynamic competitive benchmark ...

A Wealth of Evidence: 85,000 Individual Studies About Climate Policy

Feb. 11, 2025 — Research on climate policy is growing exponentially. Of the approximately 85,000 individual studies ever published on policy instruments for mitigating global heating, a good quarter are from 2020 or later. A study using machine learning methods now ...

Researchers Link India's Food Program to Better Health and Stronger Incomes

Feb. 4, 2025 — Despite humanity's scientific achievements and globalized economy, malnutrition remains a global issue. The United Nations estimated that 2.33 billion people experienced moderate or severe food insecurity in ...

Electricity Prices Across Europe to Stabilize If 2030 Targets for Renewable Energy Are Met, Study Suggests

Feb. 3, 2025 — National targets for solar and wind power will see reliance on natural gas plummet, reducing electricity price volatility across Europe, with major beneficiaries including the UK and Ireland, the ...

Sodium-Ion Batteries Need Breakthroughs to Compete

Jan. 13, 2025 — A thorough analysis of market, technological, and supply chain outcomes for sodium-ion batteries finds that significant advances are needed before ...

Climate Fee on Food Could Effectively Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Agriculture While Ensuring a Social Balance

Jan. 10, 2025 — Greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture could be significantly reduced in a socially equitable way through a climate fee on food, combined with climate dividends. A new study suggests that pricing ...

Medicare Rules May Reduce Prescription Steering

Jan. 10, 2025 — Researchers have found that pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) -- organizations that negotiate access to medicines for most patients in the United States -- steer patients to use their own pharmacies. However, these pharmacies appear less used in ...

Growing Divide: Agricultural Climate Policies Affect Food Prices Differently in Poor and Wealthy Countries

Jan. 4, 2025 — Farmers are receiving less of what consumers spend on food, as modern food systems increasingly direct costs toward value-added components like processing, transport, and marketing. A study shows ...

Latest Headlines

updated 2:39pm EDT

Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility Can Create Social, Economic Value

Jan. 28, 2025 — Strategic corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts that are directly related to a hospitality company's core business operations and competencies can help companies create both social and ...

Too Many Men or Too Few Women? New Study Finds How the Gender Gap Is Framed Affects Perceptions of It

Jan. 2, 2025 — Recognizing that news coverage may have influence in forming attitudes and in driving action, a team of psychology researchers examined whether ...

It's Worth Mixing It Up: What Combination of Policies Will Lead to a Clean Energy Future?

Dec. 16, 2024 — How can we ensure that as many households as possible adopt not only solar panels, but also their own battery to store solar energy, a heat pump, and ...

Diversity and Inclusion Accelerate the Pace of Innovation in Robotics

Dec. 12, 2024 — Diverse and inclusive teams are not merely a moral imperative but also a catalyst for scientific excellence in robotics, scientists point out in a study. The team has outlined how a scientific ...

Better Environmental Performance Boosts Profits and Cuts Costs

Dec. 10, 2024 — Using a new calculation method, researchers found in an international comparative study that investors value corporate environmental performance more than mere information disclosure. In some ...

Study Calls for City Fashion-Waste Shakeup

Nov. 22, 2024 — With most donated clothes exported or thrown away, experts are calling for a shakeup of how we deal with the growing fashion waste ...

Plastic Bag Bans Have Lingering Impacts, Even After Repeals

Nov. 18, 2024 — A new study found that policies to curtail the use of single-use plastic bags in grocery stores and other retail outlets in Austin and Dallas, Texas, resulted in people buying more plastic bags, a ...

'Jekyll and Hyde' Leaders Do Lasting Damage, New Research Shows

Nov. 16, 2024 — Employees struggle when supervisors swing between good and bad ...

How Limiting New Fast-Food Outlets May Reduce Childhood Obesity

Oct. 25, 2024 — Planning policies to restrict the number of new fast-food outlets leads to fewer overweight and obese children according to research. Researchers examined the impact of policy in the North East of ...

Curbing Air Pollution Control Devices Would Cost Thousands of Lives and Billions of Dollars

Oct. 25, 2024 — A new commentary found that power plants' use of these devices saved up to 9,100 lives and up to $100 billion in health costs in 2023. These ...

11 To 12-Year-Olds Use Smartphones Mainly to Talk to Family and Friends

Dec. 26, 2024 — A research group has analyzed the digital ecosystem of 11- to 12-year-old children across the Basque Autonomous Community, and concluded that two out of three own a smartphone. They use smartphones ...

New Study Sheds Light on the Role of Sound and Music in Gendered Toy Marketing

Nov. 6, 2024 — New research reveals that the music and soundscapes used in toy commercials are reinforcing rigid gender norms, shaping the way children perceive masculinity and femininity. The study uncovers how ...

The Harmful Frequency and Reach of Unhealthy Foods on Social Media

Oct. 31, 2024 — An analysis of social media posts that mention food and beverage products finds that fast food restaurants and sugar sweetened beverages are the most common, with millions of posts reaching billions ...

Why Leadership Outweighs an Interdisciplinary Mix in the Effectiveness of a Research Team

Oct. 15, 2024 — An analysis of a child health project reveals surprising factors in early-stage team ...

Transition to a Circular Bioeconomy Requires Getting Prices Right

Oct. 8, 2024 — A circular bioeconomy that reduces and recycles waste, transitions away from fossil fuels to renewable bio-based alternatives, and regenerates natural systems is critical for feeding and fueling the ...

Alarming Surge: Global Crisis of Childhood Overweight and Obesity

Sep. 26, 2024 — Since 1990, childhood obesity has nearly doubled globally, with the U.S. at the forefront. Addressing pediatric obesity requires a multifaceted approach from tackling the influence of social media ...

Leading Scientists Redefine 'Sustainability' to Save the Ocean and Feed a Hungry and Warming Planet

Sep. 23, 2024 — Top ocean experts have published a report that redefines the concept of 'sustainable fishing' and proposes 11 'golden rules' that radically challenge the flawed approach that ...

Demand-Side Actions Could Help Construction Sector Deliver on Net-Zero Targets

Sep. 20, 2024 — Researchers used a detailed mathematical model to demonstrate that the construction sector in the UK and Europe could almost eliminate its carbon emissions by 2060. This could be achieved through ...

Organized Youth Sports Are Increasingly for the Privileged

Aug. 20, 2024 — A sweeping study of U.S. youth sports participation over the past 60 years found that there has been a significant increase over time in kids playing organized sports -- but particularly among more ...

Scientists Condition Crocodiles to Avoid Killer Cane Toads

Aug. 15, 2024 — Scientists have trialled a new way to protect freshwater crocodiles from deadly invasive cane toads spreading across northern ...

Study Quantifies Air Pollution for NYC Subway Commuters

Aug. 7, 2024 — New York City subway commuters who are economically disadvantaged or belong to racial minority groups have the highest exposure to fine particulate matter during their commutes, according to a new ...

New York City's Fireworks Display Prompts Temporary Surge of Air Pollution

Aug. 6, 2024 — In 2023, roughly 60,000 firework shells exploded above Manhattan's East River as part of Macy's Fourth of July show. The resulting air pollutant levels were many times higher in the hours ...

A New Way of Thinking About the Economy Could Help Protect the Amazon, and Help Its People Thrive

Aug. 6, 2024 — To protect the Amazon and support the wellbeing of its people, its economy needs to shift from environmentally harmful production to a model built around the diversity of indigenous and rural ...

Cheese of the Future: Consumers Open to Animal-Free Alternatives

Aug. 1, 2024 — Companies and institutes are currently working on biotechnological processes for the production of 'dairy products' without the use of cows: In so-called precision fermentation, egg and ...

Peer Influence Can Promote Healthier Shopping Habits, Study Reveals

July 30, 2024 — A randomized trial conducted by health economists found that a bit of peer influence can nudge us to select healthier ...

Is That Glass Bottle of OJ Better for the Planet Than a Plastic Container?

July 30, 2024 — Which packaging type for a 12-ounce, single-serve container of orange juice would you choose as the most sustainable option: Aluminum/canned, made with recycled material; Carton, described as ...

Warehousing Industry Increases Health-Harming Pollutants, Research Shows

July 24, 2024 — A new study shows an average 20-percent spike of nitrogen dioxide polluting the air for communities located near huge warehouses. And people of color are harder ...

Does the Onset of Daylight Saving Time Lead to an Unhealthy Lifestyle?

July 23, 2024 — Consumers' attitudes and health behaviors respond negatively to the switch to daylight saving ...

Study Shows New Efficiency Standards for Heavy Trucks Could Boost Energy Use

July 18, 2024 — A new study suggests that the U.S. government's push to increase heavy-duty trucks' energy efficiency could encourage more shipping by truck instead of rail, reducing the policies' ...

Mental Health Training for Line Managers Linked to Better Business Performance in England

July 17, 2024 — In a study of several thousand companies in England, mental health training for line managers was associated with organizational-level benefits, including lower levels of long-term mental ...