SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
We look back now as we wrap up the year at a novel that itself seeks to look back and then makes us wonder – what really lasts? Ian McEwan’s latest is set in Britain a century from now, an island state…
Author: admin
-
Ian McEwan discusses his new novel, ‘What We Can Know’ : NPR
In the future, Britain is partly submerged by rising seas. What do people remember of the past? NPR’s Scott Simon talks to author Ian McEwan about his novel, “What We Can Know.”
SCOTT SIMON,…
Continue Reading
-
A new study links the psychological benefits of swearing : NPR
A new study in the journal ‘American Psychologist’ links swearing to “state disinhibition,” a psychological state where you’re less likely to hold back.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Scientists have determined that uttering curse words can offer pain relief, make you a little stronger. A study published in American Psychologist last week links that boost in brawn to state disinhibition, a psychological state where you’re less likely to hold back. Nicholas Washmuth co-authored the study. He’s a Ph.D. student at the University of Alabama. He joins us now. Thanks so much for being with us.
NICHOLAS WASHMUTH: Absolutely.
SIMON: Tell me about your research. Did you just tell a number of people, start swearing and try to pick up that chair?
WASHMUTH: No. It’s – what we did in this most recent study was we had 300 participants complete a chair push-up task. Basically, we asked these participants to sit in a chair, using their hands and hands alone to lift their bottom off the chair for as long as possible. They did this while swearing and while also repeating a neutral word. And when they were swearing, they could hold that position longer. The reason why you can hold that position longer was because you are in a more disinhibited state. You’re more willing to give yourself physically and mentally to that task after swearing.
SIMON: Any curse words work better than others?
WASHMUTH: The prompt we used was, share a swear word that you would use if you hit your head or stubbed your toe. And they also selected their neutral word using the prompt, share a word that you would use to describe this table. So when you ask a participant to choose a swear word they would use, that’s a word that is likely powerful to them or they would use in certain situations where they need that boost. The most common words that were selected were the F-word and the S-word.
SIMON: Now – all right. My late aunt Izetta would not swear in front of us, but when something happened, she would say sugar – I think to replace the S-word. Would that have had the same effect?
WASHMUTH: Evidence would suggest made-up swear words or euphemisms for swear words do not have the same impact. So you can’t say sugar or fudge or even say, the F-word. There’s a line that needs to be crossed to enter that taboo realm. We don’t know exactly where that line is yet. But right now evidence would suggest that you actually need to say the word to get that boost in performance.
SIMON: So what do we do with this information?
WASHMUTH: That is an excellent question. Our hope is that people would be engaged with this line of research and, if it is something that they are interested in, play around with this tool themselves in a safe, comfortable area where they’re not going to offend somebody. But our research is transitioning more into this broader idea that if swearing helps you go for it or not hold back, can swearing as a tool be generalized to other situations where success depends on overcoming hesitancy? People tend to second-guess themselves during public speaking and when approaching a potential romantic partner. So can swearing privately just before public speaking or privately just before you ask someone out on a date – can that be a tool you can use to help you essentially be more successful in these situations where we tend to hold ourselves back?
SIMON: Nicholas Washmuth, co-author of the study “Don’t Hold Back: Swearing Improves Strength Through State Disinhibition.” You know, I get extra strength just from saying that BJ Leiderman does our theme music. Thanks so much for being with us.
WASHMUTH: Thank you for having me.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “MARACUYA”)
HERMANITOS: (Non-English language spoken).
Copyright © 2025 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
Continue Reading
-
Author Jennie Godfrey talks about her debut novel, ‘The List of Suspicious Things’ : NPR
NPR’s Scott Simon asks Jennie Godfrey about her debut novel, “The List of Suspicious Things,” a coming-of-age story in which two British girls try to investigate local murders.
SCOTT SIMON,…
Continue Reading
-
Radio drama ‘The Archers’ turns 75 : NPR
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
In the early 1970s, Steven Spielberg asked Tom Stoppard to write a screenplay for the movie “Jaws.” The great playwright said no, he was busy writing a play for the BBC. You’d turn down a Hollywood…
Continue Reading
-
Pakistan Rejects Attempts to Undermine Somalia’s Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity
Pakistan strongly condemns any attempts to undermine the sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity of Somalia, and rejects, in this regard, the announcement made by Israel recognising the independence of the…
Continue Reading
-
West Wickham KFC franchisee to pay £70k fine over ‘slave’ comment
A south-east London KFC franchisee has been made to pay nearly £70,000 after a manager called an Indian worker a “slave” and forced him to work extra hours, a tribunal heard.
Madhesh Ravichandran, from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, began working at the West Wickham KFC branch in January 2023.
Two months later, Mr Ravichandran was refused annual leave and heard his boss Kajan Theiventhiram telling a colleague he would prioritise Sri Lankan Tamil staff and referred to the claimant as “this slave”, the tribunal was told.
Tribunal judge Paul Abbott found that Mr Ravichandran was wrongfully dismissed and subjected to direct race discrimination, harassment related to race and victimisation.
Continue Reading
-
West Wickham KFC franchisee to pay £70k fine over ‘slave’ comment
A south-east London KFC franchisee has been made to pay nearly £70,000 after a manager called an Indian worker a “slave” and forced him to work extra hours, a tribunal heard.
Madhesh Ravichandran, from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, began working at the West Wickham KFC branch in January 2023.
Two months later, Mr Ravichandran was refused annual leave and heard his boss Kajan Theiventhiram telling a colleague he would prioritise Sri Lankan Tamil staff and referred to the claimant as “this slave”, the tribunal was told.
Tribunal judge Paul Abbott found that Mr Ravichandran was wrongfully dismissed and subjected to direct race discrimination, harassment related to race and victimisation.
Months after Mr Ravichandran overheard the comments, he resigned but no real investigation took place into his allegations, the tribunal found.
He was “upset and humiliated” and the refusal of his leave request was “significantly influenced” by his race, the judge said.
Judge Abbott accepted the claimant’s evidence that he was being forced to work excessive hours because of Mr Theiventhiram’s “racially prejudiced attitude” towards him.
The claimant was awarded £66,800 in compensation and the tribunal recommended that Nexus Foods Limited, which operates the West Wickham KFC branch, implements a training programme for all employees concerning discrimination in the workplace.
Continue Reading
-
Adelaide Strikers defeated by Brisbane Heat in thriller at Gabba
The Adelaide Strikers couldn’t get over the line against the Brisbane Heat at The Gabba, as they fell to a seven-run defeat.
Matt Short impressed with both bat and ball, but it wasn’t enough to thrust his side to…
Continue Reading
-
Emissions, Governance, and the Energy Transition
Sustainability-related disclosure. Over the past two years, sustainability-related disclosure has expanded, rising from companies representing 86% of global market capitalisation in 2022 to 91% in 2024. This reflects continued demand for such information from investors. However, the absolute number of companies disclosing sustainability information – 12 900 – remains only a moderate share of the 44 152 listed companies worldwide. Energy companies have the highest rate of disclosure, covering 94% of the industry’s market capitalisation; the real estate sector has the lowest share at 78%.
Disclosure of sustainability-related information by listed companies in 2024
OECD (2025), Global Corporate Sustainability Report 2025, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/bc25ce1e-en.
Third-party assurance. Of the 12 900 companies that disclosed sustainability-related information in 2024, 42% obtained assurance of the information by an external service provider. Most companies rely on limited assurance (56%), while far fewer rely on reasonable assurance (17%). The adoption of the International Standard on Sustainability Assurance (ISSA) 5000, finalised in November 2024, is timely. Its adoption by many jurisdictions could strengthen confidence in sustainability reporting and ensure a common understanding of what “limited” and “reasonable” assurance mean across jurisdictions.
Share of companies with assurance of the sustainability-related information in 2024
OECD (2025), Global Corporate Sustainability Report 2025, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/bc25ce1e-en.
Sustainability-related disclosure standards. Globally, 582 companies use the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) standards, either stating a partial alignment, or asserting compliance, still well below the number of companies using the TCFD recommendations (4 857) or SASB Standards (3 497), which provided the foundations for the ISSB’s standard-setting work. The use of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) remains limited, reflecting their recent adoption in July 2023. Strengthening interoperability among frameworks is critical to reducing compliance costs for companies operating across jurisdictions and to enhancing the comparability, reliability, and decision usefulness of sustainability-related information.
Use of sustainability standards by listed companies in 2024
OECD (2025), Global Corporate Sustainability Report 2025, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/bc25ce1e-en.
Shareholders and institutional investors. Among the 100 listed companies that disclose the highest GHG emissions, 35 are from the energy industry. Institutional investors hold the largest share of equity in these 100 companies (36%), followed by the public sector with 18%. While the adoption of existing green technologies by high-emitting companies is essential for the transition to a low-carbon economy, the development of new technologies will also be necessary for a successful transition. Institutional investors own 37% of the equity in the 100 companies with the highest number of green patents, and the public sector a much smaller portion (4%).
Ownership of top 100 GHG-emitting and green-innovation companies, 2024
OECD (2025), Global Corporate Sustainability Report 2025, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/bc25ce1e-en.
The board of directors. In 2024, companies representing 70% of global market capitalisation reported that their board of directors oversees climate-related issues. This is an increase from 53% in 2022 and surpasses the share of companies – representing 65% of market capitalisation – for which climate change is considered a financially material risk. This is a notable development, underscoring the growing recognition by boards of directors of climate change as a core financial and strategic matter.
Board-level oversight of climate-related issues in 2024
OECD (2025), Global Corporate Sustainability Report 2025, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/bc25ce1e-en.
The interests of stakeholders and shareholder engagement. Globally, more than 9 600 companies – representing 86% of market capitalisation – disclosed policies on shareholder engagement in 2024. While the disclosure of such policies does not by itself guarantee effective engagement, it signals a willingness by companies to facilitate dialogue with shareholders – particularly where disclosure is not mandated by regulation. To promote value-creating co-operation with employees in particular, companies may establish mechanisms for participation, such as workers’ councils or employee representation on boards. Employee board representation accounts for almost 5% of companies globally, highest in China and Europe.
Policies on shareholder engagement in 2024
OECD (2025), Global Corporate Sustainability Report 2025, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/bc25ce1e-en.
The energy sector’s climate-related disclosure. The energy sector – encompassing the oil, gas, coal and electric power industries – is both a pivotal driver of clean energy deployment and the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for almost a third of total emissions disclosed by listed companies. Disclosure of scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions is relatively high in the energy sector, covering 90% of market capitalisation. However, scope 3 disclosure remains limited, particularly in Emerging Asia and the Middle East and Africa, where fewer than half of companies by market capitalisation report such data.
Listed energy companies – disclosure of scope 1 & 2 and scope 3 emissions in 2024
OECD (2025), Global Corporate Sustainability Report 2025, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/bc25ce1e-en.
The energy sector’s impact. Tackling GHG emissions will require substantial investment in alternative technologies to replace the combustion of fossil fuels. Between 2015 and 2024, the net cash flow of listed energy companies from operating activities increased by 32%, enabling them to triple dividend payments and share repurchases, while net cash used in investing activities grew by less than 5%. Measures could be implemented to ensure a robust pipeline of bankable energy projects, encouraging firms to allocate a greater share of capital to new investments.
Listed energy companies – disclosure of scope 1 & 2 and scope 3 emissions in 2024
OECD (2025), Global Corporate Sustainability Report 2025, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/bc25ce1e-en.
Link to the full blog post can be found here and link to the full report can be found here.
Continue Reading