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Paternity leave may promote greater gender equality in domestic labour. Though numerous studies show that paternity leave promotes greater fathers’ involvement in childcare, less is known about whether paternity leave-taking may facilitate fathers’ involvement in other forms of domestic labour such as housework. Using repeated cross-sectional data on different-gender partnered US parents from the Study on Parents’ Divisions of Labor During COVID-19 (SPDLC), this study examines the extent to which paternity leave-taking and length of paternity leave are associated with US fathers’ shares of, and time spent on, housework. Findings suggest that paternity leave-taking is positively associated with fathers’ shares of, and time spent on, housework tasks. Longer paternity leaves are also associated with fathers performing greater shares of housework. Overall, this study indicates that the benefits of paternity leave likely extend to fathers’ greater participation in housework, providing additional support for the belief that increased use of paternity leave may help to promote gender equality in domestic labour. 

Remote and hybrid work have received much attention since the expansion of off-site work following the COVID-19 pandemic. Research on the effects of these arrangements on workers’ well-being, however, is mixed, likely because studies rarely account for workers’ workplace preferences. Using data from the 2023 wave of the Study on U.S. Parents’ Divisions of Labor During COVID-19 (SPDLC), we assess the association between work-place mismatch (misalignment between preferred and actual work locations) and both work-family conflict and psychological well-being (stress and depressive symptoms) among partnered working parents. Results suggest that most parents report some degree of work-place mismatch, with on-site workers reporting the highest work-place mismatch. We also find that work-place mismatch is positively associated with work-family conflict and negatively associated with parents’ psychological well-being. After accounting for work-place mismatch, parents who work on-site report lower work-family conflict and higher psychological well-being than remote and hybrid workers. Overall, results highlight the need to account for workers’ preferences in understanding the association between work conditions, work-family conflict, and psychological well-being. 

COVID-19 led to substantial increases in parents’ stress due partially to the challenges of home education. The highly politicized decision to reopen schools in-person in Fall 2020, nevertheless, was not associated with reductions in parents’ stress. Using a stress process perspective, we argue that the association of school modality with parents’ stress in Fall 2020 likely depended on parents’ COVID concerns. Analysis of survey data from November 2020 shows that incompatibility between parents’ COVID concerns and children’s school modalities were associated with greater stress. Parents with no concerns reported the lowest stress when children learned in-person and the highest stress when children were mandated to learn virtually. Among parents with COVID concerns, the opposite was true. Because few parents expressed no COVID concerns, in-person learning was more often associated with higher stress than lower stress, helping explain why school reopening did not markedly improve U.S. parents’ mental health. 

Abstract Melanin-based plumage coloration in birds is shaped by pigment composition as well as melanosome morphology and distribution, however, the ways in which these factors together modulate observable color remain poorly understood. We investigate this relationship in the Capuchino Seedeaters (genusSporophila), whose recent, rapid radiation driven by sexual selection resulted in 12 species with diverse coloration patterns. Using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and micro-computed tomography (µCT), combined with a novel application of Fontana-Masson stain to image melanosomes at high resolution, we characterize melanosome distribution and morphology in several variably colored plumage patches across Capuchino species. Melanosome morphologies followed patch-specific patterns that did not directly correlate with coloration: crown feather melanosomes were larger, more elongated, and had greater percent eumelanin content than those in belly, throat, or dorsum/rump patches. We also observed that dorsal patches had more total melanin than ventral ones, with pigment and coloration patterns suggesting possible signaling and photoprotective roles. More generally, we show how the patch-specific coloration of male Capuchinos is accompanied by differences in melanosome morphology and melanin composition and abundance. Our work highlights the challenges that remain in understanding how the nanoscale mechanisms of melanin-based pigmentation translate into macroscale plumage coloration. 

Dense particulate suspensions demonstrate a significant increase in average viscosity beyond a material-specific critical shear stress. Here, we analyze the steady-state structure of a suspension of monodisperse silica microspheres in the shear-thickening regime. Using dynamic measurement of boundary stress, we show that the flow is characterized by a cluster of high-stress fronts that propagate in the flow direction at a speed of 1/2 relative to the top plate of the rheometer. We apply high-speed line scan imaging to reveal dramatic fluctuations in particle speed, ordering, and concentration associated with the fronts and show that the structure is consistent with transiently jammed networks that contain high interparticle stresses that percolate across the rheometer gap, but which are present only briefly during the passage of the high-stress fronts. 

This study examines the association between the division of cognitive housework and parents' relationship satisfaction. Background. Equity theory suggests that factors which either objectively (i.e., equal sharing) or subjectively (i.e., feeling appreciated) enhance partners' feelings of mutual benefit lead to greater relationship satisfaction. From an equity perspective, cognitive labor may be especially consequential for relationship satisfaction not only because it is boundless, burdensome work but also because it is invisible and often unappreciated. Drawing on equity theory, we argue that relationship satisfaction is highest when cognitive labor is equally shared. Method. We use cross‐sectional data on different‐gender partnered US parents from Wave 5 of the Study on US Parents' Divisions of Labor During COVID‐19 (SPDLC) and OLS regression to estimate associations between the division of cognitive housework and relationship satisfaction separately for mothers and fathers. Results. Equal divisions of cognitive housework are associated with the highest levels of relationship satisfaction for both mothers and fathers. This association is consistent across various measures and dimensions of cognitive housework, with few exceptions.Conclusion. Relationship satisfaction is highest when partners equally share cognitive housework, as sharing this labor may reduce burdens on one parent as well as increase the visibility and value of this often hidden form of domestic labor. 

Abstract X-ray observations collected over the past decades have revealed a strongly variable X-ray signal within the Milky Way’s Galactic center, interpreted as X-ray echoes from its supermassive black hole, Sgr A*. These echoes are traced by the strong Fe Kαfluorescent line at 6.4 keV, the intensity of which is proportional to the density of the illuminated molecular gas. Over time, the echo scans through molecular clouds (MCs) in our Galactic center, revealing their 3D structure and highlighting their densest parts. While previous studies have utilized spectral line Doppler shifts along with kinematic models to constrain the geometry of the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) or to study the structure of individual clouds, these methods have limitations, particularly in the turbulent region of the CMZ. We use archival Chandra X-ray data to construct one of the first 3D representations of one prominent MC, the Stone cloud, located at (ℓ= 0 $\stackrel{\text{°}}{.}$068,b= –0 $\stackrel{\text{°}}{.}$076) at a distance of ∼20 pc from Sgr A* in projection. Using the Chandra X-ray Observatory, we followed the X-ray echo in this cloud from 2008 to 2017. We combine these data with 1.3 mm dust continuum emission observed with the Submillimeter Array (SMA) and the Herschel Space Observatory to reconstruct the 3D structure of the cloud and estimate the column densities for each year’s observed slice. The analysis of the X-ray echoes, along with velocities from SMA molecular line data, indicates that the structure of the Stone cloud can be described as a very diffuse background with multiple dense clumps throughout.