Trending research
Trending research provides an overview of scientific studies published during the year that have gained the most attention on international digital platforms in the past month. We update the data once a month, but we also make changes to the rankings as needed.
Each year, researchers at the University of Tartu contribute to couple of thousand high-level scientific publications. All these research works present remarkable discoveries in various scientific fields. However, after publication, these discoveries begin to live their own lives and attract different levels of attention. Accumulating scientific citations takes a lot of time, and the final impact of the research may only become clear years later.
On this page, we highlight three scientific publications from each faculty published under the leadership of University of Tartu researchers during the current year that have been at the center of attention in international digital channels based on altmetric data. Altmetrics encompass mentions in international news portals, blogs, and social media.
Altmetrics is a method for evaluating the impact of scientific publications that offers an alternative to the traditional citation-based system. It enables the measurement of the societal and online influence of research based on how much the article has been shared on social media, blogs, news outlets, and other online sources. Altmetric data help to reveal how research influences the broader public and what kind of feedback it receives outside the academic community.
The altmetric badge, often referred to as the "Altmetric Donut," uses colors and numbers to display the attention a research work has received on various platforms. The number in the center of the badge is the attention score.
Different sources contribute differently to the score, depending on their reach and impact—for instance, news: 8; blogs: 5; policy documents: 3; clinical guidelines: 3; patents: 3; Wikipedia: 3; Bluesky (original posts and shares): 0.25; YouTube: 0.25, etc.
The proportion of each color in the donut changes depending on which sources the research work has garnered attention from:
This research has received extensive coverage in mainstream media.
This study has received most of its attention from blogs and has also been cited in public policy documents.
This study has received significant attention on social media and has been mentioned on a peer review forum.
https://www.altmetric.com/about-us/what-are-altmetrics/
https://www.altmetric.com/about-us/our-data/donut-and-altmetric-attention-score/
Trending in arts and humanities
Aphantasia, the inability to form mental images, poses a serious challenge to an influential theory of abstract thought in the history of philosophy. The study by researchers at the University of Tartu suggests that mental imagery may play a less central role in human thought than has long been assumed and that the mind is more flexible in how it represents the world than many theories allow.
Read more from the scientific paper
Institute of Philosophy and Semiotics
Tooming, Uku, and Roomet Jakapi. "Aphantasia as a challenge for humean abstraction." Neuropsychologia (2026): 109465. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2026.109465
Institute of History and Archaeology
Tõrv, Mari, et al. "Segregated food culture? Bronze Age (1250–500 cal BCE) dietary practices in northern Estonia." Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 69 (2026): 105514. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2025.105514
Institute of Cultural Research
Paal, Piret, et al. "European Association for Palliative Care White Paper on spiritual care for people with neuro-oncological and neurodegenerative conditions: Integrative framework for practice, education, and research." Palliative & Supportive Care 24 (2026): e117. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1478951526102302
Trending in science and technology
Ancient DNA data have helped identify that certain herpesviruses, which most people encounter during their lifetime, became part of the human genome thousands of years ago.
Ancient DNA allows us to observe the evolution of bacteria and viruses over very long time periods. For the first time, researchers have reconstructed ancient genomes of human betaherpesviruses 6A and 6B (HHV-6A/B) from archaeological human remains that are more than two millennia old. The study, led by the University of Vienna and the University of Tartu and published in Science Advances, confirms that these viruses have evolved with humans and within humans since at least the Iron Age.
Read more from the scientific paper or from Novaator
Guellil, Meriam, et al. "Tracing 2500 years of human betaherpesvirus 6A and 6B diversity through ancient DNA." Science Advances 12.1 (2026): eadx5460. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adx5460
The findings highlight that archaic DNA in people today interacts with modern pathogens in distinct ways - and that its effects can differ sharply between virus classes. The work underscores that archaic genetic ancestry still influences our immune system today - but in ways more nuanced than previously recognised.
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Rajpara, Rutvi, et al. "Archaic introgression shapes genetic variation at loci associated with DNA virus load in modern humans." Genome Biology and Evolution 18.5 (2026): evag110. https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evag110
Researchers at the University of Tartu have mapped how genes influence human metabolism using data from more than half a million people. The large-scale study gives scientists a more precise picture of the causes of disease and could help speed up drug development.
Read more from the scientific paper or from Novaator
Tambets, Ralf, et al. "Genetic analysis of circulating metabolic traits in 619,372 individuals." Nature (2026): 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10532-5
Trending in medicine
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Institute of Clinical Medicine
Tooming, Mikk, et al. "Genetic profiling of healthy family members of breast and ovarian cancer patients in Estonia." Frontiers in Genetics 17 (2026): 1814500. https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2026.1814500
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Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine
Kase, Marten, Karl Kristjan Kaup, and Jaan Aru. „Effects of LSD, DMT and Psilocybin on Cognitive and Psychological Functions: A Systematic Review of the Literature.“ Journal of Psychopharmacology, vol. 40, no. 8, 2026, pp. 1166–1186. SAGE Publications, https://doi.org/10.1177/02698811251412012
A new study based on data from Estonian residents shows that long COVID and chronic illnesses have a direct two‑way connection. Existing chronic diseases prolong COVID symptoms, which in turn paves the way for diagnoses such as sleep apnea and heart rhythm disorders.
Read more from the scientific paper
Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine
Institute of Mathematics and Statistics
Sõnajalg, Hanna, jt. Bidirectional Associations between Chronic Diseases and Long COVID: A Population-Based Cohort and Interrupted Time-Series Analysis. Frontiers in Public Health, 2026. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1834448.
Trending in social science
Young children who spend more time on screen-based activities and less time talking with adults tend to have weaker language skills, according to a recent study from the University of Tartu. The findings highlight that daily interaction – rather than screen limits alone – plays a key role in early language development.
Read more from the scientific paper or from Eureka
Tulviste, Jaan, Tiia Tulviste, and Anni Tamm. "High screen time and low child-adult talk associated with poorer language development in early childhood." Frontiers in Developmental Psychology 4 (2026): 1787710. https://doi.org/10.3389/fdpys.2026.1787710
Does internet voting make people more likely to participate in elections? A study by Mihkel Solvak, Kristjan Vassil, Priit Vinkel, and Bogdan Romanov explores this question using data from six Estonian post-election surveys conducted between 2009 and 2023. The researchers find that higher costs of voting are associated with lower overall electoral participation, but they also make people more likely to choose online voting. When reaching a polling station takes more than 30 minutes, voters are already more likely to vote online, even overcoming barriers such as older age, lower education, and limited digital skills. However, making voting easier does not necessarily mean that more people will vote overall. The findings suggest that internet voting may be most valuable not as a way to boost turnout dramatically, but as a means of making democratic participation more accessible to people who face practical obstacles.
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Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies
Solvak, Mihkel, et al. "The impact of remote Internet voting on reducing the cost of electoral participation." European Journal of Political Economy (2026): 102863. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2026.102863
The LGBTIQ+ community is seen as the most hated target in the context of political violence, according to Estonia's youth, a recent study found.
Hostility toward sexual minorities is also becoming partly normalized in the view of the youth.
In Estonia, discussions about radicalization and political violence are usually framed through the lens of national security. At the same time, research shows that the most effective prevention work does not arise solely within security institutions, but within communities: In schools, youth centers, and in the family. It is especially important to involve young people themselves, the study found.
Read more from the scientific paper or from ERR
Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies
Belova-Dalton, Oksana. "Perspectives of Estonian youth on the risk of political violence and its prevention in Estonia." Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression (2026): 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/19434472.2026.2629899
