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Category: Academic Analysis

  • MIL-OSI Global: How to tackle new strains of potato blight and avoid another great famine

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By David O’Connor, Associate Professor, School of Chemical Sciences, Dublin City University

    A new aggressive potato blight strain was detected in Wales and eastern Scotland earlier this year. The strain, identified as EU 46, can withstand certain fungicides, making it harder to control. It serves as a stark reminder that nearly 175 years after Ireland’s great famine, this destructive pathogen continues to evolve and endanger crops around the world.

    Each year, farmers lose an estimated US$6–7 billion (£4.5-5.2 billion) worth of crops due to this disease. In Europe alone, direct losses and control costs amount to over €1 billion (£800 million) annually. That includes the cost of expensive fungicide sprays that farmers rely on for protection.

    In developing countries, the stakes are even higher. Many smallhold farmers lack resources for intensive disease management. In Uganda, potato blight can destroy up to 100% of a farmer’s crop, endangering livelihoods and local food security.

    Just as in the Irish famine, dependence on a single crop is risky. When blight strikes these vulnerable communities, the consequences can be devastating.

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    After decades of research, blight remains hard to defeat, partly due to the pathogen’s remarkable adaptability. Over the years, Phytophthora infestans (late blight) has repeatedly evolved new genetic strains that overcome both chemical fungicides and the resistant potato varieties bred to fend it off.

    The newly identified EU 46 strain is just one example of how quickly blight can develop resistance. In this case, tolerating a key fungicide and showing reduced sensitivity to others.

    Meanwhile, environmental changes and global trade create opportunities for wind-blown spores to migrate into new regions. All of this means farmers must remain vigilant; what worked against blight last year might not work today.

    After the Irish famine of the 1840s, science eventually identified its microscopic culprit and ways to fight it, but innovation didn’t stop there. Today, researchers and farmers are enlisting cutting-edge technology to stay ahead of blight.

    One promising tool is real-time spore detection. Devices like the SwisensPoleno, a monitor developed in Switzerland, can constantly scan the air on farms and spot signs of P. infestans spores as they appear.

    In Ireland, I’m leading a project testing this technology out on farms. These sensors rely on advanced imaging and AI to tell blight spores apart from other particles, giving farmers an early warning so they can act before the disease spreads.

    Potato blight is caused by a pathogen called Phytophthora Infestans.
    Elena Masiutkina/Shutterstock, CC BY-NC-ND

    Equally, new rapid DNA diagnostics can detect blight more quickly than traditional lab tests which take days to identify new strains. Portable testing kits are bringing diagnostics to the field. My colleagues and I have developed a simple in-field test (like COVID-19 lateral flow tests) that detects specific blight strains from a crushed leaf or air samples in under 30 minutes.

    Such tests not only confirm the presence of blight but can tell if the strain is one known to resist certain fungicides. This information allows farmers to choose the right treatment immediately, targeting the pathogen’s weaknesses and avoiding wasted effort.

    Farmers are also using data and computer modelling to anticipate outbreaks of the disease allowing them to act before it can takes hold. Sophisticated forecasting systems crunch weather data (temperature, humidity, rainfall) and spore counts to predict when and where blight is likely to strike next.

    By pinpointing high-risk periods, these models help schedule fungicide applications more strategically – only when needed, rather than on a fixed calendar. This not only cuts costs and environmental damage by reducing unnecessary sprays, but also slows down resistance development in the pathogen.

    Digital tech can help farmers detect crop diseases like potato blight quickly and accurately.
    Andrii Medvediuk/Shutterstock

    A global fight

    Defeating potato blight demands international efforts. There’s no wonder drug or magic gene that can eliminate this ever-changing pathogen. Like other experts, I advocate for an integrated pest-management approach.

    This combines cultural practices (like crop rotation and destroying infected plant debris) alongside biological controls (naturally occurring microbes, like beneficial bacteria, to help suppress the disease and limit its impact on crops). Judicious fungicide use to reduce the chances of blight taking hold is also effective.

    Using technology to leverage real-time data enables farmers to act on early warnings and apply treatments in a targeted way, preserving yields while minimising environmental damage.

    Investing in research and farmer education is essential too – from developing resistant potato breeds to training farmers in remote areas on how to use new diagnostic kits.

    The fight against potato blight is global by necessity. An airborne spore originating in one country can hop to another on the wind, as Europe’s experience shows. Likewise, breakthroughs in one lab or farm – whether a new sensor, a resistant potato variety, or an effective organic spray – need to be shared and supported across borders.

    International initiatives are putting the latest blight-fighting tools into the hands of farmers around the world. Supporting smallhold farmers in developing countries is especially vital, because they often face blight with limited resources and far more is at stake in terms of food security.

    In the mid-19th century, Ireland’s potato-dependent society was caught tragically off guard. Today, we have knowledge, technology and hard-earned lessons on our side.

    By embracing an integrated, technology driven strategy and ensuring it reaches farmers everywhere, that blight cycle could be broken. The continued emergence of strains like EU 46 is a warning, but also a call to action. One that we are now better equipped than ever to answer.

    Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?

    Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 45,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.

    David O’Connor receives funding from Research Ireland and Irish EPA.

    – ref. How to tackle new strains of potato blight and avoid another great famine – https://theconversation.com/how-to-tackle-new-strains-of-potato-blight-and-avoid-another-great-famine-256926

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: The Coin by Palestinian writer Yasmin Zaher wins the 20th Dylan Thomas Prize – an expert from the judging panel explains why

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Daniel G. Williams, Professor of English Literature, Swansea University

    Yasmin Zaher’s remarkable novel The Coin has won the 20th International Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize for writers under the age of 40.

    This is not a story that begins at the beginning. Instead, its narrator starts with dirt and an obsession with cleanliness, but suggests later that the coin of the title – an Israeli shekel that she accidentally swallowed on a family road trip in which her parents were killed in a car crash – would have been an equally appropriate place to begin.

    Long forgotten, the swallowed coin begins to make its presence felt, somewhere in her body, following her move to America. The narrator is a wealthy young Palestinian woman, teaching boys at a New York City middle school. Her wealth, however, is in the hands of a brother who controls her allowance. She responds by developing a scheme to resell luxury handbags with a homeless con-artist, known throughout as “Trenchcoat”.

    This is one of several attempts at shaping the world around her: she revels in her sexuality and ability to redefine herself through fashionable clothes and accessories; she teaches her class about black power and takes them on a trip to listen to the “dagger poems” of a black nationalist poet in New Jersey.

    I assume this poet is Amiri Baraka since they eat “Black Dada Nihilismus” burgers, a reference to his poem of the same name. But such acts of resistance, if not futile, are limited. Like the swallowed coin, the levers of control, whether material or psychic, lie out of reach as we witness the narrator’s gradual unravelling.

    It is perhaps appropriate that a novel set in New York should win the prize named after Swansea’s most famous poet. New York both enticed and frightened Dylan Thomas. It was the city in which he died. The city, also, in which he recorded the ground-breaking reading of A Child’s Christmas in Wales.

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    In that story, as in his earlier Return Journey, his childhood self is a ghostly presence wandering among the “blitzed flat graves” of shops “marbled with snow and headstoned with fences”. The snow hides devastation. The destruction of the city that Thomas knew as a child. The 44 air raids mounted on Swansea between 1940 and 1943 killed 390 people. And it’s the similar loss of people and places, and the suffering in Gaza today, which Zaher’s novel examines.

    Palestine is a persistent and troubling presence in the The Coin. For Dylan the devastation of Swansea was a metonym for a wider world where civilians were increasingly the victims of war. His world is, regrettably, still ours in that sense. The Coin is a profound meditation on our contemporary world and our complicity in the destruction of another place and people.

    In a moving scene, the narrator recalls a Jewish friend, “a very gentle girl who dreamed of becoming a ballerina”. She lived in a house that once belonged to “a Palestinian family that had been expelled in 1948”. The friend tells her about two underground rooms in the garden. One of the rooms, “the poop room”, allows access to the second which contains “a big wooden chest full of treasures and gold”. The narrator keeps “thinking of that secret chamber off the shit room, the wooden chest inside, full of silverware and gold of the family who thought they would return.”

    The swallowed coin. The inaccessible allowance. The wooden chest full of treasures and gold. Unreachable currency functions as a powerful symbolic centre connecting the brief scenes and meditations that constitute this appropriately fragmented novel. Lost somewhere in the narrator’s entrails, removed from economic exchange, the coin belongs with the excrement and detritus of urban life, which is the object of the narrator’s disgusted obsessions.

    New York in this novel is a repository of failed circulation – the filth of the city’s streets offering a gothic underside to the endless flows of capitalism, frustrating the narrator’s obsessive attempts at keeping herself clean. Narratives and circulation end in the stasis of dirt. Palestinian history ends in dispossession. Swallowed coin, inaccessible allowance and a buried treasure chest are symbolic repositories of Palestinian traumatic memory.

    Zaher shows us how the novel form can still offer a unique way of understanding the world, of mapping our contemporary disorientation. It does this not by offering clarity, but by lingering in the spaces where movement, value and meaning break down. This is a novel about circulation – of money, of bodies and of meaning.

    The swallowed coin is itself a kind of resistance, a refusal to go along with the restless movement of capital that defines our world. The coin refuses liquidity and thereby refuses complicity; its removal from the economic system mimics a kind of muted protest. Beneath the novel’s often frenetic and energetic surface hides a resistant counter-politics of inaction.

    Daniel G. Williams was a judge of this years’ Dylan Thomas Prize.

    – ref. The Coin by Palestinian writer Yasmin Zaher wins the 20th Dylan Thomas Prize – an expert from the judging panel explains why – https://theconversation.com/the-coin-by-palestinian-writer-yasmin-zaher-wins-the-20th-dylan-thomas-prize-an-expert-from-the-judging-panel-explains-why-257063

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: International Booker prize 2025: six experts review the shortlisted novels

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Helen Vassallo, Associate Professor of French and Translation, University of Exeter

    From a longlist of 13, six novels have been shortlisted for the 2025 International Booker prize. Our academics review the finalists ahead of the announcement of the winner on May 20.

    Under the Eye of the Big Bird by Hiromi Kawakami, translated by Asa Yoneda

    Hiromi Kawakami’s Under the Eye of the Big Bird offers us glimpses of one imagined future for earth and humanity.

    Its vision could be described as post-apocalyptic. After unspecified cataclysmic events, humans exist only in tiny, scattered communities and extinction seems imminent. But this is also a beautiful, if dreamlike, world and one in which humanity still has the potential for astonishing growth and change.

    Each chapter introduces something new and startling to the reader. Many of the tropes are familiar – cloning, superpowers, mutation, AI. Yet they are configured in unfamiliar ways and prompt reflections on the nature of humanity and our relationship with the rest of creation – as well as on time, religion and the possibility of an afterlife.

    Despite grappling with so many huge questions, Under the Eye of the Big Bird is an accessible and absorbing novel. And, although tragedy is never far away, there remains humour – and hope.

    Sarah Annes Brown, Professor of English Literature

    Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq, translated by Deepa Bhasthi

    Banu Mushtaq’s Heart Lamp shines a light on the lives of Muslim women in rural India. In a bold and memorable translation from Kannada by Deepa Bhasthi, this quietly powerful collection of short stories opens up the intimate space of domestic rituals and family tensions.

    Mushtaq’s fervent advocacy of women’s rights is evident in the compassion with which she brings to life the women in the stories: from the lack of autonomy suffered by young girls forced into wedlock to the indignity of an older woman obliged to accept her husband taking a second wife or a widow whose son arranges a new marriage for her, the women’s lives are dictated by men.

    Heart Lamp is perhaps best summed up in the final story, “Be a Woman Once, O Lord!” Throughout these stories, Mushtaq invites us – and whichever male deity might be listening – to walk in the shoes of women overlooked by an unquestioned patriarchal hierarchy.

    Helen Vassallo, Associate Professor of French and Translation

    A Leopard-Skin Hat by Anne Serre, translated by Mark Hutchinson

    Published in France in 2008 as Un chapeau léopard, A Leopard-Skin Hat is a novel about a friendship spanning 20 years between a woman called Fanny and a man known throughout only as “the Narrator”. He is not, though, the narrator of the novel. Rather, an unknown storyteller tells us how the Narrator sees Fanny gradually lose the fight against madness (the novel’s word) and, in the end, death.

    This is a novel about the mystery of other people, about how unknowable others are to us. It explores how we narrate to try to understand people who are not us, but whom we love. What is most extraordinary about Serre’s novel is the way it shows us two friends doing very ordinary things – going out for dinner, going on holiday, walking in the countryside and swimming in lakes – but shows us through this the strangeness and complexity of friendship, love and life.

    Leigh Wilson, Professor of English Literature

    Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico, translated by Sophie Hughes

    Perfection is a slim account of the way that time “disappears” for Anna and Tom, an expat couple living in Berlin as creative freelancers in the 2010s.

    Written in homage to Georges Perec’s Things: The Story of the Sixties (1965), the novel opens with an overbearing description of the items in their apartment, moving in and out of the characters’ dissatisfaction with the aesthetic, social, creative, economic and political routes open to them in 120 pages spanning a little over 10 years.

    As international elections, the European refugee crises and climate catastrophe dance in and out of their peripheral vision, Anna and Tom find neither satisfaction with their current moment nor successfully imagine a better one. As such, Latronico gently, but with an increasing sense of fatalism, considers the stagnation of a millennial creative class whose views on influence, status, power and happiness remain deeply linked to the “new emotions” of digital mediation.

    By Rachel Sykes, Associate Professor in Contemporary Literature and Culture

    On The Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle, translated by Barbara Haveland

    In On The Calculation of Volume, a woman, Tara Selter, finds herself trapped in an endlessly repeating day, November 18. Volume I, the first of seven books, recounts the first 365 days of this time loop, with Tara attempting to make sense of her predicament, to explain it to her husband – who is still bound by the normal rules of time – and to try to fix whatever has initiated this situation.

    As the novel continues, it becomes less focused on the novelty of the situation and more on the philosophical questions it raises: the alternate claustrophobia and liberation of replaying the same day; how our friends and partners sometimes feel like they inhabit a different reality; the way in which time pulls things and people apart; of the importance we place in the idea of “tomorrow”.

    What’s remarkable about Balle’s novel is how compulsive it is – even though we know time is standing still, we still want to know what will happen next.

    David Hering, Senior Lecturer in English Literature

    Small Boat by Vincent Delecroix, translated by Helen Stevenson

    Vincent Delecroix’s Small Boat is a slim, bruising novel that centres on a real horror: the drowning of 27 migrants in the English Channel in November 2021. In a small, inflatable craft, they reached out over crackling radio lines, asking for help that never came.

    Small Boat focuses not on the migrants themselves, but on a French coastguard operator who spent that night on the radio, fielding their calls for rescue. Delecroix’s brilliance lies in showing how violence at the border is carried out not by villains, but by workers. It was not evil that allowed those people to die in the water, it was a string of decisions made by people in warm rooms who believed they were doing their jobs.

    In a world ever more brutal towards those who flee war, hunger and despair, Delecroix’s novel is a necessary – and merciless – indictment. It reminds us that the shipwreck is not theirs alone. It is ours too.

    Fiona Murphy, Assistant Professor in Refugee and Intercultural Studies

    The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. International Booker prize 2025: six experts review the shortlisted novels – https://theconversation.com/international-booker-prize-2025-six-experts-review-the-shortlisted-novels-255464

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: In ‘Paying For It,’ ex-lovers reimagine friendship, family and the meaning of sex work

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Ummni Khan, Associate Professor, Department of Law and Legal Studies, Carleton University

    Emily Lê and Daniel Beirne star in the film that sees director and multidisciplinary artist Sook-Lin Yee adapt the graphic memoir of her ex-lover, Chester Brown, for the screen. (Wilding Pictures & Hawkeye Pictures)

    The film Paying For It, Sook-Yin Lee’s live-action adaptation of cartoonist Chester Brown’s 2011 graphic memoir, reveals unexpected overlaps between paid sexual encounters and romantic relationships.

    Lee, a boundary-shattering artist working across film, music, acting and broadcast, has never shied away from taboo. With Paying For It, she takes on sex work, romance and the messy labour of chosen family by adapting her ex-lover’s memoir for the screen.

    ‘Paying For It,’ graphic memoir by Chester Brown.
    (Drawn & Quarterly)

    In my 2019 article “Chester Brown and the Queerness of Johns,” I analyze Brown’s original book, which traces his pivot from monogamy with Lee to regularly seeing sex workers in the late 1990s.

    Both a memoir and a manifesto, the book pairs accounts of paid sex with arguments for decriminalizing sex work, voiced through debates with friends and a detailed appendix. In my analysis, I frame Brown’s memoir as a queer intervention, one that disrupts heteronormative ideals of romantic relations, intimate exchanges and sexual propriety.

    Lee’s cinematic version of Paying For It affirms Brown’s stance, but filters the story through her own perceptions and snapshots of her love life. In doing so, she traces how she and Brown reinvented their relationship, while portraying his encounters with sex workers with nuance and care.

    Drawing on my research in sexuality — including scholarship on sex work, client surveillance and client regulation — I see the film as a defiant celebration of unconventional bonds between exes who remain best friends, and between clients and sex workers, where even purchased orgasms can carry moments of tenderness and mutual respect.

    Radical relationship honesty

    The film opens with Sonny (Lee’s fictional persona, played by Emily Lê) confessing to live-in boyfriend Chester (Daniel Beirne) that she’s falling in love with someone else.

    Rather than erupting in rage or jealousy, Chester remains composed. Together, they choose to see what might come next. As Sonny begins seeing other people, Chester continues living in the house and becomes privy to her romantic sagas, from the steamy beginnings to the bitter blowouts. To the bewilderment of his friends, he remains content with the arrangement.

    Eventually, Chester decides to pay for sex, a decision he shares with Sonny.
    What emerges is a portrait of creative kinship where two people refuse the usual scripts and choose radical openness instead.

    Unconventional bond

    Decades after the events depicted in the film, Lee has described Brown as her “best friend” and “as family.”

    Lee and Brown shape personal histories into overlapping narratives. That they’ve promoted the film together, and appeared in joint interviews and public discussions, suggests a sense of mutual trust at the heart of their collaboration.

    Probing the meanings of sex and intimacy

    Chester moves — and sometimes stumbles — through criminalized terrain, figuring out how to find sex workers, engage respectfully and follow the unspoken rules of the exchange. The film suggests sometimes it’s just sex for Chester, and at other times, the exchange carries an emotional connection for him.

    With one sex worker, Chester shares his real name and gifts a book he wrote about Louis Riel.

    Sociologist Elizabeth Bernstein has analyzed how sex workers are sometimes paid to offer their clients an erotic experience “premised upon the performance of authentic interpersonal connection.”

    In the film, a potential for emotional reciprocity between Chester and a sex worker becomes evident. Without giving too much away, by the film’s end we see how a casual and transactional beginning transforms into something more enduring for both parties.

    ‘Paying For It,’ trailer.

    Risks in both romance and sex work

    The film also highlights the risks running through both sex work and romance.

    Sex workers face threats of abuse, arrest, disrespect and boundary violations. The film gestures to these realities in a scene following a police raid on a sex work venue.

    But the film also shows Sonny’s relationships aren’t immune to danger either. One boyfriend’s rage nearly results in harm to her pet.

    Just as navigating risk is part of both romance and sex work, so too is grappling with the social forces that shape desire. In one pointed exchange, Sonny calls out Chester for only paying young, conventionally attractive women. He counters by asking why she doesn’t date Asian men, forcing them both to confront their own biases.

    Sex worker rights

    While Paying For It is deeply personal, it is also unmistakably political, especially in its implicit advocacy for sex worker rights.

    To navigate the ethical complexities of depicting sex work, Lee consulted with performer, activist and author Andrea Werhurn, who wrote a memoir about being a former escort; Werhurn stars in the film as the sex worker Denise.

    Lee also interviewed Valerie Scott — one of the applicants who challenged Canada’s prostitution laws in the Bedford case.

    The film presents sex work as legitimate labour, highlighting the skills and emotional intelligence it demands. At the same time, it underscores how sex workers remain vulnerable to police harassment, violence and social stigma.

    Canada’s perverse laws on sex work

    The marginalized status of sex work, as dramatized in the film, is shaped by a legal system structured by moralism and hypocrisy.

    Set in the 1990s, Paying For It takes place at a time when Canada didn’t criminalize the sale of sex directly but prohibited nearly everything around it, including soliciting, working indoors and operating brothels.

    These contradictions pushed the industry underground, exposing sex workers to abuse, police harassment, sting operations and heightened health risks, while often branding them with criminal records.

    Sex work kept in the shadows

    In 2013, the Supreme Court’s Bedford decision struck down these provisions, ruling that they violated sex workers’ constitutional rights, most importantly, the right to security of the person.

    But the legal victory was short-lived. In 2014, the Conservative government introduced the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act, which criminalized the purchase of sexual services while ostensibly decriminalizing its sale.

    In practice, the model keeps paid sex in the shadows, where workers face ongoing risks, limited negotiating power and barriers to reporting abuse or working in safer indoor settings. What’s being protected isn’t sex workers, but a puritanical social order.



    Read more:
    Sex workers are left out in the cold by Ottawa’s unjust conviction amendments

    This puritanical approach also underpins the newly criminalized status of clients. In my chapter “From Average Joe to Deviant John,” I trace how western attitudes toward men who pay for sex evolved from a “boys will be boys” tolerance to a framework that pathologizes and vilifies them.

    Paying For It resists this framing. The film presents Chester as awkward but principled: a considerate client navigating desire in a criminalized and judgmental culture.

    The price of choosing love freely

    Paying For It offers an alternative kind of love story. It spotlights a relationship where former lovers honour the heart (their continued commitment to one another), the body (respecting each other’s sexual autonomy) and the mind (their willingness to question social norms).

    In this way, the film redefines “paying for it” not as a burden but as a conscious and liberating investment in diverse forms of love and intimacy.

    Ummni Khan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. In ‘Paying For It,’ ex-lovers reimagine friendship, family and the meaning of sex work – https://theconversation.com/in-paying-for-it-ex-lovers-reimagine-friendship-family-and-the-meaning-of-sex-work-255294

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Meta’s Community Notes program is promising, but needs to prioritize transparency

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Sameer Borwankar, Assistant Professor of Information Systems, McGill University

    Meta has changed its approach to fact-checking, moving away from platform-controlled moderation. (Shutterstock)

    Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has more than 3.35 billion combined monthly active users. Recently, Meta has changed its approach to fact-checking in response to criticisms of its role in circulating fake news and disinformation. The company frames its Community Notes program as a way to uphold free expression.

    Although Meta has not officially announced a launch date for Community Notes in Canada, interested users can join the waitlist via Meta’s Community Notes page.



    Read more:
    Meta shift from fact-checking to crowdsourcing spotlights competing approaches in fight against misinformation and hate speech

    The initiative was first launched in the United States, and will be expanding globally. Meanwhile, X (formerly Twitter) has already experimented with a similar program, with mixed results. The experience of X’s Community Notes (previously known as Birdwatch) underscores that both platforms and regulators must take an active role in refining these programs.

    Meta has the opportunity to learn from four years of Community Notes evolution at X and improve upon its shortcomings. This involves adjusting features, addressing algorithmic biases and ensuring that they function as effective tools rather than mere symbolic gestures.

    CBC reports on Meta ending its fact-checking program.

    Community-driven moderation

    X launched Birdwatch in January 2021 when it was known as Twitter. Marketed as a way to broaden the range of voices beyond platform-based and centralized fact-checking efforts, the program aimed to curb the spread of misinformation through community-driven moderation.

    Over time, the team refined many of its features based on feedback from pilot participants and internal research. When Elon Musk acquired Twitter in 2022, he implemented major changes, including a rebranding of the program’s name.

    Community Notes operates on the principles of crowdsourcing, a method proven effective in various domains. Research has shown that groups of users can collectively identify low-quality news sources and misleading content.

    On X, users participating in the Community Notes program contribute additional context to posts in the form of notes. They can also rate others’ contributions. Notes that receive supportive ratings from a diverse group of users become publicly visible. Once approved, they appear directly beneath the original post, providing added context for the broader audience.

    However, even if a post is widely deemed misleading by Community Notes contributors, the platform does not take action against the post itself or the individuals who spread misinformation. Instead, the program relies solely on surfacing user-generated context rather than the company moderating content.

    Positive impact?

    Preliminary research suggests that the Community Notes program has had a positive impact on curbing the spread of misinformation on the platform. Recent work shows that when a note is attached to a post, authors often voluntarily retract their posts by deleting them.

    On the content creation aspect, participation in the program appears to influence user behaviour: contributors tend to adopt a more measured tone, reducing extreme sentiment in their writing after engaging with the system.

    One of the most notable strengths of X’s Community Notes is its transparency. Since the program’s inception, X has provided public access to both the data and the algorithms that determine which fact-checks are displayed.

    This open-source approach has allowed researchers — both within and outside the company — to study the program and propose improvements. This stands in contrast to the recent trend of social media platforms rolling back data-sharing partnerships.

    Prior to Musk’s acquisition, X also had a dedicated team researching the impact of the program. Early changes to the program were shaped by feedback from participants and internal research.

    For example, in November 2021, X introduced anonymity for fact-checkers to prevent trolling and harassment. This decoupling of roles between content creators and fact-checkers has had a positive effect, reducing the risk of retaliation and fostering a more positive content creation by the participants of the program.

    Groups of users can collectively identify low-quality news sources and misleading content.
    (Shutterstock)

    Challenges and limitations

    Despite its potential, X’s Community Notes program faces several significant challenges, including its low popularity among users. Meta now has an opportunity to address these shortcomings from the outset.

    One of the biggest concerns is manipulation by co-ordination. Given the presence of organized troll networks on social media, there is a high risk that co-ordinated groups could misuse the program to flag legitimate content as misinformation.

    To counteract this, X implemented a consensus-based approach, where a note is only made visible if users with diverse viewpoints agree on its accuracy.

    While this system appears sound in theory, in practice it has led to a severe lack of approved notes as less than nine per cent of submitted notes reach the general audience. Many contributions never gain visibility, often due to insufficient ratings from diverse users.

    Another limitation of the consensus approach is that the algorithm must first recognize diverse viewpoints, which are not always straightforward. Social media platforms operate across hundreds of countries, where political, cultural and social divisions can be complex and nuanced. In such cases, enforcing consensus among a diverse audience may be highly unreliable and require reassessment.

    Shifting responsibility

    There is also the risk that Community Notes serve as a smokescreen, allowing platforms to shift responsibility away from active misinformation management. Since taking over X, Musk has laid off more than 80 per cent of the company’s Trust and Safety team.

    This included members of the Community Notes team, leaving critical gaps in oversight and research. Meta’s recent move to distance itself from third-party fact-checkers suggests a similar retreat from proactive intervention.

    Legal frameworks across different countries add further complications. Although Community Notes contributors remain anonymous to the public, it is unclear how platforms will respond if governments demand access to contributor identities.

    The Wikipedia legal case in India serves as a cautionary example of how platforms may be pressured into compliance. In September 2024, the Delhi High Court issued a contempt-of-court notice to Wikipedia over the site’s delay in providing identifying information about edits.

    No real consequences

    Finally, these programs are further weakened by the platforms’ explicit assurance that they will not take enforcement action based on Community Notes outcomes. Without real consequences for those spreading misinformation, the program risks being a symbolic effort rather than an effective tool for content moderation.

    Overall, there is hope that Meta’s Community Notes program can be effective, but its success will depend on continuous experimentation and improvement. The company must prioritize transparency to rebuild public trust and ensure the program does not become another performative gesture.

    Regulators also have a crucial role in holding platforms accountable, ensuring that data from these programs remains accessible to independent researchers and that the algorithms determining which notes are displayed are fair and unbiased.

    Without these safeguards, Community Notes risks becoming yet another tool that platforms use to shift responsibility rather than a meaningful solution to misinformation.

    Sameer Borwankar receives funding from SSHRC.

    – ref. Meta’s Community Notes program is promising, but needs to prioritize transparency – https://theconversation.com/metas-community-notes-program-is-promising-but-needs-to-prioritize-transparency-248324

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Do photons wear out? An astrophysicist explains light’s ability to travel vast cosmic distances without losing energy

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Jarred Roberts, Project Scientist, University of California, San Diego

    Light, whether from a star or your flashlight, travels at 186,000 miles per second. Artur Debat/Moment via Getty Images

    My telescope, set up for astrophotography in my light-polluted San Diego backyard, was pointed at a galaxy unfathomably far from Earth. My wife, Cristina, walked up just as the first space photo streamed to my tablet. It sparkled on the screen in front of us.

    “That’s the Pinwheel galaxy,” I said. The name is derived from its shape – albeit this pinwheel contains about a trillion stars.

    The light from the Pinwheel traveled for 25 million years across the universe – about 150 quintillion miles – to get to my telescope.

    My wife wondered: “Doesn’t light get tired during such a long journey?”

    Her curiosity triggered a thought-provoking conversation about light. Ultimately, why doesn’t light wear out and lose energy over time?

    Let’s talk about light

    I am an astrophysicist, and one of the first things I learned in my studies is how light often behaves in ways that defy our intuitions.

    The author’s photo of the Pinwheel galaxy.
    Jarred Roberts

    Light is electromagnetic radiation: basically, an electric wave and a magnetic wave coupled together and traveling through space-time. It has no mass. That point is critical because the mass of an object, whether a speck of dust or a spaceship, limits the top speed it can travel through space.

    But because light is massless, it’s able to reach the maximum speed limit in a vacuum – about 186,000 miles (300,000 kilometers) per second, or almost 6 trillion miles per year (9.6 trillion kilometers). Nothing traveling through space is faster. To put that into perspective: In the time it takes you to blink your eyes, a particle of light travels around the circumference of the Earth more than twice.

    As incredibly fast as that is, space is incredibly spread out. Light from the Sun, which is 93 million miles (about 150 million kilometers) from Earth, takes just over eight minutes to reach us. In other words, the sunlight you see is eight minutes old.

    Alpha Centauri, the nearest star to us after the Sun, is 26 trillion miles away (about 41 trillion kilometers). So by the time you see it in the night sky, its light is just over four years old. Or, as astronomers say, it’s four light years away.

    Imagine – a trip around the world at the speed of light.

    With those enormous distances in mind, consider Cristina’s question: How can light travel across the universe and not slowly lose energy?

    Actually, some light does lose energy. This happens when it bounces off something, such as interstellar dust, and is scattered about.

    But most light just goes and goes, without colliding with anything. This is almost always the case because space is mostly empty – nothingness. So there’s nothing in the way.

    When light travels unimpeded, it loses no energy. It can maintain that 186,000-mile-per-second speed forever.

    It’s about time

    Here’s another concept: Picture yourself as an astronaut on board the International Space Station. You’re orbiting at 17,000 miles (about 27,000 kilometers) per hour. Compared with someone on Earth, your wristwatch will tick 0.01 seconds slower over one year.

    That’s an example of time dilation – time moving at different speeds under different conditions. If you’re moving really fast, or close to a large gravitational field, your clock will tick more slowly than someone moving slower than you, or who is further from a large gravitational field. To say it succinctly, time is relative.

    Even astronauts aboard the International Space Station experience time dilation, although the effect is extremely small.
    NASA

    Now consider that light is inextricably connected to time.
    Picture sitting on a photon, a fundamental particle of light; here, you’d experience maximum time dilation. Everyone on Earth would clock you at the speed of light, but from your reference frame, time would completely stop.

    That’s because the “clocks” measuring time are in two different places going vastly different speeds: the photon moving at the speed of light, and the comparatively slowpoke speed of Earth going around the Sun.

    What’s more, when you’re traveling at or close to the speed of light, the distance between where you are and where you’re going gets shorter. That is, space itself becomes more compact in the direction of motion – so the faster you can go, the shorter your journey has to be. In other words, for the photon, space gets squished.

    Which brings us back to my picture of the Pinwheel galaxy. From the photon’s perspective, a star within the galaxy emitted it, and then a single pixel in my backyard camera absorbed it, at exactly the same time. Because space is squished, to the photon the journey was infinitely fast and infinitely short, a tiny fraction of a second.

    But from our perspective on Earth, the photon left the galaxy 25 million years ago and traveled 25 million light years across space until it landed on my tablet in my backyard.

    And there, on a cool spring night, its stunning image inspired a delightful conversation between a nerdy scientist and his curious wife.

    Jarred Roberts receives funding from NASA.

    – ref. Do photons wear out? An astrophysicist explains light’s ability to travel vast cosmic distances without losing energy – https://theconversation.com/do-photons-wear-out-an-astrophysicist-explains-lights-ability-to-travel-vast-cosmic-distances-without-losing-energy-252880

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Nonprofit news media leaders are struggling to stop leaning on the foundations that say they should branch out more

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Katherine Fink, Associate Professor of Media, Communications, and Visual Arts, Pace University

    If the basket falls, at least there are some other eggs on hand that might not break. Iryna Veklich/Moment via Getty Images

    You’ve probably heard the adage about not putting all your eggs in one basket.

    It’s an especially meaningful one for newspapers. For decades, they relied heavily on advertising revenue. That arrangement stopped working about 20 years ago, as audiences moved online and advertisers followed. News media outlets moved online as well, but they found themselves in a losing battle for advertising dollars against new digital competitors such as Craigslist, Facebook and Google. One-third of U.S. newspapers have closed in the past two decades, most of them local.

    As their income from ads and subscriptions has dwindled, some news organizations that used to rely mainly on ad revenue, such as The Salt Lake Tribune and Philadelphia Inquirer, have become nonprofits – opening the door to other sources of revenue. And interest in launching news organizations as nonprofits has been growing. Meanwhile, some for-profit media outlets have begun to obtain some philanthropic support and ask for donations from readers and subscribers.

    I’m a journalism studies researcher and a former journalist myself. To better understand how news leaders were thinking about their future in this ever-evolving landscape, I researched the fundraising approaches of local nonprofit news outlets across the U.S.

    I interviewed 23 local news leaders about their fundraising strategies and their views on the best way to balance their sources of funding in the long term. What I found is that nonprofit news media outlets are finding it necessary to pursue multiple streams of revenue, including from foundations, in the search for sustainable business models. But the ideal revenue mix may look different for each organization.

    Foundations are footing half the bill

    Foundations, especially the Knight Foundation, have become major supporters of nonprofit news media in recent years. According to the Institute for Nonprofit News, foundations provided about half of all revenue for nonprofit news media in 2023. Another 29% came from individual donations. And 17% came from ads and other sources of earned, rather than donated, revenue.

    Money raised through grants from foundations can arrive in larger amounts and be more predictable than advertising revenue. But it often comes with strings attached. For example, in exchange for a grant, a media outlet might be pressured to adjust its editorial priorities or adopt specific technologies.

    The nonprofit news leaders I interviewed also said foundations tend to be more interested in starting new organizations than sustaining media outlets that are already up and running.

    Some foundations are now making that point clearer than ever by telling the nonprofit news organizations they have supported not to depend too much on them anymore. The Knight Foundation and other funders have informed potential applicants they must demonstrate they are pursuing revenue diversity as a condition for getting a grant.

    In other words, nonprofit media shouldn’t put all of their eggs in the foundation basket, either.

    Branching out

    The local news leaders I interviewed said they didn’t necessarily see having a variety of revenue sources as a path to sustainability. And adding new revenue streams comes with costs, such as hiring membership directors or advertising salespeople. Local news leaders said it’s hard to know whether making those investments will pay off.

    Still, under pressure to rely less on foundations and more on other types of revenue, they’ve been branching out in recent years. According to the Institute for Nonprofit News, foundations provided 57% of nonprofit news revenue in 2018; in 2024, that share had declined to 51%.

    But it’s not clear how much more revenue could come from other sources. Donations from readers tend to be provided in small amounts, so news organizations need a lot of them. And individuals donate to news organizations for a variety of reasons, so news organizations need to hire fundraisers who can craft a variety of messages. Getting large numbers of readers to donate is hard, however, because audiences for local news tend to be small.

    Nonprofit news organizations can also accept advertising. However, advertising is a taxable form of revenue, unlike donations. The IRS has also warned organizations that they can lose their tax-exempt status if they accept too much income that is “unrelated” to their nonprofit missions, including advertising.

    Pooling donor funds

    Ultimately, the nonprofit news leaders I interviewed say every type of revenue has its drawbacks. And the more complicated their revenue mix becomes, the more complicated their approach to fundraising has to be.

    Local news organizations already operating on shoestring budgets don’t have the capacity to complicate their fundraising, even though they say they agree with the general principle of revenue diversity.

    The nonprofit news leaders did have encouraging things to say about a newer fundraising trend: pooled donor funds. With pooled donor funds, multiple donors contribute to a single charity that serves as an intermediary that disburses that donated money to a particular kind of nonprofit.

    For the media, examples include the Institute for Nonprofit News’ NewsMatch and Press Forward, a coalition of 20 foundations.

    Pooled donor funds can be considered a form of revenue diversity, since they combine contributions from multiple sources and are used to persuade individual readers to “match” donations from the pooled funds with their own contributions. That can potentially insulate news organizations from major changes as grants from individual foundations come and go.

    Researching the role of ‘earned revenue’

    I plan to publish the results of another study soon. It’s about the role that “earned revenue,” meaning advertising, sponsorships and other entrepreneurial sources of money, is playing in the funding of nonprofit news media.

    The Institute for Nonprofit News has called it “perhaps the most underutilized revenue stream for nonprofit news.”

    But the nonprofit news leaders I interviewed had mixed feelings about earned revenue. In part, that was because of ambiguous guidance about how much of it news organizations may accept without jeopardizing their tax-exempt status.

    Given President Donald Trump’s recent threats against other nonprofits, including universities and hospitals, news organizations may be even more reluctant to test those limits.

    Katherine Fink does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Nonprofit news media leaders are struggling to stop leaning on the foundations that say they should branch out more – https://theconversation.com/nonprofit-news-media-leaders-are-struggling-to-stop-leaning-on-the-foundations-that-say-they-should-branch-out-more-255821

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: The one-size-fits-all diversity training model is broken – here’s a better alternative

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Radostina Purvanova, Professor of Management and Organizational Leadership, Drake University

    Diversity training is more effective when it’s personalized, according to my new research in the peer-reviewed journal Applied Psychology.

    As a professor of management, I partnered with Andrew Bryant, who studies social marketing, to develop an algorithm that identifies people’s “personas,” or psychological profiles, as they participate in diversity training in real time. We embedded this algorithm into a training system that dynamically assigned participants to tailored versions of the training based on their personas.

    We found that this personalized approach worked especially well for one particular group: the “skeptics.” When skeptics received training tailored to them, they responded more positively – and expressed a stronger desire to support their organizations’ diversity efforts – than those who received the same training as everyone else.

    In the age of social media, where just about everything is customized and personalized, this sounds like a no-brainer. But with diversity training, where the one-size-fits-all approach still rules, this is radical. In most diversity trainings, all participants hear the same message, regardless of their preexisting beliefs and attitudes toward diversity. Why would we assume that this would work?

    Thankfully, the field is realizing the importance of a learner-centric approach. Researchers have theorized that several diversity trainee personas exist. These include the resistant trainee, who feels defensive; the overzealous trainee, who is hyper-engaged; and the anxious trainee, who is uncomfortable with diversity topics. Our algorithm, based on real-world data, identified two personas with empirical backing: skeptics and believers. This is proof of concept that trainee personas aren’t just theoretical – they’re real, and we can detect them in real time.

    But identifying personas is just the beginning. What comes next is tailoring the message. To learn more about tailoring, we looked to the theory of jujitsu persuasion. In jujitsu, fighters don’t strike. They use their opponent’s energy to win. Similarly, in jujitsu persuasion, you yield to the audience, not challenge it. You use the audience’s beliefs, knowledge and values as leverage to make change.

    In terms of diversity training, this doesn’t mean changing what the message is. It means changing how the message is framed. For example, the skeptics in our study still learned about the devastating harms of workplace bias. But they were more persuaded when the message was framed as a “business case” for diversity, rather than a “moral justice” message. The “business case” message is tailored to skeptics’ practical orientation. If diversity training researchers and practitioners embrace tailoring diversity training to different trainee personas, more creative approaches to tailoring will surely be designed.

    Why it matters

    The Trump administration is leading a backlash against diversity initiatives, and a backlash to that backlash is emerging. This isn’t entirely new: Diversity has long been a contentious issue.

    Organizations like the Pew Research Center, the United Nations and others have consistently reported a conservative-liberal split, as well as a male-female split, around diversity. Diversity training has done little to bridge these gaps.

    For one, diversity training is often ineffective at reducing bias and improving diversity metrics in organizations. Many organizations treat diversity training efforts as a box-checking exercise. Worse, it’s not unusual for such efforts to backfire.

    Our research offers a solution: Identify the trainee personas represented in your audience and customize your training accordingly. This is what social media platforms like Facebook do: They learn about people in real time and then tailor the content they see.

    To illustrate the importance of tailoring diversity training specifically, consider how differently skeptics and believers think. One skeptic in our study – which focused on gender diversity training – said: “The issue isn’t as great as feminists try to force us to believe. Women simply focus on other things in life; men focus on career first.” In contrast, a believer said: “In my own organization, all CEOs and managers are men. Women are not respected or promoted very often, if at all.”

    Clearly, trainees are different. Tailoring the training to different personas, jujitsu style, may be how we change hearts and minds.

    What still isn’t known

    Algorithms are only as good as the data they rely on. Our algorithm identified personas based on information the trainees reported about themselves. More objective data, such as data culled from human resources systems, may identify personas more reliably.

    Algorithms also improve as they learn over time. As artificial intelligence tools become more widely used in HR, persona-identifying algorithms will get smarter and faster. The training itself needs to get smarter. A one-time training session, even a tailored one, stands less of a chance at long-term change compared with periodic nudges. Nudges are bite-sized interventions that are unobtrusively delivered over time. Now, think about tailored nudges. They could be a game changer.

    The Research Brief is a short take on interesting academic work.

    Radostina Purvanova does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. The one-size-fits-all diversity training model is broken – here’s a better alternative – https://theconversation.com/the-one-size-fits-all-diversity-training-model-is-broken-heres-a-better-alternative-250495

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Ancient pollen reveals stories about Earth’s history, from the asteroid strike that killed the dinosaurs to the Mayan collapse

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Francisca Oboh Ikuenobe, Professor of Geology and Geophysics, Missouri University of Science and Technology

    An electron microscope image, colorized, shows different structures of pollen grains, including sunflower, morning glory and primrose. Dartmouth Electron Microscope Facility

    If you are sneezing this spring, you are not alone. Every year, plants release billions of pollen grains into the air, specks of male reproductive material that many of us notice only when we get watery eyes and runny noses.

    However, pollen grains are far more than allergens – they are nature’s time capsules, preserving clues about Earth’s past environments for millions of years.

    Pollen’s tough outer shell enables it to survive long after its parent plants have disappeared. When pollen grains become trapped in sediments at the bottom of lakes, oceans and riverbeds, fossil pollen can provide scientists with a unique history of the environments those pollen-producing plants were born into. They can tell us about the vegetation, climate and even human activity through time.

    Fossil pollen grains of Carya (hickory) have been found in southeastern Missouri that are millions of years old.
    Francisca Oboh Ikuenobe

    The types of pollen and the quantities of pollen grains found at a site help researchers reconstruct ancient forests, track sea-level changes and identify the fingerprints of significant events, such as asteroid impacts or civilizations collapsing.

    As palynologists, we study these ancient pollen fossils around the world. Here are a few examples of what we can learn from these microscopic pollen grains.

    Missouri: Pollen and the asteroid

    When an asteroid struck Earth some 66 million years ago, the one blamed for wiping out the dinosaurs, it is believed to have sent a tidal wave crashing onto North America.

    Marine fossils and rock fragments found in southeastern Missouri appear to have been deposited there by a massive wave generated by the asteroid hitting what is now Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.

    Among the rocks and marine fossils, scientists have found fossilized pollen from the Late Cretaceous and Early Paleocene periods that reflects changes in the surrounding ecosystems. The pollen reveals how ecosystems were instantly disrupted at the time of the asteroid, before gradually rebounding over hundreds to thousands of years.

    A University of Michigan-led study using data from the Chicxulub asteroid impact crater modeled how far the resulting tsunami likely would have reached. Ancient pollen grains and marine fossils found in southeastern Missouri and analyzed by scientists at the Missouri University of Science and Technology offer hard evidence of the flooding.
    Molly M. Range, et al., 2022, CC BY

    Pollen from gymnosperms, such as pines, as well as ferns and flowering plants, such as grasses, herbs and palm trees, all record a clear pattern: Some forest pollen disappeared after the impact, suggesting that the regions’ vegetation changed. Then the pollen slowly began to reemerge as the environment stabilized.

    US Gulf Coast: Sequoia pollen and sea-level rise

    Fossilized pollen grains have also helped scientists trace slower but equally dramatic changes along the eastern Gulf Coast states of Mississippi and Alabama.

    During the Early Oligocene, around 33.9 to 28 million years ago, sea levels rose and flooded low-lying conifer forests in the region. Researchers identified a distinct change in pollen released by Sequoia-type trees, giant conifers that once dominated the coastal plains.

    Scientists have been able to use those pollen records to reconstruct how far the shoreline moved inland by tracking the proportion of pollen grains in the geologic record to the rise of marine microfossils.

    The evidence shows how the sea flooded land ecosystems hundreds of miles from today’s coast. Pollen is a biological marker and geographic tracer of this ancient change.

    Western Australia: From swamp to salinity

    In Western Australia, sediment cores from the beds of Lake Aerodrome, Gastropod Lake and Prado Lake reveal how long-term drying can change the ecology of a region.

    During the Eocene, a period from about 55.8 million to 33.9 million years ago, lush swamp forests surrounded freshwater lakes there. That’s reflected by abundant pollen from tropical trees and moisture-loving shrubs and fern spores at that time. However, vegetation changed dramatically as the Australian tectonic plate drifted northward and the climate became more arid.

    The upper layers of the sediment cores, which capture more recent times, contain pollen mostly from wind-pollinated, salt- and drought-tolerant plants – evidence of shifting vegetation under growing environmental stress.

    Magnified images of fossil pollen studied in Australia. Clockwise from upper left, they are pollen from acacia, aglaonema and eucalyptus.
    Francisca Oboh-Ikuenobe

    The presence of Dunaliella, a green alga that thrives in very salty water, alongside sparse pollen from plants that could survive dry environments, confirms that lakes that once supported forests became highly saline.

    Guatemala: Maya history and forest recovery

    Closer to the tropics, Lake Izabal in Guatemala offers a more recent archive spanning the past 1,300 years. This sediment record reflects both natural climate variation and the profound impact of human land use, especially during the rise and fall of the Maya civilization.

    Around 1,125 to 1,200 years ago, pollen from crops such as maize and opportunistic herbs surged, at the same time tree pollen dropped, reflecting widespread deforestation. Historical records show political centers in the region collapsed not long afterward.

    Quiriguá was an ancient Mayan city near Lake Izabal, where pollen studies show the rise in deforestation and the recovery. Quiriguá began to decline in the ninth century and was eventually abandoned.
    Daniel Mennerich/Flickr, CC BY-SA

    Only after population pressure eased did the forest begin to recover. Pollen from hardwood tropical trees increased, indicating vegetation rebounded even as rainfall declined during the Little Ice Age between the 14th and mid-19th centuries.

    The fossil pollen shows how ancient societies transformed their landscapes, and how ecosystems responded, providing more evidence and explanations for other historical accounts.

    Modern pollen tells a story, too

    These studies relied on analyzing fossil pollen grains based on their shapes, surface features and wall structures. By counting grains – hundreds to thousands per sample – scientists can statistically build pictures of ancient vegetation, the species present, their abundances, and how the composition of each shifted with the climate, sea-level changes or human activity.

    This is why modern pollen also tells a story. As today’s climate warms, the behavior of pollen-producing plants is changing. In temperate regions such as the U.S., pollen seasons start earlier and last longer due to warming temperatures and rising carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from vehicles, factories and other human activities.

    All of that is being recorded in the fossil pollen record in the sediment layers at the bottoms of lakes around the world.

    So, the next time you suffer from allergies, remember that the tiny grains floating in the air are biological time capsules that may one day tell future inhabitants about Earth’s environmental changes.

    Francisca Oboh Ikuenobe receives funding from the National Science Foundation, American Chemical Society-Petroleum Research Fund, and International Continental Scientific Drilling Program. She is affiliated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Geophysical Union Geological Society of America, American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Association for Women Geoscientists, Geological Society of Nigeria, AASP – The Palynological Society, SEPM – Society for Sedimentary Geology, and The Paleontological Society.

    Linus Victor Anyanna receives research support from the National Science Foundation. He is a member of the Geological Society of America, AASP-The Palynological Society, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, and the Geological Society of Nigeria.

    – ref. Ancient pollen reveals stories about Earth’s history, from the asteroid strike that killed the dinosaurs to the Mayan collapse – https://theconversation.com/ancient-pollen-reveals-stories-about-earths-history-from-the-asteroid-strike-that-killed-the-dinosaurs-to-the-mayan-collapse-254190

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: An 18th-century rebellion for liberty, equality and freedom − not in France or the United States, but Ireland

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Joseph Patrick Kelly, Professor of Literature and Director of Irish and Irish American Studies, College of Charleston

    A sculpture in Wexford, Ireland, by Eamonn O’Doherty, called ‘Fuascailt,’ commemorates the 1798 rebellion. Niall Carson/PA Images via Getty Images

    Shortly before midnight on May 23, 1798, highwaymen just north of Dublin intercepted and set on fire a mail coach headed to Belfast.

    It was the signal meant to ignite revolution across all Ireland.

    At the time, Ireland was a kingdom within the state of Great Britain. The island’s three religious factions had long been divided. Families who belonged to the Anglican Church of Ireland made up the aristocratic landlords and colonial administrators. Presbyterians, concentrated in the north, boasted a robust middle class. But as “dissenters” from the Anglican church, they were second-class citizens.

    And most of the remaining 80% of the population, the “native” Catholics, were near-destitute farmers. For more than a hundred years, they had lived under debilitating penal laws meant to keep Catholics out of economic and political power.

    Portrait of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, painted by Hugh Douglas Hamilton.
    Gallery of the Masters via Wikimedia Commons

    A new organization, the Society of United Irishmen, was established in the early 1890s in Belfast, and chapters quickly spread to Dublin and across the country. Anyone could join, so long as they dreamed of making Ireland a republic, like the United States and France, where the people had dispensed with the monarch and ruled themselves.

    Catholics and Presbyterians flocked to the cause, and even a few Anglicans joined up. The handsome and charismatic Lord Edward Fitzgerald, an Anglican son of a duke, renounced his title and commanded the society’s militia.

    By 1798, a quarter of a million men, many armed with long-handled, iron-tipped pikes, awaited the summons.

    It was the last time Catholics and Presbyterians in Ireland would unite under one banner in a really meaningful way until 1998, when a majority of both factions signed on to the Good Friday Agreement.

    As an Irish studies scholar, I’d argue the nationalist movement was symbolized best by revolutionary Theobald Wolfe Tone, whose father was an Anglican tradesman and whose mother was born and raised a Catholic.

    “I am a Protestant,” Tone wrote in his most famous political pamphlet, but also “a lover of justice and a steady detester of tyranny.”

    Enlightenment ideals

    Ever since King Henry VIII severed his nation’s ties to Roman Catholicism in the 16th century, Irish Catholics had suffered for their faith. Their lands were confiscated. They couldn’t bear arms. They couldn’t run schools or build churches. Though the worst of these laws had been reformed by the end of the 18th century and a small Catholic middle class was emerging, they were still barred from political office.

    Inspired by the American and French revolutions, the United Irishmen wanted a secular republic that separated church from state. They professed the Enlightenment principles of equality, liberty and government by the people – and thought citizens had a duty to abolish any government destructive of their rights.

    Their creed was a secular catechism, often expressed in the form of a question-and-answer text:

    What is in your hand? It is a branch.
    Of what? Of the Tree of Liberty
    Where did it first grow? In America.
    Where did it bloom? In France.
    Where did the seeds fall? In Ireland.

    Transcending sectarian differences, these Irish patriots took green as the color of their national flag. Upon this field they imposed an ancient symbol of Ireland, the harp.

    The rebellion

    The English began to suspect a revolt, and in 1787 they decided to strike first, unleashing a brutal crackdown. Redcoats “dragooned” the country, ransacking and burning homes, and flogging and summarily executing suspects.

    The Irish still sing about it today in the ballad “The Wearing of the Green”:

    I met with Napper Tandy and he took me by the hand,
    He said, “How’s dear old Ireland and how does she stand?”
    “She’s the most distressful country that you have ever seen,

    They’re hanging men and women for the wearing of the green.”

    Young Wolfe Tones singing ‘The Wearing of the Green.’

    Most of the United Irishmen’s leaders, including Fitzgerald, were arrested or killed in the dragnet. As a result, when the signal finally came, the flaming mail coach proved a fizzle rather than a rocket.

    Like guttering candles, the rebellion spent itself in uncoordinated risings at different times in different parts of the country. Help from France, which was then at war with Great Britain, came too little and too late. By October, Ireland’s revolution had been brutally suppressed.

    Historical memory

    Even before the conflict was over, aristocratic Anglican writers such as Sir Richard Musgrave spun the rebellion as an uprising of disgruntled Catholics. Reprisal killings, like rebels’ massacre of government supporters in County Wexford, helped them portray the rebellion as a religious war: Catholics against Protestants.

    Cynical English policies further dissolved the Presbyterian-Catholic alliance. An “Act of Union” in 1800 rewarded Irish Presbyterians with full citizenship – not in an Irish republic, but in the Protestant, monarchical state of Great Britain.

    Catholics, still oppressed and impoverished, had yet to face their most difficult trial: An Gorta Mor, the potato famine of the 1840s. About a million people, nearly all of them Catholic, died of starvation or disease, and another 2 million emigrated. Ireland’s population was reduced by a third.

    Because Irish nationalism became synonymous with Catholic liberation, it was mostly Catholics who celebrated the memory of the United Irishmen. The “Fenians,” a nationalist brotherhood who fought for Irish independence in the 1860s, used the United Irishmen for inspiration. Their famous ballad “The Rising of the Moon” laments, “What glorious pride and sorrow/ Fill the name of Ninety-Eight!”

    A memorial in County Wicklow to mark the 200th anniversary of the 1798 United Irishmen rebellion.
    Hugh Rooney/Eye Ubiquitous/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

    Religious states

    On Easter Monday 1916, Irish republicans rose up again in Dublin, beginning the revolution that would lead, finally, to Irish independence. One portion of their forces, the Citizen Army, raised the old United Irishmen’s banner above their headquarters in Dublin, Liberty Hall.

    But when the Irish got their “Free State,” they did not build the kind of secular republic envisioned by the United Irishmen. The new country was a decidedly Catholic nation.

    The nation’s new flag, the Irish tricolor, included green for Catholics, orange for Protestants and white to represent peace between them. But it was a largely empty gesture. Today only about 4% of the population of the Republic of Ireland identify as Protestant, while another 15% say they have no religion.

    A parade in Dublin in 1948 commemorates the 150th anniversary of the 1798 rebellion.
    Independent News And Media/Hulton Archive via Getty Images

    That’s mostly because in 1922 the British carved out an enclave of six northern counties where most of the Presbyterians and many Anglicans lived. This political entity, “Northern Ireland,” stayed united to England. Protestants outnumbered Catholics 2-to-1, and the minority faced widespread discrimination.

    Inspired by Martin Luther King Jr., Catholics in Northern Ireland began a campaign for equal rights in 1968. But when their acts of civil disobedience were met with violence, peaceful protest devolved into “the Troubles,” a guerrilla war to get the British out.

    Making peace

    A ceasefire was called in 1994, not long before the bicentennial of Ireland’s 1798 rebellion.

    To coincide with the anniversary, historian Kevin Whelan published an influential book, “The Tree of Liberty,” which emphasized the 1798 rebellion’s Enlightenment foundation. Catholics and Protestants together, Whelan argued, had fought to construct a secular nation based on equal rights.

    In 1998, people all over the country commemorated the rebellion, though the sectarian divisions and the violence of the Troubles loomed large.

    Almost exactly 200 years after the United Irishmen rose up, the people of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland voted in favor of the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. Though Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom today, the treaty secured the main goal of the 1798 rebellion: equal rights and self-determination for all citizens, no matter their religion.

    Joseph Patrick Kelly does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. An 18th-century rebellion for liberty, equality and freedom − not in France or the United States, but Ireland – https://theconversation.com/an-18th-century-rebellion-for-liberty-equality-and-freedom-not-in-france-or-the-united-states-but-ireland-249817

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Teens of any age who drink alcohol with their parents’ permission drink more as young adults, new research shows

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Bernard Pereda, Doctoral Student in Psychoolgy, University at Buffalo

    Parents play an important role in teaching their children about alcohol. StockPlanets/E+ via Getty Images

    Children and teenagers of any age who sip or taste alcohol with their parents’ permission are more likely to engage in risky drinking in young adulthood. That was the finding of a new study my colleagues and I published in the journal Addictive Behaviors.

    In the study, we examined questionnaires filled out annually between 2009 and 2018 by 387 adolescents starting at age 11 and an accompanying parent. Topics included history of child and parent alcohol use, beliefs about alcohol and rules about alcohol in the home. The questionnaires also asked adolescents if they ever drank alcohol with their parents’ permission, even just a few sips – and if yes, at what age they first did so.

    We analyzed whether drinking alcohol with parental permission during adolescence predicted alcohol outcomes in young adulthood, at ages 18 to 20. These outcomes included how often and how much they drank, alcohol use disorder symptoms and negative consequences such as self-injury and regretting things said while drinking.

    Then, we looked at whether the age at which this practice began affected likelihood of risky drinking. In our analysis, we also accounted for factors such as peer alcohol use, parental alcohol use and personality.

    In our sample, drinking with parental permission began anywhere from age 5 to age 17, but typically started around age 12. We found that about 80% of the adolescents responded that they had drunk alcohol with parental permission. That number is higher than in some other studies, most likely because our study had a wide age range. Research exploring this topic generally focuses on younger adolescents, who are less likely to be allowed to try alcohol by their parents, but this practice becomes more common as adolescents get older.

    We found that adolescents were more likely in young adulthood to drink more often and in greater amounts in families that allowed this practice compared with those that did not. The risk of experiencing symptoms of alcohol use disorder and negative consequences from drinking in young adulthood was also higher. Importantly, the age at which drinking with parents’ permission began did not change this effect.

    Alcohol slows down the brain by affecting brain chemicals called neurotransmitters.

    Why it matters

    Parents play a critical role in teaching their children about alcohol. The family is often the first context in which children are introduced to alcohol, either by trying it themselves or by observing others drinking. In the U.S., studies suggest that 30% to 40% of children under age 13 try alcohol with parental permission.

    Many parents view this as a protective strategy, believing that it reduces curiosity about alcohol and provides an opportunity to supervise safe drinking. Yet studies from several research groups have found that parents providing alcohol, even just sips or tastes, actually increases rather than decreases future drinking.

    Our study is the first to explore whether the age that trying alcohol with parental permission makes a difference for increased potential of later alcohol use. Overall, the findings can inform public health messages explaining the risks of allowing adolescents to try alcohol at any age.

    Why might parental permission to sip or taste alcohol increase risk? Some scientists have speculated that it may promote the belief that parents approve of underage drinking and shift children’s attitudes and beliefs to be more pro-alcohol.

    Ongoing and still unpublished work in our lab supports this. Namely, it strengthens their beliefs in the potential positive outcomes of drinking, such as making parties more fun, and weakens their beliefs in the potential negative outcomes, such as getting in trouble.

    What still isn’t known

    Future studies can shed light on whether regularly sipping and tasting alcohol in adolescence is more risky than doing it just once or twice.

    Additionally, how harmful the practice is may depend on adolescents’ personalities as well as the context in which parents allow it. For example, it may be particularly harmful for children who are inclined to seek out novel and exciting experiences. On the other hand, in highly structured settings such as religious events, it may be less risky.

    The Research Brief is a short take on interesting academic work.

    Bernard Pereda does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Teens of any age who drink alcohol with their parents’ permission drink more as young adults, new research shows – https://theconversation.com/teens-of-any-age-who-drink-alcohol-with-their-parents-permission-drink-more-as-young-adults-new-research-shows-254789

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How 3D printing is personalizing health care

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Anne Schmitz, Associate Professor of Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Stout

    A girl, wearing her prosthetic hands, walks to school in Uruguay. AP Photo/Matilde Campodonico

    Three-dimensional printing is transforming medical care, letting the health care field shift from mass-produced solutions to customized treatments tailored to each patient’s needs. For instance, researchers are developing 3D-printed prosthetic hands specifically designed for children, made with lightweight materials and adaptable control systems.

    These continuing advancements in 3D-printed prosthetics demonstrate their increasing affordability and accessibility. Success stories like this one in personalized prosthetics highlight the benefits of 3D printing, in which a model of an object produced with computer-aided design software is transferred to a 3D printer and constructed layer by layer.

    We are a biomedical engineer and chemist who work with 3D printing. We study how this rapidly evolving technology provides new options not just for prosthetics but for implants, surgical planning, drug manufacturing and other health care needs. The ability of 3D printing to make precisely shaped objects in a wide range of materials has led to, for example, custom replacement joints and custom-dosage, multidrug pills.

    Better body parts

    Three-dimensional printing in health care started in the 1980s with scientists using technologies such as stereolithography to create prototypes layer by layer. Stereolithography uses a computer-controlled laser beam to solidify a liquid material into specific 3D shapes. The medical field quickly saw the potential of this technology to create implants and prosthetics designed specifically for each patient.

    One of the first applications was creating tissue scaffolds, which are structures that support cell growth. Researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital combined these scaffolds with patients’ own cells to build replacement bladders. The patients remained healthy for years after receiving their implants, demonstrating that 3D-printed structures could become durable body parts.

    As technology progressed, the focus shifted to bioprinting, which uses living cells to create working anatomical structures. In 2013, Organovo created the world’s first 3D-bioprinted liver tissue, opening up exciting possibilities for creating organs and tissues for transplantation. But while significant advances have been made in bioprinting, creating full, functional organs such as livers for transplantation remains experimental. Current research focuses on developing smaller, simpler tissues and refining bioprinting techniques to improve cell viability and functionality. These efforts aim to bridge the gap between laboratory success and clinical application, with the ultimate goal of providing viable organ replacements for patients in need.

    Three-dimensional printing already has revolutionized the creation of prosthetics. It allows prosthetics makers to produce affordable custom-made devices that fit the patient perfectly. They can tailor prosthetic hands and limbs to each individual and easily replace them as a child grows.

    Three-dimensionally printed implants, such as hip replacements and spine implants, offer a more precise fit, which can improve how well they integrate with the body. Traditional implants often come only in standard shapes and sizes.

    Surgeons are able to use 3D printing to make medical implants to fit individual patients.

    Some patients have received custom titanium facial implants after accidents. Others had portions of their skulls replaced with 3D-printed implants.

    Additionally, 3D printing is making significant strides in dentistry. Companies such as Invisalign use 3D printing to create custom-fit aligners for teeth straightening, demonstrating the ability to personalize dental care.

    Scientists are also exploring new materials for 3D printing, such as self-healing bioglass that might replace damaged cartilage. Moreover, researchers are developing 4D printing, which creates objects that can change shape over time, potentially leading to medical devices that can adapt to the body’s needs.

    For example, researchers are working on 3D-printed stents that can respond to changes in blood flow. These stents are designed to expand or contract as needed, reducing the risk of blockage and improving long-term patient outcomes.

    Simulating surgeries

    Three-dimensionally printed anatomical models often help surgeons understand complex cases and improve surgical outcomes. These models, created from medical images such as X-rays and CT scans, allow surgeons to practice procedures before operating.

    For instance, a 3D-printed model of a child’s heart enables surgeons to simulate complex surgeries. This approach can lead to shorter operating times, fewer complications and lower costs.

    Personalized pharmaceuticals

    In the pharmaceutical industry, drugmakers can three-dimensionally print personalized drug dosages and delivery systems. The ability to precisely layer each component of a drug means that they can make medicines with the exact dose needed for each patient. The 3D-printed anti-epileptic drug Spritam was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2015 to deliver very high dosages of its active ingredient.

    Drug production systems that use 3D printing are finding homes outside pharmaceutical factories. The drugs potentially can be made and delivered by community pharmacies. Hospitals are starting to use 3D printing to make medicine on-site, allowing for personalized treatment plans based on factors such as the patient’s age and health.

    Three-dimensionally printed pharmaceuticals make it possible to customize the types, doses and release times of drugs.

    However, it’s important to note that regulations for 3D-printed drugs are still being developed. One concern is that postprinting processing may affect the stability of drug ingredients. It’s also important to establish clear guidelines and decide where 3D printing should take place – whether in pharmacies, hospitals or even at home. Additionally, pharmacists will need rigorous training in these new systems.

    Printing for the future

    Despite the extraordinarily rapid progress overall in 3D printing for health care, major challenges and opportunities remain. Among them is the need to develop better ways to ensure the quality and safety of 3D-printed medical products. Affordability and accessibility also remain significant concerns. Long-term safety concerns regarding implant materials, such as potential biocompatibility issues and the release of nanoparticles, require rigorous testing and validation.

    While 3D printing has the potential to reduce manufacturing costs, the initial investment in equipment and materials can be a barrier for many health care providers and patients, especially in underserved communities. Furthermore, the lack of standardized workflows and trained personnel can limit the widespread adoption of 3D printing in clinical settings, hindering access for those who could benefit most.

    On the bright side, artificial intelligence techniques that can effectively leverage vast amounts of highly detailed medical data are likely to prove critical in developing improved 3D-printed medical products. Specifically, AI algorithms can analyze patient-specific data to optimize the design and fabrication of 3D-printed implants and prosthetics. For instance, implant makers can use AI-driven image analysis to create highly accurate 3D models from CT scans and MRIs that they can use to design customized implants.

    Furthermore, machine learning algorithms can predict the long-term performance and potential failure points of 3D-printed prosthetics, allowing prosthetics designers to optimize for improved durability and patient safety.

    Three-dimensional printing continues to break boundaries, including the boundary of the body itself. Researchers at the California Institute of Technology have developed a technique that uses ultrasound to turn a liquid injected into the body into a gel in 3D shapes. The method could be used one day for delivering drugs or replacing tissue.

    Overall, the field is moving quickly toward personalized treatment plans that are closely adapted to each patient’s unique needs and preferences, made possible by the precision and flexibility of 3D printing.

    Daniel Freedman has received funding related to 3D printing from IBM, Braskem and Mediprint and is affiliated with the Stratasys Educational Community Advisory Board.

    Anne Schmitz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. How 3D printing is personalizing health care – https://theconversation.com/how-3d-printing-is-personalizing-health-care-249106

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-Evening Report: The band is breaking up: has the Coalition stopped making sense?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joshua Black, Visitor, School of History, Australian National University

    I remember seeing footage, several years ago, of a jubilant Malcolm Turnbull, then prime minister and Liberal leader, speaking in Tamworth to loyal members of the National Party. These were the rank and file who had spent weeks stumping for their man in New England, Nationals leader and deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce, who had resubmitted himself to voters after discovering he was a dual citizen of Australia and New Zealand.

    A lot was riding on the outcome. Turnbull’s government had the slimmest possible majority in the lower house, and the loss of the Nationals leader would have been bad for the government as well as morale. Consequently, Turnbull was overjoyed when he thanked voters in New England “for getting the band back together”. Joyce’s handsome victory was, he explained, a “great demonstration” of the “strength of our Coalition”.

    While it may seem unfair to bands everywhere to lean too heavily on that metaphor, there is something to it. Like The Beatles, the Liberal and National parties have allowed their creative tension to become little more than just tension. Like Simon and Garfunkel, deep-seated resentments have been allowed to fester without resolution for too long. And now, like Fleetwood Mac, the two parties have chosen to go their own way, at least for a time.

    An agreement and an idea

    The Coalition is first and foremost an agreement – or rather, a series of agreements. It is predicated on the pragmatic reality that neither the Liberal Party (and beforehand, its predecessor parties) nor the agrarian National (formerly Country) Party was able to govern alone, or at least not for very long.

    The first of these agreements was struck in February 1923, following an election the previous year that left the Nationalist Party, led by wartime prime minister Billy Hughes, well short of a lower house majority. The new Country Party won 14 seats in the lower house (roughly 18%) on its own, making it a force to be reckoned with.

    Country MPs were willing to form a power-sharing agreement with the Nationalists, but not without cost. The larger party had to jettison its leader in favour of a new prime minister, Stanley Melbourne Bruce. The rural party won a hefty share of the ministries (five out of 11) and Earle Page, Country Party leader, became treasurer and de facto deputy prime minister.

    Though they were not aware of it, Bruce and Page were creating something that has since become a tradition, an idea that can all too easily seem like an immutable part of Australia’s political life.

    For more than 100 years now, some form of that “Coalition” has stood against Labor, and in doing so has helped to constitute a two-party system whose predominance is well and truly waning.

    Discordant notes

    The termination of the Coalition in 2025 is neither shocking nor unprecedented. Indeed, if the band analogy has any meaning here, it is because there have been so many discordant notes over those 102 years.

    When the United Australia Party (UAP) came on to the federal scene in response to the Great Depression, the party of farmers chose to go it alone. The UAP won a majority and governed in its own right from 1931 to 1934, only joining the Country Party in coalition when the 1934 elections robbed it of outright majority.

    The death of UAP founder and prime minister Joe Lyons in April 1939 tore that marriage apart. His successor, Robert Menzies, declared his desire to choose all ministers (even those from the Country Party) himself, thereby alienating that party. Apart from a few dissidents, the Country Party quit the coalition, until the outbreak of war and declining electoral fortunes made a remarriage necessary.

    The Liberals and Country Party/Nationals managed their affairs well enough during their long stints in office from 1949 to 1972, and again under Malcolm Fraser (1975–83) and John Howard (1996–2007). But even in good times, these were not always the happiest of bandmates.

    Country Party leader John McEwen dominated the government in the late 1960s, to the point of brazenly vetoing the leadership candidacy of Harold Holt’s deputy (the unpopular Billy McMahon) when the former went swimming and failed to return.

    Fraser was often criticised by Liberal colleagues for his instinctive closeness to the National Party. Paul Davey explains that in Howard’s day, the Nationals felt “overshadowed” and “undersold”. In fact, the very word “Coalition” bordered on synonymous with “Liberal”.

    Different states of mind

    To be fair, Howard had learned a lot about managing the Coalition relationship by the time he arrived at The Lodge. The agreement had been brutally severed during his first stint as leader, thanks to Queensland premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen’s quest to become prime minister.

    A figure head of New Right populism, Bjelke-Petersen felt that neither the federal Liberal Party (then led by Howard) nor his National Party colleagues were made of tough enough stuff to beat modern Labor.

    The Nationals’ federal leader, Ian Sinclair, later said the vision of Howard, Sinclair and Bjelke-Petersen presenting separate election programs was an “absolute farce”.

    It mattered that the death of the Coalition was spearheaded by a state premier. Such agreements had always been less popular and more controversial within the state branches of both parties.

    South of the Murray, it was quite unspectacular for Country Party MPs in the mid-20th century to change their allegiances and even stand alone in office with the tentative support of the Labor Party.

    In Queensland, the Liberal and National Parties governed together, often with the latter as the senior partner. But Bjelke-Petersen scrapped the Coalition in that state in 1983 and consolidated its parliamentary majority at an election in 1986. By the time of his departure in 1987, both parties had badly fractured.

    In time, the two parties merged in that state to prevent such outbreaks in future. Federal members of the Queensland LNP face some awkward conversations now.

    Principled stances and survival

    In announcing the latest split, Nationals leader David Littleproud said his party was taking a “principled stance”, though what exact principles were involved we have not learned. His deputy, Kevin Hogan, said he hoped the parties would “get back together” later on.

    We know the sticking points were these: a guaranteed $20 billion Regional Australia Fund, divestiture powers to break up businesses with unhealthy market power, obligations for better regional mobile coverage, and an ongoing commitment to the nuclear energy project.

    The latter commitment flies in the face of electoral reason, but the other three policies are clearly informed by the history of telecommunications deregulation and privatisation (which caused many sleepless nights in the National Party during the Howard years) and the ever-present threat of other, more populist parties chasing Nationals MPs’ heels in regional Australia.

    The National Party made a big effort to resist that pressure in the 1990s, when One Nation looked like it might decimate its grip on the regions. A few days ago, Pauline Hanson said the Nationals and One Nation could in fact form their own coalition, so close were their policy offerings. That this was even uttered is a testament to how much the Nationals have changed over the past 30 years in their quest for survival.

    Time apart could provide the parties with the political space they need for self-reflection and strategic reorientation. But they will not have one another to blame for their performance in coming months and years. Breaking up the band is easy to do. Touring alone is hard.

    Joshua Black is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at The Australia Institute.

    – ref. The band is breaking up: has the Coalition stopped making sense? – https://theconversation.com/the-band-is-breaking-up-has-the-coalition-stopped-making-sense-257118

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: RBA cuts interest rates, ready to respond again if the economy weakens further

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra

    Reserve Bank Governor Michele Bullock speaks at a forum during the World Bank/IMF meetings in Washington in April. Jose Luis Magana/AP

    The Reserve Bank of Australia cut the official interest rate for the second time this year, as it lowered forecasts for Australian economic growth and pointed to increasing uncertainty in the world economy.

    The bank lowered the cash rate target by 0.25%, from 4.1% to 3.85%, saying inflation is expected to remain in the target band.

    All the big four banks swiftly passed the cut on to households with mortgages. This will save a household with a $500,000 loan about $80 a month.

    Announcing the cut, the Reserve Bank stressed in its accompanying statement it stands ready to reduce rates again if the economic outlook deteriorates sharply.

    The Board considered a severe downside scenario and noted that monetary policy is well placed to respond decisively to international developments if they were to have material implications for activity and inflation in Australia.

    Inflation is back under control

    The latest Consumer Price Index showed that inflation remained around the middle of the Reserve Bank’s medium-term target band of 2-3% in the March quarter.

    The Reserve Bank was also comforted by the underlying inflation measure called the “trimmed mean”. This measure excludes items with the largest price movements up or down.

    The bank noted that it has returned to the 2–3% target band for the first time since 2021. This suggests inflation is not just temporarily low due to temporary factors such as the electricity price rebates.



    Read more:
    Inflation is easing, boosting the case for another interest rate cut in May

    In February, Reserve Bank Governor Michele Bullock conceded the bank had arguably been “late raising interest rates on the way up”. It did not want to be late on the way down.

    Perhaps Bullock is being unduly modest. The central bank looks to have judged well the extent of monetary tightening. It did not raise interest rates as much as its peers, but still got inflation back to the target.

    Unemployment remains low

    Last week, we got an update on the strength of the labour market. Unemployment stayed at 4.1%. It has now been around 4% since late 2023, a remarkable achievement.

    This is below the 4.5% the Reserve Bank had regarded as the level consistent with steady inflation (in economic jargon, the NAIRU). But neither prices nor wages have accelerated.

    Households and businesses may turn cautious

    In its updated forecasts, the bank sees headline inflation dropping to 2.1% by mid-year but going back to 3.0% by the end of the year, as the electricity subsidies are removed. By mid-2027, it will be back near the middle of the 2-3% target.

    Underlying inflation is forecast to stay around the middle of the target band throughout.

    The Reserve Bank cut its forecast for gross domestic product (GDP) to 2.1% by December, down from its previous forecast of 2.4% made in February. It said:

    Economic policy uncertainty has increased sharply alongside recent global developments, and this is expected to prompt some households to increase their precautionary savings and some businesses to postpone some investment decisions.

    The unemployment rate is expected to increase to 4.3% by the end of the year and remain there through 2026.

    Cost of living pressures look set to ease, as real household disposable income grows faster than population.

    As the Reserve Bank governor told a media conference on Tuesday:

    There’s now a new set of challenges facing the economy, but with inflation declining and the unemployment rate relatively low, we’re well positioned to deal with them. The board remains prepared to take further action if that is required.

    Economic and policy ‘unpredictability’

    The main uncertainty in the global economy is how the trade war instigated by US President Donald Trump will play out. According to one count, he has announced new or revised tariff policies about 50 times.

    “The outlook for the global economy has deteriorated since the February statement. This is due to the adverse impact on global growth from higher tariffs and widespread economic and policy unpredictability,” the bank noted.

    The US tariff pauses on the highest rates on China and most other nations are due to be in place for 90 days. But more measures may be announced before then.

    This uncertainty is likely to be stifling trade, and even more so investment decisions by companies in the face of rapidly changing policies. And it will weaken the global economy.

    In her press conference, Bullock said the board’s judgement was that “global trade developments will overall be disinflationary for Australia”. Not only is the global outlook weaker, but some goods no longer being sold to the US could be diverted to Australia.

    Where will interest rates go from here?

    The Reserve Bank’s updated forecasts assume interest rates will fall further, to 3.4% by the end of the year.

    But this is just a reflection of what financial markets are implying. It is not necessarily what the bank itself expects to do. It is certainty not a promise of what they will do.

    But the Reserve Bank still regards its stance as “restrictive”, or weighing on growth. So if it continues to believe inflation will stay within the target band, or the global outlook deteriorates, it will cut rates further.

    The Conversation

    John Hawkins was formerly a senior economist with the Reserve Bank.

    – ref. RBA cuts interest rates, ready to respond again if the economy weakens further – https://theconversation.com/rba-cuts-interest-rates-ready-to-respond-again-if-the-economy-weakens-further-256798

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Victorian budget has cash to splash on health, transport but new levies, job cuts, rising debt signal pain ahead

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Hayward, Emeritus Professor of Public Policy, RMIT University

    There was not a lot of cheer in the media reporting ahead of the 2025/6 Victorian budget released on Wednesday. Debt and deficits dominated the coverage.

    All eyes turned to new treasurer, Jaclyn Symes, to see if in her first budget the Labor government was finally delivering some financial discipline.

    That theme flowed into the press conference during the budget lockup, when journalists got to grill the treasurer about the budget papers. Symes copped a pasting. Journalists were clearly unhappy with what they had read and more unhappy about what they heard.

    Yes, the operating side of the budget is projected to be back to a wafer thin A$600 million surplus. But that is almost $1 billion less than was promised when Symes delivered a budget update last December.

    And all that infrastructure is to paid for by more borrowings, taking net debt to $167 billion, $10 billion more than it was last year.

    And that was despite the government benefiting from a whopping $3.5 billion in GST grants from the Commonwealth, over $1 billion more than the previous year.

    And it was despite a new fire and emergency services levy that is set to deliver an extra $600 million.

    And it was also despite a 22% increase in fees and fines, and a $1.3 billion rise in unspecified government charges. And it is also based on banking $500 million of savings from an efficiency review led by former head of Premier and Cabinet Helen Silver, which won’t be finished until July at the earliest.

    So where did that extra money go? Well, it paid for more than $6 billion of new services ($3 billion net of savings), and an extra $1.6 billion for new infrastructure, across all portfolios. This includes free public transport for seniors on weekends and free public transport for kids.

    The big ticket item was health, which got an extra $2.5 billion. That came as a surprise given health copped a $1.5 billion cut in last year’s budget, after the government claimed the hospitals were still spending at pandemic levels and needed to rediscover efficiency.

    That cut did not last long. Health services workers staged a short but effective campaign that forced the then new premier, Jacinta Allan, to buckle. The money was returned in December’s budget update.

    The budget papers show the Victorian economy has been performing strongly post pandemic, with Victoria leading the nation in employment growth. The budget papers tip that strong performance will continue, despite the continued warnings that all that government debt will eventually force the economy to buckle.

    The government argues rather than be criticised it should be applauded for a job well done.

    It spent up big on infrastructure during the pandemic, which has delivered to the state remarkably strong economic performance. It also spent up big to protect Victorians from COVID.

    It has a budget recovery plan and everything is on schedule. First employment had to grow, then we needed a cash surplus and now we have an operating surplus to add to it. Net debt in real terms will start to fall next year as the last step in a long-term plan.

    It also points to the state’s balance sheet to highlight it has something to show for all that debt in the form of $437 billion in assets.

    Victoria is not alone in running budget operating deficits during the pandemic. NSW and Queensland make happy bedfellows, but they are not as eye-catching because their levels of debt are much lower.

    Victoria is also not alone as a state or provincial government that has a lot of debt. The Canadian provinces are also in that situation, with Quebec and Ontario leading the pack.

    Then there are the German state governments. Their problem is not too much debt, but far too little, leaving them to grapple with not enough as well as crumbling infrastructure caused by a constitutional debt brake that is responsible for the mess, and which has recently been lifted.

    Treasurer Symes delivered a budget that has disappointed those who wanted to see debt fall and for the government to at long last show some fiscal discipline. With the economy still doing quite nicely, and so many new announcements to glow in, Treasurer Symes will be quite happy to disappoint.

    The political calculation here is simple: Victorians want services and aren’t worried if it is paid for by debt.

    Whether that remains the case at next year’s state election due in November is another question. For this will have been Syme’s last real chance to have been more prudent, and just at that moment when the economy could have afforded it.

    The Conversation

    David Hayward chairs the Strategic Advisory Committee for Fire Rescue Victoria.

    – ref. Victorian budget has cash to splash on health, transport but new levies, job cuts, rising debt signal pain ahead – https://theconversation.com/victorian-budget-has-cash-to-splash-on-health-transport-but-new-levies-job-cuts-rising-debt-signal-pain-ahead-257013

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: The Coalition is on a break, but the Nationals risk finding their former partner doesn’t want them back

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Linda Botterill, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University

    In the weeks since the federal election, there’s been much speculation about the future of the Coalition agreement. In their soul-searching, it seemed possible the Liberals might pull the pin, given the degree of their electoral losses and their need to rebuild.

    Instead, the Nationals, the party that has largely benefited from decades in coalition, announced they’d go it alone.

    But it’s more of a Clayton’s break-up than the real thing. As Nationals Leader David Littleproud told the media, “I’m passionate in the belief that we can bring this back together” and the president of the combined LNP in Queensland, Lawrence Springborg, indicated his optimism about a reconciliation.

    So what’s the point of calling it off in the hopes of getting back together by the next election? The Nationals have decided to take a calculated risk to push for what they want, but in doing so, they may have played directly into the Liberals’ hands.

    Why break up?

    When the Nationals (as the Country Party) first appeared in the Commonwealth Parliament more than a century ago, their leader William McWilliams said:

    we intend to support measures of which we approve and hold ourselves absolutely free to criticise or reject proposals with which we do not agree. Having put our hands to the wheel we set the course of our voyage. There has been no collusion; we crave no alliance; we spurn no support; we have no desire to harass the government, nor do we wish to humiliate the opposition.

    Almost immediately, though, the party entered a coalition with a predecessor of the Liberal Party. And the arrangement has suited the agrarian party well.

    Being in coalition, effectively supporting Liberal minority government, gave the Nationals an outsized influence on policy. It also gave them shadow ministries (and increased pay packets as a result), as well as the resulting media attention that comes with being in government.

    But the election saw a shift in the power balance in the Coalition party room. While the Liberals were crushed, the Nationals lost just one lower house seat to a candidate who was one of them before running as an independent.

    At the current count, the Liberals have 18 seats in the House of Representatives, while the Nationals have nine.

    So why would the smaller party leave a coalition arrangement?

    The issue seems to have been largely focused on energy policy, particularly nuclear policy, the party’s brainchild.

    Littleproud also mentioned divestiture laws to combat supermarket power and a $20 billion regional Australia fund as policies on which his party would not compromise. Clearly the Nats felt Opposition Leader Sussan Ley and the Liberals did not provide the appropriate guarantees.

    How does this play out nationally?

    In Queensland, the Liberal and National parties are formally combined as one joint organisation, the Liberal National Party (LNP).

    Under the LNP agreement in the state, federal electorates are divvied up between the parties. Whoever holds the seat of Groome, for instance, has to date taken their seat in the Liberal party room.

    How long these arrangements hold post-split is yet to be seen. It might make life particularly interesting for MPs helping formulate policy in the Liberal party room who might otherwise be more ideologically aligned with the Nats.

    More broadly though, there are ramifications for which candidates can run in each seat.

    Under the federal Coalition agreement, wherever there was an incumbent from either the Liberals or the Nationals, the other coalition partner couldn’t field a candidate to contest the seat. This largely prevented so-called three-cornered contests in which the Liberals and Nationals would split the vote against Labor. It also prevented the coalition partners from seeking to poach each other’s seats.

    But that doesn’t apply if the sitting member retires, and of course it seems unlikely to apply now that there’s no longer a coalition. The Nationals are free to run against the Liberals anywhere in the country and vice versa. This may explain Littleproud’s eagerness to leave a reunion before the next election on the table.

    The Liberals may see this as an opportunity. They already hold a swag of rural seats and when they win a former National Party seat, the Nationals struggle to get the seat back. Ley’s own seat of Farrer, for example, was once held by Nationals Leader Tim Fischer.

    Was it a smart move?

    Breaking up is something of a gamble from the Nationals.

    On the face of it, if the concern was about ensuring nuclear stayed on the agenda, the Nationals have relinquished their political power to keep it there by walking away. There’s little incentive for the Liberals to listen to a party that’s now part of the crossbench.

    There are likely to be two parties sipping champagne today. The first, and most obvious one, is Labor.



    Read more:
    David Littleproud cites nuclear energy disagreement as major factor in Coalition split

    Given the Liberals only have 18 lower house seats, Ley is going to have a hard time assembling an effective shadow cabinet and therefore alternative government. The talent pool, even including the party’s senators, will be spread thinly.

    Ley also spoke in praise of the coalition arrangement, saying the parties were “stronger together”.

    But longer term, there’s also reason for the Liberal Party to be celebrating.

    Much has been made about the need for the Liberals to go back to the drawing board to decide what a modern Liberal party should look like. It will likely be easier to reflect and create sorely-needed transformational change without the more conservative Nationals to consider.

    If Ley wants to rebuild the party to recapture the inner-city seats they’ve lost in the last two elections, this is a golden opportunity.

    And when it comes to forming government, the Nationals are not the Liberals’ only option. It’s possible the Liberals look around at some stage and decide they’d rather make up numbers with the Teals, if that suits them strategically.

    In theory, they could do what other parties around the world do: form a coalition after an election that they have fought on their own policies.

    The Nationals, meanwhile, may look around the parliament and find they don’t have any other friends with which to form government.

    So while both sides of the sort-of break-up have left their doors firmly open to getting back together, the risk the Nationals run is when they decide they want to move back in, their former partner may have moved on.

    Linda Botterill has in the past received funding from the Australian Research Council, the Grains Research and Development Corporation, and Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (now Agrifutures).

    – ref. The Coalition is on a break, but the Nationals risk finding their former partner doesn’t want them back – https://theconversation.com/the-coalition-is-on-a-break-but-the-nationals-risk-finding-their-former-partner-doesnt-want-them-back-257117

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: The government wants to contain NDIS growth. But ineligible people with disability also need support

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Helen Dickinson, Professor, Public Service Research, UNSW Sydney

    PeopleImages.com – Yuri A/Shutterstock

    Ensuring the provision of high quality disability services will pose a significant challenge for the Albanese government’s second term.

    The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) cost A$43.9 billion in 2023–24 and is one of the fastest growing pressures on the federal budget.

    As the government seeks to moderate growth of the scheme budget, some NDIS participants are finding they are no longer eligible for the scheme.

    The problem is, the supports they’re supposed to be able to access instead aren’t yet in place – or don’t exist.

    Containing growth

    Concerns have been mounting for some years about the NDIS’s growing budget. In 2024, National Cabinet set a target of moderating annual growth to 8%. If met, the scheme will still grow to $58 billion by 2028.

    The previous government attempted to limit its annual growth through legislative changes and a focus on weeding out fraud.



    Read more:
    The NDIS reform bill has been passed – will it get things ‘back on track’ for people with disability?

    But there have been a number of reports in recent months of the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) reassessing eligibility of NDIS participants to determine whether their supports are most appropriately paid for by the scheme.

    If individuals are unable to provide evidence within 28 days they may lose their funding. This can be a challenge to get if participants need to see a clinical professional to gather evidence.

    One group particularly impacted by eligibility reassessments are children. Some participants report being told they are no longer eligible for NDIS funding and should instead seek supports from other mainstream services such as health or education.

    But all too often, parents find these services don’t fund the necessary supports, leaving them to either fund this themselves or have their child go without.

    If opportunities for early intervention are missed, they may require more intensive and expensive supports in future.

    What are foundational supports?

    The NDIS was never intended to provide services to all people with disability. About 86% of disabled Australians do not have NDIS plans.

    But this doesn’t mean that people with disability who are not on the NDIS don’t also have support needs.

    New research found people with disability who were not NDIS participants had high levels of need for assistance for tasks of daily living including transport, cognitive and emotional tasks, mobility and household chores.

    These supports aren’t usually provided in the health system, but similar supports are provided through aged care.

    The NDIS review argued a lack of accessible and inclusive mainstream services for people with disability meant people were being pushed into the NDIS as their only potential source of support.

    A key recommendation of the NDIS review was states and territories should provide “foundational supports”.

    Foundational supports are split into two categories. General foundational supports includes things such as peer support, improving self-advocacy skills, and information and advice.

    Targeted supports include shopping and cleaning for those not eligible for the NDIS. Supports are aimed at particular groups such as those with psychosocial disability (from a mental disorder), families of children with developmental delay, and transition supports for young people preparing for employment and independent living.

    Foundational supports are supposed to be available from July of this year so people with disability who aren’t eligible for the NDIS can access support without having to join the scheme.

    But people who are reassessed as ineligible for the scheme are having their funding cut before these foundational supports have been established, leaving a worrying gap.



    Read more:
    States agreed to share foundational support costs. So why the backlash against NDIS reforms now?

    There is currently significant confusion in the disability community about what foundational supports will look like and who will be able to access these.

    What is clear is there is significant unmet need for people with disability outside of the scheme and this might lead to a deterioration of functioning among those in this group and potentially burnout of informal carers.

    Getting foundational supports right will be a key point of negotiation between federal and state and territory governments if people with disability are to be supported appropriately and the NDIS is to be sustainable.

    New ministers and ministries

    The new government has moved responsibility for the NDIS from the Department of Social Services into the new Department of Health, Disability and Ageing led by Mark Butler.

    While Butler will sit in Cabinet, Jenny McAllister has been appointed to the outer ministry as Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

    The shift of the NDIS to this portfolio has raised concerns among the disability community that it might not be a priority in an government department that also deals with health and aged care.

    There are further concerns this move might medicalise how disability is seen. This would go against the human rights basis of the NDIS, where issues of choice and control are crucial.

    The ministerial and departmental restructures do present new opportunities to harmonise services for people with disability.

    Currently health, disability and aged care are competing to attract similar workforces across allied health, aged care and disability support. A cross-sector approach to workforce planning could be streamlined if it is the responsibility of one department.

    Without this, we risk putting more pressure on the NDIS and leaving people with disability not on the NDIS without the supports they need.

    The government’s ministerial and departmental restructure will likely further delay the implementation of foundational supports. Given the breadth of responsibilities of the health, disability and aged care portfolio, other policies – and election promises – might take precedence over work on foundational supports.

    Helen Dickinson receives funding from ARC, NHMRC and Department of Social Services

    Anne Kavanagh receives funding from the ARC, NHMRC, MRFF, MS Australia and the Australian government.

    – ref. The government wants to contain NDIS growth. But ineligible people with disability also need support – https://theconversation.com/the-government-wants-to-contain-ndis-growth-but-ineligible-people-with-disability-also-need-support-256236

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Can Murray Watt fix Australia’s broken nature laws? First stop, Western Australia

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Justine Bell-James, Professor, TC Beirne School of Law, The University of Queensland

    New federal Environment Minister Murray Watt is in Western Australia this week to reboot nature law reform. Reform stalled in the Senate last term, following stiff opposition from the state’s Labor government and mining sector.

    Watt has a big task ahead of him. Labor came into power in 2022 promising large-scale law reform to reverse Australia’s alarming rate of biodiversity loss.

    But former environment minister Tanya Plibersek’s tenure ended with Australia’s nature laws in even worse shape than when she started. A last-minute amendment intended to protect salmon farming in Tasmania now limits the government’s power to reconsider certain environment approvals, even when an activity is harming the environment.

    But a new leader for the Greens and the Liberals in this term of parliament means Labor’s important push for reform may have better prospects.

    What went wrong in Labor’s last term?

    When Plibersek announced Labor’s “Nature Positive Plan” in 2022, she committed to a massive overhaul of Australia’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC Act).

    The ambitious plan involved creating an independent national environment protection agency to enforce national environmental standards. Setting such standards was recommended by the 2020 Samuel Review of the EPBC Act. If legislated, the standards would shift decision-making under the act from being a highly discretionary process to one focused on outcomes for the environment.

    In December 2022, Labor was talking up its plan to fix Australia’s ‘broken’ environmental laws. (ABC News)

    An early draft of the new legislation was presented to key stakeholders at closed-door consultation sessions. They included environmental non-government organisations, research groups and peak bodies for the minerals and development sectors. The draft did a pretty good job of capturing the components of the Nature Positive Plan.

    However, Plibersek’s proposal was unpopular with some, including WA Premier Roger Cook and the mining lobby. Freedom of Information laws revealed major players in the mining sector wrote to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese asking him to intervene.

    In the face of these difficulties, Plibersek pivoted. In April 2024, she announced nature reforms would instead be delivered in three phases. The first was the Nature Repair Market, which had already been legislated. The second was three bills to be introduced to parliament. The third phase would happen at some point in the future.

    The bills sought to create two new bodies, Environment Protection Australia and Environment Information Australia, to inform decision-making. A third bill contained some improved compliance and enforcement mechanisms. However, the centrepiece of the initial reforms – the new environmental standards themselves – were missing. This sparked criticism, as the EPA would simply be enforcing the same ineffective laws that currently exist, and would not have project approval powers until some later amendments were passed.

    Presumably, Plibersek switched to a three-stage process hoping the stage-two bills would pass through parliament with a minimum of dissent. This would leave the more contentious standards as a problem to be dealt with further down the track.

    However, even the watered-down proposal was unpopular. The bill stalled in the Senate, criticised as both too weak and too strong by opposite sides of the political spectrum. And once again, the mining lobby intervened. Albanese signalled a willingness to remove approval powers from the EPA, leaving decisions with the minister.

    Plibersek eventually managed to secure support from the Greens to get the bills through the Senate, but Albanese killed the deal at the eleventh hour in November last year. At the time, Labor’s prospects for the federal election were looking shaky, and Albanese saw the decision as a way to shore up support in WA.

    What are the chances of success now?

    The failure of the Nature Positive Reforms in Labor’s first term came down to one crucial factor: politics. With a fresh election win, a decisive majority, and a new environment minister, will things be different?

    In his first interviews after winning the election, Albanese said he wants a federal environmental protection agency that “supports industry, but also supports sustainability”. This suggests there may be a green light for Watt to at least push for this aspect of the reforms to be revived.

    What about the more ambitious parts of the reform, including National Environmental Standards? This is something Watt could potentially push for.

    In an interview on Monday, Watt said both options are on the table: widespread reform, or the pared-down version Plibersek took to parliament. Watt said he wants “to approach the reforms in the spirit of Graeme Samuel’s recommendations”, which suggests he’s open to new standards.

    Indeed, when new Opposition Leader Sussan Ley was environment minister, she tried to push through legislation incorporating similar standards. Watt could use this to garner crossbench support.

    Watt also has a new Greens leader with whom to negotiate. Senator Larissa Waters, a former environmental lawyer, understands the complexity of the EPBC Act better than most.

    With the Greens holding the balance of power in the Senate, Waters might push for any proposed laws to be strengthened – perhaps by bringing back the standards.

    Watt said he will reach out to Ley and the Greens to see if they’re “prepared to work with us to get these reforms passed”.

    Watch this space

    At this stage, Watt is resisting pressure to rule out giving a future EPA the power to approve major resources projects. Everything is still up for discussion.

    Ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, Cook said he would push Watt to consult widely before making any decisions and avoid duplicating existing state laws.

    Watt says his job now is to listen, before finding a way forward. But “the very biggest priority is to pass these reforms”, this term, whatever it takes.

    Justine Bell-James receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, the Queensland Government, and the National Environmental Science Program. She is a Director of the National Environmental Law Association and a member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists.

    – ref. Can Murray Watt fix Australia’s broken nature laws? First stop, Western Australia – https://theconversation.com/can-murray-watt-fix-australias-broken-nature-laws-first-stop-western-australia-257000

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: There’s no country more important to Australia than Indonesia. Trouble is, the feeling isn’t mutual

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Lindsey, Malcolm Smith Professor of Asian Law and Director of the Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society, The University of Melbourne

    Making Jakarta their first overseas visit has become a set piece for newly elected Australian prime ministers dating back to John Howard in 1996.

    So, we should not be surprised that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese flew to Jakarta soon after his landslide re-election, just as he did in 2022. In fact, it would be very surprising if he did not.

    These visits are now an obligation for a newly elected PM. Failing to jump on the plane would be seen in Indonesia as an intentional snub.

    The visits follow a familiar pattern. The prime minister offers some sort of paraphrase of Paul Keating’s famous tag, “There is no country more important to Australia than Indonesia”. (Albanese actually quoted Keating word for word.)

    There is a carefully planned photo op, such as riding bamboo bikes, visiting a crowded marketplace or, this time around, a golf cart ride at the presidential palace.

    The brief visit ends with a joint press conference, where both leaders pledge to “strengthen the relationship”. With occasional exceptions, their announcements are vague and aspirational. Sometimes they just restate what they’ve said before.

    In other words, these performative post-election prime ministerial visits have become an essential, symbolic part of Australia’s bilateral relationship with Indonesia, but they too often lack substance.

    This is a pity, because Australia needs to work much harder to achieve its key aims with Indonesia, which Albanese defined in Jakarta as closer economic and defence engagement.

    To put it bluntly, Australia struggles to get Indonesia’s attention. It is an uncomfortable truth that, from an Indonesian perspective, Australia’s leverage and importance is limited. Jakarta sees Canberra as the junior partner in the relationship.

    An Indonesian president is hardly likely to say, “There is no country more important to Indonesia than Australia”, let alone make a post-election visit to Canberra a fixture.

    Prabowo’s gesture to Australia

    This is not to say Indonesia’s current president, Prabowo Subianto, is hostile to Australia. He is not.

    In fact, he made a significant friendly gesture to Australia soon after he was sworn in last year by releasing the remaining five members of the Bali Nine from prison in Indonesia and sending them home for Christmas.

    This move was beneficial to Prabowo on multiple fronts.

    First, generous acts of clemency of this kind distinguish him from his predecessor, Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, and his hardline “war on drugs” policy. Jokowi endorsed Prabowo in last year’s election, but Prabowo is keen to emerge from his long shadow.

    Second, Prabowo is far more cosmopolitan and interested in international affairs than his predecessor. He has ambitions to be a player on the global stage, as witnessed by his (failed) efforts to broker a peace between Russia and Ukraine last year. Freeing foreign prisoners makes him more welcome overseas.

    Third, granting clemency helps counter Prabowo’s dark past, and the long-standing and credible allegations of human rights abuses that date back to his time as Soeharto’s son-in-law and a special forces commander.

    These allegations are more of a problem internationally than at home, but they are still a nuisance for Prabowo. He likely expected his Bali Five gesture would win him a warm and image-enhancing response from Albanese – and indeed, that proved to be the case.

    But while all this suited Prabowo nicely, it did not result in any major developments in the two areas most important to Australia: trade and security.

    Lingering mistrust on security matters

    There are understandable reasons for this.

    Take security, for example. Indonesia is critically important to Australia as its northern defensive shield. It is vital to our interests that we have a strong security partnership with Indonesia. But Australia is less important to Indonesia’s own defences.

    We are also not fully trusted. In addition to lingering concerns about the AUKUS deal with the US and UK, Australia’s role in the independence of Timor–Leste in 1999 resulted in Indonesia famously tearing up the sweeping security treaty Keating negotiated with Soeharto in 1995.

    Indeed, the loss of Timor–Leste still rankles with some senior Indonesian military figures. Australia and Indonesia have signed new security arrangements since then – the Lombok Treaty, in particular, and the agreement signed last year enabling more complex training exercises between the two militaries. However, none match the scale of the 1995 agreement.

    Moreover, our engagement on security is complicated by Indonesia’s long-standing commitment to a non-aligned diplomatic policy – what it calls “free and active”.

    Jakarta did stop short of allowing Russia to base long-range aircraft in Papua province, but under its non-aligned stance, it has purchased weapons and fuel from Russia and become the first Southeast Asian country join the BRICS grouping of countries (founded by Brazil, Russia, India and China).

    Undercooked on trade and investment

    As for the economic relationship, our low profile in Indonesian markets – despite our proximity – severely limits our leverage and influence in Indonesia.

    Indonesia has a population approaching 300 million and a huge retail market. But as a trading partner, Australia ranks far behind many other countries, including China, the US, Japan, India, Singapore, and even Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

    This is despite signing a free trade agreement with Indonesia in 2019. Although it was many years in the making, the deal did not deliver dramatic changes at the time, and has had limited impact ever since.

    Indonesia is open about its hunger for more foreign investment. But, again, we are not a major investor in our near neighbour. In fact, Australia invests more in far-flung tax havens such as Luxembourg and Ireland, as well as in Papua New Guinea, Taiwan and India, than we do in Indonesia. It’s not even in our top 20 investment destinations.

    As Albanese said in Jakarta, strengthening investment ties requires government, business and civil society demonstrating greater engagement and ambition when it comes to Indonesia.

    This is not easy. Australian businesses remain wary of Indonesia because of bureaucratic red tape and the complexity created by decentralised and sometimes chaotic local governments, as well as serious, widespread corruption.

    However, this is true of many other business destinations in Asia and the developing world. It is hard to avoid the impression that Australian businesses have a blind spot regarding Indonesia.

    A move that would get Jakarta’s attention

    The ambition that Albanese called for is well overdue.

    Both China and India have large diasporas in Australia that can offer rich human resources for investors in those countries and help them navigate complex markets. By comparison, the local Indonesian population is tiny, and our education system has failed to fill the gap.

    In fact, Indonesian studies is barely hanging on by its fingernails in our schools and universities. The numbers of students studying Indonesian in Year 12 has plunged to minuscule numbers in recent years. And universities drop courses every year, with enrolments falling 63% between 1992 and 2019.

    A second-term leader with a gigantic majority, Albanese is ideally positioned to do something about this.

    He should take a page from the playbooks of ALP heroes Keating and Kevin Rudd, who funded programs to boost Asian languages in schools. Albanese should allocate serious funding – A$100 million would be good start – over the next decade to revive Indonesian language instruction in Australian schools.

    That would help rebuild what was once a level of Indonesia literacy unmatched anywhere else in the world. It would be a big step towards helping Australian businesses summon up the courage to enter complex Indonesian markets where only around 5% of the population have functional English.

    And it would be an ambitious announcement that would be guaranteed to get serious attention in Jakarta.

    Tim Lindsey receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

    – ref. There’s no country more important to Australia than Indonesia. Trouble is, the feeling isn’t mutual – https://theconversation.com/theres-no-country-more-important-to-australia-than-indonesia-trouble-is-the-feeling-isnt-mutual-256900

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Follow the money: the organisations that spent the most on social media during the election

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Riboldi, Lecturer in Social Impact and Social Change, UTS Business School, University of Technology Sydney

    The Conversation , CC BY

    Social media advertising is an increasingly important frontier in election campaigns.

    Political parties, candidates and third-party groups – such as trade unions, industry bodies and interest groups – all spend big to push their message high into the algorithms of potential voters.



    Read more:
    What did the parties say on TikTok in the election, and how? Here’s the campaign broken down in 5 charts

    In the 2025 Australian federal election, this spend has been estimated at around A$40 million across the Meta- and Google-owned digital media platforms.

    Based on our analysis of data from the Meta Ad Library – part of a broader research project on third sector groups (not political parties or candidates) during the election – third party groups spent more than $7.5 million advertising on Meta platforms Facebook and Instagram from March 28 to May 3 – the date the election was called to polling day.

    Understanding which of these groups spent what, and on what, offers insights into the election results and modern political campaigning generally.

    Some surprises in the stats

    During the election campaign, much media commentary focused on right wing organisation Advance Australia’s digital campaigning.

    However, our analysis shows pro-Liberal/National Party groups were outspent on Meta (which owns Facebook) almost 3:1 by anti-Liberal groups.

    Much of this was focused on workers’ rights, or in opposition to the Coalition’s nuclear energy policy.

    The top 25 spending groups on Meta spent just more than $6 million between them, at a rate of around $6,500 a day. The rate of spending increased steadily during the campaign, with the bulk of the spend (more than $4 million) occurring in the final two weeks.

    On May 2, the day before the election, these 25 big spenders paid on average $16,622 to push their message on Meta social media platforms.

    Conservative campaign group Advance Australia spent just less than $50,000 on Meta on the final day of the campaign (social media advertising is exempt from the two-day ad-blackout laws affecting traditional media operators).

    Advance was the biggest third-party campaigning group on Meta during the election, spending more than $1 million during the campaign’s 37 days.

    Advance’s left-wing competitor during the campaign was the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), which spent around $475,000 on Meta advertising across the campaign, including more than $52,000 on May 2.

    While the ACTU spent less than half of Advance’s spend across Meta during the campaign, it spent three times as much on YouTube/Google advertising. Data from the Google Ad Transparency Center reveals the ACTU spent $928,000 on the platform between March 28 and May 3, whereas Advance spent $296,000 during the same period.

    Key battlegrounds: climate and energy

    The other two big Meta spenders the day before polling day highlight the key policy contest among third party organisations – the Coalition’s proposal to introduce nuclear powered energy to Australia.

    Nuclear for Australia was the biggest spender on Meta on May 2, spending more than $65,000 in one day. Its direct counterpoint, Liberals Against Nuclear, spent a touch more than $32,000 on the same day.

    However, during the whole campaign, Liberals Against Nuclear spent more ($246,000 compared to Nuclear for Australia’s $236,000).

    An anti-nuclear message was particularly prominent across the top 25 spending groups on Meta. Of the 15 organisations we identified as being explicitly anti-Liberal, nine were climate organisations with an anti-nuclear message.

    These nine organisations spent a total of $2.5 million across Meta during the course of the campaign.

    The most significant of these was Climate 200, which spent almost $900,000 on Meta during the election campaign.

    Another key anti-nuclear nuclear campaigner on Meta was Climate Action Network Australia (CANA), which spent almost $400,000 between March 28 and May 3 across two different Facebook pages, and Hothouse Magazine, which spent almost $300,000 on pro-renewables advertising.

    Together, the 15 explicitly anti-Liberal groups spent more than $3.6 million during the election, far eclipsing the two clear pro-Liberal groups, Advance Australia and Nuclear for Australia, which spent around $1.3 million between them.

    So, what insights might these findings offer into the election results?

    What may the future hold?

    There certainly appears to be a correlation between the historic low Coalition vote and the outspending of pro-Liberal entities on Meta.



    Read more:
    Political parties can recover after a devastating election loss. But the Liberals will need to think differently

    Outside of Advance and Nuclear for Australia’s Meta campaigning, big-spending right-wing groups such as Australians for Prosperity, Better Australia and Australian Taxpayer’s Alliance seemed more singularly focused on tearing down the Greens and Climate 200-backed independents than on helping the Coalition win government.

    In contrast, the anti-Dutton and anti-nuclear focus of the anti-Liberal third party spending has a degree of collective discipline about it, which is probably indicative of the strength of the workers’ rights and climate movements in Australia.

    Additionally, the climate movement’s strong anti-nuclear campaign may have presented a message which glossed over Labor’s climate failures during the previous term.

    This may have sent some pro-climate voters to Labor rather than to the Greens or Climate 200 independents. For their part, these organisations appeared to campaign more around the opportunities of a possible minority government than on environmental issues.

    Civil society actors such as trade unions and industry groups have a long history of involvement in Australian politics.

    The increasing non-major party vote, now around a third of all voters, means there are now more voices in our democratic processes.

    This in turn creates more opportunities for third party organisations to influence policy debate and election outcomes.

    Mark Riboldi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Follow the money: the organisations that spent the most on social media during the election – https://theconversation.com/follow-the-money-the-organisations-that-spent-the-most-on-social-media-during-the-election-256784

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: AI may be exposing jobseekers to discrimination. Here’s how we could better protect them

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Natalie Sheard, McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellow, The University of Melbourne

    Studio Romantic/Shutterstock

    Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are rapidly transforming the world of work – not least, the process of hiring, managing and promoting employees.

    According to the most recent Responsible AI Index, 62% of Australian organisations used AI in recruitment “moderately” or “extensively” in 2024.

    Many of these systems classify, rank and score applicants, evaluating their personality, behaviour or abilities. They decide – or help a recruiter decide – who moves to the next stage in a hiring process and who does not.

    But such systems pose distinct and novel risks of discrimination. They operate at a speed and scale that cannot be replicated by a human recruiter. Job seekers may not know they are being assessed by AI and the decisions of these systems are inscrutable.

    My research study examined this problem in detail.

    I found the use of AI systems by employers in recruitment – for CV screening, assessment and video interviewing – poses serious risks of discrimination for women, older workers, job seekers with disability and those who speak English with an accent. Legal regulation is yet to catch up.

    The rise of artificial interviewers

    To conduct my research, I interviewed not only recruiters and human resources (HR) professionals, but also AI experts, developers and career coaches. I also examined publicly available material provided by two prominent software vendors in the Australian market.

    I found the way these AI screening systems are used by employers risks reinforcing and amplifying discrimination against marginalised groups.

    AI tools are increasingly being used to augment recruiting processes.
    insta_photos/Shutterstock

    Discrimination may be embedded in the AI system via the data or the algorithmic model, or it might result from the way the system is used by an organisation.

    For example, the AI screening system may not be accessible to or validated for job seekers with disability.

    One research participant, a career coach, explained that one of his neurodivergent clients, a top student in his university course, cannot get through personality assessments.

    He believes the student’s atypical answers have resulted in low scores and his failure to move to the next stage in recruitment processes.

    Lack of transparency

    The time limits for answering questions may not be sufficient or communicated to candidates.

    One participant, also a career coach, explained that not knowing the time limit for responding to questions had resulted in some of her clients being “pretty much cut off halfway through” their answers.

    Another stated:

    […] there’s no transparency a lot of the time about what the recruitment process is going to be, so how can [job seekers with disability] […] advocate for themselves?

    New barriers to employment

    AI screening systems can also create new structural barriers to employment. Job seekers need a phone and secure internet connection, and must possess digital literacy skills, to undertake an AI assessment.

    These systems may result in applicants deciding not to put themselves forward for positions or dropping out of the process.

    It isn’t always clear to job seekers how AI systems have been used in the recruitment process.
    fizkes/Shutterstock

    The protections we have

    Existing federal and state anti-discrimination laws apply to discrimination by employers using AI screening systems, but there are gaps. These laws need to be clarified and strengthened to address this new form of discrimination.

    For example, these laws could be reformed so that there is a presumption in any legal challenge that an AI system has discriminated against a candidate, putting the burden on employers to prove otherwise.

    Currently, the evidential burden of proving such discrimination falls on job seekers. They are not well placed to do this, as AI screening systems are complex and opaque.

    Any privacy law reforms should also include a right to an explanation when AI systems are used in recruitment.

    The newly elected Albanese government must also follow through on its plan to introduce mandatory “guardrails” for “high risk” AI applications, such as those used in recruitment.

    Safeguards must include a requirement that training data be representative and that the systems be accessible to people with disability and subject to regular independent audits.

    We also urgently need guidelines for employers on how to comply with these laws when they use new AI technologies.

    Should AI hiring systems be banned?

    Some groups have called for a ban on the use of AI in employment in Australia.

    In its Future of Work report, the House of Representatives Standing Committee recommended that AI technologies used in HR for final decision-making without human oversight be banned.

    There is merit in these proposals – at least, until appropriate safeguards are in place and we know more about the impacts of these systems on equality in the Australian workplace.

    As one of my research participants acknowledged:

    The world is biased and we need to improve that but […] when you take that and put it into code, the risk is that no one from a particular group can ever get through.

    Natalie Sheard receives funding from the University of Melbourne as a McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellow. This research was funded by a La Trobe University Graduate Research Scholarship and a La Trobe University Transforming Human Societies Research Scholarship.

    – ref. AI may be exposing jobseekers to discrimination. Here’s how we could better protect them – https://theconversation.com/ai-may-be-exposing-jobseekers-to-discrimination-heres-how-we-could-better-protect-them-256789

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: David Littleproud cites nuclear energy disagreement as major factor in Coalition split

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland

    Nationals’ leader David Littleproud has singled out nuclear energy as a key reason for his party’s spectacular split from the Liberals, as both parties seek to rebuild following the Coalition’s devastating election loss.

    Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Littleproud said:

    our party room has got to a position where we will not be re-entering a Coalition agreement with the Liberal Party […] Those positions that we couldn’t get comfort around [include] nuclear being a part of an energy grid into the future.

    The junior partner had long held strong sway over the Coalition’s climate and energy stance, including the plan to build nuclear reactors at seven sites across Australia using taxpayer funds.

    After public sentiment appeared to go against nuclear power during the election, the Nationals had reportedly been weighing up changes to the policy. It would have involved walking away from the plan to build reactors and instead lifting a federal ban on nuclear power.

    But some quarters of the Nationals remained deeply wedded to the original nuclear plan. Meanwhile, Nationals senator Matt Canavan had called for the net-zero emissions target to be scrapped, and Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie insisted renewable energy was harming regional communities.

    Now, with the Nationals unshackled from the binds of the Coalition agreement, the future of its energy policy will be keenly watched.

    A graceful way out of nuclear

    Littleproud on Tuesday did not confirm where exactly he expected the Nationals to land on energy policy. But he rejected suggestions his party was unwise to stick with the nuclear policy after the Coalition’s poor election result, saying public opinion had been swayed by a “scare campaign”.

    Even if the Coalition had won the election, however, the policy was running out of time.

    CSIRO analysis showed, contrary to the Coalition’s claims, a nuclear program that began this year was unlikely to deliver power by 2037. But up to 90% of coal-fired power stations in the national electricity market are projected to retire before 2035, and the entire fleet is due to shut down before 2040.

    Now, the earliest possible start date for nuclear is after the 2028 election. This means plugging nuclear plants into the grid as coal-fired power stations retire becomes virtually impossible.

    This very impossibility provided the National Party with a graceful way out of the policy. It could have regretfully accepted the moment had passed.

    With nuclear out of the picture, and coal-fired power almost certain to be phased out, that would have left two choices for the Coalition: a grid dominated by gas, or one dominated by renewables.

    However, expanding gas supply frequently requires the controversial process of fracking, which is deservedly unpopular in many regions where it’s undertaken.

    What’s more, gas is an expensive energy source which can only be a marginal add-on in the electricity mix, used alongside batteries to secure the system during peak times.

    Logically, that would have left renewable energy as the only feasible energy policy option for the Nationals – but it wasn’t to be.

    ‘Technology agnostic’?

    Littleproud claims the party is technology agnostic about energy policy. In practice, that would mean choosing the technology that can reduce emissions most rapidly and cheaply, rather than being bound by ideology or political expediency.

    In principle, this approach is the right one. Many energy sources can reduce carbon emissions, including solar and wind (backed up by energy storage), nuclear, hydro-electricity, and even gas and coal if emissions can be captured and stored.

    But the Nationals’ claim to agnosticism is not reflected in its actual policies which, in recent years, have been characterised by dogmatic faith in nuclear and so-called “clean” coal, and an equally dogmatic rejection of solar, wind and battery storage.

    The Nationals’ hostility to renewables may in part be driven by pressure from anti-renewable activist groups.

    The Institute of Public Affairs, for example, has sought to promote rural opposition to renewables and emissions reduction and focused its efforts on Nationals-held seats

    And the now-defunct Waubra Foundation, named after the small town in northwest Victoria, opposed wind farms and claimed they caused health problems. The group was created by an oil and gas executive with no apparent links to the town.

    What about net-zero?

    Elements of the Nationals had been calling for the Coalition to abandon support for Australia’s target of net-zero emissions by 2050.

    This would mostly have been a symbolic measure, since the target does not require, or prohibit, any particular policy in the short run. It may, however, have exposed Australia’s agricultural exports to tariffs on carbon-intensive goods.

    The move would have been disastrous for the Liberals’ chances of regaining urban seats, and for investment in renewable energy. So it was never likely to be accepted as part of a Coalition agreement.

    The Nationals could have chosen to accept the target in return for concessions elsewhere. Or it might have sought an agreement with the Liberals where the parties agreed to differ.

    It’s not clear what role, if any, net-zero played in the dissolution of the Coalition agreement. But in the end, the Nationals decided to walk away from it altogether.

    Renewables can be good for the bush

    Nationals Senate leader Bridget McKenzie last week said her party was concerned that renewable energy targets are “impacting rural and regional communities”. The party has long voiced concern about the impact of large-scale wind and solar projects in the bush.

    However, many farmers and other rural landowners benefit financially from hosting solar and wind farms, which, in many cases, do not prevent the land from also being used for farming.

    Concerns that wind farms and solar panels might slash the value of neighbouring properties have been shown to be ill-founded.

    And importantly, the increasing frequency of extreme climate events is already a challenge to Australia’s agriculture sector and will become more difficult. Tackling the problem is in regional Australia’s interests.

    The Nationals’ hostility to renewable energy comes at a cost to rural and regional Australians. But Littleproud clearly could not balance competing views within the Nationals on energy policy while inking a deal with the Liberals. Instead, the party will now go it alone.

    John Quiggin is a former Member of the Climate Change Authority and has written extensively in support of a transition to clean energy

    – ref. David Littleproud cites nuclear energy disagreement as major factor in Coalition split – https://theconversation.com/david-littleproud-cites-nuclear-energy-disagreement-as-major-factor-in-coalition-split-256904

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Why Netflix’s The Eternaut is one of the most important shows to come out of Argentina in recent years

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Claudia Sandberg, Senior Lecturer, Technology in Culture and Society, The University of Melbourne

    Netflix

    It all starts when a group of old friends in Buenos Aires meet for a round of the card game truco on a hot summer night. Suddenly – a power outage. As darkness engulfs the city, a mysterious poisonous snow falls from the sky.

    Thousands of people die from breathing the contaminated air. All the while, the survivors must use everything at their disposal to fight an invisible enemy.

    It hasn’t even been one month since Argentine sci-fi The Eternaut, or El Eternauta, premiered on Netflix – yet it has gripped Argentine fans with a full-fledged fever.

    The series is based on Héctor Germán Oesterheld’s iconic 1950s comic of the same name. With the slogan “no one survives alone”, the new Netflix series has sparked important conversations, both online and offline, among the Argentine media and public.

    Cover of the 2015 edition of The Eternaut comic, published by Fantagraphics.
    Wikimedia

    Most importantly, it has fuelled protests against austerity politics and breathed new life into longstanding demands for social justice.

    Powerful TV for trying times

    Argentina is going through difficult times. The country has experienced a sharp rise in poverty in recent years, with an inflation rate that neared 300% at one point in 2024.

    Radical spending cuts and privatisation imposed by President Javier Milei’s right-wing government have severely curtailed the budget for cultural spaces.

    Milei has all but destroyed the National Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts (INCAA), which previously funded much of the country’s film and audiovisual production.

    Then came The Eternaut, a series made exclusively by an Argentine cast and crew, and led by the face of Argentine cinema, Ricardo Darín, as the main character Juan Salvo – a middle-aged veteran of the 1982 Malvinas/Falklands war.

    Ricardo Darín, an actor, director and producer, is one of Argentina’s most prolific film stars.
    Netflix

    The Eternaut is directed by influential filmmaker Bruno Stagnaro, known for his 1998 crime drama Pizza, Birra, Faso (Pizza, Beer and Cigarettes). This film is credited as the founding text of New Argentine Cinema: a low-budget-style of filmmaking that critiqued class boundaries and social marginalisation.

    Almost 30 years later, Stagnaro has turned Hollywood’s safest moneymaking machine – science fiction – on its head. Not with a superhuman star who arrives in a spaceship to save the world alone, but with an Argentine vision of collective heroism, that doesn’t rely on flashy new tech: “the old things work, Juan!”

    The show is currently Netflix’s top non-English series in 24 countries. A second season is on the way.

    An ode to Argentina

    Blending fiction with political allegory, The Eternaut comments on the ongoing trauma of the 1970s dictatorship. It also implicitly criticises the current government’s uncompromising neoliberal approach. For example, it features advertisements, brand logos and other symbols of consumerism which appear absurd in the context of the unfolding catastrophe.

    Most of all, the series celebrates Argentine identity through its themes of community spirit, grassroots resistance, and ingenuity in times of crisis. And this has struck a chord with many.

    As Ricardo Darín explained in a recent interview:

    [The series] examines human behaviour in the face of crisis, dilemma, and catastrophe, but it also highlights — highlights and underscores — the attitudes of those who dedicate their lives to protecting others.

    The locals of Buenos Aires would also appreciate seeing their real neighbourhoods onscreen, rather than some romanticised version of their city.

    Instead of an epic soundtrack, they hear tango, rock and folk tunes from Argentina’s most iconic musicians.

    Where are Oesterheld’s children?

    The Eternaut touches on a deep social wound that never healed.

    The character of Juan Salvo became a real-life symbol of artistic and political resistance when author Héctor Germán Oesterheld and his daughters were disappeared by the military in 1977, never to be found.

    Oesterheld’s devoted following made him a target of the junta.
    Wikimedia

    Oesterheld was an outspoken critic of the military junta, led by General Jorge Rafael Videla, that lasted from 1976 to 1983 – the so-called Dirty War. He and his daughters were part of some 30,000 civilians killed or disappeared under the military dictatorship.

    Following the 2010 death of former president Néstor Kirchner, a graffito combining the comic book character of Salvo with Kirchner began popping up in black outline all across Buenos Aires.

    This image, known as Nestornauta, pays homage to Kirchner – and particularly to his willingness to end impunity for military officers accused of crimes against humanity during the dictatorship.

    The original comic book character on the left, and ‘Nestornauta’ on the right (noticeably without a gun).
    Wikimedia

    Juan Salvo’s image is now appearing once again on posters held up in the capital’s Plaza de Mayo, where the abuelas (grandmothers) of Plaza de Mayo – a local human rights organisation – are gathering to demand answers about Argentina’s missing children and grandchildren.

    The show has also renewed interest in investigating the disappearance of Oesterheld’s family.

    Alejandro Areal Vélez, a filmmaker and architect who participated in a Netflix-organised event for the series, explained how its ripple effect was being felt by locals:

    I watched the series in constant tension […] A few days later, I understood: I had seen an analogy with the reality that surrounds me. A city that is the same, yet unrecognisable, while ordinary men try to resist, suffer defeats, and achieve small victories.

    The author would like to acknowledge Alejandro Areal Vélez for his on-the-ground research, as well as Katia Troncoso Muñoz for detailed insights into Argentina’s political and cultural contexts.

    Claudia Sandberg does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Why Netflix’s The Eternaut is one of the most important shows to come out of Argentina in recent years – https://theconversation.com/why-netflixs-the-eternaut-is-one-of-the-most-important-shows-to-come-out-of-argentina-in-recent-years-256879

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Labor’s second-term defence priorities – could they include a pact with Europe?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University

    1000 Words/Shutterstock

    An apt metaphor for the Department of Defence in Labor’s second term might be the Titanic. The good ship “defence” has hit an iceberg: the senior officers are reassuring all is fine, the band is playing and the crew are busy. But the ship is gradually sinking.

    The iceberg is the $A368 billion AUKUS nuclear submarine project. The scale of the program in terms of money, time and workforce is progressively damaging the rest of the defence portfolio. AUKUS is now so large it is seen as a fourth service, alongside the navy, army and air force.

    Given the challenges facing Australia’s defence budget, what are we to make of the proposed defence pact with the European Union?

    European defence partners

    An ever-changing world always intrudes on defence planning.

    The latest is the European Union (EU) suggesting a defence partnership with Australia. To some degree, this simply formalises existing arrangements and practices. Individual European nations, such as Germany and France, already have strategic partnerships with Australia, while Italy and Spain undertake defence training in Darwin.

    A new partnership would elevate Australia’s European defence relationships to a different level, given the EU is a supra-national grouping of 27 countries with a GDP comparable to the United States. On the upside, EU defence spending is steadily being increased, creating new possibilities for Australian defence industry exports and the joint manufacture of selected equipment such as Germany’s Boxer vehicle in Brisbane.

    But funding a deepening relationship with the EU while sustaining those in the Indo-Pacific would be challenging. And AUKUS means the government will need to carefully balance today’s demands with suddenly emerging pressures.

    Treading water

    If the Europeans do land a defence pact with Australia – will it be worth their while?

    In this decade, Australia’s defence budget will simply be marking time. AUKUS has already begun crowding out other defence possibilities that might better fit today’s changed strategic circumstances.

    The navy’s surface warship fleet will decline until well into the 2030s. Its ageing amphibious and submarine fleets have become unreliable and its two brand new replenishment oilers are both inexplicably unserviceable.

    The army, unsure of itself, is crafting a new “theory of army” to update strategic and operational principles.

    Billions are being spent buying new-build and refurbished armoured vehicles, and old-design helicopters. These projects commenced before Labor’s first term and are less suited to today’s needs.

    The RAAF is better off, having finally received the last of its F-35 fighters even if they need updating as soon as possible. Ideally, the air force should be investing now in future new equipment for delivery in the 2030s, when some current in-service aircraft approach their end of life. But thanks to AUKUS, there is no money for this.

    No time to waste

    Both the Morrsion and the first Albanese government emphasised that this decade is particularly dangerous: a major war might break out unexpectedly.

    Three areas stand out for Labor to get busy on:

    1. The Trump Factor

    The Trump factor is threatening the existing defence plans built around tight military integration with the US. US President Donald Trump’s policy volatility makes the US an unreliable ally. This uncertainty works against relying on defence plans that literally bet the future of the nation on US support in time of war.

    The new National Defence Strategy due in early 2026, must address the Trump factor in a robust and comprehensive manner. The scale of the problem may mean a new grand strategy is needed.

    2. Labor’s first term Strategic Defence Review

    This review was fundamentally flawed. It failed to consider AUKUS – or indeed the navy’s surface war fleet – in its overall advice on the design of the future Australian Defence Force. Nor did it include defence funding needs in any detail beyond “should be increased”.

    Consequently, the review provided an inadequate foundation on which to forecast a long term plan for the force. This plan is now being steadily distorted as factors not previously considered intrude. The flow on effect means the original planned growth in defence budgets is now seriously insufficient.

    For better or worse, defence must be rebuilt around AUKUS. The attempt to keep the two separate has failed. AUKUS is no longer just a submarine project, but the core of the future defence force.

    As a result, army modernisation and the navy’s large amphibious ships look vulnerable.

    3. Future opportunities

    There are opportunities for the Australian Defence Force, despite the challenges. For example, the very rapid rise of robots being demonstrated in Ukraine portends the future of warfare.

    High tech robotics are an investment opportunity for the Australian Defence Force.
    Parilov/Shutterstock

    Defence is presently trapped in the old paradigm of buying a few large and very expensive crewed platforms like AUKUS, and is neglecting emerging uncrewed system models that are small and affordable.

    The defence department lacks money to explore such new ideas but the government could use the mostly untapped A$15 billion reconstruction fund, which handily includes defence manufacturing as a priority.

    Australian defence industry is potentially on the cusp of becoming a regional uncrewed system manufacturer, including the high-end Ghost Bats and Ghost Sharks, or the more affordable Speartooths, Fathoms, Bluebottles and Atlases. Australian made uncrewed systems have been combat proven in Ukraine.

    The reconstruction fund could build this industry sector, moving defence into the future and ensuring defence industry survives the AUKUS iceberg.

    Peter Layton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Labor’s second-term defence priorities – could they include a pact with Europe? – https://theconversation.com/labors-second-term-defence-priorities-could-they-include-a-pact-with-europe-256580

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Nationals break the Coalition, in a major blow to Sussan Ley

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra

    The Nationals have broken the Coalition, for the first time in nearly four decades, because new Liberal leader Sussan Ley would not agree to their policy demands being part of a new agreement between the parties.

    Ley had hoped an agreement could be reached. The split will make running a strong opposition more difficult and complicated.

    The Nationals’ dramatic decision is also likely to risk greater instability within the Liberals, where the numbers between the conservatives on one hand and the moderates and centrists on the other are narrowly balanced.

    Nationals leader David Littleproud told a news conference on Tuesday morning the party, which met earlier Tuesday morning, had taken a “principled” decision to sit alone.

    Littlepround said Ley – who has said all policies are on the table – needed to rebuild the Liberal Party. “They are going on a journey of rediscovery, and this will provide them the opportunity to do that without the spectre of the National Party imposing their will.”

    He said the Nationals wanted to look forward, “not having to look back and to try and actually regain important policy pieces that change the lives of the people we represent.

    “We wanted to look forward and not have to look back and have to continue to fight for another three years.”

    Littleproud said he “made it very clear that we remain committed to having the door open, respecting the position that Sussan has been put in. That she is a leader that needs to rebuild the Liberal Party.”

    He said his preference was to bring the Coalition together “hopefully before the next election”. “I’m passionate in the belief that we can bring this back together”. His deputy, Kevin Hogan, said he hoped the parties would come together again “sooner rather than later”.

    The minor party demanded the election policies of competition laws including divestiture provisions; nuclear power; a $20 billion proposed regional Australian future fund, and better standards for regional communications be preserved. Ley wanted the agreement to be about the architecture of the Coalition rather than including policy demands.

    The Coalition has broken only twice before since 1949. After the 1972 Labor election win, the Liberal Party and the then Country Party separated. They reunited before the May 1974 election. There was another split, under the pressure of the Joh-for-Canberra campaign, for several months in 1987.

    The split means the Nationals will lose some extra pay that goes to frontbenchers.

    The Nationals’ stand is a victory for the party’s hardliners, although it is notable that the issue of net zero by 2050 was not one of the sticking points nominated by the Nationals.

    The party’s position vis-a-vis the Liberals was strengthened because it held almost all its seats, while the Liberals’ numbers were devastated. So far the Australian Electoral Commission has declared 18 seats for the Liberals in the House of Representatives, nine for the Nationals, and 16 for the Liberal National Party of Queensland, where they operate as one party.

    The Nationals met on the issue on Friday before more talks between Littlepround and Ley. After Tuesday’s meeting, Littleproud spoke to Ley to inform her of the decision. Ley called a “virtual” Liberal Party meeting for Tuesday afternoon.

    Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Nationals break the Coalition, in a major blow to Sussan Ley – https://theconversation.com/nationals-break-the-coalition-in-a-major-blow-to-sussan-ley-256455

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Can you treat headaches with physiotherapy? Here’s what the research says

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Zhiqi Liang, Lecturer in Physiotherapy, The University of Queensland

    BaanTaksinStudio/Shutterstock

    You might’ve noticed some physiotherapists advertise they offer treatments for headaches and wondered: would that work?

    In fact, there’s a solid body of research showing that physiotherapy treatments can be really helpful for certain types of headache.

    Sometimes, however, medical management is also necessary and it’s worth seeing a doctor. Here’s what you need to know.

    Cervicogenic headache: when pain travels up your neck

    Cervicogenic headache is where pain is referred from the top of the neck (an area known as the upper cervical spine).

    Pain is usually one-sided. It generally starts just beneath the skull at the top of the neck, spreading into the back of the head and sometimes into the back of the eye.

    Neck pain and headache are often triggered by activities that put strain on the neck, such as holding one posture or position for a long time, or doing repetitive neck movements (such as looking up and down repeatedly).

    Unlike in migraine, people experiencing cervicogenic headache don’t usually get nausea or sensitivity to light and sound.

    Because this is a musculoskeletal condition of the upper neck, physiotherapy treatments that improve neck function – such as manual therapy, exercise and education – can provide short- and long-term benefits.

    Cervicogenic headache is where pain is referred from the top of the neck.
    24K-Production/Shutterstock

    Can physio help with migraine?

    Migraine is a neurological disorder whereby the brain has difficulty processing sensory input.

    This can cause episodic attacks of moderate to severe headache, as well as:

    • sensitivity to light and noise
    • nausea and
    • intolerance to physical exertion.

    There are many triggers. Everyone’s are different and identifying yours is crucial to self-management of migraine. Medication can also help, so seeing a GP is the first step if you suspect you have migraine.

    About 70-80% of people with migraine also have neck pain, commonly just before or at the onset of a migraine attack. This can make people think their neck pain is triggering the migraine.

    While this may be true in some people, our research has shown many people with migraine have nothing wrong with their neck despite having neck pain.

    In those cases, neck pain is part of migraine and can be a warning (but not a cause or trigger) of an imminent migraine attack. It can signal patients need to take steps to prevent the attack.

    Migraine is a neurological disorder whereby the brain has difficulty processing sensory input.
    Srdjan Randjelovic/Shutterstock

    On the other hand, if the person has musculoskeletal neck disorder, physiotherapy neck treatments may help improve their migraine. Musculoskeletal neck disorder is what physiotherapists call typical neck pain caused by, for instance, a sports injury or sleeping in a weird way.

    You may have heard of the Watson manual therapy technique being used to treat migraine. It involves applying manual pressure to the upper cervical spine and neck area.

    There are currently no peer-reviewed studies looking at how effective this technique is for migraine.

    However, recent studies investigating a combination of manual therapy, neck exercises and education tailored to the individual’s circumstances show some small effects in improving the number of migraine attacks and the disabling effects of headache.

    Manual therapy and neck exercises can also give short-term pain relief.

    However, in some cases the neck can become very sensitive and easily aggravated in migraine. That means inappropriate assessment or treatment could end up triggering a migraine.

    Physiotherapy can help with migraine but you first need a comprehensive and skilled physical assessment of the neck by an experienced physiotherapist. It’s crucial to identify if a musculoskeletal neck disorder is present and, if so, which type of neck treatment is needed.

    It is also important people with migraine understand how their migraine is triggered, what lifestyle factors contribute to it and when to take the appropriate medications to help manage their migraines.

    A trained physiotherapist can provide some of this information and help patients make sense of their condition and recommend the patient see their GP for medication, when appropriate.

    What about tension headaches?

    Tension type headache is the most common type of headache, characterised by a feeling of “tightness” or “band-like” pain around the head.

    Nausea and sensitivity to light and noise are not usually present with this type of headache.

    Like migraine, tension type headache is often associated with neck pain and also has different aggravating factors, not all of which are due to the neck.

    Tension type headache is often associated with neck pain.
    staras/Shutterstock

    Again, a detailed assessment by a trained physiotherapist is needed to identify if the neck is involved and what type of neck treatment is best.

    There is some evidence a combination of manual therapy and exercise can reduce tension type headache.

    Physiotherapists can also provide education and advice on aggravating factors and self management.

    Seeking help

    There are many types and causes of headache. If you suffer frequent headaches or have a new or unusual headache, ask a doctor to investigate.

    There is good evidence physiotherapy treatment will improve cervicogenic headache and emerging evidence it might help migraine and tension type headache (alongside usual medical care).

    If you are wondering if you have cervicogenic headache or if you have bothersome neck pain associated with headache, ask your doctor to refer you to a skilled physiotherapist trained in headache treatment. A careful assessment can determine if physiotherapy treatment will help.

    Zhiqi Liang received funding from the Australian Physiotherapy Association and the Physiotherapy Research Foundation. She is affiliated with the Australian College of Physiotherapists and the Australian Physiotherapy Association.

    Julia Treleaven and Lucy Thomas do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Can you treat headaches with physiotherapy? Here’s what the research says – https://theconversation.com/can-you-treat-headaches-with-physiotherapy-heres-what-the-research-says-256581

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Can you treat headaches with physiotherapy? Here’s what the research says

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Zhiqi Liang, Lecturer in Physiotherapy, The University of Queensland

    BaanTaksinStudio/Shutterstock

    You might’ve noticed some physiotherapists advertise they offer treatments for headaches and wondered: would that work?

    In fact, there’s a solid body of research showing that physiotherapy treatments can be really helpful for certain types of headache.

    Sometimes, however, medical management is also necessary and it’s worth seeing a doctor. Here’s what you need to know.

    Cervicogenic headache: when pain travels up your neck

    Cervicogenic headache is where pain is referred from the top of the neck (an area known as the upper cervical spine).

    Pain is usually one-sided. It generally starts just beneath the skull at the top of the neck, spreading into the back of the head and sometimes into the back of the eye.

    Neck pain and headache are often triggered by activities that put strain on the neck, such as holding one posture or position for a long time, or doing repetitive neck movements (such as looking up and down repeatedly).

    Unlike in migraine, people experiencing cervicogenic headache don’t usually get nausea or sensitivity to light and sound.

    Because this is a musculoskeletal condition of the upper neck, physiotherapy treatments that improve neck function – such as manual therapy, exercise and education – can provide short- and long-term benefits.

    Cervicogenic headache is where pain is referred from the top of the neck.
    24K-Production/Shutterstock

    Can physio help with migraine?

    Migraine is a neurological disorder whereby the brain has difficulty processing sensory input.

    This can cause episodic attacks of moderate to severe headache, as well as:

    • sensitivity to light and noise
    • nausea and
    • intolerance to physical exertion.

    There are many triggers. Everyone’s are different and identifying yours is crucial to self-management of migraine. Medication can also help, so seeing a GP is the first step if you suspect you have migraine.

    About 70-80% of people with migraine also have neck pain, commonly just before or at the onset of a migraine attack. This can make people think their neck pain is triggering the migraine.

    While this may be true in some people, our research has shown many people with migraine have nothing wrong with their neck despite having neck pain.

    In those cases, neck pain is part of migraine and can be a warning (but not a cause or trigger) of an imminent migraine attack. It can signal patients need to take steps to prevent the attack.

    Migraine is a neurological disorder whereby the brain has difficulty processing sensory input.
    Srdjan Randjelovic/Shutterstock

    On the other hand, if the person has musculoskeletal neck disorder, physiotherapy neck treatments may help improve their migraine. Musculoskeletal neck disorder is what physiotherapists call typical neck pain caused by, for instance, a sports injury or sleeping in a weird way.

    You may have heard of the Watson manual therapy technique being used to treat migraine. It involves applying manual pressure to the upper cervical spine and neck area.

    There are currently no peer-reviewed studies looking at how effective this technique is for migraine.

    However, recent studies investigating a combination of manual therapy, neck exercises and education tailored to the individual’s circumstances show some small effects in improving the number of migraine attacks and the disabling effects of headache.

    Manual therapy and neck exercises can also give short-term pain relief.

    However, in some cases the neck can become very sensitive and easily aggravated in migraine. That means inappropriate assessment or treatment could end up triggering a migraine.

    Physiotherapy can help with migraine but you first need a comprehensive and skilled physical assessment of the neck by an experienced physiotherapist. It’s crucial to identify if a musculoskeletal neck disorder is present and, if so, which type of neck treatment is needed.

    It is also important people with migraine understand how their migraine is triggered, what lifestyle factors contribute to it and when to take the appropriate medications to help manage their migraines.

    A trained physiotherapist can provide some of this information and help patients make sense of their condition and recommend the patient see their GP for medication, when appropriate.

    What about tension headaches?

    Tension type headache is the most common type of headache, characterised by a feeling of “tightness” or “band-like” pain around the head.

    Nausea and sensitivity to light and noise are not usually present with this type of headache.

    Like migraine, tension type headache is often associated with neck pain and also has different aggravating factors, not all of which are due to the neck.

    Tension type headache is often associated with neck pain.
    staras/Shutterstock

    Again, a detailed assessment by a trained physiotherapist is needed to identify if the neck is involved and what type of neck treatment is best.

    There is some evidence a combination of manual therapy and exercise can reduce tension type headache.

    Physiotherapists can also provide education and advice on aggravating factors and self management.

    Seeking help

    There are many types and causes of headache. If you suffer frequent headaches or have a new or unusual headache, ask a doctor to investigate.

    There is good evidence physiotherapy treatment will improve cervicogenic headache and emerging evidence it might help migraine and tension type headache (alongside usual medical care).

    If you are wondering if you have cervicogenic headache or if you have bothersome neck pain associated with headache, ask your doctor to refer you to a skilled physiotherapist trained in headache treatment. A careful assessment can determine if physiotherapy treatment will help.

    Zhiqi Liang received funding from the Australian Physiotherapy Association and the Physiotherapy Research Foundation. She is affiliated with the Australian College of Physiotherapists and the Australian Physiotherapy Association.

    Julia Treleaven and Lucy Thomas do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Can you treat headaches with physiotherapy? Here’s what the research says – https://theconversation.com/can-you-treat-headaches-with-physiotherapy-heres-what-the-research-says-256581

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Can cats drink milk? Despite the stereotypes, it’s actually a bad idea

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julia Henning, PhD Candidate in Feline Behaviour, School of Animal and Veterinary Science, University of Adelaide

    Shawn Rain/Unsplash

    Cats have a long history with humans, going back more than 9,000 years. Attracted to human settlements by the rodents that plagued (sometimes literally) our ancestors, cats ingratiated themselves as useful mousers and slowly domesticated themselves.

    Farmers began to employ them as pest controllers. It was through this arrangement that cats and milk first became acquainted.

    Before the commercialisation of pet food, cats were mostly fed scraps from the family table. Not much was known about their nutritional needs. In his 1877 book on cats, Scottish doctor Gordon Stables insisted cats need two bowls – “one for water and the other for milk” – and suggested porridge and milk as an excellent feline breakfast.

    From these origins, cats and milk became further embedded in the collective zeitgeist through depictions of milk-loving cats in art, books, movies and cartoons. There’s even the classic trope of the scruffy street cat being rescued from the rain to enjoy a saucer of milk from a kindly stranger.

    While it’s not surprising that cats and milk have persisted as an unquestioned combination, research now tells us cats shouldn’t be drinking milk at all.

    The cultural connection between cats and milk goes far back in history, as shown in this 1921 photo.
    University Historic Photograph Collection, Archives & Special Collections, Colorado State University.

    The vast majority of cats are lactose intolerant

    Like all mammals, cats begin life drinking milk from their mother. But past kittenhood, milk is a completely unnecessary part of a cat’s diet.

    After weaning (around 6–12 weeks of age), kittens stop producing the enzyme lactase, required to digest lactose in milk. For the vast majority of cats, this means they are lactose intolerant.

    However, just like in humans, the level of intolerance varies for each individual based on how much of the enzyme their body naturally produces.

    Don’t rush to give your kitten milk, though. Just because kittens can digest lactose doesn’t mean they should be drinking cow’s milk. Cats are much smaller animals than cows and, fittingly, the amount of lactose in the milk of mother cats is much lower than in cow’s milk. It’s best to let them drink from their mother or to get them a kitten-appropriate cat formula.

    Lactose intolerance isn’t the only reason not to give your cats milk. Though rare, cats can also develop an allergy to milk or dairy.

    Milk from mother cats is different to cow’s milk, which is not appropriate for kittens to drink.
    Hadifa Art/Shutterstock

    What happens to cats who drink milk?

    Lactose is a type of sugar. When it can’t be broken down to be absorbed into the bloodstream, lactose travels through the intestines to the colon where the bacteria inside the body ferment it.

    This fermentation breaks lactose down into acids and gases which cause unpleasant symptoms, including the passing of excessive gas, bloating, constipation, abdominal pain and occasionally nausea and vomiting. In cats, the most common symptom observed is diarrhoea.

    Chronic or persistent diarrhoea can cause further complications such as dehydration, electrolyte imbalance and malnutrition. In some cases, it can even be life threatening.

    Cats who consume milk or dairy regularly as part of their diet are at increased risk of these health complications.

    When farm mousers are ‘paid’ in milk, their lactose intolerance can cause diarrhoea and even serious health complications.
    Aleksandr Lupin/Shutterstock

    If milk is so bad for cats, why do they love it?

    We often like things that are bad for us. But to answer this question, we first have to remember cow’s milk is intended for feeding and growing a baby cow.

    To achieve this feat, it contains an assortment of proteins and fats that are highly palatable, especially to cats. Cats need high levels of protein and fat for optimal health and daily functioning.

    Cow’s milk, in particular, is also high in casein, a protein that is broken down by the body into alpha-casozepine. In some studies, it’s been associated with a calming effect in cats. While this wouldn’t initially make a cat want to drink milk, it may create a comforting association with milk over time.

    If you want to treat your cat, give them species appropriate foods, not cow’s milk or food meant for humans.
    Hamza Yaich/Pexels

    Can I give milk sometimes as a treat? What about milk alternatives?

    The short answer is: no.

    Dairy is not a natural part of cats’ diet. While they may like the taste, milk is likely to cause your furry friend discomfort and health issues, so it’s best to avoid entirely.

    And if you’re thinking your cat is one of the lucky few that isn’t lactose intolerant, think again. Cats are very good at hiding discomfort because, in the wild, showing weakness would make them a target for predators.

    If you absolutely must, opt for lactose-free milk or milk formulated specifically for cats, and keep it as a very occasional treat.

    While it won’t upset their stomachs in the same way as regular cow’s milk, it still won’t offer your cat any nutritional benefit.

    As for milk alternatives like oat, soy or almond milk? Any unusual additions to your cat’s diet are likely to cause digestive upset, so it’s best to avoid these as well.

    The bottom line? Don’t give your cat milk. They don’t need it, they probably can’t digest it and it’s likely to cause more pain than it’s worth.

    Julia Henning does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Can cats drink milk? Despite the stereotypes, it’s actually a bad idea – https://theconversation.com/can-cats-drink-milk-despite-the-stereotypes-its-actually-a-bad-idea-255227

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  • MIL-Evening Report: Does drawing on memory help us solve problems? Our experiment gave some surprising answers

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anne Macaskill, Senior Lecturer in Experimental Psychology, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington

    Getty Images

    Conventional wisdom suggests memories of past experiences can help us navigate problems in the present.

    For example, if a friend told you they were having a disagreement with their partner, you might ask what they did last time they argued. If your child was anxious about a presentation, you might boost their confidence by saying “remember that great speech you did last year”.

    Indeed, memory researchers have found people report a key reason they remember the past is to solve problems in the present. But does this prove that drawing on experience is a good problem-solving strategy?

    How much insight do we have about whether these memories support us to solve current problems? And, objectively, does this strategy help people identify more and better solutions?

    To get more conclusive evidence, we ran two experimental studies (one with 170 students, one with 340 students). In each, we instructed some people to recall previous times they were successful (we call this the “memory group”). We instructed others to recall neutral personal memories such as what they had for breakfast that morning (we call this the “control group”).

    We then asked both groups to come up with as many solutions as they could to everyday problems, such as resolving a disagreement, or working in a team to complete a project.

    We expected the memory group to generate more solutions to these problems than the control group. But surprisingly, they did not. Both groups generated the same number of solutions.

    Does this mean drawing on the past is an ineffective problem-solving strategy, or perhaps only effective for some people?

    For some people, drawing on memories of positive past experiences can help with a task they find difficult, such as public speaking.
    Getty Images

    Unpacking the link between memory and problem solving

    To dig further, we asked all participants what was going on in their heads while they were coming up with solutions. Across both groups, some participants said they drew on past experiences we did not specifically instruct them to recall.

    This result hinted that recalling memories might be something some people are in the habit of doing anyway, and a possible reason why our memory instructions didn’t seem to make a difference.

    We therefore wondered if our instructions were only helpful for participants who do not typically use their memory to solve problems. Indeed, in a followup study with 237 student participants, we found our instruction to recall past successful experiences was useful, but only for a subset of people.

    Specifically, this applied to participants who reported they don’t typically use their memory of personal experiences for problem solving. These participants came up with more solutions than anyone else.

    We reasoned this was because they already had other good problem-solving strategies (for example, thinking about facts relevant to the problem or thinking laterally and creatively) and we had merely given them an additional strategy (recalling their past).

    However, we found no relationship between how often participants typically used their memory to solve problems, and how many solutions they came up with.

    Memories can help with difficult tasks

    What do our findings tell us? Recalling a memory may be helpful for generating solutions to problems, but it is not the only or best way to solve problems.

    However, recalling a memory might help more or be more important in other problem-solving steps, such as defining a problem or implementing a solution once you’ve thought of it.

    For instance, some experimental evidence suggests intentionally remembering past experiences could be helpful for doing hard things, such as public speaking, exercising or overcoming a fear of heights.

    One study found people who remembered a positive public speaking experience before giving a speech were less anxious, and actually did a better job. Another study found people who recalled a positive experience with exercise increased their exercise over a week, even when the researchers took into account their prior attitudes, motivation and exercise activity.

    A specific positive and related memory may therefore be helpful to following through on your intention to perform a specific behaviour. Conversely, as we have found, recalling a memory might not be the best or only approach for coming up with multiple solutions to a problem.

    People also report that they recall their experiences to shape their identity and to develop and maintain relationships through reminiscing. Memory of personal experiences therefore has the potential to influence many facets of our life.

    Overall, our research highlights the importance of context – when, how and who is drawing on memories of past experiences to solve problems – when we consider conventional wisdom about memory.

    The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Does drawing on memory help us solve problems? Our experiment gave some surprising answers – https://theconversation.com/does-drawing-on-memory-help-us-solve-problems-our-experiment-gave-some-surprising-answers-255105

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: 15 years ago, I urged the AFL to launch a mental health round. Now it’s time for action

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Pat McGorry, Professor of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne

    The death of former AFL footballer Adam Selwood, less than four months after the death by suicide of his twin Troy, is an unfathomable tragedy for the Selwood family.

    The devastating news has sent shockwaves through the AFL and wider Australian communities.

    The shock and grief have prompted many people, from current and former AFL players to fans and media commentators, to seek actions and solutions.

    The immediate priority is to ensure the Selwood family and anyone who is currently struggling with mental ill-health and may be adversely impacted by this latest tragedy, is supported and offered hope for the future.

    In addition, the AFL community and mental health advocates have implored the AFL to introduce a mental health round, similar to its other themed rounds such as its ANZAC commemorations or the current Sir Doug Nicholls round, which celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander players, cultures and communities.

    Better late than never?

    I first raised the idea of a mental health round for the AFL in 2010 with then-CEO Andrew Demetriou after I was fortunate enough to be named Australian of the Year.

    This allowed me gain access to prominent leaders to champion the fight against the alarming rise of mental ill-health in Australia – especially young people.

    The idea never materialised, but I strongly believe a mental health round can play a significant role in reimagining the national conversation on mental health.

    However, there are pros and cons to this, and it is critical it is approached in a strategic fashion that goes beyond just awareness and anti-stigma campaigns.

    It must instead deliver real and meaningful reform to reduce the impact of mental ill-health and preventable deaths from suicide.

    The problem we face

    Mental ill-health affects all Australians directly or indirectly – suicide is the number one cause of death for people under 40.

    More than 3,000 families every year lose a loved one to suicide and these are largely preventable deaths.

    This growing public health crisis creates a huge burden that is social, emotional and economic.

    In 2021, the Productivity Commission estimated the cost to Australia of our neglect of mental ill-health and suicide: around A$200 billion per year.

    Up to 75% of all mental disorders begin before the age of 25.

    Suicide is the biggest killer of young people, and two in five young people now experience mental ill-health every year, a 50% increase since 2007.

    Athletes sit within the peak age of risk for mental ill-health, and elite sport can come with unique pressures that heightens risk.

    While the AFL and most clubs have engaged strongly around this issue and have sought to provide support for current and former players, the wider mental health crisis extends far beyond the boundaries of the sporting arena.

    Now the AFL has a unique opportunity to drive significant change.

    Benefits and risks of a mental health round

    A mental health round would build on key recommendations from The Lancet Psychiatry’s 2024 commission on youth mental health.

    Produced by a global consortium of world-leading psychiatrists, psychologists, academics and young people, it identified the need for “high-profile societal champions” to help sustain “high-quality media attention, which is crucial to any political campaign”.

    It highlights societal champions (such as sporting bodies and figures), alongside the unified voice of health and research experts “play a key role in ensuring a message is received by a wider audience and appeals to the public in order to gain support from policy makers”.

    This approach must be underpinned by powerful storytelling, which emphasises:

    Positive stories of effective care and innovation, combined with credible first-person accounts from service users and their families and carers.

    The AFL is uniquely positioned to deliver this by uniting athletes, fans, media platforms and grassroots programs.

    It has taken on this role before with positive results, improving awareness and raising money for our ANZACs, as well as the fight against motor neurone disease (MND) – a relatively rare condition compared to mental illness and suicide.

    However, it is imperative any such approach moves beyond the well-meaning but tired awareness campaigns that merely encourage people to “check on your mates”, “speak up if you’re struggling” or suggest the solution is simply a matter of improving “resilience”.

    That can be code for “just pull yourself together” or “toughen up” – language that is all too familiar in footy circles.

    Some elements of the sporting media may need to look in the mirror here.

    Anti-stigma campaigns are similarly ineffective in isolation.

    A key objective of a mental health round should also be to engage and empower grassroots Australian communities to demand investment the mental health crisis urgently requires.

    There is not much use urging people to seek help if expert mental health care is inaccessible or of poor quality. We can rely on world-class cancer care when we need it, but not so mental health care.

    In addition to rapid and free access to high quality care, we also need a major boost to scientific research to create new treatments and fuel prevention.

    The AFL is already a case study in how to galvanise medical research in another neglected area via its partnership with the FightMND campaign, an incredible initiative that has raised both public engagement and precious funds for scientific discovery.

    A step forward?

    To honour the tragic deaths of Adam and Troy Selwood and the tens of thousands of families who have been are devastated by suicide in recent years, Australia needs to do something about it.

    The AFL is uniquely positioned to take a decisive leadership role on this issue.

    But a mental health round must ensure public mental health experts are central to its design and delivery, so it drives not just conversation but real, lasting change.

    If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.

    Patrick McGorry receives funding from the NHRMC, NIH, Wellcome Trust and other research funders fro scientific research in mental health and suicide prevention. I am a member of the AFL’s mental health advisory committee.

    – ref. 15 years ago, I urged the AFL to launch a mental health round. Now it’s time for action – https://theconversation.com/15-years-ago-i-urged-the-afl-to-launch-a-mental-health-round-now-its-time-for-action-256995

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