NewzIntel.com

Category: Analysis

  • MIL-Evening Report: Echidna ancestors lived watery lifestyles like platypuses 100 million years ago – new study

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sue Hand, Professor Emeritus, Palaeontology, UNSW Sydney

    Mary_May/Shutterstock

    As the world’s only surviving egg-laying mammals, Australasia’s platypus and four echidna species are among the most extraordinary animals on Earth.

    They are also very different from each other.

    The platypus is well adapted for a semi-aquatic lifestyle, spending up to 20 hours a day swimming in Australian waterways to forage for freshwater invertebrates. Echidnas, on the other hand, live entirely on land. They are widely distributed across Australia and New Guinea, and adapted for feeding on termites, ants and earthworms.

    How did these differences emerge? Some researchers think echidnas evolved from a swimming, platypus-like ancestor. This hypothesis is based on evidence from aspects of their genes and anatomy, and from hypotheses about their evolutionary history.

    However, this idea is controversial because fossil evidence for such a profound evolutionary transformation has been lacking – until now.

    Did the ancestors of echidnas spend time in the water? It’s a controversial idea.
    Natalia Golovina/Shutterstock

    A bone from 108 million years ago

    In our study published today in PNAS, we gleaned new data from a 108-million-year-old mammal humerus (arm bone), found 30 years ago at Dinosaur Cove, Victoria, by a team from Museums Victoria.

    This arm bone, from a species called Kryoryctes cadburyi, belongs to an ancestral monotreme – a semi-aquatic burrower like the platypus. Our findings support the hypothesis that land-living echidnas evolved from a swimming ancestor.

    Kryoryctes lived during the Age of Dinosaurs (the Mesozoic), when monotremes and monotreme relatives were more common than they are today. Glimpses of this past diversity are found in the fossil record in southern Victoria and Lightning Ridge, New South Wales.

    Nevertheless, Australian Mesozoic mammal fossils are exceedingly rare, and mostly consist of teeth and jaws. Kryoryctes is the only one known from a limb bone, which provides significant information about its identity, relationships and lifestyle.

    Reconstruction of Kryoryctes cadburyi and a small dinosaur (above) at Dinosaur Cove, Victoria, Australia ~108 million years ago.
    Peter Schouten

    Tiny clues inside bones

    In order to test the evolutionary relationships of Kryoryctes, we added it to a broader data set of 70 fossil and modern mammals. From there, we calculated an evolutionary tree. This showed Kryoryctes is an ancestral monotreme.

    We also compared the external shape of the Kryroryctes humerus bone to living monotremes. These analyses indicated the bone is more like those of echidnas, rather than platypuses.

    But it was a different story on the inside. When we looked at the internal structure of the Kryoryctes humerus with several 3D scanning techniques, we uncovered microscopic features of this arm bone that were actually more like those of the platypus.

    Such tiny features inside bones yield crucial clues about the lifestyle of an animal. Numerous previous studies link bone microstructure in mammals and other tetrapods (four-limbed animals) with their ecology.

    Using the wealth of data available for living mammals, we compared characteristics of the Kryoryctes humerus microstructure to those in platypuses, echidnas and 74 other mammal species.

    These analyses confirmed that the Kryoryctes humerus has internal bone features found in semi-aquatic burrowing mammals (such as the platypus, muskrat and Eurasian otter), rather than land-living burrowing mammals such as the echidna.

    The Kryoryctes humerus we studied.
    Museums Victoria

    From water to land

    This discovery suggests that a semi-aquatic lifestyle is ancestral for all living monotremes. It also suggests the amphibious lifestyle of the modern platypus had its origins at least 100 million years ago, during the Age of Dinosaurs.

    In this scenario, the modern platypus lineage has retained the ancestral semi-aquatic burrowing lifestyle for more than 100 million years. Echidnas would have reverted to a land-based way of life more recently.

    For echidnas, a return to land appears to have resulted in adaptations such as their long bones becoming lighter, as shown in our study.

    They possibly also lost several other features more useful for spending time in the water rather than on land, including the loss of a long tail, reduction of webbing between fingers and toes, reduction of the duck-like bill to a narrow beak, and a reduced number of electroreceptors on that beak.

    However, precisely when this evolutionary transformation occurred is not yet known. The answer must wait until early echidna fossils are found – so far, nothing definitive has turned up anywhere.

    The modern habitats of monotremes are increasingly under threat from environmental degradation, interactions with humans and feral predators, and climate change. This is especially true for platypuses. To ensure the survival of this ancient lineage, we need to better understand how their unique features evolved and adapted.

    Sue Hand receives funding from the Australian Research Council

    Laura A. B. Wilson receives funding from the Australian Research Council

    Robin Beck receives funding from the UK’s National Environmental Research Council, and the Australian Research Council.

    Camilo López-Aguirre 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. Echidna ancestors lived watery lifestyles like platypuses 100 million years ago – new study – https://theconversation.com/echidna-ancestors-lived-watery-lifestyles-like-platypuses-100-million-years-ago-new-study-254484

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: 1 billion years ago, a meteorite struck Scotland and influenced life on Earth

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Kirkland, Professor of Geochronology, Curtin University

    Stoer Head lighthouse, Scotland. William Gale/Shutterstock

    We’ve discovered that a meteorite struck northwest Scotland 1 billion years ago, 200 million years later than previously thought. Our results are published today in the journal Geology.

    This impact now aligns with some of Earth’s earliest known, land based, non-marine microbial fossils, and offers new insights into how meteorite strikes may have shaped our planet’s environment and life.

    A rocky treasure trove

    The Torridonian rocks of northwest Scotland are treasured by geologists as some of the finest archives of the ancient lakes and river systems that existed a billion years ago.

    Those water bodies were home to microbial ecosystems consisting of eukaryotes. Eukaryotes are single-celled organisms with complex internal structures that are the ancestors of all plants and animals.

    But the Torridonian environments and their associated microbial communities were dramatically disrupted when a meteor slammed into the planet.

    A drone’s-eye view of the Stac Fada Member reveals towering blocks of sandstone preserving a meteorite impact frozen in time. Look closely and you’ll spot figures for scale, dwarfed by the chaotic jumble of rock fragments encased in impact-smashed debris.
    Tony Prave

    The record of this event is preserved in a geological unit known as the Stac Fada Member. It is comprised of unusual layers of rock fragments broken and melted by the impact.

    Also, crucially, there are shock-altered minerals that closely resemble those found in famous impact sites such as Chicxulub (Mexico) and Sudbury (Canada).

    In the case of the Stac Fada, these minerals were engulfed in high-energy, ground-hugging flows of smashed rock triggered by the impact that spread across the ancient landscape.

    What is exciting about our new date for the Stac Fada impact is that it now overlaps in age with microfossils preserved elsewhere in the Torridonian rocks.

    This raises some interesting questions. For example, how did the meteorite strike influence the environmental conditions those early non-marine microbial ecosystems relied on?

    Finding out the date

    Determining when a meteorite struck is no easy task.

    We can use minerals to constrain the age, but they have to be the right kind. In this case it means something that wasn’t overly altered by the intense heat, pressure and fluids generated by the impact, yet robust enough to survive the ravages of deep geological time.

    Suitable minerals are extremely rare, but we found a few in the Stac Fada rocks. One was reidite, a mineral that only forms under extreme pressure. The other was granular zircon, a uranium-bearing mineral formed by immense impact temperatures.

    Electron microscope image of a shocked zircon: blue is granular zircon, red is reidite formed under extreme pressure from a meteorite impact.
    Timmons Erickson

    These minerals are, in effect, tiny stopwatches whose clocks start “ticking” at the time they form. Although these clocks are often damaged during the impact and the ensuing pulse of heat, we used mathematical modelling to determine the most probable time of impact.

    Together, these techniques consistently pointed to an event 1 billion years old, not 1.2 billion years old as previously suggested. Given such vast spans of time, a 20% change in age might not seem dramatic.

    However, the new age shows the timing of the impact coincides with early non-marine eukaryotic fossils. It also lines up with a major mountain-building event. This means the Torridonian lifeforms had to cope with significant, environment-altering phenomena.

    Why this is important for you, me, and life in general

    The origin of life is a deeply complex process that likely began with a series of pre-biotic chemical reactions.

    While much remains unknown, it is intriguing that two ancient meteorite impacts, the 3.5-billion-year-old North Pole impact in Western Australia and now the 1-billion-year-old Stac Fada deposit in northwest Scotland, occur close in time to major milestones in the fossil record.

    The North Pole impact occurs in a sequence of rocks containing stromatolites, some of the oldest-known fossils considered to be indicative of microbial life.

    These rippled layers in the Torridon rocks were built by ancient microbial communities, evidence of some of the earliest life on land.
    Tony Prave

    All life requires energy. The earliest forms of life are thought to be associated with volcanic hydrothermal springs. Impacts offer a plausible alternative. The immediate aftermath of a meteorite strike is extreme and hostile, and would ruin your day. But the long-term effects could support key biological processes.

    Meteorite strikes fracture rocks, generate long-lived hydrothermal systems and form crater lakes that enable the concentration of important ingredients for life, such as clays, organic molecules and phosphorus. The latter is a key element for all forms of life.

    In Scotland, the Stac Fada impact lies within an ancient river and lake environment that housed microbial ecosystems colonising the land. What makes the Stac Fada impact deposits fascinating is that, unlike most other impacts on Earth, they preserve the environments in which those pioneering organisms lived immediately prior to the impact.

    Further, the impact deposits were subsequently buried as non-marine microbial habitats became reestablished. So, the Stac Fada rocks provide an opportunity to see how microbial life recovered from impact.

    Extraterrestrial visitors in the form of meteorite collisions may not just have scarred Earth’s surface, but shaped its future, turning catastrophic events into natural crater-cradles of life.

    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. 1 billion years ago, a meteorite struck Scotland and influenced life on Earth – https://theconversation.com/1-billion-years-ago-a-meteorite-struck-scotland-and-influenced-life-on-earth-254285

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Major survey finds most people use AI regularly at work – but almost half admit to doing so inappropriately

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicole Gillespie, Professor of Management; Chair in Trust, Melbourne Business School

    Matheus Bertelli/Pexels

    Have you ever used ChatGPT to draft a work email? Perhaps to summarise a report, research a topic or analyse data in a spreadsheet? If so, you certainly aren’t alone.

    Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are rapidly transforming the world of work. Released today, our global study of more than 32,000 workers from 47 countries shows that 58% of employees intentionally use AI at work – with a third using it weekly or daily.

    Most employees who use it say they’ve gained some real productivity and performance benefits from adopting AI tools.

    However, a concerning number are using AI in highly risky ways – such as uploading sensitive information into public tools, relying on AI answers without checking them, and hiding their use of it.

    There’s an urgent need for policies, training and governance on responsible use of AI, to ensure it enhances – not undermines – how work is done.

    Our research

    We surveyed 32,352 employees in 47 countries, covering all global geographical regions and occupational groups.

    Most employees report performance benefits from AI adoption at work. These include improvements in:

    • efficiency (67%)
    • information access (61%)
    • innovation (59%)
    • work quality (58%).

    These findings echo prior research demonstrating AI can drive productivity gains for employees and organisations.

    We found general-purpose generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, are by far the most widely used. About 70% of employees rely on free, public tools, rather than AI solutions provided by their employer (42%).

    However, almost half the employees we surveyed who use AI say they have done so in ways that could be considered inappropriate (47%) and even more (63%) have seen other employees using AI inappropriately.

    Most survey respondents use free, public AI tools, such as ChatGPT.
    Tada Images/Shutterstock

    Sensitive information

    One key concern surrounding AI tools in the workplace is the handling of sensitive company information – such as financial, sales or customer information.

    Nearly half (48%) of employees have uploaded sensitive company or customer information into public generative AI tools, and 44% admit to having used AI at work in ways that go against organisational policies.

    This aligns with other research showing 27% of content put into AI tools by employees is sensitive.

    Check your answer

    We found complacent use of AI is also widespread, with 66% of respondents saying they have relied on AI output without evaluating it. It is unsurprising then that a majority (56%) have made mistakes in their work due to AI.

    Younger employees (aged 18-34 years) are more likely to engage in inappropriate and complacent use than older employees (aged 35 or older).

    This carries serious risks for organisations and employees. Such mistakes have already led to well-documented cases of financial loss, reputational damage and privacy breaches.

    About a third (35%) of employees say the use of AI tools in their workplace has increased privacy and compliance risks.

    ‘Shadow’ AI use

    When employees aren’t transparent about how they use AI, the risks become even more challenging to manage.

    We found most employees have avoided revealing when they use AI (61%), presented AI-generated content as their own (55%), and used AI tools without knowing if it is allowed (66%).

    This invisible or “shadow AI” use doesn’t just exacerbate risks – it also severely hampers an organisation’s ability to detect, manage and mitigate risks.

    A lack of training, guidance and governance appears to be fuelling this complacent use. Despite their prevalence, only a third of employees (34%) say their organisation has a policy guiding the use of generative AI tools, with 6% saying their organisation bans it.

    Pressure to adopt AI may also fuel complacent use, with half of employees fearing they will be left behind if they do not.

    Almost half of respondents said they had uploaded company financial, sales or customer information into public AI tools.
    Andrey_Popov/Shutterstock

    Better literacy and oversight

    Collectively, our findings reveal a significant gap in the governance of AI tools and an urgent need for organisations to guide and manage how employees use them in their everyday work. Addressing this will require a proactive and deliberate approach.

    Investing in responsible AI training and developing employees’ AI literacy is key. Our modelling shows self-reported AI literacy – including training, knowledge, and efficacy – predicts not only whether employees adopt AI tools but also whether they critically engage with them.

    This includes how well they verify the tools’ output, and consider their limitations before making decisions.

    Training can improve how people engage with AI tools and critically evaluate their output.
    PeopleImages.com – Yuri A/Shutterstock

    We found AI literacy is also associated with greater trust in AI use at work and more performance benefits from its use.

    Despite this, less than half of employees (47%) report having received AI training or related education.

    Organisations also need to put in place clear policies, guidelines and guardrails, systems of accountability and oversight, and data privacy and security measures.

    There are many resources to help organisations develop robust AI governance systems and support responsible AI use.

    The right culture

    On top of this, it’s crucial to create a psychologically safe work environment, where employees feel comfortable to share how and when they are using AI tools.

    The benefits of such a culture go beyond better oversight and risk management. It is also central to developing a culture of shared learning and experimentation that supports responsible diffusion of AI use and innovation.

    AI has the potential to improve the way we work. But it takes an AI-literate workforce, robust governance and clear guidance, and a culture that supports safe, transparent and accountable use. Without these elements, AI becomes just another unmanaged liability.

    This research was supported by the Chair in Trust research partnership between the University of Melbourne and KPMG Australia and funding from KPMG International. The research was conducted independently by Professor Nicole Gillespie and Dr Steve Lockey and their research team at Melbourne Business School, The University of Melbourne, and published in collaboration with KPMG.

    – ref. Major survey finds most people use AI regularly at work – but almost half admit to doing so inappropriately – https://theconversation.com/major-survey-finds-most-people-use-ai-regularly-at-work-but-almost-half-admit-to-doing-so-inappropriately-255405

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Global: What Canada can learn from China on effectively engaging with Africa

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Isaac Odoom, Assistant Professor, Political Science, Carleton University

    Canada’s recent launch of a new Africa Strategy comes at a moment of profound geopolitical change and growing shifts in global development co-operation.

    As the western-led order and development model faces increasing scrutiny, countries like China are expanding their reach in Africa by linking development co-operation with commercial and strategic interests.

    These approaches resonate with many African governments, while others raise concerns, prompting an important question: How well does Canada’s new strategy respond to these concerns?



    Read more:
    Canada’s Africa strategy is a landmark moment for Canada-Africa relations, but still needs work

    Urgent need to diversify

    Canada’s pivot toward deeper engagement with Africa is timely. With ongoing tariff threats from the United States and a tense relationship with China, the need to diversify economic partnerships has become urgent.

    Africa’s fast-growing population, expanding middle class and continent-wide integration through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) offer real opportunities for commercial engagement.

    While historic, Canada’s new Africa Strategy would benefit from a clearer alignment between Africa’s economic prospects and Canada’s domestic economic challenges, such as labour shortages and trade diversification. Without a stronger economic dimension, Canada risks being perceived as all talk and little commitment.

    That said, Canada’s emphasis on “mutually beneficial partnerships” — echoing China’s language on Africa — is notable, especially as western donors pull back. However, without a coherent development focus, this principle may be viewed as transactional rather than strategic.

    The strategy provides a foundation to build from, but it enters a competitive arena. To build meaningful partnerships in Africa, Canada will need a more focused approach grounded in robust market research, sharper priorities and an informed understanding of Africa’s political and economic realities as well as its geopolitical context.

    As a researcher focused on Africa-China relations, I see important lessons Canada can draw from China’s engagement in Africa.

    Cautious Canada vs. confident China

    Over the past two decades, China has become Africa’s largest trading partner, with trade volumes reaching US$295 billion in 2024.

    Backed by state financing, Chinese firms have built roads, ports, railways, dams and telecom infrastructure across the continent. This presence is no accident: for the past 30 years, every Chinese foreign minister’s first trip abroad has been to Africa.

    Canada’s footprint, by contrast, remains modest. Canada’s merchandise trade with Africa was about $15 billion in 2024. Canada aspires to become a serious economic partner, but its commercial presence in Africa has been limited.

    Notably, while China is often criticized in western media, its image in Africa is more positive. Many African leaders and citizens see China as a pragmatic partner that delivers visible infrastructure and investment.

    China’s positioning as a fellow developing country also contrasts sharply with western models that often carry patronizing overtones. China’s readiness to finance large-scale projects in Africa with limited political strings attached has earned good will, even as concerns rightly persist about transparency, debt and governance.

    Emphasizing Canada’s differences

    Canada should take these dynamics seriously. The narrative of “countering China” in Africa, often promoted by western governments, is ineffective. It overlooks African agency, reduces the continent to a site of great power rivalry and fails to acknowledge that African governments are actively pursuing their choice of partners, instead of a single partner of choice.

    Rather than compete with China, Canada can be different. While Chinese infrastructure projects often align with African priorities, my own work on Chinese engagement in Ghana’s energy projects shows that these projects are often negotiated behind closed doors, with few accountability mechanisms and scant transparency in financing. These gaps create space for Canada to offer a distinct and credible alternative.

    Canada’s approach can be different, but it should be no less strategic. It may not match China in scale, but it can offer commercial partnerships rooted in transparency, accountability and collaboration with partners, including those from China.

    Many African governments and civil society entities are calling for exactly this kind of engagement, particularly as citizens demand greater scrutiny over foreign investment. By focusing on responsible business practices, labour standards, environmental safeguards and good governance, Canada can develop a values-based model of economic engagement.

    Despite this potential, Canada’s new Africa Strategy lacks financial commitment. Canada’s 2022 Indo-Pacific Strategy was backed by a $2.3 billion envelope. The Africa Strategy’s success will ultimately depend on its ability to mobilize concrete resources and sustained engagement.

    The strategy rightly points to Africa’s economic potential, but stronger links to Canada’s domestic priorities, such as a workforce strategy, a trade road map and implementation tools, would enhance its impact.

    References to the AfCFTA are promising, but Canadian businesses need clearer guidance and support. Realizing the strategy’s goals will require measurable targets, dedicated programming and sustained investment.

    A different kind of engagement

    Canada’s past engagement in Africa has been rooted in diplomacy, development co-operation and peacekeeping. These remain valuable, but today’s African leaders are also seeking trade, investment and private-sector partnerships.

    To become a trusted economic partner, Canada should engage with purpose by introducing targeted financing tools — such as credit lines or investment guarantees — to help Canadian businesses manage risk and seize opportunities aligned with AfCFTA.



    Read more:
    African countries could unlock billions in local and global trade – what’s working and what’s not

    It should also focus on strategic sectors where it already has strengths, like clean energy, health innovation, fintech, agri-business and infrastructure.

    By investing in robust research and in dialogue with the African diaspora, business leaders and governance institutions, Canada strengthens commercial ties while prioritizing transparency, accountability and collaboration. Co-operation in innovation (for example, joint research on climate-smart agriculture or vaccines) could also yield benefits for both sides.

    In an increasing multipolar environment, Africa is not waiting for Canada. It’s assessing and comparing competing external partners. Canada’s ability to position itself as a viable alternative depends not on replicating China’s scale, but on seeing Africa as a true partner and offering mutual partnerships that appeal to Africans and Canadian alike.

    The new Africa Strategy sets an important tone for renewed engagement, but its success will depend on real investment and implementation, which so far lacks dedicated funding. Filling these gaps should be the next step, regardless of who wins Monday’s election.

    Isaac Odoom 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. What Canada can learn from China on effectively engaging with Africa – https://theconversation.com/what-canada-can-learn-from-china-on-effectively-engaging-with-africa-252894

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-Evening Report: ‘Complaining is career suicide’: the hidden mental health crisis turning our screen industry upside down

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Hegedus, Associate Professor, Griffith Film School, Griffith University

    Shutterstock

    The Australian screen industry is often associated with fun, creativity and perhaps even glamour. But our new Pressure Point Report reveals a more troubling reality: a pervasive mental health crisis, which could see the screen industry lose a significant number of workers in the near future.

    The two-year study led by Griffith University found burnout levels mirroring those found among healthcare workers.

    Of the 864 survey responses we analysed, 72% said the screen industry is not a mentally healthy place to work, 36% frequently considered quitting in the past six months, and 25% said they would likely quit within the next six months.

    The human toll of creativity

    Working in film and television industry has been glamourised, with many aspiring creatives willing to endure difficult conditions to be part of making screen magic.

    In a fast-paced environment, where budgets and timelines are squeezed, half of the survey respondents reported facing constant unreasonable deadlines, and 57% described themselves as completely drained by the end of the day.

    Even more alarming, 59% struggled with work-life balance, having “little to no life outside of work”, and 62% felt pressured to not claim basic entitlements such as sick leave or holiday pay.

    As one participant told us:

    I’ve missed birthdays, weddings, and my kid’s school events because of impossible deadlines that could have been managed better with proper planning.

    Historically, the industry has relied on workers’ passion to offset poor conditions. However, we’re now seeing a breaking point where even the most dedicated professionals are questioning if it’s worth the personal cost.

    A culture of silence

    The concerning statistics from our study uncover an underlying culture of misconduct by both practitioners and supervisors. Almost half of respondents experienced bullying in the past year, while 35% encountered sexual harassment or discrimination.

    More troubling still, 36% of victims never formally reported incidents. They feared career damage, or that nothing would be done.

    One respondent confided:

    after witnessing how others were treated when they spoke up, I decided to stay quiet about my own experiences. It feels like complaining is career suicide in this industry.

    This response echoes many of the other voices we heard from. Such experiences can lead to a toxic cycle in which unchecked workplace behaviours further damage people’s mental health across the industry.

    Inequality compounds the problem

    Our research demonstrates the mental health burden falls disproportionately on already marginalised groups.

    Women face higher rates of unmanageable workload (54% compared to 38% for men) and poorer work/life balance. They also reported sexual harassment at more than triple the rate of men.

    LGBTQIA+ practitioners are significantly worse off, too. They experience elevated rates of depression and sleep issues.

    Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, culturally and linguistically diverse practitioners, and those living with a disability also face significantly higher rates of negative experiences.

    The highest rates of adverse interactions were experienced by neurodivergent professionals and those with pre-existing mental health conditions. Many of them told us that others routinely disregard their professional opinions.

    Beyond ‘wellness workshops’

    “This industry needs more than a quick fix — it needs real, lasting change,” one veteran crew member emphasised. “That means calling out toxic behaviour, backing workers with proper support, and creating fair conditions where people are treated with respect.”

    Our study highlights that surface-level solutions, such as isolated mental health workshops, can’t address the industry’s systemic problems.

    Three-quarters of industry workers reported needing mental health support specifically because of their work. We have also found deep flaws in how productions are structured – and a need for the entire industry to see film sets as workplaces just like any other.

    Genuine structural change is needed to stop the talent drain currently facing the screen industry.

    A wake-up call

    We recently presented our findings at Mental Health Matters: A Screen Leaders’ Summit, to a number of screen industry leaders, from producers to screen funding agency representatives.

    The summit discussed potential reform models from other high-stress industries, including the construction industry’s MATES program and the UK Film and TV Charity’s Whole Picture Toolkit.

    Doing more for Australia’s screen industry matters, not just because it produces entertainment for us — but because it captures our national identity and gives us a global voice.

    An exodus of talent would threaten both the quantity and quality of local content. Australia has worked hard to position itself as a global production hub, attracting major international projects and Hollywood blockbusters that create jobs and build expertise.

    If nearly a quarter of the workforce exits, the industry would severely diminish its capacity to capitalise on these opportunities.

    Peter Hegedus receives funding from Screen Queensland for developing and producing documentaries.

    Bobbi-Lea Dionysius receives funding from Screen Queensland for developing and producing documentaries and VR projects. She is affiliated with Women in Film & TV (WIFT).

    – ref. ‘Complaining is career suicide’: the hidden mental health crisis turning our screen industry upside down – https://theconversation.com/complaining-is-career-suicide-the-hidden-mental-health-crisis-turning-our-screen-industry-upside-down-254593

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Forming new habits can take longer than you think. Here are 8 tips to help you stick with them

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Singh, Research Fellow, Allied Health & Human Performance, University of South Australia

    SarahMcEwan/Shutterstock

    If you’ve ever tried to build a new habit – whether that’s exercising more, eating healthier, or going to bed earlier – you may have heard the popular claim that it only takes 21 days to form a habit.

    It’s a neat idea. Short, encouraging and full of promise. But there’s just one problem: it’s not true.

    The 21-day myth can be traced back to Maxwell Maltz, a plastic surgeon in the 1960s, who observed it took about three weeks for his patients to adjust to physical changes. This idea was later picked up and repeated in self-help books, eventually becoming accepted wisdom.

    But as psychologists and behavioural scientists have since discovered, habit formation is much more complex.

    How long does it really take?

    A 2010 study followed volunteers trying to build simple routines – such as drinking water after breakfast or eating a daily piece of fruit – and found it took a median of 66 days for the behaviour to become automatic.

    We recently reviewed several studies looking at how long it took people to form health-related habits. We found, on average, it took around two to five months.

    Specifically, the studies that measured time to reach automaticity (when a behaviour becomes second nature) found that habit formation took between 59 and 154 days. Some people developed a habit in as few as four days. Others took nearly a year.

    This wide range highlights that habit formation isn’t one-size-fits-all. It depends on what the behaviour is, how often it’s repeated, how complex it is, and who’s doing it.



    Read more:
    Here’s what happens in your brain when you’re trying to make or break a habit

    What determines whether a habit will stick?

    Habit strength plays a key role in consistency. A 2021 systematic review focused on physical activity and found the stronger the habit (meaning the more automatic and less effortful the behaviour felt) the more likely people were to exercise regularly.

    It’s not entirely surprising that easy, low-effort behaviours such as drinking water or taking a daily vitamin tend to form faster than complex ones like training for a marathon.

    But whatever the habit, research shows sticking to it is not just about boosting motivation or willpower. Interventions that actively support habit formation – through repetition, cues and structure – are much more effective for creating lasting change.

    For example, programs that encourage people to schedule regular exercise at the same time each day, or apps that send reminders to drink water after every meal, help build habits by making the behaviour easier to repeat and harder to forget.

    Small, everyday actions can grow into powerful routines.
    areporter/Shutterstock

    Our research, which drew on data from more than 2,600 people, showed habit-building interventions can make a real difference across a range of behaviours – from flossing and healthy eating to regular exercise.

    But what stood out most was that even small, everyday actions can grow into powerful routines, when repeated consistently. It’s not about overhauling your life overnight, but about steadily reinforcing behaviours until they become second nature.

    8 tips for building lasting habits

    If you’re looking to build a new habit, here are some science-backed tips to help them stick:

    1. Give it time. Aim for consistency over 60 days. It’s not about perfection – missing a day won’t reset the clock.

    2. Make it easy. Start small. Choose a behaviour you can realistically repeat daily.

    3. Attach your new habit to an existing routine. That is, make the new habit easier to remember by linking it to something you already do – such as flossing right before you brush your teeth.

    4. Track your progress. Use a calendar or app to tick off each successful day.

    5. Build in rewards, for example making a special coffee after a morning walk or watching an episode of your favourite show after a week of consistent workouts. Positive emotions help habits stick, so celebrate small wins.

    6. Morning is best. Habits practised in the morning tend to form more reliably than those attempted at night. This may be because people typically have more motivation and fewer distractions earlier in the day, making it easier to stick to new routines before daily demands build up.

    7. Personal choice boosts success. People are more likely to stick with habits they choose themselves.

    8. Repetition in a stable context is key. Performing the same behaviour in the same situation (such as walking right after lunch each day) increases the chances it will become automatic.

    Habits practised in the morning tend to form more reliably than those attempted at night.
    Ground Picture/Shutterstock

    Why the 21-day myth matters

    Believing habits form in 21 days sets many people up to fail. When change doesn’t “click” within three weeks, it’s easy to feel like you’re doing something wrong. This can lead to frustration, guilt and giving up entirely.

    By contrast, understanding the real timeline can help you stay motivated when things feel slow.

    Evidence shows habit formation usually takes at least two months, and sometimes longer. But it also shows change is possible.

    Our research and other evidence confirm that repeated, intentional actions in stable contexts really do become automatic. Over time, new behaviours can feel effortless and deeply ingrained.

    So whether you’re trying to move more, eat better, or improve your sleep, the key isn’t speed – it’s consistency. Stick with it. With time, the habit will stick with you.

    Ashleigh E. Smith receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Medical Research Future Fund and a Dementia Australia Research Foundation Henry Brodaty Mid-Career Fellowship.

    Ben Singh 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. Forming new habits can take longer than you think. Here are 8 tips to help you stick with them – https://theconversation.com/forming-new-habits-can-take-longer-than-you-think-here-are-8-tips-to-help-you-stick-with-them-255118

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Arsenic is everywhere – but new detection methods could help save lives

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Magdalena Wajrak, Senior Lecturer in Chemistry, Edith Cowan University

    Arsenic is a nasty poison that once reigned as the ultimate weapon of deception. In the 18th century, it was the poison of choice for those wanting to kill their enemies and spouses, favoured for its undetectable nature and the way its symptoms mimicked common gastrointestinal issues like stomach pain, diarrhoea and vomiting.

    One of the most famous deaths believed to be due to arsenic poisoning was that of French general Napoleon Bonaparte in 1821. While there’s still considerable controversy over the definite cause of Napoleon’s death, there is enough evidence that arsenic did at least contribute.

    Analysis of Napoleon’s hair in 1961 found it contained more than ten times the normal concentrations of arsenic. The most likely source of exposure was from an arsenic compound used as a pigment in wallpapers in the 18th century.

    Centuries later, arsenic is still widespread in the world, and causing major health problems. But thankfully scientists – including myself – are developing more effective ways of measuring arsenic to reduce the harm it causes to people.

    A tasteless poison

    Arsenic in its elemental state is a grey, brittle solid. Its nucleus has 33 protons and 42 neutrons, giving it similar chemical properties to phosphorus.

    The elemental form of arsenic is actually non-toxic; it is the compounds of arsenic that are poisonous. Pure elements have a tendency to bond to other elements and form compounds, because this provides elements with more stability.

    When arsenic combines with oxygen, it forms an extremely toxic compound called arsenic trioxide. Only 70mg of this odourless and tasteless compound is needed to kill an adult human.

    When arsenic enters our bodies, it can have major impacts on DNA. Phosphorous is an essential component of the backbone of DNA, but arsenic can replace it. This can lead to genome instability and a higher risk of genetic mutations, which can ultimately increase the risk of developing cancer.

    Arsenic also inhibits the enzymes necessary for bodily functions.

    When arsenic is inhaled or ingested, it is rapidly distributed around the body. It initially remains in the liver before being stored in the kidneys, then the spleen and lungs. Our bodies are very clever, however, and have a process capable of removing very small amounts of arsenic through urine.

    But that process takes time. So if you are exposed to high levels of arsenic, your body will not be able to eliminate it fast enough and damage will occur.

    One of the most famous deaths believed to be due to arsenic poisoning was that of Napoleon Bonaparte.
    Jacques-Louis David/Wikipedia

    Arsenic is everywhere

    The main environmental sources of arsenic are volcanoes and the erosion of mineral deposits. This can contaminate groundwater sources, as happened in Bangladesh where the building of tube wells for irrigation and drinking water from the mid 20th century onwards accidentally caused the “world’s worst mass poisoning”.

    Human sources of arsenic in the environment are predominantly from smelters of copper, gold and iron ores. These smelters often use arsenic compounds such as copper arsenate to treat and preserve wood. They also use pesticides and antiparasitic chemicals, some of which contain arsenic.

    We also find very small amounts of arsenic compounds in LED lights and in bronze.

    The most common sources of exposure to arsenic are from cigarettes and food products. Foods grown in arsenic-contaminated soil or exposed to contaminated water will absorb arsenic.

    For example, rice is very susceptible to absorbing elements from soil and water, so can contain high levels of arsenic if grown in contaminated areas. However, rice is generally safe to eat and rinsing it removes most of the arsenic it might have absorbed.

    Groundwater in Bangladesh is heavily contaminated with arsenic, posing a major public health risk.
    HM Shahidul Islam/Shutterstock

    Detecting arsenic

    Being able to detect and monitor arsenic concentrations in our environment and in our bodies is important for our health.

    However, common analytical techniques for arsenic detection are laboratory-based and require complicated infrastructure – such as constant access to argon gas to produce a plasma – and a specifically trained chemist or lab technician.

    Thankfully scientists are developing new techniques. These are not only reliable and accurate, but highly portable and simple enough to be used outside laboratories to test for arsenic in environmental, biological and industrial samples.

    One of these is an electrochemical technique, known as “anodic stripping voltammetry”.

    This technique can detect trace amounts of arsenic. It works by measuring the minute electric current produced by the poison. The amount of current produced is directly proportional to the concentration of arsenic in the sample.

    Being able to quickly, simply and accurately detect arsenic in, say, drinking water, could reduce people’s exposure to it. In turn, this would help reduce the likelihood of future health problems, such as skin cancers.

    It is impossible to eliminate arsenic from our environment. So constant monitoring of arsenic levels in the environment and food products is the best way to reduce our exposure to this notorious poison.

    Magdalena Wajrak 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. Arsenic is everywhere – but new detection methods could help save lives – https://theconversation.com/arsenic-is-everywhere-but-new-detection-methods-could-help-save-lives-248547

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: New survey shows business outlook is weakening and uncertainty rising as the trade war bites

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Simon, Adjunct Fellow in Economics, Macquarie University

    Vivid Brands/Shutterstock

    Uncertainty is everywhere these days.

    There is even uncertainty about the uncertainty.

    The Reserve Bank of Australia, for example, noted in the minutes from its April 1 meeting:

    The most significant development in the period leading up to the meeting had been the significant rise in uncertainty about global trade policy, although the effect of this on sentiment and economic developments in Australia was not yet clear.

    A new monthly business survey, developed by a team of researchers at Macquarie University, the Business Outlook Scenarios Survey (BOSS), provides some clarity.

    A key feature of the survey, which distinguishes it from other business surveys, is its focus on uncertainty about the future, not just expectations about the most likely outcome.

    The most recent survey was conducted between April 10–17, after the announcement of the US “liberation day” tariffs on April 2. The results are concerning, but not yet alarming.

    Big rise in uncertainty

    The results suggest there has been a significant increase in business uncertainty stemming from the tariff and geopolitical tensions.

    Our survey asks roughly 500 Australian businesses about their expectations for, and perceptions of uncertainty about, key business and macroeconomic conditions.

    Running since June 2024, it tracks a sample that is representative of Australian businesses. It surveys key decision makers, such as chief financial officers and business owners, who have a detailed knowledge of their own business, and a general knowledge of the broader economy.

    The jump in uncertainty is leading to an increase in pessimistic views about businesses’ prospects. Moreover, these expectations are surrounded by elevated uncertainty.

    While this has yet to translate into plans to reduce employment and investment, businesses on average expect their costs will rise, and plan to counter the effect through increasing prices.

    More importantly, uncertainty generally leads people to defer decisions, and we see evidence of that in the April survey. Firms on average are not expecting to reduce investment or employment – but neither are they planning on increasing it.

    Inflation worries are off the boil

    When asked about the main source of uncertainty over the next 12 months, businesses used to point to inflation. In June 2024, more than 65% of businesses cited inflation as the main source of business uncertainty. While this is still a significant concern, it has fallen to 48% of respondents.

    More dramatically, however, geopolitical risk and tariffs combined were nominated by 52% of businesses in April as one of the main sources of uncertainty. This is up from about 20% of firms in June last year.

    This global uncertainty is translating into uncertainty about individual business conditions. There is an increase in the percentage of businesses that expect deteriorating conditions for their business. And there is also an increase in uncertainty about the likely outcomes for their industry conditions, product demand, and access to credit and business inputs.

    Risks for hiring and investment

    While deteriorating expectations are a source of concern, the rise in uncertainty is like a one-two punch. Businesses that are uncertain about the future will stop hiring or investing until they have a better idea of what the future holds.

    Indeed, during the Great Depression in the 1930s, uncertainty about the future exacerbated the initial downturn and helped turn it from a recession into a depression. This paralysing uncertainty is what led US President Franklin D. Roosevelt to utter the famous line “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

    While the situation in Australia is not nearly that dire, you can see the consequences of the uncertainty in businesses’ expectations for both their own businesses and the economy more generally.

    In light of the tariff tensions, the majority of businesses are adopting a “wait and see” approach and expect to keep employment and investment unchanged in the next 12 months. The majority (62%) also expect their costs will be higher and, consequently, that they will have to raise their prices.

    What it means for the RBA

    Most businesses surveyed also anticipate higher inflation and lower economic growth in Australia. That is, stagflation.

    This has important consequences for the next Reserve Bank board meeting in May.

    The March quarter consumer price index, to be released on April 30, is unlikely to show the effects of the trade tensions. But monetary policy needs to be set in a forward-looking manner. That means business expectations of higher costs, prices and inflation over the next 12 months could argue for higher interest rates than otherwise.

    Complicating the picture is the expectation of slower economic growth, which would usually argue for lower interest rates.

    On balance, the majority of businesses surveyed in April expect the Reserve Bank to lower the cash rate in response to the trade war.

    Regardless, what is undeniable is that uncertainty has increased in the last few months. And that means that policymakers need to deal with the uncertainty itself. Slightly lower interest rates or a little extra government spending cannot, of themselves, overcome the paralysing effects of uncertainty.

    As such, the Reserve Bank and the government need to talk about not just their central expectations, but their strategy for dealing with the uncertainty around those expectations.

    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. New survey shows business outlook is weakening and uncertainty rising as the trade war bites – https://theconversation.com/new-survey-shows-business-outlook-is-weakening-and-uncertainty-rising-as-the-trade-war-bites-255101

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Here’s how to make your backyard safer and cooler next summer

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Pui Kwan Cheung, Research Fellow in Urban Microclimates, The University of Melbourne

    Varavin88, Shutterstock

    Our backyards should be safe and inviting spaces all year round, including during the summer months.

    But the choices we make about garden design and maintenance, such as whether to have artificial turf or real grass for a lawn, can have serious consequences. Children, elderly people and pets are particularly susceptible to burns from contact with artificial turf on a hot day.

    Watering your lawn or planting a shady tree can also dramatically change how hot your backyard feels in summer. Ultimately, these factors will influence how much time you and your family spend outside.

    No matter where in the world you live, it is never too late to find out how to make your backyard safer and cooler next summer.

    The case against artificial turf

    Artificial turf or synthetic grass, commonly used on sports fields, has become popular in private outdoor spaces such as backyards.

    People may think it’s cheaper and easier to maintain than real turf. Perhaps they like the idea of saving water and having the look of lawn without the hassle of mowing and fertilising it.

    But this type of plastic surface is known to become very hot on a sunny day.

    We wanted to find out just how hot artificial turf can get in a suburban backyard over summer.

    So we set up an experiment to compare the temperatures of artificial turf, dry natural turf, and watered natural turf in Melbourne. We took surface temperature measurements continuously for 51 days during the summer of 2023–24.

    The research was part of a project demonstrating the benefits of green space in residential properties. The project received funding from Horticulture Innovation Australia, a grower-owned not-for-profit research and development corporation. That funding, in part, came from three water authorities.

    Thermal imaging reveals artificial turf is hotter than natural turf on a hot sunny day.
    Pui Kwan Cheung

    Feeling the heat

    In adults, irreversible burns occur when the skin is in contact with a surface that is 48°C or hotter for ten minutes.

    The temperature needed to cause skin burns in children is approximately 2°C lower, because their skin is thinner and more sensitive.

    Contact skin burns due to the high surface temperature of artificial turf has been identified as a health risk.

    In our latest research, the artificial turf reached a scorching 72°C, which is sufficient to cause irreversible skin burns in just ten seconds. In contrast, the real turf was never hot enough to cause such burns (maximum temperature of 39°C).

    Over the course of our experiment, the artificial turf was hot enough to cause adults irreversible skin burns for almost four hours a day. While adults might be expected to move away from the heat before it burns, vulnerable people such as babies and the elderly, as well as pets, are most at risk because they may be unable to move away.

    We also took measurements in real backyards on a hot sunny summer’s day. We compared the risk of skin burns on four different surfaces: artificial turf, mulch, timber and real turf. The only surface that did not get hot enough to cause skin burns in adults was real turf.

    Watering the grass can cool your backyard in more ways than one.
    Stephen Livesley

    Why should I water the lawn?

    Grass and other plants release water vapour from little holes in their leaves into the atmosphere. This process helps the plant maintain a liveable leaf temperature on a hot day, but it also cools the air around the leaves.

    It is a good idea to water your lawn throughout summer for two reasons:

    1. well-watered lawn is healthier, stays green for longer, and has more leaves to release water vapour into the air (“transpire”).

    2. more water is available to evaporate from the soil and leaves, adding to the cooling effect.

    If you’re worried about wasting drinking water on your lawn, you can install a rainwater tank or household water recycling plant. Having access to alternative water sources will become increasingly important as the world warms and the climate dries.

    More shade will cool your backyard.
    Stephen Livesley

    What about shade?

    The most effective way to make you feel cooler in your backyard is to provide adequate shade. This reduces the amount of sun energy hitting your body or the ground, heating the surface and warming the surrounding air.

    A single tree can lower the level of heat stress from extreme to moderate. This may be the difference between wanting to spend time outside on a hot day and avoiding your backyard altogether.

    Even small trees can still make you feel cooler, if they provide some shade.

    However, too-dense tree canopy cover may prevent air flow – so there is a happy medium. Air flow is necessary to move the heat away from your backyard and cool your body down.

    Taking all the above measures will keep your backyard safe and cool throughout summer. This will allow you and your family to spend more quality time in your backyard, cool your home, and improve your quality of life.

    Pui Kwan Cheung receives funding from Horticulture Innovation Australia (Hort Innovation) for the research project “demonstrating the benefits of increasing available green infrastructure in residential homes”, which is relevant to this article.
    The project involves co-investment from South East Water, Greater Western Water, Yarra Valley Water, the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (Victoria), Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure (New South Wales), The University of Melbourne, and the Australian Government. Hort Innovation is the grower-owned, not-for-profit research and development corporation for Australian horticulture.

    Stephen Livesley receives funding from Horticulture Innovation Australia, the Australian Research Council and various water authorities.

    – ref. Here’s how to make your backyard safer and cooler next summer – https://theconversation.com/heres-how-to-make-your-backyard-safer-and-cooler-next-summer-254928

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Democracy on display or a public eyesore? The case for cracking down on election corflutes

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer in Marketing, Research School of Management, Australian National University

    In my time researching political advertising, one common communication method that often generates complaints is the proliferation of campaign corflutes.

    Politicians love them. Not so, many members of the general public. People are so fed up with candidate posters that there are numerous tales of late night vandalism, including deliberate acts of road rage aimed at destroying them.

    And yet, at every single election – local, state and federal – the hated signs spring up once again to populate front gardens, streetscapes and open spaces.

    Given how divisive they are, why do politicians persist with them? What are the laws around their use? And is South Australia on the right track by banning corflutes in public places?

    It’s a jungle out there

    To begin with, all corflutes must comply with the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC), which includes displaying a “written and authorised” statement

    that enables voters to know the source of the electoral or political communication.

    Posters can’t mislead voters regarding candidates’ political affiliation. In 2022, corflutes authorised by Advance Australia in the ACT were ruled misleading because they strongly implied independent Senate candidate David Pocock was running for the Greens.

    But in terms of size, number, and placement – welcome to the wild west of Australian political communications.

    Size varies from the standard 60cm x 90cm corflute, to much larger signs like the one promoting Liberal candidate Amelia Hamer that was stolen by the husband of Teal MP Monique Ryan in the seat of Kooyong.

    Neither the number nor the placement of signs are regulated by electoral law, other than a requirement they not be placed within 6 metres of a polling place.

    Corflutes are governed by local council laws and regulations relating to political signage. This leads to a wide variation around Australia. Some areas have no rules on number or placement, which is where you usually find the issues.

    By contrast, corflutes are strictly regulated in South Australia. Laws passed last year banned election posters from public infrastructure, though they are still permitted on private property.

    Democracy on show

    Corflutes have several purposes, especially for new candidates.

    Independent Jessie Price, who is running for Bean in the ACT, tells me corflutes are important for her to quickly achieve name and face recognition in the campaign.

    Then there is their design. Campaign corflutes have traditionally incorporated faces, colours and slogans. These days, they can also include QR codes, URLs, and social media handles. These formal elements also aid differentiation and awareness.

    Next is the strategy of placement. Being an offline method, you can’t hit “skip” when you see one. And they are often used as a way of marking out turf, especially when placed in front yards.

    For minor parties and independents, they are an affordable way to help level the playing field against Labor and the Coalition. In a way, they act as a basic barometer of the strength of our democracy.

    Do they work?

    Yes. And no.

    When it comes to design, corflutes that closely follow the same principles used for road signs work the most effectively. This is because of the speed at which we process information.

    Research has found that around two seconds is needed to absorb the details printed on signs. Up to five seconds’ exposure is needed to commit the information to short-term memory. Repeated exposure to the same sign helps when it comes to recall.

    That is why colour, font size and word count are all important. The bigger the font, the better the chances of it being seen from further away, and hitting that two-second count. For example, on a 100km/h road, letters need to be at least 35cm in size.

    The same rules apply to election posters. Ideally, an effective corflute would have a single name in 70cm white font on a red background. Two colours for contrast, large lettering and using only two or three words, would have the best chance of being remembered.

    Being novel with design, such as independent candidate Kim Huynh’s striking corflute in the 2016 ACT election, can also boost awareness and differentiation.

    Just an eyesore

    Corflutes will only work if the voter is already predisposed to the candidate being promoted. If that’s not the case, the sign may have the opposite affect by repeatedly reminding the voter of a person they don’t like.

    For some, they will hate corflutes regardless of the candidates. That is because the outdoors is the last true escape from political communications in an era of digital and online advertising that runs up until election day. Some also dislike how politicians can get away with it, while most others would be fined.

    Do they actually change behaviour? Not directly, but they raise awareness and change perceptions towards candidates and parties, which is their ultimate objective.

    Time for a rethink

    There is a case to reform the electoral laws to regulate the size, placement, and number of corflutes.

    One proposal worth considering would be a strict limit of 50 standard-sized signs per candidate, per electorate and erected in designated places. This would mean more equal opportunity for minor parties and independents, and help reduce public anger over the visual pollution we see at election time.

    No matter how much people hate corflutes, they do serve a higher purpose post election. Come Sunday, they will be much sought after as tomato stakes and flooring for chook pens.

    Andrew Hughes 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. Democracy on display or a public eyesore? The case for cracking down on election corflutes – https://theconversation.com/democracy-on-display-or-a-public-eyesore-the-case-for-cracking-down-on-election-corflutes-255219

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: How ICE is becoming a secret police force under the Trump administration

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee Morgenbesser, Associate Professor, School of Government and International Relations, Griffith University

    Secret police are a quintessential feature of authoritarian regimes. From Azerbaijan’s State Security Service to Zimbabwe’s Central Intelligence Organisation, these agencies typically target political opponents and dissidents through covert surveillance, imprisonment and physical violence.

    In contrast to the regular police and armed forces, secret police primarily use preemptive repression to thwart threats to the government.

    In Nazi Germany, for example, Gestapo informants penetrated all levels of society, producing an atmosphere of distrust among those against Adolf Hitler. In Uganda, Idi Amin’s State Research Bureau employed sophisticated spying equipment and intercepted mail at the post office to root out supposed saboteurs.

    In Syria, Bashar al-Assad relied on the General Intelligence Directorate to oversee a network of torture centres. And in Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro has used the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin) to spy on opponents overseas, often running operations out of diplomatic missions.

    Since US President Donald Trump took power in January, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has become a far more visible and fearsome force on American streets.

    Though ICE is ostensibly still bound by constitutional limits, the way it has been operating bears the hallmarks of a secret police force in the making.

    As an expert on authoritarian regimes, I’ve studied historical and contemporary secret police forces extensively across Africa, Asia and Europe. They typically meet five criteria:

    • they’re a police force targeting political opponents and dissidents

    • they’re not controlled by other security agencies and answer directly to the dictator

    • the identity of their members and their operations are secret

    • they specialise in political intelligence and surveillance operations

    • they carry out arbitrary searches, arrests, interrogations, indefinite detentions, disappearances and torture.

    How close is ICE to becoming a secret police force? Let’s consider each of these criteria.

    Targeting dissidents

    ICE has used the pretext of combating antisemitism to target dissidents. A branch of the agency previously used to target drug smugglers and human traffickers has reportedly been directed to scan social media for posts sympathetic to Hamas.

    On March 8, ICE arrested the prominent pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, a legal resident. It was a similar story for Rumeysa Ozturk, a university student grabbed off the street on March 25 by ICE agents.

    Trump has cited the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 as the legal pretext for ICE’s actions in these cases and others. The law allows the US government to deport anyone whose presence has “adverse foreign policy consequences” for the country.

    Because Khalil and others are being targeted for their activism, legal scholars say the government appears to be “retaliating” against constitutionally protected free speech it disagrees with.

    Directly controlled by a dictator

    While ICE does not report directly to Trump, the agency is controlled by people who have shown intense loyalty to him.

    ICE is part of the Department of Homeland Security, which is overseen by stalwart Trump ally Kristi Noem. She is supported by Tom Homan, a former ICE director who Trump appointed as his “border czar” in November 2024.

    Despite a court order barring the deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members to a prison in El Salvador, Homan has remained defiant:

    We are not stopping. I don’t care what the judges think.

    The pertinent question now is whether Noem or Homan would refuse to follow a dictate from Trump in the face of a direct court order.

    Opaque operations

    ICE agents are increasingly operating in secret. The individuals who took Ozturk off the street in a widely shared video claimed to be police officers, even though they were in plain clothes and face marks.

    Similarly, ICE agents in plain clothes detained two men during a raid on a courthouse in Charlottesville, Virginia, on April 22. When two bystanders asked to see a warrant, they were ordered not to “impede” the agents’ lawful duties. ICE later said the two women would be prosecuted.

    Also last week, ICE agents attempted to arrest a man at a Wisconsin courthouse without a warrant. After a judge intervened, she was arrested herself by the FBI and charged with two felonies.

    This shroud of opacity has been accompanied by an end to local agency liaison meetings aimed at helping people seek answers to ICE’s actions.

    Surveillance capabilities

    ICE is organised into two distinct law enforcement components, giving it both political intelligence gathering and surveillance capabilities.

    Its Homeland Security Investigations arm includes an intelligence division, while its Enforcement and Removal Operations arm uses third-party companies such as Geo Group, Giant Oak, and Palantir to conduct mass surveillance.

    Most worryingly, ICE is trying to procure greater intelligence and surveillance capabilities by soliciting pitches from private companies to monitor threats across the internet.

    According to a procurement document, contractors would be directed to focus on the backgrounds of social media users and use facial recognition capabilities to gather information on people. Criticisms of ICE itself would be monitored, too.

    Unlawful policing

    There has been a stream of reports exposing how ICE is conducting arbitrary searches, arrests, interrogations, and indefinite detentions.

    Some of the most egregious reported examples include:

    Since Trump’s inauguration, at least three people have died in ICE detention facilities, the latest in a string of fatalities in recent years.

    Prolonged solitary confinement is reportedly widespread. UN experts say this can amount to torture.

    Potentially expanded scope

    Overall, the evidence shows ICE meets most of the criteria for being a secret police force. It has yet to target political opponents, which I define narrowly as members of the Democratic Party. And it is not directly controlled by Trump, although the current structure provides him with plausible deniability.

    While the agency is far from resembling history’s most feared secret police forces, there have so far been few constraints on how it operates.

    The worst may be yet to come. A budget bill making its way through Congress would provide ICE with up to US$175 billion (A$274 billion) in funding over the next decade. (Its current annual budget is US$9 billion, or A$14 billion.) This would supercharge its use of surveillance, imprisonment and physical violence.

    When combined with a potential shift towards targeting US citizens for dissent and disobedience, ICE is fast becoming a key piece in the repressive apparatus of American authoritarianism.

    Lee Morgenbesser 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. How ICE is becoming a secret police force under the Trump administration – https://theconversation.com/how-ice-is-becoming-a-secret-police-force-under-the-trump-administration-255019

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Juggling dynamite? At 100 days in office, Donald Trump is no Franklin D. Roosevelt

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Ronald W. Pruessen, Emeritus Professor of History, University of Toronto

    Watching United States President Donald Trump weave and chainsaw his way through the first 100 days of his second term in office, I’ve been reminded of what Anthony Eden, the United Kingdom’s foreign secretary in the 1930s and later its prime minister, once said about Franklin D. Roosevelt.

    FDR, Eden recalled in his memoirs, was “too like a conjurer, skilfully juggling balls of dynamite, whose nature he failed to understand.”

    The image fits the 47th president much better than the 32nd.

    The dynamite-wielding Trump

    Dynamite has certainly been exploding regularly since Trump took office in January. His actions include:



    Read more:
    How Project 2025 became the blueprint for Donald Trump’s second term

    For non-MAGA enthusiasts, it is easy to surmise — similar to Eden’s remarks on FDR — that Trump does not understand the potential damage of the dynamite he is not just juggling, but hurling.

    A case might be made that some lobs align with Trump’s personal penchant for retribution, or that the chainsaw is being wielded to make room in the federal budget for new tax cuts for the one per cent.

    But such calculations disregard deeply rooted American values like respect for the rule of law and the separation of powers.

    Trump’s actions could suggest a lust for mayhem apparently aimed at dismantling a century of efforts to shape a government that serves global security while also meeting the economic, social and health care needs of American citizens, including safety net provisions for senior citizens, children, farmers, veterans and others.

    Threats today, damage tomorrow

    His apparent fondness for dynamite is already having negative consequences, with seemingly little grasp of the likelihood of worse to come: today, he’s upending the lives of civil servants; tomorrow’s disruptions will likely include an attack on the services provided by agencies like the Social Security Administration and disruption of the flow of funds to many poor school districts.

    Today, the U.S. is struggling with a measles outbreak. But the personal beliefs of Health and Human Services Director Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., a notorious vaccination and public health skeptic, doesn’t bode well for a fight against a rapidly evolving avian flu threat on the near horizon.

    Today’s stock and bond market volatility creates the possibility of a trade war catastrophe and damage to economic stability as the U.S. appears poised to disregard its longtime status as the world economy’s “safe haven.”

    The current tensions in what were once ironclad partnerships with allies that include Canada, the European Union and Ukraine — along with the whiplash reversal of American-Russian dynamics — are reminiscent of the global disruption in the 1930s that featured the Great Depression and the eruption of the Second World War.

    How FDR coped with explosions around him

    If Eden’s image of FDR as a dangerous juggler of dynamite might also apply to Trump, it fails to capture the essential attributes of the 32nd president’s White House career. Eden’s ego seems to have undercut his appraisal of FDR — compounded by his own failure to understand the historical developments that profoundly weakened the British Empire and brought his own career to an end.

    There’s no question dynamite was exploding in 1933, the start of FDR’s 12 years in the White House. But the Depression and its evolving consequences, not FDR’s personal impulses and misconceptions, created a tinderbox decade.

    One of Roosevelt’s great strengths, in fact, was his ability to recognize the acute dangers emanating from a fearful cortege of flaming fuses. Another was his success in turning insights into meaningful actions.

    Roosevelt knew — far better than his predecessor, Herbert Hoover — that the onset of the Depression would require dramatic actions and fundamental reforms.

    His New Deal expanded the government’s role in stimulating the economy (for example, the Public Works Administration), regulation (the Securities Exchange Commission), social welfare initiatives (the Social Security program) and infrastructure development (for example, the Tennessee Valley Authority).

    The Depression wasn’t fully eradicated — that didn’t happen until after war broke out — but the lives of millions of Americans still improved significantly.

    Of equal importance, FDR’s creative thinking and government transformations created building blocks for further post-war reforms, including Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society efforts three decades later.



    Read more:
    The Great Society: the forgotten reform movement

    Roosevelt also knew that the devastation of the Depression and the unparalleled destruction of the Second World War required a transformation of the global arena. He believed technology — air power especially — had created an integrated world. In his January 1943 State of the Union address, he said:

    “Wars grow in size, in death and destruction, and in the inevitability of engulfing all nations, in inverse ratio to the shrinking size of the world as a result of the conquest of the air.”

    Sharing responsibilities

    FDR believed the world he worked to create would be safer and more prosperous because multilateral organizations would encourage greater emphasis on shared resources and responsibilities. The United Nations, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank took shape during FDR’s presidency — as did long-term plans for decolonization and human rights initiatives.

    Roosevelt knew too — better than many of his White House successors — that the U.S. needed to share leadership responsibilities. He believed emphatically in multilateralism, recognizing the limits of American resources and power, and the pragmatism of compromising with the priorities of others, whether they were powerful states or colonial peoples.

    His “Four Policemen” approach to maintaining peace — comprising the U.S., the U.K., the Soviet Union and China — would sometimes create unpalatable situations. He was criticized harshly, for example, for naively opening the door to Soviet domination of eastern Europe via the Yalta agreement. Nonetheless, FDR focused on efforts he believed would avert another destructive cataclysm.

    FDR was an imperfect leader in various ways — in not appreciating, for example, how global leadership could result in arrogance. He did, however, understand the explosive domestic and international developments of the 20th century and sought constructive solutions to grave challenges.

    Trump, on the contrary, is seemingly prioritizing destruction over construction. Propelled by a “move fast and break things” mantra, there’s little evidence that he understands its pain nor the damaging consequences of his impulses.

    Ronald W. Pruessen has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

    – ref. Juggling dynamite? At 100 days in office, Donald Trump is no Franklin D. Roosevelt – https://theconversation.com/juggling-dynamite-at-100-days-in-office-donald-trump-is-no-franklin-d-roosevelt-254773

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Trump’s first 100 days show him dictating the terms of press coverage − following Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán’s playbook for media control

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Adam G. Klein, Associate Professor of Communication and Media Studies, Pace University

    President Donald Trump shakes hands with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán during a meeting in the Oval Office on May 13, 2019 in Washington, DC. Mark Wilson/Getty Images

    Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stood before a captivated audience of conservative activists from the U.S. and laid out his vision for American politics.

    The Western media, he declared at a May 2022 special meeting of the Conservative Political Action Committee in Budapest, are “the root of the problem.” The key to conservatives reclaiming power in the United States? “Have your own media.”

    Orbán spoke from experience, having systematically reshaped Hungary’s political landscape since 2010, largely by reining in the independent press and replacing it with a loyal media apparatus. His advice, though at odds with democratic values, was warmly embraced by his American admirers, including conservative journalists, podcasters and political leaders.

    Now, three years later, one particular political figure, President Donald Trump, appears to have taken Orbán’s words to heart, mimicking Orbán’s early actions and moving swiftly to dictate the terms of his own coverage.

    A protest by Hungarian civil society against Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government on Oct. 23, 2012.
    Photo by Dagmar Gester/ullstein bild via Getty Images

    New terms for the press

    In his first 100 days, Trump asserted new control over the press, starting with those who cover him daily.

    In February 2025, his administration barred The Associated Press from the Oval Office for using “Gulf of Mexico” rather than adopting the president’s newly named “Gulf of America.”

    Soon after, Trump’s team stripped the White House Correspondents’ Association of its authority to decide which outlets are in the presidential press pool, a role journalists have held for over a century.

    Then came a sweeping executive order in mid-March to dismantle government-funded news agencies, including Voice of America, the international broadcasting service. That same day, Trump went to the Department of Justice for a televised address, where he declared some of his negative press coverage was not just unfair but “totally illegal.” The president accused select media outlets of operating in “total coordination” to undermine him.

    “These networks and these newspapers are really no different than a highly paid political operative and it has to stop, it has to be illegal,” Trump told the Department of Justice staff, turning familiar grievances into what sounded like a call for action.

    Now, Trump has escalated those demands, calling on the Federal Communications Commission to punish CBS and revoke its license over a “60 Minutes” segment he didn’t like. He declared the network’s coverage “unlawful and illegal.”

    From sidelining reporters to seeking legal retribution, Trump’s actions reflect not a series of isolated moves but a coordinated effort at media overhaul – one aligned with his broader attempt to restructure national institutions.

    As a scholar who studies propaganda models and narrative control, I believe the likely source for this media overhaul playbook is Orbán.

    Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban waves as he walks onto the stage to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas on Aug. 4, 2022.
    AP Photo/LM Otero

    The Orbán model

    I’ve closely followed how Orbán consolidated control over the Hungarian press as prime minister, allowing him to project the illusion of media consensus and widespread support. His campaign began promptly after returning to power in 2010.

    With the backing of a new parliamentary majority, Orbán enacted a sweeping Media Act in 2011 that granted the state broad oversight powers. That meant a newly formed Media Council, staffed entirely by his ruling party, was given authority to fine news outlets for coverage they deemed “unbalanced or immoral.”

    This was not merely an effort to temper criticism; it was the opening move in a broader strategy to remake Hungarian media.

    The law drew sharp condemnation, most notably from journalists but also from the European Union. When Orbán later addressed the European Parliament, members protested by taping their mouths shut and holding signs that read “censored.”

    To his critics, Orbán claimed that Hungary’s “media regulation system” had “collapsed” and that it was his government’s duty to rebuild it. But for the press, this was no reconstruction.

    As one Hungarian journalist put it, “Orbán saw the media as a battlefield; occupied by enemy troops and crowded with territories for potential expansion.”

    Oligarchs take over media

    The real takeover came through a coordinated wave of media acquisitions.

    Like pieces on a chessboard, Orbán-friendly oligarchs scooped up major newspapers, TV channels and radio stations. His wealthy allies were systematic: They fired editorial teams, replaced critical voices with loyal ones and often triggered mass resignations from journalists unwilling to toe the party line.

    Many once-independent outlets were soon resurrected as pro-Orbán media.

    By 2018, the consolidation was complete.

    In a display of political choreography, nearly 500 privately owned media outlets were donated to a central holding company: KESMA – the Central European Press and Media Foundation. Run by Orbán’s allies, KESMA now dominates Hungary’s media landscape, delivering a uniform stream of pro-Orbán content, promoting what he calls his “illiberal” agenda.

    Orbán’s campaign offered a 21st-century model for media control – one rooted not in overt censorship but in narrative saturation. While some independent media remain, the vast chorus of pro-Orbán media now drowns out their dissent.

    It’s a model that has drawn admiration from right-wing figures around the world.

    American media personalities such as Steve Bannon and Tucker Carlson have traveled to Budapest to meet with Orbán and study his playbook, while the Hungarian leader has become a star on the U.S. conservative circuit, speaking at Conservative Political Action Committee gatherings and forging ties with the MAGA movement and Trump.

    After joining him on the campaign trail last summer, Orbán boasted of his “deep involvement” in helping shape Trump’s upcoming agenda.

    Importing the playbook

    Reporter Brian Glenn from Real America’s Voice asks questions flattering to President Trump during an Oval Office press conference on Feb. 28, 2025.

    Looking back at the president’s first 100 days, it’s clear that Orbán’s tactics are now surfacing in Trump’s second term.

    Where Orbán passed a media law to penalize imbalanced reporting, Trump now calls certain coverage illegal, and his administration has begun investigations into at least one media outlet. He has also begun to sideline outlets that defy his agenda, as his press office continues denying access to wire services such as Reuters and Bloomberg.

    Where Orbán’s allies acquired and repurposed unfavorable media, Trump has found powerful media partners of his own, such as Elon Musk. Musk’s 2022 takeover of Twitter, now X, mirrors the strategy of Orbán’s billionaire allies, allowing the tech mogul to effectively transform the platform into a megaphone for Trump’s agenda.

    Finally, just as Orbán constructed a vast loyalist media network, Trump allies are expanding a parallel MAGA media universe designed to amplify and shield his message.

    That apparatus is now a fixture of the White House. As independent outlets such as AP and Reuters are shuffled out, a new crop of pro-Trump voices are ushered in. Among them: Steve Bannon’s War Room, Real America’s Voice and Lindell TV, founded by MyPillow CEO and Trump advocate Mike Lindell. These networks don’t just cover the administration − they celebrate it.

    Brian Glenn, a reporter with Real America’s Voice, was recently granted the first question in an Oval Office press event. He used it to praise Trump’s accomplishments and poll numbers: “All of your agenda that you ran on, you’re accomplishing that. You’ve got the support of the American people. … If you can comment on the latest Harvard poll, I’d appreciate that.”

    At another briefing, a Lindell TV correspondent asked press secretary Karoline Leavitt if she could share Trump’s fitness plan, remarking that he looked “healthier than ever,” and adding, “I’m sure everyone in this room can agree.”

    Agreement is precisely the point. By recasting the media in his image, Trump is building a press pool that will champion his message. It is Orbán’s illusion of consensus, and this is just the opening act.

    Adam G. Klein 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. Trump’s first 100 days show him dictating the terms of press coverage − following Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán’s playbook for media control – https://theconversation.com/trumps-first-100-days-show-him-dictating-the-terms-of-press-coverage-following-hungarian-strongman-viktor-orbans-playbook-for-media-control-254050

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: ‘White Lotus’ music: When talented creators strive to realize their visions, differences and chattering can erupt

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By James Deaville, Professor of Music, Carleton University

    After the first two seasons of The White Lotus (set respectively in Hawaii and Sicily), the buzz in the media and on social media typically focused on the selection of the next site for the award-winning show.

    Not so much in 2025, after the close of Season 3’s Thailand-based episodes. Instead, the internet and social media have been alive with chatter over the announcement by Canadian Chilean composer Cristóbal Tapia de Veer that he was quitting the mega-hit franchise to the shock and disappointment of many of the show’s fans.

    Tapia de Veer revealed his intention in an interview with the New York Times published April 2, just four days before the season’s finale, which aired to a series-record viewership. His departure announcement, twinned with criticism of White Lotus writer, creator and showrunner Mike White, has highlighted issues with creative tensions behind such collaborative productions.

    ‘The White Lotus’ Season 3 opening theme song.

    Acclaimed music

    The Québec-trained composer’s 2022 and 2023 music-related White Lotus Emmy awards recognize his aural contributions to the highly awarded hit series. The music’s idiosyncratic mixture of a recognizable theme, bizarre vocalizations and site-based instrumentation has received a lot of popular attention and acclaim.



    Read more:
    HBO’s ‘The White Lotus’: Eerie music heightens drama of rich people’s bad behaviour and emotional dysfunction

    In contrast, some members of the public reacted with hostility toward this season’s theme music. This was partly because it did not use the identifiable thematic material that bound together the first seasons: a four-note theme that has been transliterated as “ooh-loo-loo-loos” and was the basis for the title theme music in the first two seasons.

    The Season 3 theme nevertheless sounds familiar due to Tapia de Veer’s ongoing quirky use of the voice. Novel ways of using it have been the foundations of all the Lotus themes, and in Season 3, it imitated monkey sounds.

    As White said in a statement about the show: “There’s this kind of conflict between wanting to be this spiritual creature that has an idealism and working towards something that’s some semblance of goodness, and then there’s this antic monkey side that keeps putting you in situations that are compromised.”

    ‘Ooh-loo-loos’ and creative differences

    Still, Tapia de Veer said he knew his novel Season 3 approach was a “kind of a risk,” to the extent that he produced an extended version with the traditional “ooh-loo-loo-loos” for insertion later in the show, but White rejected the idea.

    According to the composer, White wanted “more of a ‘chill, sexy vibe’” compared to Tapia de Veer’s more experimental tracks. On the Howard Stern Show, when asked what happened, White had a different perspective, saying: “I honestly don’t know what happened. Reading the interviews … I just don’t think he respected me.”

    The director said he didn’t think they had fought, and expressed dismay that Tapia de Veer brought criticisms and perceived differences to the media.

    To this, Tapia de Veer told the BBC he went public because White hadn’t handled the news “in a normal business manner,” and he said White’s comments on the Stern show demonstrated the director doesn’t fully appreciate the importance of the music on the show.

    On his YouTube channel, Tapia de Veer has uploaded another variant of the theme (“Enlightenment”) under the track title “Full Moon Party,” as well as a 45-minute loop of the 11-note theme.

    What unites the Season 3 tracks is the leaping, non-melodic theme, repeated over and over in changing synthesizer settings. The composer has said no soundtrack album for Season 3 will be forthcoming.



    Read more:
    HBO’s ‘The White Lotus’: Eerie music heightens drama of rich people’s bad behaviour and emotional dysfunction

    Scores gives unity through themes

    The positions of White and Tapia de Veer equally suggest a lack of effective communication, and as named or all but named by both parties, a lack of respect. Both are crucial elements behind the interpersonal relationships required in audiovisual production.

    In the traditional collaboration, the composer falls under the leadership of the director or showrunner, not least because the music is the final audiovisual element added to the mix.

    ‘The White Lotus’ music making, video from Cristóbal Tapia de Veer.

    By the time the film text reaches the composer, the visual track and dialogue have been locked — shooting is completed — yet it lacks the decisive contribution the score makes in defining characters, establishing moods and atmospheres, and giving unity to the whole through recurring themes.

    The composer may work at their own keyboard or digital audio workstation, yet customarily in collaboration with the project’s other creative forces, especially the director.

    Notorious score differences

    Differences between film directors or television producers and composers are not new, the most notorious being Stanley Kubrick’s rejection of Alex North’s score for 2001: A Space Odyssey. This was in favour of the music Kubrick had chosen to temporarily accompany the visual track.

    In another well-known instance, Alfred Hitchcock — under pressure from executives at Universal — replaced the Torn Curtain score (1966) by long-term collaborator Bernard Herrmann with more contemporary-sounding music by John Addison, which ended the decade-long association of composer and director.

    More recently, Gabriel Yared’s score for Troy (2004), directed by Wolfgang Petersen, was replaced with one by James Horner, because test audiences disapproved of Yared’s music.

    Composer withdrawls rare

    With The White Lotus, however, we have a composer walking away from a job in a very public way. A composer’s resignation is not without precedent, yet it remains considerably rarer than their firing. Major film scorer Dmitri Tiomkin withdrew from two early 1960s projects directed by Robert Aldrich, but because of other commitments rather than any disagreement.

    In contrast, Leonard Bernstein did threaten to walk away from West Side Story in 1949 over creative tensions with writer Arthur Laurents — still, this was communicated privately.

    Canadian composer Howard Shore withdrew from Peter Jackson’s King Kong (2005), but in this case, Shore said the parting was amicable and related to “differing creative aspirations.”

    Future seasons?

    The drama around White Lotus music is unique because both director and composer have talked with the press.

    If we look beyond the specifics of the music, however, we realize that this is not just about a (new) theme song and its use (or non-use) in the series. Rather, the “differences” cut to the heart of the often fraught working relationship between highly talented creators who strive to realize their visions.

    What does this mean for the music for Season 4 of The White Lotus? White has not suggested a successor, so commentators have fixated on the disagreements over Season 3 rather than speculating about a future sound. We will have to wait and listen.

    James Deaville 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. ‘White Lotus’ music: When talented creators strive to realize their visions, differences and chattering can erupt – https://theconversation.com/white-lotus-music-when-talented-creators-strive-to-realize-their-visions-differences-and-chattering-can-erupt-254032

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How Trump is prompting China to change its relationship with the world

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Ming Gao, Research Scholar of East Asia Studies, Lund University

    China has spent much of the past two months shoring up friendships both near and far. Two rounds of ministerial meetings with regional rivals Japan and South Korea took place in Tokyo and Seoul at the end of March.

    And earlier in April the red carpet was rolled out for the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, for his second visit to Beijing in less than seven months. This came shortly before the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, embarked on his first overseas trip of 2025 – a charm offensive to Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia.

    Central to these diplomatic moves is Donald Trump, whose return to the White House has clearly unsettled the boundaries between friend and foe.

    China, Japan and South Korea have historically approached one another with caution. This is a legacy of imperial aggression, unresolved territorial disputes and diverging security alignments with the US.

    But the unpredictability of the Trump administration, which has most recently been demonstrated by the imposition of sweeping trade tariffs, seems to be bringing the three countries closer together.

    At the ministerial meeting in Tokyo in March, their respective governments agreed to extend the tenure of the secretary-general and deputy secretaries of the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat from two years to three. This still relatively unknown international organisation was established in 2011 in an effort to promote cooperation between the three countries.

    The decision, while seemingly a minor administrative adjustment, symbolises a growing mutual trust between these nations. China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, has explicitly acknowledged that the extension represents a full endorsement of the organisation’s role. And China has now called on Japan for a coordinated response to US tariffs.

    This renewed momentum in regional cooperation set the stage for Xi’s broader diplomatic offensive through south-east Asia, where China sought to reinforce strategic ties and assert its leadership.

    China rolled out an elaborate diplomatic programme for Xi’s stop in Vietnam. It aimed to reaffirm ideological ties of “comrades and brothers” and counter Hanoi’s recent deepening relations with Washington.

    Following talks with Xi, the general secretary of the Communist party of Vietnam, To Lam, said that his country has always regarded developing relations with China as “a strategic choice and top priority”.

    Malaysia, on the other hand, is one of the earliest supporters of Xi’s signature belt and road initiative. It officially joined the Brics group of emerging economies as a “partner country” in 2025 and currently holds the rotating chairmanship of the Asean group of south-east Asian states. This gives Malaysia a central role in coordinating China’s relations with the bloc.

    During Xi’s visit, the Malaysian prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, made the alignment between the two countries clear. He stated that Malaysia “stands with China” in the face of US threats. Malaysia is one of China’s main trading partners.

    Cambodia is also considered one Beijing’s most loyal partners in south-east Asia. In May 2024, it even named a road in the capital, Phnom Penh, “Xi Jinping Avenue” to thank China for its contribution to Cambodia’s development.

    The authorities pulled out all the stops for Xi’s latest visit. Cambodia’s king, Norodom Sihamoni, personally greeted Xi at the airport in an unprecedented break from protocol. And the two countries elevated their ties to an “all-weather” partnership, a label signalling that their relationship is resilient to external shifts.

    Relations with Europe

    Sánchez’s April visit to Beijing, meanwhile, marked an important point in relations between China and the EU. Following the ramping up of US tariffs, Xi called for the EU and China to “jointly resist unilateral bullying”. This appears to have resonated in Madrid.

    The Spanish delegation carried a message that Washington’s tariff hikes were “neither fair nor just” and had harmed the EU economy. It also said that Europe must “strengthen unity and coordination to safeguard its own interests”.

    This message appears to be filtering through wider European circles, with some leaders signalling their interest in stabilising ties with Beijing. Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, for example, has engaged in “constructive” discussions with Chinese premier Li Qiang to address potential trade disruptions from US tariffs.

    Yet the EU faces an obvious dilemma: whether to engage China as an alternative economic partner or push back against a likely surge in redirected Chinese exports that would threaten European industries and deepen existing political tensions.

    Spain, for its part, has its own strategic calculations. Sánchez’s return to China highlights Madrid’s interest in positioning itself as the European leader in renewable energy, with Chinese investment expected to play a central role in this transition.

    This helps explain why, when asked about the EU’s tariff policy on China during a press briefing in September 2024, Sánchez remarked that “Europe needs to reconsider this decision”. Spain ultimately chose to abstain in the EU’s vote on imposing tariffs on the Chinese EV industry.

    China’s message to the world is clear. It is a stable partner and a defender of free trade. Whether China can persuade the world to trust its leadership amid deepening geopolitical uncertainty remains an open question.

    Ming Gao receives funding from the Swedish Research Council. This research was produced with support from the Swedish Research Council grant “Moved Apart” (nr. 2022-01864). Ming Gao is a member of Lund University Profile Area: Human Rights.

    – ref. How Trump is prompting China to change its relationship with the world – https://theconversation.com/how-trump-is-prompting-china-to-change-its-relationship-with-the-world-253567

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: The ‘cortisol belly’ myth: when diet culture is rebranded as ‘wellness’

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Nadia Maalin, Lecturer in Psychology, Birmingham City University

    Prostock-studio/Shutterstock

    The latest viral wellness trends – “cortisol belly” and “cortisol face” – promise a calmer, leaner, more radiant you … if you can just lower your stress hormones. With attention-grabbing claims like “You don’t have a belly fat problem. You have a cortisol problem,” creators promote 30-day transformations that supposedly shrink waistlines and slim faces by targeting cortisol.

    These posts often feature hashtags like #cortisolreset, #hormonehealth, and #nervoussystemregulation, along with before-and-after photos claiming reduced bloating, flatter stomachs, and tighter jawlines. The secret? They suggest techniques like cold plunges, cutting caffeine, or taking trendy supplements. However, the truth is that cortisol can’t cause such dramatic physical changes that quickly. The real “secret” is likely a mix of marketing and exaggerated claims.

    Cortisol – often called the “stress hormone” – is produced by the adrenal glands in response to stress. This can include everything from daily frustrations (like traffic jams or looming deadlines) to major life changes (like illness or divorce), or persistent stressors such as financial strain.

    Cortisol plays a vital role in our fight-or-flight response – an evolutionary function designed to help us respond to threats. It mobilises energy, regulates blood pressure and blood sugar, reduces inflammation and helps control our sleep-wake cycle. Cortisol naturally peaks in the morning to help us wake up, then decreases throughout the day.

    While short bursts of cortisol are helpful, chronic (long-term or frequent recurring) stress can keep levels elevated over time – and that’s when it can start to cause health problems.

    Sustained cortisol elevation can affect appetite, sleep, cravings (especially for high-calorie comfort foods) and how fat is stored in the body. These factors can contribute to weight gain, particularly around the abdomen.

    Abdominal fat includes both subcutaneous fat (just beneath the skin) and visceral fat, which surrounds internal organs. While both may increase under chronic stress, visceral fat is more strongly linked to health risks such as cardiovascular disease and insulin resistance.

    Yes, reducing stress is good for your health – both mentally and physically. But framing stress management as a path to visible cosmetic changes – flatter stomachs, sharper cheekbones – reduces a complex health process to an aesthetic issue.

    And that’s exactly what many of these viral trends are doing.

    Old ideas in new packaging

    The appearance-related concerns supposedly “solved” by cortisol regulation – puffiness, belly fat, bloating – closely align with western beauty ideals: thin, toned bodies with flat stomachs and sculpted faces. These ideals are especially gendered, targeting women with the ever elusive hourglass figure: slim waist, fuller breasts and hips.

    Internalising these ideals has been consistently linked to body dissatisfaction, disordered eating and poorer psychological wellbeing.

    Influencers and wellness brands often co-opt the language of health to sell what are essentially beauty ideals – repackaged as “empowerment” and “self-care”. In this way, wellness culture subtly continues the legacy of diet culture, just with a more palatable aesthetic. Today’s message? Don’t count calories – regulate your hormones.

    Many of the quick-fix solutions being promoted – from adaptogenic teas (teas containing herbs, roots and other plant substances believed to help the body adapt to stress and restore balance) and cold plunges to “no-coffee-before-breakfast” rules – are based on limited or inconsistent scientific evidence. While these practices may help reduce stress for some people, their ability to visibly reshape your body in 30 days is unlikely.

    Claims that you can “spot-reduce” fat or lose fat in targeted areas (like the belly or face) are not supported by scientific consensus. That said, there are evidence-based ways to lower cortisol and support mental and physical wellbeing – such as mindfulness and meditation or emotion regulation strategies. These practices activate the parasympathetic nervous system (the “rest and digest” state), which slows the heart rate, reduces blood pressure and decreases cortisol. They can also help manage anxiety, sleep and inflammation.

    But again, these are not weight-loss hacks – and definitely not quick fixes for belly fat.



    Read more:
    No, you can’t blame all your health issues on ‘high cortisol’. Here’s how the hormone works

    The idea that stress alone can be responsible for face puffiness or belly fat oversimplifies complex physiological processes. Many factors, not just cortisol, influence how and where we store fat, including sex, genetics, hormones – such as insulin and oestrogen – diet and exercise, age, and individual differences in physiology.

    Managing stress is important. It supports immune function, sleep, mental clarity, and emotional regulation. But when stress regulation is marketed as a tool to transform your appearance, it risks reinforcing the same body ideals that diet culture thrives on – just under a shinier, more “mindful” label.

    Instead of focusing on what cortisol does to your waistline, we should be talking about what chronic stress does to your health, relationships and wellbeing. Instead of striving for a flatter stomach through wellness hacks, we might aim for a healthier, more balanced life – regardless of what we look like.

    Nadia Maalin 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. The ‘cortisol belly’ myth: when diet culture is rebranded as ‘wellness’ – https://theconversation.com/the-cortisol-belly-myth-when-diet-culture-is-rebranded-as-wellness-254362

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Language of peace: why talk of ‘making deals’ rather than ‘reaching agreements’ is not helpful

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By John Gledhill, Associate Professor of Global Governance, University of Oxford

    Upon returning to the US after his symbolically powerful meeting with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, at St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, President Donald Trump told reporters: “I think [Zelensky] wants to make a deal.” He also called for the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to “sit down and sign the [peace] deal” that is reportedly in the works.

    Such talk of “deals” has been common in recent months. Indeed, as international engagement with conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza has intensified, there has been a sharp spike, globally, in use of the term “peace deal”. At the same time, data from Google Trends suggests there has not been a similar increase in talk of “peace agreement[s]”.

    This is perhaps surprising as, up to now, language surrounding peace negotiations has focused on building agreements, not deals. A search of the PA-X Peace Agreements database at the University of Edinburgh identifies more than 800 separate peace accords since 1990 that include “agreement”“ in their title. A similar search for the term “deal” returns one record.

    Why, then, has there been a sudden change in the way we are talking about peace?

    It is hard to get past the idea that this recent linguistic turn reflects global adoption of more transactional language – of the sort Trump uses when approaching diplomacy as “the art of the deal”.

    On Ukraine, for example, Trump has made continued US engagement contingent on Kyiv striking a minerals deal with Washington, while also hoping that “Russia and Ukraine will make a deal” as a precursor to “mak[ing] a fortune” by doing “big business” with the US.

    The US president’s response to the intractable conflict in Gaza has also been built around the language of deals. This has included a vision of US support for reconstruction as a real estate transaction in which Gaza would be redeveloped into “the Riviera of the Middle East”. Trump also asserted that he could “make a deal” with Jordan and Egypt to take in displaced Palestinians, whose right of return to Gaza would not be guaranteed.

    But while Trump’s rhetoric has been influential, he does not bear sole responsibility for changing the way we talk about peace. Global leaders have also adopted transactional language. In March, the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, called for a “coalition of the willing to defend a deal in Ukraine”, and the Nato secretary-general, Mark Rutte, repeatedly referred to the prospect of a “peace deal” when talking to the press after a meeting with Zelensky in Odesa earlier this month.

    So is this merely a semantic shift, or does it matter for peace in practice?

    If the words we use not only reflect our understanding of issues but also shape understandings, then replacing discussion of peace “agreements” with talk of peace “deals” matters a lot. It is arguably problematic in two ways.

    Settling on a solution

    First, the idea of a peace “deal” is built on a narrow view of conflict dynamics. It’s a view in which disputes over material interests drive war – and bargaining over those interests can bring an end to war.

    While material interests certainly matter, they are not the whole story. Questions of national self-identity, political discrimination, collective emotions and more can all underwrite the onset, persistence and eventual settlement of armed conflicts.

    Lasting agreement: the main players in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement gather 25 years later to celebrate the anniversary, April 2023.
    Simon Walker/No 10 Downing Street

    Failure to incorporate consideration of these factors into peace negotiations by focusing on deals alone risks alienating conflict parties for whom material interests are just one issue at stake. Such alienation can reduce the likelihood of those parties engaging meaningfully with peace talks, and thus the likelihood of a negotiated settlement emerging.

    Second, even if conflict parties are willing (or feel compelled) to sign up to transactional peace deals, then such arrangements may be fragile. After all, “deals” are about parties coming to arrangements that best meet their material interests at a particular point in time, given a prevailing distribution of power and resources. But if the interests, power or resources of one or more conflict parties later shifts, then those parties may choose to break the deal.

    Of course, peace “agreements” can also be broken, and often are. But the idea of negotiating peace agreements has, over time, been built on a more nuanced view that there can be diverse material and non-material issues at stake in a conflict. So, to produce a sustainable peace agreement, parties need to recognise the range of issues on the table, reach mutual understandings concerning those issues where possible, and agree to address any ongoing differences peacefully.

    Such an approach underwrote the Good Friday Agreement, which has contributed to a lasting peace in Northern Ireland. A transactional “Good Friday deal” may not have done the same.

    Third-party mediators from the international community can play key roles in facilitating negotiations. As such, involvement of the US and wider global community in supporting peace processes in Ukraine, Gaza and beyond should be welcomed.

    But the aim of external parties should be to organise and take part in negotiations that go beyond dividing material resources according to current distributions of power. A wider set of interests, issues and rights should be incorporated into the language and practice of peace negotiations so that comprehensive, just and sustainable peace agreements can be reached between parties and communities that have been divided by war.

    Changing the way we speak about peace may seem merely symbolic – but it’s actually critical. Reframing discourse away from “deals” towards “agreements” could help align the language and practices of peacemaking with the realities on the ground. This in turn could facilitate the negotiation of just – and sustainable – peace settlements in complex contexts such as Ukraine and Gaza.

    John Gledhill 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. Language of peace: why talk of ‘making deals’ rather than ‘reaching agreements’ is not helpful – https://theconversation.com/language-of-peace-why-talk-of-making-deals-rather-than-reaching-agreements-is-not-helpful-255451

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Five ways to make cities more resilient to climate change

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Paul O’Hare, Lecturer in Human Geography and Urban Development, Manchester Metropolitan University

    John_T/Shutterstock

    Climate breakdown poses immense threats to global economies, societies and ecosystems. Adapting to these impacts is urgent. But many cities and countries remain chronically unprepared in what the UN calls an “adaptation gap”.

    Building climate resilience is notoriously difficult. Economic barriers limit investment in infrastructure and technology. Social inequities undermine the capacity of vulnerable populations to adapt. And inconsistent policies impede coordinated efforts across sectors and at scale.

    My research looks at how cities can better cope with climate change. I have identified five ways to catalyse more effective – and ultimately more progressive – climate adaptation and resilience.

    1. Don’t just ‘bounce back’ after a crisis

    When wildfires, storms or floods hit, all too often governments prioritise rebuilding as rapidly as possible.

    Though understandable, resilience doesn’t just entail coping with the effects of climate change. Instead of “bouncing back” to a pre-shock status, those in charge of responding need to encourage “bouncing forward”, creating places that are at less risk in the first place.

    After the Christchurch earthquake in February 2011, the New Zealand authorities “built back better”, improving building codes and regulations and relocating vulnerable communities. Critics suggested reconstruction provided too much uncertainty and failed to acknowledge private property rights. But the rebuild did encourage better integration of planning policies and land use practices.



    Read more:
    ‘Build back better’ sounds great in theory, but does the government really know what it means in practice?

    Swales and sustainable urban drainage in Gorton climate resilient park, Manchester, UK.
    Paul O’Hare, CC BY-NC-ND

    2. Informed by risk

    It can be difficult to predict what the consequences of a crisis might be. Cities are complex, interconnected places. Transboundary risks – the consequences that ripple across a place – must be taken into account.

    The best climate adaptation plans recognise that vulnerability varies across places, contexts and over time. The most effective are holistic: tailored to specific locations and every aspect of society.

    Assessments must also consider both climatic and non-climatic features of risk. In 2015, in the UK, a flood affected one of Lancaster’s electrical substations, causing a city-wide power failure that took several days to rectify. In this instance, as with so many others, people had to deal not just with the direct impacts of flooding, but the ‘cascading’ or knock-on impacts of infrastructure damage.



    Read more:
    Giving rivers room to move: how rethinking flood management can benefit people and nature

    Many existing assessments have limited scope. But others do acknowledge how ageing infrastructures and pressures to develop land to accommodate ever intensifying urban populations exacerbate urban flood risk. Others too, such as the recently published Cambridge climate risk plan, detail how climate risk intersects with the range of services provided by local government.

    Systems thinking – an approach to problem-solving that views problems as part of wider, interconnected systems – can be applied to identify interdependencies with other drivers of change.

    Good risk assessments will, for example, take note of demographics, age profiles and the socio-economic circumstances of neighbourhoods, enabling targeted support for particularly vulnerable communities. This can help ensure communities and systems adapt to evolving challenges as climate change intensifies, and as society evolves over time.

    Complex though this might be, city leaders can access advice about improving risk assessments, including from the C40 network, a global coalition of 100 mayors committed to addressing climate change.

    3. Transformative action

    There is no such thing as a natural disaster. The effects of disasters including floods and earthquakes are influenced by pre-existing, often chronic, social and economic conditions such as poverty or poor housing.

    Progressive climate resilience looks beyond the immediacy of shocks, attending to the underlying root causes of vulnerability and inequality. This ensures that society is not only better prepared to withstand adverse events in the future, but thrives in the face of uncertainty.

    Progressive climate resilience therefore demands tailored responses depending on the population and place. In Bangladesh, for instance, communities are building floating gardens to grow crops during floods. These enhance food security and provide a sustainable livelihood option in flood-prone areas.

    Floating vegetable gardens in Bangladesh.
    Mostafijur Rahman Nasim/Shutterstock



    Read more:
    Climate change isn’t fair but Tony Juniper’s new book explains how a green transition could be ‘just’

    4. Collective approaches

    Effective climate resilience demands collective action. Sometimes referred to as a “whole of society” response, this entails collaboration and shared responsibility to address the multifaceted challenges posed by a changing climate.

    The most effective initiatives avoid self-protection, of people, buildings and cities alike, and consider both broader and longer-term risks. For instance, developments not at significant risk should still incorporate adaptation measures including rainwater harvesting or enhanced greening to lower a city’s climate risk profile and benefit local communities, neighbouring authorities and surrounding regions.

    So, progressive resilience is connected, comprehensive and inclusive. Solidarity is key, leveraging resources to address common challenges and fostering a sense of shared purpose and mutual support.

    Solar panels on the surface of a reservoir not only provide a source of renewable energy but also provide shade and therefore help conserve water.
    Tom Wang/Shutterstock

    5. Exploiting co-benefits

    The most effective resilience projects exploit co-benefits – what the UN calls “multiple resilience dividends” – to leverage additional benefits across sectors and policies, reducing vulnerability to shocks while addressing other social and environmental challenges.

    In northern Europe, for example, moorlands can be restored to retain water helping alleviate downstream flooding, but also to capture carbon and provide vital habitats for biodiversity.

    In south-East Asia solar panels installed on reservoirs generate renewable energy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while providing shade to reduce evaporation and conserve water resources during droughts.

    In short, adaptation is obviously crucial for tackling climate change across the globe. But the real challenge is to deal with the impacts of climate change while simultaneously creating communities that are fairer, healthier, and better equipped to face any manner of future risks.

    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 40,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.

    Paul O’Hare receives funding from the UK’s Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). Award reference NE/V010174/1.

    – ref. Five ways to make cities more resilient to climate change – https://theconversation.com/five-ways-to-make-cities-more-resilient-to-climate-change-252853

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Colon cancer rates are rising among young people – could changes to children’s gut bacteria explain why?

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Justin Stebbing, Professor of Biomedical Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University

    Irina WS/Shutterstock

    Alarming trends show that colon – or bowel – cancer is increasing in younger people. If the rise continues, colorectal cancer is projected to become the leading cause of cancer-related deaths among young adults globally by 2030.

    Until recently, the reasons for this surge were largely unclear or unknown. Now research points to a surprising suspect: gut bacteria.

    A recent study reveals that exposure during childhood or adolescence to a toxin produced by certain strains of E coli, whose growth is encouraged by highly processed diets, may lay the groundwork for aggressive bowel cancers decades later. This discovery could help explain why people under 50 are at the heart of one of the fastest-growing cancer epidemics of our time.

    Colon cancer is currently the second biggest cause of cancer death, yet only one in three cases are diagnosed in the earliest stages. Often symptomless in its early forms, colon cancer typically begins as polyps and can take ten to 15 years to develop. This slow progression makes regular screening crucial, especially because many patients experience no early warning signs.

    For the new research, an international team analysed the complete DNA sequences of 981 colorectal cancer tumours from patients across 11 countries. They discovered striking geographic patterns in the mutations that lead to cancer.

    Two specific mutational signatures – SBS88 and ID18 – stood out for their association with colibactin, a DNA-damaging toxin produced by some E coli strains. These bacterial “fingerprints” were 3.3 times more common in patients diagnosed before age 40 than in those over 70. Significantly, these mutations appear early in tumour development, suggesting the damage may occur years – even decades – before cancer is diagnosed.



    Read more:
    Why eating yoghurt regularly could lower your risk of bowel cancer

    Gut microbiome

    Colibactin doesn’t cause random DNA damage. The study found it tends to target the APC gene, a vital tumour suppressor that normally controls cell growth.

    In colibactin-positive cancers, about 25% of APC mutations bore the toxin’s unique signature. This direct hit to the body’s internal “brake system” could explain why these cancers appear earlier in life.

    Molecular analysis indicated that colibactin-associated mutations often emerge within the first ten years of life. While this suggests the toxin may silently colonise children’s guts and initiate cancerous changes early, it’s important to note that this remains a theory; the study didn’t directly examine children or young adults.

    Still, the research maps out a microbial pattern of cancer risk. These gut bacteria are not the same as those that cause food poisoning – they often live within us and perform beneficial roles.

    But their composition can vary widely by region. Countries including Argentina, Brazil, and Russia – where colorectal cancer rates are climbing – showed higher levels of colibactin-related mutations.

    This may reflect regional differences in gut microbiomes influenced by diet (particularly ultraprocessed foods), antibiotic use and environmental factors. In contrast, Japan and South Korea, where rates are historically high but stable, showed different mutational patterns, suggesting other causes may dominate there.

    Perhaps the most provocative finding relates to when this bacterial damage occurs. Unlike lifestyle risks that build up over decades, colibactin seems to strike during a narrow window – when the microbiome is still forming in childhood or early adulthood.

    Potential triggers could include repeated antibiotic use that disrupts healthy gut bacteria, highly processed diets that favour E. coli growth and urban living that reduces exposure to diverse microbial environments.

    Not just genes and lifestyle

    These findings may also point to new prevention strategies. Screening programs could focus on younger adults carrying these high-risk bacterial strains, using stool tests to detect colibactin genes.

    Diets high in fibre and low in processed foods might promote a healthier gut microbiome, potentially suppressing harmful bacteria. The research also adds weight to calls for lowering colorectal cancer screening ages worldwide, since many early-onset cases go undetected under current guidelines.

    While this study is a major step forward, many questions remain. Why do some people carry colibactin-producing bacteria but never develop cancer? How do modern lifestyle factors amplify – or mitigate – these microbial risks? What we do know is that cancer results from the complex interplay between our genes and our environment – including the microscopic world within us.

    As researchers continue to connect the dots, one thing is clear: the colorectal cancer epidemic of the 21st century may have begun with silent microbial battles in our guts, decades before diagnosis. This emerging view of cancer not just as a genetic or lifestyle disease, but also as a microbial one – could fundamentally reshape how we think about prevention for future generations.

    Justin Stebbing 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. Colon cancer rates are rising among young people – could changes to children’s gut bacteria explain why? – https://theconversation.com/colon-cancer-rates-are-rising-among-young-people-could-changes-to-childrens-gut-bacteria-explain-why-255176

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Hospitals have huge environmental footprints – here’s how they can be more sustainable

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By James Scott Vandeventer, Senior Lecturer in Sustainability, Manchester Metropolitan University

    North Manchester General is a Victorian hospital that would benefit from a retrofit. James Scott Vandeventer, CC BY-NC-ND

    Hospital visits usually involve a medical emergency or appointment. The last thing on most patients’ minds will be how the building works. We expect the lights to be on, medical equipment to work, a comfortable room temperature, healthy food, an appropriate layout with efficient routes between departments and all the other features that make the healthcare system run smoothly.

    But many decisions about how hospitals will operate are made long before we enter the door – and have significant consequences for their environmental footprint.

    In England, the NHS contributes 4% of the country’s total carbon emissions, equating to 40% of all emissions from the public sector. In addition to carbon, NHS operations demand immense quantities of natural resources.

    This translates into significant environmental impact embodied in buildings – depending on how a hospital’s material form (think walls, floors, ceilings, windows, pipes, wires) is designed and built.

    Construction materials must be manufactured, transported to a building site and used by construction crews. Here, raw inputs come from mines, quarries or other extraction sites where environmental injustices are perpetuated on land and local communities.

    Then there are operational impacts, like electricity, water, medical equipment (PPE, hospital beds, syringes), medical gases and food. These essentials are also manufactured, require infrastructures (from the electricity grid to food systems) and are often constrained by previous building design decisions.

    Today, the UK’s NHS is facing major capacity pressures on healthcare services, with hospitals expected to handle significant increases in visits. And in January, the Labour government announced three waves of funding for new NHS hospital construction, with 16 hospitals greenlit as part of wave one.

    While investment in NHS hospitals is necessary, it brings more greenhouse gas emissions from the operational running of the building and its construction (that includes the extraction and manufacture of raw materials and is referred to as embodied carbon) and its raw materials. embodied and operational environmental impacts.

    Ensuring hospitals’ sustainability starts with their design. So, what would designing a more sustainable hospital really involve?

    For the past 18 months, I have been attending design meetings and interviewing the design team working on a wave one hospital, North Manchester General. It’s one of the major acute hospitals of Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT), whose forward-thinking leadership welcomed my research into hospital design.

    I have found that sustainability is predominantly integrated into the hospital design through adopting external technical specifications, like the NHS Net Zero Carbon Building Standard, and by aligning with local trust sustainability strategies. In this case MFT’s Green Plan.

    I’ve also seen how North Manchester General’s design must adapt to standardisations from the government’s New Hospital Programme. That’s a national initiative coordinating new hospital design and construction, including by working with suppliers.

    Adhering to existing statutory requirements related to sustainability – including building safety, social value, net zero carbon, and biodiversity net gain – also features in design considerations.

    While reducing carbon emissions remains a focus of North Manchester General’s designs, I’ve witnessed increasing interest in the broader environmental footprint – particularly water and waste. The bar for sustainability is being set high.

    But several key areas deserve further consideration in the design process – and the government’s national approach -– to minimise their overall emissions and translate sustainability ambition into action.

    For NHS hospitals, and sustainable cities generally, one of the most important decisions is whether to undertake renovation and retrofit of existing buildings as opposed to demolition and rebuild.

    Modernising existing buildings not only lowers the carbon emissions associated with materials and construction that come with starting anew, but also reduces impacts associated with construction – while inviting radical innovations like airflow retrofit and modular and mobile facilities.

    North Manchester General is a Victorian hospital, which, like historic homes and museums, has stood for well over a century. With the right care, maintenance and design, its older structures could be cost-effectively upgraded, while incorporating flexibility for future innovations into retrofit.

    Retaining parts of the existing estate – and only demolishing where absolutely necessary – respects the carbon footprint of the building structure already invested in hospitals and allows for sustainable adaptation rather than the significant environmental footprint of replacement.

    Designing 21st-century healthcare

    Looking ahead, a “fabric first” approach to new hospitals will prioritise the performance of the building’s envelope – walls, roofs, insulation, windows – before relying on technology to manage energy use. While high-efficiency models like Passivhaus (an approach to designing buildings that requires minimal-to-no energy for heating and cooling) often come with a slightly higher initial cost, they deliver long-term benefits in energy efficiency and cost savings.

    Beyond driving down operational impacts, investing in building fabrics could be coordinated by the New Hospital Programme to ensure localised suppliers can ethically source these materials. This could enhance buildings’ lifespan while improving UK healthcare and construction supply chains’ resilience.

    So many hospitals need retrofitting.
    richardjohnson/Shutterstock

    Sustainable hospital designs will change alongside the NHS’ model of healthcare. For example, smaller, more agile hospitals and community health services are becoming future priorities. While some major treatments (think open-heart surgeries) still require acute hospitals, future designs should think small and flexible, while learning from sustainable innovations that improve health outcomes and reduce environmental footprints.

    Take Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, where every ward has a kitchen and chef who cooks food to order, helping children recover faster and drastically reducing food waste. Capturing and systematising such learnings should be a priority for future hospitals.

    Will ever-larger hospitals become a thing of the past if preventative care, mobile surgical facilities and similar innovations become embedded in a future-fit, 21st-century NHS? Perhaps new hospitals’ target operating models need more flexible spaces, and lower overall floor areas, as healthcare shifts towards a community-oriented approach.

    Designing-out reliance on new materials and energy use through retrofit and fabric first approaches, while designing-in flexibility and best practices from contemporary hospitals, will help lower environmental footprints and place the NHS estate at the forefront of sustainable healthcare systems globally.

    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.

    James Scott Vandeventer received funding for this research from the British Academy and Leverhulme Trust (SRG-2223/230837), as part of the ‘Conceiving sustainable space’ project.

    – ref. Hospitals have huge environmental footprints – here’s how they can be more sustainable – https://theconversation.com/hospitals-have-huge-environmental-footprints-heres-how-they-can-be-more-sustainable-253693

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: What excluded children think about their education in alternative provision – and why it matters

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Claire Kinsella, Trinity College Dublin

    PeopleImages.com – Yuri A/Shutterstock

    Nearly 16,000 children in England learn in state-funded alternative provision (AP). These are educational settings for school-aged pupils who are unable to attend mainstream school. These pupils may have been excluded from their previous school, have a medical condition or find themselves without a school place.

    There are around 333 state-funded APs in England, with a growing array of unregistered providers. While APs offer core elements of the national curriculum, they typically provide additional elements such as work-based qualifications and recreational activities like sports and art, as well as therapeutic pursuits. Class sizes are usually much smaller than in mainstream school, and many APs have a higher presence of support staff.

    For all their efforts at innovation, AP settings are still heavily stigmatised. They face questions around quality, reports of abuse and concerns about how pupils do in life after they leave.

    Some parents are reluctant to send their children to AP, feeling disempowered by the process of exclusion and limited by the school options presented to them. While adult voices on AP are prominent in these debates, pupils’ own insights have received far less attention.

    We carried out research on the experiences of children in AP, working with young boys who remained on the margins of everyday life there, as well as young people who were more actively engaged in creative classroom activities.

    Many of the students we spoke to in AP were acutely aware of their stigmatised identity. One spoke of how boys from his previous school saw him “as a freak” and that they think alternative provision is “for the stupid kids”. Others questioned the level of intellectual challenge in AP, calling it “baby school” and finding the classroom work undemanding.

    What really stood out in our studies was the pivotal influence of peers. When young people had little trust in the professionals around them or had experienced bullying, their friendship networks became critical.

    During creative activities, we saw close collaboration between young people, with particularly high levels of “affiliative agency”: supportive talk that emphasises social bonds. This helped young people keep each other emotionally and intellectually engaged when faced with challenging activities.

    Rethinking alternative provision

    Under the previous Conservative government, efforts were underway to “rebrand” AP as part of the special education needs system. With a new government now in place, it remains to be seen what will come of these plans.

    On the surface this appears to be a constructive policy move, because it draws attention to AP and those pupils accessing these provisions. But the special educational needs system itself demands further reflection.

    Nevertheless, the existing policy framework for special educational needs points us in some useful directions. The latest Code of Practice emphasises that pupils’ voices should matter.

    In contexts where young people have limited control over how they are perceived and the decisions institutions make about them, educational practices that recognise and build on the existing reciprocity, trust and cooperation between young people can have a lot of value.

    Today, the general trend is towards an increased emphasis on relational practices in AP: approaches to education that focus on building connections. This includes initiatives such as anger management and nurture groups, as well as trauma-informed practice, which takes into account the impact past trauma can have on a person’s development and ability to build relationships.

    We have little doubt that a learner who is anxious or in a distressed state is likely to find it extremely difficult to concentrate in a maths or English lesson. These relational practices matter. But learning should also be a holistic and liberating experience for pupils.

    Pupils in AP care about their education.
    BearFotos/Shutterstock

    Our research has found that young people in AP question their education but want to be challenged. The cognitive dimensions of the learning experience should not be downplayed for those in AP.

    We are committee members of the Alternative Provision Research Network, a network of academics and people working in AP who are committed to social justice for children in alternative provision. This means rethinking AP in ways that incorporate children’s voices on their education and is also based on evidence.

    In emphasising the cognitive, we do not mean simply trying to improve the GCSE grades of children in AP. We mean consulting with the pupils themselves about what truly matters to them when it comes to learning. The signs are that pupils value a challenging curriculum.

    Claire Kinsella is affiliated with the Alternative Provision Research Network which a network committed to a social justice agenda for children in Alternative Provision. See: https://www.apresearchnetwork.com/

    Craig Johnston is affiliated with the Alternative Provision Research Network, which highlights issues of social justice for disadvantaged children and young people.

    – ref. What excluded children think about their education in alternative provision – and why it matters – https://theconversation.com/what-excluded-children-think-about-their-education-in-alternative-provision-and-why-it-matters-252124

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: As Police Scotland bring in body-worn video, our research shows little is known about its effectiveness

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By William Webster, Professor and Director, Centre for Research into Information, Surveillance and Privacy, University of Stirling

    John Gomez/Shutterstock

    By autumn 2026, all frontline officers of the UK’s second largest police force will be expected to wear a camera while on duty, at a cost of over £13 million.

    Police Scotland is one of the last forces in the UK to employ this technology nationally. It has been a requirement for armed officers in Scotland since it hosted the UN climate conference, Cop26, in 2021. Devon and Cornwall Police ran the first body-worn trial in Plymouth some 20 years ago.

    The use of this technology was recommended by Lady Elish Angiolini (currently lord clerk register of Scotland) who led a 2020 independent review of complaints and misconduct in Scottish policing. The report argued that body-worn cameras have the potential to significantly reduce complaints against the police.

    In theory, being late to the party means Police Scotland is in a position of strength. They can adopt recognised best practice from other police forces in the UK, while steering clear of mistakes. But our review of the evidence reveals how little is really known about the effectiveness of this technology.

    Body-worn video promises to aid in evidence gathering, which can be used to support investigations and prosecutions. It is also seen to provide a level of personal protection for police officers, and increased transparency and accountability when it comes to police behaviour or misconduct.

    But there are still uncertainties about its actual impact on society. The evidence base is relatively mixed and ambiguous, with mostly small-scale studies and anecdotal evidence.

    Survey research shows there is significant public support for police using body-worn video, but this is mainly shaped by the technology’s perceived benefits.

    Does body-worn video work?

    Body-worn video is now commonplace in policing around the world. It is also seen to be critical equipment for security guards, traffic wardens and prison officers. It is even used by football referees, ticket inspectors, delivery drivers and healthcare and retail workers.

    While it is now commonplace, there is a notable lack of robust evidence about the consequences of its use. A lot rests on the assumptions about what the technology will do.

    There are no reliable measures capturing any reduction in violent incidents or levels of complaints about police behaviour.

    There are many uncertainties about body-worn video’s effectiveness.
    Loch Earn/Shutterstock

    An argument for the use of body-worn video is that it creates “objective” recorded accounts of interactions between police and citizens. In theory, the recordings can provide irrefutable proof about what happened, which in turn will enhance confidence in policing.

    The Scottish Police Authority notes that video recordings can streamline the process of resolving complaints against officers. It also can enhance the quality of evidence and “reduces the number of officers required to attend court” in investigations.

    However, the issue remains that officers may use their discretion to turn the cameras on or off. In 2023, a BBC investigation revealed more than 150 reports of camera misuse by officers in England and Wales. Forces need processes in place to prevent this and to hold officers accountable, or the digital account of an interaction will always be determined by the police.

    There is some evidence that body-worn video can exacerbate existing racial tensions. Research from North America suggests minority groups do not believe that police body-worn video will make the police more accountable or transparent, and that they instead reinforce existing power structures in society. This can fracture already strained relations with the police.

    Surveillance concerns

    There are technical, legal and ethical challenges emerging from the capture and processing of personal data.

    New body-worn video units, including those purchased by Police Scotland, also have the technical capability to integrate facial recognition software. If deployed, this would mean that the technology is no longer about a retrospective account of events, but a tool for live identity matching. This would significantly change the purpose and scope of the technology and how the police interact with citizens.

    Live facial recognition divides opinion and is seen to discriminate against women and minority ethnic groups. There are also concerns about its effectiveness.



    Read more:
    Banning face coverings, expanding facial recognition – how the UK government and police are eroding protest rights

    As we found in our research, police forces across the UK have different procedures for using this technology, and for holding officers accountable.

    A few UK forces have set up technology-specific oversight mechanisms, for example independent scrutiny panels that include members of the public. But these mechanisms are the exception, not the norm. In Scotland, scrutiny will take place via the Scottish Police Authority using existing arrangements.

    While we commend Police Scotland for the due caution they have exercised in delaying the national roll-out of this technology, our view is that technology-specific protocols and oversight mechanisms need to be in place at the earliest possible opportunity.

    Police need to be trained properly in the operation of cameras or they risk capturing inappropriate personal data and encroaching on citizens’ privacy expectations.

    William Webster has previously received funding from the Scottish Institute for Policing Research to undertake an evidence review into the police use of BWV.

    Diana Miranda received funding from SIPR (Scottish Institute for Policing Research), and ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) to investigate emerging policing technologies, namely body-worn video.

    – ref. As Police Scotland bring in body-worn video, our research shows little is known about its effectiveness – https://theconversation.com/as-police-scotland-bring-in-body-worn-video-our-research-shows-little-is-known-about-its-effectiveness-253388

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How a small vaccine drop could see measles becoming endemic again – new study

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Anastasia A. Theodosiou, Infectious Diseases and Microbiology Academic Clinical Lecturer, University of Glasgow

    Family Stock/Shutterstock.com

    It takes just a spark to start a wildfire, and when it comes to measles, the embers are already glowing.

    A new modelling study published in Jama sounded the alarm: recent drops in childhood vaccination rates could reignite diseases that were nearly extinguished.

    The researchers used a simulation to predict the effect of falling vaccination coverage for measles, rubella, polio and diphtheria. Even at current coverage, measles alone could soon infect more than 850,000 people in the US every year, leading to over 2,500 deaths annually.

    The study also warned how quickly the situation could get worse. A further 10% drop in vaccination rates could lead to more than 11 million cases annually.

    Measles is particularly concerning because of how easily it spreads. It is one of the most contagious diseases known – a single person with measles can infect between 12 and 18 others, each of whom can infect 12 to 18 more, and so on. This is much higher than for diseases such as influenza and COVID, where one person, on average, infects one to four others.

    To stop measles from spreading from person to person, at least 95% of the population needs to be vaccinated. But coverage is falling short – not just in the US, but worldwide. In 2024, less than 84% of five-year-olds in England had received both doses of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.

    This matters because measles is far from harmless. About one in five children with measles need hospital care, one in 20 develop pneumonia and one in 1,000 suffer encephalitis (a brain infection that can cause seizures and deafness).

    Up to three in every 1,000 children who catch measles will die.

    Although measles poses the greatest immediate threat because of how contagious it is, further drops in vaccination rates could see other serious infections return. Rubella can cause devastating birth defects, polio can lead to permanent paralysis, and diphtheria is fatal in up to 30% of unvaccinated children.

    Before vaccines, these diseases were endemic around the world – circulating constantly, not just in outbreaks. In regions where vaccine coverage has never reached the 95% target, including parts of Africa and south Asia, they remain endemic.

    But in countries where vaccines had all but eliminated them, falling coverage risks undoing decades of progress. And this isn’t just hypothetical – already this year, the US has reported nearly 900 measles cases, including three deaths.

    The MMR vaccine is extremely effective, protecting more than 97% of those who receive both doses. However, some people can’t have the vaccine, including pregnant women, babies and those with a weakened immune system or serious allergy to the vaccine ingredients.

    This is why herd immunity is so important: when over 95% of people in a community are vaccinated, the virus can’t circulate freely, so everyone is protected – including the most vulnerable.

    There are many reasons vaccination rates have fallen. COVID caused the biggest drop in global vaccination in 30 years, and many countries are still catching up. Conflict and natural disasters also contribute, with Yemen reporting over 10,000 measles cases in the past six months.

    Some people choose not to vaccinate their children or themselves. This may be due to vaccine fatigue, concerns about side-effects or underestimating the risks of infection. In this respect, vaccines are victims of their own success – it can be hard to imagine the consequences of infections that have largely disappeared thanks to vaccines.

    As with all medical treatments, vaccines have side-effects, but most are mild and resolve quickly, such as fever, rash and swollen glands.

    Persistent misinformation

    A major contributor to vaccine hesitancy is misinformation, particularly through social media.

    One of the most persistent myths is that the MMR vaccine is linked to autism – a claim based on falsified data in a discredited and retracted study from 1998. Since then, multiple studies have disproved this, including a meta-analysis (a study that combines data from several studies) of over 1.25 million children that found no link between the MMR vaccine and autism.

    Despite clear scientific evidence, these false claims linger, fanning the flames of doubt with real-world consequences. Indeed, the World Health Organization has listed vaccine hesitancy as one of the top ten threats to global health.

    No parent takes decisions about their child’s health lightly. It’s natural to want to weigh the risks and benefits. But when vaccination rates drop, it doesn’t just put unvaccinated children at risk. It threatens those who cannot be vaccinated – including all infants under a year old, who are too young for the MMR vaccine.

    Vaccination remains one of the most powerful tools we have to protect the health of all children. Diseases like measles don’t wait for conflicts to end or for trust to rebuild – they simply spread wherever they can.

    We came close to extinguishing measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases, but any drop in vaccine coverage is a match to kindling. As this new research shows, it doesn’t take much for the embers to flare into a wildfire beyond our control.

    Antonia Ho receives funding from MRC, UKRI, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Public Health Scotland.

    Chrissie Jones is affiliated with the Immunising Pregnant Women and Neonates (IMPRINT) network, funded by the MRC. She runs clinical trials of vaccines on behalf of the University of Southampton, but does not receive any personal funding for this.

    Anastasia A. Theodosiou 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. How a small vaccine drop could see measles becoming endemic again – new study – https://theconversation.com/how-a-small-vaccine-drop-could-see-measles-becoming-endemic-again-new-study-255327

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: A robot that you ride like a horse is being developed. It will stretch current limits of engineering

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Matías Mattamala, Postdoctoral Researcher, Oxford Robotics Institute, University of Oxford

    Kawasaki has recently revealed its computer-generated concept for the Corleo, a “robotic horse”. The video shows the automated equine galloping through valleys, crossing rivers, climbing mountains and jumping over crevasses.

    The Corleo promises a high-end robotic solution to provide a revolutionary mobility experience. Kawasaki’s current motorbikes are constrained to roads, paths and trails, but a machine with legs has no boundaries – it can reach places no other vehicles can go.

    But in the case of the Corleo, how feasible is it to achieve such a level of agility and balance, while safely carrying a human through natural environments? Let’s discuss what would be needed to achieve this.

    A robot is a complex machine with two main components: a body and an information processing unit. The body has a particular morphology that determines the robot’s function, and carries actuators (devices that convert energy into physical motion) and sensors to act in the world and understand it, respectively.

    Kawasaki’s Corleo robotic horse concept.

    The information processing unit is usually a computer, which implements algorithms to process data from the sensors, build representations of the world and determine the actions to be executed, subject to a specific task of interest.

    Simple robots, such as robotic vacuum cleaners satisfy these requirements. They have a suitable body for going under furniture and not getting stuck (their flat top is also useful to give your cats a ride).

    The actuators are the motors that spin the wheels and the vacuum system. It has impact sensors to detect collisions, and some even have cameras for understanding the environment. Owners can set a cleaning routine, and the vacuum’s computer will determine the best way to execute it.

    The Corleo is a quadruped robot, one of the most stable legged robot configurations. The four legs seem strong and capable of flexing forward and backward to run and jump.

    But they seem limited in movements known as abduction and adduction. If I push you on your right side, you will open your left leg – this is the abduction motion helping you keep balance.

    Adduction is the opposite motion – a movement towards the midline of the body. Perhaps this is just a limitation of the concept design but, either way, the Corleo needs this articulation to ensure a safe and smooth ride.

    Next comes actuators. Legged robots, in comparison to wheeled vehicles, need to continuously balance and support their own weight. They also provide a level of suspension that provides cushioning for the rider.

    They need to be strong enough to push the robot’s body forward. On top of that, the Corleo will also carry a person. While this is currently possible, such as with the the Barry robot or Unitree wheeled robots, the Corleo also aims to gallop and jump over gaps. This requires even more dynamic and stronger actuators than the previous examples.

    A manually driven car or motorcycle doesn’t need sensors or a processing unit, because the driver steers the car depending on what they see. But a robotic horse does need more sophisticated control systems to determine how to move the legs, otherwise we would need both hands and even our feet to drive it.

    Locomotion control has been an active area of legged robotics research since the 1940s. Researchers have shown that a legged machine can walk down a slope without motors or sensors (which is called “passive” locomotion).

    If only “proprioceptive” sensors – the types of sensors that tell your phone when to rotate the screen – are used to control balance, it’s called “blind” locomotion because it doesn’t rely on information from the external environment. When a robot also uses “exteroceptive” sensors to determine how to walk, which refers to sensors that pick up information about the environment, it’s called “perceptive” locomotion. This is what Corleo shows.

    From the pictures released, I could not spot any visible cameras or Lidars – laser range finders. They could be hidden, but it would be reassuring to know that the Corleo has a way to “see” what’s in front of it while walking.

    While it will be manually steered (so that it doesn’t need to navigate autonomously), its locomotion system needs sensor data to determine how to step on rocks, or detect if the terrain is slippery. Its sensors should also be reliable under different environmental conditions. This is already a huge challenge for autonomous cars.

    Challenges ahead

    The Corleo is a concept, it does not exist – yet. As a product, it promises to be a more capable version of a quad bike. This can open new opportunities for transportation in remote areas, tourism businesses, new hobbies (for those who can afford it), and even sports.

    But I’m more excited about the technological advances that the achievement of such a platform implies. Legged robots do not necessarily need to look like quadrupeds or humanoids.

    Self balancing exoskeletons, such as Wandercraft’s Personal exoskeleton or Human in Motion Robotics’ XoMotion, are legged robots that are revolutionising the lives of people with mobility impairments. The technological advances implied by the Corleo could have be of major benefit to the development of assistive devices for disabled users, enabling them to achieve independence.

    Current progress in legged robotics suggests that many features proposed by Kawasaki are feasible. But others pose challenges: Corleo will need the endurance to walk in the wild, run effective locomotion algorithms and also implement the safety standards required for a vehicle.

    These are all major hurdles for a reasonably sized robot. If you ask me today, I’d be unsure if this can be achieved as a whole. I hope they prove me wrong.

    Matias Mattamala is currently funded by an EPSRC C2C Grant at the University of Oxford in collaboration with ETH Zurich. He 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 his academic appointment.

    – ref. A robot that you ride like a horse is being developed. It will stretch current limits of engineering – https://theconversation.com/a-robot-that-you-ride-like-a-horse-is-being-developed-it-will-stretch-current-limits-of-engineering-254483

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Pope Francis began the process for Antoni Gaudí’s sainthood – an architect explains why

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Javi Buron Garcia, Associate Professor, School of Architecture & Product Design, University of Limerick

    Wiki Commons/Shutterstock/Canva

    In one of his final announcements before his death, Pope Francis granted Catalonian architect Antoni Gaudí the title of “venerable”, due to his dedication to the design and build of the Sagrada Família church in Barcelona. This recognition is the second of four steps towards sainthood, a process that started more than three decades ago by a secular association founded in Barcelona in 1992 and led by local architects. If this happens, Gaudí would be the first secular architect in history to be declared a saint.

    The Sagrada Família was originally devised by the religious book printer and seller José María Bocabella, who bought the site and founded an association to promote the construction. It was started in 1882, but in just one year the original architect Francisco de Paula del Villar y Lozano resigned due to creative differences with the association’s architectural adviser Joan Martorell.

    After declining the job himself, Martorell fervently recommended his protégée Antoni Gaudí who at that time was only 31 years old. He took over and redesigned it entirely, transforming Villar’s predictable neo-gothic design into what the American architectural historian Henry-Russell Hitchcock described as “the greatest ecclesiastical monument of the last hundred years”.

    Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here.

    From the moment of his appointment, Gaudí worked obsessively on the project. In 1915, once he finished the crypt of the Church of Colònia Güell, his other lifelong project, he devoted himself entirely to the Sagrada Família. He suddenly died in 1926, when he was hit by a tram just a few blocks from the church.

    Gaudí was fully aware that he would never see the construction completed. Since its inception the construction was solely financed by donations, and its progress frequently slowed due to lack of funds.

    The Sagrada Família is the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world, and it has become a living piece of architectural history, showcasing design methodologies, materials and tools spanning the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.

    Visionary techniques

    Though Gaudí was a gifted draftsman, he rarely drew detailed plans as his design methods. Instead, he relied on close working relationships with builders and crafts people. He preferred scaled models and developed all sort of unique techniques to develop and communicate his designs to others.

    Probably one of the most famous are his upside-down catenary curve models which he used to form-find the main structure of some of his buildings.

    In this process, he traced the outline plan of the Sagrada Família on a wooden board at a tenth of the scale and placed it on the ceiling. Then, he tied cords from the points of the plan where the columns were located. Later, he hung small sachets filled with lead to represent the weight that the arches would have to support. Finally, he carefully measured and photographed the resulting model from many angles and turned the photos upside down so the strings hanging in pure tension would represent stone and concrete arches in pure compression.

    The expertise required to construct these models was remarkable. In 1986, it was described in painstaking detail by professor of architecture Jos Tomlow at the Institute for Lightweight Structures under the supervision of the renowned architect and structural engineer Frei Otto.

    Tomlow and Otto analysed the hanging design model for Gaudí’s unfinished church of the Colònia Güell, which took him nearly ten years to complete. The research team made a scaled replica of the model which was instrumental for understanding Gaudí’s empirical design methods and bringing a renewed interest to his unfinished masterpiece.

    Completing the Sagrada Familia

    By the end of the 1980s, the construction of the Sagrada Familia was suffering an impasse. The architects continuing the work, now in their nineties, had completed much of the work started together with Gaudí. But they did not have further models or plans to guide their development, as many of the original models, drawings and photographs were destroyed during the 1936 Civil War.

    Fortunately, a younger generation of architects were able to analyse the existing design vocabulary and extend it to fill out the gaps using groundbreaking parametric design tools. Using parametric design, instead of simply reproducing digitally Gaudí’s existing geometries, endless new variations could be automatically generated by changing predefined variables.

    The Sagrada Familia in 1905.
    Jaume Morera Art Museum

    During the 1990s, the same team introduced newer digital fabrication technologies such as 3D printing and robotic stone carving. These were instrumental to keep the construction of Gaudí’s impossible shapes under a reasonable budget and time-frame.

    After several decades of long delays, the temple has experienced a substantial increase in visitors, which has boosted the construction efforts. The latest plans have set the completion for 2033 when it will become the tallest church building in the world. Just seven years after the 100th anniversary of Gaudí’s death, and probably in perfect timing for his canonisation.

    Javi Buron Garcia 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. Pope Francis began the process for Antoni Gaudí’s sainthood – an architect explains why – https://theconversation.com/pope-francis-began-the-process-for-antoni-gaudis-sainthood-an-architect-explains-why-255147

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Oskar Fischer: the forgotten pioneer of Alzheimer’s disease research

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Michael Hornberger, Professor of Applied Dementia Research, University of East Anglia

    Davide Angelini/Shutterstock

    Ever heard of Fischer’s disease? No? Maybe that is not surprising, because it doesn’t exist. But it could have. In fact, the disease we now know as Alzheimer’s disease might just as easily have been called Fischer’s disease or Alzheimer-Fischer disease.

    Back in 1907, Dr Oskar Fischer published detailed research on what we now recognise as Alzheimer’s disease. Fischer described cases of older people who had cognitive symptoms in their lifetime and noted tiny plaque-like structures and fibrous tangles in their brains after their death.

    These changes were the same as those observed by Alzheimer’s at around the same time. But unlike Alzheimer’s brief two-page publication highlighting this new disease in one person, Fischer’s work, published in 1910, was a meticulous and wide-ranging study – spanning more than 100 pages – including several people he investigated. So why have we never heard of him?

    In my new book, Tangled Up: The Science and History of Alzheimer’s disease, I attempt to answer this question.

    A promising mind from Prague

    But before we get to why Fischer was forgotten, let’s look at who he was.

    Oskar Fischer was born in 1876 in a small town near Prague, part of the German-speaking minority in what is now the Czech Republic. After studying medicine in Strasbourg and Prague, he began working at the German University of Prague’s Department of Psychiatry.

    Fischer’s career flourished under the leadership of Professor Arnold Pick – another lesser-known scientific giant. Pick was the first to describe a different kind of dementia, now called frontotemporal dementia. It was in this forward-thinking academic environment that Fischer began his research into dementia.

    Fischer wasn’t working in isolation. At the time, other doctors had also noticed unusual plaques in the brains of people with dementia. Researchers like Paul Blocq and Georges Marinesco in Paris, Emil Redlich in Vienna and Koichi Miyake in Tokyo had all seen similar features.

    But Fischer, like Alzheimer, went a step further: he identified not only plaques but also twisted protein fibres — now known as tau tangles — that disrupt the brain’s function. This combination is still central to how we define Alzheimer’s disease today.

    Oskar Fischer, the forgotten great of Alzheimer’s research.
    Public Domain

    But if both men made this important discovery, why is only one name remembered?

    There are two theories as to why Fischer has been forgotten. One is that Fischer believed these brain changes were specific to a type of dementia called presbyophrenia, which was thought to affect people who showed unusual cheerfulness and confusion in old age.

    He may have limited his own findings by tying them to this narrow diagnosis. Indeed, in the 1920s it was realised that presbyophrenia was not a separate disease but simply how certain people with dementia presented – and the term was not used anymore.

    Another factor might be politics and influence. Alzheimer had a powerful supporter: Emil Kraepelin, one of the most influential psychiatrists of the time, who Alzheimer worked for. Kraepelin included Alzheimer’s work in his bestselling textbook and named the condition after him, helping to cement Alzheimer’s name in medical history.

    There’s no record showing whether Kraepelin knew of Fischer’s similar discoveries. If he did, he never acknowledged them in his textbook.

    Despite his scientific achievements, Fischer’s academic career stalled. In 1919, he was denied a permanent university position, despite his groundbreaking work. He opened a private practice in Prague and continued to teach, but without the recognition he deserved.

    A tragic end

    Then came the darkest chapter of his life. In 1941, during the Nazi occupation, Fischer was arrested by the Gestapo. He was imprisoned at Theresienstadt (now Terezín), a ghetto and transit camp for Jews and political prisoners. It’s unclear why he was targeted – perhaps for his Jewish ancestry or his earlier communist activism. He died there in 1942.

    Oskar Fischer’s story is a reminder that scientific discovery is rarely the work of one lone genius. It’s built on shared ideas, collaboration, and often forgotten contributors.

    It’s somewhat similar to Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace describing the theory of evolution at the same time but most only remember Darwin now. While Alois Alzheimer certainly made important observations, Fischer’s role in defining this devastating disease was just as significant.

    Maybe it’s time we remembered Oskar Fischer and gave him the credit he so rightly deserves.

    Michael Hornberger is the author of Tangled Up: The History and Science of Alzheimer’s Disease, published by Canbury Press.

    – ref. Oskar Fischer: the forgotten pioneer of Alzheimer’s disease research – https://theconversation.com/oskar-fischer-the-forgotten-pioneer-of-alzheimers-disease-research-254815

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Travelling to my ancestral home in China unearthed tragedy tinged by the climate crisis – it inspired me to write Red Pockets

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Alice Mah, Professor in Urban and Environmental Studies, University of Glasgow

    My book Red Pockets explores questions of inheritance: what we owe to ancestors and to future generations, and what we owe to the places that we inhabit.

    It was inspired by visiting my ancestral village in Guangdong in south China, after nearly a century of intergenerational separation due to migration, war and revolution. My grandfather wrote about his childhood stay in this rice village in his unpublished memoirs, and I had always wanted to see it.

    In spring 2018, I finally found the chance, during a research trip to study the impacts of petrochemical pollution in Guangdong.

    My trip coincided with the Qingming festival in April, when people return to their ancestral villages to sweep their relatives’ tombs, making offerings of food, incense and burnt paper money to sustain them in the afterlife.

    Remarkably, my ancestral village was still intact, among the rice fields and western-style brick buildings, largely as my grandfather had described it. In fact, there are many similar clan villages in Taishan country, which is known as the “home of overseas Chinese”, due to its history of overseas emigration during the western gold rushes of the late 19th century.

    Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here.

    It was a moving yet unsettling experience, almost a comedy of errors, navigating different cultural expectations. One of the oldest villagers still remembered my family’s history, which turned out to have been troubled.

    My ancestors had suffered untimely deaths, their tombs were lost, and our ancestral house was expropriated during the Cultural Revolution in the late 1960s. To restore my family’s place in the village would be impossible: we would have to build a new house and give all the clan villagers gifts of money in lucky red pockets. Even then, nothing could repair the ruptures of the past century.

    Observing the Qingming tomb-sweeping rituals on the hills, I wondered: what were the consequences of failing to sweep the tombs every spring?

    When I got home to the UK, I carried stories of pollution and ancestral neglect with me. They stayed with me and began to take on new meanings as I continued my research on toxic pollution and environmental injustice. I learned that in Chinese folk religious beliefs, neglected ancestors become hungry ghosts, unleashing misfortune and environmental destruction.

    As the climate crisis intensified, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the hungry ghosts somehow embodied collective experiences of climate grief, illness and anxiety.

    My idea to write Red Pockets came together in the wake of disappointment over COP26 in Glasgow. As I thought about the “heavy debts that we owe” to past and future generations, two, seemingly separate ideas merged into one – the personal story of my “return” to my ancestral village, and the wider story of confronting the devastating consequences of the climate crisis. I wanted to write a book that would explore the possibility of healing alongside the impossibility of returning to lost worlds.

    The writing process involved wrestling not only with different ideas but with different parts of myself. The hungry ghosts were difficult to summon in a way that felt real.

    At first, I tried a more academic approach, researching Chinese folk religious beliefs about death and burial rituals, and extreme climate disasters unfolding around the world.

    But I soon realised that the metaphor felt too thin in the absence of my own voice, and that I had to talk about hungry ghosts from a personal perspective. Once they came out, they seemed to take on a life of their own.

    Hungry ghosts animate the connections between the material and spiritual, how environmental devastation shows up in body, mind, and Earth: “A divided self, a divided world, a failure to listen, a failure to honour … They want us to face up to our broken obligations.”

    As I moved towards more positive themes in the final chapters of the book, the weight slowly began to lift. I learned that there are ways of living with ghosts, recognising joy alongside despair, possibilities for interconnection despite disconnection, and compassionate actions to “defend our lands and ourselves”. I found what I was looking for: an offering.

    Alice Mah received funding from the Leverhulme Trust (Philip Leverhulme Prize) and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement No. 639583) for research on petrochemical pollution and environmental justice.

    – ref. Travelling to my ancestral home in China unearthed tragedy tinged by the climate crisis – it inspired me to write Red Pockets – https://theconversation.com/travelling-to-my-ancestral-home-in-china-unearthed-tragedy-tinged-by-the-climate-crisis-it-inspired-me-to-write-red-pockets-253987

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Trump’s first 100 days: economic uncertainty spikes while the president’s approval ratings tank

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Steve Schifferes, Honorary Research Fellow, City Political Economy Research Centre, City St George’s, University of London

    When US president Donald Trump took office in January he inherited a strong economy, which was growing faster than those of many of its rivals. Nevertheless, he won the election in November on the back of strong voter dissatisfaction with the economy, especially the cost of living. This is the legacy of high inflation sparked first by COVID and then Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

    But Trump also won with his appeal to “left-behind” voters, especially working-class people in the US rust belt. This demographic has suffered a long-term decline in living standards as manufacturing jobs in traditional industries like car-making and steel have disappeared.

    Trump claimed during his campaign that high tariffs were the answer to most of America’s economic problems. He promised a revival in domestic manufacturing by blocking imports, while forcing foreign firms to shift production to the US. And there was also the promise of tax cuts paid for with the revenues raised from tariffs.

    But the erratic roll-out of his tariff policies have shattered business and consumer confidence. They have also tanked his poll ratings with respect to his management of the economy. And it is causing chaos to world trade and economic cooperation.


    How is Donald Trump’s presidency shaping up after 100 days? Here’s what the experts think. If you like what you see, sign up to receive our weekly World Affairs Briefing newsletter.

    The threat of higher prices for imported goods has made US consumers cautious. Businesses are facing the awesome task of rejigging global supply chains established over many decades, with no certainty over where they should invest.

    China was always the main target of Trump’s tariffs, but it is not clear who will win the battle. China has been preparing for this confrontation for years, shifting its exports to other countries and boosting domestic consumption.

    And blocking Chinese exports does not automatically mean that US industry will become more efficient and productive. This is especially true in the absence of any industrial policy and with massive cutbacks in federal support for business, including for research.

    Trouble ahead for Trump

    The dramatic swings in tariff policy are probably less a product of Trump’s deep strategic planning – “the art of the deal” – than a response to conflicting pressures from different factions of Trump’s supporters.

    What Trump probably did not anticipate was the negative reaction of financial markets to his April 2 announcement of massive global tariffs. The precipitous fall in the stock market (which arguably was overvalued already) has wiped US$4 trillion (£3 trillion) off the value of shares. This threatens the pensions of millions of US voters.

    Even more serious has been the reaction of the bond market. Trump’s plan for massive tax cuts for the rich, now being negotiated in Congress, could add nearly US$6 trillion to the already huge and growing stock of US government debt over the next decade. This strategy will only work if international bond holders are prepared to buy a lot more US Treasury bonds.

    But they are now fleeing that market, which is normally the bedrock of the international financial system. This has the effect of forcing up interest rates, both in the US and globally.

    The US president’s attack on the independence of the US central bank, the Federal Reserve, is further unsettling the markets. The Fed now has the unenviable task of trying both to stop a recession and prevent inflation getting out of hand.

    And the economic damage of Trump’s tariffs is having political consequences. The Democrats are now favoured to retake control of the House of Representatives in the 2026 mid-term elections.

    Targeting welfare may be a cut too far for many US voters.
    Christopher Penler/Shutterstock

    Trump’s popularity will suffer a further blow if Congress is forced to cut government spending even further to finance its tax cuts. One casualty could be Medicaid spending, which faces cuts of US$880 billion. Medicaid provides health insurance for 70 million people on low incomes or with disabilities. The cut has already been included in one version of the budget resolution.



    Read more:
    Trump thinks tariffs can bring back the glory days of US manufacturing. Here’s why he’s wrong

    Trump is now caught between his big business backers, who want to drastically reduce the role of the federal government but keep free trade, and his working-class supporters, who are hoping that his tariffs will restore manufacturing jobs.

    But this group would be deeply upset by cuts to major government programmes such as Medicare and social security, which many depend on for much of their income. These programmes make up a large portion of all government non-defence spending, and without major cuts it will be hard to find enough savings to fund tax reductions.

    With the International Monetary Fund now forecasting a 40% chance of recession in the US, the president’s economic ratings look unlikely to improve any time soon.

    Steve Schifferes 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. Trump’s first 100 days: economic uncertainty spikes while the president’s approval ratings tank – https://theconversation.com/trumps-first-100-days-economic-uncertainty-spikes-while-the-presidents-approval-ratings-tank-255449

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Why whale urine is so important to life in the sea

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Kirsten Freja Young, Senior Lecturer, Ecology, University of Exeter

    Humpback whales can carry large amounts of nutrients on their long migrations Earth theater/Shutterstock

    Even biologists only capture a glimpse of the lives of whales. There are still many species whose lives are largely a mystery, particularly the deep diving whales.

    But scientists are learning more about the role that whales play in marine ecosystems and the services that they provide. Recent research is showing that even whale urine is important for the planet.

    Previous work suggested that whale faeces was important to ecosystems.
    These giant mammals bring nutrients from the depths where they feed to shallow waters.

    This effect is called the “whale pump” and it can enhance the photosynthetic rate of plankton, which is the basis of the food web. Nutrients are not distributed evenly across the ocean and in some areas, phytoplankton populations are limited because there aren’t enough of specific elements, such as iron.

    Some whale species perform long migrations across the ocean. Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) perform the longest migration of any mammal at around 10,000 km, moving nutrients across ocean basins as they travel. To some extent the whale pump influences carbon cycling and storage too.

    Whales can also help cycle nutrients in the ocean when they disturb the seabed as they feed. Gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus), for example, are known to forage for invertebrates on the seafloor and stir up sediments which release nutrients, such as nitrogen, phosphorus and iron.

    Another key area of research describes the oasis ecosystems that whale carcasses provide to deep sea species, from hagfish (Eptatretus deani) and sleeper sharks (Somniosis pacificus) to crustacea, molluscs, nematodes and bacteria. The great whales have large bodies with high amounts of lipids in their bones. These lipids are food for lots of organisms and whale carcasses create mini ecosystems in the deep.

    But until now, another benefit that whales provided to ecosystems had not been quantified – that of urine.

    A recent study published in Nature Communications indicates that baleen whales’ urine could also have a crucial function in oceans. Some whale species can produce up to 950 liters of urine per day, and this means they can relocate nutrients to tropical grounds low in nutrients. Many baleen whales, such as humpback and gray whales, feed in polar and subpolar regions during summer, then migrate to equatorial breeding areas en masse into relatively small areas during the winter.

    During migration, the whales carry detritus like placenta, urine, faeces and if they die, carcasses. For example, the paper describes how gray whales tend to winter in several feeding grounds across the north Pacific ocean and aggregate in summer in a few small bays on the coast of California.

    The researchers describe how gray, humpback and right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) transport carbon and nitrogen to the tropics, in what they call the “great whale conveyor belt”. Globally, for these species, this process results in more than 46,000 tons of biomass (whales’ total mass and the nutrients they contain) and almost 4,000 tons of nitrogen per year, transferred to poor nutrient grounds.

    Gray whales transport nitrogen to the tropics.
    Andrea Izzotti/Shutterstock

    Most of this nitrogen transport comes from whale urine, which stimulates phytoplankton growth and photosynthesis. This increase in the rate of photosynthesis could lead to 18,180 tons of carbon being drawn down from the atmosphere. Other large baleen whales probably also contribute to this effect but there is less data on their distributions and ecology.

    Sadly, the study estimates that historical whaling has reduced whale related nutrient transportation to almost one third of its previous potential.

    Other animals that play a crucial role in nutrient flows have also been suffering from the effect of human-related activities. Seabirds and fish that migrate from the sea into freshwater bodies have a significant effect on phosphorus transfer from sea to land, which is also an important nutrient for photosynthesis.

    Bears, otters, eagles and other predators that eat fish which migrate up rivers from the sea, participate in the transport of ocean nutrients to land through their faeces. Moose are also important carriers of nutrients and are known to transfer large amounts from aquatic to land ecosystems as they feed on plants.

    Grazing hippopotamus also transfer nutrients in reverse from land to aquatic systems. But these large animals generally don’t match whales in quantity, or by geographical scale.

    Whales face many threats to their survival today, such as ship strikes, pollution, poorly managed fisheries and climate change. This recent study shows how important it is to protect whales and the ocean they live in.

    The contribution that these animals will make to solving our climate crisis through stimulating photosythesis is under debate and their ability to balance the global carbon budget in the face of human-related emissions may be negligible. However, the more we learn about these ocean giants, the more we understand the ways in which whales are vital to marine ecosystems.

    Kirsten Freja Young is a Senior Lecturer in Ecology at the University of Exeter and also works as an independent consultant to Greenpeace Research Laboratories.

    Marion Rossi 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 whale urine is so important to life in the sea – https://theconversation.com/why-whale-urine-is-so-important-to-life-in-the-sea-254748

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Five ways to make cities more resilient to climate change

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul O’Hare, Lecturer in Human Geography and Urban Development, Manchester Metropolitan University

    John_T/Shutterstock

    Climate breakdown poses immense threats to global economies, societies and ecosystems. Adapting to these impacts is urgent. But many cities and countries remain chronically unprepared in what the UN calls an “adaptation gap”.

    Building climate resilience is notoriously difficult. Economic barriers limit investment in infrastructure and technology. Social inequities undermine the capacity of vulnerable populations to adapt. And inconsistent policies impede coordinated efforts across sectors and at scale.

    My research looks at how cities can better cope with climate change. I have identified five ways to catalyse more effective – and ultimately more progressive – climate adaptation and resilience.

    1. Don’t just ‘bounce back’ after a crisis

    When wildfires, storms or floods hit, all too often governments prioritise rebuilding as rapidly as possible.

    Though understandable, resilience doesn’t just entail coping with the effects of climate change. Instead of “bouncing back” to a pre-shock status, those in charge of responding need to encourage “bouncing forward”, creating places that are at less risk in the first place.

    After the Christchurch earthquake in February 2011, the New Zealand authorities “built back better”, improving building codes and regulations and relocating vulnerable communities. Critics suggested reconstruction provided too much uncertainty and failed to acknowledge private property rights. But the rebuild did encourage better integration of planning policies and land use practices.



    Read more:
    ‘Build back better’ sounds great in theory, but does the government really know what it means in practice?

    Swales and sustainable urban drainage in Gorton climate resilient park, Manchester, UK.
    Paul O’Hare, CC BY-NC-ND

    2. Informed by risk

    It can be difficult to predict what the consequences of a crisis might be. Cities are complex, interconnected places. Transboundary risks – the consequences that ripple across a place – must be taken into account.

    The best climate adaptation plans recognise that vulnerability varies across places, contexts and over time. The most effective are holistic: tailored to specific locations and every aspect of society.

    Assessments must also consider both climatic and non-climatic features of risk. In 2015, in the UK, a flood affected one of Lancaster’s electrical substations, causing a city-wide power failure that took several days to rectify. In this instance, as with so many others, people had to deal not just with the direct impacts of flooding, but the ‘cascading’ or knock-on impacts of infrastructure damage.



    Read more:
    Giving rivers room to move: how rethinking flood management can benefit people and nature

    Many existing assessments have limited scope. But others do acknowledge how ageing infrastructures and pressures to develop land to accommodate ever intensifying urban populations exacerbate urban flood risk. Others too, such as the recently published Cambridge climate risk plan, detail how climate risk intersects with the range of services provided by local government.

    Systems thinking – an approach to problem-solving that views problems as part of wider, interconnected systems – can be applied to identify interdependencies with other drivers of change.

    Good risk assessments will, for example, take note of demographics, age profiles and the socio-economic circumstances of neighbourhoods, enabling targeted support for particularly vulnerable communities. This can help ensure communities and systems adapt to evolving challenges as climate change intensifies, and as society evolves over time.

    Complex though this might be, city leaders can access advice about improving risk assessments, including from the C40 network, a global coalition of 100 mayors committed to addressing climate change.

    3. Transformative action

    There is no such thing as a natural disaster. The effects of disasters including floods and earthquakes are influenced by pre-existing, often chronic, social and economic conditions such as poverty or poor housing.

    Progressive climate resilience looks beyond the immediacy of shocks, attending to the underlying root causes of vulnerability and inequality. This ensures that society is not only better prepared to withstand adverse events in the future, but thrives in the face of uncertainty.

    Progressive climate resilience therefore demands tailored responses depending on the population and place. In Bangladesh, for instance, communities are building floating gardens to grow crops during floods. These enhance food security and provide a sustainable livelihood option in flood-prone areas.

    Floating vegetable gardens in Bangladesh.
    Mostafijur Rahman Nasim/Shutterstock



    Read more:
    Climate change isn’t fair but Tony Juniper’s new book explains how a green transition could be ‘just’

    4. Collective approaches

    Effective climate resilience demands collective action. Sometimes referred to as a “whole of society” response, this entails collaboration and shared responsibility to address the multifaceted challenges posed by a changing climate.

    The most effective initiatives avoid self-protection, of people, buildings and cities alike, and consider both broader and longer-term risks. For instance, developments not at significant risk should still incorporate adaptation measures including rainwater harvesting or enhanced greening to lower a city’s climate risk profile and benefit local communities, neighbouring authorities and surrounding regions.

    So, progressive resilience is connected, comprehensive and inclusive. Solidarity is key, leveraging resources to address common challenges and fostering a sense of shared purpose and mutual support.

    Solar panels on the surface of a reservoir not only provide a source of renewable energy but also provide shade and therefore help conserve water.
    Tom Wang/Shutterstock

    5. Exploiting co-benefits

    The most effective resilience projects exploit co-benefits – what the UN calls “multiple resilience dividends” – to leverage additional benefits across sectors and policies, reducing vulnerability to shocks while addressing other social and environmental challenges.

    In northern Europe, for example, moorlands can be restored to retain water helping alleviate downstream flooding, but also to capture carbon and provide vital habitats for biodiversity.

    In south-East Asia solar panels installed on reservoirs generate renewable energy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while providing shade to reduce evaporation and conserve water resources during droughts.

    In short, adaptation is obviously crucial for tackling climate change across the globe. But the real challenge is to deal with the impacts of climate change while simultaneously creating communities that are fairer, healthier, and better equipped to face any manner of future risks.

    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 40,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.

    Paul O’Hare receives funding from the UK’s Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). Award reference NE/V010174/1.

    – ref. Five ways to make cities more resilient to climate change – https://theconversation.com/five-ways-to-make-cities-more-resilient-to-climate-change-252853

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –