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Category: Analysis

  • MIL-Evening Report: ‘We don’t have a cultural place for men as victims’: why men often don’t tell anyone about sexual abuse

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vita Pilkington, Research Fellow, PhD Candidate in men’s experiences of sexual trauma, The University of Melbourne

    Kristi Blokhin/Shutterstock

    In Australia, it’s estimated almost one in five boys (18.8%) experience child sexual abuse. And at least one in 16 men (6.1%) experience sexual violence after age 15.

    However, many boys and men don’t tell others about these experiences. Studies show men are less likely to disclose sexual abuse and assaults than women.

    It also takes boys and men longer to first disclose sexual abuse or assaults. On average, men wait 21 years before telling anyone about being abused.

    This is a problem because talking to others is often an important part of understanding and recovering from these traumatic experiences. When boys and men don’t discuss these experiences, it risks their mental health problems and isolation becoming worse and they don’t get the support they need.

    We wanted to understand what prevents boys and men from telling others about sexual abuse and assaults (or “sexual trauma”). So we conducted a systematic review, where we pooled together evidence from a range of studies on the topic.

    We found 69 relevant studies, which included more than 10,500 boys and men who had experienced sexual trauma from around the world. Studies were published in 23 countries across six continents, with most studies from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Two studies were published in Australia.

    Our new findings offer clues as to how we can break down the barriers preventing men and boys from discussing sexual trauma.

    Many boys and men don’t tell anyone if they’ve been victim to sexual violence.
    gpointstudio/Shutterstock

    Upending masculine identities

    We found across countries and cultures, boys’ and men’s sexual trauma affected their masculine identities. This included feeling as though they are not “real men”, or that they’re weak for having been targeted and assaulted.

    In one study, a participant explained:

    Sexual abuse to a man is an abuse against his manhood as well.

    Almost universally, boys and men suffered intense feelings of shame and guilt about being victimised, and many blamed themselves for years to decades.

    Many boys and men said they were worried others would think they were gay if they disclosed being abused or assaulted. This harmful stereotype reflects widespread homophobic attitudes as well as mistaken beliefs about survivors of abuse and assaults.

    Sexual abuse against boys and men has been long been overlooked, dismissed and misunderstood. The taboo nature of the issue was felt by participants. As a therapist who supported male survivors of abuse said in one study:

    We don’t have a cultural place for men as victims.

    LGBTQIA+ men face additional barriers to disclosure. Some experienced distress surrounding concerns abuse or assaults somehow cause, or contribute to, their sexualities. Many also reported receiving unsupportive and homophobic responses when they disclosed abuse and assaults to others. This includes their stories being minimised and dismissed, or suggestions they must have consented given their attraction to other men.

    Stigma if they do tell

    In many cases, boys and men who tried to tell others about their sexual trauma were met with stigmatising and unhelpful responses. Some were blamed, told they were making it up, or even mocked.

    Others were discouraged from speaking out about their experiences again. In some countries, people tell boys and men not to talk about being abused or assaulted because this is seen as bringing shame on themselves and their families.

    Boys and men who were assaulted by women were often told their experiences can’t be classified as abuse or assaults, or aren’t bad enough to warrant support.

    Understanding why men don’t talk

    Many of these barriers to disclosure are linked to harmful myths about sexual abuse and assaults among boys and men. These include mistaken beliefs that men are not abused or assaulted, and that only gay men are abused or assaulted.

    What’s more, many people believe experiencing sexual abuse or assaults is at odds with socially-held ideas about how men “should” behave: for example, constantly demonstrating physical strength, dominance, self-reliance and toughness.

    These strict ideas about what it means to be a man appear to prevent many boys and men from disclosing sexual trauma, and impact how others respond when they do disclose.

    It can also mean boys and men try to bury their difficulties after sexual trauma because they feel they’re expected to be unemotional and cope with their problems independently.

    If men don’t feel comfortable telling anyone about their experience, they can’t get help.
    Drazen Zigic/Shutterstock

    What can we do better?

    We know having experienced sexual trauma is closely linked to significant mental health problems in boys and men. These include substance abuse and addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and even suicide.

    Receiving unsupportive and stigmatising responses when they try to seek help only makes these issues worse, and adds to cycles of silence and shame.

    We must break down barriers that stop boys and men disclosing these traumatic experiences. Doing so could save lives.

    Helping boys and men disclose sexual trauma isn’t just about encouraging them to come forward. We need to make sure other people are prepared to respond safely when they choose to speak up.

    There are many ways to raise awareness of the fact sexual abuse and assault happens to boys and men. For example, television shows such as Baby Reindeer helped put this issue at the forefront of conversation. Public health campaigns that explicitly bring boys and men into discussions about sexual trauma can also be helpful.

    We also need to do more to make sure boys and men who experience sexual trauma have suitable places to go for support. Australia has some services doing vital work in this space, such as the Survivors & Mates Support Network. However, more funding and support is crucial so men across the country have safe spaces to discuss and recover from their experiences.

    The National Sexual Assault, Family and Domestic Violence Counselling Line – 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) – is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for any Australian who has experienced, or is at risk of, family and domestic violence and/or sexual assault.

    Vita Pilkington led this project and receives funding from the Melbourne Research Scholarship and the Margaret Cohan Research Scholarship, both awarded by the University of Melbourne.

    Sarah Bendall has been awarded a NHMRC Investigator Grant to support research surrounding understanding and treating trauma in young people with mental health difficulties. She has previously held a NHMRC Early Career Fellowship and a McCusker Philanthropic Foundation Fellowship. She advises government on trauma and youth mental health policy, including Victoria’s statewide trauma service (Transforming Trauma Victoria).

    Zac Seidler receives funding from an NHMRC Investigator Grant. He is also the Global Director of Research with the Movember Institute of Men’s Health.

    – ref. ‘We don’t have a cultural place for men as victims’: why men often don’t tell anyone about sexual abuse – https://theconversation.com/we-dont-have-a-cultural-place-for-men-as-victims-why-men-often-dont-tell-anyone-about-sexual-abuse-252630

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Critical thinking is more important than ever. How can I improve my skills?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Ellerton, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy and Education; Curriculum Director, UQ Critical Thinking Project, The University of Queensland

    Siora Photography/Unsplash

    There is a Fox News headline that goes like this:

    Transgender female runner who beat 14,000 women at London Marathon offers to give medal back

    Read about the event elsewhere and it turns out the athlete was also beaten by thousands of people and it was a participation medal. While the Fox News headline is true, it is framed to potentially elicit a negative reaction.

    Misinformation is on the rise. We’re told we need to think critically when we read things online, but how can we recognise such situations? And what does it mean to think critically anyway?

    What is critical thinking?

    Critical thinking is based on the idea that if all ideas are equal, then all ideas are worthless. Without this assumption, there can be nothing to be critical of.

    When we think critically, we focus on the quality of our reasoning and the factors that can influence it. In other words, thinking critically primarily means being critical of your own thinking.

    Importantly, critical thinking is not strongly correlated with intelligence. While some believe intelligence is basically fixed (though there is debate around this), we can learn to think critically.

    Other factors being equal, there’s also no evidence thinking critically is an innate ability. In fact, we have evidence critical thinking can be improved as a skill in itself, and it is transferrable to other contexts.

    The tools of argumentation

    Many factors can affect the quality of your thinking. They include things like cognitive biases (systemic thinking errors), prior beliefs, prejudices and worldviews, framing effects, and how much you know about the subject.

    To understand the quality of our reasoning, we can use the concepts and language of argumentation.

    People often think “arguments” are about conflicting views. A better way to understand argumentation is to view it as a way of making our thinking visible and accessible to each other.

    Arguments contain premises, those things we think are true about the world, and conclusions, which is where we end up in our thinking. Moving from premises to conclusions is called inferring, and it is the quality of these inferences that is the concern of critical thinking.

    For example, if I offer the premises

    P1: All Gronks are green

    P2: Fred is a Gronk

    Then you have already inferred the conclusion

    C: Fred is green

    You don’t even need to know what a Gronk is to make that inference.

    All our rational judgements and decisions are made up of chains of inferences. Constructing, evaluating and identifying types of arguments is the core business of critical thinking.

    Argumentation is not about conflicting views – it’s making your thinking accessible.
    John Diez/Pexels

    How can we improve our critical thinking skills?

    To help us get better at it, we can understand critical thinking in three main ways.

    First, we can see critical thinking as a subject we can learn. In this subject, we study how arguments work and how our reasoning can be influenced or improved. We also learn what makes for good thinking by using ideas like accuracy, clarity, relevance, depth and more. These are what we value in good thinking. By learning this, we start to think about how we think, not just what we think about.

    Second, we improve our critical thinking by using what we’ve learned in real situations. This helps us build important thinking skills like analysing, justifying, evaluating and explaining.

    Third, we can also think of critical thinking as a habit or attitude – something we choose to practice in our everyday lives. This means being curious, open-minded and willing to question things instead of just accepting them. It also means being aware of our own biases and trying to be fair and honest in how we think.

    When we put all three of these together, we become better thinkers – not just in educational contexts, but in life.

    Practical steps to improving critical thinking

    Since critical thinking centres on the giving and taking of reasons, practising this is a step towards improvement. There are some useful ways to do this.

    1. Make reasoning – rather than conclusions – the basis of your discussions with others.

    When asking for someone’s opinion, inquire as to why they think that. And offer your thinking to others. Making our thinking visible leads to deep and meaningful conversations in which we can test each other’s thinking and develop the virtues of open-mindedness and curiosity.

    2. Always assess the credibility of information based on its source and with a reflection on your own biases.

    The processes of our thinking can shape information as we receive it, just as much as the source can in providing it. This develops the virtues of carefulness and humility.

    3. Keep the fundamental question of critical inquiry in mind.

    The most important question in critical thinking is: “how do we know?”. Continually testing the quality of your inquiry – and therefore thinking – is key. Focusing on this question gives us practice in applying the values of inquiry and develops virtues such as persistence and resilience.

    You are not alone!

    Reasoning is best understood as a social competence: we reason with and towards each other. Indeed, to be called reasonable is a social compliment.

    It’s only when we have to think with others that we really test the quality of our thinking. It’s easy to convince yourself about something, but when you play in the arena of public reasoning, the bar is much higher.

    So, be the reasonable person in the room.

    That doesn’t mean everyone has to come around to your way of thinking. But it does mean everyone will get closer to the truth because of you.

    Use online resources

    There are many accessible tools for developing critical thinking. Kialo (Esperanto for “reason”), brings together people from around the world on a user-friendly (and free) platform to help test our reasoning in a well-moderated and respectful environment. It is an excellent place to practice the giving and taking of reasons and to understand alternative positions.

    The School of Thought, developed to curate free critical thinking resources, includes many that are often used in educational contexts.

    There’s also a plethora of online courses that can guide development in critical thinking, from Australian and international universities.

    Peter Ellerton is affiliated with the Rationalist Society of Australia.

    – ref. Critical thinking is more important than ever. How can I improve my skills? – https://theconversation.com/critical-thinking-is-more-important-than-ever-how-can-i-improve-my-skills-252517

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Global: The collapse of Hudson’s Bay signals a turning point for Canadian legacy retailers

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Xiaodan Pan, Associate Professor, John Molson School of Business, Concordia University

    Hudson’s Bay Company has begun liquidating all but six of its stores. After the 352-year-old retailer filed for creditor protection amid mounting debt and operational losses in early March, a court gave it permission to start the liquidation process.

    Founded in 1670 as a fur-trading enterprise, Hudson’s Bay grew into one of Canada’s most iconic department store chains. But with nearly all locations set to close by June 30 and its loyalty programs suspended, the future of Hudson’s Bay remains uncertain.

    The retailer’s financial troubles raise broader questions about the viability of traditional department stores in an increasingly fast-paced, digitally driven retail environment.



    Read more:
    Hudson’s Bay liquidation: What happens when a company goes bankrupt?

    Modernization efforts

    In recent years, Hudson’s Bay attempted to modernize by blending its physical retail footprint with a growing digital presence. This included launching a revamped e-commerce platform and creating an online marketplace that allowed third-party sellers to broaden its product assortment.

    In 2021, Hudson’s Bay split its e-commerce and physical store divisions into separate entities: The Bay Online, focused on digital retail, and Hudson’s Bay, dedicated to in-store shopping experiences.

    But despite these efforts, Hudson’s Bay has struggled to differentiate its online platform in an overcrowded and highly competitive digital landscape, all while maintaining its physical presence.

    The rise of off-price retailers

    In sharp contrast to the struggles of legacy department stores, off-price retailers such as Winners, Marshalls and TJ Maxx continue to thrive. Their success is largely due to their ability to attract consumers across a wide range of income levels by offering brand-name merchandise at large discounts.

    In Canada, Winners alone has expanded to more than 300 stores nationwide, while Marshalls has added more than 100 locations. Combined, they significantly outnumber Hudson’s Bay’s approximately 80 stores.

    Off-price retailers have also gained a competitive edge through real estate choices, favouring open-air shopping centres and strip malls that provide greater accessibility and ample parking, which are benefits that many Hudson’s Bay urban locations lack.

    The off-price model thrives on an ever-changing merchandise mix. Buyers continuously source fashion, designer labels and home goods from a broad spectrum of vendors. This approach keeps assortments fresh and also ensures fast inventory turnover, reducing holding costs and supporting lower prices.

    This retail model has demonstrated resilience across economic cycles. In times of inflation or financial uncertainty, foot traffic to off-price stores typically increases as consumers become more price-sensitive — further eroding the market share of traditional department stores.

    The pressures from digital retailers

    The rapid rise of e-commerce has presented a significant challenge for traditional department stores. Over the past decade, online shopping in Canada has grown substantially, with monthly online retail sales surpassing three billion Canadian dollars.

    E-commerce now accounts for 11 to 12 per cent of total retail sales, with categories like fashion, hobby and leisure, electronics and furniture and home goods accounting for around 75 per cent of all retail e-commerce sales in Canada.

    In the general merchandise space, Amazon controls more than 40 per cent of Canada’s e-commerce market. Retail giants like Walmart and Costco have also expanded their digital capabilities. These players undercut the traditional value proposition of department stores.

    The large investments required in distribution capabilities has made it increasingly difficult for smaller competitors, such as Hudson’s Bay, to match the delivery speeds and product assortments of these retail heavyweights.

    In niche merchandise categories, specialized retailers have also chipped away at department stores’ customer bases. Sephora and Shoppers Drug Mart dominate the beauty and personal care market, while Lululemon, Nike and Zara rank among the top online stores in fashion.

    Ikea, Wayfair and other direct-to-consumer brands lead the online home goods and furniture market, while Canadian-based Holt Renfrew and France-based LVMH are both leaders in the luxury market.

    Adding to the challenge are international digital disruptors such as Shein and Temu, which have have rapidly gained ground in Canada. In 2023, Shein led the country’s online fashion segment with e-commerce net sales of approximately US$1.4 billion.

    Temu — an ultra-low-price platform that entered Canada in 2023 — became the country’s most-downloaded iPhone app by the end of 2024. These platforms are challenging legacy retailers by offering aggressive pricing, free shipping and vast product assortments.

    Pathways to reinvention

    With almost all of its stores closing and its loyalty programs suspended, the future of Hudson’s Bay is in question. While its brand recognition remains strong, it’s unclear whether it will be able to come back from the brink it’s now on.

    For any struggling legacy retailer looking to survive in today’s evolving market, reinvention is essential. Department stores and legacy retailers will need to reinvent themselves across five key dimensions:

    1. Reposition the brand: Canadian retailers can redefine their core value propositions, emphasizing what makes them unique. Their uniqueness may lie in their Canadian heritage, for instance. Brands like Roots and Canada Goose have been successful with this strategy.

    2. Rethink retail formats: The age of downtown retailing continues to fade, especially as remote work reduces foot traffic in urban centres. Large-scale covered malls are also declining, given the demise of anchor department store retailers and the rise of e-commerce. Canadian retailers should explore alternate formats, such as neighbourhood-based, category-specific outlets tailored to community preferences.

    3. Optimize physical presence: Strategic location decisions are crucial. Physical retailers must right-size their physical footprints — closing underperforming locations while reinvesting in high-traffic, high-return outlets. Future expansion should favour asset-light, data-informed models based on actual consumer demand.

    4. Improve in-store experiences: To draw customers back into stores, shopping must become experiential. Immersive displays, personalized service and community-centric events could make a visit to a physical store more memorable and engaging for customers.

    5. Integrating physical and digital channels: A cohesive digital and physical strategy is essential. Technologies such as augmented reality fitting rooms, virtual showrooms, click-and-collect options and AI-powered personalization could bridge the gap between online and in-store shopping.

    A defining moment for Canadian retailers

    Canadian retailing stands at a pivotal crossroads. The collapse of legacy department stores, the dominance of e-commerce giants and the rise of off-price and digital-first competitors all signal a permanent shift in how consumers shop.

    A long legacy alone does not secure survival. As seen with the collapses of Sears, Eaton’s and now Hudson’s Bay, failure to adapt can lead to obsolescence. The retail landscape is now defined by agility, innovation and the ability to meet consumers where they are.

    For retailers still standing, the lesson is clear: nostalgia is not a business model. Shoppers are now more price-conscious, convenience-driven and digitally engaged than ever before. Companies unwilling or unable to evolve will likely face the same fate as the retail giants that came before them.

    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. The collapse of Hudson’s Bay signals a turning point for Canadian legacy retailers – https://theconversation.com/the-collapse-of-hudsons-bay-signals-a-turning-point-for-canadian-legacy-retailers-252705

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: As generative AI becomes more sophisticated, it’s harder to distinguish the real from the deepfake

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Andreea Pocol, PhD candidate, Computer Science, University of Waterloo

    The text-to-image model DALL-E uses generative adversarial networks (GANs) to generate images. (Shutterstock)

    In the age of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), the phrase “I’ll believe it when I see it” no longer stands. Not only is GenAI able to generate manipulated representations of people, but it can also be used to generate entirely fictitious people and scenarios.



    Read more:
    The use of deepfakes can sow doubt, creating confusion and distrust in viewers

    GenAI tools are affordable and accessible to all, and AI-generated images are becoming ubiquitous. If you’ve been doom-scrolling through your news or Instagram feeds, chances are you’ve scrolled past an AI-generated image without even realizing it.

    As a computer science researcher and PhD candidate at the University of Waterloo, I’m increasingly concerned by my own inability to discern what’s real from what’s AI-generated.

    My research team conducted a survey where nearly 300 participants were asked to classify a set of images as real or fake. The average classification accuracy of participants was 61 per cent in 2022. Participants were more likely to correctly classify real images than fake ones. It’s likely that accuracy is much lower today thanks to the rapidly improving GenAI technology.

    We also analyzed their responses using text mining and keyword extraction to learn the common justifications participants provided for their classifications. It was immediately apparent that, in a generated image, a person’s eyes were considered the telltale indicator that the image was probably AI-generated. AI also struggled to produce realistic teeth, ears and hair.

    But these tools are constantly improving. The telltale signs we could once use to detect AI-generated images are no longer reliable.

    Improving images

    Researchers began exploring the use of GANs for image and video synthesis in 2014. The seminal paper “Generative Adversarial Nets” introduced the adversarial process of GANs. Although this paper does not mention deepfakes, it was the springboard for GAN-based deepfakes.

    Some early examples of GenAI art which used GANs include the “DeepDream” images created by Google engineer Alexander Mordvintsev in 2015.

    But in 2017, the term “deepfake” was officially born after a Reddit user, whose username was “deepfakes,” used GANs to generate synthetic celebrity pornography.

    In 2019, software engineer Philip Wang created the “ThisPersonDoesNotExist” website, which used GANs to generate realistic-looking images of people. That same year, the release of the deepfake detection challenge, which sought new and improved deepfake detection models, garnered widespread attention and led to the rise of deepfakes.



    Read more:
    How to combat the unethical and costly use of deepfakes

    About a decade later, one of the authors of the “Generative Adversarial Nets” paper — Canadian computer scientist Yoshua Bengio — began sharing his concerns about the need to regulate AI due to the potential dangers such technology could pose to humanity.

    Bengio and other AI trailblazers signed an open letter in 2024, calling for better deepfake regulation. He also led the first International AI Safety Report, which was published at the beginning of 2025.

    Hao Li, deepfake pioneer and one of the world’s top deepfake artists, conceded in a manner eerily reminiscent of Robert Oppenheimer’s famous “Now I Am Become Death” quote:

    “This is developing more rapidly than I thought. Soon, it’s going to get to the point where there is no way that we can actually detect ‘deepfakes’ anymore, so we have to look at other types of solutions.”

    The new disinformation

    Big tech companies have indeed been encouraging the development of algorithms that can detect deepfakes. These algorithms commonly look for the following signs to determine if content is a deepfake:

    • Number of words spoken per sentence, or the speech rate (the average human speech rate is 120-150 words per minute),
    • Facial expressions, based on known co-ordinates of the human eyes, eyebrows, nose, lips, teeth and facial contours,
    • Reflections in the eyes, which tends to be unconvincing (either missing or oversimplified),
    • Image saturation, with AI-generated images being less saturated and containing a lower number of underexposed pixels compared to pictures taken by an HDR camera.

    But even these traditional deepfake detection algorithms suffer several drawbacks. They are usually trained on high-resolution images, so they may fail at detecting low-resolution surveillance footage or when the subject is poorly illuminated or posing in an unrecognized way.

    Despite flimsy and inadequate attempts at regulation, rogue players continue to use deepfakes and text-to-image AI synthesis for nefarious purposes. The consequences of this unregulated use range from political destabilization at a national and global level to the destruction of reputations caused by very personal attacks.

    Disinformation isn’t new, but the modes of propagating it are constantly changing. Deepfakes can be used not only to spread disinformation — that is, to posit that something false is true — but also to create plausible deniability and posit that something true is false.

    It’s safe to say that in today’s world, seeing will never be believing again. What might once have been irrefutable evidence could very well be an AI-generated image.

    Andreea Pocol receives funding from NSERC.

    – ref. As generative AI becomes more sophisticated, it’s harder to distinguish the real from the deepfake – https://theconversation.com/as-generative-ai-becomes-more-sophisticated-its-harder-to-distinguish-the-real-from-the-deepfake-225768

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Sudan’s civil war: What military advances mean, and where the country could be heading next

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Christopher Tounsel, Associate Professor of History, University of Washington

    A Sudanese man celebrates as the military enters the central city of Wad Madani, pushing out the Rapid Support Forces in January 2025. AP Photo/Marwan Ali

    A series of advances by the Sudanese military has led some observers to posit that the African nation’s yearslong civil war could be at a crucial turning point.

    Even if it were to end tomorrow, the bloody conflict would have left the Sudanese people scarred by violence that has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions of people. But the recent victories by the military do not spell the end of its adversary, a rebel paramilitary group that still holds large areas in Sudan.

    The Conversation turned to Christopher Tounsel, a historian of modern Sudan at the University of Washington, to explain what the war has cost and where it could turn now.

    Can you give a summary of the civil war to date?

    On April 15, 2023, fighting broke out in Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces, or SAF – led by de facto head of state Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan – and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, led by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known colloquially as “Hemedti.” The RSF emerged out of the feared Janjaweed militia that had terrorized the Darfur region of Sudan.

    While the SAF and RSF previously worked together to forcibly remove longtime President Omar al-Bashir from power in 2019, they later split amid a power struggle that turned deadly.

    The major point of contention was the disputed timeline for RSF integration into the national military, with the RSF preferring a 10-year process to the SAF’s preferred two-year plan.

    By early April 2023, the government deployed SAF troops along the streets of the capital, Khartoum, while RSF forces took up locations throughout the country. Matters came to a head when explosions and gunfire rocked Khartoum on April 15 of that year. The two forces have been in conflict ever since.

    To human toll of the civil war has been staggering. As of February 2025, estimates of those killed from the conflict and its related causes, including lack of sufficient medical facilities and hunger, have ranged from 20,000 to 150,000 – a wide gulf that, according to Humanitarian Research Lab executive director Nathaniel Raymond, is partially due to the fact that the dead or displaced are still being counted.

    The conflict has displaced more than 14 million people, a number that demographically makes the Sudan situation the world’s worst displacement crisis. Nearly half of Sudan’s population is “acutely food insecure,” according to the U.N.’s World Food Programme. Another 638,000 face “catastrophic levels of hunger” – the world’s highest number.

    How have recent developments changed the war?

    The SAF has recently scored a slew of victories. At time of writing, the Sudanese military controls much of the country’s southeastern border with Ethiopia, the Red Sea coast – and, with it, Sudan’s strategically important Port Sudan – and parts of the country’s metropolitan center located at the confluence of the Blue and White Nile rivers.

    Further, the SAF has reclaimed much of the White Nile and Gezira provinces and broken an RSF siege of North Kordofan’s provincial capital of el-Obeid. In perhaps the most important development, the army in late March recaptured the RSF’s last major stronghold in Khartoum, the Presidential Palace.

    A fighter loyal to the Sudanese army patrols a market area in Khartoum on March 24, 2025.
    AFP via Getty Images

    Each of these actions indicates that the SAF is taking an increasingly proactive approach in the war. Such positive momentum could not only serve to reassure the Sudanese populace that the SAF is the country’s strongest force but also signal to foreign powers that it is, and will continue to be, the country’s legitimate authority moving forward.

    And yet, there are other indications that the RSF is in no rush to concede defeat. Despite the SAF’s advances, the RSF has strengthened its control over nearly all of Darfur, Sudan’s massive western region that shares a lengthy border with neighboring Chad.

    It is here that the RSF has been accused of committing genocide against non-Arab communities, and only the besieged capital of North Darfur, El Fasher, stands in the way of total RSF hegemony in the region. The RSF also controls territory to the south, along Sudan’s borders with the Central African Republic and South Sudan.

    The fact that the SAF and RSF are entrenched in their respective regional strongholds casts doubt on the significance of the military’s recent victories.

    Could Sudan be heading to partition?

    As a historian who spent years writing about South Sudanese separatism, I find it somewhat unfathomable to imagine that Sudan would further splinter into different countries. Given the current state of affairs, however, partition is not outside the realm of possibility. In February, during a summit in Kenya, the RSF and its allies officially commenced plans to create a rival government.

    The African Union’s 55 member states are said to be split on the issue of Sudanese partition and the question of whether any entity linked with the RSF should be accepted. In January, during the waning days of U.S. President Joe Biden’s presidency, Washington determined that the RSF and its allies had committed genocide and sanctioned Hemedti, the RSF leader, prohibiting him and his family from traveling to the U.S. and freezing any American assets he may hold.

    Any attempt to entertain partition could be read as an acknowledgment of the legitimacy of the RSF and would also create a dangerous precedent for other leaders who have been accused of human rights violations.

    In addition to the RSF’s perceived lack of moral legitimacy, there is also the recent precedent of South Sudan’s secession. South Sudan, since seceding from Sudan in 2011, has experienced enormous difficulties. Roughly 2½ years into independence, the nation erupted into a civil war waged largely along ethnic lines. Since the conclusion of that war in 2018, the world’s youngest nation continues to struggle with intergroup violence, food insecurity and sanctions resulting from human rights violations.

    Simply put, recent Sudanese history has shown that partition is not a risk-free solution to civil war.

    How has shifting geopolitics affected the conflict?

    It is important to understand that the conflict’s ripples extend far beyond Sudan’s borders. Similarly, the actions of countries such as the U.S., Russia and China have an impact on the war.

    Sudanese people line up to collect a charity ‘iftar’ fast-breaking meal in Omdourman on March 19, 2025.
    Ebrahim Hamid/AFP via Getty Images

    President Donald Trump’s executive order freezing contributions from the U.S. government’s development organization, USAID, has shuttered approximately 80% of the emergency food kitchens established to help those impacted by the conflict. An estimated 2 million people have been affected by this development.

    Russian financial and military contributions have been credited with helping the SAF achieve its gains in recent months. Russia has long desired a Red Sea naval base near Port Sudan, and the expulsion of Russia’s fleet from Syria following the fall of President Bashar Assad increased the importance of such a base.

    And then there is China. A major importer of Sudanese crude oil, China engaged in conversations to renegotiate oil cooperation agreements with Sudan in October 2024 with the hopes of increasing oil production amid the war. An end to the war – and, with it, protecting the flow of oil through pipelines vulnerable to attack – would benefit both members of this bilateral relationship.

    As the war enters its third year, the outlook remains frustratingly difficult to discern.

    Christopher Tounsel has previously received funding from the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.

    – ref. Sudan’s civil war: What military advances mean, and where the country could be heading next – https://theconversation.com/sudans-civil-war-what-military-advances-mean-and-where-the-country-could-be-heading-next-253007

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-Evening Report: National standards by stealth? Why the government’s latest plan for schools might fail the history test

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jade Wrathall, Teaching Fellow, Te Kura Toi Tangata – School of Education, University of Waikato

    smolaw/Shutterstock

    The New Zealand government’s plan to purchase a standardised tool to assess reading, writing and mathematics for school children between Year 3 and 10 has caught parents, schools and education groups by surprise.

    The tool would essentially be a return to a form of national standards, a policy introduced in 2008 under John Key’s National government.

    Under this policy, children were compared against the level of achievement expected for their age and time at school. The goal was to improve results across the education system.

    The policy was ended by Labour in 2017 after there was little improvement in international testing results and several criticism from the sector. The National Standards in their Seventh Year survey of teachers and principals found just 16% of respondents said the standardised testing had a positive impact.

    The planned introduction of a new standardised assessment tool is concerning for a number of reasons – particularly when it comes to long-term consequences for schools and student learning.

    But what has also raised the hackles of many in education is how the tender process for the new tool happened without warning. Here is what parents, schools and the public should know about the background to this debate.

    In 2024, Education Minister Erica Stanford announced plans to allow schools to choose between two tools to assess students, but the ministry has now issued a tender for just one.
    Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images

    A narrowing curriculum

    There is plenty of research – from New Zealand and overseas – highlighting the negative consequences of standardised testing in education.

    Standardised assessment can, for example, lead to schools being ranked against each other according to their achievement data. A low ranking could jeopardise a school’s reputation and therefore the number of enrolments and subsequent funding they receive.

    In this high-stakes environment, teachers can be pressured to focus on assessed subjects, often to the detriment of the broader curriculum. While the curriculum in New Zealand has already been considerably narrowed under the government’s “Teaching the Basics Brilliantly” policy, a standardised assessment could further exacerbate this trend.

    Teachers may also be inclined to “teach to the test” and employ rote learning strategies, where children are encouraged to memorise the correct answers. While this may result in high test scores, it is questionable whether deeper learning will occur.

    Focusing on assessment can also be detrimental to children’s belief that they could learn and their attitudes towards learning, particularly when they are labelled according to their level of achievement.

    Finally, while standardised tests might promise an “easy fix” to improve educational outcomes, they do not address the deeper socioeconomic disparities which continue to significantly affect educational achievement.

    A lack of consultation

    This shift back towards a national testing standard is happening without any known consultation with the education sector. Instead, the plan to use one standardised assessment tool only became evident when the government tender was released.

    But the introduction of a standardised test also doesn’t fit with the government’s previous public statements on testing.

    In 2024, Education Minister Erica Stanford announced plans to allow schools to choose between two tools to assess students. These tools were selected specifically to prevent comparison across schools because they were so different from one another.

    At the time, Stanford said

    It’s not our intention to pit schools against each other. This data is for parents to know how their kids are going, teachers to inform practice, and as a system to know how we’re tracking.

    But according to documents released later the same year, the government already had a plan to rely on a single standardised assessment tool that could produce comparable data.

    Control from afar

    While the Ministry of Education says this new standardised assessment tool “will deliver a long-term solution to support all schools and kura”, there are reasons to be sceptical.

    Standardised assessment can be used by the government to control what teachers do in the classroom and provide data to reallocate resources to where they are most needed. This resource allocation strategy, however, can leave some schools without the funding and support they need.

    Principals and teachers can also be held accountable for student achievement, while larger contextual factors, such as socioeconomic inequalities, are ignored. This can ultimately lead to educators being blamed if achievement targets are not met.

    Regardless of who wins the tender for the new assessment tool, New Zealand’s recent experience with standardised testing didn’t achieve what was promised. Returning to national standards – either in name or just in spirit – should raise alarms for everyone.

    Marta Estellés has previously received funding from The Spencer Foundation, New Zealand National Commission of UNESCO, the Division of Education at The University of Waikato and The University of Cantabria.

    Jade Wrathall 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. National standards by stealth? Why the government’s latest plan for schools might fail the history test – https://theconversation.com/national-standards-by-stealth-why-the-governments-latest-plan-for-schools-might-fail-the-history-test-252917

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Modern spacesuits have a compatability problem. Astronauts’ lives depend on fixing it

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Berna Akcali Gur, Lecturer in Outer Space Law, Queen Mary University of London

    Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, the Nasa astronauts who were stuck on the International Space Station (ISS) for nine months, have finally returned to Earth.

    Spacesuits were an important consideration that Nasa had to factor into its plans to bring the astronauts back home. Wilmore and Williams had travelled to the ISS in Boeing’s experimental Starliner spacecraft, so they arrived wearing Boeing “Blue” spacesuits.

    Following helium leaks and thruster (engine) issues with Starliner, Nasa decided it was safer not to send them back to Earth on that vehicle. The astronauts had to wait to return on one of the other spacecraft that ferry crew members to the ISS, the SpaceX Crew Dragon.

    This meant they needed a different type of spacesuit, made by SpaceX for use in its vehicle only. Boeing’s suits cannot be used in Crew Dragon in part because the umbilicals (the flexible “pipes” that supply air and cooling to the suit) have connections and standards that don’t work with the ports inside a Crew Dragon.

    This highlights a general problem for the growing number of space agencies and companies sending people into orbit, and for planned missions to the Moon and beyond. Ensuring that different spacesuits are compatible, or “interoperable”, with spacecraft they weren’t designed to be used in is vital if we are to protect astronauts’ lives during an emergency in space, especially in joint missions.

    The spacesuits worn during a return from space are called “launch, entry and abort” (LEA) suits. These are airtight and provide life support to the astronauts in case there is a decompression, when air is lost from the cabin.

    Unfortunately, a decompression has already caused loss of life in space. During the Soyuz 11 mission in 1971, three Soviet cosmonauts visited the world’s first space station, Salyut 1. But during preparations for re-entry, the crew cabin lost its air, killing cosmonauts Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev, who were not wearing LEA suits. All cosmonauts wore them after this incident.

    As well as the connections for life support, the Boeing and SpaceX suits also have restraints and connections for communications that are specific to each vehicle. For their return home from the ISS in a SpaceX capsule, Williams was able into use a spare SpaceX suit that was already aboard the space station and the company sent up an additional suit on a cargo delivery for Wilmore to wear.

    Two spacecraft are usually docked at the ISS as “lifeboats” to evacuate the astronauts in the event of an emergency. These are generally a SpaceX Crew Dragon and a Russian Soyuz capsule.

    If an emergency evacuation were to occur and there weren’t enough of the right spacesuits available – for either the Crew Dragon or Soyuz – it could endanger astronauts during the fiery re-entry through Earth’s atmosphere. Interoperability between spacesuits has therefore become a matter of survival.

    The Outer Space Treaty, which provides the basic framework for international space law, recognises astronauts as “envoys of humankind” and grants them specific legal protections. These were expanded on in subsequent UN treaties – notably the Rescue Agreement, which imposes a range of duties on states to render assistance to each others’ astronauts in cases of emergency, accident or distress.

    For the ISS, a collaborative space programme with international flight crews, protocols include terms that set forth how this obligation is to be met. However, these protocols do not contain terms relating to spacesuit interoperability.

    Risks to astronauts in space

    A major potential cause of an emergency evacuation is space debris. The ISS has regularly had to manoeuvre to avoid collisions with debris – including entire defunct satellites.

    In his memoir, Endurance, Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly describes being commanded to enter the Soyuz vehicle with two other crew members and prepare to detach from the ISS because of a close approach by a large defunct satellite. Luckily, the spacecraft passed by harmlessly.

    As orbits become increasingly congested, with an exponential increase in the number of space objects being launched, the risk of collisions will also increase.

    Ever more companies and governments are entering the human spaceflight arena. The Tiangong space station, China’s orbiting laboratory, has been fully operational since 2022, and there are plans to open it to space tourism, just like the ISS.

    India is planning to join the community of nations with the capability to launch humans into space, under a programme called Gaganyaan. And while most space travellers remain government-funded astronauts, the number of private space-farers is increasing.

    Billionaire Jared Isaacman (who is President Trump’s nominee to run Nasa) has commanded two private missions into orbit using Crew Dragon. On the second of these, he participated in the first spacewalk by privately funded astronauts. The ISS is set to be retired in 2030 – but one company, Houston-based Axiom Space, is already building a private space station.

    Against this complex and part-unregulated backdrop, ensuring the interoperability of different spacecraft systems, including spacesuits, will increase levels of safety in this inherently risky activity.

    While the safety and practicality of spacesuits has always been the top priority, compatibility between different suits and vehicles should also be high on the list. This requires space agencies and private spaceflight companies to engage with each other in a process to agree on standard interfaces and connections for life support and communications, across all their suits and space vehicles.

    Amid this period of increased commercialisation and competition between the organisations and companies involved in orbital spaceflight, a move toward greater collaboration can only be a good thing.

    Berna Akcali Gur 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. Modern spacesuits have a compatability problem. Astronauts’ lives depend on fixing it – https://theconversation.com/modern-spacesuits-have-a-compatability-problem-astronauts-lives-depend-on-fixing-it-252935

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgeson Burnett was an early work of climate fiction

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Davina Quinlivan, Lecturer in English and Creative Writing, University of Exeter

    I grew up in a mixed-heritage family. Both of my parents’ childhoods were deeply affected by colonialism in India and they often told me stories about this period in their lives. As a result, I inherited a sense of place and a feeling for a country which was never my home.

    It’s a strange feeling, which I still struggle to put into words, though I tried in my memoir, Shalimar: A Story of Place and Migration, which holds at its heart the sensation and imagery of India’s climate and its wildlife. India, for me, will always coexist with English weather and the roses my father tended to in our modest, suburban home in Hayes, west London.

    While we now have beautifully written, tender children’s books which address colonial history, from Nazneen Ahmed Pathak’s City of Stolen Magic (2023) to Jasbinder Bilan’s Nush and the Stolen Emerald (2024), The Secret Garden still holds a powerful spell over me. That’s because of its representation of nature and its use of fiction to tell a story about England and India, two countries brought together through the healing space of the garden.

    I believe that re-contextualising A Secret Garden as an early work of climate fiction – a type of storytelling that imagines how climate change could shape our world – is an apt way to rethink this classic tale.

    This article is part of Rethinking the Classics. The stories in this series offer insightful new ways to think about and interpret classic books and artworks. This is the canon – with a twist.

    Published in 1911, The Secret Garden unfolds against the backdrop of the fictional Misselthwaite Manor and its walled garden on the Yorkshire Moors.

    While Yorkshire and its thick sheets of rain, enveloped in mist and fog, is portrayed vividly by Hodgeson Burnett, the ghostly heat and skies of India are also woven throughout the book’s micro-climates. Hodgeson Burnett’s attention to nature is masterful and magical:

    One knows it sometimes when one gets up at the tender solemn dawn-time and goes out and stands out and throws one’s head far back and looks up and up and watches the pale sky slowly changing and flushing … And one knows it sometimes when one stands by oneself in a wood at sunset and the mysterious deep gold stillness slanting through and under the branches seems to be saying slowly again and again something one cannot quite hear, however much one tries.

    The climates of India and Yorkshire blur into a new reality when seen through the eyes of the book’s central protagonist, the recently orphaned Mary Lennox. She is sent to live with her uncle after her parents die of cholera in colonial Calcutta.

    Wilful and fiery, Mary’s grief and rootlessness seems to be unending until she follows a twitching robin into a walled garden. There she befriends other children including her cousin Colin, who uses a wheelchair, and the gardener, Weatherstaff.

    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.

    The hidden sanctuary and wonder of the garden is intertwined with Mary’s inner world and her search for solace after the loss of her parents. Her resilience thrives and blooms, particularly when she becomes a storyteller and draws the other children into this secret place through her tales of adventure.

    Here, the telling of the “story” of the garden is as important as the experience of the garden itself. This is where fiction does its work – we need stories like this to recover a sense of care in times of ecological crisis.

    Last year saw the launch of the Climate Fiction Prize, a vital endeavour to specifically support literary fiction as a cultural form which permits writers the freedom to imagine alternative paths for human existence. The Secret Garden is a work of such imagination, of transformation from otherwise impossible states of crisis and inertia.

    Beyond the Canon

    As part of the Rethinking the Classics series, we’re asking our experts to recommend a book or artwork that tackles similar themes to the canonical work in question, but isn’t (yet) considered a classic itself. Here is Davina Quinlivan’s suggestion:

    Shaun Tan’s Tales From the Inner City (2018) is a beautiful and extremely moving collection of illustrated, eco-centric stories exploring the relationship between humans and animals in urban environments.

    Tan is well known for his elegiac and often uncanny, playful storytelling and Tales From the Inner City skilfully braids these aesthetic values with a powerful message of hope and compassion for the wild and domestic creatures we share our world with. While there is no explicit reference to the climate crisis, Tan’s exquisite images illustrate stories of kinship between humans and dogs, snails, whales, pigeons, cats and tigers – all bound to each other as intertwined species.

    Set within cities, the wild beauty of each animal seems enlarged, as does the poignancy of each story, reminding us of what we have to lose. Some of the creatures literally morph into giant versions of themselves, eerie against Tan’s various backdrops of urban space. In one story, two tiny humans are seen being carried through stormy waters, perched between the ears of an enormous cat. It’s an indelible image of hope and survival in the wake of environmental devastation. Tan’s imaginative power is utterly extraordinary.

    Davina Quinlivan is an AHRC-funded StoryArcs Fellow based in the Department of English and Creative Writing at The University of Exeter. She is also an Artistic Lead with Emblaze, an imprint of Paper Nations. Paper Nations is an award-winning creative writing incubator illuminating stories of colour in the South West, funded by Arts Council England and produced by The Story Society, Bath Spa University.

    – ref. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgeson Burnett was an early work of climate fiction – https://theconversation.com/the-secret-garden-by-frances-hodgeson-burnett-was-an-early-work-of-climate-fiction-250338

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Trump’s job cuts are causing Republican angst as all parties face backlash

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Thomas Gift, Associate Professor and Director of the Centre on US Politics, UCL

    A spate of town hall meetings held across the US has revealed palpable anger among both Democratic and Republican voters. At some events, voters have spoken to “empty chairs” in lieu of Congress members who refused to show their faces. At others, lawmakers have been booed, heckled and faced raucous audiences.

    What’s striking isn’t just the outrage, but where it’s coming from. Much of the backlash is from parties’ own voters.

    Things have become particularly bad for Republicans. So much so that party leaders have urged lawmakers to host live-streamed or call-in events rather than in-person town halls. President Donald Trump has baselessly blamed “paid agitators” for the fallout. But some backlash doubtlessly comes from Trump supporters.

    Republican angst might suggest a discrepancy between their abstract support for federal spending cuts by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) and their actual response to its practical consequences.

    Republicans doubtlessly like the optics of Musk taking out his chainsaw to slice government. A March 2025 CNN poll, for example, revealed that 75% of Republicans approve of Musk, compared to just 6% of Democrats. Additionally, 73% of Republicans even think Doge cuts won’t go far enough in rooting out “waste, fraud, and abuse” in government.

    However, that enthusiasm seems to fade when specific programmes are on the chopping block. As Republican strategist Brian Seitchik puts it: “There is certainly a disconnect right now between the theory of Doge, the cutting of fat in government … and what is seemingly a blowtorch as opposed to a scalpel approach to solving these problems.”

    Cuts to the federal workforce are emerging as perhaps the most contentious issue. These jobs are disproportionately concentrated in Washington DC. But in terms of total numbers, most are scattered across the country. That includes Republican states that Trump carried in last November’s election.

    Eliminating these jobs is having an impact that many Trump voters didn’t anticipate. Some may soon be showing buyer’s remorse with Trump. It is worth noting that around 81% of Republicans rated jobs and the economy as a very important issue, compared to 73% of Democrats, in a March poll from the Economist/YouGov.

    The political downside of job cuts has been made worse by an administration that can often seem numb to their impact. Recently, new video footage was unearthed of current Office of Management and Budget head Russ Vought saying in 2023 that he wanted civil servants to be “traumatically affected”.

    Despite all of Doge’s relentless efforts, US federal spending still hit a new high last month – US$603 billion (£467 billion). Without touching health service and senior citizen entitlements like Social Security and Medicare, it will be hard for the White House to significantly reduce national debt.

    High prices also continue to anger Trumpland. Trump vowed in the campaign: “You just watch – they’ll come down, and they’ll come down fast.” With inflation, Trump can scapegoat former president Joe Biden for a period. But that only lasts so long.

    Job cuts don’t just affect Democratic states.

    The problem for the White House is that it’s hard to imagine two more inflationary policies than those offered by Trump: tariffs, which pass higher prices onto consumers; and mass deportations, which constrict the labour supply and drive up the price of goods.

    Trump’s base is notoriously loyal. But swing voters who backed Trump could be in for a rude awakening if they expected Trump to revitalise American manufacturing and slash the price of eggs and Big Macs. If Trump’s approval ratings start to slide, some Republicans in Congress may also give him less than their full-throated support.

    Discontented Democrats

    Republicans aren’t the only ones with a problem from their own flank. According to polling by CNN, the Democratic party’s approval rating is just 29%, an all-time low. Among Democrats, some frustration stems from the direction in which Trump is taking the country, but much of it is about the Democratic party’s inability to counter him.

    Consider Trump’s speech before a joint session of Congress a couple weeks ago, where Democrats looked clumsy (and shrill) in their response. Representative Al Green was even censured for disrupting Trump’s address, including by 10 of his Democratic colleagues.

    Consider also the recent spending bill, when Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer broke with his party to keep the federal government open. Fellow Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called the move a “huge slap in the face,” while even Schumer’s longtime political partner and former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called him out for caving.

    Many Democratic voters view Democratic party leadership as feckless, as weak, and, in short, as losing. That’s hard to dispute that when Republicans have control of the White House, Congress, and for all intents and purposes, the Supreme Court.

    Calls for “fighting harder” ring hollow unless they’re backed with concrete action. Some pushback can come from states and localities. But what Democratic voters may be looking for is a common message. Half the party wants full-on resistance to Trump. Half doesn’t.

    What Democrats do next

    Coming out of November’s election, the autopsy reports haven’t moved the party in a consistent, constructive direction. For example, Democratic strategist James Carville says that his party should simply “roll over and play dead,” letting Republicans self-combust and making the American people long for Democratic governance. Others, like Ocasio-Cortez, are spoiling for a fight with Trump.

    Past patterns in election cycles would suggest that Democrats will take back at least one chamber of Congress in the 2026 midterms. But before they can, Democrats must heal splits between moderates and progressives, and address the backlash against “wokeism”, which is fading even faster than it emerged.

    Things look dire for Democrats now. Still, some historical context is instructive. 2004 was also a devastating loss for Democrats, when presidential candidate John Kerry lost to incumbent George W. Bush. Yet in 2008, Barack Obama ushered in a new era of Democratic governance. Politics has a way of self-correcting when the party in power over-interprets its mandate.

    Thomas Gift 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 job cuts are causing Republican angst as all parties face backlash – https://theconversation.com/trumps-job-cuts-are-causing-republican-angst-as-all-parties-face-backlash-252940

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Psychopaths experience pain differently, even when their bodies say otherwise

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Sophie Alshukri, PhD Candidate in Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University

    Roman Samborskyi/Shutterstock

    Psychopathy has long been associated with murderers, notorious criminals, and the griping true crime stories that dominate Netflix documentaries. But our recent research is showing they have a complex relationship with pain which may in part be responsible for their lack of empathy.

    Psychopathic traits are on a spectrum. We all have levels somewhere on this scale. To be deemed a “psychopath” by some medical professionals, though, you would need to sit on the higher end of the spectrum.

    Typically, people who are higher on the psychopathic traits spectrum show greater pain tolerance. And this is usually reflected in their physiology. For instance, in a 2022 study people higher in psychopathic traits showed lower brain activity with pressure pain.

    When we conducted our recent research on pain and people with different levels of psychopathy, our results surprised us. Participants with high levels of psychopathy seemed to process pain differently to people low in psychopathy.

    We applied pressure pain to our participants using a device that gently pressed a small circular probe onto the participant’s fingernail using compressed air. We measured their reactions from their sweat responses.

    This is called skin conductance response (SCR), and is activated in times of “fight or flight”, or even when we need to pay attention. And this normally increases sweat production. That’s what we used to measure participants’ response to pain and empathy in our experiment.

    Before our experiment began, we slowly increased the levels of pressure that participants felt until they told us they had reached their pain threshold (the most pain they could bear). The low and high psychopathy groups chose similar levels of pressure for their pain threshold.

    Next, we delivered varying levels of pressure (with the highest being each participant’s pain threshold) to ensure participants did not become used to the stimulations. Following each stimulation, participants were asked to rate how much pain they felt using a self-report measure ranging from 0-100.

    We found that participants higher in psychopathy reported feeling less pain than participants who were lower in psychopathy. The high psychopathy group even rated their own pain thresholds as less painful than the low psychopathy group (on the 0-100 scale). However, their SCRs were the same as those lower in psychopathy.

    So, what does this mean?

    It suggests that people higher in psychopathy interpret pain differently. Perhaps this explains why psychopathy relates to greater risk-taking and increased levels of violence or aggression towards others – they do not recognise feelings of pain in the same way as other people.

    Psychopaths may not recognise pain in the same way as others.
    Ground Picture/Shutterstock

    Usually, psychopathy relates to lower levels of physiological responses in threatening situations because they don’t associate pain with fear or punishment.

    The results of our study suggest that the difference in pain perception between high and low psychopathic people may be psychological rather than physiological. This could explain why there were differences in self-reports, but not in sweat responses.

    We don’t know whether they are pretending to feel pain or are less connected to their body’s physiology. But a 2019 study on children suggests those high in psychopathic traits may engage in extreme coping when scared. For instance, those children showed blunted emotional responses, disengagement or risky behaviour to cope with the stress.

    What about empathy for other people’s pain?

    We also tested our participants’ responses to other people’s pain by showing them images, such as a hand trapped in a door or a bare foot stepping on glass. Previous research has shown that people higher in psychopathy show reduced levels of physiological arousal to other people’s distress.

    For example, a 2015 study found people higher in psychopathy demonstrated lower levels of brain activity when seeing other people in painful situations. In our study, we found that people higher in psychopathy not only reported feeling less empathy but also showed lower sweat responses when viewing other people’s pain.

    This lower SCR has also been found in male prisoners with psychopathic traits. And it typically indicates less attention or focus on other people’s pain.

    Our study shows that a lack of empathy for others may not be a conscious choice. Our recent systematic review, where we looked at eight previous studies on psychopathy and pain perception, also helped to corroborate these findings, showing that psychopathy links to lower levels of brain activity in response to other people’s pain.

    Research has shown that lower levels of empathy for other people can be influenced by a higher tolerance for pain. If someone does not understand the feelings of pain the same way as other people, they probably don’t understand the pain that other people may be experiencing.

    Also, a 2020 review showed that the brain networks used in processing pain are also used to process empathy. This could mean that if people higher in psychopathy don’t feel as much pain themselves, their perceptions of other people’s pain could also be reduced via this shared network.

    Just because you show higher psychopathic traits does not necessarily mean you are going to be the lead character of your own true crime documentary, though. In fact, recent research, including a 2022 study, noted psychopathic traits can be positive and help people regulate their emotions.

    Surgeons and other medical professionals show high levels of psychopathic traits, particularly the stress immunity part of the personality trait.

    Perhaps this is what allows medical professionals high in psychopathic traits to stay calm under pressure, allowing them to make quick, rational decisions without being overwhelmed by stress.

    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. Psychopaths experience pain differently, even when their bodies say otherwise – https://theconversation.com/psychopaths-experience-pain-differently-even-when-their-bodies-say-otherwise-251529

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: The paradox of weight loss: why losing pounds may not always lead to better health

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Barbara Pierscionek, Professor and Deputy Dean, Research and Innovation, Anglia Ruskin University

    Jacob Lund/Shutterstock

    One of the lasting memories from my teenage years is what I now recognise as an obsession with weight control. Thin was in, and magazines promoted a variety of diets, each claiming effectiveness, often accompanied by images of beautiful, slim models. Not much has changed.

    Diets, intermittent fasting, weight-loss surgery, and more recently, weight-loss injections continue to be marketed as solutions for shedding pounds. Achieving a healthy weight is widely regarded as essential for overall wellbeing.

    Many studies have explored the relationship between weight changes and mortality, as well as mortality in obese people with heart disease. These studies often suggest that excessive weight is unhealthy and that people with obesity and heart disease should lose weight.

    However, findings from a recent study, of which I was a co-author, challenge this assumption. Our research indicates that significant weight loss – greater than 10kg – can actually increase the risk of early death in obese people with cardiovascular disease.

    This study was based on data from over 8,000 participants in the UK Biobank, a comprehensive resource for medical research that includes genetic data.

    While it’s known that rapid weight loss can signal underlying health issues and lead to serious complications, the weight changes in our study were observed over an average of nine years, meaning for some participants, these changes were relatively quick.

    This creates a paradox. While both obesity and cardiovascular disease are known to increase the risk of early death, in obese people with cardiovascular disease, weight loss – intended to improve health – can have the opposite effect.

    The relationship between body weight and illness is complex. Though obesity contributes to cardiovascular problems, studies have also shown an increased risk of early death in those with chronic heart failure who are lean, and in people with coronary artery disease whose weight fluctuates.

    Obesity rates are rising, but simply focusing on weight loss may not be the answer.

    Variability in weight loss

    For weight loss to be effective, we must consider the diverse factors contributing to weight gain, which vary from person to person. Genetics play a significant role in appetite and metabolism, and they can also influence lifestyle factors like overeating, inadequate exercise and poor dietary choices that lead to obesity.

    In our study, my colleagues and I couldn’t account for all the factors behind the participants’ obesity or the methods they used to lose weight. This means we can’t definitively determine which weight-loss strategies – whether in terms of duration, diet or physical activity – pose the greatest risks.

    The conventional approach to healthy weight – using body mass index (BMI) – may not apply to everyone. BMI is increasingly recognised as having limitations. Some people may tolerate higher weights without adverse health effects. The real question isn’t how quickly weight should be lost, but how quickly it should be lost for each person.

    Given the current evidence, we cannot accurately determine an ideal weight range that’s universally beneficial for health. However, intriguing patterns are emerging from various countries.

    For instance, Tonga has a high rate of obesity, yet it experiences significantly lower rates of heart-disease-related deaths than many European countries where obesity is less prevalent. Tonga also reports lower levels of alcohol consumption and suicide than most European nations.

    Health encompasses both physical and mental wellbeing. Shifting the focus to holistic wellbeing and happiness may offer more lasting health benefits. Treating obesity requires a comprehensive approach, addressing all underlying factors contributing to the condition.

    Barbara Pierscionek 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 paradox of weight loss: why losing pounds may not always lead to better health – https://theconversation.com/the-paradox-of-weight-loss-why-losing-pounds-may-not-always-lead-to-better-health-252397

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: After months of Trump’s shock tactics, whistleblower groups are pushing back against attacks on workers’ rights

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Kate Kenny, Professor of Business and Society, University of Galway

    Julio Javier Vargas/Shutterstock

    In the US, under president Donald Trump, rapid assaults on civil servants’ rights, including their rights to speak out about wrongdoing, are increasingly part of the administration’s play for power. Shock tactics tend to work when the speed leaves observers too stunned to act.

    But countering the paralysis, whistleblower supporters are organising. Civil society groups are collaborating to shore up workers’ rights, challenge threats in the courts, and inform the public why it’s important to protect whistleblowers. Their cool-headed approach shows what it takes to work together to preserve democratic freedoms.

    Since January 2025, the Trump administration has assaulted federal workers’ rights including whistleblowing protections. Key personnel are being fired, with thousands of other civil servants under threat of being reclassified as “at-will” workers who can be sacked at any time for any reason.

    But the US needs whistleblower rights. In the past ten years alone, US government workers speaking out have protected citizens from a long list of ills. This includes food contamination, health risks, airline dangers and climate censorship. And they have called out managers for fraud and corruption.

    Recent UK research demonstrates how listening to whistleblowers in some cases – including the Post Office scandal and the collapse of contractor Carillion – would have saved taxpayers nearly £400 million.

    Functioning government bureaucracies, staffed by well-qualified, professional and independent civil servants, curtail attempts by politicians to control the state.

    In the US, long-standing structures like the Pendleton Act of 1883 and the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, were put in place to ensure this. These laws insist government workers are hired and fired on the basis of skill and ability, not their political views. New employees take an oath of loyalty to the US constitution, not to the president.

    Whistleblower protection is a critical part of ensuring this independence, because it enables civil servants to challenge abuses of power. But whistleblowers can only call out wrongdoing if they are protected from reprisal. Right now, these protections are under threat.

    Shock and awe

    Critics of the new US administration know all this. But the speed of change seems overwhelming. And the will to resist depletes, as people struggle to make sense of the constant disruption.

    What to do with widely reported shows of anti-democratic aggression, like the recent appearance of senior Trump adviser Elon Musk on stage with a red chainsaw, shouting about a “chainsaw for bureaucracy”?

    This is exactly the kind of chaotic, performative scene that stokes fascist passions, but leaves critics frozen.

    Elon Musk’s chainsaw stunt was made famous by Argentinian president Javier Milei, who was looking on as Musk played to the gallery.
    Joshua Sukoff/Shutterstock

    Connecting such moves with Trump’s aggression against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes and trans citizens, US philosopher Judith Butler has warned that people can be stunned into inaction by increasingly shocking events. They stop seeing how they are connected.

    What links these events, fundamentally, is contempt for ordinary US citizens’ rights and for constitutional democracy. As Butler also says, it’s important that citizens are not left immobilised by the outrage.

    To counter the chaos, cool heads are needed. Supporters of whistleblower rights are pushing back. With partners, the nonprofit whistleblower organisation Government Accountability Project is suing Trump over the unconstitutional roll-back of federal worker protections. And civil society groups successfully challenged February’s firing of the chief of the federal whistleblowing agency.

    This kind of whistleblower activism has happened before in other parts of the world. In Europe, NGOs monitor countries’ adoption of the new EU whistleblower protection law.

    Organisations like the Whistleblowing International Network and the UNCAC coalition support civil society groups in countries around the world with new but fragile whistleblower protection systems introduced to support public trust and democratic accountability. These partnerships harness public opinion through the media and lobby for change. They come together in regular online events and forums to sustain momentum.

    These coalitions of whistleblower activists have a history of working together, celebrating small wins and publicising each other’s work.

    As my recent book details, this collective activism is not easy. These organisations operate on limited funding. And in the face of disinformation on social media, defending truth and facts can be challenging. Yet as I found, strategising and collaborating can help counter aggressive opposition.

    A shared commitment to democratic rights is what keeps coalitions of whistleblower activists going – they demonstrate passions for equality and the right to live without fear.

    Trump is working to remake the federal government in the service of his political agenda. It is a classic move made by “strongman” leaders. They seize control of government bureaucracy in order to reward elite supporters, give favours and jobs to insiders, and weaken oversight on corruption.

    Attacking government bureaucracy has been a first step in the power grab by authoritarian leaders worldwide, from Hungary to Benin, Turkey and Venezuela.

    Working with his largest election donor Elon Musk, who already owns businesses benefiting from government contracts, Trump’s aggressive overhaul of the federal government radically dilutes the potential for dissenting workers to speak out in protest.

    It is tempting to remain paralysed in the face of daily attempts to roll back workers’ rights. But through their dedication, mutual support and celebration of even small wins, international collectives of whistleblower activists remind us that there is a way forward and why it’s vital to keep going.

    Kate Kenny has in the past and at different times engaged in research funded by organizations including: the EU Commission, ESRC UK, the British Academy, Harvard University, Science Foundation Ireland and Leverhulme Trust.

    – ref. After months of Trump’s shock tactics, whistleblower groups are pushing back against attacks on workers’ rights – https://theconversation.com/after-months-of-trumps-shock-tactics-whistleblower-groups-are-pushing-back-against-attacks-on-workers-rights-252861

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: The TGL golf league might signal that indoor sport is the future, for better or worse

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Brad Millington, Associate Professor, Sport Management, Brock University

    The inaugural season of the TGL golf league closes this week with a final championship-deciding series. The upstart, team-based, men’s league has made headlines for its celebrity backers, including star golfers Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.

    Even more noteworthy is TGL’s unique format. Events are played inside SoFi Center, a custom-built venue in Florida with an audience capacity of 1,500.

    At one end lies the “ScreenZone,” where a golf simulator is used for longer shots such as drives and iron play. At the other end, players chip and putt along the physical surface of the “GreenZone” to record a final score on each hole.

    TGL is the latest commercial venture to shake up the golf world in recent years. The league is no doubt novel in some ways, yet it can also be explained as the convergence of two longstanding trends: the “mediatization” and “indoorization” of sport.



    Read more:
    PGA Tour-LIV merger: What this new partnership means for the future of golf and elite sport

    A ‘mediatized’ sports landscape

    Mediatization is a concept that speaks to relationships of interdependence between media and other institutions, such as sport. More than simply conveying sport content, communication technologies have helped change sport over the years — consider “television timeouts” or the use of instant replay.

    In return, sport is a source of live, unpredictable and exciting media content, something that is highly valuable in a competitive attention economy.

    In this context, TGL stands out as an especially tech-infused venture.

    First, there is the golf simulator. The ScreenZone is so named because players hit into a massive screen measuring 64 by 53 feet. Tracking technology is used to map and represent the flight of the ball on screen. This allows for a thoroughly datafied sport experience as an array of performance metrics are available to both players and fans.

    Also relevant are TGL’s seemingly made-for-TV conventions, some of which might be anathema to golf traditionalists. Among them, a 40-second shot clock keeps a brisk pace of play. Players are also mic’d up, making strategy conversations and reactions accessible to the audience.

    In all, TGL is a media spectacle. It is not uncommon for sports leagues to adopt new rules and formats, seemingly in a bid to capture consumer attention. But, through TGL’s video game-like components, media representation — golf on a simulated volcano, among other places — becomes part of the sport competition itself.

    Sport moves indoors

    TGL is also an indoor spectacle. In this sense, it contributes to the indoorization of outdoor sports.

    Outdoor sports from surfing to skiing, rock climbing and many more have moved indoors in recent years (while remaining outdoor sports too). A potential trade-off is that, while outdoor sports often foreground adventure, uncertainty and danger, their indoor analogues often trade this for control, predictability and calculability. The authenticity of indoor sport might therefore be debated, especially in historically counter-cultural sports such as surfing.

    Yet indoorization can also lead to expansion. From the late 1800s onwards, artificial ice in North American arenas allowed for reliable skating conditions and helped hockey move to new locations, growing the game as a commercial endeavour and cultural institution.

    There was also the benefit of escaping the elements. As architectural historian Howard Shubert writes:

    “Covered rinks allowed patrons to escape winter’s cold temperatures, harsh winds, and blowing snow and eliminated the immediate danger of falling through thin ice on ponds and streams.”

    Indoorization is not new, even for golf: golf simulators can be found in converted garages; Topgolf facilities offer high-tech, all-weather golf experiences. But TGL is a high-profile entrant in a history of moving sport indoors.

    Indoorization as adaption?

    Researchers assessing the prospects for outdoor skating against recent climate projections have concluded the future looks bleak for outdoor rinks, and that indoor arenas and synthetic surfaces will grow more important in the years ahead.

    Put another way, indoorization may increasingly be a requirement, and not just a luxury, in the context of a worsening climate crisis.

    Likewise, sport mega-events have implemented various climate adaptation measures over time, from snow-making on ski slopes to refrigeration of sliding tracks and far beyond. The future is likely to see host cities become climate unreliable to an even greater extent.

    It’s not just winter sports. From air-conditioned stadiums to relocated events in search of cooler conditions to indoor recess for students escaping poor-quality outdoor air, the changing climate is a point of vulnerability year-round — and for sport and physical activity participation at various levels.

    Our point here is not that TGL was conceived with the climate crisis in mind. Nor do we expect outdoor golf to disappear. Rather, the climate crisis will demand adaptation in sport in the years ahead.

    In a time of technological innovation — augmented reality, artificial intelligence and more — the mediatization of sport will provide new commercial and recreational opportunities that offer escape from, and perhaps distraction from, worsening outdoor conditions.

    TGL’s blend of real and artificial elements can be seen as foreshadowing “solutions” to much greater problems that are beginning to seem inevitable.

    Brad Millington receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

    Brian Wilson receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

    Michael L. Naraine receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and Sport Canada.

    Parissa Safai has received funding from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

    – ref. The TGL golf league might signal that indoor sport is the future, for better or worse – https://theconversation.com/the-tgl-golf-league-might-signal-that-indoor-sport-is-the-future-for-better-or-worse-252608

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Why the Tesla backlash could help electric cars finally go mainstream

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Hannah Budnitz, Research Associate in Urban Mobility, Transport Studies Unit, University of Oxford

    Elon Musk’s controversial political views and actions have sparked an exodus from X (formerly Twitter), his social media platform, and mass protests against his car company, Tesla. Dealerships in the US and beyond have experienced peaceful protests and occasional vandalism, while sales are down almost everywhere and the company has lost almost half its value in two months.

    Ironically, these political controversies may broaden the mass market appeal of electric vehicles. This is an industry that needs to go beyond the early-adopter tech bros – and now might be the moment.

    In 2010, when Tesla became the first American carmaker to go public since Ford in 1956, fully electric cars were still a niche technology. The Nissan Leaf was launched that same year, but it was still limited to shorter trips in cities. Other big carmakers weren’t yet taking electric seriously, and the Chinese electric vehicle (EV) industry was just starting to gear up.

    In 2013, when the International Energy Agency (IEA) produced its first Global EV Outlook report, there were less than 60,000 on the road worldwide. A decade later, almost the same number of EVs are sold every day.

    Tesla’s competition was initially just little urban runarounds like this 2010 Nissan Leaf.
    Dong liu / Shutterstock

    So, there is plenty of evidence that Tesla had a leading role in making EVs a “winning technology” – something the traditional major carmakers felt compelled to compete with. Governments around the world also got on board.

    Not made for the mainstream

    In fact, Tesla’s approach to making electric cars mainstream was to not make them for the mainstream. Its marketing strategy was to sell direct to customers who not only bought into the environmental credentials but the hi-tech glamour – and didn’t mind the price tag.

    In other words, Tesla targeted “early adopters” which, in the case of electric cars, meant wealthy men. Study after study shows these early adopters in North America and Europe were skewed towards men and those with higher incomes.

    Although these studies often measured income and gender separately, research I published with colleagues indicated it was having both characteristics – being both a man and wealthy – that made someone more likely to be an EV owner, or more likely to say their next car would probably be electric.

    Out of our representative sample of nearly 2,000 UK drivers, wealthy men were also more likely to agree that their social circle expected them to switch.

    We did not find the same results among women, no matter their income level, nor low-income men. This despite the fact that women were significantly more likely to value protecting the environment and to feel an obligation to drive an electric car (if they were first convinced it would reduce carbon emissions and improve air quality).

    This points to another key implication of our research. To support mass adoption, drivers need to be confident that EVs can deliver the environmental benefits they promise, as well as being more comfortable and cheaper to run than conventional cars.

    To gain this confidence, drivers – no matter who they are – want to hear consistent messaging from a trusted source that highlights the benefits, not just the costs.

    However, as we found in our project Inclusive Transition to Electric Mobility, drivers and policymakers alike perceive EVs as unaffordable. Some research participants even mentioned Tesla by name when giving an example of how making the switch is beyond the means of people like them.

    Cheaper EVs need new messaging

    Although Tesla sells mass-produced models and slashed its prices around the world last year, its cars are still expensive (in the UK, they start at about £40,000). The company’s reputation and brand is linked not only to the tech-bro image of Silicon Valley, but with elitism and inequity.

    However, the reputation of EVs in general need not be. Unlike ten years ago, this is a technology with momentum among many manufacturers, and consumers have plenty of new, cheaper models to choose from, as well as a growing second-hand market. The IEA’s latest report suggests EVs are finally becoming a mass-market product.

    Tesla is facing stiff competition from cheaper rivals such as Chinese firm BYD.
    i viewfinder / Shutterstock

    As electric cars become more affordable in real terms, the messaging needs to be about environmental benefit rather than futuristic technology. It needs to emphasise long-term affordability of use as well as purchase. EVs need to be seen as practical and safe – and drivers need to hear these messages from trusted sources.

    My research highlighted how family, friends, colleagues and neighbours could be this source of trusted information. Early adopters I interviewed described the many personal, social interactions involved in the practicalities of parking and charging their cars – such as coordinating workplace charging so no one is caught short, and sharing tips on the best tariff for home charging. Some have effectively become local ambassadors for EVs.

    I’m also investigating how communities coming together around EVs might lead to more car sharing. This could maximise the environmental benefits of the transition, since reducing the number of cars on the road is as important as ensuring cars switch from petrol to electric.

    There is little doubt about the damage Musk’s political approach has done to Tesla’s image, although it is not the sole cause of the company’s current troubles.

    Meanwhile, the transition to electric personal mobility is well underway around the world. Tesla’s troubles won’t stop this – but they can give the car industry an opportunity to make the messaging around electric vehicles more diverse, equitable and inclusive for the mass market.

    Hannah Budnitz 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 the Tesla backlash could help electric cars finally go mainstream – https://theconversation.com/why-the-tesla-backlash-could-help-electric-cars-finally-go-mainstream-252963

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Three graphs that show what’s happening with Donald Trump’s popularity

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Paul Whiteley, Professor, Department of Government, University of Essex

    Donald Trump started out with more Americans approving than disapproving of his performance just after inauguration day on January 20 , and this continued into February. By early March, his ratings had turned a little bit negative, but not by much, and it has stayed that way. As of March 20, 48% of Americans approved of his job performance so far, while 49% disapproved.

    The daily average of polls measuring approval/disapproval ratings for the job Trump is doing appears in the chart below. They cover the period from February 20 to March 20.

    Approval and disapproval ratings for Trump’s performance:

    These aggregate ratings are interesting, but they disguise the political divide which is revealed when we drill down into the details. This can be done using an Economist/YouGov poll completed on March 18, for instance.

    This reveals how polarised American public opinion has become when it comes to judging the president. Around 6% of respondents who identified themselves as Democrats approved of his performance, while 93% of them disapproved. Those who identified as Republican were almost the exact opposite, with 90% approving and 7% disapproving.

    One problem in analysing these statistics is that only 29% of the sample interviewed were Republicans, compared with 34% Democrats. The pollsters do their best to get a representative sample of the US electorate and it’s worth noting that there are currently more registered Democrats in the US than there are Republicans.

    Interestingly, the American National Election Study survey conducted just before the presidential election last year showed that only 11.6% of Americans were supporters of the Maga movement. This highly respected study, which has been carried out over the past 75 years as a national resource, would suggest that Maga supporters are noisy, but fewer in number than some people might realise.

    What do independents think?

    Around 37% of those interviewed for the Economist poll described themselves as independents. In their case 37% of them approved of his performance and 54% disapproved. Trump may have a very strong following among Republicans, but they are less than one-third of the electorate.

    A quick calculation looking at support among Democrats, Republicans and independents in proportion to their size in the electorate suggests that 42% of Americans have a favourable view of his performance, while 54% have an unfavourable view.

    If we look at the social backgrounds of respondents in the survey there is not much difference between the young and the old, or different income groups in their attitudes to the president’s performance. But there is a large gender gap with 53% of men, but only 39% of women, approving. Similarly, while 53% of whites approved, only 24% of blacks and 31% of Hispanics did so. Finally, 7% of ideological liberals approved of Trump’s job performance, compared with 81% of conservatives and 44% of moderates. Overall, partisanship and ideology completely dominate the picture when it comes to judging Trump’s record.

    How important is the economy?

    US politics is in turmoil with large federal jobs losses and significant changes, such as tariffs on Canadian goods, being announced by the new administration, so there are a lot of factors at work which can explain attitudes to Trump. In the 2024 presidential election the economy played a key role in explaining how people voted, and it is always an important issue in elections.

    Given that, it is interesting to look at one of the key measures of the voter’s attitudes to the economy, namely consumer confidence. This has been measured by researchers at the University of Michigan for many decades using a series of surveys conducted every month.

    US consumer sentiment scale March 2024 to March 2025:

    The chart shows scores on the Index of Consumer Sentiment from March of last year until March this year. A high score means Americans are confident about the state of their economy and a low score the opposite. Confidence has plunged from a rating of 79.4 a year ago to 57.9 now. It is notable that, as recently as December 2024, it stood at 74.0, but after the inauguration of Trump it started to rapidly decline. Americans are getting increasingly worried about the state of their economy, along with the rest of the world.

    The cause is not hard to discern: the imposition of tariffs, a fall in the stock market, the threat of inflation, the administration’s sympathy towards Vladimir Putin and its threats to allies such as Canada and Greenland over their territorial integrity. These issues are all adding up to a self-imposed economic crisis.

    But what are the implication of this for presidential approval ratings? The chart below shows the relationship between consumer confidence and presidential approval over a period of nearly 50 years. There is a moderately strong relationship between the two series (correlation = 0.40). When consumers are optimistic, they approve of the president’s performance, and when they are pessimistic, they disapprove.

    Presidential approval and consumer confidence 1978-2025:

    Overall, the data suggests that Trump should not be confident of his approval ratings across the US, if you look at people across all political affiliations and who vote. Along with a looming economic crisis, this could lead to a rapid loss of support for the president and the Republicans in the near future.

    Paul Whiteley 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. Three graphs that show what’s happening with Donald Trump’s popularity – https://theconversation.com/three-graphs-that-show-whats-happening-with-donald-trumps-popularity-252857

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How Donald Trump’s trade war against Canada reveals tensions inherent in friendship

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Jason Wang, Postdoctoral Fellow, Modern Literature and Culture Research Centre, Toronto Metropolitan University

    In his second inauguration address, United States President Trump began by declaring “the golden age of America begins right now” and closed with, “and our golden age has just begun.” Between these lines, he vowed to “tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens.”

    Tying his trade policies to dubious claims about fentanyl trafficking and illegal immigration, Trump’s approach appears less about economic strategy and more about asserting dominance. Invoking the language of imperial expansion, he even proposed the idea of making Canada the “cherished 51st state.”

    Historians like American Richard White quickly drew parallels to the 19th-century Gilded Age when robber barons thrived, leaving social inequality in their wake.



    Read more:
    Elon Musk’s bid to take over Twitter recalls the robber barons of the 19th century

    The celebrated Canada-U.S. friendship — further entrenched over the past three decades by the 1989 Canada-U.S. free-trade agreement, cross-border activity and snowbirds wintering in Florida and elsewhere in the U.S. — has long balanced underlying tension stemming from the two nations’ power differences. This alludes to tensions inherent in friendships that have long been explored by philosophers.

    A ‘great relationship?’

    Trump’s recent sweeping tariffs on Canadian imports are only the latest chapter in a long history of economic clashes.

    From the U.S.’s Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, which hit Canada hard during the Great Depression, to Richard Nixon’s 10 per cent import surcharge in 1971 and the long fight over softwood lumber that persisted through the early 2000s despite Canada’s favourable World Trade Organization rulings, these conflicts expose the fragility of Canada-U.S. relations. The uneasy reality is that friendship between nations is never as stable as it seems.

    The trade war has triggered a wave of cultural and economic nationalism in Canada that has gone beyond the “Buy Canadian” movement. At the National Ballet of Canada’s Swan Lake, recently, a stirring rendition of O Canada brought the audience to its feet.

    Chrystia Freeland, now minister of transport and internal trade, voiced the nation’s outrage on CNN: “Canadians are angry,” she said, condemning the tariffs as a betrayal of what she called the “great relationship.”

    Friendship ideals and power dynamics

    But beneath the outrage lies a harsher truth: Canada’s “friend” status is conditional, tied to America’s shifting priorities. The real question isn’t whether Canada is a trusted ally — it’s whether it was ever more than a subordinate in this “friendship.” At stake is the concept of friendship between nations.

    Philosophers exploring the intersection of friendship and politics offer a useful framework for understanding this imbalance.

    Written in the post-Cold War era, French Algerian philosopher Jacques Derrida’s The Politics of Friendship, first published in French in 1994, questions the very possibility of pure, stable friendship, arguing that it is never equal or unconditional.

    Instead, said Derrida, it is always a negotiation of power. Derrida questions idealized Aristotelian notions of friendship between nations — ideals that still quietly underpin our thinking about friendship, loyalty and betrayal.

    Friendship in fiction, Aristotle

    In his study of friendship in fiction, literary scholar Allan Hepburn points out that friendships are inherently political, foundational to social relations and embody democratic ideals of equality and fraternity, as Aristotle suggested.

    Tyrannical systems, by contrast, lack true friendships, while an ideal democracy extends mutual respect to all citizens. In this way, strangers are recognized as equals and potential friends, regardless of legal obligation, as Derrida emphasized.

    In Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, he distinguished transactional and virtuous friendship. The former is built on mutual advantage or shared pleasure, which to Aristotle is the lesser kind of friendship.

    In contrast, virtue-based friendship is both the most enduring and the rarest. Aristotle idealizes this latter type of friendship, describing it as “perfect friendship” in which individuals are “alike in virtue,” wishing well to each other as something good in itself, and are themselves morally upright.

    This ideal friendship — expected to be stable, enduring and intrinsically valuable — underpins discourses about the bond between nations based on shared values.



    Read more:
    What makes a good friend?

    True friendship reserved for individuals

    Political scientist Evgeny Roshchin argues that friendship, as a historical concept in international relations, helped mediate the shift from hierarchical to equal political relationships, shaping sovereignty and political order.

    In contrast, philosopher Simon Keller questions the idea of “friendship between countries,” asserting true friendship is reserved for individuals. He warns that comparing nations to friends may mislead us by shifting focus from genuine human connections to political dynamics.

    Yet the Aristotelian model of the friend as “a second self” has significant limitations, often ignoring differences and reinforcing hierarchy. For Derrida, friendship is not a fixed, harmonious ideal but an ongoing, unpredictable negotiation that blurs the boundary between ally and adversary.

    He contends: “‘Good friendship’ supposes disproportion. It demands a certain rupture in reciprocity or quality, as well as the interruption of all fusion or confusion between you and me.”

    Even at its most personal, friendship is marked by power dynamics — who holds it, who benefits from it and who can be cast aside. Not a cynical rejection of friendship, however, Derrida’s model calls for broadening its moral and political dimensions.

    Transactional structure

    Derrida’s model applies to the Canada-U.S. relationship, which has long been framed as one of mutual respect, built on democratic values and shared economic interests. But its underlying structure is transactional.

    The rhetoric of friendship has always served a function: to justify co-operation when it is useful and to smooth over conflict when it is not. The moment those interests diverge, the limits of the relationship become clear.

    Trump’s tariffs have exposed this dynamic in the clearest possible terms. Canada’s position as a friend to the U.S. is fragile and contingent, shaped by the fluctuating interests of the more powerful side.

    But the rupture is not new, nor is it a break from the norm. It’s simply a reminder of how the relationship has always worked. The question now is not whether Canada can restore its friendship, but whether it can afford to continue believing in it on the same terms.



    Read more:
    Amid U.S. threats, Canada’s national security plans must include training in non-violent resistance

    Embrace inherent fragility

    Derrida’s model of friendship offers a way forward. His model defies the simplistic binary of friend and foe, loyalty and betrayal, as these terms are ultimately mutually constitutive. Derrida calls for relationships that embrace their inherent fragility.

    For Canada, this doesn’t mean abandoning the discourse of friendship with the U.S. entirely, but rather acknowledging the bond’s fragile, conditional nature — always deferred, always on the brink of rupture.

    The challenge for Canada is to redefine its position in North America beyond the framework of mutuality and dependence. At the policy level, with Canada-U.S. relations, this means diversifying trade and diplomatic ties, resisting automatic alignment and asserting independent leadership in global affairs.

    At home, it means forging a national identity that is self-defined and free from the shadow of comparison.

    Jason Wang 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 Donald Trump’s trade war against Canada reveals tensions inherent in friendship – https://theconversation.com/how-donald-trumps-trade-war-against-canada-reveals-tensions-inherent-in-friendship-252260

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Our research shows the harm the two-child limit on benefits is doing. Only scrapping it can end this

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Kate Andersen, Research Fellow, School for Business and Society, University of York

    Malysheva Liudmyla/Shutterstock

    Since the UK Labour government took office in summer 2024, calls have intensified to scrap both the “two-child limit” – which restricts support for children through universal credit to two children – and the overall benefit cap. With Chancellor Rachel Reeves resisting this pressure as she tries to manage deteriorating public finances, ways of tweaking the two-child limit policy have been proposed.

    But as researchers of child poverty, we have no doubt that the best place to start reducing the high and rising numbers of children growing up in poverty in Britain today is by fully abolishing the two-child limit and the benefit cap.

    We argue that both policies are astoundingly unfair. As our four-year research programme has documented, both are causing wide-ranging harm to children. They restrict children’s everyday experiences and damage their ability to thrive – which in the long run affects everyone in the UK.

    Children live in poverty because their families don’t have an adequate income. This is partly a simple question of maths: wages don’t adjust when there are more mouths to feed. It’s also partly because things happen unexpectedly for some families – job loss, disability, relationship breakdown – leaving them needing extra support for a period of time.

    Countries across Europe respond to these dual challenges by providing financial support that adjusts to family needs. Until recently, the UK did too. Indeed, the UK welfare state was one of the pioneers of “family allowances” in the post-war period.

    But since 2017, the UK has reformed the system so that in families with three or more children, the support on offer when things go wrong deliberately and explicitly falls far short of what is needed. The UK’s two-child limit, an approach that differs to other countries in Europe, restricts means-tested support to two children in a family only. It bakes child poverty into the fibre of the UK.

    Its sister policy, the benefit cap, limits the maximum benefit amount available to households without adults in work. This removes further help from some of the most vulnerable.

    Want more politics coverage from academic experts? Every week, we bring you informed analysis of developments in government and fact check the claims being made.

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    Struggling to get by

    The parents we spoke to frequently talked of difficulties in affording basic necessities for their children, including clothes and food. Many parents had resorted to using foodbanks or cut back on food spending.



    Read more:
    ‘When you’ve got nothing in your belly, you can’t concentrate’: teachers on the food banks they run in schools

    The material impacts also affected children’s education and their social and emotional wellbeing. Jessica is a single mum of four. Her business went under during the pandemic and her partner left the household, leaving her affected by both the two-child limit and the benefit cap.

    When a hole appeared in Jessica’s daughter’s school shoes, there was no money to replace them straight away. Her daughter went to school wearing trainers and was put in isolation for not adhering to the dress code. Jessica explained:

    I got the phone call to say she had to go into isolation and, and things and I just said, “I’m not the type of person that just has £20 sat in the bank” … it was kind of a bit public shaming her really, taking her away and putting her in isolation.

    Our interviews also showed that, despite parents’ best efforts to shield them, children are often aware of household financial hardship and in turn try to protect their parents. Christina, a mum of three affected by the two-child limit, said of her middle child:

    He won’t say he needs new clothes and he won’t say his shoes don’t fit anymore … I think he’s got it into his head now that we can’t go out and spend or he can’t ask, and I feel so bad for that.

    Our research also documents the importance of abolishing the benefit cap alongside the two-child limit. Otherwise, some families affected by the two-child limit won’t see much financial gain, while others will be newly pushed into the benefit cap.

    Complete removal

    Suggested alternatives to the full abolition of the two child limit include a “three-child limit”, or an exemption for children under five. These options would undoubtedly help some families, but would leave many of those in the greatest need still struggling.

    Families are struggling to get the food they need.
    Klemzy/Shutterstock

    Pound for pound, a three-child limit is less effective at reducing poverty than simple abolition, precisely because it is less well targeted on those in deepest poverty. An exemption for under fives would create a new cliff edge, removing significant support on a child’s fifth birthday, even though we know that the costs of children rise as children get older.

    Further, these approaches continue to enforce a separation between what a family needs and its entitlement to support, and therefore will continue to embed child poverty as an institutional feature of our social security system. Children’s life chances will continue to be circumscribed by the number of siblings they have. Given what we know about the long-term costs of child poverty for society, these are short-sighted ways to save money today.

    It is very encouraging that the government has committed to a child poverty strategy, and that the prime minister has said he will be “laser focused” on tackling child poverty.

    But, as we wait for the strategy to be published, the number of children harmed by the two-child limit rises daily. Nearly two-in-five larger families are now affected and this is predicted to rise to 61% of larger families by the time the two-child limit has full coverage.

    If the child poverty strategy is to have real impact, its starting point is straightforward: both the two-child limit and the benefit cap need to go, and urgently, before more damage is done to children’s lives.

    Kate Andersen received funding from the Nuffield Foundation and the Research England Policy Support Fund facilitated by The York Policy Engine for the research reported in this article.

    Kitty Stewart has received funding from the Nuffield Foundation for the research reported in this article.

    – ref. Our research shows the harm the two-child limit on benefits is doing. Only scrapping it can end this – https://theconversation.com/our-research-shows-the-harm-the-two-child-limit-on-benefits-is-doing-only-scrapping-it-can-end-this-252250

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Maintaining mobility with aging means planning ahead

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Brenda Vrkljan, Professor of Occupational Therapy, School of Rehabilitation Science, McMaster University

    Older people often miss or ignore signs that their own mobility is waning, because it typically happens gradually. (Shutterstock)

    Winter weather makes it hard for everyone to get around. But for many, especially older people, the whole world can feel like an icy sidewalk every day of the year, particularly if they already have problems with their mobility that puts them at higher risk of falling.

    For people who have trouble getting around, stairs, bathrooms and kitchens are among the most treacherous features of typical homes, loaded with potential hazards, such as hard surfaces, slippery floors, accessing high and low cupboards, elevation changes and more.

    The danger is worse at night, especially for older people due in part to changes in vision and certain medications.

    Vehicles are another major challenge for people with mobility issues, especially getting into and out of them, let alone driving them.

    Pope Francis showed his own vulnerability in early February when he stumbled after his walking stick broke. He managed to stay upright but had fallen twice in the preceding weeks. When we don’t move around as much, other health issues can arise, requiring hospitalization.

    The Pope’s public stumble and slow recovery triggered concerns over the 88-year-old’s health and gave the rest of us good reason to consider our own vulnerability.

    Recognizing risks

    As a professor of rehabilitation science who researchers and teaches occupational therapy with a focus on optimizing mobility in later life, I spend my working days thinking about how to make life better by keeping seniors living well and reducing the risks they face.

    In my personal life, I do my best to help my mother stay healthy. I recognize that some of the adapted features we made to her daily activities and living space are helpful to me knowing, as her primary caregiver, that her environment is set up to support her independence.

    Older people often miss or ignore signs that their own mobility is waning, because it typically happens gradually. We may not be conscious of how much we’re using our arms to get out of a chair, that we’re leaning against the wall of the shower while washing, hesitating to pick up a dropped item, or less comfortable driving at night or at higher speeds.

    These are some of the early signs we may need help. Since it’s easy to miss them, it’s important to think consciously and deliberately to avoid a fall or a collision that results in major injury like a broken hip, wrist or worse.

    No one takes pleasure in admitting it might be time for a grab bar or a cane, but assistive devices can prevent injury. Even those who already use such devices may not recognize that their needs change over time, or that their equipment — even a cane — may need maintenance or replacement.

    Failing to take precautions, though, can have severe and lasting repercussions, so it’s vital to be honest with ourselves.

    Prevention and risk reduction

    The upside of taking stock of our situation is that by preventing falls and driving safely, we can continue to participate fully for much longer than was possible even a generation ago.

    For people who have trouble getting around, stairs, bathrooms and kitchens are among the most treacherous features of typical homes.
    (Shutterstock)

    There is plenty of research to show, of course, that diet and exercise can make a significant difference in preserving and even improving mobility while reducing vulnerability, but people don’t always pause to consider their physical environment and other strategies until after an injury.

    Here are some ways you can help yourself or someone in your life whose mobility may be waning:

    • Install low lighting — even a plug-in night light or two can help — that illuminates the path from bedroom to bathroom.

    • Add a second handrail to cover both sides of staircases inside and outside of the home, especially steep stairs that lead to the basement or attic.

    • Stay up-to-date with vision and hearing tests. Always use the eyeglasses and hearing aids, as prescribed.

    • Install “tall” toilets that make sitting and standing up easier.

    • Scan the house for tripping hazards, such as throw rugs, and remove them.

    • Re-organize cupboards to put the most frequently used items in easy reach.

    • Use non-slip footwear made with safety in mind. The Toronto Rehabilitation Institute has done some helpful studies on footwear and safety, including in ice and snow.

    • Schedule a home visit from a licensed occupational therapist who can make recommendations suited to your mobility needs, including taking a look at your mobility devices to be sure they are still suitable and are in good working order. An occupational therapist together with a qualified contractor can ensure grab bars, ramps and other features are installed appropriately.

    • Plan ahead for the time when you can no longer drive by considering alternative transit options and lifestyle changes that might be necessary.

    Mobility matters because it allows us to live independently and participate fully in our everyday activities. By proactively addressing potential hazards, we can enhance our quality of life and continue to enjoy the freedom that mobility provides.

    Brenda Vrkljan has recieved funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, AGE-WELL – A Network of Centres of Excellence, the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

    – ref. Maintaining mobility with aging means planning ahead – https://theconversation.com/maintaining-mobility-with-aging-means-planning-ahead-251589

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Novocaine: the movie action hero with a real-life syndrome that makes him immune to pain

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Dan Baumgardt, Senior Lecturer, School of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience, University of Bristol

    Novocaine, a new action movie starring Jack Quaid, introduces a fresh take on the superhero genre. It features a hero whose superpower actually exists.

    Mild-natured Nathan “Novocaine” Caine (Nate) is catapulted into the criminal underworld when his love interest is kidnapped by bank robbers. On his quest to save her from almost certain peril, he absorbs blades and bullets. He even manages to retrieve a gun from a scorching-hot deep-fat fryer that he then uses to shoot a baddy.

    The movie’s tagline is: “Meet Nathan Caine, he can’t feel pain.”

    Nate’s “superpower” is a syndrome called congenital analgesia, or congenital insensitivity to pain (CIP). As the name suggests, it’s an inability to feel pain. But those who have it really do suffer. Being able to feel pain has many advantages.

    Congenital insensitivity to pain is something of a misnomer. Technically speaking, you aren’t sensitive to pain – pain is the sensation that the brain constructs from sensory information obtained from the body.

    This sensory information might include mechanical injuries, such as a prick from a pin or cut from a knife. Or the extremes of hot and cold temperatures, or irritant chemicals like acids coming into contact with the skin. We call these sorts of stimuli “noxious” – meaning potentially damaging to the body.

    The nerve cells (neurons) that detect these stimuli are hence called nociceptors. They have an essential role in protecting the body from harm. If you step on something sharp, say, you’ll automatically move your foot away. Or if you spill something corrosive on your hand, you’ll rush to a sink to wash the substance off.

    If nociceptors weren’t there or didn’t function properly, your body wouldn’t be able to generate pain and respond to it accordingly. And your hand, foot or other appendage would remain impaled, burning or sizzling away in the fryer, while you carry on, blithely unaware of the evolving damage.

    This is the main reason that CIP is so dangerous, though fortunately, it is extremely rare. There are different variants of CIP, and the prevalence varies by sub-type. Congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis (Cipa), for instance, has an estimated incidence of one in 125 million.

    The official Novocaine trailer.

    What causes the condition? In some, problems arise with the microscopic ion channels in the endings of nociceptors. These allow neurons to become activated by noxious stimulation. You could think of them as on-switches to the generation of pain. When they don’t work properly, pain cannot be perceived. In other conditions, nociceptors may fail to develop properly or die off prematurely.

    The problem with CIP is that the body becomes insensitive not only to large injuries but smaller ones too. For instance, if you get bits of grit in your eyes, the natural response is to release tears and rub or blink your eyelids to clear them. If there were no pain or irritation, the debris would build up, damaging the sensitive outer regions of the eye like the cornea, potentially causing sight-threatening ulcers to develop.

    And our bodies don’t just detect external dangers – they are also sensitive to what is going on inside us. If we have an inflamed appendix, a kidney stone, or a broken bone, our nervous system lets us know by generating pain.

    We sense something is wrong, seek medical assistance, and are treated with antibiotics, surgery and, of course, pain relief. But the consequences of overlooking illness – should you be unable to evoke pain – can be extremely dangerous.

    People with CIP have been observed to ignore a wide variety of harms – from chomped-off tongues to destructive spinal abscesses, and from amputated digits to recurrent and out-of-control infections.

    CIP also affects people’s ability to sense temperature, since nociception and thermal information reach the brain via the same route: the spinothalamic tract. This affects the body’s ability to detect and, therefore, respond to temperature changes. This means that patients may overheat, especially as it can affect their ability to lose heat by sweating too. This is the case in patients with Cipa.

    No cure

    There is no cure for the condition, but there are ways in which CIP can be managed. People with the condition need to be extremely vigilant for any signs of injury, like wounding, and to monitor their temperature to spot any hidden infections. Regular medical check-ups are also required to look for unnoticed illness and damage.

    The future is uncertain, but given that the condition is genetic, gene and stem cell therapies might also be potential treatments.

    So, while Nate might make the most of not feeling pain, his ability is far from being a superpower. Pain may not feel nice, but it saves lives.

    Dan Baumgardt 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. Novocaine: the movie action hero with a real-life syndrome that makes him immune to pain – https://theconversation.com/novocaine-the-movie-action-hero-with-a-real-life-syndrome-that-makes-him-immune-to-pain-252363

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Fighting fake news: how media in Kenya and Senegal check facts

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Layiré Diop, Professseur de communication, Francis Marion University

    Misinformation has accelerated in recent years, in speed and volume. Studies show that Africans are exposed to misinformation and disinformation on a regular basis.

    Disinformation refers to false information deliberately created to cause harm. Misinformation consists of false information that wasn’t created with the intention of harming individuals or groups. Either way, it’s often difficult to know whether something is true and accurate.

    Media fact-checking and media literacy have become more important than ever.

    As specialists in media and mass communication, we conducted a study of strategies to combat misinformation and disinformation. We also examined the role and impact of fact-checking practices. This research is based on 42 interviews conducted in 2021 with media professionals in Kenya and Senegal.

    The participants fell into three main categories. Some were journalists, while others specialised in fact-checking. The rest were individuals who influenced media policies, including government officials, thinktank employees and academics.

    Findings indicate that media professionals in Senegal and Kenya employ reactive fact-checking strategies such as cross-checking information from sources and verifying images and videos. They also promote media literacy as a proactive strategy to help media consumers critically engage with media content.

    The combination of the two methods is described as a shield and an antidote against the spread of misinformation and disinformation.

    Fact-checking: practices and perception

    In Kenya and Senegal, though information verification was already a daily routine for news organisations, fact-checking is gaining ground. It is emerging as an important approach to counter disinformation.

    Fact-checkers and journalists are at the forefront of verifying and determining the accuracy of information shared in public (for example, posts made by social media users) or content created by the media company. The most popular fact-checking services used by participants are PesaCheck, Piga Firimbi and AfricaCheck.

    In both countries, verification methods involve cross-checking multiple sources and analysing visual content. Findings of this study reveal that misinformation is most commonly found in political and health-related topics.

    Once verified, the information is shared in different formats. It is disseminated through news reports, social media posts, and short videos that debunk fake news.

    Cross-checking information

    This process involves consulting primary sources and seeking input from experts to clarify information and put it in context. Participants defined experts as specialists in a specific field, and individuals who regularly contribute to the subject through the media.

    In addition to asking sources and experts, media companies are setting up fact-checking services to verify information before publication. Participants from both countries revealed that media organisations trained their employees to use verification tools.

    Verifying images and videos

    Images and videos on social media often mix truths and manipulations. To debunk them, professionals use verification techniques. One common method is reverse image search: an online search for the image. This technique is made possible by geolocation and the large number of online images. Fact-checkers compare these images to verify content. Google’s reverse image search tool is the most widely used.

    Geolocation through Google Maps helps pinpoint the exact location where an image was taken, for comparison with the location claimed in the content being verified. For videos, professionals use a tool called InVID. This tool generates images from a video, which are then geolocated using reverse image search techniques.

    Perceptions of the effectiveness of fact-checking

    Media professionals in both countries saw fact-checking as an effective strategy to combat misinformation and disinformation and an essential tool for verifying content.

    However, they emphasised the importance of respecting freedom of expression. For them, it was essential to prevent the government or private sector from becoming the sole authority on the accuracy of information shared on media platforms.

    The recent decision by Meta (the technology conglomerate that owns Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and other services) to end its fact-checking programme and replace it with community ratings could lead to a new spread of false information.

    Media literacy: practice and perceptions

    Study participants concur that training the public in how to verify content is a proactive measure to curb misinformation. By doing this, professionals share their fact-checking processes as a form of media literacy.

    In Kenya, the press produces videos and tutorials to teach the public how to verify information online. Africa Check also produces materials on methods of verifying information.

    Fact-checking organisations and media outlets play a crucial role in verifying content. They also educate content consumers on how to verify information before sharing it on social media or messaging apps. To make these educational videos more accessible, they are translated into local languages. This helps content creators and consumers who do not understand French or English to better engage with the information.

    In Senegal, Africa Check partnered with a community radio station to provide media literacy training in a local language. The initiative involves fact-checking, translating articles into the Wolof language, and then sharing the information on WhatsApp.

    Perception of the effectiveness of media literacy

    Respondents saw media literacy as a proactive strategy that empowers the public to think critically and verify facts independently. Journalists and fact-checkers in Kenya and Senegal emphasised the importance of media education in curbing the spread of false information.

    In addition, they emphasised that media literacy is not only important for the public. Media professionals also need training to stay updated on technological changes and the strategies and techniques used by misinformation propagandists.

    Challenges to overcome

    These approaches face several obstacles. One is the reluctance of government officials to respond to information requests, often out of fear of critical fact-checking of their own statements. Cultural and linguistic diversity in Africa also presents a challenge for media professionals. Translating verified content into local languages is not easy and requires time and financial resources.

    In Senegal and Kenya, as in many other African countries, media literacy is not yet included in the school curriculum. Investing in media literacy programmes in schools would require expertise, money and time.

    In addition to the creation of fact-checking desks in newsrooms and raising public awareness of the dangers of misinformation, promoting media literacy at all levels (media, mosques, churches, businesses, schools, universities) should be a priority. Organising media weeks at school, as France does, could be a step towards that goal.

    Layiré Diop 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. Fighting fake news: how media in Kenya and Senegal check facts – https://theconversation.com/fighting-fake-news-how-media-in-kenya-and-senegal-check-facts-251123

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Who is Kirsty Coventry and how did she become the most powerful person in world sports?

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Davies Banda, Lecturer in Sport Policy and Management, University of Edinburgh

    The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has elected a woman as its president for the first time ever. Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry is also the youngest ever IOC president and the first from an African country, becoming a symbol of the IOC’s drive to diversify its leadership and image.

    Sports management scholar Davies Banda was part of a global research team that compiled an IOC-commissioned report on the roles of women in the organisation. He traces Coventry’s journey as a swimming star, politician and sports administrator.

    Who is Kirsty Coventry?

    She is Africa’s most decorated Olympian of all time. She won seven medals across the 2004 Athens Games and the 2008 Beijing Games.

    Born in Harare, she is not only Zimbabwe’s best known sports star but also the politically troubled country’s sports minister. The IOC presidency makes her one of the most powerful figures in world sports.

    Coventry is driven. She set her sights on the Olympics at the age of nine. She achieved her dream through hard work and a profound understanding of what a results-oriented athletic career looks like. She believes true success lies in sharing knowledge and skills, extending her impact beyond athletics into social activism and a political career in Zimbabwe.

    Her Olympic journey began at the 2000 Sydney Games, where she competed in two swimming events but failed to qualify for the finals. Her breakthrough happened at the 2004 Athens Games, where she won the first of her two gold medals in the 200-metre backstroke. She successfully defended this title at the 2008 Beijing Games.

    She retired from swimming competitively after her final Olympic appearance at the 2016 Rio Games, holding the joint record for the most individual women’s swimming medals in Olympic history. By then her sports administration dreams had begun to pay off.

    In 2012 she was elected to the IOC’s powerful Athletes’ Commission. Thanks to her extensive experience of being an Olympic athlete, she became a significant voice within the body. She was elected chair of the commission in 2018 and held the post until 2023, when she was elected to the IOC’s executive committee under Thomas Bach, also a former athlete and the outgoing IOC president.

    At the same time, Coventry transitioned into government service as an independent member of parliament in Zimbabwe. She was first appointed as the country’s Minister of Sport, Art and Recreation in 2018, and re-appointed in 2023.

    She’s a member of the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee, previously serving as its vice president. She’s also a member of the Athletes’ Commission of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa.

    Why has it taken so long to have a female president?

    In 1997 the IOC set targets for National Olympic Committees to achieve at least 10% female representation in executive decision-making positions by the end of 2000. This was followed by a goal of at least 20% by 2005 and 30% by 2020.

    The IOC reported that female representation on its commissions doubled between 2013 and 2023, reaching 50% by the latter year.

    These deliberate measures can be seen as foundational to Coventry’s election. Globally, National Olympic Committees have seen a rise in female executive board members and leaders, increasing the pool of qualified candidates. An IOC report highlighted co-mentoring of female members on a governance leadership development initiative.

    Policies promoting the recognition of women’s leadership in sport and communities have nurtured leaders capable of competing for the highest IOC roles.

    However, considering that women were first allowed to participate in the 1900 Paris Games, it’s taken 124 years to see the election of a female IOC president.

    Despite the extended time frame, the IOC’s progressive initiatives, particularly its gender equality targets, have yielded tangible results.

    Some observers believe that Bach’s legacy, particularly in promoting gender equality, will be continued by Coventry, given their shared values and aspirations for the Olympic movement.

    What would a female president bring to Olympic sports?

    There is a drive for gender equality in Olympic sport. Coventry’s extensive experience as an athlete representative and her continued involvement with the Athletes’ Commission provide her with a deep understanding of athletes’ concerns. These include gender eligibility, a threat to the integrity of the Games due to doping, climate change, and athlete advocacy.

    Her relatively young age, 41, further strengthens her connection with athletes, the Olympic Games’ most valuable stakeholders, who are much younger than the administrators. This unique perspective allows her to engage with athletes in ways that previous IOC leaders could not. Her predecessors were close to or past their 60th birthdays when elected.

    So she is also likely to connect with younger generations more effectively than her predecessors, through modern technologies.

    Coventry is poised to lead the Olympic movement’s focus on sport for social change, given her experience of life in the global south, where she has been a social activist for underprivileged youth.

    The substantial growth of sport-for-change initiatives in the global south and beyond fuels the hope among scholars, including myself, that sport and athlete advocacy can achieve greater visibility. It can make an impact on global challenges, moving them from the sidelines to the heart of major sporting events.

    Coventry’s political career, conducted in Zimbabwe’s challenging economic climate, suggests a potential for using sport as a catalyst for positive social transformation.

    That said, while she may champion athlete advocacy on certain issues, her stated commitment to neutrality, particularly regarding the games, indicates a potential reluctance to engage with politically charged issues. The IOC’s status quo, the apolitical stance of the games, is likely to continue to limit the potential impact of athlete activism.



    Read more:
    Olympics in Africa: Egypt’s ambitious bid to host the games could succeed – but will it be worth it?

    What will be closely watched will be her approach to the contentious issue of transgender athletes in women’s events. Her current position advocates for their exclusion from female categories. She’s emphasised the protection of women’s sport and the enforcement of gender eligibility standards.

    It remains to be seen how closely her policies will align with, or diverge from, those of her predecessor. But for the IOC she no doubt represents a more diverse, gender equal movement.

    Davies Banda is affiliated with University of Edinburgh in Scotland and University of Lusaka in Zambia as a Senior Visiting Scholar

    – ref. Who is Kirsty Coventry and how did she become the most powerful person in world sports? – https://theconversation.com/who-is-kirsty-coventry-and-how-did-she-become-the-most-powerful-person-in-world-sports-252938

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Uganda’s lions in decline, hyenas thriving – new findings from country’s biggest ever carnivore count

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Alexander Richard Braczkowski, Research Fellow at the Centre for Planetary Health and Resilient Conservation Group, Griffith University

    For nearly 15 years almost no information was available on the population status of Uganda’s large carnivores, including those in its largest national park, Murchison Falls. These species represent a critical part of Uganda’s growing tourism economy. The country is home to the famed tree-climbing lions, which are much sought after for this unique behaviour. Together, lions and leopards generate tens of thousands of dollars annually from safari viewing and allied activities.

    Keeping an eye on the proverbial prize could not be more critical for the country. When wildlife isn’t monitored rigorously, populations can disappear within just a few years, as tigers did in India’s Sariska tiger reserve.

    But many people working in conservation discourage monitoring. They argue that a “bean counter” approach to conservation overlooks the funds and actions that save animals. Others simply say that it is a hard thing to do at scale and particularly for animals that are naturally shy, have big home ranges (sometimes over multiple countries), and occur in very low numbers.

    Even in a comparatively small African country – Uganda ranks 32nd in size out of 54 countries – how does one cover enough ground to see how populations of carnivores are faring? This has been the challenge of our work in Uganda for nearly a decade now, monitoring African lions, leopards and spotted hyenas.

    Our two recent studies in Murchison Falls and six protected areas across the country sought to address the problem by drawing on a wide range of local and international experts who live and work in Uganda. Working with the Ugandan government’s Uganda Wildlife Authority research and monitoring team, we set out to identify and bring together independent scientists, government rangers, university students, lodge owners and conservation managers in the country’s major savanna parks.

    We hoped to cover more ground with people and organisations that wouldn’t traditionally work together. Doing so exposed many of these individuals for the first time to the science and field skills needed to build robust, long term monitoring programmes for threatened wildlife.

    The result is the largest, most comprehensive count of African lions, leopards and spotted hyenas. We found spotted hyenas to be doing far better than we expected. But lions are in worrying decline, indicating where conservation efforts need to be focused. Beyond that, our count proved the value of collaborating when it comes to generating data that could help save animals.

    Our unique approach

    Inspired by Kenya’s first nationwide, science-based survey of lions and other carnivores in key reserves, the first important step of this study was to secure the collaboration of the Uganda Wildlife Authority’s office of research and monitoring. Together, we identified the critical conservation stakeholders in and around six protected areas. These are Pian Upe Wildlife Reserve, Kidepo Valley, Toro Semliki, Lake Mburo, Queen Elizabeth and Murchison Falls. Leopards and hyenas occur in some other parks (such as Mount Elgon and Rwenzori National Park) but resource constraints prevented us from surveying these sites.

    We had no predisposed notions of who could or would participate in our carnivore surveys, only that we wanted people living closest to these species in the room.

    We shortlisted lodge owners, government rangers, independent scientists, university students from Kampala, NGO staff and even trophy hunters. All came together for a few days to learn about how to find carnivores in each landscape, build detection histories and analyse data. We delivered five technical workshops showing participants how to search for African lions in the landscapes together with mapping exactly where they drove.

    We also taught participants:

    • how to identify lions by their whisker spots in high-definition photographs – these are the small spots where a cat’s whiskers originate on their cheeks

    • how to determine identity in camera trap images of leopard and spotted hyena body flanks

    • post data collection analysis techniques

    • a technique to estimate population densities and abundance.

    More than 100 Ugandan and international collaborators joined in the “all hands on deck” survey, driving over 26,000km and recording 7,516 camera trap nights from 232 locations spanning a year from January 2022 to January 2023.



    Read more:
    Counting Uganda’s lions: we found that wildlife rangers do a better job than machines

    Our scientific approach focused on how to achieve the best possible counts of carnivores. In the process we identified some of the biggest shortcomings of previous surveys. These included double counting individual animals and failing to incorporate detection probability. Even worse was simply adding all individual sighted animals and not generating any local-level estimates.

    What our results tell us

    As expected, our results painted a grim picture in some areas, but marked hope for others.

    • In the majestic Murchison Falls national park, through which the River Nile runs east-west, we estimated that approximately 240 lions still remained across some 3,200km² of sampled area. This is the highest number in Uganda and at least five to 10 times higher than in the Kidepo and Queen Elizabeth parks.

    • In Queen Elizabeth national park, home to the tree-climbing lions, we found a marked decline of over 40% (just 39 individuals left in 2,400km²) since our last survey in 2018.

    • In the country’s north, Kidepo Valley, the best estimate is just 12 individual lions across 1,430km², in stark contrast with the previous estimate of 132 lions implemented nearly 15 years ago.

    In contrast, leopards appeared to continue to occur at high densities in select areas, with Lake Mburo and Murchison Falls exhibiting strong populations. Pian Upe and Queen Elizabeth’s Ishasha sector recorded the lowest densities.

    Spotted hyenas have proven far more resilient. They occur at densities ranging from 6.15 to 45.31 individuals/100km² across surveyed sites. In Queen Elizabeth, their numbers could be rising as lion populations decline, likely due to reduced competition and ongoing poaching pressure targeting lions.

    These findings underscore the urgent need for targeted conservation interventions, particularly for lions in Uganda’s struggling populations.

    Value beyond numbers

    Our approach shared the load of data collection, and gave people an opportunity and skills to engage in wildlife science. For many emerging conservationists in the country, this was their first chance to be authors on a scientific paper (an increasingly important component of postgraduate degree applications). Even if many of the people we worked with disagree on how to save large carnivores in Uganda, they could at least agree on how many there are as they had a hand in collecting the data and scrutinising it. Since we have embraced a fully science-based approach, we recognise that our surveys too should improve over time.

    Aggrey Rwetsiba, senior manager, research and monitoring at Uganda Wildlife Authority, contributed to the research on which this article is based.

    Duan Biggs receives funding from Northern Arizona University and is a member of the IUCN (World Conservation Union).

    Alexander Richard Braczkowski and Arjun M. Gopalaswamy 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. Uganda’s lions in decline, hyenas thriving – new findings from country’s biggest ever carnivore count – https://theconversation.com/ugandas-lions-in-decline-hyenas-thriving-new-findings-from-countrys-biggest-ever-carnivore-count-249724

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How US foreign aid cuts are threatening independent media in former Soviet states

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Jeremy Hicks, Professor of Russian Culture and Film, Queen Mary University of London

    Oleksandr Polonskyi / Shutterstock

    Before Donald Trump’s administration suspended – and subsequently resumed – American military aid to Ukraine, it had announced its intention to cut 90% of United States Agency for International Development (USAid) foreign aid contracts. These funding cuts will endanger life around the world, including in Ukraine.

    USAid has provided Ukraine with US$2.6 billion (£2 billion) in humanitarian aid, US$5 billion in development assistance, and more than US$30 billion in direct budget support since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. The funding has helped pay for bomb shelters and medical equipment, among other things.

    But the purge of US foreign aid programmes will also affect Ukraine and other former Soviet countries in more insidious ways. The funding cuts could lead to a decline in the number of independent media outlets in the region, which are key to the fight for democracy and human rights.

    Government censorship over the war in Ukraine has led to the collapse of independent journalism in Russia. Russian media reports on the war, which they still refer to as a “special military operation”, can only use official Russian military sources. Violating laws on disseminating “fake news” is penalised by hefty prison sentences.

    These developments led to an exodus of international news organisations from Russia shortly after the start of the war, with global news media citing the need to protect their journalists. Since relocating from Moscow to the Latvian capital, Riga, US government-funded Radio Free Europe’s reporting on the war in Ukraine has been highly acclaimed.

    It has also been growing in popularity in Russia, despite being labelled “undesirable” – and effectively blocked – by the Russian authorities. According to a 2023 survey, 9% of the Russian adult population consume Radio Free Europe content every week. Official Russian media saw domestic audience numbers fall by as much as 30% in 2024.

    However, the cuts to US foreign aid risk squandering this growing advantage in the struggle to report on the Ukraine war objectively. Radio Free Europe, which billionaire businessman Elon Musk described in February as “just radical left crazy people talking to themselves”, has had all of its US grants pulled.

    It already updates its website less, and it is reportedly contemplating staff cuts. Its online television channel, Current Time, has had to close down some of its programmes. The Czech foreign minister, Jan Lipavsky, has said he would discuss with fellow EU foreign ministers “how to at least partially maintain” the group’s broadcasting.

    Ukraine’s media outlets are also now facing a crisis. Despite martial law, Ukrainian media stands out as a positive example of media diversity and independence in the post-Soviet world. Ukraine ranks 61 out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders’ press freedom index. This puts it well above Russia, Belarus and all of the former Soviet countries apart from Moldova and the Baltic states.

    However, many Ukrainian media outlets are experiencing the effects of US foreign funding cuts. The subscription model followed by English language publication, the Kyiv independent, is rare in the region. One of the affected organisations is Ukrainian Pravda, an online news outlet that has played a leading role in Ukrainian civil society.

    Journalists at Ukrainian Pravda, which is now facing funding cuts of up to 15%, were key in covering Ukraine’s so-called Revolution of Dignity in 2014. Pro-European and anti-corruption protests ultimately brought down the Russian-backed government of Viktor Yanukovych.

    While covering deadly clashes between protesters and the police in Kyiv on January 24 2014, Ukrainian Pravda’s website received over 1.6 million visitors. This was a record for Ukrainian online media at the time.

    Resilient media landscape

    One cause for optimism is the media’s resilience in former Soviet countries. The media landscape in the region has successfully adapted to many disruptions over the past 35 years.

    The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 meant the creation of new national media. This involved a shift from state-funded to market-funded models, often through advertising, as well as negotiating the wider move from analogue to digital.

    An encouraging example is the Artdocfest film festival. It began life in Moscow in 2007 showing independent Russian language or Russia-related documentary films. Depicting opposition figures and taboo topics, the festival served as an oasis of free speech in a growing desert of repression and conformism.

    As political restrictions on what the festival could show grew more severe, it partially relocated to Riga in 2014, the year Russia invaded eastern Ukraine. And following Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, the festival no longer screens any films in Russia, as well as any films funded by the Russian government.

    The relocation has required finding new funding sources, shifting the focus away from Russia itself by making English (as opposed to Russian) the festival’s official language, and introducing a new Baltic programme. The festival remains a forum for criticising the shortcomings of Russia and other post-Soviet societies.

    In implicit tribute to Artdocfest’s importance, the Russian television network RT has created its own similar sounding RTdocfest, where the Kremlin’s narrative is the only one.

    A press conference in Riga in February 2023 ahead of that year’s Artdocfest.
    Artdocfest

    Since 2022, the Russian slogan sila v pravde (“strength is in truth”) has become one of the rallying cries of the country’s campaign in Ukraine. It is widely known from Brother 2, an anti-Ukrainian Russian film released in 2000.

    There is a bitter irony in its espousal by Vladimir Putin’s regime, which has been founded on lies, disinformation and distortion. Nevertheless, strength does lie in truth.

    Ensuring the region’s independent media landscape remains is critical to telling the truth about Russia’s war in Ukraine, and exposing injustice and corruption throughout the post-Soviet world.

    Jeremy Hicks is a member of the Labour Party (UK)

    – ref. How US foreign aid cuts are threatening independent media in former Soviet states – https://theconversation.com/how-us-foreign-aid-cuts-are-threatening-independent-media-in-former-soviet-states-251763

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Ten years of A Little Life – what’s behind the enduring popularity of Hanya Yanagihara’s ‘trauma porn’ novel?

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Natalie Wall, PhD in English Literature, University of Liverpool

    Hanya Yanagihara’s second novel A Little Life, released ten years ago, has become a contemporary classic – with notoriety and acclaim boosting its profile in equal measure.

    The novel begins by following four friends – Jude, Willem, JB and Malcolm – as they navigate careers, relationships and friendship in New York. However, it quickly comes to focus on the story of Jude, gradually revealing his deeply traumatic childhood and the ways it is affecting his adult life.

    In 2022, UK publisher Picador re-released the novel as part of its new Picador Collection – a range of “era-defining modern classics”. But how has a novel with such harrowing content become one of the most popular books of the last decade?

    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.

    This is one of the clearest examples of the “trauma plot”, which literary critic Parul Sehgal has identified as a defining feature of our contemporary cultural landscape. The trauma plot refers to stories fixated on the traumatic events experienced by their characters, perhaps neglecting other aspects of characterisation or plotting in favour of detailed explorations of trauma.

    American essayist Daniel Mendelsohn’s early critique in the New York Review of Books countered the novel’s extensive praise elsewhere. He claimed the relentless trauma and abuse suffered by Jude turns it into “a machine designed to produce negative emotions for the reader to wallow in”.

    This matches Sehgal’s criticism of the way the trauma plot flattens characters and narratives into explorations of the backstory, “evacuating personality” and reducing “character to symptom”. Sehgal asks: “In a world infatuated with victimhood, has trauma emerged as a passport to status – our red badge of courage?”

    This question could well be aimed at A Little Life. The trauma plot, and its exploration of the depths of victimhood and suffering, has been the novel’s passport to notoriety.

    The power of fomo

    It’s not only critics that take issue with the novel’s depiction of trauma. Readers have also commented on the seemingly gratuitous nature of the novel’s content and the extreme emotions and reactions it produces. Search “A Little Life” on any social media platform and you will find countless reader reviews ranging from delight to disgust.

    Much of this discourse is rooted in the novel’s notoriety and graphic content, or how much readers cried when reading it. It exists in the cultural consciousness more as an experience than a literary work – a challenge to undertake rather than a story to read.

    The West End theatre adaptation, which ran in 2023, added to this. Reviews and audience anecdotes foregrounded the graphic content and fainting audience members, rather than the performances or story.

    As a result, there is a culture of fomo (fear of missing out) around the novel, as readers fear they haven’t taken part in one of the big literary experiences of the last decade. This has seen its popularity become self-propagating: more readers, more extreme reactions, more exposure, more fomo.

    The novel’s consistent readership has been in large part due to online reading communities like BookTok, Bookstagram and BookTube.



    Read more:
    How BookTok trends are influencing what you read – whether you use TikTok or not

    The content they produce is often highly emotional, with creators blending reviews with outpourings of feelings and presenting polarised opinions. Social media platforms and their algorithms reward such extremes by encouraging interaction with and sharing of posts, pushing them – and therefore the novel – out to wider audiences.

    The novel also has its own social media presence. The Instagram account @alittlelifebook has 65.2k followers at the time of writing and still makes multiple posts a week, ten years after the novel’s release. The account frequently reposts fans’ novel-related artwork, photography, playlists and tattoos. This has established a norm of how people interact with the novel – in highly personal ways that foreground emotion and intimacy with the story.

    This enables a connection and community among readers through their reaction to the depiction of extreme suffering. Just as the play was a sell-out success despite its mixed reviews, there is this desire for the connecting and cathartic experience of reading and enduring suffering.

    Queer canon or queer controversy?

    A Little Life has become one of the one of the most widely read and loved queer novels of the last decade. That’s despite considerable controversy over the depiction of its gay characters and Yanagihara’s position as a woman writing about gay male trauma.

    This controversy has not stopped the actor Matt Bomer, who is gay, from narrating a 10th-anniversary audio book. The actor has also voiced audiobook versions of Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin (1956) and Little and Often by Trent Preszler (2021) – both of which explore the alienation of queer people.

    The West End theatre production starred James Norton as Jude.

    A Little Life is continually placed within a queer canon, as academics and journalists frequently discuss and praise its representation. Readers often place it on lists of the best LGBTQ+ fiction despite its controversial handling of this material – again suggesting the controversy is fuelling readers’ curiosity rather than quelling it.

    In a 2020 study of the novel’s reception on social media platform Goodreads, researcher Joseph Worthen suggested it is somewhat unique in producing a “reluctant five-star phenomenon” – where readers do not want to rate the book so highly but feel compelled to, because of the strong emotional impact it had on them.

    The way emotions trump aesthetics and enjoyment in readers’ judgment of the novel, acting as “a passport to status”, demonstrates why A Little Life remains so popular. It offers a seemingly endless supply of emotion, and possibilities for connection, at a cultural moment when virality rules.

    Natalie Wall 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. Ten years of A Little Life – what’s behind the enduring popularity of Hanya Yanagihara’s ‘trauma porn’ novel? – https://theconversation.com/ten-years-of-a-little-life-whats-behind-the-enduring-popularity-of-hanya-yanagiharas-trauma-porn-novel-252833

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How to protect your eyes in the digital age – expert in eye and vision science

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Daniela Oehring, Associate Professor in Optometry, University of Plymouth

    Prostock-studio/Shutterstock

    In an era where screens dominate our daily lives, a silent epidemic is sweeping the globe. Digital eye strain, a condition once relegated to the fringes of occupational health concerns, has emerged as a significant public health issue affecting millions worldwide. As our reliance on digital devices for work, education and social interaction intensifies, so too does the risk to our ocular health.

    Recent studies paint a stark picture. Up to 50% of computer users could develop digital eye strain. This condition, characterised by a range of ocular and visual symptoms, including dryness, watering, itching, burning and blurred or even double vision, is not merely a matter of discomfort; it can indicate potentially chronic issues that can significantly affect a person’s quality of life and productivity.

    The COVID pandemic has exacerbated this trend, with lockdowns and social distancing measures driving screen time to unprecedented levels.

    A marked increase in digital device usage during the pandemic correlates with a surge in ocular surface diseases, visual disturbances and digital eye strain.

    The unseen toll of digital dependence

    But what exactly happens to our eyes when we stare at screens for long periods? The answer lies in the intricate biology of our visual system. When focusing on digital displays, our blink rate falls, and our eyes strain to maintain focus on near objects for extended periods. Reduced blinking and sustained near focus triggers a cascade of ocular issues, from mild irritation to chronic dryness.

    The symptoms of digital eye strain are diverse and often insidious. They range from the immediately noticeable, such as eye fatigue, dryness, and blurred vision, to more subtle signs like headaches and neck pain. While often transient, these symptoms can become persistent and debilitating if left unchecked.

    Contrary to popular belief, the blue light emitted by screens is not the primary cause of digital eye strain. While blue light can contribute to eye fatigue and disrupt sleep patterns, there’s no conclusive evidence that it causes permanent eye damage. The real villains are poor ergonomics, extended near-focus work and reduced blinking.

    So, how can we protect our vision in this screen-centric world? The solution lies in a multifaceted approach that combines behavioural changes, environmental adjustments, and, when necessary, medical interventions.

    Protective measures

    The 20-20-20 rule is a simple but effective strategy for protecting your eyes against digital strain.

    Every 20 minutes, take a 20-second break to focus on something 20 feet away. This brief respite allows your eye muscles to relax, reducing the strain associated with constant near focus work. While widely recommended, it’s worth noting that the efficacy of this specific rule hasn’t been rigorously studied, but the principle of taking frequent breaks is sound.

    Environmental factors play a fundamental role in maintaining ocular comfort during screen use. Proper lighting, adequate humidity and good air quality can significantly affect eye health. Use adjustable lamps to direct light away from your eyes, use a humidifier to maintain moisture levels and consider an air purifier to remove irritating airborne particles.

    Ergonomic adjustments are equally important. Position your screen at arm’s length and slightly below eye level to reduce neck strain. Increase font sizes to minimise squinting and ensure your chair provides proper back support for good posture.

    For those experiencing persistent symptoms, professional help is key. Eye care practitioners can provide comprehensive exams to identify underlying issues such as refractive errors – common eye conditions where the eye’s shape prevents light from focusing correctly on the retina, causing blurry vision – or dry eye disease. Ocular specialists can prescribe targeted treatments, from specialised eye-wear to medications that address specific eye health concerns.

    Emerging therapies offer hope for more effective management of digital eye strain. Drugs called novel TRPM8 agonists show promise in relieving dry eye discomfort by activating cooling receptors on the eye’s surface. Meanwhile, wearable biosensors that fit as a patch under the eye or attached to contact lenses are being developed to monitor tear fluid biomarkers in real time. Tears can reflect the health of the ocular surface and potentially the whole body, so this technological development could transform the diagnosis and treatment of ocular surface diseases.

    Irreplaceable assets

    In this digital age, it’s important to take measures to protect our vision. By recognising the signs of digital eye strain, implementing protective strategies, and seeking timely professional care, we can reduce the risks associated with our screen-dependent lifestyles.

    The challenge of digital eye strain is not insurmountable. With awareness, education and a commitment to ocular health, we can continue exploiting digital technology’s benefits without compromising our vision. As we look to the future, integrating eye-friendly technologies and ergonomic designs in our digital devices may offer additional layers of protection.

    In the meantime, remember to take breaks, blink often and don’t hesitate to seek professional help if you experience persistent symptoms. In doing so, you’ll be taking crucial steps towards ensuring clear, comfortable vision.

    Daniela Oehring receives funding from UKRI and Sight Research UK.

    – ref. How to protect your eyes in the digital age – expert in eye and vision science – https://theconversation.com/how-to-protect-your-eyes-in-the-digital-age-expert-in-eye-and-vision-science-252280

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Women are south Asia’s ‘silent contributors’ – changing that could transform economies

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Nirma Sadamali Jayawardena, Assistant Professor in Marketing, University of Bradford

    Whether it’s selling at a market or working in the home or in the field, south Asian women are contributing to their economies. Florian Augustin/Shutterstock

    As a child, I lived with my grandmother in a rural village in Sri Lanka where women often played an active economic role – working in sectors like farming, technology, sewing, household work or some other area. These days across South Asia, businesses led by women are on the rise, with online platforms making it easier for entrepreneurs to start with minimal investment.

    If more women could be encouraged into employment in the region, it would, of course, bring wider benefits. For instance, it’s estimated that if women’s participation in India’s workforce reached 50% from its current level of 31%, the country’s annual growth rate could increase by 1.5 percentage points.

    Female entrepreneurs in South Asia have been described as “silent contributors”, as their input to the economy and society is still not properly understood. And when their contributions go unrecognised, women can be denied access to education and career development.

    Not only that, but it can lead to women having fewer opportunities for leadership roles, financial security, and professional growth. It may discourage the participation of other women, or limit their progress in industries and societies that could benefit from greater female representation.

    Research often points to factors such as a lack of education, technical expertise, gender discrimination and low self-esteem as reasons female entrepreneurs may be demotivated.

    But after reviewing several studies, I realised there’s a deeper, more complex issue. I identified a three-pillar effect that discourages women from entrepreneurship.

    These are socio-cultural barriers, which include traditional gender roles and societal expectations; economic and financial constraints such as limited access to funding; and regulatory and institutional challenges like legal obstacles and a lack of support systems.

    These three pillars create significant hurdles for women who are trying to build their businesses.

    A study looking at Mumbai, India, found that limited affordable transport can significantly reduce women’s chances of entering the workforce or starting a business.

    For example, some Indian and Sri Lankan women are expected to stay close to home to take care of children or elderly relatives. This limits their ability to travel to markets or participate in other work. There is also the issue of poor access to education and technical skills that can hold women back in terms of development and building a business.

    These barriers are starting to receive more recognition and were depicted in the award-winning film The Great Indian Kitchen. This 2021 film in the Malayalam language tells the story of a young woman who is expected to follow traditional gender roles after her marriage. The film highlights the social norms that often deter women from working or seeking education.

    The Great Indian Kitchen trailer.

    Most women entrepreneurs in South Asia work in the informal sector. This includes street vending, agriculture, retail and home-based industries like sewing. But these sectors and enterprises often remain unregistered and are not captured in official economic data.

    For example, women in cities like Delhi in India and Colombo in Sri Lanka sell products like vegetables or handmade jewellery on the streets. Often, these women do not have legal businesses or commercial registration numbers. This limits their access to loans, social security and more formal markets. Across South Asia, only 25% of women have a bank account, compared with 41% of men – the biggest gender gap in the world.

    Nepal, however, has made strides in financial inclusion, particularly in closing the gender gap. According to Nepal’s financial inclusion report in 2023, women’s access to formal financial services the previous year was at 89% while men’s stood at 90% – showing that change is possible.

    The barriers for women

    The lack of education and technical training often restricts women’s ability to develop skills and entrepreneurial nous. But it can also expose them to exploitation by officials who can prey on their lack of legal knowledge, forcing them to face bureaucratic hurdles and corruption.

    Another thorny issue is that in some cultures it is unacceptable for women to hold seniority or authority over men. Often, government policies and programmes focus on male entrepreneurs, overlooking women’s issues. These include childcare needs or safety concerns.

    In Sri Lanka, female-owned businesses face significant challenges in accessing key government incentives simply because of limited awareness. A big issue is that women in rural areas often do not hear about funding programmes, grants and financial schemes.

    South Asian women’s economic contributions continue to be damaged by social, cultural and institutional limitations. It is vital to recognise these contributions and bring them into the formal economic system. This should ensure that female entrepreneurs get their rightful place in the broader economic arena.

    Nirma Sadamali Jayawardena 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. Women are south Asia’s ‘silent contributors’ – changing that could transform economies – https://theconversation.com/women-are-south-asias-silent-contributors-changing-that-could-transform-economies-251881

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How animals shape the planet in surprising ways

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Gemma Harvey, Professor of Physical Geography, Queen Mary University of London

    oleg_aryutkin/Shutterstock

    Hundreds of animals, from tiny ants to mighty hippos, are shaping the Earth’s surface as powerfully as floods and storms. These animals effectively act as landscape engineers, reorganising soils and sediments. Yet their combined global impact has never been explored, until now.

    Research that my colleagues and I conducted shows that animal engineers are much more diverse, widespread and globally significant than previously recognised. We estimated that the combined energy they devote to landscape-shaping processes is equivalent to the energy of hundreds of thousands of river floods.

    Animals act as landscape architects as they feed, create shelter, reproduce and simply move around. Beavers build dams that form wetlands and change river channels. Spawning salmon move huge amounts of river sediments too, similar to the amounts moved by floods. Yet, beyond such charismatic and iconic examples, animal landscape engineers can be viewed as curiosities – interesting but uncommon, with healthy scepticism about their role in landscape change.

    Most studies focus on a single species, so we collected evidence from hundreds of studies to understand the global significance of these animals. We focused on animals living on land or in rivers, lakes, wetlands and other inland water bodies. Oceans host important engineers too, but they were not included in our study.

    Tiny ants can leave their mark on a landscape.
    Gemma Harvey, CC BY-NC-ND

    My team was astounded by the diversity of landscape engineers we uncovered. The list we compiled included 500 wild animal species including insects, mammals, fish, birds, reptiles and crustaceans. More than a quarter of those 500 species are threatened or vulnerable in some way. This means their landscape-shaping effects – mixing, eroding or stabilising soils and sediments, building landforms – could disappear before they are fully understood.

    Animal architects include some of the smallest creatures on Earth, such as ants, termites and aquatic insect larvae, as well as the largest, such as elephants, hippos and bison. As a group, they are globally widespread across land and in water, in all major ecosystem types. We showed that despite covering only 2.4% of the planet’s land surface, freshwater habitats host over a third of these fascinating animals.

    Tamworth pigs roam free at Knepp estate, a rewilding project in the UK.
    Tony Skerl/Shutterstock

    We searched thousands of published articles for mentions of animal engineers to compile a comprehensive list of species. We explored their global distributions using free online biodiversity data. We used recent estimates of the total biomass of ants, mammals and all living things to estimate the combined biomass of animal engineers. Then, we converted this information to calorie content and estimated how much of that energy is used to shape landforms and landscapes.

    We inevitably missed some studied species in our searches. For instance, we know that the tropics and subtropics are biodiversity hotspots, but fewer animal agents of landscape change were reported there. This is because research and resources have been concentrated in places like Europe, the US and Australia. Countless more species remain unreported or even undiscovered, especially smaller, less visible animals such as insects.

    Another consideration is that our energy estimates for livestock substantially exceeded wild animals due to their large body size and high abundance. Yet how livestock shapes the landscape depends on how the animals are farmed. Intensive farming of large livestock breeds can increase soil erosion and flood risk, while low-density regenerative farming can improve soil health.



    Read more:
    Beavers can help us adapt to climate change – here’s how

    Rewilding potential

    Nature loss is intrinsically linked with the climate crisis. Natural habitats such as forests and wetlands capture and store carbon dioxide, helping to mitigate climate change. They also help us to adapt to the impacts of climate change, by altering how quickly water moves through landscapes for example, which reduces the severity of floods and droughts.

    In rewilding projects around the world, free-roaming pigs, deer, ponies and cattle introduced as landscape engineers increase carbon storage by changing vegetation and soils and helping reduce flood risk downstream. Beavers create “emerald refuges” in wildfire-scorched landscapes by damming streams to create ponds and wetlands. Hippo trails lead to the creation of new river channels that direct water flow to different areas.

    Finding ways to harness the enormous energy potential of landscape-shaping animals could help simultaneously mitigate and adapt to climate change and boost biodiversity.

    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.

    Gemma Harvey receives funding from the Leverhulme Trust (Leverhulme Research Fellowship Grant number RF-2022-
    2844) and UKRI Natural Environment Research Council (NE/W007460/1 and NE/Y005163/1) and Defra/ Environment Agency (NEIRF2059)

    – ref. How animals shape the planet in surprising ways – https://theconversation.com/how-animals-shape-the-planet-in-surprising-ways-250701

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Amid a tropical paradise known as ‘Lizard Island,’ researchers are cracking open evolution’s black box – scientist at work

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By James T. Stroud, Assistant Professor of Ecology and Evolution, Georgia Institute of Technology

    After gathering data on the captured anole, the team releases it back to the wild. Neil Losin/Day’s Edge Prods.

    Every morning in Miami, our fieldwork begins the same way. Fresh Cuban coffee and pastelitos – delicious Latin American pastries – fuel our team for another day of evolutionary detective work. Here we’re tracking evolution in real time, measuring natural selection as it happens in a community of Caribbean lizards.

    As an assistant professor of ecology and evolution at Georgia Tech, my journey with these remarkable reptiles has taken me far from my London roots. The warm, humid air of Miami feels natural now, a far cry from the gray, drizzly and lizard-free streets of my British upbringing.

    Our research takes place on a South Florida island roughly the size of an American football field – assuming we’re successful in sidestepping the American crocodiles that bask in the surrounding lake. We call it Lizard Island, and it’s a special place.

    Here, since 2015, we’ve been conducting evolutionary research on five species of remarkable lizards called anoles. By studying the anoles, our team is working to understand one of biology’s most fundamental questions: How does natural selection drive evolution in real time?

    Each May, coinciding with the start of the breeding season, we visit Lizard Island to capture, study and release all adult anoles – a population that fluctuates between 600 to 1,000. For the entire summer, female anoles lay a single egg every seven to 10 days. By October, a whole new generation has emerged.

    The anoles of Lizard Island, clockwise from top left: Cuban knight anole, Hispaniolan bark anole, American green anole, Cuban brown anole, Puerto Rican crested anole.
    Neil Losin/Day’s Edge Prods.

    The secret lives of lizards

    Anoles aren’t early risers, so we don’t expect much activity until the Sun strengthens around 9:30 a.m.; this gives us time to prepare our equipment. Our team catches anoles with telescopic fishing poles fitted with little lassos, which we use to gently pluck the lizards off branches and tree trunks. Ask any lizard biologist about their preferred lasso material and you’ll spark the age-old debate: fishing line or dental floss? For what it’s worth, we recently converted – we’re now on Team Fishing Line.

    Picture yourself as an anole on Lizard Island. Your life is short – typically just one year – and filled with daily challenges. You need to warm up in the Sun, find enough food to survive, search for a mate, guard your favorite branch from other lizards and avoid being eaten by a predator.

    Like human beings, each lizard is unique. Some have longer legs, others stronger jaws, and all behave slightly differently. These differences could determine who survives and who doesn’t; who has the most babies and who doesn’t.

    These outcomes drive evolution by natural selection, the process where organisms with traits better suited to their environment tend to survive and reproduce more. These advantageous traits are then passed on to future generations, gradually changing the species over time. However, scientists still have an incomplete understanding of exactly how each of these features predicts life’s winners and losers in the wild.

    To understand how species evolve, researchers need to crack open this black box of evolution and investigate natural selection in wild populations. My colleagues and I are doing this by studying the anoles in exquisite detail. Last year was especially exciting: We ran what we called the Lizard Olympics.

    Catching an anole with a lizard lasso. Look closely – the anole blends in quite well with the tree.
    Neil Losin/Day’s Edge Prods.

    Tiny fishing poles

    As the morning heat builds, we spot our first lizards: Cuban brown anoles near to the ground, and the mottled scales of Hispaniolan bark anoles just above them. Further up, in the leafy tree canopies, are American green anoles, and the largest species, the Cuban knight anole, about the size of a newborn kitten.

    In 2018, a new challenger entered the arena – the Puerto Rican crested anole, a species already present in Miami but one that hadn’t yet made it to Lizard Island. Its arrival provided us with an unexpected opportunity to study how species may evolve in real time in response to a new neighbor.

    Catching these agile athletes requires patience and precision. With our modified fishing poles, we carefully loop the dental floss over their heads. Each capture site is marked with bright pink tape and a unique ID number; all lizards are then transported to our field laboratory just a short walk away.

    In the laboratory, Stroud weighs a green anole.
    Neil Losin/Day’s Edge Prods.

    The Lizard Olympics

    Here, the real Olympic trials begin. Every athlete goes through a comprehensive evaluation. Our portable X-ray machine reveals their skeletal structure, and high-resolution scans capture the intricate details of their feet. This is particularly critical: Like their gecko cousins, anoles possess remarkable sticky toes that allow them to cling to smooth surfaces such as leaves and maybe even survive hurricanes.

    We also measure the shape and sharpness of their claws, as both features are crucial for these tree climbers. DNA samples provide a genetic fingerprint for each individual, allowing us to map family relationships across the island and see which is the most reproductively successful.

    A portable X-ray machine takes detailed measurements of a lizard’s skeleton.
    James Stroud

    The performance trials are where things get interesting. Imagine a tiny track meet for lizards. Using high-speed video cameras, we precisely test how fast each lizard runs, and using specialist equipment we measure how hard it bites and how strong it grips rough branches and smooth leaves.

    These aren’t arbitrary measurements – each represents a potential evolutionary advantage. Fast lizards might better escape predators. Strong bites might determine winners in territorial disputes. Excellent grip is crucial for tree canopy acrobatics.

    Each measurement helps us answer fundamental questions about evolution: Do faster lizards live longer? Do stronger biters produce more offspring? These are the essential metrics of evolution by natural selection.

    The identification code lets researchers track the lizard’s growth and survival.
    Neil Losin/Day’s Edge Prods.

    As afternoon approaches, the team relocates each piece of bright pink tape and returns the corresponding lizard to the exact branch it was caught on. The anoles now sport two tiny 3-millimeter tags with a unique code that lets us identify it when we recapture it in future research trips, along with a small dot of white nail polish so we know not to catch it immediately after we let it go.

    At 8:30 p.m., with the Lizard Olympics done for the day, we return to the island donning headlamps. Night brings a different perspective. Some of the most wily lizards are difficult to catch when fully charged by the midday Sun, so our nocturnal jaunts allow us to find them while they sleep. However, it’s often a race against time. Hungry lizard-eating corn snakes are also out hunting, trying to find the anoles before we do. As we wrap up another 16-hour day around 11:30 p.m., the team shares stories of the night.

    Should a snake climb along a branch where a baby anole sleeps, the lizard will wake up and drop to the ground to escape.
    James Stroud

    Evolution on the island

    Now spanning 10 years, 10 generations and five species, our Lizard Island dataset represents one of the longest-running active studies of its kind in evolutionary biology. By tracking which individuals survive and reproduce, and linking their success to specific physical traits and performance abilities, we’re documenting natural selection with unprecedented detail.

    So far we have uncovered two fascinating patterns. Initially, it didn’t pay to be different on Lizard Island. Anoles with very average shapes and sizes lived longer compared with those that are slightly different. But when the crested anoles arrived, everything changed: Suddenly, brown anoles with longer legs had a survival advantage.

    Anoles communicate with their dewlap, an expandable throat fan that signals other lizards.
    Jon Suh

    The Lizard Olympics is helping us understand why. The larger, more aggressive crested anoles are forcing brown anoles to spend more time on the ground, where those with longer legs might run faster to escape predators – allowing them to better survive and pass on their long-leg genes, while shorter-legged anoles might be eaten before they can reproduce.

    By watching natural selection unfold in response to environmental changes, rather than inferring it from fossil records, we’re providing cutting-edge evidence for evolutionary processes that Charles Darwin could only theorize about.

    These long days of observation are slowly revealing one of biology’s most fundamental processes. Every lizard we catch, every measurement we take adds another piece to our understanding of how species adapt and evolve in an ever-changing world.

    James T. Stroud 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. Amid a tropical paradise known as ‘Lizard Island,’ researchers are cracking open evolution’s black box – scientist at work – https://theconversation.com/amid-a-tropical-paradise-known-as-lizard-island-researchers-are-cracking-open-evolutions-black-box-scientist-at-work-246474

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Mae Reeves used showstopping hats to fuel voter engagement and Black entrepreneurship

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Reneé S. Anderson, Collections Manager, Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution

    Mae Reeves and her husband, Joel, pose with her hats at Mae’s Millinery in Philadelphia, circa 1953.
     Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture/Gift from Mae Reeves and her children Donna Limerick and William Mincey Jr., CC BY-NC-SA

    Lula “Mae” Reeves, one of the first Black women in Philly to own her own business, created one-of-a-kind and custom hats for celebrities, socialites, professionals and churchgoing women in downtown Philadelphia for over 50 years.

    She made hats for everyday wear, hats for special occasions, and magnificent “showstoppers,” as she called them. Her celebrity clients included Eartha Kitt, Marian Anderson, Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald and members of the du Pont and Annenberg families.

    A pink cartwheel-style hat with flowers from Mae’s Millinery.
    Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture/Gift from Mae Reeves and her children Donna Limerick and William Mincey Jr., CC BY-NC-SA

    I am a museum specialist at the National Museum of African American History and Culture at the Smithsonian Institution and an expert in costumes, textiles and millinery fashion.

    In 2009, I was called upon to visit Mae’s Millinery, her former store at 41 N. 60th St. in West Philadelphia, to help select objects for a new permanent exhibition at the Smithsonian that recreates Reeves’ shop and showcases some of her stunning designs.

    I also met Reeves in person for the first time that day at a nursing home in Darby, Pennsylvania. She was 96 years old.

    A few years later, I returned to Philadelphia to attend Reeves’s 100th birthday celebration. It was during that visit that I learned, to my surprise and intrigue, that Reeves had also used her millinery shop as a polling station.

    Mae Reeves, pictured in first row on right, poses with models wearing her designs.
    Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture/Gift from Mae Reeves and her children Donna Limerick and William Mincey Jr., CC BY-NC-SA

    Black velvet turban on display

    During my first meeting with Reeves, she shared her memory of the first hat she created after she opened her 60th Street store, a beautifully decorated shop, in 1941. Her original millinery shop was at 1630 South St., and many of her famous clients followed her to the new location in West Philadelphia.

    Reeves recalled creating a black velvet turban that she placed in the window. A young woman walked by on her way home from work and was enthralled. The woman returned to try it on and, Reeves told me, visualized the impressive fashion statement she would make. She purchased the turban for about US$20 – roughly $430 in today’s dollars.

    To open her West Philly millinery store, Reeves had secured a $500 business loan in 1940 from the Citizens and Southern Bank and Trust. The Black-owned bank catered to Philadelphia’s African American community, as most white-owned banks refused to loan money to Black customers.

    Reeves was proud to tell me how she had secured the loan entirely on her own – with no co-signer – by maintaining a reputation of “good standing” and having sound business plans. She was also extremely proud that she “paid back all of the loan.”

    A business card for Mae’s Millinery in West Philadelphia.
    Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture/Gift from Mae Reeves and her children Donna Limerick and William Mincey Jr., CC BY-NC-SA

    From millinery shop to polling station

    To transition her millinery shop to a polling station, Reeves told me that she and her second husband, Joel Reeves, who sold newspaper advertisements, would remove the beautiful furniture and decorative items to accommodate the polling machines.

    To get the word out about the designated polling station, the couple distributed handbills and hung posters throughout the neighborhood. Reeves offered plates of food to politicians who stopped by and cake to the voters. She wanted to create a safe and welcoming polling place while also emphasizing the importance that Black Philadelphians exercise their right to vote.

    Reeves was also a longtime member of the Freedom Day Association, a group formed in 1941 in Philadelphia to ensure younger African Americans understand the importance of the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery; the 14th Amendment, which grants citizenship to all people born or naturalized in the U.S; and the 15th Amendment, which prohibits denying any citizen’s right to vote on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude.

    The association was started by Maj. Richard Robert Wright Sr., a former U.S. Army paymaster, educator, politician, civil rights advocate and founder of the Citizens and Southern Bank – the bank that had offered May that $500 loan. Reeves admired Wright, who had been born into slavery, and considered him a close friend and business associate. She kept a copy of his portrait photo on display in her millinery shop.

    A turquoise turban-style hat with brooch made by Mae Reeves.
    Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture/Gift from Mae Reeves and her children Donna Limerick and William Mincey Jr., CC BY-NC-SA

    Barbecues and beach trips

    In March 2025, I spoke with Reeves’ daughter, Donna Limerick, by phone. She told me Reeves had been a member and president of the 60th Street Business Association, which promoted good business practices, shared marketing strategies and encouraged support for other businesses in the association.

    Reeves was also active in the National Association of Fashion and Accessory Designers, a Black trade group sponsored by the National Council of Negro Women. The group’s purpose was to promote Black women in the fashion industry by developing their business skills and fostering collaboration and access to mainstream fashion. The Philadelphia chapter was formed in 1950.

    Despite her many professional and civic commitments, Reeves also took care of those closest to her. Limerick shared with me how her parents would take neighborhood kids to their summer home in Mizpah, New Jersey. They would ply the children with delicious homemade meals and desserts, organize regular barbecues and beach trips, and teach the kids to fish.

    Reeves passed away in 2016 at the age of 104. I hope her story encourages others – as it has encouraged me – to be brave enough to dream; to be diligent enough to actualize your dreams; to be mindful to support your community; to be a person of grace; and to be careful to always expect, seek and give joy.

    Read more of our stories about Philadelphia.

    Reneé S. Anderson 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. Mae Reeves used showstopping hats to fuel voter engagement and Black entrepreneurship – https://theconversation.com/mae-reeves-used-showstopping-hats-to-fuel-voter-engagement-and-black-entrepreneurship-250735

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Deep-sea mining threatens sea life in a way no one is thinking about − by dumping debris into the thriving midwater zone

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Alexus Cazares-Nuesser, Ph.D. Candidate in Biological Oceanography, University of Hawaii

    A cnidarian is attached to a dead sponge stalk on a manganese nodule in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone. Diva Amon and Craig Smith, University of Hawaii at Mānoa

    Picture an ocean world so deep and dark it feels like another planet – where creatures glow and life survives under crushing pressure.

    This is the midwater zone, a hidden ecosystem that begins 650 feet (200 meters) below the ocean surface and sustains life across our planet. It includes the twilight zone and the midnight zone, where strange and delicate animals thrive in the near absence of sunlight. Whales and commercially valuable fish such as tuna rely on animals in this zone for food. But this unique ecosystem faces an unprecedented threat.

    As the demand for electric car batteries and smartphones grows, mining companies are turning their attention to the deep sea, where precious metals such as nickel and cobalt can be found in potato-size nodules sitting on the ocean floor.

    Images of marine life spotted in the midwater zone.
    Bucklin, et al., Marine Biology, 2021. Photos by R.R. Hopcroft and C. Clarke (University of Alaska Fairbanks) and L.P. Madin (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), CC BY, CC BY

    Deep-sea mining research and experiments over the past 40 years have shown how the removal of nodules can put seafloor creatures at risk by disrupting their habitats. However, the process can also pose a danger to what lives above it, in the midwater ecosystem. If future deep-sea mining operations release sediment plumes into the water column, as proposed, the debris could interfere with animals’ feeding, disrupt food webs and alter animals’ behaviors.

    As an oceanographer studying marine life in an area of the Pacific rich in these nodules, I believe that before countries and companies rush to mine, we need to understand the risks. Is humanity willing to risk collapsing parts of an ecosystem we barely understand for resources that are important for our future?

    Mining the Clarion-Clipperton Zone

    Beneath the Pacific Ocean southeast of Hawaii, a hidden treasure trove of polymetallic nodules can be found scattered across the seafloor. These nodules form as metals in seawater or sediment collect around a nucleus, such as a piece of shell or shark’s tooth. They grow at an incredibly slow rate of a few millimeters per million years. The nodules are rich in metals such as nickel, cobalt and manganese – key ingredients for batteries, smartphones, wind turbines and military hardware.

    As demand for these technologies increases, mining companies are targeting this remote area, known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, as well as a few other zones with similar nodules around the world.

    A map shows mining targets in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, southeast of Hawaii, upper left. APEIs are protected areas.
    McQuaid KA, Attrill MJ, Clark MR, Cobley A, Glover AG, Smith CR and Howell KL, 2020, CC BY

    So far, only test mining has been carried out. However, plans for full-scale commercial mining are rapidly advancing.

    Exploratory deep-sea mining began in the 1970s, and the International Seabed Authority was established in 1994 under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to regulate it. But it was not until 2022 that The Metals Company and Nauru Ocean Resources Inc. fully tested the first integrated nodule collection system in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone.

    The companies are now planning full-scale mining operations in the region and expect to submit their application to the ISA by June 27, 2025. The ISA will convene in July 2025 to discuss critical issues such as mining regulations, guidelines and benefit-sharing mechanisms.

    A visualization of a deep-sea mining operation shows two sediment plumes. Source: MIT Mechanical Engineering.

    The proposed mining process is invasive. Collector vehicles scrape along the ocean floor as they scoop up nodules and stir up sediments. This removes habitats used by marine organisms and threatens biodiversity, potentially causing irreversible damage to seafloor ecosystems. Once collected, the nodules are brought up with seawater and sediments through a pipe to a ship, where they’re separated from the waste.

    The leftover slurry of water, sediment and crushed nodules is then dumped back into the middle of the water column, creating plumes. While the discharge depth is still under discussion, some mining operators propose releasing the waste at midwater depths, around 4,000 feet (1,200 meters).

    However, there is a critical unknown: The ocean is dynamic, constantly shifting with currents, and scientists don’t fully understand how these mining plumes will behave once released into the midwater zone.

    These clouds of debris could disperse over large areas, potentially harming marine life and disrupting ecosystems. Picture a volcanic eruption – not of lava, but of fine, murky sediments expanding throughout the water column, affecting everything in its path.

    The midwater ecosystem at risk

    As an oceanographer studying zooplankton in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, I am concerned about the impact of deep-sea mining on this ecologically important midwater zone. This ecosystem is home to zooplankton – tiny animals that drift with ocean currents – and micronekton, which includes small fish, squid and crustaceans that rely on zooplankton for food.

    Sediment plumes in the water column could harm these animals. Fine sediments could clog respiratory structures in fish and feeding structures of filter feeders. For animals that feed on suspended particles, the plumes could dilute food resources with nutritionally poor material. Additionally, by blocking light, plumes might interfere with visual cues essential for bioluminescent organisms and visual predators.

    Manganese nodules can also be found on the seafloor off the southeastern United States.
    NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, 2019 Southeastern U.S. Deep-Sea Exploration

    For delicate creatures such as jellyfish and siphonophores – gelatinous animals that can grow over 100 feet long – sediment accumulation can interfere with buoyancy and survival. A recent study found that jellies exposed to sediments increased their mucous production, a common stress response that is energetically expensive, and their expression of genes related to wound repair.

    Additionally, noise pollution from machinery can interfere with how species communicate and navigate.

    Disturbances like these have the potential to disrupt ecosystems, extending far beyond the discharge depth. Declines in zooplankton populations can harm fish and other marine animal populations that rely on them for food.

    Life in the deep sea has other values. Source: The Economist

    The midwater zone also plays a vital role in regulating Earth’s climate. Phytoplankton at the ocean’s surface capture atmospheric carbon, which zooplankton consume and transfer through the food chain. When zooplankton and fish respire, excrete waste, or sink after death, they contribute to carbon export to the deep ocean, where it can be sequestered for centuries. The process naturally removes planet-warming carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

    More research is needed

    Despite growing interest in deep-sea mining, much of the deep ocean, particularly the midwater zone, remains poorly understood. A 2023 study in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone found that 88% to 92% of species in the region are new to science.

    Current mining regulations focus primarily on the seafloor, overlooking broader ecosystem impacts. The International Seabed Authority is preparing to make key decisions on future seabed mining in July 2025, including rules and guidelines relating to mining waste, discharge depths and environmental protection.

    A map shows areas with nodules being considered for exploration and mining. Source: International Seabed Authority

    These decisions could set the framework for large-scale commercial mining in ecologically important areas such as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone. Yet the consequences for marine life are not clear. Without comprehensive studies on the impact of seafloor mining techniques, the world risks making irreversible choices that could harm these fragile ecosystems.

    Alexus Cazares-Nuesser receives funding from the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program. Past research received funding from The Metals Company Inc. through its subsidiary Nauru Ocean Resources Inc.

    – ref. Deep-sea mining threatens sea life in a way no one is thinking about − by dumping debris into the thriving midwater zone – https://theconversation.com/deep-sea-mining-threatens-sea-life-in-a-way-no-one-is-thinking-about-by-dumping-debris-into-the-thriving-midwater-zone-247690

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –