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Category: Education

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: “Resilience isn’t enough”: why the growth of women’s football could lead to player burnout

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Helen Owton, Lecturer in Sport and Fitness, The Open University

    Millie Bright (Chelsea Fcw) of England shooting to goal during the 2019 Fifa Women’s World Cup in France Jose Breton- Pics Action/Shutterstock

    Women’s football has exploded onto the global stage. Record-breaking crowds, major sponsorships, elite athletes and huge media deals have transformed the sport into a fast-growing spectacle. Its rise may be inspiring, but behind the success, many players are struggling with the growing physical and mental demands of the modern game.

    As the game becomes faster and more physically intense, players are expected to deliver top performances across crowded domestic seasons, international tournaments and growing commercial commitments.

    Recovery windows are shrinking, while the pressure to remain at peak performance only grows. Physiotherapists have already warned that many female players face burnout, overtraining and a rising risk of injuries due to inadequate rest and recovery time.

    With growing visibility also comes increasing scrutiny. Female players now live under the spotlight of social media, where they are expected not only to perform, but to lead, inspire and remain endlessly positive – often while facing online abuse.

    Chelsea and England star Fran Kirby has spoken openly about the criticism she has received about her body, especially after injuries or illness when she wasn’t at peak fitness.

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    “I get called fat all the time,” she has said, highlighting how online abuse adds another layer of psychological strain that isn’t always visible, but can be deeply harmful.

    Mental health is increasingly part of the conversation around women’s football, but real support remains patchy. After the tragic suicide of Sheffield United’s 27-year-old midfielder Maddy Cusack in 2023, the FA commissioned a report into mental health support across the Women’s Super League (WSL).

    More players are speaking publicly about the pressures of anxiety, burnout and emotional distress, but access to professional psychological care still depends largely on the resources of individual clubs.

    For some players, the psychological toll deepens even further after injury. One study found that professional female footballers are nearly twice as likely to experience psychological distress after undergoing surgery. Yet mental health support during injury recovery remains inconsistent across the WSL.

    Millie Bright’s story offers a recent example. The Chelsea and England defender missed much of the 2023-24 season due to injury and, in 2025, withdrew from the England squad citing burnout. She eventually underwent knee surgery and chose to prioritise her rehabilitation over international duty, highlighting the difficult choices players face when balancing physical and emotional wellbeing.

    Governing bodies and clubs have a crucial role to play in safeguarding players’ wellbeing. Yet Uefa has come under fire for putting commercial growth ahead of player welfare with its expansion of the women’s Champions League into the new “Swiss model” format.

    Instead of facing three opponents twice, teams will now play six different teams during the league phase, splitting those matches home and away. While the extra fixtures may boost visibility and revenue, they also add to an already punishing schedule, heightening the risk of fatigue, injury and burnout for players who are already stretched to the limit.

    Financial security remains another major challenge. Some WSL players reportedly earn as little as £20,000 a year, forcing many to juggle full-time jobs or academic studies alongside football.

    For mothers in the game, the demands are even higher, as they manage childcare, training, travel and recovery with little institutional support. Maternity policies remain inconsistent, and many players face intense pressure to return quickly to peak form after pregnancy.

    Extraordinary resilience

    Despite these enormous challenges, female players continue to demonstrate extraordinary resilience, paving the way for the next generation. But as a 2024 Health in Education Association report notes, resilience alone isn’t enough. Without proper investment in both physical and mental health services, the long-term wellbeing and careers of these athletes remain at risk.

    While mental toughness is often celebrated, research shows that resilience depends heavily on the support structures available. In the WSL, access to mental health care and sports psychology varies dramatically between clubs.

    The FA has announced plans to make wellbeing and psychology roles mandatory in WSL licensing, which is a positive step. But for many players, consistent, high-quality support remains far from guaranteed.

    There is no doubt that women’s football has finally gained the attention it deserves. But progress must not come at the cost of player welfare. A sustainable future for the sport means investing not just in performance, but in protection: standardised access to physiotherapy, sport psychology and wellbeing professionals for all players, across all clubs.

    If the game truly wants to thrive long-term, it must create a culture where players aren’t just expected to perform, but are supported to rest, recover and speak openly about their mental health – without fear, stigma or consequence.

    Helen Owton 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. “Resilience isn’t enough”: why the growth of women’s football could lead to player burnout – https://theconversation.com/resilience-isnt-enough-why-the-growth-of-womens-football-could-lead-to-player-burnout-258432

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden wins the 2025 Women’s prize – an expertly woven tale of personal crises and national horror

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Manjeet Ridon, Associate Dean International, Faculty of Arts, Design & Humanities, De Montfort University

    The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden has won the 2025 Women’s prize. It revisits a dark, under-explored chapter of Dutch history. It asks what happened to all the possessions that Jews who were forced to flee or were taken to camps during the second world war had to leave behind.

    The trauma of this history hangs over the novel, a haunting buzz beneath this tale of a woman slowly losing control over her small and regimented world one summer in the early 1960s. That woman is Isabel, who lives alone in her sprawling family home in a rural area of the Netherlands.

    The house is the centre of Isabel’s world and she spends most of her time obsessively keeping it in order, as her late mother would have wanted. To her, “a house is a precious thing”. Isabel is its possessive and careful caretaker, suspicious of anyone she perceives as interfering in her relationship with it.

    Isabel’s relationship with the house is tied to a difficult childhood under the influence of her domineering mother, who is still asserting control from beyond the grave. Isabel is stuck in this history, aware that “she belonged to the house in the sense that she had nothing else, no other life than the house”. It is the only place she has, and can assert, a sense of control.

    But the house does not belong to her, she is simply its keeper. It will be inherited by her brother when he wants to start a family – a future which seems incredibly distant because of his playboy and big city ways. That is till he delivers his gauche new girlfriend, Eva, to stay at the house while he is away on business.

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    What lies beneath?

    Set 15 years after the end of the second world war, van der Wouden’s debut novel unearths terrible crimes from the past and the psychological legacies that still ripple across generations of families, ancestral homes and communities. It is a novel about theft, expropriation and convenient cultural memory loss.

    The Safekeep succeeds in blending the political with the domestic and the historical with the personal.

    The writing is restrained yet lyrical and poetic, allowing space for the readers to realise how easily injustice and a historical wrong can be quietly concealed under the surface of everyday respectability. The story unfolds slowly, like coming across an old box of photos long forgotten in a dusty attic, which reveals a devastating narrative in fragments.

    Eva’s penetration of Isabel’s perfectly kept and regimented world, makes it clear to Isabel that the house and the objects she lovingly “kept” over decades were never, and will never, be hers. This graceless young woman stands in contention to everything Isabel (and her mother) thought a woman ought to be.

    As they spend time together and her desperate attempts to enforce control fail, Isabel has to confront the uncomfortable reality of her inheritance – that of the role she plays in her family, the life she has chosen to lead and the house she loves so dearly.

    There is mystery in this novel: pieces of a broken plate, missing objects, imperfect memories. The careful attention to detail and suspenseful prose makes the house take on a ghostly presence in the novel, becoming an archive of both sentimental memory and moral ambiguity.



    Read more:
    Women’s prize for fiction 2025: six experts review the shortlisted novels

    As things become more heated inside the house, we learn more about Isabel’s relationship with her two brothers, which is marked by a similar quiet tension and emotional distance. This family is shaped by its history and by their mother. The ways they grieve their matriarch’s death become entangled with the unravelling of long-held assumptions about their identities, values, each of their ideas about love and relationships, and the meaning of home and family.

    This startling debut has moved the literary world, having been shortlisted for 2024’s Booker and now winning the 2025 Women’s prize. The brilliance of The Safekeep lies in its subtlety and moral complexity. It is beautifully written, tightly constrained and poetic, and a deeply moving story about one woman’s desire for truth, justice and transformation.

    This article features references to books that have been included for editorial reasons, and may contain links to bookshop.org. If you click on one of the links and go on to buy something from bookshop.org The Conversation UK may earn a commission.

    Manjeet Ridon 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 Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden wins the 2025 Women’s prize – an expertly woven tale of personal crises and national horror – https://theconversation.com/the-safekeep-by-yael-van-der-wouden-wins-the-2025-womens-prize-an-expertly-woven-tale-of-personal-crises-and-national-horror-258997

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: A flesh-eating fly is spreading north to the US. It could devastate livestock farming if not controlled

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Hannah Rose Vineer, Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Infection, Veterinary & Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool

    Emily Marie Wilson / Shutterstock

    A flesh-eating parasitic fly is invading North and Central America. The consequences could be severe for the cattle industry, but this parasite is not picky – it will infest a wide range of hosts, including humans and their pets.

    The “New World screwworm” (Cochliomyia hominivorax) was previously eradicated from these regions. Why is it returning and what can be done about it?

    Flies fulfil important ecological functions, like pollination and the decomposition of non-living organic matter. Some, however, have evolved to feed on the living. The female New World screwworm fly is attracted to the odour of any wound to lay her eggs. The larvae (maggots) then feed aggressively on living tissue causing immeasurable suffering to their unlucky host, including death if left untreated.

    Cattle farmers in Texas estimated in the 1960s that they were treating around 1 million cases per year.

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    Between the 1960s and 1990s, scientists and governments worked together to use the fly’s biology against it, eradicating the New World screwworm from the US and Mexico using the sterile insect technique (SIT).

    A female screwworm mates only once before laying her eggs, whereas the males are promiscuous. During the eradication process, billions of sterile males were released from planes, preventing any female that mated with them from producing viable eggs.

    In combination with chemical treatment of cattle and cool weather, populations of the screwworm were extinct in the US by 1982. The eradication campaign reportedly came at cost of US$750 million (£555 million), allowing cattle production to increase significantly.

    For decades, a facility in Panama has regularly released millions of sterile flies to act as a barrier to the New World screwworm spreading north from further south.

    However, since 2022 – and after decades of eradication – the New World screwworm has once again spread northwards through several countries in Central America. Cases exploded in Panama in 2023 and the fly had reached Mexico by November 2024.

    Scientists have suggested several hypotheses for this spread, including flies hitchhiking with cattle movements, higher temperatures enhancing fly development and survival, and the possibility that females are adapting their sexual behaviour to avoid sterile males.

    Around 17 million cattle are now at risk in Central America, but worse may be to come. Mexico has twice as many cattle, and the spread towards the US continues, where around 14 million cattle would be at risk in Texas and Florida alone.

    Humans are not spared, with at least eight cases of the flies infesting people in Mexico since April.

    Live animal ban

    The US has responded by temporarily restricting live animal imports from Mexico. The governments of the US, Central American countries and Mexico are also working together to heighten surveillance and work towards the eradication of the New World screwworm by stepping up sterile insect releases.

    Sterile male screwworm pupae (juveniles) are currently produced and safely sterilised by irradiation at a rate of over 100 million per week at a facility in Panama. This is jointly funded by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Panama’s Ministry of Agriculture Development. However, a successful eradication campaign may need several times this number of sterile flies.

    For example, sterile fly production for releases in Mexico in the 1980s were reportedly in excess of 500 million flies per week. To combat this shortfall, the USDA is focusing releases in critical areas of Mexico and is already investing US$21 million to equip a fruit fly production facility in Metapa, Mexico, to also produce 60 million to
    100 million sterile screwworm per week.

    Fly production, sterilisation and release is a long process, and a reduction in wild screwworm populations would not be immediate. History has shown us that integrated control with anti-parasitic veterinary medicines are essential to repel flies and treat infestations as they arise.

    Surveillance with trained personnel is also essential but is a great challenge due to an entire generation of veterinarians, technicians and farmers who have no living memory of screwworm infestations.

    Finally, climate warming means that we may not be blessed with the cool weather that facilitated previous eradication, and further work is needed to determine how this will impact current eradication plans.

    Hannah Rose Vineer receives research funding from the UKRI (https://www.ukri.org/) research councils.

    Livio Martins Costa Junior receives funding from Brazilian agencies, including CNPq, CAPES, FINEP and FAPEMA.

    – ref. A flesh-eating fly is spreading north to the US. It could devastate livestock farming if not controlled – https://theconversation.com/a-flesh-eating-fly-is-spreading-north-to-the-us-it-could-devastate-livestock-farming-if-not-controlled-258937

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Despite what you learned at school, insulin isn’t just made in the pancreas

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Craig Beall, Senior Lecturer in Experimental Diabetes, University of Exeter

    Your brain makes insulin – the same insulin produced by your pancreas. The same insulin that is not produced in people with type 1 diabetes and the same insulin that does not work properly in people with type 2 diabetes.

    Scientists have known for over 100 years about insulin producing cells in the pancreas. These spherical islands of cells, called islets, contain insulin producing beta cells.

    But we’ve only just started to learn about brain insulin production. The fact that insulin is made there is still largely unknown, even among diabetes scientists, doctors and people with diabetes.

    Yet, it was discovered there in the late 1970s – then promptly disregarded.

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    A study published in 1978 showed the levels of insulin in the rat brain were “at least 10 times higher than that found in plasma … and in some regions … 100 times higher”. If true, why isn’t this more widely known.

    Because soon after this discovery, clear evidence showed the transfer of insulin from blood to brain. One study in 1983 measuring insulin in rodent brain said that “insulin found in these extracts was ultimately derived from pancreatic insulin”. They could not find the machinery to process insulin in the brain, at least with the tools available at the time.

    This led to the assumption – for nearly the next 30 years – that all brain insulin came from the pancreas.

    Insulin can and does move from the blood to the brain. But local sources of insulin are produced in specific places to do specific things.

    The brain cells that make insulin

    First, what is surprising about brain insulin production is that there is not one but at least six types of insulin-producing brain cell. Some have been confirmed in both rodent and human brain, others currently just in rodents.

    One of the first brain cells shown to make insulin is the neurogliaform cell. These live in a brain area important for learning and memory. Most surprisingly, the production of insulin here depends on the amount of glucose present – a feature shared with pancreatic beta cells.

    Its not clear what this insulin source does. Based on the location, it may contribute to cognitive function.

    This area also has cells that create new neurons throughout life, called “neural progenitors”. These cells also make insulin.

    A similar cell from the olfactory bulb, the processing centre for smell, also has insulin-producing progenitors. What insulin does here is still unknown.

    But one insulin producing brain cell might regulate growth. A 2020 study showed that insulin is made and released from stress-sensing neurons in the mouse hypothalamus. This is a brain area that controls growth and metabolism. It also has the highest insulin levels in the human brain.

    The researchers showed that stressing mice caused hypothalamic insulin production to decrease. This led to poorer growth in the animals. In the case of mice, their bodies were shorter.

    Hypothalamic insulin maintained growth hormone levels in the pituitary gland. This is sometimes called the master gland as its involved in making or controlling production of other hormones. Having less local insulin meant less growth hormone production.

    Then there is the choroid plexus. This is the brain region that makes cerebrospinal fluid. In humans, that is about half a litre of this clear colourless liquid every day.

    Cells lining the choroid plexus – the epithelial cells – make a nourishing broth of growth factors and nutrients to keep the brain healthy. Only recently was insulin production found here in mice.

    The choroid plexus secretes fluid directly into brain ventricles, the spaces deep inside the brain. This fluid flows around the whole brain, perhaps delivering insulin more widely.

    Brain insulin suppresses appetite.
    shisu_ka/Shutterstock.com

    One place it does travel to is the appetite control centre in the hypothalamus.

    A 2023 study in mice showed that genetic control of insulin production by the choroid plexus could change food intake. The hypothalamus was rewired by changing choroid plexus insulin levels. Insulin released from here suppressed appetite.

    Another source of insulin in the brain also reduces food intake. A 2022 found that insulin producing neurons at the back of the brain, called the hindbrain, reduced food intake in mice.

    Might help the brain stay healthy as we age

    So if brain insulin can change appetite, does it control blood sugar?

    No. At least there is no evidence for this currently. It is unlikely this insulin leaves the brain. Therefore, its unlikely to control glucose levels in the same way.

    Instead, insulin in the brain might help the brain stay healthy as we age. For example, Alzheimer’s disease is often, unofficially, termed type 3 diabetes. This is because the brain is insulin resistant in Alzheimer’s. It cannot properly use glucose either.

    This is a big problem. Glucose is the main fuel for the brain. In fact, estimates suggest there is a 20% energy gap in Alzheimer’s. Even without brain cell loss, this alone will impair cognitive performance.

    This has led to attempts to boost brain insulin. Spraying insulin into the nose can improve cognitive performance in Alzheimer’s, in some, but not all studies.

    Brain glucose use also decreases over time and intranasal insulin also seems to limit this decrease.

    Therefore, is more brain insulin always a good thing?

    Not necessarily. In women specifically, higher levels of insulin in cerebrospinal fluid is associated with poorer cognitive performance.

    There is still much to learn about brain insulin production. For example, which insulin source came first? The brain or the beta cell? Hopefully it doesn’t take another 30 years to find out.

    But given the strength of evidence of brain insulin production, it won’t be long until our school textbooks are updated.

    Craig Beall currently receives funding from Diabetes UK, Breakthrough T1D, Steve Morgan Foundation Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge, Medical Research Council, NC3Rs, Society for Endocrinology and British Society for Neuroendocrinology.

    – ref. Despite what you learned at school, insulin isn’t just made in the pancreas – https://theconversation.com/despite-what-you-learned-at-school-insulin-isnt-just-made-in-the-pancreas-256264

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Rough sleeping to be decriminalised: what is the Vagrancy Act?

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Emily Wertans, Research Assistant & PhD Candidate, University of Leicester

    Diana Vucane/Shutterstock

    The Labour government has announced plans to scrap the laws associated with criminalising homelessness from spring 2026. This comes in the form of repealing the Vagrancy Act, which has made rough sleeping and begging illegal in England and Wales for 200 years.

    Rough sleeping has increased 164% from when monitoring began in 2010. While repealing the act won’t end rough sleeping, decriminalisation is an important step to making sure the estimated 4,667 rough sleepers across England can access much needed support.

    With less threat of hostile interactions with the police and incurring fines resulting in debts, there is a chance to instead focus on meeting their more immediate needs to help them exit homelessness.

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    The Vagrancy Act 1824 was designed to address public order and so-called “undesirable” behaviours. Its full name is: An act for the punishment of idle and disorderly persons, and rogues and vagabonds, in England.

    While homelessness as a whole is not made illegal by this act, it does criminalise behaviour associated with homelessness. This includes rough sleeping, loitering and begging.

    However, as very few people rough sleep if they have another choice (and those choices are often also unappealing), the law does not act as a deterrent. In reality, giving people criminal records and potential debt worsens their chances of securing housing.

    Over the years, parts of the act have been repealed, such as the offence of fortune telling. However, statutes covering “sleeping out” and begging are still in effect. Today, the Vagrancy Act gives police in England and Wales the power to issue fines of up to £1,000 and prosecute those caught begging or sleeping out.

    In reality, the act has been used less and less over the years. However, the figures do not reflect how the law is used informally by the police to move people on and seize their possessions, including tents and sleeping bags.

    It is not uncommon for old laws to be repealed as they become outdated. This announcement comes after years of campaigning from the homelessness sector and advocacy groups.

    Organisations such as Crisis called the act “outdated” and “cruel”. Among other reasons, this is because the foundations of the legislation are degrading and overly punitive. In its earliest form, the 1547 Vagrancy Act authorised any able-bodied person who was not in employment to be branded with a “V” for “vagrant”.

    Westminster initially voted in favour of repealing the Vagrancy Act in 2022. However, progress stalled while the former government considered replacement legislation.

    At the same time, the Conservative government was considering making it a civil offence for charities to supply “nuisance” tents. And there were concerns that the last government’s criminal justice bill, which did not pass before the general election, would have allowed for homeless people to be arrested or fined for having “excessive odour”.

    The current government has said it will replace the Vagrancy Act with legislation targeting organised begging by gangs and trespassing.

    What difference will it make?

    Homelessness charity Crisis called the announcement to repeal the Vagrancy Act a “monumental campaign win”.

    However, neither the act, nor repealing it, addresses the real issues causing homelessness. Some key reasons that people become homeless are: family disputes, breakdown of relationships, domestic violence, poverty, unsuitable housing, addiction, long housing waiting lists and losing employment. By criminalising or fining people in these situations, they are less likely to find housing and exit homelessness.

    Rough sleeping is already dangerous. Being visibly homeless increases the risk of becoming a victim of violence, in addition to the health concerns that come with exposure to all types of weather. With rough sleeping decriminalised, agencies will be better placed to offer lifesaving support, including giving out sleeping bags during winter months, without concern or threats of fines.

    There are an estimated 4,667 rough sleepers across England.
    Travers Lewis/Shutterstock

    As well as immediate care, services also offer longer term interventions that address the root causes of rough sleeping. Evidence shows that providing support that focuses on what a person needs, such as help with trauma or addiction, is the most effective way for them to exit homelessness for good.

    Repealing the act is also a positive step towards mending relations between the government, police and homeless people. For many generations, the focus has been on punishment rather than support. Moving our attention away from prosecuting will also help relieve a burden on the criminal justice system, freeing up already strained police and courts.

    While the repeal is one important step to supporting homeless people and ending homelessness, it is only part of the solution. Rough sleeping is the most visible type of homelessness, but a much larger number of homeless people are hidden; people can live in temporary accommodation and shelters for years and others sofa surf with friends, family and strangers to stay off the streets.

    Meanwhile, charities and local councils are supporting more people than ever on insecure and ever shrinking budgets. With an ongoing housing crisis, there are not enough suitable homes to place people in. Families living in hotels are at record high levels. Without responding to these issues, ending homelessness for good is unlikely.

    Emily Wertans 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. Rough sleeping to be decriminalised: what is the Vagrancy Act? – https://theconversation.com/rough-sleeping-to-be-decriminalised-what-is-the-vagrancy-act-258748

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Banking: Aleš Michl: Remarks on euro adoption

    Source: Bank for International Settlements

    Delivering on our mandate of price stability

    The new Bank Board was appointed in mid-2022. At that time, inflation in the Czech Republic was 17.5 percent. Today, it is back under control, down to just 2.4 percent.

    The base repo rate is currently at 3.5%, and I expect it will remain at this level for some time.

    Our strategy is clear: to keep interest rates higher for longer compared to the period before COVID, to avoid any unconventional policies, and to follow the vision that in monetary policy, less is more (Michl, 2024b).

    This year, our currency – the koruna – appreciated by 11% against the US dollar and by 2% against the euro. This helps us in the fight against inflation.

    The Czech National Bank is the most trusted institution in the country (STEM, 2025)1. We take this trust seriously.

    The pros and cons of having an independent monetary policy

    Two main advantages:

    First, exchange rate flexibility. A stronger koruna makes imports cheaper, which helps fight inflation. On the other hand, a weaker koruna supports exports during a recession. We can call it an adjustment mechanism for the economy – or, to be exact, an adjustment mechanism for the balance of payments.

    And the second one:

    The current policy of the European Central Bank does not fit the Czech economy. Our key interest rate is 3.5%, while in the eurozone it is 2%. We still need high interest rates to keep inflation low. We also need positive real interest rates to maintain price stability.

    In Croatia and Slovakia, inflation is around 4%, which means they currently have negative real interest rates. That makes it harder for them to fight inflation.

    Our goal is price stability – not to support exporters. The key is to keep the growth of money in the economy under control.

    One key disadvantage:

    Everyone can make mistakes. In the history of the Czech National Bank, there were two major ones: keeping real interest rates negative for more than 10 years before COVID, and increasing the money supply (banking liquidity) by 100% in 2017 in order to weaken the koruna. This is one of the reasons why core inflation after COVID was higher in the Czech Republic than in the eurozone. We must not repeat these mistakes.

    That is why our strategy is to keep interest rates higher for longer, avoid any unconventional policies, and follow the vision that in monetary policy, less is more.

    The “perfect” timing of euro adoption

    Just to remind you, the government makes the final decision about euro adoption, not the central bank.

    My PhD thesis was about the perfect timing for euro adoption.  And the main conclusion was that one day, the exchange rate adjustment mechanism may stop working for the economy.

    Let me give two situations as examples:

    First, a weaker koruna might help exporters – but at the same time, it brings very high inflation into the country (Michl, 2016).

    Second, if there is already a large amount of loans in euros in the economy – like in Croatia (Croatia: 70%, vs 20% in the Czech Republic) – independent monetary policy effectively stops working. A weaker koruna in such a situation could lead to large-scale defaults.

    For now, the exchange rate adjustment mechanism still works. There is no need to rush to adopt the euro. We should remain a country with a strong koruna, an independent monetary policy, and robust FX reserves – not follow the example of Croatia.

    Our experience with fighting high inflation

    Inflation was 17.5% in July 2022 and still rising. The key interest rate was already at 7%. Then, a new Bank Board was appointed – and we changed the strategy.

    The gamechanger was the strong koruna strategy, which we introduced in late 2022 (Michl, 2022). We announced that we would keep interest rates stable for an extended period. At the same time, we clearly communicated that a strong koruna is crucial for the Czech economy.

    This strategy worked. In spring 2023, we saw the strongest koruna in our history. The strong koruna helped reduce inflation by making imported raw materials cheaper. It also created tougher conditions for exporters – a necessary trade-off.

    The market understood and trusted our strategy because we communicated it openly and transparently. And that was enough. Sometimes, less is more in monetary policy. It is better to maintain a steady and credible restrictive stance than to keep interest rates at zero for a decade – and then hope to control inflation with a sudden, sharp rate hike.

    On FX volatility and risk premia

    Yes, FX volatility brings hedging costs for companies. But the mission of monetary policy is price stability – not cheap financing.

    Let me measure the risk premium using the asset swap spread: the difference between the 5-year government bond yield and the interest rate swap rate, measured in percentage points. Currently, this spread stands at 0.2 percentage points in Croatia, 0.3 percentage points in Slovakia, and 0.2 percentage points in the Czech Republic.

    We aim to keep the risk premium low through credible and independent monetary policy – and by putting pressure on the government to balance public finances.

    Within the eurozone, governments often feel less pressure to save money or balance their budgets. The bailout system reduces the risk premium – but it also weakens the incentive for fiscal responsibility. In a country without market pressure, politicians become less motivated to reduce deficits, and a real estate bubble can form more easily.

    We also learned the wrong lesson from the eurozone fiscal rules – the idea that a deficit under 3% of GDP is always acceptable. It’s not. What really matters is maintaining balanced public finances over time.

    Cheap euro loans and the koruna’s higher borrowing costs

    Yes, corporate loans in euros are cheaper, but interest rates on savings are higher in our country. In the Czech Republic, we need higher interest rates to fight inflation.

    Those higher rates help slow down borrowing – for everyone: households, the government, and businesses (Michl, 2024a).

    Monetary policy’s mission is price stability – not cheap financing.

    Keeping money too cheap for too long was one of the mistakes in the past that led to high inflation.

    References

    Michl, A. (2016). Nová kritéria pro přijetí Eura [New Euro Convergence Criteria]. Politická ekonomie, 2016(6), 713–729.

    Michl, A. (2022). Policy for a Strong Koruna. CNB Discussion Forum. Faculty of Economics and Administration at Masaryk University, Brno, 23 November 2022.

    Michl, A. (2024). The Target. University of Pardubice, CNB Discussion Forum 2024, 23 April 2024.

    Michl, A. (2024b). CNB’s Aleš Michl on Tackling Inflation, Friedman’s Legacy and Ditching DSGE. Central Banking, 19 December 2024.

    MIL OSI Global Banks –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Province Awards Nova Scotia Lighthouse Project Funding

    Source: Government of Canada regional news

    Three organizations have been awarded funding under the Nova Scotia Lighthouse Project to address childhood obesity and chronic disease in the province.

    The successful applicants are Acadia University, Upward Mobility Kitchens East Inc., and Wasoqopa’q First Nation. The total amount of funding is $1.05 million.

    “Reducing childhood obesity and helping young people to establish healthy habits will help reduce the burden on our healthcare system and make a lasting impact on the overall health of our province,” said Health and Wellness Minister Michelle Thompson. “These investments will provide more communities with the resources they need to raise healthy children.”

    The three projects, with funding amounts, are:

    • $320,643 to Acadia University in Wolfville to create a self-sustaining farm-to-school initiative that includes a greenhouse. It will address childhood obesity, food insecurity and declining physical activity by integrating nutrition education, sustainable agriculture and mental health support directly into the school curriculum at Northeast Kings Education Centre in Canning.

    • $334,384 to Upward Mobility Kitchens East Inc. to transform The Nook on Halifax’s Gottingen Street into a hub for youth-focused cooking classes and food literacy education. The Sharpen Up initiative will give youth the skills to take control of their nutrition, improve health outcomes and host community-centred meal events.

    The kitchen at the Nook (Province of Nova Scotia) Click or tap for larger image
    • $400,000 to Wasoqopa’q First Nation to create a space that fosters physical activity, mental resilience and community well-being through traditional Mi’kmaw teachings. The project includes an outdoor structure that supports traditional food sourcing, cleaning and preparation.

    Ninety-seven organizations applied for funding; nine were invited to submit a proposal and eight were received.

    The Nova Scotia Lighthouse Project is a partnership between the Province and Novo Nordisk Canada Inc. that brought together healthcare, academic and economic leaders to identify barriers and challenges that contribute to poor health outcomes. It invited businesses and academic and community organizations to submit proposals for funding to address them. The initiative is delivered in collaboration with the Nova Scotia Health Innovation Hub and Life Sciences Nova Scotia.

    Quotes:

    “At Novo Nordisk Canada, we are committed to engaging as a valuable and dedicated partner in improving the lives of Nova Scotians and fighting childhood obesity. We are proud to partner on this important issue and excited by this first round of funding announcements; these projects have the potential to drive change for a healthier Canada.”
    — Vince Lamanna, President, Novo Nordisk Canada Inc.

    “Over the past two years, we’ve delivered more than half a million meals to people in need in HRM, and we’re just getting started. After 15 years of building kitchens with purpose and running Sharpen Up in communities from New York to Vancouver, I’ve learned the most powerful thing we can give youth is belief, and the tools to back it up. Sharpen Up is not just a cooking class. It’s skill-building with real chefs, instilling confidence in yourself, and a chance to see all the pathways food can create through our non-profit and entrepreneur network. In a time when one in four kids in the Maritimes is food insecure, this kind of education and support is essential. I was raised in Dartmouth, and it’s an honour to come home and create this opportunity for my community.”
    — Mark Brand, founder, Upward Mobility Kitchens & A Better Life Foundation

    “When our Mi’kmaw youth are free to move, play and learn in culturally safe spaces, they build strength not only in body, but in spirit. When our Mi’kmaw families and community members have our own culturally safe spaces to learn through land-based knowledge and traditional food harvesting on our lands, we reclaim our health, our identity and our honour. We will build strong foundations for all our relations from our neighbouring communities and all Mi’kma’ki. That is true reconciliation.”
    — Melanie Robinson-Purdy, Director, Community Enhancement and Cultural Revitalization, Wasoqopa’q First Nation

    “The best way to build a healthier tomorrow is to begin upstream – where good food, joyful movement and self-worth take root early. Grow & Go is how we nurture that growth: from greenhouse to classroom, from kitchen to community. This is more than a project – it’s a path forward, and we invite others to walk and grow it with us.”
    — Tavis Bragg, project lead, Grow & Go; adjunct professor, Acadia University, and teacher, Northeast Kings Education Centre

    Quick Facts:

    • for profit, not-for-profit and public-sector organizations registered to do business in Canada were eligible to submit a proposal
    • the Province and Novo Nordisk Canada have each contributed $1.5 million toward the Nova Scotia Lighthouse Project, with another call for proposals to be announced later
    • the Nova Scotia Lighthouse Project is the result of a partnership with Denmark and is based on a concept from the Danish Business Promotion Agency; Danish Ministry of Industry, Business and Financial Affairs; Novo Nordisk; research institutions; and technology companies

    Additional Resources:

    Nova Scotia Lighthouse Project: https://www.lighthousens.ca/

    News release – New Partnership Will Address Childhood Obesity, Chronic Disease: https://news.novascotia.ca/en/2024/03/05/new-partnership-will-address-childhood-obesity-chronic-disease

    News release – Nova Scotia Signs Health Agreement with Denmark: https://news.novascotia.ca/en/2023/05/24/nova-scotia-signs-health-agreement-denmark

    Other than cropping, Province of Nova Scotia photos are not to be altered in any way.

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: A new book of Edward Gorey’s drawings shows what’s lost when the artist’s sexuality is glossed over

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Elizabeth Wolfson, Assistant Director of Campus Partnerships for the Office of Public Scholarship, Washington University in St. Louis

    Edward Gorey on the set he designed for the Broadway revival of Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ in 1977. Jack Mitchell/Getty Images

    Artist, illustrator and writer Edward Gorey would have turned 100 this year, and the recently published “From Ted to Tom: The Illustrated Envelopes of Edward Gorey” is a fitting celebration of his wit and talent.

    The book reproduces, in stunning detail, a series of 50 elaborately illustrated envelopes Gorey created in the mid-1970s. But when I started reading “From Ted to Tom,” I felt confused – and a little let down.

    The book makes no mention of Gorey’s queerness. To me, this is a missed opportunity to shed light on how being gay may have fueled some of his most personal work.

    The master of macabre

    Today, Edward Gorey is widely known for his sprawling, macabre-yet-humorous body of work, which spans nearly every medium.

    There are dozens of his own books, notably “The Doubtful Guest” and “The Gashlycrumb Tinies,” as well as cover designs for many others; sets and costumes for the 1977 Tony Award-winning revival of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”; the opening credit sequence for the PBS television series “Mystery!”; “The Fantod Pack,” a deck of Tarot-like cards; and hand-sewn, surrealist dolls.

    His stories often feature adults and children alike who meet untimely ends through mostly hilarious, unlikely accidents – and, yes, the occasional straight-up murder. But they’re never gratuitous, nor do they glorify violence for violence’s sake.

    As for his personal life, Gorey may have been what today we’d call asexual; Gorey himself used the term “undersexed,” but he also acknowledged, when asked directly about his sexuality, that he “supposed” he was gay.

    Mark Dery’s 2018 Gorey biography, “Born to be Posthumous: The Eccentric Life and Mysterious Genius of Edward Gorey,” documents the artist’s participation in postwar gay life. The book details a handful of crushes Gorey had on various men, at least one of which – a brief affair with a man named Victor – involved some physical intimacy.

    To whatever extent Gorey entertained sex or romance, it was with men. As Dery points out, however, this fact largely goes unaddressed in discussions of the artist’s work.

    A chance encounter

    “From Ted to Tom” reinforces this silence.

    The “Tom” is Tom Fitzharris, the author of the book’s introduction and some commentary at the book’s end.

    In the introduction, Fitzharris explains that before he met Gorey, he was already collecting the artist’s “small, exquisite books.”

    After attending a gallery exhibit of Gorey’s work in 1974, Fitzharris mailed him one of the books from his collection to request Gorey’s signature, along with a cryptic inquiry about two of the book’s characters. Gorey obliged and returned the book with a similarly cryptic reply.

    Soon after this exchange, Fitzharris spotted Gorey on the street and introduced himself. The two soon began meeting regularly “for dinner, the theater, coffee, and especially the ballet, his great passion,” one that Fitzharris shared. When Gorey left to summer on Cape Cod, he began sending Fitzharris the envelopes collected in “From Ted to Tom.”

    Fitzharris shares almost no information about himself in the book, and he has never commented publicly about his own sexuality. However, even his dry, minimalist narration cannot conceal the intensity of their connection.

    Describing his first visit to Gorey’s apartment, he writes: “I thought I’d be at Gorey’s for ten minutes, but I left two hours later.” Whether Fitzharris lost track of time as the two explored their “dozens of shared interests” or simply couldn’t tear himself away, when he finally made it back to work, he was surprised that he still had a job.

    The envelope as canvas

    Given this voracious drive to create, it is no surprise that Gorey saw an object as humble as a letter envelope as a creative opportunity. As Dery points out, Gorey was also making his illustrated envelopes as the mail art movement was becoming popular. Sparked by artist Ray Johnson in the 1960s – who, like Gorey, lived in New York City – it involved artists using the postal service to exchange works of art, using it as an alternative to the commercial galleries and museums that artists had largely depended on.

    The 50 envelopes reproduced in “From Ted to Tom” was not Gorey’s first dalliance with the envelope as canvas; he’d experimented with it six years earlier, while in the midst of a collaboration with author and editor Peter Neumeyer, with whom he produced three children’s books.

    In his drawings to Neumeyer, Gorey mostly seems to be having fun playing around with a new formal challenge: how to integrate drawings with the prerequisite address text in a satisfying way.

    Because I study how people use images to make sense of the world, I couldn’t help but notice key differences between the Neumeyer envelopes and those that Gorey sent to Fitzharris.

    The Fitzharris series is poised and polished from the jump. Gorey’s distinctive hand-lettering is crisp, precise and perfectly straight, each envelope a complete scene. Some scenes are more complex than others, but each is a complete thought.

    There’s another notable difference between the Neumeyer and Fitzharris envelopes. While the former features a revolving cast of real and imaginary creatures, the latter has two co-stars: two black-and-white dogs, sides emblazoned with matching, serifed T’s.

    In his introduction to the book, Fitzharris confirms that the animals represent Gorey and him. Fitzharris is also clearly more than the lucky witness to a burst of creative genius. He is its muse.

    ‘Pen pal’ or something more?

    Whatever Gorey’s artistic ambitions for the project, it is also a visual diary of sorts: an album of their shared experiences, their common interests and hobbies, and a document of Gorey’s goings-on while they were apart.

    Take, for example, an envelope that depicts the canine duo standing amid a vast assemblage of blue bottles, with Fitzharris’ address displayed as labels.

    “All the blue bottles are a recollection of a window full of them in one of the antique shops I stopped in after you left that Sunday,” Gorey wrote in the accompanying letter. “The sun coming through them is not reproducible, at least by me.”

    In the same letter, Gorey struggles to convey the depth of his feeling upon receiving a recent letter from Fitzharris.

    “I used to maintain that if it couldn’t be put into words it didn’t exist; if anything I believe rather the opposite now. All of which is rather a strangled attempt to say that I appreciated your letter of the 23rd very much, but that I don’t know how to say so directly. Yes.”

    What did Fitzharris’ letter say that moved Gorey so much? What is the meaning of his singular, elliptical “yes”? Is it simply stylistic? Or is it a response?

    We’ll likely never know. But evidently whatever Fitzharris said moved him deeply.

    There are other poignant scenes. In his notes to “From Ted to Tom,” Fitzharris takes credit for introducing Gorey to the French phrase “heure bleue,” which translates to “the blue hour” and refers to the time of day just after the sun sets. Gorey’s delight is reflected in a lovely scene of quiet companionship.

    Tom and Ted stand at a low fence or porch railing, sharing drinks and gazing up at a darkening sky as dusk settles over thick foliage. For once leaving nothing to the imagination, he inscribes “HEURE BLEUE” next to the image in thick, bold letters – a rare act of captioning.

    This unusual relative directness continues into the accompanying letter. Though he can hardly bear admitting it, Gorey describes their recent visit as “a happy day,” immediately qualifying the comment as a “revolting phrase.”

    One “cannot help but think how seldom in life one knows one is having one at the time,” he continues. The phrasing is somewhat innocuous. But I wonder how much pleasure Gorey must have felt – and how strong his need to convey it must have been – to overcome the force of his “revulsion.”

    This push and pull between attraction to one another and repulsion at one’s own spontaneous emotion supplies the dynamism that make the drawings in “From Ted to Tom” so compelling.

    Despite this powerful current, Fitzharris, who is credited as the book’s editor, leaves the topic of Gorey’s sexuality untouched in both his introduction to the book and its end notes, where he provides a guide to some of the personal and cultural references in Gorey’s drawings and letters. The book’s back cover refers to Fitzharris as the artist’s “pen pal.”

    Denied access to the underlying details driving this dynamism, the reader loses the chance to reflect on the source of this electrical current, its impact on his art, and how Gorey’s struggles with intimacy and desire, which are all too universal, were also undoubtedly shaped by the challenge of being gay in a deeply homophobic society.

    Rather than limiting the understanding of his work, accounting for Gorey’s queerness invites viewers of his art and readers of his work into deeper communion with the artist – and themselves.

    Elizabeth Wolfson 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. A new book of Edward Gorey’s drawings shows what’s lost when the artist’s sexuality is glossed over – https://theconversation.com/a-new-book-of-edward-goreys-drawings-shows-whats-lost-when-the-artists-sexuality-is-glossed-over-257938

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Conflicted, disillusioned, disengaged: The unsettled center of Jewish student opinion after Oct. 7

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Jonathan Krasner, Associate Professor of Jewish Education Research, Brandeis University

    Pro-Palestinian students pass the flag of Israel while walking out of commencement in protest at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on May 30, 2024. AP Photo/Charles Krupa

    As commencement season comes to a close, many campuses remain riven by the Israel-Hamas war. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the undergraduate class president was banned from walking at her graduation after delivering a fiery – and unauthorized – speech accusing her school of complicity in Israel’s campaign to “wipe out Palestine off the face of the earth.” Anti-Israel protests broke out at graduation ceremonies across the United States, from Columbia to the University of California at Berkeley.

    Since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack and Israel’s retaliatory invasion of Gaza, many American campuses have been punctuated by vigils, demonstrations and disruptions. But the loudest voices aren’t necessarily the most representative. Activists’ pronouncements on either side fail to capture the range of student opinion about the war and its reverberations at home, including the documented rise in antisemitism and Islamophobia.

    This is certainly true for Jewish students – buffeted by the war, the hostage crisis, campus protests and federal politics. Since January 2025, the Trump administration has used campus antisemitism and anti-Zionism as a pretext to assault higher education and implement hard-line immigration policies.

    Indeed, one of the most striking findings of my study
    on Jewish undergraduate attitudes, published in May 2025, is how many students described themselves as conflicted, uncertain, disaffected and even detached. Interviews across the country convinced my research team that any attempt to gauge Jewish student opinion with either/or categories are reductive and misleading.

    Moving beyond numbers

    In the wake of Oct. 7, my office hours quickly became a refuge for distraught Jewish students as they processed their thoughts. Few were content with pat answers.

    Students at USC attend a vigil on Oct. 10, 2023, days after Hamas’ attack on Israel.
    Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

    I began wondering how representative they were. Tufts researchers Eitan Hersh and Dahlia Lyss found that since Oct. 7, more students were valuing and prioritizing their Jewish identities, even while an increased number were hiding their Jewishness on campus.

    My Brandeis colleagues Graham Wright, Leonard Saxe and their research team, meanwhile, found that a clear majority of Jewish students said they felt a connection to Israel but were sharply divided in their views of its government. While most considered statements calling for the country’s destruction to be antisemitic, they differed about where to draw the line between reasonable and illegitimate criticisms of Israel.

    These findings were instructive. But I was interested in learning more about the “how” and the “why” behind the numbers. Over the spring 2024 semester, my team and I interviewed 38 students on 24 campuses across 16 states and the District of Columbia. Participants reflected the broad religious, political, economic, geographical, sexual and racial diversity within the American Jewish population, particularly among Jews under 30. Some of the campuses were relatively placid; others were hotbeds of protest.

    The ‘missing middle’

    As my team analyzed transcripts, we identified six categories.

    About one-third of the Jewish students we spoke with were actively engaged on either side of the conflict, whether through demonstrations or online advocacy. “Affirmed” students’ connection to Israel deepened after Oct. 7. “Aggrieved” students, on the other hand, had joined anti-war protests and voiced anger at Jewish organizations for ignoring Israel’s culpability for Palestinian suffering.

    Many more of our participants, however, were ambivalent, despondent or even apathetic. As journalist Arno Rosenfeld put it in an article about my research, the majority of Jewish students inhabit a “great missing middle” in Israeli-Palestinian discourse.

    Two-thirds of the students we spoke with are in this “missing middle,” divided into four categories:

    • “Conflicted” students were inconclusively grappling with the moral and political complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
    • “Disillusioned” students struggled to reconcile their sentimental attachment to Israel with their disappointment – their sense that the country betrayed its own values in its treatment of Palestinians.
    • “Retrenched” students turned inward, fearful of being identified as Jewish on campuses they perceived as hostile to Jews.
    • The last category, “disengaged” students, were detached or actively steering clear of controversy.
    Students gather at the University of Maryland to celebrate Hanukkah with a menorah lighting ceremony in 2007.
    Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post via Getty Images

    Out of the fray

    The most straightforward of these categories is the “disengaged” students. Some, like Bella, on the West Coast – all of the names in this article are pseudonyms – knew little about the conflict before the war. What they learned since convinced them it was unsolvable and that they were powerless to promote change.

    The distance that some students felt from events in Israel and Gaza made it all the more baffling and odious to them when peers protested in ways that implied Jewish Americans were complicit.

    “I’m not personally doing anything,” complained Salem, a first-year student in the Midwest. “I don’t have anything to do with this.”

    Students whom we classified as “retrenched” reported anxiety, loss of sleep and a sense of isolation. Many of them were concerned that rejecting Zionism – that is, the movement supporting the creation and preservation of Israel as a national homeland for the Jewish people – had become a litmus test in their progressive circles. That was untenable for these students, because they viewed Zionism as a constituent part of being Jewish.

    Interviewees like Jack, a junior in the Pacific Northwest, spoke of removing their Star of David necklaces and censoring elements of their biography, because they perceived a social penalty for being Jewish.

    Since the start of the war, more students have said they try to hide their Jewish identity at times.
    Maor Winetrob/iStock via Getty Images

    Rejecting simple narratives

    By far, the largest group of Jewish students were struggling with mixed feelings about the war and its reverberations. What united these “conflicted” or “disillusioned” students was wariness of grand narratives and talking points that reduce the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to a contest between good and evil, or the powerful and the powerless. They also eschewed labels such as “Zionist” or “anti-Zionist,” saying they lacked nuance.

    Consider Elana, a “conflicted” sophomore in the mid-Atlantic, who told us she was uncomfortable in most Jewish spaces on campus because they effectively demanded that she declare her Israel politics at the door. It seemed to her that activists on both sides were more comfortable retreating into echo chambers than engaging in dialogue across differences.

    Then there was Shira, a “disillusioned” first year in the Midwest who viewed Israeli-Palestinian coexistence, however implausible, as the only alternative to mutual destruction. She refused to participate in anti-war demonstrations on her campus because she couldn’t abide the organizers’ confrontational tactics – but also to avoid blowback from pro-Israel family and friends.

    Students from Bowdoin College light Shabbat candles during a visit to Shaarey Tphiloh Synagogue in Portland, Maine, in 2011.
    Gregory Rec/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images

    ‘Safe spaces’ and ‘groupthink’

    One unambiguous finding from our study was how often our interviewees used language prevalent in progressive discourse. They spoke repeatedly about the importance of “safe spaces,” and felt that listeners’ understandings mattered more than speakers’ intentions when evaluating “hate speech” and “microaggressions.”

    Leo, a “conflicted” junior in the Deep South who uses they/them pronouns, acknowledged that some protesters who chant slogans such as “Free Palestine” and “Globalize the Intifada” may not recognize how many Jewish students interpret them: as antisemitic calls for Israel’s destruction. But that was no excuse, they insisted. “What I’ve noticed is that the people who are at those demonstrations have created their own definition of antisemitism,” without input from the vast majority of Jews – something progressive protesters would not have stood for if another racial, religious or ethnic minority were being discussed.

    The use of provocative and arguably antisemitic language was responsible for keeping Jews like Leo and Shira, who evinced deep sympathy for the plight of the Palestinians, from joining the protests.

    Fundamentally, however, many of the Jewish students we spoke with said they’d welcome opportunities to discuss the war and the broader conflict. But the “groupthink” on campus was stifling, they complained, whether in Hillel centers that toe a reflexively pro-Israel line or student organizations that demand unquestioned buy-in to a set of progressive orthodoxies.

    Joe, a “disillusioned” student in New England who just received his diploma two weeks ago, reflected, “When my friends complain that the ‘Free Palestine’ stickers on my campus are antisemitic, I think they just don’t want to be uncomfortable.” Discomfort can be productive, he added – as long as it is expressed in an environment that values intellectual risk-taking, dialogue across difference, and empathy.

    Research discussed in this article was sponsored by the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education at Brandeis University.

    – ref. Conflicted, disillusioned, disengaged: The unsettled center of Jewish student opinion after Oct. 7 – https://theconversation.com/conflicted-disillusioned-disengaged-the-unsettled-center-of-jewish-student-opinion-after-oct-7-257521

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Sleep loss rewires the brain for cravings and weight gain – a neurologist explains the science behind the cycle

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Joanna Fong-Isariyawongse, Associate Professor of Neurology, University of Pittsburgh

    Getting enough sleep is one of the most effective ways to restore metabolic balance in the brain and body. SimpleImages/Moment via Getty Images

    You stayed up too late scrolling through your phone, answering emails or watching just one more episode. The next morning, you feel groggy and irritable. That sugary pastry or greasy breakfast sandwich suddenly looks more appealing than your usual yogurt and berries. By the afternoon, chips or candy from the break room call your name. This isn’t just about willpower. Your brain, short on rest, is nudging you toward quick, high-calorie fixes.

    There is a reason why this cycle repeats itself so predictably. Research shows that insufficient sleep disrupts hunger signals, weakens self-control, impairs glucose metabolism and increases your risk of weight gain. These changes can occur rapidly, even after a single night of poor sleep, and can become more harmful over time if left unaddressed.

    I am a neurologist specializing in sleep science and its impact on health.

    Sleep deprivation affects millions. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than one-third of U.S. adults regularly get less than seven hours of sleep per night. Nearly three-quarters of adolescents fall short of the recommended 8-10 hours sleep during the school week.

    While anyone can suffer from sleep loss, essential workers and first responders, including nurses, firefighters and emergency personnel, are especially vulnerable due to night shifts and rotating schedules. These patterns disrupt the body’s internal clock and are linked to increased cravings, poor eating habits and elevated risks for obesity and metabolic disease. Fortunately, even a few nights of consistent, high-quality sleep can help rebalance key systems and start to reverse some of these effects.

    How sleep deficits disrupt hunger hormones

    Your body regulates hunger through a hormonal feedback loop involving two key hormones.

    Ghrelin, produced primarily in the stomach, signals that you are hungry, while leptin, which is produced in the fat cells, tells your brain that you are full. Even one night of restricted sleep increases the release of ghrelin and decreases leptin, which leads to greater hunger and reduced satisfaction after eating. This shift is driven by changes in how the body regulates hunger and stress. Your brain becomes less responsive to fullness signals, while at the same time ramping up stress hormones that can increase cravings and appetite.

    These changes are not subtle. In controlled lab studies, healthy adults reported increased hunger and stronger cravings for calorie-dense foods after sleeping only four to five hours. The effect worsens with ongoing sleep deficits, which can lead to a chronically elevated appetite.

    Sleep is as important as diet and exercise in maintaining a healthy weight.

    Why the brain shifts into reward mode

    Sleep loss changes how your brain evaluates food.

    Imaging studies show that after just one night of sleep deprivation, the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for decision-making and impulse control, has reduced activity. At the same time, reward-related areas such as the amygdala and the nucleus accumbens, a part of the brain that drives motivation and reward-seeking, become more reactive to tempting food cues.

    In simple terms, your brain becomes more tempted by junk food and less capable of resisting it. Participants in sleep deprivation studies not only rated high-calorie foods as more desirable but were also more likely to choose them, regardless of how hungry they actually felt.

    Your metabolism slows, leading to increased fat storage

    Sleep is also critical for blood sugar control.

    When you’re well rested, your body efficiently uses insulin to move sugar out of your bloodstream and into your cells for energy. But even one night of partial sleep can reduce insulin sensitivity by up to 25%, leaving more sugar circulating in your blood.

    If your body can’t process sugar effectively, it’s more likely to convert it into fat. This contributes to weight gain, especially around the abdomen. Over time, poor sleep is associated with higher risk for Type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome, a group of health issues such as high blood pressure, belly fat and high blood sugar that raise the risk for heart disease and diabetes.

    On top of this, sleep loss raises cortisol, your body’s main stress hormone. Elevated cortisol encourages fat storage, especially in the abdominal region, and can further disrupt appetite regulation.

    Sleep is your metabolic reset button

    In a culture that glorifies hustle and late nights, sleep is often treated as optional. But your body doesn’t see it that way. Sleep is not downtime. It is active, essential repair. It is when your brain recalibrates hunger and reward signals, your hormones reset and your metabolism stabilizes.

    Just one or two nights of quality sleep can begin to undo the damage from prior sleep loss and restore your body’s natural balance.

    So the next time you find yourself reaching for junk food after a short night, recognize that your biology is not failing you. It is reacting to stress and fatigue. The most effective way to restore balance isn’t a crash diet or caffeine. It’s sleep.

    Sleep is not a luxury. It is your most powerful tool for appetite control, energy regulation and long-term health.

    Joanna Fong-Isariyawongse 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. Sleep loss rewires the brain for cravings and weight gain – a neurologist explains the science behind the cycle – https://theconversation.com/sleep-loss-rewires-the-brain-for-cravings-and-weight-gain-a-neurologist-explains-the-science-behind-the-cycle-255726

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Most Americans believe misinformation is a problem — federal research cuts will only make the problem worse

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By H. Colleen Sinclair, Associate Research Professor of Social Psychology, Louisiana State University

    Americans say the government and social media companies need to do something about misinformation and disinformation. Boris Zhitkov/Getty Images

    Research on misinformation and disinformation has become the latest casualty of the Trump administration’s restructuring of federal research priorities.

    Following President Donald Trump’s executive order on “ending federal censorship,” the National Science Foundation canceled hundreds of grants that supported research on misinformation and disinformation.

    Misinformation refers to misleading narratives shared by people unaware that content is false. Disinformation is deliberately generated and shared misleading content, when the sharer knows the narrative is suspect.

    The overwhelming majority of Americans – 95% – believe misinformation’s misleading narratives are a problem.

    Americans also believe that consumers, the government and social media companies need to do something about it. Defunding research on misinformation and disinformation is, thus, the opposite of what Americans want. Without research, the ability to combat misleading narratives will be impaired.

    The attack on misleading narrative research

    Trump’s executive order claims that the Biden administration used research on misleading narratives to limit social media companies’ free speech.

    The Supreme Court had already rejected this claim in a 2024 case.

    Still, Trump and GOP politicians continue to demand disinformation researchers defend themselves, including in the March 2025 “censorship industrial complex” hearings, which explored alleged government censorship under the Biden administration.

    The U.S. State Department, additionally, is soliciting all communications between government offices and disinformation researchers for evidence of censorship.

    Trump’s executive order to “restore free speech,” the hearings and the State Department decision all imply that those conducting misleading narrative research are enemies of the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech.

    These actions have already led to significant problems – death threats and harassment included – for disinformation researchers, particularly women.

    So let’s tackle what research on misinformation and disinformation is and isn’t.

    Misleading content

    Misinformation and disinformation researchers examine the sources of misleading content. They also study the spread of that content. And they investigate ways to reduce its harmful impacts.

    For instance, as a social psychologist who studies disinformation and misinformation, I examine the nature of misleading content. I study and then share information about the manipulation tactics used by people who spread disinformation to influence others. My aim is to better inform the public about how to protect themselves from deception.

    Sharing this information is free speech, not barring free speech.

    Yet, some think this research leads to censorship when platforms choose to use the knowledge to label or remove suspect content or ban its primary spreaders. That’s what U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan argued in launching investigations in 2023 into disinformation research.

    It is important to note, however, that the constitutional definition of censorship establishes that only the government – not citizens or businesses – can be censors.

    So private companies have the right to make their own decisions about the content they put on their platforms.

    Trump’s own platform, Truth Social, bans certain material such as “sexual content and explicit language,” but also anything moderators deem as trying to “trick, defraud, or mislead us and other users.” Yet, 75% of the conspiracy theories shared on the platform come from Trump’s account.

    Further, both Trump and Elon Musk, self-proclaimed free speech advocates, have been accused of squelching content on their platforms that is critical of them.

    Musk claimed the suppression of accounts on X was a result of the site’s algorithm reducing “the reach of a user if they’re frequently blocked or muted by other, credible users.” Truth Social representatives claim accounts were banned due to “bot mitigation” procedures, and authentic accounts may be reinstated if their classification as inauthentic was invalid.

    Research shows that conservatives are more susceptible to misinformation than liberals.
    klevo/Getty Images

    Is it censorship?

    Republicans say social media companies have been biased against their content, censoring it or banning conservatives unfairly.

    The “censorship industrial complex” hearings held by the House Foreign Affairs South and Central Asia Subcommittee were based on the premise that not only was misleading narrative research part of the alleged “censorship industrial complex,” but that it was focused on conservative voices.

    But there isn’t evidence to support this assertion.

    Research from 2020 shows that conservative voices are amplified on social media networks.

    When research does show that conservative authors have posts labeled or removed, or that their accounts are suspended at higher rates than liberal content, it also reveals that it is because conservative posts are significantly more likely to share misinformation than liberal posts.

    This was found in a recent study of X users. Researchers tracked whose posts got tagged as false or misleading more in “community notes” – X’s alternative and Meta’s proposed alternative to fact checking – and it was conservative posts, because they were more likely to include false content than liberal posts.

    Furthermore, an April 2025 study shows conservatives are more susceptible to misleading content and more likely to be targeted by it than liberals.

    Misleading America

    Those accusing misleading narrative researchers of censorship misrepresent the nature and intent of the research and researchers. And they are using disinformation tactics to do so.

    Here’s how.

    The misleading information about censorship and bias has been repeated so much through the media and from political leaders, as evident in Trump’s executive order, that many Republicans believe it’s true. This repetition produces what psychologists call the illusory truth effect, where as few as three repetitions convince the human mind something is true.

    Researchers have also identified a tactic known as “accusation in a mirror.” That’s when someone falsely accuses one’s perceived opponents of conducting, plotting or desiring to commit the same transgressions that one plans to commit or is already committing.

    So censorship accusations from an administration that is removing books from libraries, erasing history from monuments and websites, and deleting data archives constitute “accusations in a mirror.”

    Other tactics include “accusation by anecdote.” When strong evidence is in short supply, people who spread disinformation point repeatedly to individual stories – sometimes completely fabricated – that are exceptions to, and not representative of, the larger reality.

    Facts on fact-checking

    Similar anecdotal attacks are used to try to dismiss fact-checkers, whose conclusions can identify and discredit disinformation, leading to its tagging or removal from social media. This is done by highlighting an incident where fact-checkers “got it wrong.”

    These attacks on fact-checking come despite the fact that many of those most controversial decisions were made by platforms, not fact-checkers.

    Indeed, fact-checking does work to reduce the transmission of misleading content.

    Research shows little bias in choice of who is fact-checked.
    Liudmila Chernetska/Getty Images

    In studies of the perceived effectiveness of professional fact-checkers versus algorithms and everyday users, fact-checkers are rated the most effective.

    When Republicans do report distrust of fact-checkers, it’s because they perceive the fact-checkers are biased. Yet research shows little bias in choice of who is fact-checked, just that prominent and prolific speakers get checked more.

    When shown fact-checking results of specific posts, even conservatives often agree the right decision was made.

    Seeking solutions

    Account bans or threats of account suspensions may be more effective than fact-checks at stopping the flow of misinformation, but they are also more controversial. They are considered more akin to censorship than fact-check labels.

    Misinformation research would benefit from identifying solutions that conservatives and liberals agree on.

    Examples include giving people the option, like on social media platform Bluesky, to turn misinformation moderation on or off.

    But Trump’s executive order seeks to ban that research. Thus, instead of providing protections, the order will likely weaken Americans’ defenses.

    H. Colleen Sinclair receives funding from a variety of government and foundation sources. The statements and opinions included in this The Conversation article are solely the author’s. Any statements and opinions included in these pages are not those of the Social Research and Evaluation Center, the College of Human Sciences & Education, the Louisiana State University, or the LSU Board of Supervisors.

    – ref. Most Americans believe misinformation is a problem — federal research cuts will only make the problem worse – https://theconversation.com/most-americans-believe-misinformation-is-a-problem-federal-research-cuts-will-only-make-the-problem-worse-255355

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Is Mars really red? A physicist explains the planet’s reddish hue and why it looks different to some telescopes

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By David Joffe, Associate Professor of Physics, Kennesaw State University

    Siccar Point, photographed by the Curiosity rover, is near Mars’ Gale Crater. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS; Processing & License: Kevin M. Gill

    Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com.

    Is Mars really as red as people say it is? – Jasmine, age 14, Everson, Washington

    People from cultures across the world have been looking at Mars since ancient times. Because it appears reddish, it has often been called the red planet.

    The English name for the planet comes from the Romans, who named it after their god of war because its color reminded them of blood. In reality, the reddish color of Mars comes from iron oxide in the rocks and dust covering its surface.

    Your blood is also red because of a mixture of iron and oxygen in a molecule called hemoglobin. So in a way, the ancient connection between the planet Mars and blood wasn’t completely wrong. Rust, which is a common form of iron oxide found here on Earth, also often has a reddish color.

    Iron oxide, found in rust on old metal machinery, is the compound that colors rocks and dust on Mars’ surface reddish brown.
    Lars Hammar/Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA

    In my current research on exoplanets, I observe different types of signals from planets beyond Earth. Lots of interesting physics goes into how researchers perceive the colors of planets and stars through different types of telescopes.

    Observing Mars with probes

    If you look closely at pictures of Mars taken by rovers on its surface, you can see that most of the planet isn’t purely red, but more of a rusty brown or tan color.

    You can see Mars’ rusty color in this photo taken by the Viking lander.
    NASA/JPL

    Probes sent from Earth have taken pictures showing rocks with a rusty color. A 1976 picture from the Viking lander, the very first spacecraft to land on Mars, shows the Martian ground covered with a layer of rusty orange dust.

    Not all of Mars’ surface has the same color. At the poles, its ice caps appear white. These ice caps contain frozen water, like the ice we usually find on Earth, but these ice caps are also covered by a layer of frozen carbon dioxide – dry ice.

    This layer of dry ice can evaporate very quickly when sunlight shines on it and grows back again when it becomes dark. This process causes the white ice caps to grow and shrink in size depending on the Martian seasons.

    This picture from the Hubble Space Telescope shows the planet with the same rusty color covering large parts of its surface.
    NASA, ESA, Zolt G. Levay (STScI)

    Beyond visible light

    Mars also gives off light in colors that you can’t see with your eyes but that scientists can measure with special cameras on telescopes.

    Light itself can be thought of not only as a wave but also as a stream of particles called photons. The amount of energy carried by each photon is related to its color. For example, blue and violet photons have more energy than orange and red photons.

    The rainbow of visible light that you can see is only a small slice of all the kinds of light. Some telescopes can detect light with a longer wavelength, such as infrared light, or light with a shorter wavelength, such as ultraviolet light. Others can detect X-rays or radio waves.
    Inductiveload, NASA/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

    Ultraviolet photons have even more energy than the photons you can see with your eyes. These photons are found in direct sunlight, and because they have so much energy, they can damage the cells in your body. You can use sunscreen to protect yourself from them.

    Infrared photons have less energy than the photons you can see with your eyes, and you don’t need any special protection from them. This is how some types of night-vision goggles work: They can see light in the infrared spectrum as well as the visible color spectrum. Scientists can take pictures of Mars in the infrared spectrum using special cameras that work almost like night-vision goggles for telescopes.

    The Hubble Space Telescope could take pictures in both visible light and infrared light.
    NASA, James Bell (Cornell University), Justin Maki (NASA-JPL), Mike J. Wolff (SSI)

    The colors on the infrared picture aren’t really what the infrared light looks like, because you can’t see those colors with your eyes. They are called “false colors,” and researchers add them to look at the picture more easily.

    When you compare the visible color picture and the infrared picture, you can see some of the same features – and the ice caps are visible in both sets of colors.

    A UV view of Mars with the MAVEN spacecraft.
    NASA/LASP/CU Boulder

    NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft, launched in 2013, has even taken pictures with ultraviolet light, giving scientists a different view of both the surface of Mars and its atmosphere.

    Each new type of picture tells scientists more about the Martian landscape. They hope to use these details to answer questions about how Mars formed, how long it had active volcanoes, where its atmosphere came from and whether it had liquid water on its surface.

    Astronomers are always looking for new ways to take telescope pictures outside of the regular visible spectrum. They can even make images using radio waves, microwaves, X-rays and gamma rays. Each part of the spectrum they can use to look at an object in space represents new information they can learn from.

    Even though people have been looking at Mars since ancient times, we still have much to learn about this fascinating neighbor.

    Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.

    And since curiosity has no age limit – adults, let us know what you’re wondering, too. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.

    David Joffe receives funding from the NASA Office of STEM Engagement through a grant from the Georgia Space Grant Consortium

    – ref. Is Mars really red? A physicist explains the planet’s reddish hue and why it looks different to some telescopes – https://theconversation.com/is-mars-really-red-a-physicist-explains-the-planets-reddish-hue-and-why-it-looks-different-to-some-telescopes-256398

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: RNA has newly identified role: Repairing serious DNA damage to maintain the genome

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Francesca Storici, Professor of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology

    Double-strand breaks in DNA can be deadly. Victor Golmer/iStock via Getty Images Plus

    Your DNA is continually damaged by sources both inside and outside your body. One especially severe form of damage called a double-strand break involves the severing of both strands of the DNA double helix.

    Double-strand breaks are among the most difficult forms of DNA damage for cells to repair because they disrupt the continuity of DNA and leave no intact template to base new strands on. If misrepaired, these breaks can lead to other mutations that make the genome unstable and increase the risk of many diseases, including cancer, neurodegeneration and immunodeficiency.

    Cells primarily repair double-strand breaks by either rejoining the broken DNA ends or by using another DNA molecule as a template for repair. However, my team and I discovered that RNA, a type of genetic material best known for its role in making proteins, surprisingly plays a key role in facilitating the repair of these harmful breaks.

    These insights could not only pave the way for new treatment strategies for genetic disorders, cancer and neurodegenerative diseases, but also enhance gene-editing technologies.

    Sealing a knowledge gap in DNA repair

    I have spent the past two decades investigating the relationship between RNA and DNA in order to understand how cells maintain genome integrity and how these mechanisms could be harnessed for genetic engineering.

    A long-standing question in the field has been whether RNA in cells helps keep the genome stable beyond acting as a copy of DNA in the process of making proteins and a regulator of gene expression. Studying how RNA might do this has been especially difficult due to its similarity to DNA and how fast it degrades. It’s also technically challenging to tell whether the RNA is directly working to repair DNA or indirectly regulating the process. Traditional models and tools for studying DNA repair have for the most part focused on proteins and DNA, leaving RNA’s potential contributions largely unexplored.

    RNA plays a key role in protein synthesis.

    My team and I were curious about whether RNA might actively participate in fixing double-strand breaks as a first line of defense. To explore this, we used the gene-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 to make breaks at specific spots in the DNA of human and yeast cells. We then analyzed how RNA influences various aspects of the repair process, including efficiency and outcomes.

    We found that RNA can actively guide the repair process of double-strand breaks. It does this by binding to broken DNA ends, helping align sequences of DNA on a matching strand that isn’t broken. It can also seal gaps or remove mismatched segments, further influencing whether and how the original sequence is restored.

    Additionally, we found that RNA aids in double-strand break repair in both yeast and human cells, suggesting that its role in DNA repair is evolutionary conserved across species. Notably, even low levels of RNA were sufficient to influence the efficiency and outcome of repair, pointing to its broad and previously unrecognized function in maintaining genome stability.

    RNA in control

    By uncovering RNA’s previously unknown function to repair DNA damage, our findings show how RNA may directly contribute to the stability and evolution of the genome. It’s not merely a passive messenger, but an active participant in genome maintenance.

    One type of RNA that has been effectively used in treatments is mRNA.
    Aldona/iStock via Getty Images Plus

    These insights could help researchers develop new ways to target the genomic instability that underlies many diseases, including cancer and neurodegeneration. Traditionally, treatments and gene-editing tools have focused almost exclusively on DNA or proteins. Our findings suggest that modifying RNA in different ways could also influence how cells respond to DNA damage. For example, researchers could design RNA-based therapies to enhance the repair of harmful breaks that could cause cancer, or selectively disrupt DNA break repair in cancer cells to help kill them.

    In addition, these findings could improve the precision of gene-editing technologies like CRISPR by accounting for interactions between RNA and DNA at the site of the cut. This could reduce off-target effects and increase editing precision, ultimately contributing to the development of safer and more effective gene therapies.

    There are still many unanswered questions about how RNA interacts with DNA in the repair process. The evolutionary role that RNA plays in maintaining genome stability is also unclear. But one thing is certain: RNA is no longer just a messenger, it is a molecule with a direct hand in DNA repair, rewriting what researchers know about how cells safeguard their genetic code.

    Francesca Storici consults at Tessera Therapeutics. She has received funding from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.

    – ref. RNA has newly identified role: Repairing serious DNA damage to maintain the genome – https://theconversation.com/rna-has-newly-identified-role-repairing-serious-dna-damage-to-maintain-the-genome-256429

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Will AI take your job? The answer could hinge on the 4 S’s of the technology’s advantages over humans

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Bruce Schneier, Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School

    Sometimes speed matters – and sometimes it doesn’t. Korakrich Suntornnites/iStock via Getty Images

    If you’ve worried that AI might take your job, deprive you of your livelihood, or maybe even replace your role in society, it probably feels good to see the latest AI tools fail spectacularly. If AI recommends glue as a pizza topping, then you’re safe for another day.

    But the fact remains that AI already has definite advantages over even the most skilled humans, and knowing where these advantages arise — and where they don’t — will be key to adapting to the AI-infused workforce.

    AI will often not be as effective as a human doing the same job. It won’t always know more or be more accurate. And it definitely won’t always be fairer or more reliable. But it may still be used whenever it has an advantage over humans in one of four dimensions: speed, scale, scope and sophistication. Understanding these dimensions is the key to understanding AI-human replacement.

    Speed

    First, speed. There are tasks that humans are perfectly good at but are not nearly as fast as AI. One example is restoring or upscaling images: taking pixelated, noisy or blurry images and making a crisper and higher-resolution version. Humans are good at this; given the right digital tools and enough time, they can fill in fine details. But they are too slow to efficiently process large images or videos.

    AI models can do the job blazingly fast, a capability with important industrial applications. AI-based software is used to enhance satellite and remote sensing data, to compress video files, to make video games run better with cheaper hardware and less energy, to help robots make the right movements, and to model turbulence to help build better internal combustion engines.

    Real-time performance matters in these cases, and the speed of AI is necessary to enable them.

    Scale

    The second dimension of AI’s advantage over humans is scale. AI will increasingly be used in tasks that humans can do well in one place at a time, but that AI can do in millions of places simultaneously. A familiar example is ad targeting and personalization. Human marketers can collect data and predict what types of people will respond to certain advertisements. This capability is important commercially; advertising is a trillion-dollar market globally.

    AI models can do this for every single product, TV show, website and internet user. This is how the modern ad-tech industry works. Real-time bidding markets price the display ads that appear alongside the websites you visit, and advertisers use AI models to decide when they want to pay that price – thousands of times per second.

    Scope

    Next, scope. AI can be advantageous when it does more things than any one person could, even when a human might do better at any one of those tasks. Generative AI systems such as ChatGPT can engage in conversation on any topic, write an essay espousing any position, create poetry in any style and language, write computer code in any programming language, and more. These models may not be superior to skilled humans at any one of these things, but no single human could outperform top-tier generative models across them all.

    It’s the combination of these competencies that generates value. Employers often struggle to find people with talents in disciplines such as software development and data science who also have strong prior knowledge of the employer’s domain. Organizations are likely to continue to rely on human specialists to write the best code and the best persuasive text, but they will increasingly be satisfied with AI when they just need a passable version of either.

    How AI is affecting the job market.

    Sophistication

    Finally, sophistication. AIs can consider more factors in their decisions than humans can, and this can endow them with superhuman performance on specialized tasks. Computers have long been used to keep track of a multiplicity of factors that compound and interact in ways more complex than a human could trace. The 1990s chess-playing computer systems such as Deep Blue succeeded by thinking a dozen or more moves ahead.

    Modern AI systems use a radically different approach: Deep learning systems built from many-layered neural networks take account of complex interactions – often many billions – among many factors. Neural networks now power the best chess-playing models and most other AI systems.

    Chess is not the only domain where eschewing conventional rules and formal logic in favor of highly sophisticated and inscrutable systems has generated progress. The stunning advance of AlphaFold2, the AI model of structural biology whose creators Demis Hassabis and John Jumper were recognized with the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2024, is another example.

    This breakthrough replaced traditional physics-based systems for predicting how sequences of amino acids would fold into three-dimensional shapes with a 93 million-parameter model, even though it doesn’t account for physical laws. That lack of real-world grounding is not desirable: No one likes the enigmatic nature of these AI systems, and scientists are eager to understand better how they work.

    But the sophistication of AI is providing value to scientists, and its use across scientific fields has grown exponentially in recent years.

    Context matters

    Those are the four dimensions where AI can excel over humans. Accuracy still matters. You wouldn’t want to use an AI that makes graphics look glitchy or targets ads randomly – yet accuracy isn’t the differentiator. The AI doesn’t need superhuman accuracy. It’s enough for AI to be merely good and fast, or adequate and scalable. Increasing scope often comes with an accuracy penalty, because AI can generalize poorly to truly novel tasks. The 4 S’s are sometimes at odds. With a given amount of computing power, you generally have to trade off scale for sophistication.

    Even more interestingly, when an AI takes over a human task, the task can change. Sometimes the AI is just doing things differently. Other times, AI starts doing different things. These changes bring new opportunities and new risks.

    For example, high-frequency trading isn’t just computers trading stocks faster; it’s a fundamentally different kind of trading that enables entirely new strategies, tactics and associated risks. Likewise, AI has developed more sophisticated strategies for the games of chess and Go. And the scale of AI chatbots has changed the nature of propaganda by allowing artificial voices to overwhelm human speech.

    It is this “phase shift,” when changes in degree may transform into changes in kind, where AI’s impacts to society are likely to be most keenly felt. All of this points to the places that AI can have a positive impact. When a system has a bottleneck related to speed, scale, scope or sophistication, or when one of these factors poses a real barrier to being able to accomplish a goal, it makes sense to think about how AI could help.

    Equally, when speed, scale, scope and sophistication are not primary barriers, it makes less sense to use AI. This is why AI auto-suggest features for short communications such as text messages can feel so annoying. They offer little speed advantage and no benefit from sophistication, while sacrificing the sincerity of human communication.

    Many deployments of customer service chatbots also fail this test, which may explain their unpopularity. Companies invest in them because of their scalability, and yet the bots often become a barrier to support rather than a speedy or sophisticated problem solver.

    Where the advantage lies

    Keep this in mind when you encounter a new application for AI or consider AI as a replacement for or an augmentation to a human process. Looking for bottlenecks in speed, scale, scope and sophistication provides a framework for understanding where AI provides value, and equally where the unique capabilities of the human species give us an enduring advantage.

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

    – ref. Will AI take your job? The answer could hinge on the 4 S’s of the technology’s advantages over humans – https://theconversation.com/will-ai-take-your-job-the-answer-could-hinge-on-the-4-ss-of-the-technologys-advantages-over-humans-258469

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Export bar placed on £8 million Rubens work

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Press release

    Export bar placed on £8 million Rubens work

    A temporary export bar has been placed on an oil sketch, titled ​​Cimon Falling in love with Efigenia, by Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens

    • The work has been valued at £8.4 million 
    • The export bar will allow time for a UK gallery or institution to acquire the oil sketch for the nation

    An export bar has been placed on an oil sketch by Flemish artist, Peter Paul Rubens, which is at risk of leaving the UK.

    Rubens was an exceptionally successful painter and is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens was born in Siegen, Germany in 1577 and is mostly known for his vibrant style emphasising movement, colour, and sensuality. Some of his most famous paintings include The Elevation of the Cross and Judgement of Paris. 

    Cimon Falling in love with Efigenia is a remarkable example of one of Rubens’ authentic oil sketches created entirely by his own hand.

    Oil sketches by Rubens have been eagerly collected in the UK and there is a strong British connection to this piece, as George Villiers, the first Duke of Buckingham (1592–1628), was an admirer of his artistic talent and displayed works by Rubens in his home at York House. This included the finished painting of Cimon and Efigenia for which the current oil sketch is a preparatory work.

    The sketch is a marvellous encapsulation of Rubens’ working methods at a relatively early stage in his career. It would enhance the representation of such works in the UK if saved for the nation by a cultural institution. 

    Arts Minister Sir Chris Bryant said: 

    This work is the perfect example of Rubens’ artistic talent and gives us greater insight into Flemish art during the 17th century. 

    I hope that a UK gallery is able to save  it so that the public can enjoy it for generations to come.

    Mark Hallett, Committee Member said: 

    This is a picture that gives us the opportunity to appreciate a great artist’s creative process in full flow. Produced on panel as the primary sketch for a monumental oil painting that now hangs in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Cimon falling in Love with Efigenia is entirely the product of Rubens’s own hand, rather than one that – as is the case with the final picture – contains the contributions of his studio assistants. In the sketch, we see Rubens exploring the artistic possibilities of an ethically and erotically charged scene from early Renaissance literature, and experimenting with the established pictorial conventions of the female nude. The longer one looks at and thinks about this picture, the more complex and challenging it becomes: the mark of all truly significant works of art. For these reasons, Cimon falling in Love with Efigenia demands to be found a permanent home in the UK, where it can be enjoyed and reflected upon for decades to come.

    The Minister’s decision follows the advice of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest (RCEWA).

    The RCEWA made its recommendation on the basis that the painting met the second and third Waverley criteria for its outstanding aesthetic importance and its outstanding significance to the study of Rubens’ preparatory studies and sketches and their influence, as well as the treatment of the female nude in art.

    The decision on the export licence application for the painting will be deferred for a period ending on 15 September 2025 inclusive. At the end of the first deferral period owners will have a consideration period of 15 Business Days to consider any offer(s) to purchase the painting at the recommended price of £8,440,000. The second deferral period will commence following the signing of an Option Agreement and will last for six months.

    Notes to editors:

    1. Organisations or individuals interested in purchasing the painting should contact the RCEWA on 02072680534 or rcewa@artscouncil.org.uk.
    2. Details of the painting are as follows: Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) Cimon Falling in love with Efigenia, c. 1616–17. Oil on panel, 29.8 x 43.5 cm. The painting is on a narrow wooden panel with vertical grain. The painting is in generally good condition.

    3. Provenance: Probably the painter and dealer Jeremias Wildens (1621-53), son of Jan Wildens (1586 – 1653) who collaborated with Rubens on the Vienna picture in which he painted the landscape; His estate: inventory drawn up 30 January 1653 and 11 January 1654, no. 528 ‘Eenen Thimon met Naeckte vrouwkens van Rubbens’ (A Thimon [Cimon] with naked women by Rubens); Philippe Panné, Esq., Great George Street, Hanover Square, London (d. 1819); His sale: Christie’s, London, A catalogue of the very capital, valuable and highly important collection of Italian, French, Flemish and Dutch pictures, of the late Ph. Panné, Esq. of Great George Street, Hanover Square, deceased, 27 March 1819 (including 350 lots), lot 17, as ‘Rubens, Cymon and Iphigenia. panel, 12’ x 17’ [sic.] (sold 26-5 pounds); William Noel-Hill, 3rd Baron Berwick (1773-1842); His sale: Christie’s, London, 1 December 1827, lot 73, as ‘Rubens’ School, Cymon and Iphiginia’ (“17 guineas”, “”bought in”); Sir Matthew Wilson,1st Baronet of Eshton Hall (1802-1891), Gargrave, 1877; Private Collection, U.K. by 1886; Private collection, purchase, 2024

    4. The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest is an independent body, serviced by Arts Council England (ACE), which advises the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on whether a cultural object, intended for export, is of national importance under specified criteria.

    Updates to this page

    Published 16 June 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Join us in Newcastle to discuss youth, masculinity and the political divide

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Grace Allen, Education and Young People Editor

    Mounir Taha/Shutterstock

    When the Netflix series Adolescence hit TV screens in March this year, its depiction of boyhood, violence and online misogyny sparked debates across the UK and beyond.

    As Young People editor at The Conversation, I knew that these were topics that academics who write for us had been building their expertise on for years. The many articles we’ve published include how parents can talk to their children about the “manosphere”, the world of hypermasculine influencers, how hustle culture plays into ideas of male self worth and what girls have to say about all this.

    At the charity Cumberland Lodge, with whom I’ve collaborated in the past, the young people who make up their Youth and Democracy network had thoughts, too. And the points they’ve raised have a huge overlap with some of the nuance brought up by our experts.

    How much is social media actually to blame for rising misogyny? Are influencers exploiting uncertainty left by a shift away from traditional gender roles? Do young people lack the knowledge and the opportunity to discuss these issues? How does class play a role? And is a culture of blame and a fear of doing harm stopping boys and young men from being part of the solution?

    It seemed obvious that we should get everyone together to talk about this – young people giving their perspective, and academic researchers offering theirs. And we’d like you to join the discussion, too. At Newcastle University on Thursday July 3, I’ll be talking to experts and contributors to The Conversation Sophie Lively and Michael Joseph Richardson, along with young people from Cumberland Lodge’s Youth and Democracy project.

    We’d love to see you there. You can get your ticket here.

    • Date: Thursday, July 3
    • Time: 6:00pm – 8:30pm
    • Location: Old Library Building, Newcastle University, NE1 7RG
    • Tickets: Tickets cost £10 (£5 concessions) including light refreshments, and can be booked here.

    – ref. Join us in Newcastle to discuss youth, masculinity and the political divide – https://theconversation.com/join-us-in-newcastle-to-discuss-youth-masculinity-and-the-political-divide-258932

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: SSK GUU: the gold standard of student sports

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: State University of Management – Official website of the State –

    The verification of applications in the system of events for the development of student sports clubs “Certification”, organized by the Association of Student Sports Clubs of Russia (ASSC of Russia), has been completed.

    Based on the results of the assessment, the GUU Student Sports Club took the leading position, receiving the highest “gold” certification status and ahead of well-known Moscow universities, which received “silver”.

    It is worth noting that out of 191 sports clubs throughout Russia, only 21 clubs were awarded the “gold” status, which emphasizes the high level of achievements of the SSC GUU.

    And this victory would not have been possible without the active participation of students, activists and athletes. Let us continue to maintain this high level together.

    Subscribe to Vkontakte and Telegram of the SSK GUU to stay up to date with all the events and get to know the mascot of the GUU better.

    The full final table and certification criteria are available at the link: vk.cc/cMLZRv.

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: ASIA/MYANMAR – The Vicar of Mandalay: “We thank Pope Leo for his words and his attention to the suffering of the civilian population”

    Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

    Archdiocese of Mandalay

    Mandalay (Agenzia Fides) – “Throughout Myanmar, there are areas where fighting is taking place, where people are displaced, where civilians are suffering great hardship while fleeing the conflict. In our Diocese of Mandalay, in particular, the Sagaing area is the most affected by clashes, bombings, and immense suffering of the civilian population,” Fr. Peter Sein Hlaing Oo, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Mandalay in north-central Myanmar, told Fides. The Vicar General and the entire local Church appreciate the words of Pope Leo XIV, who, during the Sunday Angelus prayer yesterday, June 15, recalled the ongoing fighting in Myanmar. “We thank him for his words and his attention to the suffering of the civilian population,” he said. The Catholic priest tells Fides about the situation in Sagaing: “Many villages have been abandoned or reduced to rubble due to the constant bombing. The helpless people do not know where to find refuge. There are Catholic churches and parishes in this area, and all of them are in serious difficulty. We have Catholic believers in both the regime-controlled areas and those controlled by the resistance. And there are believers who are caught in the crossfire. The people are helpless and defenseless. But our priests are courageously working for the people, especially the elderly, women, and children, who often lack even the bare necessities to support themselves. Together with religious and catechists, they are providing social services in areas that are very dangerous because they have been affected by the firefights.” “We continue to pray every day, hold Masses and prayer vigils for our people, for peace, for the future of the nation,” the Vicar General concluded. “We continue to trust in God in this terrible situation. And let us not forget that in Mandalay, in addition to the war, we are also experiencing the devastating effects of the earthquake.” Also speaking to Fides, Joseph Kung, a Catholic from Yangon, who is active in the local Church and teaches at a private university, added: “As the Pope has noted, civilian infrastructure continues to be attacked and destroyed by the army throughout the country. The most painful thing is when schools are attacked, when pupils and students are attacked, young people who only wanted to continue their education.” “There is still so much pain and outrage over the massacre a month ago, when an airstrike on the village of Oe Htein Kwin in the Sagaing region killed 20 pupils and two teachers,” he emphasized.”Among the areas most affected by the conflict are Sagaing, Rakhine State, and areas in Chin and Kachin States. We are constantly receiving reports from the dioceses of Bamaw and Myitkyina, both in Kachin, where many villages have been destroyed and civilians continue to be displaced,” he continues. Kung concludes: “We are grateful to Pope Leo for his appeals. When the Pope mentions Myanmar, it gives us hope because we know we are not alone and abandoned. The population is exhausted and scarred by four years of civil war. We wait and pray every day, placing our suffering in the hands of God and the Virgin Mary.” (PA) (Agenzia Fides, 16/6/2025)
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    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: ASIA/MYANMAR – The Vicar of Mandalay: “We thank Pope Leo for his words and his attention to the suffering of the civilian population”

    Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

    Archdiocese of Mandalay

    Mandalay (Agenzia Fides) – “Throughout Myanmar, there are areas where fighting is taking place, where people are displaced, where civilians are suffering great hardship while fleeing the conflict. In our Diocese of Mandalay, in particular, the Sagaing area is the most affected by clashes, bombings, and immense suffering of the civilian population,” Fr. Peter Sein Hlaing Oo, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Mandalay in north-central Myanmar, told Fides. The Vicar General and the entire local Church appreciate the words of Pope Leo XIV, who, during the Sunday Angelus prayer yesterday, June 15, recalled the ongoing fighting in Myanmar. “We thank him for his words and his attention to the suffering of the civilian population,” he said. The Catholic priest tells Fides about the situation in Sagaing: “Many villages have been abandoned or reduced to rubble due to the constant bombing. The helpless people do not know where to find refuge. There are Catholic churches and parishes in this area, and all of them are in serious difficulty. We have Catholic believers in both the regime-controlled areas and those controlled by the resistance. And there are believers who are caught in the crossfire. The people are helpless and defenseless. But our priests are courageously working for the people, especially the elderly, women, and children, who often lack even the bare necessities to support themselves. Together with religious and catechists, they are providing social services in areas that are very dangerous because they have been affected by the firefights.” “We continue to pray every day, hold Masses and prayer vigils for our people, for peace, for the future of the nation,” the Vicar General concluded. “We continue to trust in God in this terrible situation. And let us not forget that in Mandalay, in addition to the war, we are also experiencing the devastating effects of the earthquake.” Also speaking to Fides, Joseph Kung, a Catholic from Yangon, who is active in the local Church and teaches at a private university, added: “As the Pope has noted, civilian infrastructure continues to be attacked and destroyed by the army throughout the country. The most painful thing is when schools are attacked, when pupils and students are attacked, young people who only wanted to continue their education.” “There is still so much pain and outrage over the massacre a month ago, when an airstrike on the village of Oe Htein Kwin in the Sagaing region killed 20 pupils and two teachers,” he emphasized.”Among the areas most affected by the conflict are Sagaing, Rakhine State, and areas in Chin and Kachin States. We are constantly receiving reports from the dioceses of Bamaw and Myitkyina, both in Kachin, where many villages have been destroyed and civilians continue to be displaced,” he continues. Kung concludes: “We are grateful to Pope Leo for his appeals. When the Pope mentions Myanmar, it gives us hope because we know we are not alone and abandoned. The population is exhausted and scarred by four years of civil war. We wait and pray every day, placing our suffering in the hands of God and the Virgin Mary.” (PA) (Agenzia Fides, 16/6/2025)
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    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI: Gebbia Media Launches New Sports Division, Expanding Support for Elite Athletes Beyond the Game

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    NEW YORK and MIAMI, June 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Gebbia Media, a wholly owned subsidiary of Siebert Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: SIEB), has announced the launch of its Sports Division. The new group will focus on serving the unique needs of elite and professional athletes, offering a comprehensive platform that combines financial education, wealth management, tax planning, and strategic support for long-term success.

    At launch, the division has signed several standout NCAA athletes from top programs and universities, including TCU, Villanova, University of Washington, BYU, and Xavier, among others.

    The initiative will be led by Greg Murphy, a former collegiate basketball player and seasoned financial executive for Alliance Bernstein and Investco, newly appointed President of Sport Division. “I’ve spent years helping institutions scale and grow, but this is different,” said Murphy, “Athletes today are more than sports professionals. They are leaders, creators, and entrepreneurs. We’re here to help them navigate that journey with a full team behind them.”

    In line with Siebert’s Financial growth strategy, Gebbia Media’s Sports Division offering is designed to go beyond what traditional sports agencies offer. With in-house capabilities in marketing, PR, media production, and IP development, Gebbia Media will help athletes elevate their personal brands and unlock new ways to share and monetize their stories. These services are paired with the broader financial platform of Siebert Financial, helping athletes protect and grow their wealth well beyond their playing years, starting with a strong focus on financial literacy and education.

    Richard Gebbia, Co-CEO of Muriel Siebert & Co., LLC., as well as a former Ole Miss Football standout, comments: “We understand what athletes are going through. Our goal is to help them build real value that lasts beyond the game. By welcoming them to our offices and spending time with wealth management and finance professionals, we foster financial learning, protect their earnings, grow their potential, and support their ambitions inside and outside of sports.”

    “Gebbia Media is built to go where traditional finance hasn’t,” said David Gebbia, CEO of Gebbia Media “With the launch of our Sports Division, we’re helping a new generation of athletes learn about and take control of their finances, as well as telling their stories, and building their legacies.”

    The division is led by a team of financial and sports management experts with deep experience in athlete representation, contract negotiation, and NIL monetization. With offices in Miami, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Nashville, and other key locations, the team operates nationwide. Beyond a current roster that includes multi-million dollar deals for several signed athletes, the pipeline is rapidly expanding across both collegiate and professional circuits.

    About Gebbia Media
    Gebbia Media is an artist-first entertainment company focused on the development and promotion of music and sports talent, catalog acquisition, and bold storytelling across film, television, podcasts, and digital media. As a subsidiary of Siebert Financial Corp., Gebbia Media also functions as the in-house production and marketing agency for Siebert and its subsidiaries, creating branded content, advertising strategies, and social media campaigns.

    Driven by the belief that creativity, raw talent, and commercial acumen can birth extraordinary storytelling, Gebbia Media is building a premier media company rooted in cultural impact and financial strategy. By fusing compelling content with financial infrastructure, the company is redefining how audiences are engaged, enhancing financial literacy, expanding market reach, and unlocking new monetization opportunities across platforms. Gebbia Media’s operations span music, sports, and entertainment, creating powerful synergies between culture and commerce within Siebert’s broader ecosystem. More information is available at www.gebbiamedia.com.

    About Siebert Financial Corp.
    Siebert is a diversified financial services company and has been a member of the NYSE since 1967, when Muriel Siebert became the first woman to own a seat on the NYSE and the first to head one of its member firms.

    Siebert operates through its subsidiaries Muriel Siebert & Co., LLC, Siebert AdvisorNXT, LLC, Park Wilshire Companies, Inc., RISE Financial Services, LLC, Siebert Technologies, LLC, and StockCross Digital Solutions, Ltd, and Gebbia Media LLC. Through these entities, Siebert provides a full range of brokerage and financial advisory services, including securities brokerage; investment banking and capital markets services; investment advisory and insurance offerings; securities lending; corporate stock plan administration solutions; in addition to entertainment and media productions. For over 55 years, Siebert has been a company that values its clients, shareholders, and employees. More information is available at www.siebert.com.

    Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
    The statements contained in this press release that are not historical facts, including statements about our beliefs and expectations, are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include statements preceded by, followed by, or that include the words “may,” “could,” “would,” “should,” “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “plan,” “estimate,” “target,” “project,” “intend” and similar words or expressions. In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, projections, or other characterizations of future events or circumstances are forward-looking statements.

    These forward-looking statements, which reflect beliefs, objectives, and expectations as of the date hereof, are based on the best judgment of the management of Siebert. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made. Such forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in such statements, including, without limitation, the following: economic, social and political conditions, global economic downturns resulting from extraordinary events; securities industry risks; interest rate risks; liquidity risks; credit risk with clients and counterparties; risk of liability for errors in clearing functions; systemic risk; systems failures, delays and capacity constraints; network security risks; competition; reliance on external service providers; new laws and regulations affecting Siebert’s business; net capital requirements; extensive regulation, regulatory uncertainties and legal matters; failure to maintain relationships with employees, customers, business partners or governmental entities; the inability to achieve synergies or to implement integration plans; and other consequences associated with risks and uncertainties detailed in Part I, Item 1A – Risk Factors of Siebert’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, and Siebert’s filings with the SEC.

    Siebert cautions that the foregoing list of factors is not exclusive, and new factors may emerge, or changes to the foregoing factors may occur that could impact its business. Siebert undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise these statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except to the extent required by the federal securities laws.

    Media Contact:
    Deborah Kostroun, Zito Partners
    deborah@zitopartners.com
    +1 (201) 403-8185

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: NANO Nuclear Appoints Experienced Communications and Capital Markets Professional Matthew Barry as Director of Investor Relations

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    New York, N.Y., June 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — NANO Nuclear Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: NNE) (“NANO Nuclear” or “the Company”), a leading advanced nuclear energy and technology company focused on developing clean energy solutions, today announced that Matthew Barry has joined the Company as its Director of Investor Relations.

    As Director of Investor Relations, Matt will spearhead NANO Nuclear’s efforts to connect with and inform its growing retail and institutional investor base and assist with all corporate communication initiatives.

    Matt has over 10 years of experience in accounting, equity research and investor relations at both public and private companies. He began his career at Deloitte, where he audited the financial statements and internal controls of various public and private clients across various industries. Matt served as an equity research analyst at investment banks H.C. Wainwright and Cowen and Company, where he covered an aggregate portfolio of approximately 40 companies across both firms, creating complex financial models and analyzing a wide range of macroeconomic and industry data and trends. He later served as Manager of Investor Relations at Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: VECO), a Nasdaq-listed global capital equipment provider, where he led the investor relations function. At Veeco, he successfully developed an in-house investor targeting program and was instrumental in attracting investment from multiple ideal long-only long-term oriented investors who initiated substantial positions in the company.

    Matt joins NANO Nuclear following the recent addition of Intel technologist and former U.S. Department of Energy Deputy (DOE) Chief Data Officer, Seth Berl, Ph.D. as an independent member in NANO Nuclear’s Board of Directors, and the appointment of former U.S. Secretary of Energy and Texas Gov. Rick Perry as Chair of the NANO Nuclear’s Executive Advisory Board. These quality additions to the team highlight NANO Nuclear’s growing reputation for excellence in advanced nuclear technology and its commitment to strong leadership as it propels its ambitious business plans forward.

    “I feel privileged to join this exciting company, which is not only striving to lead the advanced nuclear technology sector, but has made remarkable achievements so far, including having been the top performing initial public offering in the U.S. in 2024,” said Matthew Barry, Director of Investor Relations of NANO Nuclear. “I firmly believe in NANO Nuclear’s mission, and as we continue our progress, keeping our shareholders fully informed and aligned with our long‑term vision is essential. I’m looking forward to bringing my communications experience and my knowledge of public companies and the equity capital markets to NANO Nuclear at this pivotal time and to work with our energetic leadership team committed to delivering lasting value.”

    Figure 1 – NANO Nuclear Appoints Matthew Barry as its Director of Investor Relations.

    Matt earned his Certified Public Accountant (CPA) license in 2017 and Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation in 2024. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and a Master of Science in Taxation from Hofstra University where he received the FEI Top Accounting Student award.

    “I’m very excited to welcome Matt to NANO Nuclear,” said Jay Yu, Founder and Chairman of NANO Nuclear. “His background in accounting, equity research and investor relations gives him a solid understanding of how public companies work and what their investor communities desire in terms of information and outreach. I believe he will be instrumental in strengthening our dialogue with shareholders, whose support has been vital to our success as we pursue our strategic objectives.”

    “Matt aligns perfectly with our commitment to transparent, investor‑focused communication,” said James Walker, Chief Executive Officer of NANO Nuclear. “His capital‑markets expertise will be invaluable as we engage new investors and broaden market awareness. Matt’s appointment underscores our commitment to excellence, and I look forward to collaborating with him.”

    About NANO Nuclear Energy, Inc.

    NANO Nuclear Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: NNE) is an advanced technology-driven nuclear energy company seeking to become a commercially focused, diversified, and vertically integrated company across five business lines: (i) cutting edge portable and other microreactor technologies, (ii) nuclear fuel fabrication, (iii) nuclear fuel transportation, (iv) nuclear applications for space and (v) nuclear industry consulting services. NANO Nuclear believes it is the first portable nuclear microreactor company to be listed publicly in the U.S.

    Led by a world-class nuclear engineering team, NANO Nuclear’s reactor products in development include patented KRONOS MMR™Energy System, a stationary high-temperature gas-cooled reactor that is in construction permit pre-application engagement U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in collaboration with University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U. of I.), “ZEUS”, a solid core battery reactor, and “ODIN”, a low-pressure coolant reactor, and the space focused, portable LOKI MMR™, each representing advanced developments in clean energy solutions that are portable, on-demand capable, advanced nuclear microreactors.

    Advanced Fuel Transportation Inc. (AFT), a NANO Nuclear subsidiary, is led by former executives from the largest transportation company in the world aiming to build a North American transportation company that will provide commercial quantities of HALEU fuel to small modular reactors, microreactor companies, national laboratories, military, and DOE programs. Through NANO Nuclear, AFT is the exclusive licensee of a patented high-capacity HALEU fuel transportation basket developed by three major U.S. national nuclear laboratories and funded by the Department of Energy. Assuming development and commercialization, AFT is expected to form part of the only vertically integrated nuclear fuel business of its kind in North America.

    HALEU Energy Fuel Inc. (HEF), a NANO Nuclear subsidiary, is focusing on the future development of a domestic source for a High-Assay, Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) fuel fabrication pipeline for NANO Nuclear’s own microreactors as well as the broader advanced nuclear reactor industry.

    NANO Nuclear Space Inc. (NNS), a NANO Nuclear subsidiary, is exploring the potential commercial applications of NANO Nuclear’s developing micronuclear reactor technology in space. NNS is focusing on applications such as the LOKI MMR™ system and other power systems for extraterrestrial projects and human sustaining environments, and potentially propulsion technology for long haul space missions. NNS’ initial focus will be on cis-lunar applications, referring to uses in the space region extending from Earth to the area surrounding the Moon’s surface.

    For more corporate information please visit: https://NanoNuclearEnergy.com/

    For further NANO Nuclear information, please contact:

    Email: IR@NANONuclearEnergy.com
    Business Tel: (212) 634-9206

    PLEASE FOLLOW OUR SOCIAL MEDIA PAGES HERE:

    NANO Nuclear Energy LINKEDIN
    NANO Nuclear Energy YOUTUBE
    NANO Nuclear Energy X PLATFORM

    Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements

    This news release and statements of NANO Nuclear’s management in connection with this news release contain or may contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In this context, forward-looking statements mean statements related to future events, which may impact our expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as “expects”, “anticipates”, “intends”, “plans”, “believes”, “potential”, “will”, “should”, “could”, “would” or “may” and other words of similar meaning. In this press release, forward-looking statements include those related to the anticipated benefits to the Company of the new Director of Investor Relations referred to herein. These and other forward-looking statements are based on information available to us as of the date of this news release and represent management’s current views and assumptions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, events or results and involve significant known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may be beyond our control. For NANO Nuclear, particular risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in our forward-looking statements include but are not limited to the following: (i) risks related to our U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”) or related state or non-U.S. nuclear fuel licensing submissions, (ii) risks related the development of new or advanced technology and the acquisition of complimentary technology or businesses, including difficulties with design and testing, cost overruns, regulatory delays, integration issues and the development of competitive technology, (iii) our ability to obtain contracts and funding to be able to continue operations, (iv) risks related to uncertainty regarding our ability to technologically develop and commercially deploy a competitive advanced nuclear reactor or other technology in the timelines we anticipate, if ever, (v) risks related to the impact of U.S. and non-U.S. government regulation, policies and licensing requirements, including by the DOE and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, including those associated with the recently enacted ADVANCE Act, and (vi) similar risks and uncertainties associated with the operating an early stage business a highly regulated and rapidly evolving industry. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which apply only as of the date of this news release. These factors may not constitute all factors that could cause actual results to differ from those discussed in any forward-looking statement, and NANO Nuclear therefore encourages investors to review other factors that may affect future results in its filings with the SEC, which are available for review at www.sec.gov and at https://ir.nanonuclearenergy.com/financial-information/sec-filings. Accordingly, forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as a predictor of actual results. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this news release, except as required by law.

    Attachment

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Students of SPbGASU took part in the IV Interuniversity Patriotic Forum “I Love My Homeland”

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering – Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering – Forum participants

    The team of students from St. Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering “Legal Support” (second year students of the Faculty of Forensic Expertise and Law in Construction and Transport) took part in the IV Inter-University Patriotic Forum “I Love My Homeland”.

    The forum, organized by the St. Petersburg University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, was held on June 9 at the M. Gorky House of Scientists.

    Our university was represented by Anastasia Abramova (team captain), Elena Samoilova, Alina Bashirova and Anastasia Kochukova under the guidance of Associate Professor of the Department of Legal Regulation of Urban Development and Transport Elena Markova.

    In addition, students from the All-Russian State University of Justice, the Military Institute (Railway Troops and Military Communications), the Russian Customs Academy, other universities, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation also took part in the forum.

    The forum was held in a quiz format. After the teams were introduced, the students answered questions about culture and history, painting, architecture and poetry, Russian cinema, music and composers of our country. The SPbGASU team took fourth place out of nine.

    “The value of such events is that students do not compete with each other when answering questions, but interpersonal communication takes place between cadets, students and their leaders from different educational organizations. The main topic of the event is the Motherland, something that every citizen should know, because patriotism is not only the willingness to defend, but also knowledge of the history of your country. Therefore, we recommend that everyone who has the opportunity participate in such events to remember some of the most important moments in the history of Russia and learn something new,” said Elena Samoylova. “The forum dedicated to the topic of patriotism and love for the Motherland left a vivid impression. The questions raised at the event were different: some seemed easy and obvious, others were deep and thought-provoking. Particularly interesting were the speeches of the forum participants, who touched on the topic of the modern understanding of patriotism and the role of youth in the development of the country. Such events unite people, inspire good deeds,” shared Anastasia Kochukova.

    “The forum became a source of new information and rethinking of already known facts for me. Particularly valuable was the acquaintance with the experience of various public organizations engaged in patriotic education of youth. Information about new projects aimed at preserving cultural heritage and developing civic activity turned out to be useful. It is important that the information presented was not only educational, but also inspiring, motivating to participate in positive changes,” Alina Bashirova is sure.

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Eating Your Feelings? A New Study Offers Hope for Emotional Eaters

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    Reaching for a pint of ice cream after a hard day can certainly be comforting. But when eating in response to bad feelings rather than physical hunger becomes a pattern, it also becomes a problem.

    Loneke Blackman Carr, assistant professor of nutritional sciences in the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources, recently published a study in Eating Behaviors demonstrating the feasibility of a novel approach to weight gain prevention that addresses emotional eating. Blackman Carr conducted this work in collaboration with Rachel Goode, an associate professor in the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

    “Emotional eating” can cause weight gain, which can lead to a host of health risks associated with being overweight or obese including cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

    “Having that disconnect with physiological hunger can lead to weight gain over time,” Blackman Carr says.

    This work fills an important gap in existing research which has largely ignored the role of weight gain prevention in favor of strategies targeting weight loss.

    “Weight gain prevention is a really important but critically underutilized approach to addressing weight in this country which, we know, is an outstanding prevention challenge for public health,” Blackman Carr says. “Focusing on this intersection of weight gain plus addressing the emotional eating that so many of us deal with, I think could provide a really unique way to improve physical and mental health in the short and long term.”

    Over the course of 12 weeks, 31 participants in the “SATISFY” program engaged in online group sessions with a mental health expert with expertise addressing emotional eating, and clinicians experienced in providing obesity treatment.

    One element of the program focused on appetite awareness.

    “This particular training is really helpful because it is targeted for individuals who are experiencing disordered or emotional eating to help them reduce eating related to that mental state,” Blackman Carr says. “It can help prevent weight gain and really bring people into greater awareness of what their true hunger is [rather than] responding to more of an emotional or mental health need.”

    The other part of the program implemented a proven model focused on healthy lifestyle changes for obesity prevention.

    Participants received digital scales and fitness trackers to record their meals and physical activity.

    Combining appetite awareness training and obesity prevention was a novel advancement in this study.

    The goal of this study was to determine if the intervention was feasible and acceptable to participants and hence, if it could be expanded into a larger study.

    The answer was a clear yes.

    Participants indicated a moderate to high level of satisfaction with the program. Participants’ emotional eating decreased significantly two months after the intervention. More than half – 63% — of participants also achieved weight stabilization at the two-month follow up.

    The next step for this work is to conduct a larger pilot study with a randomized control group.

    “We’re looking to compare the intervention that we did with a control group so we can see what’s the magnitude of all the different changes that we can observe,” Blackman Carr says. “With a larger sample and using more of a randomized approach that’s really the gold standard for science, we can start asking the questions of not only can it work but how does it work?”

    This research was funded by the Office of Research Development at UNC Chappel Hill.

    This work relates to CAHNR’s Strategic Vision area focused on Enhancing Health and Well-Being Locally, Nationally, and Globally.

    Follow UConn CAHNR on social media

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Stocking Up on Snacks: How Phytoplankton Prepare for the Future

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    Single-cell plants called phytoplankton have a surprising way of remembering conditions in the past to help jump-start their growth in the future, but no one is sure exactly how they do this.

    Researchers, including UConn Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Assistant Professor Colin Kremer, David Anderson of the University of Hawaii, Samuel Fey and Hannah Meier of Reed College, and David Vasseur of Yale University, detail their mechanistic theory of how this phenomenon, known as phenotypic memory, works in phytoplankton in their paper published in PNAS and supported by the National Science Foundation.

    Though small, phytoplankton are hugely important because they make about as much oxygen globally as all of the oxygen-producers we usually think of like trees and grasses, says Kremer. Phytoplankton are abundant in lakes and oceans and besides acting as vital oxygen creators, they also play significant roles in global nutrient cycles and ecosystems, therefore understanding the conditions that impact their productivity is vital.

    “We’re particularly interested in how they are affected by abiotic conditions, like the amount of nutrients available in their environment and temperature, because that influences how quickly they can grow, and where different kinds of species can occur,” says Kremer.

    In recent years, researchers began to realize that predicting phytoplankton growth rates is not as straightforward as simply considering current growing conditions, says Kremer, and that past conditions also play a significant role in current growth through phenotypic memory.

    “We wanted to understand how it’s possible for them to do that,” says Kremer. “They don’t have brains, so how does this past information influence their performance?”

    A mix of green algae and diatoms, two of the major types of phytoplankton investigated in this study, as seen under a microscope. (Photo courtesy of D. Gibson)

    Kremer and his colleagues wanted to dig into this question and develop a mathematical model to help predict the growth of these important organisms. Knowing these details can help predict how quickly phytoplankton populations grow, how they convert solar energy to biomass for food webs or biofuels, and in the case of some species, predict the location and intensity of toxic algal blooms.

    Fey and Meier grew different species of phytoplankton under controlled temperature and light conditions. To manage this, Kremer says he, Vasseur, and Fey built thermal gradient blocks to use space more efficiently while also carefully altering the growing conditions for the many test tubes of phytoplankton they were working with.

    “We grew the phytoplankton in test tubes at different temperatures and then manipulated their past and present conditions by moving the test tubes to different places along that block,” Kremer explains. “Then we measure their growth by looking at how much biomass accumulated over time.”

    In the paper, lead author Anderson detailed the development of a mathematical theory to describe the mechanism of phenotypic memory. He also compared the experimental data to the theoretical model and Kremer says they were excited with how closely the relatively simple model captured the data they collected in the lab.

    “A lot of the work that I do involves trying to develop mathematical and statistical models of how things in ecology work, and very often it’s difficult to fit those mathematical models to experimental data. It’s often a real struggle, and in this case, the model just fit beautifully really early on,” says Kremer.

    “We were initially surprised by how well this model predicted the observed data because it’s relatively simple– but often in ecology, the key is to find the sweet spot between needing to measure and understand dozens of biochemical pathways to obtain an accurate predictions for a single species, versus understanding a few key processes to understand how major groups of organisms will respond to their environment,” says Fey.

    They found that the ability to store nutrients for future biomass production is integral and determines how quickly phytoplankton can grow.

    “The easiest analogy we’ve come up with for this is if you think about a phytoplankton growing in water that’s fairly cold, its ability to grow is fundamentally limited by temperature and its cellular machinery for growth,” says Kremer. “But, for a lot of these phytoplankton, while they’re not growing very quickly, they are still able to take up and store extra nutrients from their environment. It’s like stocking up on snacks and then if their environment warms up, temperature is no longer limiting how quickly they can grow, and they’ve got a ton of snacks, so it supercharges their growth for a period of time.”

    After faster growth in warmer conditions, the phytoplankton’s growth eventually slows down. Once temperatures drop again, their growth also slows since they have run out of snacks.

    “In some instances, we observe phytoplankton being able to perform Herculean feats for a few days. Even though brief, such instances may be matters of life or death for these organisms. For example, our results indicate phenotypic memory can mitigate the downsides of high temperature stress if heatwaves are initiated from cool starting conditions,” says Fey.

    “This nutrient storage or how many snacks they have on hand is a way of carrying over past information about their environmental exposure that then influences how they’re behaving at any given moment in time,” says Kremer.

    To further explore this mechanism, the next steps include measuring the quantities of different nutrients stored over time, says Kremer.

    “We’ve shown there are consistent patterns that are well explained by our new theory for different species of freshwater phytoplankton and one marine phytoplankton. We think it’s likely to be a general mechanism for different phytoplankton, but we’d like to expand how this data is collected. I also think the theory suggests many different things we can now look for in terms of what is happening physiologically within these cells to figure out if it’s the storage of nitrogen or phosphorus, or some other nutrient that drives these patterns,” says Kremer. “When we see differences between species, do they relate to differences in their ability to store nutrients?”

    Other kinds of organisms can store energy and nutrients, not just phytoplankton, and Kremer says they hope if they can begin to understand the dynamics and mechanisms of phenotypic memory in other organisms. These questions become increasingly pressing as the climate changes.

    “Abrupt temperature change has been, and will continue to be, a key experience of life of Earth. This work advances our understanding of how individuals may respond to the types of temperature perturbations that will define the 21st century,” says Fey.

    “Understanding this mechanism lets us make predictions about the consequences [of variability], and that is important,” says Kremer.  “We might be able to improve the predictive ability of ecology for different organisms in environments where temperature and resource levels are starting to become more and more variable.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Next Chapter in Transformative Surgical Care as Mercy Ships and Ministry of Health Prepare for August Return

    Source: Africa Press Organisation – English (2) – Report:

    In partnership with the Sierra Leonean Ministry of Health, international charity Mercy Ships (www.MercyShips.org) is preparing for the next phase of its ongoing mission to deliver free, life-changing surgeries and training for healthcare professionals. This new phase is scheduled to begin in August.

    As part of the preparations, the Global Mercy™ is temporarily leaving Sierra Leone for a planned maintenance period in Cadiz, Spain. The ship will return in August to continue delivering specialised surgical care until the ship departs in June 2026.

    Even after the ship departs, a team on the ground will continue working alongside our partners to strengthen the country’s healthcare workforce and surgical care system through 2030. This aligns with the government’s national priorities to improve access to essential surgical care and strengthen medical capacity.

    Since its initial arrival in Freetown in August 2023, the world’s largest purpose-built civilian hospital ship has provided over 3,630 free surgeries and training for more than 290 healthcare professionals, on board the ship as well as on the ground. Each week, the ship has had between 4 and 8 Sierra Leonean participants receiving on-ship training.   

    Dr. Sandra Lako, Mercy Ships Country Director for Sierra Leone, said: “We look forward to the ship’s return in August as we continue to partner with the Ministry of Health and the University of Sierra Leone to strengthen surgical care. Even after the ship departs in 2026, our agreement with the government underscores a shared commitment to lasting impact through 2030. We’re already witnessing the ripple effect of this sustained partnership in action.”

    When the Global Mercy returns in August 2025, this will mark the charity’s third consecutive field service in Sierra Leone and its eighth visit to the country since 1992, reinforcing a long-standing partnership aimed at improving access to safe surgical care for those who need it most.

    The Minister of Health, Dr. Austin Demby, said: “Our partnership with Mercy Ship has been truly life-transforming for the people of this country. As a government, we are very proud of the significant contributions they are making in improving access to free surgical services as well as improving capacity of the health workforce through training. We look forward to the next field service and we will provide all the support necessary to make more Sierra Leoneans benefit from their assistance.”

    Mercy Ships will continue working alongside the University of Sierra Leone to support the delivery of the nurse anaesthesia diploma course, helping to address the country’s current shortage of anaesthesia providers. The long-term aim is for this program to be fully led by Sierra Leonean faculty to ensure a sustainable increase in qualified professionals.

    In addition, Mercy Ships is continuing to partner with the Connaught Hospital in the Safer Surgery programme, which has an emphasis on strengthening surgical teams and working towards measurable improvements in patient care.

    Support for dental education will continue through the sponsorship of Sierra Leonean dental students studying at Gamal Abdel Nasser University in Guinea, in partnership with the University of Sierra Leone.

    – on behalf of Mercy Ships.

    For more information about Mercy Ships, contact:
    Sophie Barnett
    Mercy Ships Senior Manager of International PR
    international.media@mercyships.org

    About Mercy Ships:  
    Mercy Ships operates hospital ships that deliver free surgeries and other healthcare services to those with little access to safe medical care. An international faith-based organization, Mercy Ships has focused entirely on partnering with African nations for the past three decades. Working with in-country partners, Mercy Ships also provides training to local healthcare professionals and supports the construction of in-country medical infrastructure to leave a lasting impact. Each year, more than 2,500 volunteer professionals from over 60 countries serve on board the world’s two largest non-governmental hospital ships, the Africa Mercy and the Global Mercy. Professionals such as surgeons, dentists, nurses, health trainers, cooks, and engineers dedicate their time and skills to accelerate access to safe surgical and anesthetic care. Mercy Ships was founded in 1978 and has offices in 16 countries as well as an Africa Service Center in Dakar, Senegal. For more information, visit www.MercyShips.org and follow @ MercyShips on social media.  

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    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Government continues to prioritise economic growth

    Source: South Africa News Agency

    Deputy President Paul Mashatile says government will continue leading from the front in creating a conducive environment for economic growth, education, safety and opportunity.

    Addressing the Youth Day commemoration in the North West, Deputy President Mashatile urged the private sector to help create opportunities by investing, hiring, and supporting youth innovation.

    “I want to emphasise that the youth deserve nothing less than a future where their skills, creativity, and determination can flourish in a changing world. To the youth, do not give up in pursuing a better future for yourselves and the country. Your voice, your ideas, and your energy are the fuel that can rebuild this country.

    “We therefore invite you to be part of the upcoming National Dialogue to shape the future trajectory of our country. To parents, teachers, and communities, let us support and guide our children,” the Deputy President said on Monday.

    READ I National Convention to set agenda for the National Dialogue

    This year’s National Youth Day event took place under the theme: “Skills for the Changing World – Empowering Youth for Meaningful Economic Participation”.

    This is a call to all government entities and its strategic partners to accelerate and enhance meaningful interventions in bridging the gap between skills development programmes and services available for access by youth to realise economic gain.

    “As government, we offer various programmes to support young entrepreneurs, including financial assistance, business development services, and skills training.

    “We need to encourage young people to look into starting their own businesses instead of waiting for employment. In this day and age, entrepreneurship is one of the keys to building a better future,” Deputy President Mashatile said.

    He informed young people that the National Youth Development Agency’s Grant Programme and Youth Challenge Fund are key initiatives, along with the launch of a R20 billion annual Transformation Fund for the next five years, aimed at boosting Black-owned businesses and historically disadvantaged groups.

    “These funds will act as a catalyst to attract other funds to enhance support of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises. Additionally, government is promoting youth participation in the digital economy through initiatives like the Digital Economy Masterplan and the National Digital and Future Skills Strategy.

    “These initiatives inspire hope in our quest to create employment and entrepreneurship for young people,” he said.

    The Deputy President acknowledged that government could do more to create an enabling environment for young people.

    “We must speed up the execution of existing legislation and regulations to make a meaningful contribution to the lives of the youth.

    “As part of assisting young entrepreneurs with quick turnaround on invoice payments, we have proposed a War Room on Clean Governance. Part of the main priorities of the Clean Governance War Room will be the prioritisation of the 10 – 15-day payment cycles and Transformative Procurement of small businesses,” Deputy President Mashatile said.

    30 years of democracy

    While challenges remain, the Deputy President reflected on some of the major victories that the democratic dispensation has registered in advancing youth empowerment since 1994.

    “Firstly, at the basic education level, we have transformed the matric pass rate from 58% in 1994 to a historic 87.3% in 2024. This is the result of three decades of making education an apex priority of government.

    “Our basic education system has gradually transformed whilst redressing the generational legacies of Verwoerd’s Bantu Education System. While we are not yet where we wish to be, we are also far from the inequality and disregard inherited in 1994,” he said.

    In higher education, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFA) is a catalyst for widening access to higher education for the marginalised.

    The scheme has grown from a modest budget of R33 million in 1991, serving only 7 240 students, to over R52 billion today, funding more than 1.1 million students at universities and TVET colleges.

    “As a result of this sustained investment, the demographic composition of our higher education system has been fundamentally transformed. In 1994, there were 266 190 Black students, representing 50.4% of the total student population. By 2020, that number had grown to 862 313 Black students, constituting 80% of enrolments.

    “In 2017, our government restructured NSFAS, converting it from a predominantly loan-based scheme into a grant system to ensure that higher education does not become a debt sentence for our young people,” Mashatile said.

    This support includes the NYDA’s Solomon Mahlangu Scholarship, which continues to advance the educational aspirations of youth from rural and township communities.

    Government has also met and surpassed gender parity in higher education participation rates, with over 60% of graduates from colleges and universities now being young women.

    “As the demand for education continues to grow, it is only natural that challenges around accommodation and the administration of NSFAS have emerged.

    “However, we are encouraged by the efforts of the Department of Higher Education and Training, which are currently underway to ensure that no deserving student is left behind,” the Deputy President said.

    Over the past five years, several mass youth employment programmes have been implemented across the length and breadth of the country to respond to the challenge of youth unemployment.

    The Presidential Youth Employment Intervention (PYEI) was launched in 2020 to cultivate sustainable earning opportunities for young people from all walks of life.

    “The latest quarterly report confirms that over 4.7 million young people are now registered on the National Pathway Management Network, with more than 1.6 million earning opportunities secured through a variety of initiatives and partnerships.

    “At the beginning of this month, 205 000 young people were placed in jobs through Phase 5 of the Basic Education Employment Initiative as part of the Presidential Employment Stimulus,” he said.

    Government has also implemented the Social Employment Fund, managed by the Industrial Development Corporation, which has been designed to address unemployment and promote social value through “whole of society” approaches. –SAnews.gov.za
     

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Trade in a mythical fish is threatening real species of rays that are rare and at risk

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By James Marcus Drymon, Associate Extension Professor in Marine Fisheries Ecology, Mississippi State University

    These ‘pez diablo,’ or devil fish, are actually guitarfishes that have been caught, killed, dried and carved into exotic shapes. Bryan Huerta-Beltrán, CC BY-ND

    From the Loch Ness monster to Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch, to the jackalope of the U.S. West, mythical animals have long captured human imagination.

    Some people are so fascinated with mythical creatures that they create their own, either working from pure fantasy or by modifying real animals. In a newly published study, we show that in countries such as Mexico, people are catching, drying and shaping guitarfishes – members of the rhino ray family, one of the most threatened groups of marine fishes – to create mythical specimens called “pez diablo,” or devil fish.

    Depending on where these curios are sold, they might also be referred to as Jenny Hanivers, garadiávolos or rayas chupacabras. The origin and meaning of the term “Jenny Haniver” is unclear, but the most accepted explanation is “Jeune d’Anvers,” or “young girl from Antwerp” in French.

    We found that pez diablo are made for many reasons, including as curios for the tourist trade and as purported cures for cancer, arthritis and anemia. Some are simply used for hoaxes. Regardless, the pez diablo trade could threaten the survival of guitarfishes.

    Young guitarfishes on display at the New England Aquarium in Boston.

    Fishy talismans

    Skates and rays, including guitarfishes, are flat-bodied fishes related to sharks and are found worldwide. Together, they make up a group known as elasmobranchs, which are characterized by their unique skeletons made of cartilage rather than bone like most other fishes.

    Skates have long been used to craft mythical creatures. The earliest known examples date back to 1558 in Europe, where they were fashioned to resemble dragons. These objects were thought to offer pathways to the divine or medicinal cures.

    In the mid-20th century, dried guitarfishes emerged as a new generation of mythical creatures. This may be because their unique shape can be fashioned into more humanlike forms. Their long nostrils, which are positioned just above their mouths, can resemble eyes.

    The ‘eyes’ of these dried guitarfishes are actually nostrils on top of the fishes’ long, pointed snouts.
    Bryan Huerta-Beltrán, CC BY-ND

    The first known case of a modified guitarfish was described in 1933. Since then, specimens have made their way into museums, and dozens of North American newspapers have published stories featuring modified guitarfishes.

    A real and endangered fish

    Guitarfishes are one of the most threatened vertebrate groups on the planet: Without careful management, they are at risk of global extinction. As many as two-thirds of all guitarfishes are classified as threatened on the IUCN Red List, a global inventory that assesses extinction risks to wild species.

    Guitarfishes are found in warm temperate and tropical oceans around the world. Fishers target them as an inexpensive source of protein. Guitarfishes may also be caught accidentally or collected live for the aquarium trade.

    Ultimately, however, these species are worth more as pez diablo than for other uses. For example, an entire fresh guitarfish in Mexico is worth approximately US$2, whereas guitarfish that have been killed, dried and carved into pez diablo can be worth anywhere from $50–$500 on eBay and other e-commerce sites.

    Curbing the pez diablo trade

    Internationally, the guitarfish trade is regulated by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, an international agreement between governments. This agreement requires member countries to manage guitarfish trade across international borders.

    Most countries where guitarfishes occur, however, do not have national regulations to protect these species. As a result, people who create or sell pez diablo are likely unaware that these fishes are threatened.

    There are as many as 37 species of guitarfish, some of which are at higher risk of extinction than others. Yet to the untrained eye, it can be hard to distinguish one guitarfish species from another. It’s especially hard to identify dried and mutilated guitarfishes that have been processed into pez diablo and look very different from their natural form.

    An intact guitarfish, left, and a carved, dried version.
    Bryan Huerta-Beltrán, CC BY-ND

    This is a common challenge for agencies that monitor trade in animal products. The global wildlife trade is an enormous market, involving billions of animals moving through both legal and illegal channels. Many wildlife products are heavily altered, which makes it hard to identify the species and determine where the product came from.

    Another source of confusion is that many people in Mexico also refer to an invasive freshwater fish that has overrun lakes and rivers across the nation as pez diablo. This “other” pez diablo is actually a suckermouth catfish and is not at all related to any of the threatened guitarfishes. Local education efforts need to distinguish clearly between these two species, since the desired outcome is to protect guitarfish while removing the invasive catfish.

    A dried and modified guitarfish, left, compared with an invasive suckermouth catfish.
    Bryan Huerta-Beltrán, CC BY-ND

    Guitarfish CSI

    Fortunately, advances in wildlife forensics offer a way to distinguish between species. Molecular techniques have been used to identify many illegally traded species, including guitarfishes. By taking a small skin sample, scientists can use DNA to identify the species of individual pez diablo. This method can help protect endangered species by helping to ensure that laws against wildlife trafficking are followed.

    Refining this kind of molecular tool is the most promising way to improve traceability in the trade of guitarfishes. By documenting where and how pez diablo are traded, scientists and conservationists can help clarify the threats to these species. The pez diablo is an imaginary creature, but it is doing real harm to threatened guitarfishes in the world’s warm oceans.

    Bryan Huerta-Beltran receives funding from Save Our Seas Foundation.

    Nicole Phillips is affiliated with the Sawfish Conservation Society and receives funding from the Save Our Seas Foundation.

    James Marcus Drymon and Peter Kyne do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Trade in a mythical fish is threatening real species of rays that are rare and at risk – https://theconversation.com/trade-in-a-mythical-fish-is-threatening-real-species-of-rays-that-are-rare-and-at-risk-247433

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Chinese University and Russian Academy of Education to Jointly Study AI Applications in Education and Teacher Training

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    BEIJING, June 16 (Xinhua) — Central China Normal University and the Russian Academy of Education (RAO) recently signed a cooperation agreement in Beijing to establish a joint laboratory called “Artificial Intelligence Plus Education” with a focus on transforming teachers’ competencies in the digital age and applying technologies in inclusive education.

    According to a report on the website of the Central China Normal University, on June 7, at the Russian Cultural Center in Beijing, the Vice Rector of the Central China Normal University Ren Youzhou held a working meeting with a delegation headed by the President of the Russian Academy of Education (RAE) Olga Vasilyeva.

    Ren Yuzhou noted that in May this year, three RAE academicians were invited to share their latest research achievements at a parallel forum within the framework of the World Conference on Digital Education. During the event, Russian experts visited the Faculty of Artificial Intelligence in Education of the Central China Normal University, where they held a discussion on the creation of a joint laboratory “AI plus education”.

    During the talks, the parties paid special attention to discussing scientific cooperation in the field of inclusive education, as well as issues of training teachers in China and Russia. The participants unanimously expressed their readiness to further expand the areas of interaction and make a joint contribution to educational cooperation and humanitarian exchanges between the two countries. -0-

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Focus on skills at Civil Service Live 2025

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    News story

    Focus on skills at Civil Service Live 2025

    Civil Service Live is under way – with a chance for civil servants to find out more about the cross-government learning they can access – much of which is free.

    Sir Chris Wormald, Cabinet Secretary

    Civil Service Live is under way – with a chance for civil servants to find out more about the cross-government learning they can access – much of which is free.

    Government Skills is the Cabinet Office team responsible for all cross-government learning and top civil servants have been helping us to champion the Curriculum of recommended learning  – which gives civil servants easy access to the quality-assured learning that matters most.

    Pictured are:

    The Cabinet Secretary, Sir Chris Wormald, who joined Government Skills’ volunteers at their stand at Civil Service Live in Belfast, while Northern Ireland Office director Caroline Hacker joined Government Skills’ deputy director Martin Petto speaking at Invest in Yourself to Succeed plenary session at the event.

    Earlier in the week, Sir Olly Robins, Permanent Under-Secretary, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, left, joined Government Skills’ head of early career management training Neil Alton – architect of the innovative

    Achieving Your Potential course for would-be line managers – at Civil Service Live in Glasgow.

    Left to right, Martin Petto, Caroline Hacker, Sir Olly Robins and Neil Alton

    “Skills are at the heart of ambitions for a productive and agile Civil Service that can truly deliver on the Government’s missions,” said Sir Olly.

    “That’s why I am so pleased to be at Civil Service Live on its opening day and to be able to champion the value of the brilliant learning opportunities available to us all, including digital and data skills.”

    Find out more about Government Skills’ Curriculum of recommended learning – which includes quality-approved relevant courses – many of which are free.

    Updates to this page

    Published 16 June 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: John Booth reappointed as Chair of the National Gallery.

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    News story

    John Booth reappointed as Chair of the National Gallery.

    John Booth reappointed as a Trustee of the National Gallery and remains its Chairman.

    John Booth

    John Booth CVO has been appointed by the Prime Minister as a Trustee of the National Gallery for a second term of four years from 20 August 2025 to 19 August 2029.

    John chairs a number of public and private companies including the London Theatre Company. He also serves as a non-executive director of several investment management businesses and has venture capital interests in e-commerce, media and telecommunications. He is Vice President of The King’s Trust, Chairman of The Royal Drawing School and a trustee of the Chatsworth Settlement and the Arts Foundation. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and of Merton College, Oxford, a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and Ambassador for the homelessness charity Depaul International.

    John joined the Board of the National Gallery in March 2021. As a result of his reappointment, the National Gallery Trustees have confirmed that John will continue in his role as Chairman of the Gallery’s Board.

    Remuneration and Governance Code

    Trustees of the National Gallery are not remunerated. This appointment has been made in accordance with the Cabinet Office’s Governance Code on Public Appointments.

    The appointments process is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. Under the Code, any significant political activity undertaken by an appointee in the last five years must be declared. This is defined as including holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation, or candidature for election. John has not declared any significant political activity.

    Updates to this page

    Published 16 June 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –