The Cygnus Loop, also known as the Veil Nebula, is a supernova remnant – the remains of the explosive death of a massive star. Studying images like these leads to discovery, but NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory provides another way to experience this data: three-dimensional (3D) models that allow people to explore – and print – examples of stars in the early and end stages of their lives. The 3D model of the Cygnus Loop is the result of a simulation describing the interaction of a blast wave from the explosion with an isolated cloud of the interstellar medium (that is, dust and gas in between the stars). Chandra sees the blast wave and other material that has been heated to millions of degrees. These 3D models are based on state-of-the-art theoretical models, computational algorithms, and observations from space-based telescopes like Chandra that give us accurate pictures of these cosmic objects and how they evolve over time. See more 3D printable models of cosmic objects. Image credit: X-ray: NASA/SAO/CXC; Optical: John Stone (Astrobin); Image Processing: NASA/SAO/CXC/L. Frattre, N. Wolk
After the first two seasons of The White Lotus (set respectively in Hawaii and Sicily), the buzz in the media and on social media typically focused on the selection of the next site for the award-winning show.
Not so much in 2025, after the close of Season 3’s Thailand-based episodes. Instead, the internet and social media have been alive with chatter over the announcement by Canadian Chilean composer Cristóbal Tapia de Veer that he was quitting the mega-hit franchise to the shock and disappointment of many of the show’s fans.
Tapia de Veer revealed his intention in an interview with the New York Times published April 2, just four days before the season’s finale, which aired to a series-record viewership. His departure announcement, twinned with criticism of White Lotus writer, creator and showrunner Mike White, has highlighted issues with creative tensions behind such collaborative productions.
In contrast, some members of the public reacted with hostility toward this season’s theme music. This was partly because it did not use the identifiable thematic material that bound together the first seasons: a four-note theme that has been transliterated as “ooh-loo-loo-loos” and was the basis for the title theme music in the first two seasons.
The Season 3 theme nevertheless sounds familiar due to Tapia de Veer’s ongoing quirky use of the voice. Novel ways of using it have been the foundations of all the Lotus themes, and in Season 3, it imitated monkey sounds.
Still, Tapia de Veer said he knew his novel Season 3 approach was a “kind of a risk,” to the extent that he produced an extended version with the traditional “ooh-loo-loo-loos” for insertion later in the show, but White rejected the idea.
According to the composer, White wanted “more of a ‘chill, sexy vibe’” compared to Tapia de Veer’s more experimental tracks. On the Howard Stern Show, when asked what happened, White had a different perspective, saying: “I honestly don’t know what happened. Reading the interviews … I just don’t think he respected me.”
To this, Tapia de Veer told the BBC he went public because White hadn’t handled the news “in a normal business manner,” and he said White’s comments on the Stern show demonstrated the director doesn’t fully appreciate the importance of the music on the show.
On his YouTube channel, Tapia de Veer has uploaded another variant of the theme (“Enlightenment”) under the track title “Full Moon Party,” as well as a 45-minute loop of the 11-note theme.
What unites the Season 3 tracks is the leaping, non-melodic theme, repeated over and over in changing synthesizer settings. The composer has said no soundtrack album for Season 3 will be forthcoming.
The positions of White and Tapia de Veer equally suggest a lack of effective communication, and as named or all but named by both parties, a lack of respect. Both are crucial elements behind the interpersonal relationships required in audiovisual production.
In the traditional collaboration, the composer falls under the leadership of the director or showrunner, not least because the music is the final audiovisual element added to the mix.
‘The White Lotus’ music making, video from Cristóbal Tapia de Veer.
By the time the film text reaches the composer, the visual track and dialogue have been locked — shooting is completed — yet it lacks the decisive contribution the score makes in defining characters, establishing moods and atmospheres, and giving unity to the whole through recurring themes.
The composer may work at their own keyboard or digital audio workstation, yet customarily in collaboration with the project’s other creative forces, especially the director.
Notorious score differences
Differences between film directors or television producers and composers are not new, the most notorious being Stanley Kubrick’s rejection of Alex North’s score for 2001: A Space Odyssey. This was in favour of the music Kubrick had chosen to temporarily accompany the visual track.
In another well-known instance, Alfred Hitchcock — under pressure from executives at Universal — replaced the Torn Curtain score (1966) by long-term collaborator Bernard Herrmann with more contemporary-sounding music by John Addison, which ended the decade-long association of composer and director.
More recently, Gabriel Yared’s score for Troy (2004), directed by Wolfgang Petersen, was replaced with one by James Horner, because test audiences disapproved of Yared’s music.
Composer withdrawls rare
With The White Lotus, however, we have a composer walking away from a job in a very public way. A composer’s resignation is not without precedent, yet it remains considerably rarer than their firing. Major film scorer Dmitri Tiomkin withdrew from two early 1960s projects directed by Robert Aldrich, but because of other commitments rather than any disagreement.
In contrast, Leonard Bernstein did threaten to walk away from West Side Story in 1949 over creative tensions with writer Arthur Laurents — still, this was communicated privately.
Canadian composer Howard Shore withdrew from Peter Jackson’s King Kong (2005), but in this case, Shore said the parting was amicable and related to “differing creative aspirations.”
Future seasons?
The drama around White Lotus music is unique because both director and composer have talked with the press.
If we look beyond the specifics of the music, however, we realize that this is not just about a (new) theme song and its use (or non-use) in the series. Rather, the “differences” cut to the heart of the often fraught working relationship between highly talented creators who strive to realize their visions.
What does this mean for the music for Season 4 of The White Lotus? White has not suggested a successor, so commentators have fixated on the disagreements over Season 3 rather than speculating about a future sound. We will have to wait and listen.
James Deaville does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
The Commission is committed to the highest standard of protection and empowerment of children offline and online. Bullying is addressed through research, tools and training to support and guide policymakers, school leaders, teachers and educators.
The Commission fosters mutual learning among national policymakers, civil society and social partners through the Working Group on Equality and Values in Education and Training[1], including on topics such as bullying.
The Commission is preparing an Action Plan to combat the growing trend of cyberbullying, leveraging on the current legal, policy and funding measures which will be adopted in the first half of 2025.
Cyberbullying will also be addressed under the Guidelines on Art. 28 of the Digital Services Act (DSA)[2] in the summer of 2025. The Commission will also launch the first-ever EU-wide inquiry on the impact of social media on the well-being and mental health of young people in the second half of 2025.
In parallel, under the Better Internet Kids (BIK+)[3] strategy, the co-funded network of Safer Internet Centres, with the EU-funded BIK platform[4], develops campaigns and provides assistance on cyberbullying for children, parents and teachers in Member States. One example is the French helpline 3018[5].
Moreover, the Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027)[6] aims to ensure that all learners, including those with disabilities, have the digital literacy skills to safely engage with online content and to recognise risks and can make informed, safe and respectful choices when online.
The Commission published Guidelines for teachers and educators on tackling disinformation and promoting digital literacy through education and training in 2022[7].
Lastly, the Commission’s digital education agenda is supported through Erasmus+[8] and the European Solidarity Corps[9] programmes.
NEW ORLEANS – Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Simpson announced that TERRAN WILLIAMS, a/k/a “Funky” (“WILLIAMS”), TYRONE BOVIA, a/k/a “Sixx” (“BOVIA “), and JAVONTA DOLEMAN, a/k/a “Dutt” (“DOLEMAN “), all from New Orleans,were found guilty on April 21, 2025 after a two-week jury trial before United States District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo. They were found guilty of various violations, including RICO conspiracy, drug trafficking conspiracy, firearms conspiracy and Violent Crime in Aid of Racketeering (VCAR) murder.
All three defendants were members of the Byrd Gang, which operated primarily out of the former Magnolia Housing Development, but additionally had ties to the Westbank. Its members daily distributed drugs, including heroin, fentanyl, crack cocaine and marijuana, and always possessed firearms. WILLIAMS, BOVIA and DOLEMAN participated in numerous drug trafficking activities and violent crimes and acted as gunmen for the Byrd Gang.
On January 31, 2017, Lawrence Williams, IV, and Wynston Jackson, a/k/a “Ghost,” were shot and killed by the three defendants shortly after leaving an Edna Karr High School basketball game. Jackson was a member of the rival group, Ghost Gang, while Williams was an associate. Byrd Gang member, Briyan Love, attended the basketball game, and when she saw Jackson enter the auditorium, she communicated with Terran WILLIAMS and informed him that Jackson was at the game. WILLIAMS, BOVIA and DOLEMAN, and other Byrd Gang members and associates, drove across the river to Edna Karr School to kill rival Jackson.
When Williams and Jackson left the basketball game and sat in a car in front of the school, WILLIAMS, BOVIA and DOLEMAN approached the car with two rifles and a handgun and unloaded a torrent of bullets. Jackson attempted to return fire with his nine-millimeter handgun but was shot and killed on the scene. Williams, who was also shot, later died at the hospital.
TYRONE BOVIA was also convicted for his role in another shooting that he committed in May 2017 at the Bernmas Apartments, where M.I., another Ghost Gang member, resided and was the intended target. BOVIA’S companion and fellow Byrd Gang member, Terrence Augustine, was shot and killed during this incident by return fire. Byrd Gang member, James Alexander, has additionally pled guilty to this shooting.
During the trial, evidence was presented that showed back-and-forth retaliatory shootings between the Byrd Gang and the Ghost Gang, much of which was fueled by social media posts, rap music and videos. Numerous individuals have been shot and killed on both sides, and many innocent bystanders have likewise been shot during these inner-city rivalries.
During the investigation, dozens of firearms, most with large-capacity magazines, as well as hundreds of rounds of ammunition, have been recovered from Byrd Gang members, including from the three defendants.
WILLIAMS, BOVIA and DOLEMAN all face a mandatory life sentence for the VCAR murders. Sentencing in this matter will be held before Judge Milazzo on July 30, 2025.
Acting U.S. Attorney Simpson praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, especially the New Orleans Gang Task Force, and the New Orleans Police Department in investigating this matter. Assistant United States Attorneys Elizabeth Privitera, David Haller and Sarah Dawkins are in charge of the prosecution.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.
Headline: 4 resources to enrich Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the classroom
Discover engaging AAPI Heritage Month 2025 classroom activities to explore the rich histories, cultures, and contributions of AAPI communities.
In the US, we dedicate the month of May to Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month—a time to honor and celebrate the deep histories, rich cultures, and significant contributions of these communities. Explore our list of AAPI Heritage Month classroom activities, designed to make learning impactful and engaging. Our focus remains on fostering a workplace that reflects the global communities we engage with, driving innovation and delivering meaningful outcomes for our partners and customers.
Discover four ways to celebrate AAPI Heritage Month 2025 and foster a broad perspective on the contributions and achievements of AAPI communities. These resources help inspire curiosity, support critical thinking, and connect students to the powerful stories of AAPI individuals who have shaped our world.
1. Immerse your classroom in the culture of Ngā Motu
Use Minecraft Education to explore vast worlds outside of your classroom. In Ngā Motu (The Islands), students learn about the indigenous culture of the Māori people, from language to architecture, arts, and economics. Take an immersive visit from the maunga (mountain) to the ākau (shore) and everything in between to learn about the Māori language and culture. Embark on an unforgettable adventure to Ngā Motu and discover the wonders of Māori culture!
Explore Ngā Motu
Classroom connection: Before getting started, review the supporting resources on the Ngā Motu lesson page. You’ll find a lesson plan, an introductory video, and a resource pack that includes traditional pā (settlement) and ride waka hourua (boats) to enhance the experience for students.
2. Explore AAPI topics through targeted reading practice
Reading Coach is a free, standalone Learning Accelerator that helps students develop reading fluency skills through personalized, AI-powered reading practice. When students read aloud, Reading Coach provides real-time feedback on pronunciation, syllabification accuracy, and reading progress.
Use Reading Coach to seamlessly blend AAPI topics into reading practice while supporting each student’s literacy growth. Students can use the “Add your own passage” mode to upload texts, like assigned articles, textbook excerpts, or their own writing. You can tailor practice to individual learning needs and objectives with Reading Coach, while enhancing engagement with AAPI heritage and history. Help learners discover the joy of reading with Reading Coach.
Get started with Reading Coach
Classroom connection: Browse this collection of AAPI books for inspiration and ideas on finding relevant passages for your students. Reading Coach also has built-in passages for each reading level that students can read to learn more about AAPI cultures.
3. Develop communication skills while learning AAPI heritage
Communication skills are essential for success. As students explore AAPI figures, culture, and history, they can develop multimedia presentations to showcase their findings. Use Speaker Progress and Speaker Coach, two Learning Accelerators, to help develop your students’ public speaking skills.
Use Speaker Progress to create presentation assignments and track your students’ growth at the individual, class, grade, and school levels. Then have your students use Speaker Coach to complete the assignment, while receiving real-time, AI-powered feedback on pacing, pitch, clarity and more. Discover how Speaker Progress and Speaker Coach can help build communication confidence in your classroom.
Explore Speaker Progress and Speaker Coach
Classroom connection: Have students present on influential AAPI figures like Suni Lee, Senator Tammy Duckworth, or Shohei Ohtani. They can develop their communication skills and build their confidence by independently practicing their presentation with Speaker Coach before presenting to their class or community.
4. Enhance lesson planning with Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat
Copilot Chat can help you create customized materials, activities, and lessons. Use it to design engaging content that connects students with the history and contributions of AAPI communities.
Try Copilot Chat
Streamline and innovate your lesson planning process by starting with one of these ready-to-use prompts in Copilot Chat and customizing it for your needs:
Design a STEAM lesson plan for elementary students that explores traditional AAPI art or inventions. Include hands-on activities that connect art and science, step-by-step instructions, and reflection prompts to help students connect culture to creativity and innovation.
Create a 1-week high school ELA or Humanities lesson plan where students research and analyze the impact of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander artists and writers on contemporary culture. Include learning objectives, suggested artists/authors (e.g., Ruth Asawa, Yo-Yo Ma), and key discussion questions.
Help me update an existing lesson plan to include meaningful perspectives from Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities. I want to keep the original learning objectives intact but integrate AAPI voices, content, or activities into the texts, resources, and activities sections. [Attach a lesson plan or provide subject, grade, and learning objectives]
Try using Copilot Chat for lesson planning, brainstorming, creating images, getting quick answers to your questions, and more. Build your competency with AI and Copilot with the Copilot Chat learning module.
Start the learning module
Honor AAPI Heritage Month by exploring the remarkable people, vibrant cultures, and significant contributions that have enriched our world. Use the time to design engaging, immersive learning experiences that foster essential skills like literacy, communication, and critical thinking. Inspire a deeper understanding and appreciation both in and beyond your classroom with AAPI Heritage Month classroom activities from Microsoft Education.
Source: United States Senator for Wisconsin Tammy Baldwin
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) led a group of 41 Senators in calling out the Trump administration’s direct attacks on Head Start and demanding his Department of Health and Human Services immediately release Head Start funding, reverse the mass firing of Head Start staff, and stop gutting the offices that help ensure high-quality child care is available for thousands of children and families across the country.
“Since day one, this Administration has taken unacceptable actions to withhold and delay funding, fire Head Start staff, and gut high-quality services for children,” wrote the lawmakers in a letter to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. “… It is abundantly clear that these actions are part of a broader effort to ultimately eliminate the program altogether, as the Administration reportedly plans to do in its fiscal year 2026 budget proposal.”
“Head Start provides early childhood education and comprehensive health and social services to nearly 800,000 young children every year in communities across this country, and employs about 250,000 dedicated staff,” the lawmakers continued. “Head Start is a critical source of child care for working families, particularly in rural and Tribal communities, where Head Start programs are often the only option for high-quality child care services. Head Start programs ensure children receive appropriate health and dental care, nutrition support, and referrals to other critical services for parents, such as job training, adult education, nutrition services, and housing support.”
“[W]e urge you to immediately reinstate fired staff across all Offices of Head Start, and cease all actions to delay the awarding and disbursement of funding to Head Start programs across this country,” the lawmakers conclude.
Earlier this month, Senator Baldwin called on U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to answer for the closure of five regional Head Start offices across the country, including the Region 5 office in Chicago, which serves Head Start centers in Wisconsin.
Earlier in the year, the Trump Administration froze funding for Head Start programs, and despite being forced to rescind its directive, eight Head Start programs around the state continued to experience issues accessing their federal funding, forcing one Head Start Center in Waukesha to close – leaving more than 250 families without childcare. Baldwin demanded that the Administration resolve the issue immediately and restore funding to these Wisconsin Head Start centers so they could continue serving kids and families.
Senator Baldwin led the letter with Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and it was signed by 39 of their Senate colleagues.
The full letter is available here and below.
Dear Secretary Kennedy:
We write to express our strong opposition to the actions you have taken to directly attack and undermine the federal Head Start program. Since day one, this Administration has taken unacceptable actions to withhold and delay funding, fire Head Start staff, and gut high-quality services for children. Already this year, this Administration has withheld almost $1 billion in federal grant funding from Head Start programs, a 37 percent decrease compared to the amount of funding awarded during the same period last year. It is abundantly clear that these actions are part of a broader effort to ultimately eliminate the program altogether, as the Administration reportedly plans to do in its fiscal year 2026 budget proposal.
Head Start provides early childhood education and comprehensive health and social services to nearly 800,000 young children every year in communities across this country, and employs about 250,000 dedicated staff. Head Start is a critical source of child care for working families, particularly in rural and Tribal communities, where Head Start programs are often the only option for high-quality child care services. Head Start programs ensure children receive appropriate health and dental care, nutrition support, and referrals to other critical services for parents, such as job training, adult education, nutrition services, and housing support.
You even acknowledged the value of Head Start following a recent visit to a Virginia Head Start center, where you said, “I had a very inspiring tour. I saw a devoted staff and a lot of happy children. They are getting the kind of education and socialization they need, and they are also getting a couple of meals a day.”
However, as a result of your actions to withhold and delay funding and undermine the administration of this vital program, Head Start centers are in serious jeopardy and have already had their day to day operations impacted. Programs are increasingly worried that they will not be able to make payroll, pay rent, and remain open to serve the hundreds of thousands of children and families who depend on their services in communities across the nation.
Since the very start of this Administration, Head Start programs have been under attack. On January 27th, 2025, the Office of Management and Budget issued a memo (M-25-13) that suddenly froze the disbursement of grant funding for federal programs and services government-wide, including Head Start. Despite the Administration’s clarification that Head Start programs would not be the target of the funding freeze, many Head Start programs across the country were unable to draw down their grant funds through the Payment Management System (PMS) for weeks. At one point, the National Head Start Association reported 37 programs serving nearly 15,000 children across the country could not access their federal funding. Head Start programs operate with thin margins and on short-term budgets from HHS, and without any communication from the Administration about the status of funding, programs were forced to temporarily close or to lay off staff. In Wisconsin, the National Centers for Learning Excellence, which serves more than 200 children and their families, shut down for a week and laid off staff due to the funding freeze.
On April 1st, you abruptly closed five of the ten regional offices that help local grantees administer Head Start programs in 22 states. This left hundreds of programs without dedicated points of contact to address mission critical issues like approving grant renewals and modifications, investigating child health and safety incidents, and providing training and technical assistance to ensure high-quality services for children. While some grantees were assigned a new program specialist, we understand many have not been receiving responses to their inquiries. This is on top of the estimated 97 Office of Head Start central office staff that were terminated due to their probationary status and the recent reduction in force. You promised “radical transparency” as Secretary, yet it is unclear how these actions will improve Head Start programs, and you and your staff refuse to respond to basic inquiries and requests for information.
On March 14th, 2025, the Office of Head Start (OHS) notified all Head Start programs that “the use of federal funding for any training and technical assistance or other program expenditures that promote or take part in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives” will not be approved and that any questions should be directed to regional offices. Programs have not received any guidance for what would be considered “DEI” but this policy is potentially in direct conflict with statutory and regulatory program requirements, such as providing culturally and linguistically appropriate instructional services for English learners. Many programs cannot direct questions to regional staff, as half of regional offices were abruptly closed, and as unprecedented actions are being taken to delay and withhold funding, Head Start programs have been intentionally left with little to no guidance.
Head Start programs are now arbitrarily required to provide justifications for each draw down of funds that is necessary to operate their programs, despite already receiving a federal grant award for these purposes. As of April 14th, Head Start programs have reportedly received correspondence from an email address “defendthespend@hhs.gov” requiring programs to submit a “specific description of why the funds are necessary and why they are aligned to the award” before programs can have funding disbursed. It has been reported that political appointees must sign off on every draw down of funds. This creates an illusion of improving oversight but only serves to add unnecessary red tape by requiring the manual sign off on hundreds of thousands of individual actions annually across the Department based on two to three sentence justifications. Already some grantees have reported delays in receiving funds, and have reported that furloughs or closures are imminent if funds are not released. For an administration that purports to value local autonomy and efficiency in federally funded programs, your actions have achieved the exact opposite.
Finally, Head Start grantees are still waiting on payments and grant renewals from the Office of Head Start, including programs whose grants end on April 30th, 2025. These notices should have gone out by now, yet we are concerned to hear programs report they have received little to no correspondence regarding their grant renewals. Additionally, because we started fiscal year 2025 under a short-term continuing resolution, as is usual, some grantees have only received partial funding for the first few months of the year. But with a full year funding bill in place, these grantees should have received full funding by now, yet some are reporting that they have not received the full amount of their grants and will run out of funds this month or next. On Wednesday, April 16th, the delays in Head Start funding led to the closure of Head Start centers serving more than 400 children in Sunnyside, Washington.
The Administration has a legal and moral obligation to disburse Head Start funds to programs and to uphold the program’s promise to provide high-quality early education services to low income children and families across this country. The fiscal year 2025 appropriations act provided $12.3 billion for Head Start, the same as the fiscal year 2024 level. The Head Start Act includes an explicit formula for how appropriated funds should be allocated. There is no justifiable reason for the delay in funding we have seen over the last two months, and you have refused to offer any kind of explanation. However, this week leaked fiscal year 2026 budget documents indicated the Office of Management and Budget was directing the Department, consistent with the Administration’s proposal to eliminate Head Start in fiscal year 2026, to “ensure to the extent allowable FY2025 funds are available to close out the program.” If this explains any of the delay in awarding fiscal year 2025 funding, we want to be clear, no funds were provided in fiscal year 2025 to “close out the program,” and it would be wholly unacceptable and likely illegal if the Department tries to carry out this directive.
Finally, the leaked budget documents provided a justification, albeit brief, for eliminating Head Start in fiscal year 2026 that makes this Administration’s priorities clear and puts the Department’s actions over the last several months in context. The Administration argues that eliminating Head Start, “is consistent with the Administration’s goals of returning education to the States and increasing parental choice.” It is shocking to see an argument that eliminating a program that provides comprehensive early childhood care and education to 800,000 children and their families would increase parental choice. It is particularly concerning to see that argument in the context of the significant delay in awarding fiscal year 2025 appropriated funds and what that indicates about the intent behind the Department’s actions. We believe it is obvious that eliminating Head Start would be detrimental to hundreds of thousands of children and families. Similarly, we believe it is obvious that delaying funding like we have seen over the last two months, forcing Head Start programs to close, and leaving families to scramble to find quality, affordable alternatives puts the education and well-being of some of the most vulnerable young children in America at risk. In our view, that is unacceptable.
Therefore, we urge you to immediately reinstate fired staff across all Offices of Head Start, and cease all actions to delay the awarding and disbursement of funding to Head Start programs across this country.
Please provide us with a written response to the questions below no later than 10 days from receipt:
Will you reinstate the staff who administer Head Start programs and reopen the closed regional offices responsible for overseeing Head Start programs in 22 states?
When is HHS going to share information on the reorganization plan for the consolidation of the regional offices?
Please provide the contact information for each program specialist designated to the 22 states who lost their regional office.
Who is responsible for ensuring there are no delays or lapses in funding, nor any disruptions to Head Start program operations now that these states do not have a regional office?
How many employees at the Offices of Head Start have been terminated, including the five regional offices and the central office?
Which officials at HHS were involved in the staffing reduction decisions for OHS and what planning, if any, was undertaken prior to these reductions? Please describe the events that unfolded and name each office that was involved in the decision. Further, please name the official(s) who approved the staffing reductions.
Can you confirm that the Administration will distribute all Head Start funds appropriated by Congress to Head Start programs in FY 25, as required by the Head Start Act?
Please provide a list of all grantees with 5-year Head Start grant renewals that start between now and the end of the fiscal year: May 1st, June 1st, July 1st, August 1st, and September 1st.
Will any funding be delayed for grantees that are due to receive their annual funding on May 1st or beyond?
Why are funding awards delayed for grantees that received partial awards during the first continuing resolution for FY25?
When can HHS guarantee that all funds will be awarded for partially funded Head Start programs?
What is the “Tier 2” department for review that is delaying drawn down for Head Start programs in the Payment Management System?
When should programs expect to receive their funds?
Please provide all communication that went to Head Start grantees on the new review process.
What guidance and clarifications have been provided to Head Start grantees on DEI expenditures?
How is HHS evaluating Head Start programs’ expenditures and grant awards for DEI?
What justifications are being used to prohibit DEI?
Source: The White House
Since President Donald J. Trump took office, he and his administration have ushered in the most secure border in modern American history — and he didn’t need legislation to do it. President Trump has made good on the promises he made on the campaign trail to usher in an unprecedented era of homeland security.
Here are a few of those promises:
PROMISE MADE: “We will close the border. We will stop the invasion of illegals into our country.” (10/12/24, Aurora, CO)
PROMISE KEPT:
Illegal border encounters are down by 95%.
Illegal immigrant “gotaways” — the top threat to public safety — are down by 99%.
Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin: “If Fox were to send me down there right now, I would have trouble finding a single migrant on camera.”
CBS immigration reporter Camilo Montoya-Galvez: “Typically, when we go to the U.S./Mexico border, we at least see one group of people who are trying to cross into the U.S. illegally. We did not see a single migrant.”
The Wall Street Journal: Border Crossings Grind to Halt as Trump’s Tough Policies Take Hold
The New York Times: How Trump’s Hard-Line Tactics Are Driving Down Migration
CBS News: Amid Trump crackdown, illegal border crossings plunge to levels not seen in decades
Axios: Border crossings plunge to lowest levels in decades: New data
New York Post: Northern border sector previously overrun by illegal migrants sees dramatic drop in crossings: ‘We haven’t seen anyone since November’
The Times: This city was a border flashpoint. Now the only migrants are quail
Reuters: Migrant arrests at US-Mexico border in March lowest ever recorded
Bloomberg: US-Bound Migration Plunges 99% Along Panama Jungle Route
The Washington Times: Under Trump, border catch-and-release has dropped 99.99% from worst Biden month
Los Angeles Times: California-Mexico border, once overwhelmed, now nearly empty
PROMISE MADE: “We will expel every single illegal alien gang member and migrant criminal operating on American soil and remove the savage gang, Tren de Aragua, from the United States.” (1/19/25, Washington, D.C.)
PROMISE KEPT:
President Trump designated Tren de Aragua, MS-13, and other vicious gangs and cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations.
Department of Justice: 27 Members or Associates of Tren de Aragua Charged with Racketeering, Narcotics, Sex Trafficking, Robbery and Firearms offenses
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem: “Under President Trump, we have arrested over 150,000 aliens — including more than 600 members of the vicious Tren de Aragua gang.”
The Trump Administration directed the successful apprehension of a key MS-13 gang leader — an illegal immigrant living in Virginia and operating as one of the top three MS-13 leaders in the U.S.
The Trump Administration directed the successful arrests of three illegal immigrant MS-13 gang members in Florida, wanted on first-degree murder charges, and another high-ranking MS-13 member in New York, linked to 11 murders.
ICE arrested 370+ illegal immigrants as part of a major operation in Massachusetts — many of whom have serious criminal convictions and charges, including murder, child rape, fentanyl trafficking, and armed robbery.
PROMISE MADE: “On Day One … We will begin the largest deportation operation in the history of our country.” (10/21/24, Concord, NC)
PROMISE KEPT:
New York Post: Trump’s mass deportation raids result in 655% spike in arrests of terrorists roaming US — including one of India’s ‘most wanted’
Since President Trump took office, there have been 139,000 deportations.
In President Trump’s first 50 days, ICE arrested 32,809 illegal immigrants — nearly 75% of whom were accused or convicted criminals — virtually the same number of arrests over the entirety of Biden’s final year in office.
NBC News: Immigration enforcement operations ramp up in cities across the U.S.
PROMISE MADE: “I will immediately end the Biden border nightmare that traffickers are using to exploit vulnerable women and children.” (7/21/23)
PROMISE KEPT:
The number of unaccompanied illegal immigrant children reached a record low.
At its peak under Biden, 4.6% of illegal border crossings were unaccompanied minors — many of whom were victims of trafficking. In the first two weeks of March under President Trump, just 0.4% of illegal crossings were unaccompanied minors.
PROMISE MADE: “Under my leadership, we will seal it up and expand that wall until we have total control.” (3/4/23, National Harbor, MD)
PROMISE KEPT:
PROMISE MADE: “You have the gotaways. You know what the gotaways are? It’s the people that don’t want to be looked at at all. So, they’re worse than the people we’re seeing that’s why they don’t want to be looked at.” (11/3/24, Macon, GA)
PROMISE KEPT:
Border Czar Tom Homan: “Known gotaways — people we knew crossed the border … weren’t apprehended, weren’t fingerprinted, weren’t vetted. Average day under Joe Biden? More than 1,800 gotaways. Yesterday? 38 — 38 too many, but we’ll get that to zero. We went from 1,800 [per day] to 38.”
Fox News’s Bill Melugin: “Border Patrol’s nationwide recorded gotaways have plummeted to a stunningly low daily average of just 77 over the last 21 days, according to internal CBP data we’ve reviewed. President Biden averaged 1,837 gotaways per day in fiscal year 2023 at the height of the crisis, totaling 670,674 for the year.”
PROMISE MADE: “I will ban all welfare and federal benefits for illegals, and then they won’t come.” (10/29/24, Allentown, PA)
PROMISE KEPT:
President Trump signed an executive order to ensure taxpayer resources are not used to incentivize or support illegal immigration.
The Trump Administration ended food stamps for illegal immigrants.
The Trump Administration “clawed back” tens of millions paid to house illegal aliens in luxury NYC hotels and ended a $40 million contract to “improve … inclusion of sedentary migrants.”
The Department of Education revoked waivers that allowed certain colleges to divert federal funds intended for low-income students and students with disabilities to illegal immigrants.
PROMISE MADE: “I will end catch-and-release.” (10/12/24, Aurora, CO)
PROMISE KEPT:
Since taking office, the Trump Administration has arrested 150,000+ illegal immigrants, deported 139,000+ illegal immigrants, and released just nine illegal immigrants into the U.S. — a staggering 99.99% decrease over the same period last year under Biden.
New York Post: Trump orders Border Patrol to immediately stop setting illegal migrants free in the US: ‘Catch and release is ended’
The Washington Times: Under Trump, border catch-and-release has dropped 99.99% from worst Biden month
PROMISE MADE: “My administration will deliver justice for every family whose loved one has been stolen from them by migrant crime, including Laken Riley, Rachel Morin, Jocelyn Nungaray, Kayla Hamilton, and every other precious American soul that we have lost to these animals. Their memories will live in their hearts forever and our hearts forever, and we will never, ever forget them.” (1/19/25, Washington, D.C.)
PROMISE KEPT:
Fox News: Trump signs Laken Riley Act into law as first legislative victory in new administration
Newsweek: Laken Riley’s Mom Says Trump Didn’t Forget Her Daughter as Bill is Signed
The Hill: Trump signs Laken Riley Act, marking first legislative win of second term
PROMISE MADE: “I will invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. Think of that. 1798, this was put there. 1798 — that’s a long time ago, right? To target and dismantle every migrant criminal network operating on American soil.” (10/12/24, Aurora, CO)
PROMISE KEPT:
The White House: Invocation of the Alien Enemies Act Regarding the Invasion of The United States by Tren De Aragua
The New York Times: Trump Invoked the Alien Enemies Act to Speed Up Deportations
PROMISE MADE: “Kamala’s app for illegals will be shut down immediately — within 24 hours.” (10/12/24, Aurora, CO)
PROMISE KEPT:
NBC News: Trump shuts down immigration app, dashing migrants’ hopes of entering U.S.
The New York Times: Trump Shuts Down Migrant Entry App, Signaling the Start of His Crackdown
Fox News: Up to 1M migrants who used Biden’s CBP One app ordered to deport by Trump admin
PROMISE MADE: “Today, I am announcing a new plan to end all sanctuary cities in North Carolina and all across our country… and we will bring down the full weight of the federal government on any jurisdiction that refuses to cooperate.” (9/21/24, Wilmington, NC)
PROMISE KEPT:
Politico: Fresh executive order targets sanctuary cities, federal aid for undocumented migrants
Reuters: Trump steps up immigration crackdown, warns city, state officials against interference
The Wall Street Journal: Trump Plans to Withhold All Federal Funding From Sanctuary Cities
Politico: Trump administration sues New York over sanctuary policies for undocumented immigrants
AP: Trump administration sues Chicago in latest crackdown on ‘sanctuary’ cities
First thing on the agenda at today’s Caithness Committee was to elect a new Chair to take over from Cllr Ron Gunn who has held the role since July 2022. The committee have taken the decision to have a joint chair arrangement between Councillor Andrew Jarvie and Councillor Karl Rosie.
The duty of chairing the regular Caithness Committee meetings will currently fall to Councillor Andrew Jarvie.
He said: “I am honoured to be given this opportunity to serve Caithness as joint chair and I would like to thank Councillor Gunn who has held the role since 2022.
“I stood for election in Caithness because I saw so many tremendous opportunities for the County and abundance of highly skilled people, despite the mood music from too many organisations being rather negative about Caithness’s prospects. I have only seen the odds of those opportunities begin to come a financial reality with the Highland Investment Plan, so I cannot think of a more exciting time to take on this role.
“There is not much time remaining in my Council term, so getting on with doing what matters and not hosting endless meetings is my priority. It is also why I wanted two people to take this on as co-chairs, because there is more work to be done outside of Committee meetings than in them.
“The priorities are simple, making best use of the Highland Investment Plan to fix our roads and build the future infrastructure, encouraging economic development and improving connectivity for both business and leisure – such as the Wick Airport PSO.”
Joint Chair, Councillor Karl Rosie added: “I too look forward to serving in my new role and working to represent Caithness’ best interests.”
All Council Wards receive a discretionary budget, and it is for Ward Councillors to consider what they wish to commit funds to, in line with Highland Council objectives and outcomes.
During today’s meeting the Committee reflected on the Discretionary Awards they have allocated to applicants over the last financial year.
Today’s Chair Councillor Jarvie said: “It is always a privilege and a pleasure for Ward Councillors to make discretionary budget awards. One of the most rewarding aspects is that it allows members to utilise their local knowledge and work with local organisations to make positive improvements to our communities.
“On behalf of the Committee, I’d like to wish all the successful applicants the very best with their projects.”
Thurso and Northwest Caithness Ward Discretionary Budget applications approved 1 April 2024 – 31 March 2025
Community Food Initiatives North East – Fareshare in Highland – £1,690.00
Caithness Chamber of Commerce – Caithness Transport Forum – £500.00
Pentland Firth Yacht Club – Replacement Windows – £1,450.00
Highlife Highland – Active School Coaching & Equipment – £1,500.00
Sidh Chailleann Art – “Industrial Caithness” Exhibition – £1,000.00
Thurso Youth Club SCIO – Holiday Activities £1,000.00
Thurso Community Council – Thurso Town Centre initiative 2024 – £400.00
Association of Caithness Community Council – Village officer Funding – £3,200.00
Connecting Carers Caithness – £1,916.00
Caithness Voluntary Group – Winter Support 24/25 – £1000.00
Wick and East Caithness Ward Discretionary Budget applications approved 1 April 2024 – 31 March 2025
Community Food Initiatives North East – Fareshare in Highland – £2,763.00
Caithness Chamber of Commerce – Caithness Transport Forum – £500.00
IEPFA Hosts Preparatory Meeting with Stakeholder Companies for ‘Niveshak Shivir’ Initiative “Niveshak Shivir” is an Initiative with dedicated Company Kiosks to help Investors Claim Unclaimed Dividends
Pilot Phase of ‘Niveshak Shivir’ Will be Launched in Mumbai and Ahmedabad in May 2025, with One-Stop Helpdesks for KYC Updates and Claims Assistance
Posted On: 28 APR 2025 8:21PM by PIB Delhi
In a step forward to enhance investor services and streamline the claims process, the Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (IEPFA), under the aegis of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India, convened a preparatory meeting with Nodal Officers of stakeholder companies through video conference on April 28, 2025 chaired by Smt. Anita Shah Akella, Chief Executive Officer, IEPFA. This meeting was aimed at finalizing operational details for “Niveshak Shivir” – a collaborative initiative of IEPFA and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). It was decided that Niveshak Shivir will be organised in the cities having large number of investors whose dividends are lying unclaimed with Companies for a period of six to seven years. As part of this initiative, selected companies with highest number of investors in unclaimed dividend account will be invited to set up dedicated kiosks at these events to assist investors directly.
“Niveshak Shivir” has been conceived to simplify procedures for claiming unclaimed dividends and shares, improve financial literacy among investors, and ensure direct and transparent access to investor services. By facilitating direct interaction with companies and Registrars and Transfer Agents (RTAs), and by offering immediate grievance redressal support, this initiative is set to significantly reduce investors’ dependency on intermediaries and mitigate risks of fraud and misinformation.
The strategic meeting outlined the pilot phase of the initiative, which will be launched in Mumbai and Ahmedabad in May 2025. These camps will serve as one stop comprehensive helpdesks where investors can update their KYC and nomination details, check the status of their unclaimed assets and receive guided assistance for reclaiming their investments – whether assets are still with companies or have been transferred to IEPFA.
Officials from IEPFA, SEBI, companies, and RTAs will be present on ground to assist investors, ensuring a robust and supportive framework. Pre-registration for the camps will be enabled through a QR code-linked Google Form, with additional logistic support extended by regional offices of ICAI and SEBI.
About IEPFA
The Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (IEPFA) is committed to promoting investor awareness and protection in India through various educational initiatives and strategic collaborations, ensuring an informed and secure investing populace.
On the basis of the result of the written part of the National Defence Academy and Naval Academy Examination, (I) 2025 held by the Union Public Service Commission on 13th April, 2025, candidates with the under mentioned Roll Nos. have qualified for interview by the Services Selection Board (SSB) of the Ministry of Defence for Admission to Army, Navy and Air Force Wings of the National Defence Academy for the 155th Course and for the 117th Indian Naval Academy Course (INAC) commencing from 2nd January, 2026. The result is also available at Commission’s website www.upsc.gov.in.
2 The candidature of all the candidates, whose Roll Nos. are shown in the list is provisional. In accordance with the conditions of their admission to the examination, “candidates are requested to register themselves online on the Indian Army Recruiting website joinindianarmy.nic.in within two weeks of announcement of written result. The successful candidates would then be allotted Selection Centers and dates, of SSB interview which shall be communicated on registered e-mail ID. Any candidate who has already registered earlier on the site will not be required to do so. In case of any query/ Login problem, e-mail be forwarded to dir-recruiting6-mod[at]nic[dot]in.”
“Candidates are also requested to submit original certificates of Age and Educational Qualification to respective Service Selection Boards (SSBs) during the SSB interview.” The candidates must not send the Original Certificates to the Union Public Service Commission. For any further information, the candidates may contact Facilitation Counter near Gate ‘C’ of the Commission, either in person or on telephone Nos. 011-23385271/011-23381125/011-23098543 between 10:00 hours and 17:00 hours on any working day. In addition for SSB/Interview related matter the candidates may contact over telephone no. 011-26175473 or joinindianarmy.nic.in for Army as first choice, 011-23010097/ Email: officer-navy[at]nic[dot]inor joinindiannavy.gov.in for Navy/ Naval Academy as first choice and 011-23010231 Extn. 7645/7646/7610 orwww.careerindianairforce.cdac.in for Air Force as first choice.
3 The mark-sheets of the candidates will be put on the Commission’s website within fifteen (15) days from the date of publication of final result. (After concluding SSB Interviews) and will remain available on the website for a period of thirty (30) days.
Hon’ble Minister of Communications Shri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia announces the publication of Gazette Notification for ‘Gyan Post’ to Enable Affordable Delivery of Books and Study Materials through Post Offices “Gyan Post serves as a vital delivery mechanism for ensuring that education reaches every individual” – Shri. Jyotiraditya M. Scindia
Posted On: 28 APR 2025 7:36PM by PIB Delhi
Hon’ble Minister of Communications and Development of North Eastern Regions, Shri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia announced the publication of the gazette notification regarding ‘Gyan Post’, a new service to make the delivery of educational, social, cultural, and religious books more affordable across India. This service reflects India Post’s continued commitment to supporting education and reaching learners in every part of the country.
Education is the foundation of a stronger future, but access to learning resources should not depend on geography or affordability. ‘Gyan Post’ has been created with this belief at its heart to ensure that a textbook, a preparation guide, or a cultural book can travel the last mile, reaching even the most remote village or town.
Speaking on the occasion, the Hon’ble Minister of Communications and Development of North Eastern Regions, Shri Jyotiraditya M Scindia said, “Under the new education policy and syllabus, “Gyan Post” serves as a vital delivery mechanism for ensuring that education reaches every individual.”
Designed to support learning and knowledge-sharing, ‘Gyan Post’ offers affordable options for sending books and printed educational materials through India’s vast postal network. The service is priced to encourage wider access.
Books and printed educational materials sent under ‘Gyan Post’ will be trackable and transported through surface mode to ensure cost-effective delivery. The packages can be sent at highly affordable rates, starting from only ₹20 for packets up to 300 grams and maximum of ₹100 for packets up to 5 kilograms (taxes as applicable).
Only non-commercial, educational material will be eligible under ‘Gyan Post’. Publications of a business or commercial nature, or containing advertisements (other than incidental announcements or book lists), will not be accepted under this service. Each book must carry the name of the printer or publisher as per prescribed conditions.
Through ‘Gyan Post’, India Post reaffirms its enduring commitment to public service, helping bridge the education gap, one book at a time. By making learning resources more accessible and affordable, India Post continues its legacy of empowering individuals and communities across the nation.
The ‘Gyan Post’ service will be operational at all departmental post offices across India from 1st May, 2025. Further details are available at the nearest post office or online at www.indiapost.gov.in.
‘Gyan Post’ Gazette Notification announcement by the Hon’ble Union Minister for Communications and Development of North Eastern Region, Shri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, in the esteemed presence of Ms. Vandita Kaul, Secretary (Posts), and Shri Jitendra Gupta, Director General Postal Services
IEPFA Signs MoU with Kotak Mahindra Bank to Enhance Investor Education through Digital outreach MoU strengthens Strategic Partnership to step up Investor Awareness
Posted On: 28 APR 2025 8:25PM by PIB Delhi
In a significant move to enhance investor education and protection, the Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (IEPFA), under the aegis of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited (KMBL), one of India’s premier financial institutions. This strategic partnership aims to amplify the dissemination of critical investor awareness messages through Kotak Mahindra Bank’s extensive physical and digital network across the country.
The collaboration will see IEPFA’s curated investor education content being prominently featured on Kotak Mahindra Bank’s ATMs, kiosks, websites, mobile apps and social media platforms. Digital banners, short films, and educational videos produced by IEPFA will be showcased to raise awareness on responsible investing, financial fraud prevention, and the protection of investor’s rights.
This initiative is designed to be rolled out during the current financial year 2025-2026, with no financial obligation on IEPFA. The partnership leverages Kotak Mahindra Bank’s widespread domestic presence of 2000+ branches and 3000+ ATMs, ensuring impactful outreach to diverse segments of the population.
Under the leadership of Smt. Anita Shah Akella, CEO of the Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (IEPFA) and Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, IEPFA continues to drive innovative collaborations for financial empowerment. Smt. Samiksha Lamba, Deputy General Manager, IEPFA, and Mr. Vishal Agarwal, Senior Vice President and Head at Kotak Mahindra Bank, exchanged the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), reinforcing trust in our financial ecosystem.
Since its inception, the IEPFA has conducted several Investor Awareness Programmes aimed at increasing financial literacy and empowering investors to protect themselves from financial fraud.
About IEPFA
The Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority, established under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India, safeguards investor interests by promoting financial literacy and protecting investor rights.
About Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited
Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited, one of India’s premier financial institutions, serves millions of customers through its extensive network of over 2,000 branches and 3,000 ATMs, offering innovative banking and financial solutions.
ATLANTA – Governor Brian P. Kemp, accompanied by First Lady Marty Kemp, Speaker Jon Burns, members of the General Assembly, educators, and students, signed multiple bills into law today that ensure fairness in school sports, further safeguard students and teachers, and improve the quality of education in Georgia.
“As the parents of three daughters, Marty and I know just how important it is to keep our children safe and to give them the best possible start in life,” said Governor Brian Kemp. “That’s why I’m proud to sign these bills that will further safeguard our classrooms, both from those with violent intentions and from out-of-touch political agendas. Girls should not have to share a playing field, a restroom, or a locker room with boys and vice versa, and the commonsense legislation I signed today is about what is fair and safe for our children. I want to thank the members of the General Assembly for putting the well-being of our students over politics. Like Marty and me, they want to protect their daughters and sons, they want them to grow up and compete in a fair environment, and they want their children to know that political agendas won’t dictate their lives.”
“I want to thank Governor Brian Kemp, Speaker Burns, and all of the elected officials who worked tirelessly to ensure that these two priorities received final passage,” said Lt. Governor Burt Jones. “As the father of two school-aged children, there is nothing more important than their safety and the protection of their rights. A secure and safe school environment fosters improved student academic performance, along with their overall well-being. Additionally, Senate Bill 1 becoming law ensures the protection of women’s sports and I am proud that the Senate led the way for this bill to become law. Today’s bill signing ceremony solidifies that in Georgia, we are prioritizing our children, teachers, school personnel, and the protection of women’s sports over politics.”
“Today, the General Assembly affirmed our longstanding and ongoing commitment to the safety, success, and well-being of Georgia’s children,” said Speaker of the House Jon Burns. “Our children are our future, and their future begins in our education system. That’s why securing our classrooms, strengthening school safety, and increasing access to mental healthcare for our students was a top priority for the House this session, and that’s exactly what HB 268 accomplishes. The House also took a stand to restore common sense and fairness for female athletes by championing the Riley Gaines Act. Thanks to the protections set forth by this legislation, female athletes here in Georgia will never be forced to face a biological male on the court, on the field, or in the locker room.”
Governor Kemp signed seven pieces of legislation included below:
SB 1, sponsored by Senator Greg Dolezal and carried in the House by Representative Josh Bonner, was a legislative priority for both Speaker Burns and Lt. Governor Jones. It prohibits both males and females from competing on teams designated for the opposite gender and requires multiple occupancy restrooms, changing areas, and sleeping quarters be designated for use exclusively by one gender.
HB 81, sponsored by Representative Bethany Ballard and carried by Senator Larry Walker in the Senate, establishes an interstate compact for school psychologists, helping ease the burden on these essential employees in our schools.
HB 307, sponsored by Representative Bethany Ballard and carried by Senator Billy Hickman in the Senate, builds on the work of the Georgia Early Literacy Act by consolidating existing statutory requirements on dyslexia screening so that we can reach students earlier and get them the assistance they need.
HB 235, sponsored by Representative Rick Townsend and carried in the Senate by Mike Hodges, entitles public school employees and postsecondary education employees to receive a leave of absence for donation of bone marrow or organs.
SB 82, sponsored by Senator Clint Dixon and carried by Representative Scott Hilton in the House, incentivizes local boards of education to approve charter school petitions while preventing school systems from unfairly attempting to shutter these school options.
SB 123, sponsored by President Pro Tem John Kennedy and carried by Representative Matt Dubnik in the House, requires school systems with chronic absenteeism rates of 10 percent or more to establish an attendance review team to determine the underlying causes of that issue.
HB 268, sponsored by Representative Holt Persinger and carried by Senator Bill Cowsert in the Senate, was also a top priority of Lieutenant Governor Jones, Speaker Burns, and many others in the General Assembly as we built on the work we’ve done in recent years on this issue. This bill requires schools to have up-to-date mapping and mobile panic alert systems, requires student records be transferred within five school business days so potential dangers can be addressed quickly, provides for a Student Advocacy Specialist grant program to reimburse districts for hiring said position, requires local boards to offer an anonymous reporting program, and creates the offenses of “terroristic threat of a school” and “terroristic act upon a school.”
These measures are in addition to the multiple rounds of school safety grants provided for in prior years, annualized funding for school safety grants, and legislation requiring schools conduct safety audits.
Governor Kemp extends his appreciation to all of those whose diligent work and efforts led to him being able to sign these bills today.
overnor Kathy Hochul today announced that New York State campgrounds are taking reservations for the 2025 season, with most of the state’s 119 public campgrounds opening for the season by May 16. Reservations for campsites, cabins and cottages can be made up to nine months in advance of the planned arrival date. New York State boasts public campgrounds throughout the Adirondacks, Catskills, Finger Lakes, Long Island, Hudson and Mohawk valleys, Southern Tier, Western New York, and Thousand Islands regions.
“There’s no better way to ‘Unplug and Play’ than spending a night in New York State’s great outdoors,” Governor Hochul said. “New York State campgrounds offer some of the best destinations to take a break from the daily stresses of life and reconnect with nature. I encourage New Yorkers and visitors to make plans for a camping trip this season.”
Camping reservations are available through ReserveAmerica, which provides online and phone reservations for campsites throughout New York. Reservations are accepted for campsites and cabins, from one day to nine months in advance of the planned arrival date. Visit the Reserve America page on the NYS Parks website or call toll free 1-800-456-CAMP.
Sites become available at the 9-month window at the following times: March 15 – Labor Day: 8 a.m. Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. Day after Labor Day – March 14: 9 a.m. Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. Saturday and Sunday.
New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Commissioner Pro Tem Randy Simons said, “Camping isn’t just about exploring the outdoors, it’s about restoring balance in our busy lives. Whether you are unwinding at a secluded tent site in the woods or a charming waterfront cottage with friends and family, State Parks offers the perfect accommodations for every kind of camper. Taking time to step away from the daily grind, to breathe in the fresh air, and soak in the beauty of nature is essential for mental well-being. Book your stay at one of our incredible destinations and reconnect with nature today.”
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Acting Commissioner Amanda Lefton said, “Everyone should be able to get outside and enjoy nature, and DEC campgrounds offer a unique opportunity to explore the great outdoors by providing a welcoming and safe experience for New Yorkers and visitors to unplug and play on our lands, waters, and facilities. Connecting with the outdoors is easier than ever with the New York Camping Guide and we encourage visitors to take advantage of the wide range of affordable outdoor recreational and camping opportunities and activities across the state.”
2025 New York Camping Guide
The 2025 New York Camping Guide is now available online and in print. Filled with details about close-to-home campgrounds, the 2025 New York Camping guide features more than 100 photos, a comprehensive listing of all state sites, park descriptions, maps and information on fees, campground amenities and reservation instructions.
The guide is available on the NYS Parks website. To obtain a printed copy of the Camping Guide, visit a state campground, state park regional office, or DEC regional office. Camping guides also can be requested by e-mailing an address to [email protected] or by calling 518-474-0456.
Loyalty Program
The Loyalty program allows visitors to earn points for every dollar spent on overnight accommodations and redeem the points toward use fees on future stays. Points are awarded upon departure for all camping stays, so campers can earn points on already-booked reservations and any new reservations as soon as they enroll in the program, either online or by phone. More information can be found on the NYS Parks website.
Last Minute Reservations
Many popular campgrounds will fill to capacity on summer weekends. For people too busy to plan or want to take a spontaneous trip, there’s an easy way to find a campsite at the last minute. Visit the “Camping This Weekend” feature at ReserveAmerica to find out where campsites are available for the coming weekend.
Governor Hochul is committed to expanding access to outdoor recreation. The Governor’s “Unplug and Play” initiative from the 2025 State of the State will support the construction and renovation of community centers through the Build Recreational Infrastructure for Communities, Kids and Seniors (NY BRICKS); the Places for Learning, Activity and Youth Socialization (NY PLAYS) initiative to help New York communities construct new playgrounds and renovate existing playgrounds; and the Statewide Investment in More Swimming (NY SWIMS) initiative to support municipalities in the renovation and construction of swimming facilities.
China has spent much of the past two months shoring up friendships both near and far. Two rounds of ministerial meetings with regional rivals Japan and South Korea took place in Tokyo and Seoul at the end of March.
And earlier in April the red carpet was rolled out for the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, for his second visit to Beijing in less than seven months. This came shortly before the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, embarked on his first overseas trip of 2025 – a charm offensive to Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia.
Central to these diplomatic moves is Donald Trump, whose return to the White House has clearly unsettled the boundaries between friend and foe.
China, Japan and South Korea have historically approached one another with caution. This is a legacy of imperial aggression, unresolved territorial disputes and diverging security alignments with the US.
But the unpredictability of the Trump administration, which has most recently been demonstrated by the imposition of sweeping trade tariffs, seems to be bringing the three countries closer together.
At the ministerial meeting in Tokyo in March, their respective governments agreed to extend the tenure of the secretary-general and deputy secretaries of the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat from two years to three. This still relatively unknown international organisation was established in 2011 in an effort to promote cooperation between the three countries.
The decision, while seemingly a minor administrative adjustment, symbolises a growing mutual trust between these nations. China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, has explicitly acknowledged that the extension represents a full endorsement of the organisation’s role. And China has now called on Japan for a coordinated response to US tariffs.
This renewed momentum in regional cooperation set the stage for Xi’s broader diplomatic offensive through south-east Asia, where China sought to reinforce strategic ties and assert its leadership.
China rolled out an elaborate diplomatic programme for Xi’s stop in Vietnam. It aimed to reaffirm ideological ties of “comrades and brothers” and counter Hanoi’s recent deepening relations with Washington.
Following talks with Xi, the general secretary of the Communist party of Vietnam, To Lam, said that his country has always regarded developing relations with China as “a strategic choice and top priority”.
Malaysia, on the other hand, is one of the earliest supporters of Xi’s signature belt and road initiative. It officially joined the Brics group of emerging economies as a “partner country” in 2025 and currently holds the rotating chairmanship of the Asean group of south-east Asian states. This gives Malaysia a central role in coordinating China’s relations with the bloc.
During Xi’s visit, the Malaysian prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, made the alignment between the two countries clear. He stated that Malaysia “stands with China” in the face of US threats. Malaysia is one of China’s main trading partners.
Cambodia is also considered one Beijing’s most loyal partners in south-east Asia. In May 2024, it even named a road in the capital, Phnom Penh, “Xi Jinping Avenue” to thank China for its contribution to Cambodia’s development.
The authorities pulled out all the stops for Xi’s latest visit. Cambodia’s king, Norodom Sihamoni, personally greeted Xi at the airport in an unprecedented break from protocol. And the two countries elevated their ties to an “all-weather” partnership, a label signalling that their relationship is resilient to external shifts.
Relations with Europe
Sánchez’s April visit to Beijing, meanwhile, marked an important point in relations between China and the EU. Following the ramping up of US tariffs, Xi called for the EU and China to “jointly resist unilateral bullying”. This appears to have resonated in Madrid.
The Spanish delegation carried a message that Washington’s tariff hikes were “neither fair nor just” and had harmed the EU economy. It also said that Europe must “strengthen unity and coordination to safeguard its own interests”.
This message appears to be filtering through wider European circles, with some leaders signalling their interest in stabilising ties with Beijing. Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, for example, has engaged in “constructive” discussions with Chinese premier Li Qiang to address potential trade disruptions from US tariffs.
Yet the EU faces an obvious dilemma: whether to engage China as an alternative economic partner or push back against a likely surge in redirected Chinese exports that would threaten European industries and deepen existing political tensions.
Spain, for its part, has its own strategic calculations. Sánchez’s return to China highlights Madrid’s interest in positioning itself as the European leader in renewable energy, with Chinese investment expected to play a central role in this transition.
This helps explain why, when asked about the EU’s tariff policy on China during a press briefing in September 2024, Sánchez remarked that “Europe needs to reconsider this decision”. Spain ultimately chose to abstain in the EU’s vote on imposing tariffs on the Chinese EV industry.
China’s message to the world is clear. It is a stable partner and a defender of free trade. Whether China can persuade the world to trust its leadership amid deepening geopolitical uncertainty remains an open question.
Ming Gao receives funding from the Swedish Research Council. This research was produced with support from the Swedish Research Council grant “Moved Apart” (nr. 2022-01864). Ming Gao is a member of Lund University Profile Area: Human Rights.
The latest viral wellness trends – “cortisol belly” and “cortisol face” – promise a calmer, leaner, more radiant you … if you can just lower your stress hormones. With attention-grabbing claims like “You don’t have a belly fat problem. You have a cortisol problem,” creators promote 30-day transformations that supposedly shrink waistlines and slim faces by targeting cortisol.
These posts often feature hashtags like #cortisolreset, #hormonehealth, and #nervoussystemregulation, along with before-and-after photos claiming reduced bloating, flatter stomachs, and tighter jawlines. The secret? They suggest techniques like cold plunges, cutting caffeine, or taking trendy supplements. However, the truth is that cortisol can’t cause such dramatic physical changes that quickly. The real “secret” is likely a mix of marketing and exaggerated claims.
Cortisol – often called the “stress hormone” – is produced by the adrenal glands in response to stress. This can include everything from daily frustrations (like traffic jams or looming deadlines) to major life changes (like illness or divorce), or persistent stressors such as financial strain.
Cortisol plays a vital role in our fight-or-flight response – an evolutionary function designed to help us respond to threats. It mobilises energy, regulates blood pressure and blood sugar, reduces inflammation and helps control our sleep-wake cycle. Cortisol naturally peaks in the morning to help us wake up, then decreases throughout the day.
While short bursts of cortisol are helpful, chronic (long-term or frequent recurring) stress can keep levels elevated over time – and that’s when it can start to cause health problems.
Abdominal fat includes both subcutaneous fat (just beneath the skin) and visceral fat, which surrounds internal organs. While both may increase under chronic stress, visceral fat is more strongly linked to health risks such as cardiovascular disease and insulin resistance.
Yes, reducing stress is goodfor your health – both mentally and physically. But framing stress management as a path to visible cosmetic changes – flatter stomachs, sharper cheekbones – reduces a complex health process to an aesthetic issue.
And that’s exactly what many of these viral trends are doing.
Old ideas in new packaging
The appearance-related concerns supposedly “solved” by cortisol regulation – puffiness, belly fat, bloating – closely align with western beauty ideals: thin, toned bodies with flat stomachs and sculpted faces. These ideals are especially gendered, targeting women with the ever elusive hourglass figure: slim waist, fuller breasts and hips.
Influencers and wellness brands often co-opt the language of health to sell what are essentially beauty ideals – repackaged as “empowerment” and “self-care”. In this way, wellness culture subtly continues the legacy of diet culture, just with a more palatable aesthetic. Today’s message? Don’t count calories – regulate your hormones.
Many of the quick-fix solutions being promoted – from adaptogenic teas (teas containing herbs, roots and other plant substances believed to help the body adapt to stress and restore balance) and cold plunges to “no-coffee-before-breakfast” rules – are based on limited or inconsistent scientific evidence. While these practices may help reduce stress for some people, their ability to visibly reshape your body in 30 days is unlikely.
Claims that you can “spot-reduce” fat or lose fat in targeted areas (like the belly or face) are not supported by scientific consensus. That said, there are evidence-based ways to lower cortisol and support mental and physical wellbeing – such as mindfulness and meditation or emotion regulation strategies. These practices activate the parasympathetic nervous system (the “rest and digest” state), which slows the heart rate, reduces blood pressure and decreases cortisol. They can also help manage anxiety, sleep and inflammation.
But again, these are not weight-loss hacks – and definitely not quick fixes for belly fat.
The idea that stress alone can be responsible for face puffiness or belly fat oversimplifies complex physiological processes. Many factors, not just cortisol, influence how and where we store fat, including sex, genetics, hormones – such as insulin and oestrogen – diet and exercise, age, and individual differences in physiology.
Instead of focusing on what cortisol does to your waistline, we should be talking about what chronic stress does to your health, relationships and wellbeing. Instead of striving for a flatter stomach through wellness hacks, we might aim for a healthier, more balanced life – regardless of what we look like.
Nadia Maalin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
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Climate breakdown poses immense threats to global economies, societies and ecosystems. Adapting to these impacts is urgent. But many cities and countries remain chronically unprepared in what the UN calls an “adaptation gap”.
Building climate resilience is notoriously difficult. Economic barriers limit investment in infrastructure and technology. Social inequities undermine the capacity of vulnerable populations to adapt. And inconsistent policies impede coordinated efforts across sectors and at scale.
My research looks at how cities can better cope with climate change. I have identified five ways to catalyse more effective – and ultimately more progressive – climate adaptation and resilience.
Though understandable, resilience doesn’t just entail coping with the effects of climate change. Instead of “bouncing back” to a pre-shock status, those in charge of responding need to encourage “bouncing forward”, creating places that are at less risk in the first place.
After the Christchurch earthquake in February 2011, the New Zealand authorities “built back better”, improving building codes and regulations and relocating vulnerable communities. Critics suggested reconstruction provided too much uncertainty and failed to acknowledge private property rights. But the rebuild did encourage better integration of planning policies and land use practices.
Swales and sustainable urban drainage in Gorton climate resilient park, Manchester, UK. Paul O’Hare, CC BY-NC-ND
2. Informed by risk
It can be difficult to predict what the consequences of a crisis might be. Cities are complex, interconnected places. Transboundary risks – the consequences that ripple across a place – must be taken into account.
The best climate adaptation plans recognise that vulnerability varies across places, contexts and over time. The most effective are holistic: tailored to specific locations and every aspect of society.
Assessments must also consider both climatic and non-climatic features of risk. In 2015, in the UK, a flood affected one of Lancaster’s electrical substations, causing a city-wide power failure that took several days to rectify. In this instance, as with so many others, people had to deal not just with the direct impacts of flooding, but the ‘cascading’ or knock-on impacts of infrastructure damage.
Many existing assessments have limited scope. But others do acknowledge how ageing infrastructures and pressures to develop land to accommodate ever intensifying urban populations exacerbate urban flood risk. Others too, such as the recently published Cambridge climate risk plan, detail how climate risk intersects with the range of services provided by local government.
Good risk assessments will, for example, take note of demographics, age profiles and the socio-economic circumstances of neighbourhoods, enabling targeted support for particularly vulnerable communities. This can help ensure communities and systems adapt to evolving challenges as climate change intensifies, and as society evolves over time.
Complex though this might be, city leaders can access advice about improving risk assessments, including from the C40 network, a global coalition of 100 mayors committed to addressing climate change.
Progressive climate resilience looks beyond the immediacy of shocks, attending to the underlying root causes of vulnerability and inequality. This ensures that society is not only better prepared to withstand adverse events in the future, but thrives in the face of uncertainty.
Progressive climate resilience therefore demands tailored responses depending on the population and place. In Bangladesh, for instance, communities are building floating gardens to grow crops during floods. These enhance food security and provide a sustainable livelihood option in flood-prone areas.
Effective climate resilience demands collective action. Sometimes referred to as a “whole of society” response, this entails collaboration and shared responsibility to address the multifaceted challenges posed by a changing climate.
The most effective initiatives avoid self-protection, of people, buildings and cities alike, and consider both broader and longer-term risks. For instance, developments not at significant risk should still incorporate adaptation measures including rainwater harvesting or enhanced greening to lower a city’s climate risk profile and benefit local communities, neighbouring authorities and surrounding regions.
So, progressive resilience is connected, comprehensive and inclusive. Solidarity is key, leveraging resources to address common challenges and fostering a sense of shared purpose and mutual support.
Solar panels on the surface of a reservoir not only provide a source of renewable energy but also provide shade and therefore help conserve water. Tom Wang/Shutterstock
5. Exploiting co-benefits
The most effective resilience projects exploit co-benefits – what the UN calls “multiple resilience dividends” – to leverage additional benefits across sectors and policies, reducing vulnerability to shocks while addressing other social and environmental challenges.
In northern Europe, for example, moorlands can be restored to retain water helping alleviate downstream flooding, but also to capture carbon and provide vital habitats for biodiversity.
In south-East Asia solar panels installed on reservoirs generate renewable energy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while providing shade to reduce evaporation and conserve water resources during droughts.
Source: United States Senator for Massachusetts – Elizabeth Warren
April 28, 2025
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee; Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.); and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, released the following statement after reports of new investigations by multiple state attorneys general and regulators into student loan mismanagement by MOHELA, one of the nation’s largest student loan servicers:
“MOHELA’s mismanagement of Americans’ student loans has resulted in a series of abuses for hundreds of thousands of borrowers. We’ve previously urged state Attorneys General to investigate MOHELA and pursue action to the fullest extent possible under the law, and reports of these new investigations are an important step toward making right by our nation’s student loan borrowers — especially as the Trump Administration abandons and penalizes them. Americans deserve better than MOHELA’s failures.”
Headline: Assistant Attorney General Gail Slater Delivers First Antitrust Address at University of Notre Dame Law School
Good afternoon. Thank you so much for having me. It is an honor to be here at Notre Dame to give my first formal address as Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division. I’ve had many offers to speak since I began my tenure at the Department of Justice, but it seemed appropriate that I present the conservative case for vigorous antitrust enforcement here at Notre Dame Law School. Notre Dame has a storied role in the development of American conservatism’s first principles. I hold those principles dear and, as I will discuss today, our enforcement of the antitrust laws will reflect those principles. Indeed, we seek to bring these shared principles to our work every day: they include American patriotism; textualism and adherence to precedent; and a firm commitment to law enforcement.
Alarming trends show that colon – or bowel – cancer is increasing in younger people. If the rise continues, colorectal cancer is projected to become the leading cause of cancer-related deaths among young adults globally by 2030.
A recent study reveals that exposure during childhood or adolescence to a toxin produced by certain strains of E coli, whose growth is encouraged by highly processed diets, may lay the groundwork for aggressive bowel cancers decades later. This discovery could help explain why people under 50 are at the heart of one of the fastest-growing cancer epidemics of our time.
Colon cancer is currently the second biggest cause of cancer death, yet only one in three cases are diagnosed in the earliest stages. Often symptomless in its early forms, colon cancer typically begins as polyps and can take ten to 15 years to develop. This slow progression makes regular screening crucial, especially because many patients experience no early warning signs.
For the new research, an international team analysed the complete DNA sequences of 981 colorectal cancer tumours from patients across 11 countries. They discovered striking geographic patterns in the mutations that lead to cancer.
Two specific mutational signatures – SBS88 and ID18 – stood out for their association with colibactin, a DNA-damaging toxin produced by some E coli strains. These bacterial “fingerprints” were 3.3 times more common in patients diagnosed before age 40 than in those over 70. Significantly, these mutations appear early in tumour development, suggesting the damage may occur years – even decades – before cancer is diagnosed.
Colibactin doesn’t cause random DNA damage. The study found it tends to target the APC gene, a vital tumour suppressor that normally controls cell growth.
In colibactin-positive cancers, about 25% of APC mutations bore the toxin’s unique signature. This direct hit to the body’s internal “brake system” could explain why these cancers appear earlier in life.
Molecular analysis indicated that colibactin-associated mutations often emerge within the first ten years of life. While this suggests the toxin may silently colonise children’s guts and initiate cancerous changes early, it’s important to note that this remains a theory; the study didn’t directly examine children or young adults.
Still, the research maps out a microbial pattern of cancer risk. These gut bacteria are not the same as those that cause food poisoning – they often live within us and perform beneficial roles.
But their composition can vary widely by region. Countries including Argentina, Brazil, and Russia – where colorectal cancer rates are climbing – showed higher levels of colibactin-related mutations.
This may reflect regional differences in gut microbiomes influenced by diet (particularly ultraprocessed foods), antibiotic use and environmental factors. In contrast, Japan and South Korea, where rates are historically high but stable, showed different mutational patterns, suggesting other causes may dominate there.
Perhaps the most provocative finding relates to when this bacterial damage occurs. Unlike lifestyle risks that build up over decades, colibactin seems to strike during a narrow window – when the microbiome is still forming in childhood or early adulthood.
Potential triggers could include repeated antibiotic use that disrupts healthy gut bacteria, highly processed diets that favour E. coli growth and urban living that reduces exposure to diverse microbial environments.
Not just genes and lifestyle
These findings may also point to new prevention strategies. Screening programs could focus on younger adults carrying these high-risk bacterial strains, using stool tests to detect colibactin genes.
Diets high in fibre and low in processed foods might promote a healthier gut microbiome, potentially suppressing harmful bacteria. The research also adds weight to calls for lowering colorectal cancer screening ages worldwide, since many early-onset cases go undetected under current guidelines.
While this study is a major step forward, many questions remain. Why do some people carry colibactin-producing bacteria but never develop cancer? How do modern lifestyle factors amplify – or mitigate – these microbial risks? What we do know is that cancer results from the complex interplay between our genes and our environment – including the microscopic world within us.
As researchers continue to connect the dots, one thing is clear: the colorectal cancer epidemic of the 21st century may have begun with silent microbial battles in our guts, decades before diagnosis. This emerging view of cancer not just as a genetic or lifestyle disease, but also as a microbial one – could fundamentally reshape how we think about prevention for future generations.
Justin Stebbing does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By James Scott Vandeventer, Senior Lecturer in Sustainability, Manchester Metropolitan University
North Manchester General is a Victorian hospital that would benefit from a retrofit.James Scott Vandeventer, CC BY-NC-ND
Hospital visits usually involve a medical emergency or appointment. The last thing on most patients’ minds will be how the building works. We expect the lights to be on, medical equipment to work, a comfortable room temperature, healthy food, an appropriate layout with efficient routes between departments and all the other features that make the healthcare system run smoothly.
But many decisions about how hospitals will operate are made long before we enter the door – and have significant consequences for their environmental footprint.
In England, the NHS contributes 4% of the country’s total carbon emissions, equating to 40% of all emissions from the public sector. In addition to carbon, NHS operations demand immense quantities of natural resources.
This translates into significant environmental impact embodied in buildings – depending on how a hospital’s material form (think walls, floors, ceilings, windows, pipes, wires) is designed and built.
Construction materials must be manufactured, transported to a building site and used by construction crews. Here, raw inputs come from mines, quarries or other extraction sites where environmental injustices are perpetuated on land and local communities.
Then there are operational impacts, like electricity, water, medical equipment (PPE, hospital beds, syringes), medical gases and food. These essentials are also manufactured, require infrastructures (from the electricity grid to food systems) and are often constrained by previous building design decisions.
While investment in NHS hospitals is necessary, it brings more greenhouse gas emissions from the operational running of the building and its construction (that includes the extraction and manufacture of raw materials and is referred to as embodied carbon) and its raw materials. embodied and operational environmental impacts.
Ensuring hospitals’ sustainability starts with their design. So, what would designing a more sustainable hospital really involve?
For the past 18 months, I have been attending design meetings and interviewing the design team working on a wave one hospital, North Manchester General. It’s one of the major acute hospitals of Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT), whose forward-thinking leadership welcomed my research into hospital design.
I have found that sustainability is predominantly integrated into the hospital design through adopting external technical specifications, like the NHS Net Zero Carbon Building Standard, and by aligning with local trust sustainability strategies. In this case MFT’s Green Plan.
I’ve also seen how North Manchester General’s design must adapt to standardisations from the government’s New Hospital Programme. That’s a national initiative coordinating new hospital design and construction, including by working with suppliers.
While reducing carbon emissions remains a focus of North Manchester General’s designs, I’ve witnessed increasing interest in the broader environmental footprint – particularly water and waste. The bar for sustainability is being set high.
But several key areas deserve further consideration in the design process – and the government’s national approach -– to minimise their overall emissions and translate sustainability ambition into action.
For NHS hospitals, and sustainable cities generally, one of the most important decisions is whether to undertake renovation and retrofit of existing buildings as opposed to demolition and rebuild.
Modernising existing buildings not only lowers the carbon emissions associated with materials and construction that come with starting anew, but also reduces impacts associated with construction – while inviting radical innovations like airflow retrofit and modular and mobile facilities.
North Manchester General is a Victorian hospital, which, like historic homes and museums, has stood for well over a century. With the right care, maintenance and design, its older structures could be cost-effectively upgraded, while incorporating flexibility for future innovations into retrofit.
Retaining parts of the existing estate – and only demolishing where absolutely necessary – respects the carbon footprint of the building structure already invested in hospitals and allows for sustainable adaptation rather than the significant environmental footprint of replacement.
Designing 21st-century healthcare
Looking ahead, a “fabric first” approach to new hospitals will prioritise the performance of the building’s envelope – walls, roofs, insulation, windows – before relying on technology to manage energy use. While high-efficiency models like Passivhaus (an approach to designing buildings that requires minimal-to-no energy for heating and cooling) often come with a slightly higher initial cost, they deliver long-term benefits in energy efficiency and cost savings.
Beyond driving down operational impacts, investing in building fabrics could be coordinated by the New Hospital Programme to ensure localised suppliers can ethically source these materials. This could enhance buildings’ lifespan while improving UK healthcare and construction supply chains’ resilience.
Sustainable hospital designs will change alongside the NHS’ model of healthcare. For example, smaller, more agile hospitals and community health services are becoming future priorities. While some major treatments (think open-heart surgeries) still require acute hospitals, future designs should think small and flexible, while learning from sustainable innovations that improve health outcomes and reduce environmental footprints.
Take Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, where every ward has a kitchen and chef who cooks food to order, helping children recover faster and drastically reducing food waste. Capturing and systematising such learnings should be a priority for future hospitals.
Will ever-larger hospitals become a thing of the past if preventative care, mobile surgical facilities and similar innovations become embedded in a future-fit, 21st-century NHS? Perhaps new hospitals’ target operating models need more flexible spaces, and lower overall floor areas, as healthcare shifts towards a community-oriented approach.
Designing-out reliance on new materials and energy use through retrofit and fabric first approaches, while designing-in flexibility and best practices from contemporary hospitals, will help lower environmental footprints and place the NHS estate at the forefront of sustainable healthcare systems globally.
Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?
James Scott Vandeventer received funding for this research from the British Academy and Leverhulme Trust (SRG-2223/230837), as part of the ‘Conceiving sustainable space’ project.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By William Webster, Professor and Director, Centre for Research into Information, Surveillance and Privacy, University of Stirling
By autumn 2026, all frontline officers of the UK’s second largest police force will be expected to wear a camera while on duty, at a cost of over £13 million.
Police Scotland is one of the last forces in the UK to employ this technology nationally. It has been a requirement for armed officers in Scotland since it hosted the UN climate conference, Cop26, in 2021. Devon and Cornwall Police ran the first body-worn trial in Plymouth some 20 years ago.
The use of this technology was recommended by Lady Elish Angiolini (currently lord clerk register of Scotland) who led a 2020 independent review of complaints and misconduct in Scottish policing. The report argued that body-worn cameras have the potential to significantly reduce complaints against the police.
In theory, being late to the party means Police Scotland is in a position of strength. They can adopt recognised best practice from other police forces in the UK, while steering clear of mistakes. But our review of the evidence reveals how little is really known about the effectiveness of this technology.
Body-worn video promises to aid in evidence gathering, which can be used to support investigations and prosecutions. It is also seen to provide a level of personal protection for police officers, and increased transparency and accountability when it comes to police behaviour or misconduct.
But there are still uncertainties about its actual impact on society. The evidence base is relatively mixed and ambiguous, with mostly small-scale studies and anecdotal evidence.
While it is now commonplace, there is a notable lack of robust evidence about the consequences of its use. A lot rests on the assumptions about what the technology will do.
There are many uncertainties about body-worn video’s effectiveness. Loch Earn/Shutterstock
An argument for the use of body-worn video is that it creates “objective” recorded accounts of interactions between police and citizens. In theory, the recordings can provide irrefutable proof about what happened, which in turn will enhance confidence in policing.
The Scottish Police Authority notes that video recordings can streamline the process of resolving complaints against officers. It also can enhance the quality of evidence and “reduces the number of officers required to attend court” in investigations.
However, the issue remains that officers may use their discretion to turn the cameras on or off. In 2023, a BBC investigation revealed more than 150 reports of camera misuse by officers in England and Wales. Forces need processes in place to prevent this and to hold officers accountable, or the digital account of an interaction will always be determined by the police.
There is some evidence that body-worn video can exacerbate existing racial tensions. Research from North America suggests minority groups do not believe that police body-worn video will make the police more accountable or transparent, and that they instead reinforce existing power structures in society. This can fracture already strained relations with the police.
New body-worn video units, including those purchased by Police Scotland, also have the technical capability to integrate facial recognition software. If deployed, this would mean that the technology is no longer about a retrospective account of events, but a tool for live identity matching. This would significantly change the purpose and scope of the technology and how the police interact with citizens.
As we found in our research, police forces across the UK have different procedures for using this technology, and for holding officers accountable.
A few UK forces have set up technology-specific oversight mechanisms, for example independent scrutiny panels that include members of the public. But these mechanisms are the exception, not the norm. In Scotland, scrutiny will take place via the Scottish Police Authority using existing arrangements.
While we commend Police Scotland for the due caution they have exercised in delaying the national roll-out of this technology, our view is that technology-specific protocols and oversight mechanisms need to be in place at the earliest possible opportunity.
Police need to be trained properly in the operation of cameras or they risk capturing inappropriate personal data and encroaching on citizens’ privacy expectations.
William Webster has previously received funding from the Scottish Institute for Policing Research to undertake an evidence review into the police use of BWV.
Diana Miranda received funding from SIPR (Scottish Institute for Policing Research), and ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) to investigate emerging policing technologies, namely body-worn video.
It takes just a spark to start a wildfire, and when it comes to measles, the embers are already glowing.
A new modelling study published in Jama sounded the alarm: recent drops in childhood vaccination rates could reignite diseases that were nearly extinguished.
The researchers used a simulation to predict the effect of falling vaccination coverage for measles, rubella, polio and diphtheria. Even at current coverage, measles alone could soon infect more than 850,000 people in the US every year, leading to over 2,500 deaths annually.
The study also warned how quickly the situation could get worse. A further 10% drop in vaccination rates could lead to more than 11 million cases annually.
Measles is particularly concerning because of how easily it spreads. It is one of the most contagious diseases known – a single person with measles can infect between 12 and 18 others, each of whom can infect 12 to 18 more, and so on. This is much higher than for diseases such as influenza and COVID, where one person, on average, infects one to four others.
To stop measles from spreading from person to person, at least 95% of the population needs to be vaccinated. But coverage is falling short – not just in the US, but worldwide. In 2024, less than 84% of five-year-olds in England had received both doses of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.
This matters because measles is far from harmless. About one in five children with measles need hospital care, one in 20 develop pneumonia and one in 1,000 suffer encephalitis (a brain infection that can cause seizures and deafness).
Up to three in every 1,000 children who catch measles will die.
Although measles poses the greatest immediate threat because of how contagious it is, further drops in vaccination rates could see other serious infections return. Rubella can cause devastating birth defects, polio can lead to permanent paralysis, and diphtheria is fatal in up to 30% of unvaccinated children.
Before vaccines, these diseases were endemic around the world – circulating constantly, not just in outbreaks. In regions where vaccine coverage has never reached the 95% target, including parts of Africa and south Asia, they remain endemic.
But in countries where vaccines had all but eliminated them, falling coverage risks undoing decades of progress. And this isn’t just hypothetical – already this year, the US has reported nearly 900 measles cases, including three deaths.
The MMR vaccine is extremely effective, protecting more than 97% of those who receive both doses. However, some people can’t have the vaccine, including pregnant women, babies and those with a weakened immune system or serious allergy to the vaccine ingredients.
This is why herd immunity is so important: when over 95% of people in a community are vaccinated, the virus can’t circulate freely, so everyone is protected – including the most vulnerable.
There are many reasons vaccination rates have fallen. COVID caused the biggest drop in global vaccination in 30 years, and many countries are still catching up. Conflict and natural disasters also contribute, with Yemen reporting over 10,000 measles cases in the past six months.
Some people choose not to vaccinate their children or themselves. This may be due to vaccine fatigue, concerns about side-effects or underestimating the risks of infection. In this respect, vaccines are victims of their own success – it can be hard to imagine the consequences of infections that have largely disappeared thanks to vaccines.
As with all medical treatments, vaccines have side-effects, but most are mild and resolve quickly, such as fever, rash and swollen glands.
Persistent misinformation
A major contributor to vaccine hesitancy is misinformation, particularly through social media.
One of the most persistent myths is that the MMR vaccine is linked to autism – a claim based on falsified data in a discredited and retracted study from 1998. Since then, multiple studies have disproved this, including a meta-analysis (a study that combines data from several studies) of over 1.25 million children that found no link between the MMR vaccine and autism.
Despite clear scientific evidence, these false claims linger, fanning the flames of doubt with real-world consequences. Indeed, the World Health Organization has listed vaccine hesitancy as one of the top ten threats to global health.
No parent takes decisions about their child’s health lightly. It’s natural to want to weigh the risks and benefits. But when vaccination rates drop, it doesn’t just put unvaccinated children at risk. It threatens those who cannot be vaccinated – including all infants under a year old, who are too young for the MMR vaccine.
Vaccination remains one of the most powerful tools we have to protect the health of all children. Diseases like measles don’t wait for conflicts to end or for trust to rebuild – they simply spread wherever they can.
We came close to extinguishing measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases, but any drop in vaccine coverage is a match to kindling. As this new research shows, it doesn’t take much for the embers to flare into a wildfire beyond our control.
Antonia Ho receives funding from MRC, UKRI, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Public Health Scotland.
Chrissie Jones is affiliated with the Immunising Pregnant Women and Neonates (IMPRINT) network, funded by the MRC. She runs clinical trials of vaccines on behalf of the University of Southampton, but does not receive any personal funding for this.
Anastasia A. Theodosiou does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Kawasaki has recently revealed its computer-generated concept for the Corleo, a “robotic horse”. The video shows the automated equine galloping through valleys, crossing rivers, climbing mountains and jumping over crevasses.
The Corleo promises a high-end robotic solution to provide a revolutionary mobility experience. Kawasaki’s current motorbikes are constrained to roads, paths and trails, but a machine with legs has no boundaries – it can reach places no other vehicles can go.
But in the case of the Corleo, how feasible is it to achieve such a level of agility and balance, while safely carrying a human through natural environments? Let’s discuss what would be needed to achieve this.
A robot is a complex machine with two main components: a body and an information processing unit. The body has a particular morphology that determines the robot’s function, and carries actuators (devices that convert energy into physical motion) and sensors to act in the world and understand it, respectively.
Kawasaki’s Corleo robotic horse concept.
The information processing unit is usually a computer, which implements algorithms to process data from the sensors, build representations of the world and determine the actions to be executed, subject to a specific task of interest.
Simple robots, such as robotic vacuum cleaners satisfy these requirements. They have a suitable body for going under furniture and not getting stuck (their flat top is also useful to give your cats a ride).
The actuators are the motors that spin the wheels and the vacuum system. It has impact sensors to detect collisions, and some even have cameras for understanding the environment. Owners can set a cleaning routine, and the vacuum’s computer will determine the best way to execute it.
The Corleo is a quadruped robot, one of the most stable legged robot configurations. The four legs seem strong and capable of flexing forward and backward to run and jump.
But they seem limited in movements known as abduction and adduction. If I push you on your right side, you will open your left leg – this is the abduction motion helping you keep balance.
Adduction is the opposite motion – a movement towards the midline of the body. Perhaps this is just a limitation of the concept design but, either way, the Corleo needs this articulation to ensure a safe and smooth ride.
Next comes actuators. Legged robots, in comparison to wheeled vehicles, need to continuously balance and support their own weight. They also provide a level of suspension that provides cushioning for the rider.
They need to be strong enough to push the robot’s body forward. On top of that, the Corleo will also carry a person. While this is currently possible, such as with the the Barry robot or Unitree wheeled robots, the Corleo also aims to gallop and jump over gaps. This requires even more dynamic and stronger actuators than the previous examples.
A manually driven car or motorcycle doesn’t need sensors or a processing unit, because the driver steers the car depending on what they see. But a robotic horse does need more sophisticated control systems to determine how to move the legs, otherwise we would need both hands and even our feet to drive it.
Locomotion control has been an active area of legged robotics research since the 1940s. Researchers have shown that a legged machine can walk down a slope without motors or sensors (which is called “passive” locomotion).
If only “proprioceptive” sensors – the types of sensors that tell your phone when to rotate the screen – are used to control balance, it’s called “blind” locomotion because it doesn’t rely on information from the external environment. When a robot also uses “exteroceptive” sensors to determine how to walk, which refers to sensors that pick up information about the environment, it’s called “perceptive” locomotion. This is what Corleo shows.
From the pictures released, I could not spot any visible cameras or Lidars – laser range finders. They could be hidden, but it would be reassuring to know that the Corleo has a way to “see” what’s in front of it while walking.
While it will be manually steered (so that it doesn’t need to navigate autonomously), its locomotion system needs sensor data to determine how to step on rocks, or detect if the terrain is slippery. Its sensors should also be reliable under different environmental conditions. This is already a huge challenge for autonomous cars.
Challenges ahead
The Corleo is a concept, it does not exist – yet. As a product, it promises to be a more capable version of a quad bike. This can open new opportunities for transportation in remote areas, tourism businesses, new hobbies (for those who can afford it), and even sports.
But I’m more excited about the technological advances that the achievement of such a platform implies. Legged robots do not necessarily need to look like quadrupeds or humanoids.
Self balancing exoskeletons, such as Wandercraft’s Personal exoskeleton or Human in Motion Robotics’ XoMotion, are legged robots that are revolutionising the lives of people with mobility impairments. The technological advances implied by the Corleo could have be of major benefit to the development of assistive devices for disabled users, enabling them to achieve independence.
Current progress in legged robotics suggests that many features proposed by Kawasaki are feasible. But others pose challenges: Corleo will need the endurance to walk in the wild, run effective locomotion algorithms and also implement the safety standards required for a vehicle.
These are all major hurdles for a reasonably sized robot. If you ask me today, I’d be unsure if this can be achieved as a whole. I hope they prove me wrong.
Matias Mattamala is currently funded by an EPSRC C2C Grant at the University of Oxford in collaboration with ETH Zurich. He does not work for, consult, own shares in, or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond his academic appointment.
In one of his final announcements before his death, Pope Francis granted Catalonian architect Antoni Gaudí the title of “venerable”, due to his dedication to the design and build of the Sagrada Família church in Barcelona. This recognition is the second of four steps towards sainthood, a process that started more than three decades ago by a secular association founded in Barcelona in 1992 and led by local architects. If this happens, Gaudí would be the first secular architect in history to be declared a saint.
The Sagrada Família was originally devised by the religious book printer and seller José María Bocabella, who bought the site and founded an association to promote the construction. It was started in 1882, but in just one year the original architect Francisco de Paula del Villar y Lozano resigned due to creative differences with the association’s architectural adviser Joan Martorell.
After declining the job himself, Martorell fervently recommended his protégée Antoni Gaudí who at that time was only 31 years old. He took over and redesigned it entirely, transforming Villar’s predictable neo-gothic design into what the American architectural historian Henry-Russell Hitchcock described as “the greatest ecclesiastical monument of the last hundred years”.
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From the moment of his appointment, Gaudí worked obsessively on the project. In 1915, once he finished the crypt of the Church of Colònia Güell, his other lifelong project, he devoted himself entirely to the Sagrada Família. He suddenly died in 1926, when he was hit by a tram just a few blocks from the church.
Gaudí was fully aware that he would never see the construction completed. Since its inception the construction was solely financed by donations, and its progress frequently slowed due to lack of funds.
The Sagrada Família is the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world, and it has become a living piece of architectural history, showcasing design methodologies, materials and tools spanning the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.
Visionary techniques
Though Gaudí was a gifted draftsman, he rarely drew detailed plans as his design methods. Instead, he relied on close working relationships with builders and crafts people. He preferred scaled models and developed all sort of unique techniques to develop and communicate his designs to others.
Probably one of the most famous are his upside-down catenary curve models which he used to form-find the main structure of some of his buildings.
In this process, he traced the outline plan of the Sagrada Família on a wooden board at a tenth of the scale and placed it on the ceiling. Then, he tied cords from the points of the plan where the columns were located. Later, he hung small sachets filled with lead to represent the weight that the arches would have to support. Finally, he carefully measured and photographed the resulting model from many angles and turned the photos upside down so the strings hanging in pure tension would represent stone and concrete arches in pure compression.
The expertise required to construct these models was remarkable. In 1986, it was described in painstaking detail by professor of architecture Jos Tomlow at the Institute for Lightweight Structures under the supervision of the renowned architect and structural engineer Frei Otto.
Tomlow and Otto analysed the hanging design model for Gaudí’s unfinished church of the Colònia Güell, which took him nearly ten years to complete. The research team made a scaled replica of the model which was instrumental for understanding Gaudí’s empirical design methods and bringing a renewed interest to his unfinished masterpiece.
Completing the Sagrada Familia
By the end of the 1980s, the construction of the Sagrada Familia was suffering an impasse. The architects continuing the work, now in their nineties, had completed much of the work started together with Gaudí. But they did not have further models or plans to guide their development, as many of the original models, drawings and photographs were destroyed during the 1936 Civil War.
Fortunately, a younger generation of architects were able to analyse the existing design vocabulary and extend it to fill out the gaps using groundbreaking parametric design tools. Using parametric design, instead of simply reproducing digitally Gaudí’s existing geometries, endless new variations could be automatically generated by changing predefined variables.
During the 1990s, the same team introduced newer digital fabrication technologies such as 3D printing and robotic stone carving. These were instrumental to keep the construction of Gaudí’s impossible shapes under a reasonable budget and time-frame.
After several decades of long delays, the temple has experienced a substantial increase in visitors, which has boosted the construction efforts. The latest plans have set the completion for 2033 when it will become the tallest church building in the world. Just seven years after the 100th anniversary of Gaudí’s death, and probably in perfect timing for his canonisation.
Javi Buron Garcia does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Ever heard of Fischer’s disease? No? Maybe that is not surprising, because it doesn’t exist. But it could have. In fact, the disease we now know as Alzheimer’s disease might just as easily have been called Fischer’s disease or Alzheimer-Fischer disease.
Back in 1907, Dr Oskar Fischer published detailed research on what we now recognise as Alzheimer’s disease. Fischer described cases of older people who had cognitive symptoms in their lifetime and noted tiny plaque-like structures and fibrous tangles in their brains after their death.
These changes were the same as those observed by Alzheimer’s at around the same time. But unlike Alzheimer’s brief two-page publication highlighting this new disease in one person, Fischer’s work, published in 1910, was a meticulous and wide-ranging study – spanning more than 100 pages – including several people he investigated. So why have we never heard of him?
In my new book, Tangled Up: The Science and History of Alzheimer’s disease, I attempt to answer this question.
A promising mind from Prague
But before we get to why Fischer was forgotten, let’s look at who he was.
Oskar Fischer was born in 1876 in a small town near Prague, part of the German-speaking minority in what is now the Czech Republic. After studying medicine in Strasbourg and Prague, he began working at the German University of Prague’s Department of Psychiatry.
Fischer’s career flourished under the leadership of Professor Arnold Pick – another lesser-known scientific giant. Pick was the first to describe a different kind of dementia, now called frontotemporal dementia. It was in this forward-thinking academic environment that Fischer began his research into dementia.
But Fischer, like Alzheimer, went a step further: he identified not only plaques but also twisted protein fibres — now known as tau tangles — that disrupt the brain’s function. This combination is still central to how we define Alzheimer’s disease today.
Oskar Fischer, the forgotten great of Alzheimer’s research. Public Domain
But if both men made this important discovery, why is only one name remembered?
There are two theories as to why Fischer has been forgotten. One is that Fischer believed these brain changes were specific to a type of dementia called presbyophrenia, which was thought to affect people who showed unusual cheerfulness and confusion in old age.
He may have limited his own findings by tying them to this narrow diagnosis. Indeed, in the 1920s it was realised that presbyophrenia was not a separate disease but simply how certain people with dementia presented – and the term was not used anymore.
Another factor might be politics and influence. Alzheimer had a powerful supporter: Emil Kraepelin, one of the most influential psychiatrists of the time, who Alzheimer worked for. Kraepelin included Alzheimer’s work in his bestselling textbook and named the condition after him, helping to cement Alzheimer’s name in medical history.
There’s no record showing whether Kraepelin knew of Fischer’s similar discoveries. If he did, he never acknowledged them in his textbook.
Despite his scientific achievements, Fischer’s academic career stalled. In 1919, he was denied a permanent university position, despite his groundbreaking work. He opened a private practice in Prague and continued to teach, but without the recognition he deserved.
A tragic end
Then came the darkest chapter of his life. In 1941, during the Nazi occupation, Fischer was arrested by the Gestapo. He was imprisoned at Theresienstadt (now Terezín), a ghetto and transit camp for Jews and political prisoners. It’s unclear why he was targeted – perhaps for his Jewish ancestry or his earlier communist activism. He died there in 1942.
Oskar Fischer’s story is a reminder that scientific discovery is rarely the work of one lone genius. It’s built on shared ideas, collaboration, and often forgotten contributors.
It’s somewhat similar to Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace describing the theory of evolution at the same time but most only remember Darwin now. While Alois Alzheimer certainly made important observations, Fischer’s role in defining this devastating disease was just as significant.
Maybe it’s time we remembered Oskar Fischer and gave him the credit he so rightly deserves.
Michael Hornberger is the author of Tangled Up: The History and Science of Alzheimer’s Disease, published by Canbury Press.
My book Red Pockets explores questions of inheritance: what we owe to ancestors and to future generations, and what we owe to the places that we inhabit.
It was inspired by visiting my ancestral village in Guangdong in south China, after nearly a century of intergenerational separation due to migration, war and revolution. My grandfather wrote about his childhood stay in this rice village in his unpublished memoirs, and I had always wanted to see it.
In spring 2018, I finally found the chance, during a research trip to study the impacts of petrochemical pollution in Guangdong.
My trip coincided with the Qingming festival in April, when people return to their ancestral villages to sweep their relatives’ tombs, making offerings of food, incense and burnt paper money to sustain them in the afterlife.
Remarkably, my ancestral village was still intact, among the rice fields and western-style brick buildings, largely as my grandfather had described it. In fact, there are many similar clan villages in Taishan country, which is known as the “home of overseas Chinese”, due to its history of overseas emigration during the western gold rushes of the late 19th century.
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It was a moving yet unsettling experience, almost a comedy of errors, navigating different cultural expectations. One of the oldest villagers still remembered my family’s history, which turned out to have been troubled.
My ancestors had suffered untimely deaths, their tombs were lost, and our ancestral house was expropriated during the Cultural Revolution in the late 1960s. To restore my family’s place in the village would be impossible: we would have to build a new house and give all the clan villagers gifts of money in lucky red pockets. Even then, nothing could repair the ruptures of the past century.
Observing the Qingming tomb-sweeping rituals on the hills, I wondered: what were the consequences of failing to sweep the tombs every spring?
When I got home to the UK, I carried stories of pollution and ancestral neglect with me. They stayed with me and began to take on new meanings as I continued my research on toxic pollution and environmental injustice. I learned that in Chinese folk religious beliefs, neglected ancestors become hungry ghosts, unleashing misfortune and environmental destruction.
As the climate crisis intensified, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the hungry ghosts somehow embodied collective experiences of climate grief, illness and anxiety.
My idea to write Red Pockets came together in the wake of disappointment over COP26 in Glasgow. As I thought about the “heavy debts that we owe” to past and future generations, two, seemingly separate ideas merged into one – the personal story of my “return” to my ancestral village, and the wider story of confronting the devastating consequences of the climate crisis. I wanted to write a book that would explore the possibility of healing alongside the impossibility of returning to lost worlds.
The writing process involved wrestling not only with different ideas but with different parts of myself. The hungry ghosts were difficult to summon in a way that felt real.
At first, I tried a more academic approach, researching Chinese folk religious beliefs about death and burial rituals, and extreme climate disasters unfolding around the world.
But I soon realised that the metaphor felt too thin in the absence of my own voice, and that I had to talk about hungry ghosts from a personal perspective. Once they came out, they seemed to take on a life of their own.
Hungry ghosts animate the connections between the material and spiritual, how environmental devastation shows up in body, mind, and Earth: “A divided self, a divided world, a failure to listen, a failure to honour … They want us to face up to our broken obligations.”
As I moved towards more positive themes in the final chapters of the book, the weight slowly began to lift. I learned that there are ways of living with ghosts, recognising joy alongside despair, possibilities for interconnection despite disconnection, and compassionate actions to “defend our lands and ourselves”. I found what I was looking for: an offering.
Alice Mah received funding from the Leverhulme Trust (Philip Leverhulme Prize) and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement No. 639583) for research on petrochemical pollution and environmental justice.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Steve Schifferes, Honorary Research Fellow, City Political Economy Research Centre, City St George’s, University of London
When US president Donald Trump took office in January he inherited a strong economy, which was growing faster than those of many of its rivals. Nevertheless, he won the election in November on the back of strong voter dissatisfaction with the economy, especially the cost of living. This is the legacy of high inflation sparked first by COVID and then Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
But Trump also won with his appeal to “left-behind” voters, especially working-class people in the US rust belt. This demographic has suffered a long-term decline in living standards as manufacturing jobs in traditional industries like car-making and steel have disappeared.
Trump claimed during his campaign that high tariffs were the answer to most of America’s economic problems. He promised a revival in domestic manufacturing by blocking imports, while forcing foreign firms to shift production to the US. And there was also the promise of tax cuts paid for with the revenues raised from tariffs.
But the erratic roll-out of his tariff policies have shattered business and consumer confidence. They have also tanked his poll ratings with respect to his management of the economy. And it is causing chaos to world trade and economic cooperation.
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The threat of higher prices for imported goods has made US consumers cautious. Businesses are facing the awesome task of rejigging global supply chains established over many decades, with no certainty over where they should invest.
China was always the main target of Trump’s tariffs, but it is not clear who will win the battle. China has been preparing for this confrontation for years, shifting its exports to other countries and boosting domestic consumption.
And blocking Chinese exports does not automatically mean that US industry will become more efficient and productive. This is especially true in the absence of any industrial policy and with massive cutbacks in federal support for business, including for research.
Trouble ahead for Trump
The dramatic swings in tariff policy are probably less a product of Trump’s deep strategic planning – “the art of the deal” – than a response to conflicting pressures from different factions of Trump’s supporters.
What Trump probably did not anticipate was the negative reaction of financial markets to his April 2 announcement of massive global tariffs. The precipitous fall in the stock market (which arguably was overvalued already) has wiped US$4 trillion (£3 trillion) off the value of shares. This threatens the pensions of millions of US voters.
Even more serious has been the reaction of the bond market. Trump’s plan for massive tax cuts for the rich, now being negotiated in Congress, could add nearly US$6 trillion to the already huge and growing stock of US government debt over the next decade. This strategy will only work if international bond holders are prepared to buy a lot more US Treasury bonds.
But they are now fleeing that market, which is normally the bedrock of the international financial system. This has the effect of forcing up interest rates, both in the US and globally.
The US president’s attack on the independence of the US central bank, the Federal Reserve, is further unsettling the markets. The Fed now has the unenviable task of trying both to stop a recession and prevent inflation getting out of hand.
And the economic damage of Trump’s tariffs is having political consequences. The Democrats are now favoured to retake control of the House of Representatives in the 2026 mid-term elections.
Trump’s popularity will suffer a further blow if Congress is forced to cut government spending even further to finance its tax cuts. One casualty could be Medicaid spending, which faces cuts of US$880 billion. Medicaid provides health insurance for 70 million people on low incomes or with disabilities. The cut has already been included in one version of the budget resolution.
Trump is now caught between his big business backers, who want to drastically reduce the role of the federal government but keep free trade, and his working-class supporters, who are hoping that his tariffs will restore manufacturing jobs.
But this group would be deeply upset by cuts to major government programmes such as Medicare and social security, which many depend on for much of their income. These programmes make up a large portion of all government non-defence spending, and without major cuts it will be hard to find enough savings to fund tax reductions.
Steve Schifferes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Even biologists only capture a glimpse of the lives of whales. There are still many species whose lives are largely a mystery, particularly the deep diving whales.
But scientists are learning more about the role that whales play in marine ecosystems and the services that they provide. Recent research is showing that even whale urine is important for the planet.
This effect is called the “whale pump” and it can enhance the photosynthetic rate of plankton, which is the basis of the food web. Nutrients are not distributed evenly across the ocean and in some areas, phytoplankton populations are limited because there aren’t enough of specific elements, such as iron.
Some whale species perform long migrations across the ocean. Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) perform the longest migration of any mammal at around 10,000 km, moving nutrients across ocean basins as they travel. To some extent the whale pump influences carbon cycling and storage too.
Whales can also help cycle nutrients in the ocean when they disturb the seabed as they feed. Gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus), for example, are known to forage for invertebrates on the seafloor and stir up sediments which release nutrients, such as nitrogen, phosphorus and iron.
Another key area of research describes the oasis ecosystems that whale carcasses provide to deep sea species, from hagfish (Eptatretus deani) and sleeper sharks (Somniosis pacificus) to crustacea, molluscs, nematodes and bacteria. The great whales have large bodies with high amounts of lipids in their bones. These lipids are food for lots of organisms and whale carcasses create mini ecosystems in the deep.
But until now, another benefit that whales provided to ecosystems had not been quantified – that of urine.
A recent study published in Nature Communications indicates that baleen whales’ urine could also have a crucial function in oceans. Some whale species can produce up to 950 liters of urine per day, and this means they can relocate nutrients to tropical grounds low in nutrients. Many baleen whales, such as humpback and gray whales, feed in polar and subpolar regions during summer, then migrate to equatorial breeding areas en masse into relatively small areas during the winter.
During migration, the whales carry detritus like placenta, urine, faeces and if they die, carcasses. For example, the paper describes how gray whales tend to winter in several feeding grounds across the north Pacific ocean and aggregate in summer in a few small bays on the coast of California.
The researchers describe how gray, humpback and right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) transport carbon and nitrogen to the tropics, in what they call the “great whale conveyor belt”. Globally, for these species, this process results in more than 46,000 tons of biomass (whales’ total mass and the nutrients they contain) and almost 4,000 tons of nitrogen per year, transferred to poor nutrient grounds.
Most of this nitrogen transport comes from whale urine, which stimulates phytoplankton growth and photosynthesis. This increase in the rate of photosynthesis could lead to 18,180 tons of carbon being drawn down from the atmosphere. Other large baleen whales probably also contribute to this effect but there is less data on their distributions and ecology.
Sadly, the study estimates that historical whaling has reduced whale related nutrient transportation to almost one third of its previous potential.
Other animals that play a crucial role in nutrient flows have also been suffering from the effect of human-related activities. Seabirds and fish that migrate from the sea into freshwater bodies have a significant effect on phosphorus transfer from sea to land, which is also an important nutrient for photosynthesis.
Bears, otters, eagles and other predators that eat fish which migrate up rivers from the sea, participate in the transport of ocean nutrients to land through their faeces. Moose are also important carriers of nutrients and are known to transfer large amounts from aquatic to land ecosystems as they feed on plants.
Grazing hippopotamus also transfer nutrients in reverse from land to aquatic systems. But these large animals generally don’t match whales in quantity, or by geographical scale.
Whales face many threats to their survival today, such as ship strikes, pollution, poorly managed fisheries and climate change. This recent study shows how important it is to protect whales and the ocean they live in.
The contribution that these animals will make to solving our climate crisis through stimulating photosythesis is under debate and their ability to balance the global carbon budget in the face of human-related emissions may be negligible. However, the more we learn about these ocean giants, the more we understand the ways in which whales are vital to marine ecosystems.
Kirsten Freja Young is a Senior Lecturer in Ecology at the University of Exeter and also works as an independent consultant to Greenpeace Research Laboratories.
Marion Rossi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
