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Category: Education

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: This tropical plant builds isolated ‘apartments’ to prevent battles among the aggressive ant tenants it relies on for survival

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Guillaume Chomicki, Professor of Evolutionary Biology, Durham University

    When aggressive ant species come in contact, deadly conflicts ensue G. Chomicki

    In the middle of the South Pacific, a group of Fijian plants have solved a problem that has long puzzled scientists: How can an organism cooperate with multiple partners that are in turn competing for the same resources? The solution turns out to be simple – compartmentalization.

    Imagine an apartment building where unfriendly neighbors might clash if they run into each other, but smart design keeps everyone peacefully separated. In our new research published in the journal Science, we show how certain plants build specialized structures that allow multiple aggressive ant species to live side by side inside them without ever meeting.

    Ants and plants cooperate in Fijian rainforest

    Squamellaria plants are epiphytes – meaning they don’t have roots attached to the ground, and instead grow on another plant for physical support. They live high up in the rainforest canopy, in the South Pacific.

    Because they don’t have direct access to the soil’s nutrients, Squamellaria plants have evolved an original strategy to acquire what they need: In a mutually beneficial relationship, they grow structures that appeal to ants looking for a place to live. This kind of long-term relationship between species – whether helpful or harmful – is called symbiosis.

    Here’s how it works in this case. The base of the Squamellaria plant stem forms a swollen, hollow structure called a domatium – a perfect place for ants to live. Domatia gradually enlarge to the size of a soccer ball, containing ever more plant-made houses ready for ants to move into. Each apartment can house a colony made up of thousands of ants.

    A multicompartment Squamellaria (S. tenuiflora) in its natural habitat: rainforests in Fiji. This large plant likely contains a dozen or more compartments.
    G. Chomicki

    The relationship between the ants and the plants is mutualistic, meaning both parties benefit. The ants gain a nice sturdy and private nest space, while the plants gain essential nutrients. They obtain nitrogen and phosphorus from the ants’ feces and from detritus – including dead insects, plant bits and soil – that the ants bring inside the domatium.

    However, tropical rainforest canopies are battlegrounds for survival. Ants compete fiercely for nesting space, taking over any hollow branch or space under tree bark. Any Squamellaria ant house would thus be at risk of being colonized and taken over by other incoming ants, disrupting the existing partnership.

    Until now, it was unclear how the cooperative relationships between ants and plants remain stable in this competitive environment.

    Walls keep the peace

    Our first hint about what keeps the peace in the Squamellaria real estate came when we discovered several ant species living in the same plant domatium. This finding just didn’t make sense. How could aggressively competing ant species live together?

    We investigated the structure of domatia using computed-tomography scanning, which revealed an interesting internal architecture. Each plant domatium is divided into distinct compartments, with thick walls isolating each unit. Independent entrances prevent direct contact between the inhabitants of different units. The walls safeguard the peace as they prevent encounters between different ant species.

    A 3D model of a Squamellaria tenuiflora domatiium based on CT-scanning data reveals its compartmentalization. Each color-coded cavity is a distinct ‘ant apartment,’ isolated of the others, but connected to the outside.
    S. Renner & G. Chomicki

    Back in the lab, when we removed the ant apartments’ walls, placing inhabitants in contact with their neighbors, deadly fights broke out between ant species. The compartmentalized architecture is thus critical in preventing symbiont “wars” and maintaining the stability of the plant’s partnership with all the ants that call it home. By minimizing deadly conflicts that could harm the ants it hosts, this strategy ensures that the plant retains access to sufficient nutrients provided by the ants.

    This research reveals a new mechanism that solves a long-standing riddle – the stability of symbioses involving multiple unrelated partners. Scientists hadn’t previously discovered aggressive animal symbionts living together inside a single plant host. Our study reveals for the first time how simple compartmentalization is a highly effective way to reduce conflict, even in the most extreme cases. The ant colonies are living side by side, but not really together.

    What’s next

    The key to conflict-free living of multipartner symbioses discovered in these Fijian plants – compartmentalization – is likely important in other multispecies partnerships. However, it remains unknown whether compartmentalization is widespread in nature. Research on cooperation between species has long focused on pairwise interactions. Our new insights suggest a need to reinvestigate other multispecies mutualistic symbioses to see how they maintain stability.

    Guillaume Chomicki receives funding from UKRI.

    Susanne S. Renner received previous funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG)

    – ref. This tropical plant builds isolated ‘apartments’ to prevent battles among the aggressive ant tenants it relies on for survival – https://theconversation.com/this-tropical-plant-builds-isolated-apartments-to-prevent-battles-among-the-aggressive-ant-tenants-it-relies-on-for-survival-260674

    MIL OSI –

  • Khelo Bharat Niti 2025 sets stage for India’s rise as a global sporting powerhouse

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    For generations, sports in India were seen as a pastime squeezed between schoolwork and exams — a hobby on dusty fields rather than a career to aspire to. Limited infrastructure and a societal focus on academics meant few dared to dream of donning the national colours. But over the years, that narrative has steadily transformed, and today, with the launch of Khelo Bharat Niti 2025, India is set to redefine its sporting destiny.

    Launched under the vision ‘From Grassroots to Glory’, the landmark policy is poised to reshape the country’s sports ecosystem. Integrating with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, Khelo Bharat Niti aims to bridge the gap between classrooms and playgrounds, recognizing sports as an essential component of holistic development. It prioritizes women’s empowerment, outreach to marginalized and tribal communities, and active engagement with the Indian diaspora.

    A Vision for the 2036 Olympics

    With its eyes set firmly on the global stage, India’s ambitious roadmap includes a strategic push to become a sporting powerhouse by the 2036 Olympics — and to stake its claim as a potential host. This vision is backed by substantial funding: for FY 2025–26, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has been allocated ₹3,794 crore, marking a 130.9% increase from FY 2014–15. Of this, ₹1,000 crore is earmarked for the flagship Khelo India programme alone.

    Building the Sporting Ecosystem

    The policy focuses on talent identification at the grassroots level, competitive leagues, world-class training, and sports science support. It calls for significant private sector participation through public-private partnerships, corporate social responsibility, and innovative funding models, laying the groundwork for a sustainable sports industry.

    Sports are also being positioned as a major economic driver, with an emphasis on boosting sports tourism, hosting international events, and nurturing sports startups. The goal is to transform sports from a niche pursuit into a vibrant sector generating livelihoods and national pride.

    A Network of Opportunity

    Since its inception in 2016–17 and subsequent expansion in 2021, Khelo India has firmly established itself as a cornerstone of India’s sports revolution. The initiative has approved 326 sports infrastructure projects, committing over ₹3,124 crore to enhance athletic facilities across the nation. Furthermore, it has been instrumental in creating a robust support system for athletes by establishing 1,045 Khelo India Centres and 34 State Centres of Excellence, complemented by 306 accredited academies. This expansive network provides comprehensive support to nearly 2,850 athletes, covering their training needs, equipment, medical care, and stipends. Khelo India also organizes several annual flagship events, including the Khelo India Youth Games, University Games, Para Games, and Winter Games. These 17 editions of events have collectively drawn over 50,000 athletes, showcasing a significant increase in participation and competitive opportunities within the Indian sports landscape.

    One of the programme’s standout initiatives is KIRTI (Khelo India Rising Talent Identification), which scouts talent aged 9–18 through 174 Talent Assessment Centres. It aims to propel India into the top-10 sporting nations by 2036, and top-5 by 2047.

    Further, the inaugural Khelo India Water Sports Festival is set to take place at Srinagar’s Dal Lake this August, featuring five sports and over 400 athletes — a testament to the policy’s vision of broadening India’s sporting horizons.

    Institutional Support for Excellence

    The National Sports University, established in Imphal in 2018, is another pillar supporting this vision. The university focuses on sports sciences, management, coaching, and research, training India’s next generation of elite athletes and sports professionals. With global partnerships and a motto of Sports Excellence through Education, Research and Training, it aims to bridge education with high-performance sport.

    Stories Beyond the Arena

    The impact of these initiatives is visible in countless inspiring journeys. Para-athlete Rohit Kumar, a PhD scholar in Delhi, credits government support for creating equal opportunities for athletes like him. “Progress is possible only when supported by the government and society,” he says. He sees Khelo Bharat Niti 2025 — especially its integration with the NEP — as a transformative step for athletes who wish to balance sports and education.

    Athlete Samantha Saver Siddi, from India’s historic Siddi community, echoes this optimism. Practising at Bengaluru’s Jay Prakash Narayan Sports Academy while pursuing her arts degree, Samantha dreams of winning medals for India and credits the policy for creating an environment where such dreams can thrive.

    Towards a Sporting Nation

    India’s medal tallies — from 57 at Incheon 2014 to 69 at Jakarta 2018, and a record 107 at Hangzhou 2023 — highlight a nation on the rise. As India aims to elevate its global standing, Khelo Bharat Niti 2025 is set to be the blueprint for nurturing talent, expanding opportunities, and building a culture where sports and academics stand shoulder to shoulder.

    With its youth population of over 65%, India has the numbers — and now, the resolve — to transform playground dreams into podium moments. The journey from dusty fields to Olympic podiums is no longer a distant dream, but a goal within reach.

  • MIL-OSI USA: Rep. Young Kim Leads Bipartisan Resolution to Drive Misophonia Awareness

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Young Kim (CA-39)

    WASHINGTON, D.C. —  Today, U.S. Reps. Young Kim (CA-40) and Valerie Foushee (NC-04) introduced a bipartisan resolution to recognize World Misophonia Awareness Day, which is held annually on July 9, and increase understanding of this complex neurological condition. 

    Misophonia is a condition characterized by intense emotional and physical reactions to specific sounds and is associated with abnormal connectivity between brain regions involved in sensory processing and emotion regulation.  

    “Misophonia affects millions of Americans, including in our community, and yet it is understudied, misrepresented, and misunderstood,” said Rep. Young Kim. “By recognizing World Misophonia Awareness Day, we can elevate this serious health concern, and secure the research, resources, and care those impacted by Misophonia deserve.”  

    “Misophonia affects thousands of Americans yearly, but still little is known about this condition and no cure has been found,” said Rep. Valerie Foushee. “I am proud to introduce this bipartisan resolution alongside Congresswoman Kim recognizing World Misophonia Awareness Day and the need for further research surrounding this condition. Misophonia affects the daily lives and emotional well-being of so many across the country, and Congress must support efforts to ensure proper care and expand treatment options.” 

    “Misophonia is a debilitating condition, and can be especially challenging for teens. We are grateful to Congresswoman Young Kim and Congresswoman Valerie Foushee for joining together to shine a light on this disability, in the hopes of furthering research for treatment,” said Sophie B. Yang, a student and founder of Teens for Education and Advocacy on Misophonia (TEAM) from Brea, California. 

    The resolution aims to: 

    • Increase awareness of Misophonia as a legitimate disorder that affects social and emotional well-being; 
    • Support research into its causes, prevalence, and treatment options;  
    • Provide training on the effects and signs of Misophonia to healthcare workers and mental health professionals; and, 
    • Encourage the development of accommodations for those affected by this chronic condition. 

    Read the resolution HERE. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: expert reaction to study of projections of heat deaths in England and Wales under difference climate scenarios

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    A study in PLOS Climate looks at projections of future heat deaths in England and Wales given different climate scenarios. 

    Dr Raquel Nunes, Assistant Professor in Health and Environment at the University of Warwick, said:

    “The study highlights the importance of mitigation and adaptation for future heat-health outcomes. While it presents valuable future projections, it relies on pre-defined assumptions and scenarios, largely omitting the urgent need to transition from reactive to anticipatory strategies.

    “The forecast of a third consecutive UK heatwave so far this summer – and the increasing frequency, intensity and duration of such events – underscores the urgent need to shift from reactive to anticipatory strategies. Heat-related deaths and illnesses are both preventable and avoidable, yet they expose systemic failures and highlight the need for socially inclusive and institutionally embedded adaptation across governance, infrastructure, and health and care services to prevent increasing vulnerabilities and inequalities.”

    Dr Akshay Deoras, Research Scientist at the University of Reading, said:

    “If floods and storms are the loud alarms of climate change, extreme heat is its silent killer. It is disproportionately lethal, often going unnoticed until it’s too late. With another heatwave bearing down on the UK, this warning feels more urgent than ever.

    “This new comprehensive study makes the threat clear. It analyses heat-related mortality across fifteen plausible combinations of climate and socioeconomic scenarios, capturing a wide range of possible futures for England and Wales. It simultaneously accounts for climate change, population growth and ageing, and adaptive capacity. This multi-driver approach avoids the underestimation of future health burdens that can occur when only one driver is considered.

    “The results show that heat is not only claiming more lives, but that power outages and an aging population could make things far worse if adaptation doesn’t keep pace. Even under the most optimistic scenarios, heat-related deaths are set to rise sharply by mid-century. One of the limitations of the study is that temperature exposure is assigned at the regional level using population-weighted averages, which may not fully reflect local microclimates, potentially masking local hotspots of risk.

    “To save lives, we must cut greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen adaptation strategies at the same time. Crucially, the study highlights the power of natural, passive cooling techniques, such as shutters, shading, and cool roofs, which work even when the electricity fails. These solutions not only protect people but also avoid the trap of relying on air conditioning, which drives further global warming. As the UK experiences fewer cold extremes and more frequent and deadly heatwaves, protecting older adults must be at the heart of climate and public health planning—before this silent threat becomes an undeniable crisis.”

    Prof Richard Allan, Professor of Climate Science at the University of Reading, said:

    “Warming of the climate is making heatwaves more severe and dangerous. The new study paints a concerning picture of the future in which a greater intensity of summer heat compounds with an ageing, more vulnerable population to increase the risk of death. 

    “The research finds danger to people from persistent heat diminishes in scenarios involving deeper cuts in climate warming greenhouse gases but remain concerningly large, meaning that adaptation of our infrastructure and culture is also needed as well as rapidly transitioning to a low carbon society. 

    “The study also notes a concurrent reduction in mortality from cold extremes and may underestimate the adaptive measures that could be adopted in response to hot conditions but underscores the importance of avoiding the worst case storylines by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving our resilience to worsening weather extremes.”

    ‘Projections of heat related mortality under combined climate and socioeconomic adaptation scenarios for England and Wales’ by Rebecca Cole et al. was published in PLOS Climate at 7pm UK time on Thursday 10 July 2025.

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000553

    Declared interests

    Richard Allan: “No conflicting interests”

    Dr Akshay Deoras: “I receive funding from UKRI and DSIT/Met Office.”

    Raquel Nunes: “No conflicts of interest”

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: New standards for school libraries

    [. However, in the absence of a consistent standard for selecting age-appropriate library materials, school boards have taken different approaches, leading to concerns about safeguards in place.

    In response to these concerns, and informed by feedback from education partners and the public, Alberta’s government has created standards to provide school boards with clear direction on the selection, availability and access to school library materials, such as books.

    “Our actions to ensure that materials in school libraries don’t expose children to sexual content were never about banning books. These new standards are to ensure that school boards have clear guidance to ensure age-appropriate access to school library materials, while reflecting the values and priorities of Albertans.”

    Demetrios Nicolaides, Minister of Education and Childcare

    The new standards set clear expectations for school library materials with regard to sexual content and require school boards to implement policies to support these standards.

    Standards for school library materials

    Under the new standards, school libraries are not permitted to include library materials containing explicit sexual content. Non-explicit sexual content may be accessible to students in Grade 10 and above, provided it is age-appropriate.

    “Protecting kids from explicit content is common sense. LGBTQ youth, like all children, deserve to see themselves in stories that are age-appropriate, supportive and affirming – not in material that sexualizes or confuses them.”

    Blaine Badiuk, education and LGBTQ advocate

    School boards must also regularly review their school library collections, publish a full list of available materials and ensure that a staff member supervises students’ access to school library materials. School boards will have to remove any materials with explicit sexual content from their school libraries by October 1.

    School board policies and procedures

    All school boards must have publicly available policies that align with the new standards for selecting and managing library materials by January 1, 2026. School boards can either create new policies or update existing ones to meet these requirements.

    These policies must outline how school library materials are selected and reviewed, how staff supervise students’ access throughout the school day, and how a student, parent, school board employee or other member of the school community can request a review or removal of materials in the school library. School boards are also required to clearly communicate these policies to employees, students and parents before January 2026.

    “A robust, grade- and age-appropriate library catalogue is vital for student success. We welcome the ministry’s initiative to establish consistent standards and appreciate the ongoing consultation to help craft a plan that will serve our families and communities well.”

    Holly Bilton, trustee, Chinook’s Edge School Division

    “Red Deer Public Schools welcomes the new provincial standards for school library materials. Our division is committed to maintaining welcoming, respectful learning spaces where students can grow and thrive. Under the new standards for school libraries, we remain dedicated to providing learning resources that reflect our values and support student success.”

    Nicole Buchanan, chair, Red Deer Public Schools

    Quick facts

    • The new standards will apply to public, separate, francophone, charter and independent schools.
    • The ministerial order does not apply to municipal libraries located within schools or materials selected for use by teachers as learning and teaching resources.
    • From May 26 to June 6, almost 80,000 people completed an online survey to provide feedback on the creation of consistent standards to ensure the age-appropriateness of materials available to students in school libraries.

    Related information

    • Ministerial Order
    • School library standards engagement
    • Reference Materials: Content warning: this document contains graphic content that may be disturbing to viewers and is not appropriate for young viewers. Viewer discretion is advised.

    Related news

    • Strong support for school library policy (June 20, 2025)
    • Ensuring age-appropriate books in school libraries (May 26, 2025)

    Multimedia

    • Watch the news conference

    Le gouvernement de l’Alberta a présenté de nouvelles normes pour veiller à ce que les ressources des bibliothèques scolaires soient adaptées à l’âge des élèves.

    Les bibliothèques scolaires devraient être des endroits sécuritaires et bienveillants où les élèves peuvent apprendre et explorer sans être exposés à du contenu sexuel inapproprié. Cependant, en l’absence d’une norme uniforme pour choisir des ressources de bibliothèque qui sont adaptées à l’âge des élèves, les autorités scolaires ont adopté différentes approches, ce qui a suscité des inquiétudes quant aux mesures de protection mises en place.

    Donnant suite à ces préoccupations et s’appuyant sur les commentaires des partenaires en éducation et du public, le gouvernement de l’Alberta a établi des normes qui fournissent aux autorités scolaires des directives claires sur la sélection, l’accès et la disponibilité des ressources – dont les livres – dans les bibliothèques scolaires.

    « Dans nos démarches pour éviter que les enfants soient exposés à des ressources à contenu sexuel dans les bibliothèques scolaires, il n’a jamais été question d’interdire de livres. Tout en reflétant les valeurs et les priorités de la population albertaine, ces nouvelles normes offrent aux autorités scolaires une orientation claire pour s’assurer que les enfants ont accès à des ressources adaptées à leur âge dans les bibliothèques scolaires. »

    Demetrios Nicolaides, ministre de l’Éducation et de la Garde d’enfants

    Les nouvelles normes définissent des attentes claires en ce qui concerne les ressources à contenu sexuel dans les bibliothèques scolaires et exigent que les autorités scolaires mettent en œuvre des politiques en appui à ces normes.

    Des normes relatives aux ressources dans les bibliothèques scolaires

    Les nouvelles normes interdisent aux bibliothèques scolaires de conserver des ressources à contenu sexuellement explicite sur leurs étagères. Les élèves de 10e année et plus peuvent avoir accès à des ressources dont le contenu n’est pas sexuellement explicite, à condition que ces ressources soient adaptées à leur âge.

    « Cela relève du gros bon sens de vouloir protéger les enfants des contenus explicites. Les jeunes LGBTQ, comme tous les enfants, doivent pouvoir se reconnaitre dans des histoires adaptées à leur âge, bienveillantes et valorisantes, et non dans du contenu qui les sexualise ou les perturbe. »

    Blaine Badiuk, défenseur des LGBTQ et de l’éducation

    Les autorités scolaires doivent aussi vérifier régulièrement les collections de leurs bibliothèques scolaires, publier une liste complète des ressources disponibles et s’assurer qu’un membre du personnel supervise l’accès des élèves aux ressources des bibliothèques scolaires.

    Les autorités scolaires devront retirer toute ressource à contenu sexuellement explicite de leurs bibliothèques scolaires au plus tard le 1er octobre 2025.

    Les politiques et procédures des autorités scolaires

    D’ici le 1er janvier 2026, toutes les autorités scolaires devront avoir des politiques conformes aux nouvelles normes pour la sélection et la gestion des ressources de bibliothèque. À cet effet, les autorités scolaires peuvent élaborer de nouvelles politiques ou modifier celles qui existent déjà. Dans tous les cas, ces politiques devront être accessibles au public.

    Ces politiques doivent préciser les processus de sélection et de vérification des ressources pour les bibliothèques scolaires, la façon dont le personnel encadrera l’accès aux ressources pendant la journée scolaire, ainsi que la procédure que doit suivre tout membre de la communauté scolaire, incluant les élèves, les parents et les employés, pour demander la révision ou le retrait de ressources d’une bibliothèque scolaire. Les autorités scolaires doivent également communiquer clairement ces politiques à leur personnel, aux élèves et aux parents d’ici janvier 2026.

    « Un vaste catalogue de bibliothèque adapté au niveau scolaire et à l’âge des élèves est essentiel à la réussite scolaire. Nous accueillons favorablement l’initiative du ministère d’établir des normes uniformes et nous apprécions la consultation qui se poursuit en vue d’élaborer un plan qui profitera à nos familles et à nos communautés. »

    Holly Bilton, conseillère scolaire, Chinook’s Edge School Division 

    « Red Deer Public Schools salue la mise en œuvre de nouvelles normes provinciales relatives aux ressources des bibliothèques scolaires. Nous nous engageons à maintenir des environnements d’apprentissage accueillants et respectueux où les élèves peuvent grandir et s’épanouir. Conformément aux nouvelles normes sur les bibliothèques scolaires, nous continuerons à fournir des ressources d’apprentissage qui reflètent nos valeurs et favorisent la réussite des élèves. »

    Nicole Buchanan, présidente, Red Deer Public Schools

    En bref

    • Les nouvelles normes s’appliqueront aux écoles publiques, séparées, francophones, à charte et indépendantes.
    • L’arrêté ministériel ne s’applique pas aux bibliothèques municipales situées dans les écoles ni aux ressources sélectionnées pour être utilisées par les enseignants à des fins d’apprentissage et d’enseignement.
    • Du 26 mai au 6 juin, près de 80 000 personnes ont rempli le sondage en ligne et ainsi donné leur avis sur l’élaboration de normes uniformes pour veiller à ce que les ressources accessibles dans les bibliothèques scolaires soient adaptées à l’âge des élèves.

    Renseignements connexes

    • Arrêté ministériel
    • Consultation sur les normes pour les bibliothèques scolaires
    • Document de référence (en anglais seulement) – Avertissement : Ce document contient des images pouvant heurter la sensibilité des lecteurs. Il est donc réservé à un auditoire averti.

    Nouvelles connexes

    • Un fort appui pour une politique sur les bibliothèques scolaires (20 juin 2025)
    • Ensuring age-appropriate books in school libraries (26 mai 2025)

    Multimédias

    • Regarder la conférence de presse

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI: Slipstream Co-Authors First Comprehensive Cost Study on Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia in the American Journal of Hematology

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    BLUE BELL, Pa., July 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Slipstream, a trusted technology partner serving the Pharmaceutical and Biopharmaceutical industry, is proud to announce its co-authorship of a groundbreaking study on Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia (HHT), recently published in the American Journal of Hematology.

    The study, “Characterizing the Healthcare Utilization and Costs of Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia”, is the largest study of patients with HHT ever conducted, including over 24,000 patients living with this rare, inherited bleeding disorder. The research reveals that, within this sample, the direct medical costs for HHT exceeded $450 million annually in the United States, driven primarily by the treatment of bleeding-related complications, including anemia.

    “By leveraging Komodo Health’s Healthcare Map®, which includes data from over 330 million US patients, we have been able to characterize a rare disease whose natural history and burden have never been well-defined or fully understood,” said Tracy J. Mayne, PhD, Senior Vice President of Regulatory and Life Science Research at Slipstream. “We now know that nearly 60% of patients diagnosed with HHT have bleeding so severe that it causes anemia, and a significant portion of those patients receive frequent IV iron and/or red cell transfusions. The burden for both patients and the healthcare system is enormous, with significant implications for advocacy and drug development.”

    The research team, which includes collaborators from Massachusetts General Hospital, Cure HHT, and Diagonal Therapeutics, utilized Komodo real-world claims data to evaluate the economic burden of disease in a cohort of more than 24,000 patients in 2022 and 2023.

    Key findings from the publication include:

    • Per patient per year (PPPY) costs for people living with HHT are comparable to or surpass those of other rare and resource-intensive diseases.
    • Bleeding and its consequences were identified as the primary drivers of healthcare costs.
      • Mean PPPY costs for all HHT patients were >$19,000 across 2022 and 2023, about 20% higher than those for sickle cell disease.
      • For HHT patients with anemia, the mean PPPY costs were approximately $27,000
      • Patients with HHT receiving hematologic support (iron infusions and/or red blood cell transfusions) had mean PPPY costs of approximately $40,000
      • HHT patients with anemia, while accounting for nearly 60% of the HHT patient population, were responsible for approximately 80% of the direct medical costs.
    • Notably, the prevalence of liver transplantation among HHT patients, arising from complications of liver AVMs, was 40 times greater than in the general U.S. population.

    “Slipstream was founded on the belief that technology should empower the life sciences industry to move faster, work smarter, and operate more efficiently,” said Brandon McKay, Chief Executive Officer at Slipstream. “Studies like this one validate how the right data, paired with the right expertise, can redefine what is possible in healthcare. This collaboration is exactly the kind of work we strive to do partnering with innovators across the ecosystem to unlock the power of real-world data and digital platforms. Our goal is always to accelerate impact where it matters most, improving patient outcomes.”

    This landmark study provides critical evidence of the high level of unmet need for patients living with HHT, who have few treatment options and no approved drugs that modify disease or are able to slow or halt progression. This study strengthens the case for future therapeutic development and is an example of the value real-world evidence and the Komodo health database bring to the rare disease space.

    The full article is available online through the American Journal of Hematology: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajh.27756

    About Slipstream
    Slipstream is a trusted technology partner exclusively serving the Life Sciences industry. Our global team brings deep domain expertise and pragmatic, end-to-end solutions that simplify complex challenges across the entire product lifecycle. We deliver with speed, compliance, and foresight— empowering clients to accelerate research, optimize time to market, and improve patient outcomes, ensuring technology keeps pace with their life-changing mission.

    About Slipstream’s Digital CRO Practice

    Slipstream’s Digital CRO Practice is advancing drug development by utilizing real-world data and current data science to create external/synthetic controls and real-world/placebo hybrids as primary basis of approval for drugs developed to treat rare diseases. As a market leader in digital pharmaceutical digital platforms, Slipstream combines deep therapeutic expertise with real-world regulatory experience and industry-leading technology to help rare disease companies achieve approval faster and at significantly reduced cost. Using large national databases, Slipstream also assists in site identification and recruitment for rare disease trials.

    Media Contact:
    Isabella Canuso

    Sr. Marketing Manager
    Slipstream
    Isabella.canuso@slipstream-it.com
    (609)682-1080
    www.slipstream-it.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Slipstream Co-Authors First Comprehensive Cost Study on Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia in the American Journal of Hematology

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    BLUE BELL, Pa., July 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Slipstream, a trusted technology partner serving the Pharmaceutical and Biopharmaceutical industry, is proud to announce its co-authorship of a groundbreaking study on Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia (HHT), recently published in the American Journal of Hematology.

    The study, “Characterizing the Healthcare Utilization and Costs of Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia”, is the largest study of patients with HHT ever conducted, including over 24,000 patients living with this rare, inherited bleeding disorder. The research reveals that, within this sample, the direct medical costs for HHT exceeded $450 million annually in the United States, driven primarily by the treatment of bleeding-related complications, including anemia.

    “By leveraging Komodo Health’s Healthcare Map®, which includes data from over 330 million US patients, we have been able to characterize a rare disease whose natural history and burden have never been well-defined or fully understood,” said Tracy J. Mayne, PhD, Senior Vice President of Regulatory and Life Science Research at Slipstream. “We now know that nearly 60% of patients diagnosed with HHT have bleeding so severe that it causes anemia, and a significant portion of those patients receive frequent IV iron and/or red cell transfusions. The burden for both patients and the healthcare system is enormous, with significant implications for advocacy and drug development.”

    The research team, which includes collaborators from Massachusetts General Hospital, Cure HHT, and Diagonal Therapeutics, utilized Komodo real-world claims data to evaluate the economic burden of disease in a cohort of more than 24,000 patients in 2022 and 2023.

    Key findings from the publication include:

    • Per patient per year (PPPY) costs for people living with HHT are comparable to or surpass those of other rare and resource-intensive diseases.
    • Bleeding and its consequences were identified as the primary drivers of healthcare costs.
      • Mean PPPY costs for all HHT patients were >$19,000 across 2022 and 2023, about 20% higher than those for sickle cell disease.
      • For HHT patients with anemia, the mean PPPY costs were approximately $27,000
      • Patients with HHT receiving hematologic support (iron infusions and/or red blood cell transfusions) had mean PPPY costs of approximately $40,000
      • HHT patients with anemia, while accounting for nearly 60% of the HHT patient population, were responsible for approximately 80% of the direct medical costs.
    • Notably, the prevalence of liver transplantation among HHT patients, arising from complications of liver AVMs, was 40 times greater than in the general U.S. population.

    “Slipstream was founded on the belief that technology should empower the life sciences industry to move faster, work smarter, and operate more efficiently,” said Brandon McKay, Chief Executive Officer at Slipstream. “Studies like this one validate how the right data, paired with the right expertise, can redefine what is possible in healthcare. This collaboration is exactly the kind of work we strive to do partnering with innovators across the ecosystem to unlock the power of real-world data and digital platforms. Our goal is always to accelerate impact where it matters most, improving patient outcomes.”

    This landmark study provides critical evidence of the high level of unmet need for patients living with HHT, who have few treatment options and no approved drugs that modify disease or are able to slow or halt progression. This study strengthens the case for future therapeutic development and is an example of the value real-world evidence and the Komodo health database bring to the rare disease space.

    The full article is available online through the American Journal of Hematology: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajh.27756

    About Slipstream
    Slipstream is a trusted technology partner exclusively serving the Life Sciences industry. Our global team brings deep domain expertise and pragmatic, end-to-end solutions that simplify complex challenges across the entire product lifecycle. We deliver with speed, compliance, and foresight— empowering clients to accelerate research, optimize time to market, and improve patient outcomes, ensuring technology keeps pace with their life-changing mission.

    About Slipstream’s Digital CRO Practice

    Slipstream’s Digital CRO Practice is advancing drug development by utilizing real-world data and current data science to create external/synthetic controls and real-world/placebo hybrids as primary basis of approval for drugs developed to treat rare diseases. As a market leader in digital pharmaceutical digital platforms, Slipstream combines deep therapeutic expertise with real-world regulatory experience and industry-leading technology to help rare disease companies achieve approval faster and at significantly reduced cost. Using large national databases, Slipstream also assists in site identification and recruitment for rare disease trials.

    Media Contact:
    Isabella Canuso

    Sr. Marketing Manager
    Slipstream
    Isabella.canuso@slipstream-it.com
    (609)682-1080
    www.slipstream-it.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Slipstream Co-Authors First Comprehensive Cost Study on Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia in the American Journal of Hematology

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    BLUE BELL, Pa., July 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Slipstream, a trusted technology partner serving the Pharmaceutical and Biopharmaceutical industry, is proud to announce its co-authorship of a groundbreaking study on Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia (HHT), recently published in the American Journal of Hematology.

    The study, “Characterizing the Healthcare Utilization and Costs of Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia”, is the largest study of patients with HHT ever conducted, including over 24,000 patients living with this rare, inherited bleeding disorder. The research reveals that, within this sample, the direct medical costs for HHT exceeded $450 million annually in the United States, driven primarily by the treatment of bleeding-related complications, including anemia.

    “By leveraging Komodo Health’s Healthcare Map®, which includes data from over 330 million US patients, we have been able to characterize a rare disease whose natural history and burden have never been well-defined or fully understood,” said Tracy J. Mayne, PhD, Senior Vice President of Regulatory and Life Science Research at Slipstream. “We now know that nearly 60% of patients diagnosed with HHT have bleeding so severe that it causes anemia, and a significant portion of those patients receive frequent IV iron and/or red cell transfusions. The burden for both patients and the healthcare system is enormous, with significant implications for advocacy and drug development.”

    The research team, which includes collaborators from Massachusetts General Hospital, Cure HHT, and Diagonal Therapeutics, utilized Komodo real-world claims data to evaluate the economic burden of disease in a cohort of more than 24,000 patients in 2022 and 2023.

    Key findings from the publication include:

    • Per patient per year (PPPY) costs for people living with HHT are comparable to or surpass those of other rare and resource-intensive diseases.
    • Bleeding and its consequences were identified as the primary drivers of healthcare costs.
      • Mean PPPY costs for all HHT patients were >$19,000 across 2022 and 2023, about 20% higher than those for sickle cell disease.
      • For HHT patients with anemia, the mean PPPY costs were approximately $27,000
      • Patients with HHT receiving hematologic support (iron infusions and/or red blood cell transfusions) had mean PPPY costs of approximately $40,000
      • HHT patients with anemia, while accounting for nearly 60% of the HHT patient population, were responsible for approximately 80% of the direct medical costs.
    • Notably, the prevalence of liver transplantation among HHT patients, arising from complications of liver AVMs, was 40 times greater than in the general U.S. population.

    “Slipstream was founded on the belief that technology should empower the life sciences industry to move faster, work smarter, and operate more efficiently,” said Brandon McKay, Chief Executive Officer at Slipstream. “Studies like this one validate how the right data, paired with the right expertise, can redefine what is possible in healthcare. This collaboration is exactly the kind of work we strive to do partnering with innovators across the ecosystem to unlock the power of real-world data and digital platforms. Our goal is always to accelerate impact where it matters most, improving patient outcomes.”

    This landmark study provides critical evidence of the high level of unmet need for patients living with HHT, who have few treatment options and no approved drugs that modify disease or are able to slow or halt progression. This study strengthens the case for future therapeutic development and is an example of the value real-world evidence and the Komodo health database bring to the rare disease space.

    The full article is available online through the American Journal of Hematology: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajh.27756

    About Slipstream
    Slipstream is a trusted technology partner exclusively serving the Life Sciences industry. Our global team brings deep domain expertise and pragmatic, end-to-end solutions that simplify complex challenges across the entire product lifecycle. We deliver with speed, compliance, and foresight— empowering clients to accelerate research, optimize time to market, and improve patient outcomes, ensuring technology keeps pace with their life-changing mission.

    About Slipstream’s Digital CRO Practice

    Slipstream’s Digital CRO Practice is advancing drug development by utilizing real-world data and current data science to create external/synthetic controls and real-world/placebo hybrids as primary basis of approval for drugs developed to treat rare diseases. As a market leader in digital pharmaceutical digital platforms, Slipstream combines deep therapeutic expertise with real-world regulatory experience and industry-leading technology to help rare disease companies achieve approval faster and at significantly reduced cost. Using large national databases, Slipstream also assists in site identification and recruitment for rare disease trials.

    Media Contact:
    Isabella Canuso

    Sr. Marketing Manager
    Slipstream
    Isabella.canuso@slipstream-it.com
    (609)682-1080
    www.slipstream-it.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: AI at Work: Look for employees who excel at how they learn to think, learn and adapt

    Source: Microsoft

    Headline: AI at Work: Look for employees who excel at how they learn to think, learn and adapt

    My team recently partnered with NYU Stern on a project that challenged MBA students to design Frontier Firms, with AI at their operational core. Watching the final presentations, I was impressed by how well the students used AI to help write code, craft marketing strategies, and model financial scenarios, even when they lacked deep experience or formal backgrounds in those areas. 

    Then it occurred to me: I was watching the work of “Frontier Employees”—the new and necessary talent for the AI era, whose roles aren’t defined by what they already know but by their capacity to grow and put new skills to work. We’d given them access to the latest AI and agent capabilities with Copilot, empowering them to get work done that would have previously required decades of experience and expertise. But the tools alone don’t explain their success. To leverage AI to achieve what was previously impossible, they’d demonstrated three key skills: They learned to think, learned to learn, and learned to adapt.

    I believe these will be the defining skills of the Frontier Employee, and I encourage my own four kids—who range from college years to early in career—to develop them too.  
     
    Learn to think 
    There’s a common misconception that human thinking will be devalued in the AI-driven future. In fact, when AI is abundant and businesses can access intelligence on tap, human thought becomes more essential, not less.  

    In the AI era, humans will need to demonstrate strong critical thinking skills in two distinct and equally important ways. First, you become AI’s strategist: Frontier Employees curate, critique, and refine AI outputs to ensure accuracy and alignment with business goals. While you can delegate low-stakes, low-impact work to AI, for more meaningful projects, you should treat AI as a thought partner rather than a thought dispenser.  

    Second, you become AI’s teacher. Your thinking helps make AI better, because smart input from people produces rich data that fuels the technology’s growth and effectiveness. Without this ongoing human input, AI risks stagnation or even decline. 

    At Stern, the students conceived Frontier Firms in fields from biomedical research to fintech project management. By the end, every student had developed a powerful habit: Before accepting an AI-generated answer, they asked, “What might be missing or off in this response?” before moving forward. That pause—that moment of skepticism—is where critical thinking lives. 

    Learn to learn 
    In a world where AI is constantly evolving and changing job roles, a Frontier Employee’s ability to continuously acquire new skills is more important than mastering any single tool or technique. Taking courses alone won’t get you there. It’s about cultivating a mindset of curiosity, experimentation, and resilience, and then translating that mindset to performance. Successful leaders and employees will keep pace with AI’s evolution and understand when to unlearn, or let go of outdated knowledge. 

    Most of the MBA students didn’t start the project as AI experts. But they ramped up fast. In just a few weeks, they were building entire suites of agents—digital teammates that could run market research, analyze finances, or even simulate conversations with C-suite execs to pressure-test decisions. 

    In one case, a student with no marketing background became her startup’s CMO. She worked with Copilot to create an end-to-end marketing plan, complete with messaging, web design, and a brand palette, showing how AI can democratize expertise. “Unlearning” the idea that your education or background limits, defines, or uniquely qualifies you for a role presents an existential challenge for many. But those who embrace it will discover near-boundless career opportunities.  

    Learn to adapt 
    I’ve spent most of my career working on Microsoft productivity software, and we used to ship a new version every few years. Now, we’re launching new AI capabilities every few weeks. But it’s not only the pace of change that’s accelerating. By its very nature, AI is continuously evolving, and for Frontier Employees that means operating in an environment that requires continuous adaptation. 

    As the Stern students envisioned startups from the ground up, we urged them to break from familiar workflows and imagine entirely new patterns of collaboration. Historically, all work happened either by yourself or with other humans. In Frontier Firms, you work with and manage agents. That’s a radical adaptation that raised big questions: Which tasks still require human judgment? Where can agents take the lead? And in a team of humans and agents, how does decision-making evolve?  

    The students entered the MBA program a year ago, when the idea of a Frontier Firm had barely taken off. By the time they gave their final presentations, that idea had gained real momentum and was quickly transforming how new ventures take shape. By designing Frontier Firms from scratch, by using AI as the fundamental starting point for reimagining business, these students had to let go of the assumptions they arrived with and adapt to new realities in real-time.  

    Their success shows us something important about the future of work: the people who thrive will have solid thinking skills as their foundation, the ability to keep learning, and the openness to adjust course, constantly. These are deeply human skills that have always mattered—and always will.

    For more insights on AI and the future of work, subscribe to this newsletter.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Justice Department efforts to strip citizenship from naturalized Americans likely violate constitutional rights

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Cassandra Burke Robertson, Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Professional Ethics, Case Western Reserve University

    New American citizens recite the Oath of Allegiance during a naturalization ceremony in Miami on Aug. 17, 2018. AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee

    The Trump administration wants to take away citizenship from naturalized Americans on a massive scale.

    While a recent Justice Department memo prioritizes national security cases, it directs the department to “maximally pursue denaturalization proceedings in all cases permitted by law and supported by the evidence” across 10 broad priority categories.

    Denaturalization is different from deportation, which removes noncitizens from the country. With civil denaturalization, the government files a lawsuit to strip people’s U.S. citizenship after they have become citizens, turning them back into noncitizens who can then be deported.

    The government can only do this in specific situations. It must prove someone “illegally procured” citizenship by not meeting the requirements, or that they lied or hid important facts during the citizenship process.

    The Trump administration’s “maximal enforcement” approach means pursuing any case where evidence might support taking away citizenship, regardless of priority level or strength of evidence. As our earlier research documented, this has already led to cases like that of Baljinder Singh, whose citizenship was revoked based on a name discrepancy that could easily have resulted from a translator’s error rather than intentional fraud.

    A brief history

    For most of American history, taking away citizenship has been rare. But it increased dramatically during the 1940s and 1950s during the Red Scare period characterized by intense suspicion of communism. The United States government targeted people it thought were communists or Nazi supporters. Between 1907 and 1967, over 22,000 Americans lost their citizenship this way.

    Everything changed in 1967 when the Supreme Court decided Afroyim v. Rusk. The court said the government usually cannot take away citizenship without the person’s consent. It left open only cases involving fraud during the citizenship process.

    After this decision, denaturalization became extremely rare. From 1968 to 2013, fewer than 150 people lost their citizenship, mostly war criminals who had hidden their past.

    Sen. Joseph McCarthy appears at a March 1950 hearing on his charges of communist infiltration at the State Department.
    AP Photo/Herbert K. White

    How the process works

    In criminal lawsuits, defendants get free lawyers if they can’t afford one. They get jury trials. The government must prove guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt” – the highest standard of proof.

    But in most denaturalization cases, the government files a civil suit, where none of these protections exist.

    People facing denaturalization get no free lawyer, meaning poor defendants often face the government alone. There’s no jury trial – just a judge deciding whether someone deserves to remain American. The burden of proof is lower – “clear and convincing evidence” instead of “beyond a reasonable doubt.” Most important, there’s no time limit, so the government can go back decades to build cases.

    As law professors who study citizenship, we believe this system violates basic constitutional rights.

    The Supreme Court has called citizenship a fundamental right. Chief Justice Earl Warren in 1958 described it as the “right to have rights.”

    In our reading of the law, taking away such a fundamental right through civil procedures that lack basic constitutional protection – no right to counsel for those who can’t afford it, no jury trial, and a lower burden of proof – seems to violate the due process of law required by the Constitution when the government seeks to deprive someone of their rights.

    The bigger problem is what citizenship-stripping policy does to democracy.

    When the government can strip citizenship from naturalized Americans for decades-old conduct through civil procedures with minimal due process protection – pursuing cases based on evidence that might not meet criminal standards – it undermines the security and permanence that citizenship is supposed to provide. This creates a system where naturalized citizens face ongoing vulnerability that can last their entire lives, potentially chilling their full participation in American democracy.

    The Justice Department memo establishes 10 priority categories for denaturalization cases. They range from national security threats and war crimes to various forms of fraud, financial crimes and, most importantly, any other cases it deems “sufficiently important to pursue.” This “maximal enforcement” approach means pursuing not just clear cases of fraud, but also any case where evidence might support taking away citizenship, no matter how weak or old the evidence is.

    This creates fear throughout immigrant communities.

    About 20 million naturalized Americans now must worry that any mistake in their decades-old immigration paperwork could cost them their citizenship.

    A two-tier system

    This policy effectively creates two different types of American citizens. Native-born Americans never have to worry about losing their citizenship, no matter what they do. But naturalized Americans face ongoing vulnerability that can last their entire lives.

    This has already happened. A woman who became a naturalized citizen in 2007 helped her boss with paperwork that was later used in fraud. She cooperated with the FBI investigation, was characterized by prosecutors as only a “minimal participant,” completed her sentence, and still faced losing her citizenship decades later because she didn’t report the crime on her citizenship application – even though she hadn’t been charged at the time.

    A woman receives a U.S. flag after passing her citizenship interview in Newark, N.J., on May 25, 2016.
    AP Photo/Julio Cortez

    The Justice Department’s directive to “maximally pursue” cases across 10 broad categories – combined with the first Trump administration’s efforts to review over 700,000 naturalization files – represents an unprecedented expansion of denaturalization efforts.

    The policy will almost certainly face legal challenges on constitutional grounds, but the damage may already be done. When naturalized citizens fear their status could be revoked, it undermines the security and permanence that citizenship is supposed to provide.

    The Supreme Court, in Afroyim v. Rusk, was focused on protecting existing citizens from losing their citizenship. The constitutional principle behind that decision – that citizenship is a fundamental right which can’t be arbitrarily taken away by whoever happens to be in power – applies equally to how the government handles denaturalization cases today.

    The Trump administration’s directive, combined with court procedures that lack basic constitutional protections, risks creating a system that the Afroyim v. Rusk decision sought to prevent – one where, as the Supreme Court said, “A group of citizens temporarily in office can deprive another group of citizens of their citizenship.”

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

    – ref. Justice Department efforts to strip citizenship from naturalized Americans likely violate constitutional rights – https://theconversation.com/justice-department-efforts-to-strip-citizenship-from-naturalized-americans-likely-violate-constitutional-rights-260353

    MIL OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: International students’ stories are vital in shaping Canada’s future

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Emilda Thavaratnam, PhD student, Leadership and Higher Education, University of Toronto

    Over the past decade, international students have navigated a complex and challenging landscape shaped by neoliberal policies.

    Neoliberal economic and political ideology upholds entrepreneurship, individualism, free trade, open markets, minimal government intervention and reduced public services for citizens.



    Read more:
    What exactly is neoliberalism?

    Neoliberal governance has transformed higher education into a mechanism for economic growth, shifting the burden of funding onto students.

    As my doctoral research examines, international students in Ontario’s colleges of applied arts and technology face barriers related to neoliberal restructuring. Drawing on interviews with students and front-line staff, my study examines experiences across five key themes: pre-arrival, housing insecurity, pandemic survival, precarious labour and future aspirations.

    Through these challenges, the resilience and drive of international students to build community reveal powerful forms of everyday resistance.

    This has been seen through their front-line work during the pandemic, their persistent pursuit of education and their collective efforts to challenge marginalization. Their stories are vital in shaping Canada’s social, economic and educational fabric.

    Shifts towards neoliberal education

    Since the late 1970s, higher education in Ontario and elsewhere has experienced significant changes. In the province, public funding per student has steadily declined, shifting the cost onto students, with higher educational institutions adopting models of privatization and corporatization to survive.

    Though higher education continues to serve the public good, these changes reflect a broader adaptation to the new economic realities driven by market principles.

    As David Harvey, a scholar of urban and political economy, explains, neoliberal approaches hold that economic growth and prosperity occur when markets are allowed to operate with minimal government regulation. Over time, these approaches have shaped policies and practices globally across various sectors, including education, media, corporations and international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund.

    Neoliberal policies are presented as naturally occurring or unavoidable; however, this framing prioritizes market principles over social protections and often masks the deeper political and social dynamics.

    Education as a product serving the job market

    Neoliberal values have reshaped the purpose and practice of higher education. The problem with this market-driven approach is it often prioritizes individual gain and profit over social equity and the public good. This shift aligns learning with market-oriented approaches.

    Scholars concerned with the adverse effects of neoliberal education policy highlight how education is often treated as a product designed to serve economic interests, with measurable outcomes and links to the job market becoming the primary focus.

    This shift is evident when policymakers and institutions prioritize competition, performance, metrics and individual achievement — often at the expense of collaboration, critical thinking and shared goals.

    COVID-19 pandemic

    The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the effects of neoliberal ideology in higher education, revealing both the precarity of post-secondary finance and living conditions for many international students.



    Read more:
    The pandemic exposed the vulnerability of international students in Canada

    When colleges and universities faced pandemic closures and uncertain enrolment, international students came under scrutiny as learners who pay high fees. They contribute more than $21 billion annually to the Canadian economy and pay an average of five times more than domestic students.

    It also became clear that international students make significant contributions to Canada by working on the front lines in sectors such as health care, long-term care and food supply chains.

    At the same time, this situation revealed broader tendencies rooted in the neoliberal market logic.

    During the pandemic, the federal government acknowledged how it has positioned international students as a flexible, commodified labour resource integral to the Canadian economy and essential services. For example, in April 2020, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada announced it would “temporarily lift the 20 hour per week work restriction on study permit holders working off-campus during their academic session, provided they are working in an essential service or function.”

    While international student contributions are vital, this framing begs deeper questions around the protection of international students’ labour rights, student well-being and potential exploitation.

    Housing, food insecurity, high tuition

    Before the pandemic, many international students struggled with housing, food insecurity and tuition payments due to work restrictions and financial constraints.

    With the current cap in place as of 2024, it’s ironic that international students have been treated as both “essential” and “disposable” simultaneously.

    Despite facing housing insecurity, food shortages and inaccessible health care, international students have continued to demonstrate their resilience and resistance. Their efforts extend beyond individual acts of survival.

    Post-pandemic protest

    International students have also organized petitions, protests and advocacy campaigns to challenge unjust policies.

    For example, in November 2022, hundreds of students (domestic and international) rallied at the Ontario legislature in Toronto under the banner “Need or Greed.” A coalition of student associations representing 120,000 students united to protest.

    The protests were partly a response to unfair and unpredictable jumps in already high tuition fees for international students: the average undergraduate international tuition fees in Ontario rose from about $35,000 to just under $50,000 between 2018 and 2025. The coalition urged the provincial government and Colleges Ontario to freeze tuition for international students.

    Following these efforts, nationwide protests erupted in August 2024 when 70,000 international student graduates faced possible deportation due to tightened immigration rules. Students set up encampments outside the Prince Edward Island legislative assembly for three months to protest the 25 per cent cut in permanent resident nominations, which left many students in limbo.

    A notable aspect of this activism was the solidarity shown from labour organizations and people across the country. Laura Walton, president of the Ontario Federation of Labour, joined the protests in solidarity, stating: “Your right is our fight.”

    The Naujawaan Support Network, an advocacy group for youth and international students based in Brampton, Ont., issued a statement declaring:“International students are not the cause of the crisis, but we are being made into scapegoats.”



    Read more:
    International students cap falsely blames them for Canada’s housing and health-care woes

    Power of collective organizing

    Collective organizing and calls for action are powerful acts of resistance that transcend the neoliberal ideology of individualism. Through petitions and protests, international students demonstrate a profound commitment to their education and aspirations.

    As Canada continues to welcome international students, and post-secondary institutions, governments and public sector organizations navigate turbulent economic times, it’s essential to uphold the rights of international students.

    It’s also essential to provide the support necessary for them to succeed and affirm their value as vital members of the community.

    International students’ resilience offers a valuable lesson about the human capacity to reframe challenges and persist. Students and citizens across the country have a role in celebrating their contributions and building bridges to foster more resilient communities.

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

    – ref. International students’ stories are vital in shaping Canada’s future – https://theconversation.com/international-students-stories-are-vital-in-shaping-canadas-future-258271

    MIL OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Gene-edited pigs may soon enter the Canadian market, but questions about their impact remain

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Gwendolyn Blue, Professor, University of Calgary

    The Canadian government is currently considering approving the entry of gene-edited pigs into the food system.

    Using CRISPR gene-editing technology, genetic changes can be created precisely and efficiently without introducing foreign genetic material. If approved, these pigs would be the first gene-edited food animals available for sale in Canadian markets. My research examines how including the public in decision-making around emerging applications of genomics can help mitigate potential harms.

    These pigs are resistant to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS), a horrible and sometimes fatal disease that affects pigs worldwide. PRRS has significant economic, food security and animal welfare implications.



    Read more:
    What is gene editing and how could it shape our future?

    The United States Food and Drug Administration recently greenlit the commercial production of gene-edited pigs. Will the Canadian government follow suit?

    AquAdvantage and EnviroPig

    In 2016, Canada approved the first transgenic animal for human consumption — an Atlantic salmon called AquAdvantage salmon that contains DNA from other species of fish.

    This approval came more than 25 years after the genetically modified fish was created by scientists at Memorial University in Newfoundland. The approval and commercialization of AquAdvantage salmon faced strong public opposition on both sides of the border, including protests, supermarket boycotts and court battles. In 2024, the company that produced AquAdvantage salmon announced that it was shutting down its operations.



    Read more:
    The science and politics of genetically engineered salmon: 5 questions answered

    In 2012, the Canadian government approved the manufacture of a transgenic pig known by its trade name, EnviroPig. Created by scientists at the University of Guelph, EnviroPigs released less phosphorus than conventionally bred pigs.

    EnviroPig did not make it to market; the same year, the University of Guelph ended the EnviroPig project. Funding for the project had been suspended, in part because of consumer concerns.

    Government regulation

    Some researchers argue that government regulation of gene-edited animals should be less restrictive than for transgenic techniques. Gene editing introduces genetic changes that can occur with conventional animal breeding that is not subject to regulation. Gene-edited crops in Canada are treated the same as conventionally bred crops.

    Others insist that stringent government regulation is necessary for gene editing to identify potential problems and ensure that laws keep up with industry and scientific ambition. Regulation plays a vital role in minimizing risk, encouraging public involvement and building trust.

    Social science research has, for decades, demonstrated that resistance to biotechnology is not because of the public’s lack of knowledge, as is often argued by biotechnology proponents. Public resistance to biotechnology is better understood as a rejection of potential harms imposed by governments and industry without public input and consent.

    Ethical, moral, cultural and political concerns

    At present, little opportunity exists for public engagement in Canadian assessments of gene-edited animals.

    Similar to the U.S., Canada does not have specific gene technology regulation. Rather, the federal government relies on pre-existing environmental and food safety legislation. Canadian regulatory agencies use a risk, novelty and product-based approach to assess animal biotechnology. From a regulatory standpoint, distinctions between technical processes — like transgenic modification versus gene editing — are less important than the safety of the final product.

    The Canadian government has recently updated its federal environmental and health regulations. This includes introducing mandatory public consultations for animals (vertebrates, specifically) created using biotechnology.

    Even with these changes, there’s still room for improvement. Public engagement is limited to consultations conducted within a short time frame. Interested parties are invited to provide scientific information about potential risks of animal biotechnology to human health or the environment, but comments that address ethical, moral, cultural or political concerns are not taken into consideration.

    More broadly, regulatory and academic debates about the gene editing of animals are largely informed by scientists and industry proponents with considerably less input from the public, Indigenous communities and social sciences and humanities researchers.

    Consulting the public

    From a social standpoint, the process by which gene editing is assessed matters as much as the safety of the final product. Inclusive public engagement is essential to ensure that the production of gene-edited food animals aligns with societal needs and values.

    Reactions to gene technologies are based on underlying values and beliefs, and sustained opportunities for public reflection and deliberation are vital for responsible innovation.

    Important questions should be addressed: Who will reap the benefits of gene-editing techniques? Who will bear the costs and harms? What are the potential implications, including hard-to-anticipate social and political changes? How should decision-making proceed to ensure that Canadians have sufficient opportunities for input?

    Currently, for the gene-edited pigs, members of the public can submit comments to the government until July 20, 2025.

    Public reactions to previous biotech food animals in Canada — including AquAdvantage salmon and the EnviroPig — show that lack of inclusive engagement can contribute to the rejection of animal biotechnology.

    Gwendolyn Blue receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. She is a member of Gene Editing for Food Security and Environmental Sustainability, a multi-university consortium based at McGill University, and funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

    – ref. Gene-edited pigs may soon enter the Canadian market, but questions about their impact remain – https://theconversation.com/gene-edited-pigs-may-soon-enter-the-canadian-market-but-questions-about-their-impact-remain-260627

    MIL OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Returning to the office isn’t the answer to Canada’s productivity problem — and it will add pressure to urban housing

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Dilara Baysal, Research Fellow in Sociology, Concordia University

    As companies face pressure to increase productivity, many are calling workers back to the office — even though there is limited evidence that return-to-office policies actually improve innovation or performance.

    In cities like Toronto and Vancouver, where many major companies are headquartered, this is putting pressure on people to live near expensive downtown areas.

    As of April 2025, average one-bedroom rents were $2,317 in Toronto and $2,536 in Vancouver, with North Vancouver even higher at $2,680. If return-to-office policies continue, more workers may be forced into these pricey city centres, adding pressure to already overheated housing markets.

    Since early 2025, return-to-office policies have added to Canada’s housing stress. The Royal Bank of Canada, for instance, now requires staff in the office four days a week, and Amazon ended remote work in January. While rents haven’t jumped yet, similar policies in the U.S. have already pushed up demand, and may be a sign of what’s to come.

    In Washington, D.C., rents rose 3.3 per cent after federal employees were called back to offices. Cities like New York and San Francisco also saw rent increases linked to companies like JPMorgan Chase, Meta and Salesforce reversed remote work policies.

    The myth of office productivity

    According to the Bank of Canada, Canada’s economy is being negatively affected by low productivity. Low productivity slows Canada’s economic growth and keeps wages low. It also makes inflation worse because supply can’t keep up with demand. A productive economy meets demand more easily, keeping prices stable.

    In response, many companies are pushing return-to-office as the answer. RBC CEO Dave McKay endorsed a return to the office back in 2023, saying that “the absence of working together” has hurt innovation and productivity.

    At Google, under mounting pressure to compete in artificial intelligence, co-founder Sergey Brin also pushed for full-time office work, calling a 60-hour week the “sweet spot” for productivity.

    But recent research shows the story isn’t so simple. A University of Chicago working paper found that strict return-to-office rules can cause senior staff to leave, which hurts innovation.



    Read more:
    Working one day a week in person might be the key to happier, more productive employees

    Another study of 48,000 knowledge workers in India found that hybrid setups — where some people are in the office and others work from home — can make it harder to share ideas and work together.

    Meanwhile, a Stanford-led study found that working in the office just two days a week kept productivity strong and cut employee turnover by 33 per cent.

    The determinants of productivity and their underlying factors. These determinants connect across industries, businesses and places.
    (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development), CC BY

    Where people live matters more

    Return-to-office mandates also aren’t a guaranteed way to boost productivity. A 2023 study supported by housing organizations across Canada found that affordable, well-located housing helps people find better jobs and specialize in their work.

    But when housing costs are high and commutes are long, productivity drops, especially for lower-income workers. Long commutes and high living costs create stress, limit mobility and cause people to miss out on job opportunities.

    Studies show that investing in technology and training workers matters much more. Research from the Canadian Research Data Centre Network finds that workplace training improves productivity in most sectors.

    A recent report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation also shows that high housing costs make it harder for many people to live in big cities, which ultimately reduces diversity in the workforce and weakens the economy.

    Affordable housing could boost productivity

    Housing in Canada is often viewed in two ways. One treats it as a commodity, where prices follow supply and demand. In this view, policies focus on increasing supply and offering market incentives. The other sees housing as a public need and a basic right, and calls for government action to ensure affordability and stability.



    Read more:
    Housing is both a human right and a profitable asset, and that’s the problem

    In practice, market forces can undermine policies designed to meet housing needs and ensure affordability. In Toronto, for example, developers resisted inclusionary zoning rules that require or encourage developers to include a certain percentage of affordable housing units within new residential developments. Instead, they delayed projects or chose to build high-end condos in different zones.

    This tension between housing as a commodity and housing as a public good is central to Canada’s current housing strategy. Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government has pledged to build 500,000 new homes annually by 2035 using tools like public lands, modular housing and tax incentives.

    While this supply-focused strategy targets long-term housing needs, it must also account for today’s complex economic realities such as inflation, increasing unemployment and economic stagnation due to lagging productiviy.

    Without tackling affordability and access directly, building more homes alone won’t be enough.

    Rising home prices and rents have played a major role in driving inflation. In Canada’s Consumer Price Index, shelter makes up about 29 per cent of overall household spending.
    (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development), CC BY

    The real foundation of a productive economy

    Return-to-office policies often focus too much on one thing: how much each worker produces. But that narrow view of productivity ignores what really supports good work: access to affordable housing, time for training and flexibility to relocate for better job opportunities.

    To address productivity challenges, companies should invest in job-specific training, digital skills and ongoing learning to help employees adapt to new tools and processes, and the should offer more flexibility. What workers need most are affordable homes, shorter commutes and real opportunities to grow — not added stress and rising costs.

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

    – ref. Returning to the office isn’t the answer to Canada’s productivity problem — and it will add pressure to urban housing – https://theconversation.com/returning-to-the-office-isnt-the-answer-to-canadas-productivity-problem-and-it-will-add-pressure-to-urban-housing-260395

    MIL OSI –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Reps. Castro, Ciscomani and Senators Gillibrand, Collins Reintroduce Bipartisan Bill to Strengthen Early Childhood Education Workforce

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Joaquin Castro (20th District of Texas)

    July 10, 2025

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20) and Congressman Juan Ciscomani (AZ-06) reintroduced the Head Start for Our Future Act, bipartisan legislation that would make child development and early education jobs eligible as community services under the Federal Work-Study program. By allowing schools to offer students opportunities in working in child development and early learning services, students attending college and universities will get firsthand experience in one of the most important jobs in the country – educating our nation’s youngest minds.

    “We can strengthen the infrastructure of opportunity for future generations by expanding the Federal Work-Study program to improve educational outcomes for young children and build a stronger pipeline of future teachers,” said Congressman Castro. “The Head Start for Our Future Act will help university students earn real-world, paid experience as early childhood educators, benefiting both our children and those who teach them.”

    “As a dad of six, I fully understand the critical role early childhood development programs play in the lives of students and families,” said Congressman Ciscomani. “Arizona has 22 Head Start programs across 500 locations and they have proven to be essential to opening the doors of opportunity and helping our kids realize their dreams. The Head Start for Our Future Act builds on that track record of success by improving the early educator pipeline and empowering university students to gain hands-on experience as early childhood education teachers in the real world. This bill will be a game changer.”

    “Head Start is an investment in our future that helps make sure that every child has the support and services they need to thrive,” said Senator Gillibrand. “My Head Start for Our Future Act would help build the robust workforce needed to support early childhood development, while empowering college students to gain valuable hands-on experience and make a real contribution in their communities. I look forward to working to get this important legislation across the finish line.”

    “By further integrating college students into Head Start and Early Head Start programs, we not only help create opportunities for those students, but also provide a stronger foundation for the early development and education of future generations,” said Senator Collins. “This bipartisan bill aims to empower students to make meaningful contributions in their communities, while better ensuring that more children receive a quality introduction to the world of learning.”

    “The Head Start for Our Future Act takes an important step toward strengthening the early childhood education workforce by providing an opportunity for college students to gain direct, hands-on experience in Head Start and other early learning settings,” said Yasmina Vinci, Executive Director of the National Head Start Association. “By expanding Federal Work-Study to include child development and early learning, including Head Start, this legislation helps build a stronger pipeline of skilled educators, supports students pursuing meaningful careers, and addresses staffing shortages that impact children and families nationwide, advancing a solution that helps ensure continued access to high-quality early learning in communities across the country.”

    The bill is endorsed by the National Head Start Association, the School Superintendents Association, and Association of Educational Service Agencies.

    Read the Head Start for Our Future Act here.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Rep. Sara Jacobs Introduces Landmark Bill to Decrease Her Inheritance to Fund Affordable Child Care

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Sara Jacobs (D-CA-53)

    July 10, 2025

    Following Republicans’ passage of a budget that slashes the social safety net for children and families to pay for a bigger tax cut for the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations, Rep. Sara Jacobs (CA-51) introduced legislation to do the opposite: raise more funds from the estate tax to pay for affordable child care. The LEGACY Act, or the Leveraging Estate Gains for America’s Children and Youth Act, would cut the newly passed federal estate tax exemption by more than half to $7 million and dedicate 15 percent of the generated revenue to address the nation’s ongoing child care crisis. The LEGACY Act, if passed, would decrease the inheritance of Rep. Sara Jacobs – one of the wealthiest Members of Congress – and of her future children.

    Rep. Sara Jacobs said: “Wealthy families like mine didn’t build our wealth alone, and we shouldn’t hoard the benefits of success that’s not only ours. I believe it’s our responsibility to fix the systems that worked for us – but leave too many people in poverty or on the edges of poverty while corporate profits and income inequality skyrocket. The answer isn’t what Republicans proposed in their budget: to gut the social safety net so rich people can get a bigger tax break. That’s why I introduced the LEGACY Act, which would lower the estate tax exemption for wealthy people like me so we can give all kids the foundation they need. It shouldn’t be predetermined at birth whether or not a child can grow up happy, healthy, and with endless opportunities – and by expanding child care to all, we can help all kids succeed and build and leave behind their own legacy.”

    Erin S. Erenberg, Chief Executive Officer, Chamber of Mothers said: “Chamber of Mothers pools the will of 40 million mothers monthly in 43 state chapters nationwide to urge lawmakers to pass paid leave, affordable childcare, and maternal health legislation. We know that the lack of affordable childcare costs the US economy an estimated $122 billion annually. And yet, the question remains in nearly every Congressional office we visit: How will we pay for it? Congresswoman Sara Jacobs offers a smart, creative, solutions-driven answer. Her proposal would direct 15% of tax revenue from high-value estates toward easing the childcare burden on American families. Time and again, we hear bipartisan interest in using the tax code to relieve the burden on mothers and families. We’re proud to support this thoughtful and innovative approach.”

    “With our country facing a child care crisis that’s causing enormous hardship for moms, families, businesses, and our economy, and child care costing more than public college in most states, we urgently need more federal funding to make quality, affordable care available to every family that needs it,” said Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, Executive Director and CEO of MomsRising. “Using revenues from estate taxes to stabilize and bolster our child care system – and to make it possible to pay child care workers living wages – would strengthen the child care workforce, allow more moms and parents to hold jobs, help kids thrive, and make it possible for more of us to contribute to our communities. That’s why MomsRising supports the LEGACY Act. We thank Rep. Sara Jacobs for introducing it and urge leaders in both chambers to prioritize its passage. We need measures like this one that support moms and working families, not more tax breaks for billionaires!”

    “Since 2017, Trump and his billionaire-backed congressional allies have declared war on the estate tax, limiting its scope and percentage so the ultra-wealthy can funnel millions and billions to their children without paying their fair share of taxes as Congressional Republicans cut healthcare, nutrition, and education programs for middle and working-class children across the country,” said ATF Executive Director David Kass. “We applaud Representative Jacobs for introducing legislation that makes our broken tax code fairer while investing in future generations of Americans.”

    The LEGACY (Leveraging Estate Gains for America’s Children and Youth) Act would: 

    • Amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to create an Early Childhood Education Trust Fund through the transfer of 15% of revenue generated from the estate tax 
    • Require funds to be used as a third revenue source to supplement the Child Care Development Fund 
    • Require 25% of the trust be used for “stabilization” grants to address the supply-side of the child care crisis 
    • Adjust and lower the current estate tax threshold to inflation, almost half of what was passed in the Republicans’ budget bill

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: NREL Modeling Shows Geothermal and Borehole Thermal Energy Storage Can Reliably Heat Buildings in Extreme Cold

    Source: US National Renewable Energy Laboratory

    New Study Demonstrates Efficient Performance—Even on Frozen Alaska Soils

    Anaktuvuk Pass, Alaska, in winter. Photo by Molly Rettig, NREL

    New energy storage research from NREL, a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory, has demonstrated a way to store and reuse heat underground to meet the heating demands of cold regions like Alaska.

    Published on June 17 in the journal Energy & Buildings, the feasibility study examined a 20-year period in which borehole thermal energy storage (BTES)—a system that stores heating or cooling energy underground—could reliably supply heating to two U.S. Department of Defense buildings in Fairbanks, Alaska.

    Through building energy usage and system performance modeling, researchers show how waste heat from a nearby coal plant could be captured during summer months, stored underground, and then drawn on in the winter to warm the buildings via geothermal heat pumps (GHPs).

    The analysis was led by Hyunjun Oh, a geothermal research engineer in NREL’s thermal energy science and technologies research group, in collaboration with researchers Conor Dennehy, Saqib Javed, and Robbin Garber-Slaght at NREL’s Alaska Campus. NREL’s Applied Research for Communities in Extreme Environments program is a nonprofit, industry-based initiative dedicated to advancing extreme energy efficiency, building science, and socioeconomic research for communities in Alaska and the broader Circumpolar North. The project was also in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory.

    BTES relies on a network of narrow holes drilled vertically underground, known as boreholes, which act as a rechargeable battery for heat. During warmer months, waste heat can be pumped into the boreholes, where it is insulated by surrounding soil and rock until it is needed. In the winter, circulating pumps move a water-antifreeze solution through the boreholes to pick up stored heat and deliver it to the building’s geothermal heat pump. Rather than extracting heat from cold outdoor air, the heat pump uses this warmer fluid to efficiently transfer heat into the building’s heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system.

    NREL researchers modeled the heating and cooling demands of the cold-climate buildings using EnergyPlus software and found that the annual heating demand was 5.6 times higher than the cooling demand—an imbalance typical of climates like Alaska’s, where winters are long and cold and summers are short and mild.

    To meet this heating load, the team predesigned a system of 40 boreholes at a depth of 91 meters located about 100 meters away from the buildings, in alignment with regulatory guidelines and nearby land availability. They then modeled the 20-year performance of the BTES system, running simulations for two scenarios: one in which the ground subsurface was preheated for five years using a hot water injection before supplying heat to the buildings and one without preheating.

    In both scenarios, wells at the center of the borehole field produced about one-third more thermal energy than those on the outer edges, likely because the outer wells lost heat to the surrounding ground. This finding offers insight into how borehole fields can be better designed and insulated for more balanced energy distribution.

    Additionally, systems that underwent preheating before regular use showed even better performance, with higher underground temperatures and greater thermal energy production during the first eight years of operation compared to systems without preheating.

    Altogether, the results point toward BTES as a reliable heating solution in cold climates, helping communities capture waste heat and use energy more efficiently.

    Oh said that, while there have been extensive case studies validating GHP performance in cold regions of Europe, this is one of the first to show the potential of GHPs connected to BTES in the United States.

    “This paper demonstrates that even cold subsurface conditions—like those in Alaska, where 50% to 90% of the ground has permafrost—can be used for heating,” Oh said. “A geothermal heat pump system can supply higher efficiency if we consider seasonal or storage-system-integrated operations.”

    The study also showed that the local subsurface in Fairbanks is well suited for other kinds of geothermal systems, too. The research team used thermal response tests and previous literature to estimate the geothermal gradient—the rate at which temperature increases with depth—at about 27.9 degrees Celsius per kilometer.

    This gradient allows usable heat to be accessed at relatively shallow depths underground, making it a candidate for direct use or a future distributed energy system, Oh said.

    As this study was intended to assess the practicality of BTES and GHP at a specific location in Fairbanks, the team recommends comprehensive future analyses that go beyond the scenarios described here to better tailor energy systems to local conditions and available waste heat sources.

    The study, “Techno-Economic Feasibility of Borehole Thermal Energy Storage System connected to Geothermal Heat Pumps for Seasonal Heating Load of Two Buildings in Fairbanks, Alaska,” was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Geothermal Technologies Office and the U.S Department of Defense Environmental Security Technology Certification Program.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: NREL Modeling Shows Geothermal and Borehole Thermal Energy Storage Can Reliably Heat Buildings in Extreme Cold

    Source: US National Renewable Energy Laboratory

    New Study Demonstrates Efficient Performance—Even on Frozen Alaska Soils

    Anaktuvuk Pass, Alaska, in winter. Photo by Molly Rettig, NREL

    New energy storage research from NREL, a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory, has demonstrated a way to store and reuse heat underground to meet the heating demands of cold regions like Alaska.

    Published on June 17 in the journal Energy & Buildings, the feasibility study examined a 20-year period in which borehole thermal energy storage (BTES)—a system that stores heating or cooling energy underground—could reliably supply heating to two U.S. Department of Defense buildings in Fairbanks, Alaska.

    Through building energy usage and system performance modeling, researchers show how waste heat from a nearby coal plant could be captured during summer months, stored underground, and then drawn on in the winter to warm the buildings via geothermal heat pumps (GHPs).

    The analysis was led by Hyunjun Oh, a geothermal research engineer in NREL’s thermal energy science and technologies research group, in collaboration with researchers Conor Dennehy, Saqib Javed, and Robbin Garber-Slaght at NREL’s Alaska Campus. NREL’s Applied Research for Communities in Extreme Environments program is a nonprofit, industry-based initiative dedicated to advancing extreme energy efficiency, building science, and socioeconomic research for communities in Alaska and the broader Circumpolar North. The project was also in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory.

    BTES relies on a network of narrow holes drilled vertically underground, known as boreholes, which act as a rechargeable battery for heat. During warmer months, waste heat can be pumped into the boreholes, where it is insulated by surrounding soil and rock until it is needed. In the winter, circulating pumps move a water-antifreeze solution through the boreholes to pick up stored heat and deliver it to the building’s geothermal heat pump. Rather than extracting heat from cold outdoor air, the heat pump uses this warmer fluid to efficiently transfer heat into the building’s heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system.

    NREL researchers modeled the heating and cooling demands of the cold-climate buildings using EnergyPlus software and found that the annual heating demand was 5.6 times higher than the cooling demand—an imbalance typical of climates like Alaska’s, where winters are long and cold and summers are short and mild.

    To meet this heating load, the team predesigned a system of 40 boreholes at a depth of 91 meters located about 100 meters away from the buildings, in alignment with regulatory guidelines and nearby land availability. They then modeled the 20-year performance of the BTES system, running simulations for two scenarios: one in which the ground subsurface was preheated for five years using a hot water injection before supplying heat to the buildings and one without preheating.

    In both scenarios, wells at the center of the borehole field produced about one-third more thermal energy than those on the outer edges, likely because the outer wells lost heat to the surrounding ground. This finding offers insight into how borehole fields can be better designed and insulated for more balanced energy distribution.

    Additionally, systems that underwent preheating before regular use showed even better performance, with higher underground temperatures and greater thermal energy production during the first eight years of operation compared to systems without preheating.

    Altogether, the results point toward BTES as a reliable heating solution in cold climates, helping communities capture waste heat and use energy more efficiently.

    Oh said that, while there have been extensive case studies validating GHP performance in cold regions of Europe, this is one of the first to show the potential of GHPs connected to BTES in the United States.

    “This paper demonstrates that even cold subsurface conditions—like those in Alaska, where 50% to 90% of the ground has permafrost—can be used for heating,” Oh said. “A geothermal heat pump system can supply higher efficiency if we consider seasonal or storage-system-integrated operations.”

    The study also showed that the local subsurface in Fairbanks is well suited for other kinds of geothermal systems, too. The research team used thermal response tests and previous literature to estimate the geothermal gradient—the rate at which temperature increases with depth—at about 27.9 degrees Celsius per kilometer.

    This gradient allows usable heat to be accessed at relatively shallow depths underground, making it a candidate for direct use or a future distributed energy system, Oh said.

    As this study was intended to assess the practicality of BTES and GHP at a specific location in Fairbanks, the team recommends comprehensive future analyses that go beyond the scenarios described here to better tailor energy systems to local conditions and available waste heat sources.

    The study, “Techno-Economic Feasibility of Borehole Thermal Energy Storage System connected to Geothermal Heat Pumps for Seasonal Heating Load of Two Buildings in Fairbanks, Alaska,” was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Geothermal Technologies Office and the U.S Department of Defense Environmental Security Technology Certification Program.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Governor Kehoe Signs Legislation into Law Promoting Economic Development

    Source: US State of Missouri

    JULY 10, 2025

    Jefferson City — Today, at bill signing ceremonies in St. Louis, Governor Mike Kehoe signed House Bills (HB) 199 and 1041 into law.

    Governor Kehoe joined St. Louis local business and community leaders and elected officials at Union Station to sign HB 199, which allows a special entertainment district to be established in downtown St. Louis. The legislation, sponsored by Representative Bill Falkner and Senator David Gregory, also modifies over 30 additional provisions relating to political subdivisions.

    • Allows the St. Charles Conventions and Sports Facilities Authority to receive a state tax incremental financing (TIF) district without first having a local TIF.
    • Allows Benton, Camden, Miller, and Morgan counties, as well as the City of Lake Ozark, to establish entertainment districts.
    • Extends eligibility to the St. Louis Port Authority for the Waterways and Ports Trust Fund.
    • Clarifies that the Kansas City Mayor must appoint commissioners to the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority from candidate panels submitted by the Clay or Platte County Commissions when their respective seats on the board become vacant.
    • Enables the establishment of a Clay County Sports Complex Authority, with similar powers and processes to those of the Jackson County Sports Complex Authority.

    “I’m proud to be born and raised in St. Louis and remain committed to revitalizing downtown,” said Governor Kehoe. “This special entertainment district marks a new chapter for business and community leaders to promote tourism, public safety, and economic growth in St. Louis.”

    At Anheuser-Busch’s St. Louis Brewery, Governor Kehoe joined Missouri brewers from across the state to sign Representative Dane Diehl’s and Senator Kurtis Gregory’s HB 1041, which modifies regulations for alcoholic beverages.

    • Reduces the malt liquor tax from $1.86 per barrel to $0.62 per barrel for all malt liquors produced at American Breweries.
    • Expands current law to allow wine, beer, malt liquor, and spirits to be donated by manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, and unlicensed persons to charitable or religious organizations and educational institutions for auction or raffle.
    • Expands current law to allow cash rebate coupons for wine and liquor sales.
    • Increases revenues deposited into the Missouri Wine and Grape Fund from $0.12/gallon of wine sold to $0.21/gallon, allowing the Missouri Wine and Grape Board to use the additional revenue to support the University of Missouri’s Grape and Wine Institute.
    • Allows entities licensed to sell liquor by the drink for consumption on their licensed premises to be open 24 hours a day and serve alcohol from 6 a.m. to 5 a.m. the following day during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

    “We are proud to sign this legislation today, rightly branded as the American Beer Act, to help support and strengthen Missouri breweries, farmers, suppliers, and retailers who brew and sell American beer,” said Governor Kehoe. “Our state has a long history of being home to some of the best brewers in the nation, and by taking this action today to support breweries at a state level, Missouri is setting an example of supporting companies that are investing in American manufacturing, jobs, and communities.”

    For more information on the legislation and additional provisions signed into law, visit house.mo.gov and senate.mo.gov. Photos from the bill signing will be uploaded to Governor Kehoe’s Flickr page. Additional bill signings will continue to take place over the next several days. For more information on the bill signings, view Governor Kehoe’s schedule.

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) road engineers and transport experts conduct working field visit to Dakar-Diamniadio-Thies highway & Dakar Ter

    Source: APO

    The ECOWAS Commission, as part of the final technical review workshop for the Praia-Dakar-Abidjan Corridor Technical Studies, conducted Regional Road Engineers and Transport Experts drawn from ECOWAS Member States to a day’s field visit to the financing, operations and maintenance of major road and rail infrastructure projects in Senegal on the 28th of June,2025.

    The visits to “Train Express Régional” TER Dakar Railway Service, and the Dakar-Diamniadio-Thies Highway forms part of efforts by the ECOWAS Commission to tap on home-grown expertise and solutions as it works with Member States to implement major regional corridor highway and railway projects. It also to ensure a critical mass of like-minded professionals to support the uniform development of Transport Infrastructure in the region, through experience sharing from regional models in infrastructure financing and operations as successfully implemented by the Senegalese Government.

    The 36km TER Dakar urban railway service has 13 stations with 15 dual-mode 4-car trains has gradually become a key complementary mode for peri-urban commuters from urban settlements around Dakar for their daily trips. Experts boarded the train for firsthand experience of the service and discussed key areas in operations, signalization, scheduling, maintenance and deliberate policies to encourage local skill and capacity development in rail operations railway services. Other areas visited were the railway operations room, maintenance center, terminals and related facilities. Experiences gathered also covered design of systems, revenue collection and management and general operations of modern urban railway service.

    Participants also visited the Dakar-Diamniadio concession highway, and the Diamniadio-Thies Highways which presents similar design and operational specifications for the key regional supra-national corridor highways such as the Dakar-Abidjan and Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Highways. The visit covered sections of the Highway, toll stations and traffic monitoring centers and the offices of the Concessionaires. Discussions centered on design principles, elements and financing models. Valuable lessons were learnt on local expertise development, traffic surveillance, operations of the Highway, road safety, tolling and revenue management. Particular notice was made of the predominance of local experts, local content and the use of home-grown project finance arrangements, using Public-Private financing options.

    These major infrastructure projects highlighted the potential of regional, the home-grown initiatives adopted to address the financing gap in infrastructure development and the local expertise development to sustain operations. The railway service and highways connecting the city of Dakar and inland destinations provide very options for urban mobility, job opportunities for the youth and contribute immensely to economic development.

    The visits formed part of the validation workshop of the Praia-Dakar-Abidjan Projects Corridor and presented several hands-on experiences to be considered for major regional transport infrastructure projects, as well as similar national peri-urban mass transportation initiatives.

    Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

    Media files

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    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Superman wasn’t always so squeaky clean – in early comics he was a radical vigilante

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By John Caro, Principal Lecturer, Film and Media, University of Portsmouth

    Superman was the very first superhero. He debuted in Action Comics issue #1 which was released in June 1938. Over time, the character has been assigned multiple nicknames: “The Man of Steel”, “The Man of Tomorrow” and “The Big Blue Boy Scout”. However, in his first appearance in ravaged Depression-era America, the byline used to announce Superman’s debut was: “The Champion of the Oppressed”.

    Created by the sons of Jewish immigrants, writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, Superman is an example of youthful male wish fulfilment: an all-powerful figure dressed like a circus strong man, who uses brawn to right wrongs. However, Siegel and Shuster’s initial version of the character was a more flawed character.

    Appearing in a 1933 fanzine, Siegel’s prose story The Reign of the Superman with accompanying illustrations by Shuster, featured a reckless scientist whose hubris is punished when he creates the telepathic “super man” by experimenting on a drifter plucked from the poverty lines. Echoing Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the creator is dispatched by his creation.

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    Siegel and Shuster had some early success selling stories to National Allied Publications, the forerunner of DC Comics. At this time, comic books were mainly collections of newspaper cartoons – the “funnies” – pasted together to create more portable anthologies. They featured the escapades of characters like Popeye and Little Orphan Annie.

    Inspired by the heroic tales of derring do of pulp fiction adventurers such as Johnston McCulley’s Zorro (1919) and Philip Wylie’s 1930 science fiction novel Gladiator, Siegel and Shuster further developed their Superman character. They transformed him into a hero and added the now familiar cape and “S” logo.

    Having no luck selling their superhero to the newspapers, they eventually sold the rights to Superman to DC Comics, where Superman achieved huge success. Within a year, there was a syndicated newspaper strip and a spin-off Superman comic book featuring the first superhero with their own exclusive title. Along with extensive merchandising, there was a 1940 radio show, followed by an animation series in 1941, with the inevitable live action serial in 1948.

    In this early example of a property crossing multiple media platforms, Superman’s apparent appeal lay with the fantastical aspects, as he battled mad scientists, criminal masterminds and giant dinosaurs.

    But in the early issues, Superman’s enemies were noticeably more earthbound and reflected the concerns of an audience reeling from the effects of the Great Depression. In an early story, War in Sante Monte, Superman confronts a corrupt Washington lobbyist, Alex Greer, who is bribing a greedy senator. It transpires that Greer represents an arms dealer who is profiteering by manipulating both sides in an overseas war.

    In a later tale, Superman Battles Death Underground, our hero challenges the owner of a dangerous mine who is cutting corners with safety precautions.

    In 1932 Siegel’s father, a tailor, died following the attempted robbery of the family shop – so it is no surprise that Superman had a low tolerance for crime and its causes. In the story Superman in the Slums, dated January 1939, the social commentary is plain. When teenager Frankie Marello is sentenced to reform school, Superman acknowledges the impact of the boy’s social environment:

    It’s these slums – your poor living conditions – if there was only some way I could remedy it!

    His solution is to raze the dilapidated buildings to the ground, forcing the authorities to replace them with modern cheap-rental apartments. In creating new construction work, here is Superman’s extreme version of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal.

    In the 1998 forward to Superman: The Action Comics Archives Volume 2, former DC Comics editor Paul Kupperberg comments this is a Superman “who fought (mainly) guys in suits out to screw over the little guy”. The form that the fight took is of interest, for this Superman has no time for niceties or due process, as he gleefully intimidates and bullies anyone who gets in his way.

    A man caught beating his wife is thrown into a wall and warned that there is plenty more where that came from. The corrupt lobbyist is dangled over power cables until he reveals who he is working for. Any police officers that attempt to obstruct Superman’s personal quest for justice are brushed aside with annoyance.

    Refining Superman

    Through his appearances on mainstream radio and cinema, Superman softened and became more patient. In popular culture, concerns about the depression and social injustice shifted to efforts to encourage a national consensus as the United States moved to a war footing in the early 1940s.

    Post-war, there were occasional returns to the more radical interpretations of Superman, but generally it is the clean cut, fantastical Big Blue Boy Scout perception of the character that has dominated.

    The new Superman film appears to be maintaining that image. In the trailer, actor David Corenswet’s Superman tackles various super-villains and a destructive Kaiju (a Godzilla-like skyscraper-sized monster) – although there is the suggestion that behind them all is the corrupt industrialist, Lex Luthor.

    The trailer for the latest Superman film.

    Fittingly, it is in the pages of comic books that a more progressive, militant representation of Superman has emerged. In 2024 DC rebooted its familiar superheroes with its new grittier “Absolute” universe.

    Jason Aaron and Rafa Sandoval’s Absolute Superman comic (2024) emphasises the character’s status as an isolated blue-collar immigrant from the doomed planet of Krypton. This is a youthful, less seasoned Superman who is quick to anger and less likely to pull his punches. Their interpretation is closer to Superman’s early vigilante roots, including a storyline where he liberates the workers in a Brazilian mine from the clutches of exploitative big business.

    Perhaps – in the comic books at least – the Champion of the Oppressed has finally returned.

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

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

    – ref. Superman wasn’t always so squeaky clean – in early comics he was a radical vigilante – https://theconversation.com/superman-wasnt-always-so-squeaky-clean-in-early-comics-he-was-a-radical-vigilante-260721

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: The Salt Path scandal: defending a memoir’s ‘emotional truth’ is a high-risk strategy

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Robert Eaglestone, Professor of Contemporary Literature and Thought, Royal Holloway University of London

    Raynor Winn, author of the award-winning memoir The Salt Path, which was recently adapted into a film, has been accused of “lies, deceit and desperation”. Writing in The Observer, reporter Chloe Hadjimatheou claims that Winn left out significant facts and invented parts of the story.

    The Salt Path follows a transformative 630-mile trek along England’s South West Coast Path that Winn took with her terminally ill husband Moth after they lost their home and livelihood.

    The Observer article claims that aspects of both the story of losing their home and Winn’s husband’s illness were fabricated. In a statement on her website, Winn has defended her memoir, calling the claims “grotesquely unfair” and “highly misleading”.

    There’s a long list of memoirs which have been shown to be problematic. James Frey’s recovery memoir A Million Little Pieces (2003) was allegedly exaggerated. In 2006, he apologised for fabricating portions of the book. Worse, Binjamin Wilkomirski’s feted Holocaust survivor memoir Fragments: Memories of a Wartime Childhood (1995) was completely fake. Wilkomirski’s real name was Bruno Dössekker and he was not a Holocaust survivor, he had simply invented his “memories” of a death camp, though he seemed to believe they were true.

    But, for readers, how much does this matter? Novelist D.H. Lawrence wrote that readers should: “Never trust the artist. Trust the tale.” As readers of The Salt Path, we fear for Raynor and Moth as they desperately try to escape drowning from a freak high tide at Portheras Cove. We are relieved when we hear that Moth’s terminal disease was “somehow, for a while, held at bay”.

    The origin of the word fiction is from the Latin fingere, which means not to lie, but to fashion or form. All memoirs – indeed, all texts, from scientific articles to history books to bestselling novels – are “formed” or “shaped”. Writing doesn’t just fall from a tree, we make it, and it reveals the world by mediating the world.

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    But this idea, that writing is a “shaping”, is why this case matters. Writing, done by oneself, or by a ghostwriter (or even by AI) has conventions, not-quite-rules that underlie its creation and reception. Some of these are in the text (the enemies eventually become lovers); some are outside the text itself (you really can judge a book by its cover). But most conventions are both inside and outside at the same time.

    Works by historians have footnotes to sources, so you (and other historians) can check the claims. Each scientific article refers to many others, because each article is just one tiny piece of the whole puzzle on which a huge community of scientists are working, and the extensive references show how this piece fits (or doesn’t). Non-fiction follows conventions, while novelists can do whatever they want, of course, to challenge or obey the conventions (that’s one reason why novels are exciting).

    Memoir has a particularly important convention, revealed most clearly by the historian Stefan Maechler’s report on Wilkomirski’s fraudulent memoir. Maechler argued that Wilkomirski broke what the French critic Philippe Lejeune called the “autobiographical pact”, a contract of truth between the author and the reader.

    For Lejeune, however, this pact is not like a legal agreement. A memoir, unlike a scientific article, need only put forward the truth as it appeared to the author in that area of their life. While the information needs to be accurate to some degree, its level of verifiability is less than a legal document or work of history. Much more important for Lejeune is the harder-to-pin-down fidelity to meaning.

    After all, many meaningful things – falling in love, for example, or grief – happen mostly inside us and are hard to verify. Even more, the developing overall shape of our life as it seems to us is not really a historical fact, but our own making of meaning. For Lejeune, in a memoir, this emotional truth is more significant than the verifiable truth.

    Playing with ‘emotional truth’

    The author of The Salt Path seems to have leaned into this idea. In her first statement after The Observer’s piece she claims that her book “lays bare the physical and spiritual journey Moth and I shared, an experience that transformed us completely and altered the course of our lives … This is the true story of our journey”. How, after all, could one verify a “spiritual journey”?

    However, I don’t fully agree with Lejeune. Perhaps our inner and outer worlds are not as separate as he supposes. Our public actions, including sharing facts, show who we are as much as our words describing our inner journeys.

    In a memoir, the verifiable truth and the emotional truth are linked by a kind of feedback loop. As readers, we allow some degree of playing with verifiable truth: dialogue is reconstructed, not recorded; we accept some level of dramatisation; we know it’s from one person’s perspective. But we also make a judgment about these things (there’s no fixed rule, no science to this judgment).

    If there’s too much reconstruction, too much dramatisation, we begin to get suspicious about the emotional truth too: is this really how it felt for them? Was it honestly a spiritual journey? And, in turn, this makes us more suspicious of the verifiable claims. By contrast, the novelist’s pact with the reader admits they fake emotional truth, which somehow makes it not fake at all: that’s one reason why novels are complicated.

    This is why defending a memoir’s “emotional truth” is a high-risk strategy. We know from our own lives that people who are unreliable in small (verifiable) things are often unreliable in large (emotional, meaningful) ones.

    So, for readers, the facts behind The Salt Path matter less in themselves and more because each question points to a larger issue about the book’s meaning. When you call someone “fake”, you don’t really mean that “their factual claims are inaccurate”, but that they are somehow inauthentic, hollow or – it’s a teenager’s word, but still – phoney. Once the “autobiographical pact” looks broken in enough small details, the reader no longer trusts the teller or the tale.

    In a lengthy statement published on her website in which she addresses the allegations in detail, Winn said that the suggestion that Moth’s illness was fabricated was an “utterly vile, unfair, and false suggestion” and added: “I can’t allow any more doubt to be cast on the validity of those memories, or the joy they have given so many.”

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

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

    – ref. The Salt Path scandal: defending a memoir’s ‘emotional truth’ is a high-risk strategy – https://theconversation.com/the-salt-path-scandal-defending-a-memoirs-emotional-truth-is-a-high-risk-strategy-260937

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Dyspraxia: why children with developmental coordination disorder in the UK are still being failed

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Charikleia Sinani, Senior Lecturer in Physiotherapy, School of Science, Technology and Health, York St John University

    M-Production/Shutterstock

    When a child struggles to tie their shoelaces, write legibly or stay upright during PE, it can be dismissed as clumsiness or lack of effort. But for around 5% of UK children, these challenges stem from a neurodevelopmental condition known as developmental coordination disorder (DCD), also known as dyspraxia. And new findings reveal how deeply it’s impacting their lives – at home, in school and in their future.

    Alongside colleagues, we conducted a national survey of more than 240 UK parents. The findings reveal a stark reality for families of children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD).

    Despite affecting around 5% of children – making it as common as ADHD – DCD remains underdiagnosed, misunderstood and insufficiently supported. Families reported an average wait of nearly three years for a diagnosis, with almost one in five children showing clear signs of DCD but not yet having begun the diagnostic process.

    The diagnosis, when it comes, is often welcomed: 93% of parents say it helped explain their child’s difficulties and offered clarity. But many also expressed frustration that this recognition didn’t change much in practical terms, particularly in schools. One parent summarised the prevailing sentiment: “It is helpful for us at home but not at school.”

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    Our survey showed that the movement difficulties associated with DCD can ripple through everyday life, mental health and wellbeing.

    Children with DCD face daily physical struggles with eating, dressing, cutting with scissors and handwriting. These aren’t just inconveniences. They translate into fatigue, frustration and often social exclusion. Compared to national averages, children in this survey were less active, with only 36% meeting recommended physical activity levels. Many parents worry that early disengagement from sport is cultivating lifelong habits that will undermine their children’s health.

    The emotional impact is just as severe. A staggering 90% of parents expressed concern about their child’s mental health. Anxiety, low self-esteem and feelings of isolation are common. Children with DCD are significantly more likely than their peers to show signs of emotional and peer-related difficulties.

    One parent recalled their child asking, “Why do I even try when I’m never picked?” Others shared heartbreaking worries: a child who felt “he doesn’t belong here” or another who had internalised the idea that they are “stupid” or “terrible”.

    DCD is a lifelong condition: it doesn’t go away with age, and there’s currently no “cure.” However, with the right support, many children can develop strategies to manage their difficulties and thrive. Early intervention, tailored therapies, especially occupational therapy, and appropriate classroom accommodations can make a significant difference to a child’s confidence, independence and quality of life.

    Schools are often unprepared

    Despite 81% of teachers being aware of a child’s motor difficulties, fewer than 60% had individual learning plans in place. Support was inconsistent: some children benefited from teaching assistants or adaptive tools like laptops, while others found themselves struggling alone. Physical education posed particular challenges, with 43% of parents saying their child wasn’t supported in PE lessons, often facing teachers who didn’t understand DCD at all.

    The consequences are significant: 80% of parents felt that movement difficulties negatively impacted their child’s education, and the same number feared it would affect their future employment.

    Therapy helps but is hard to access. Most families had sought therapy, with occupational therapy proving transformative for some. Yet many faced long waits or had to pay out of pocket, with some families spending thousands annually. Even when therapy was available, 78% felt it wasn’t sufficient.

    And it’s not just the children who suffer – 68% of parents reported constant emotional concern, and nearly half said the condition restricted their ability to take part in normal family activities.

    What needs to change

    To improve outcomes for children with DCD, we need urgent, coordinated action across five key areas. Parents and experts involved in the report outlined clear recommendations:

    Awareness: A nationwide effort is needed to educate the public, schools and healthcare professionals about DCD as a common yet currently poorly understood condition.

    Diagnosis: GPs and frontline professionals need clear, step-by-step guidance and referral routes to help them identify early motor difficulties and connect families with the right support quickly.

    Education: All teachers should receive mandatory training in DCD and practical strategies for supporting affected pupils in the classroom.

    Mental health: Support systems must recognise the deep connection between movement challenges and emotional wellbeing, ensuring that physical and psychological needs are treated together.

    Support: Crucially, children shouldn’t have to wait for a formal diagnosis to get support. Early intervention is vital to preventing long-term harm – and must be available as soon as difficulties emerge.

    Children with DCD are bright, capable and full of potential. But as one parent warns, “If she can’t write her answers down quickly enough in exams, she won’t be able to show her knowledge.” The cost of neglect is high, not just in lost grades or missed goals, but in the wellbeing of a generation of children struggling in silence.

    Charikleia Sinani has received funding from The Waterloo Foundation.

    The Impact of Developmental Coordination Disorder in the UK study was conducted in collaboration with our colleagues Catherine Purcell, Judith Gentle, Melissa Licari, Jacqueline Williams, Mark Mierzwinski and Sam Hudson.

    Greg Wood has previously received funding from The Waterloo Foundation.

    Kate Wilmut has in the past received funding from ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council), The Leverhulme Trust and The Waterloo Foundation

    – ref. Dyspraxia: why children with developmental coordination disorder in the UK are still being failed – https://theconversation.com/dyspraxia-why-children-with-developmental-coordination-disorder-in-the-uk-are-still-being-failed-260853

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: A one minute scan of your foot could help prevent amputation – here’s how

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Christian Heiss, Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine, Head of Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Surrey

    YAKOBCHUK VIACHESLAV/Shutterstock

    Imagine having blocked arteries in your legs and not knowing it. At first, there may be no symptoms at all. Just occasional fatigue, cramping or discomfort – symptoms easy to dismiss as ageing or being out of shape.

    But as blood flow worsens, a small cut on your foot might not heal. It can turn into an ulcer. In the worst cases, it can lead to amputation. This condition is called peripheral artery disease (PAD) – and it’s far more common than many realise.

    PAD affects around one in five people over the age of 60 in the UK, and is especially prevalent in people with diabetes, high blood pressure or kidney disease.

    PAD is rarely an isolated issue: it’s usually a sign of widespread atherosclerosis, the build-up of fatty deposits that can also narrow arteries in the heart and brain.

    It also significantly increases the risk of heart attacks, strokes and other conditions linked to poor blood flow to vital organs. Research shows that a large proportion of people diagnosed with PAD will die within five to ten years, most often due to these complications.

    Early detection is key to reducing the impact of PAD, and I’ve been working with colleagues to develop a faster, simpler way to diagnose it.

    PAD testing

    Doctors can check circulation in the feet by comparing blood pressure in the toe with that in the arm. The result is known as the toe–brachial index (TBI). The trouble is that the test needs a toe-sized cuff, an optical sensor and a doctor who knows how to use the equipment.

    Many GP surgeries and foot clinics don’t have this kit. And in many people, especially those with diabetes or stiff arteries, the test doesn’t always give a clear or reliable, result.

    Our research team asked a simple question: could we turn a routine ultrasound scan into a quick, reliable way to measure blood flow in the foot?

    Most hospitals, and many community clinics, already have handheld ultrasound probes, which use Doppler sound to track how blood flows through vessels.

    This works through the Doppler effect: as blood moves, it changes the pitch of the sound waves. Healthy blood flow creates a strong, steady “swoosh”, while a narrowed or blocked artery produces a faint or disrupted sound. Doctors are trained to hear the difference and use these sound patterns to spot circulation problems, especially in conditions like PAD.

    But my research team wondered whether a computer could do more than listen: we wanted to know whether it could convert the shape of that Doppler “wave” into a number that mirrors the TBI.

    To investigate, we scanned the feet of patients already being treated for PAD – 150 feet in all. For each artery, we used Doppler ultrasound to measure how quickly blood surged with each heartbeat, a pattern known as the acceleration index. We then compared these results to the standard toe–brachial index, the traditional test that measures blood pressure in the toe.

    A one-minute scan, a nearly perfect match

    The acceleration index alone was able to predict the standard toe–brachial index with 88% accuracy. Using a simple formula, we converted that Doppler reading into an “estimated TBI” – a number that closely mirrored the conventional result. It needed no toe cuff, no optical sensor and it took under a minute to perform.

    Even more encouraging, estimated TBI rose in tandem with traditional TBI results after treatment. When patients underwent angioplasty – a procedure to reopen blocked arteries – their estimated TBI increased almost identically to the measured TBI. That means this scan doesn’t just help diagnose PAD; it could also be used to track recovery over time.

    Crucially, our approach works with equipment that’s already widely available. We repeated the experiment using a basic pocket Doppler: the kind many GPs and podiatrists have tucked in a drawer.

    While it wasn’t quite as precise as hospital-grade ultrasound, the results were still strong. With some additional software refinement, doctors could soon assess foot circulation quickly and accurately using tools they already own, without adding time to a busy clinic schedule.

    Why early detection matters

    Because early diagnosis of PAD changes everything. It can mean the difference between losing a foot, keeping your mobility and living longer with a better quality of life. It can shorten hospital stays and reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke.

    But right now, too many people with PAD aren’t diagnosed until they already have chronic limb-threatening ischaemia – the most severe form of the disease. This condition occurs when blood flow to the legs or feet becomes critically low, depriving tissues of oxygen. It can cause constant foot pain (especially at night), wounds that won’t heal and, in advanced cases, tissue death (gangrene) and the risk of amputation. Without urgent treatment to restore circulation, chronic limb-threatening ischaemia can be life-threatening.

    Part of the problem is that the tools used to diagnose PAD are often slow, expensive or too complicated for routine use. That’s why a simple, cuff-free Doppler scan that provides a reliable estimate of toe–brachial index is so promising. It uses equipment that many clinics already have, takes less than a minute and delivers immediate results – offering a faster, easier way to spot poor circulation before serious damage is done.

    We’re now looking at ways to automate the measurement so that it can be used even by non-specialists. We’re testing it in various clinics with different patient groups and exploring its performance over time. But the evidence so far suggests that this could become a key part of vascular care – not just in hospitals, but in GP surgeries, diabetes clinics and anywhere else early intervention could save a limb.

    Blocked arteries don’t need to stay hidden. With the right tools, we can find them earlier, treat them faster and protect people from the devastating consequences of late diagnosis.

    Christian Heiss has received funding from Lipton Teas & Infusions, Ageless Science, iThera, the Medical Research Council, the ESRC, European Partnership on Metrology, co-financed from European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme and UK Research and Innovation. He is member of the board of the European Society of Vascular Medicine, president of the Vascular, Lipid and Metabolic Medicine Council of the Royal Society of Medicine, and chairperson-elect of the ESC WG Aorta and Peripheral Vascular Diseases.

    – ref. A one minute scan of your foot could help prevent amputation – here’s how – https://theconversation.com/a-one-minute-scan-of-your-foot-could-help-prevent-amputation-heres-how-260847

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: England’s family hubs plan aims to build on Sure Start’s success – but may struggle to overcome today’s child poverty levels

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Sally Pearse, Strategic Lead for Early Years and Director of the Early Years Community Research Centre, Sheffield Hallam University

    Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock

    The government has announced its strategy for “giving every child the best start in life”, laying out proposals covering early years care, education and support in England.

    The strategy builds on the current local family hub model of services, which offer a range of support aimed at babies and young children. Best Start family hubs will further bring together early years and family services in a similar way to the previous Sure Start programme. The government’s commitment includes £1.5 billion in investment to implement these reforms.

    The Best Start Hubs will be a one-stop shop to support families with their child’s early development, from breastfeeding advice to speech and language support and stay and play sessions. The hubs will also support families with wider challenges such as housing and benefits, and provide courses for parents.

    The attempt to bring services together to deliver local, holistic support to families is understandable given the impact of the original Sure Start initiative, introduced by Tony Blair’s Labour government.

    Get your news from actual experts, straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter to receive all The Conversation UK’s latest coverage of news and research, from politics and business to the arts and sciences.

    The Sure Start Local Programmes that were established from 1999 onwards had a significant positive effect on those families who had access to them. From 2010, though, when the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition came into power, funding was cut and many Sure Start centres closed.

    In May 2025 the Institute for Fiscal Studies published a summary report on the short- and medium-term effects of Sure Start on children’s lives.

    They found that the impact of the Sure Start services for under-fives was remarkably long-lasting, with improvements during their teenage years in educational attainment and behaviour in school, and reductions in hospital admissions. The Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates that these long-term benefits significantly outweigh the cost of the Sure Start programme.

    Like Sure Start, the Best Start strategy has the potential to be transformational for young children and their families.

    However, the current range of challenges faced by families and the depth of child poverty in the country will make bringing about this transformation challenging. A 2023 report from charity the Joseph Rowntree Foundation estimates that there are one million children growing up destitute in the UK, without the means to stay warm, dry, clean and fed.

    The challenge of poverty

    The day after the Best Start strategy was launched, the children’s commissioner for England published a research report on children’s experience of growing up in a low-income family. Based on interviews with 128 children, the report outlines the “almost-Dickensian” levels of poverty experienced by children whose basic needs are not being met. Children described poor housing conditions, mouldy food and lack of hot water.

    The significant impact that poverty has on children’s educational attainment, health and future lives will be difficult for the benefits that the Best Start programme may provide to negate.

    I have witnessed these financial challenges and the wider range of issues families are dealing with on a daily basis in my own role as the director of the Early Years Community Research Centre at Sheffield Hallam University, and through my wider research with families.

    In March 2024 I was part of a team of researchers who were commissioned by the Ministry for Housing, Community and Local Government to explore how multiple insecurities, such as financial difficulties, health problems, precarious work, poor housing and lack of support networks affected people’s lives.

    Parents described the difficulties of making ends meet. They talked about having to deal with many different national and local agencies, the stress this created within their family and the toll on their health and wellbeing.

    Even working full-time did not necessarily make families more secure. In one family, the working pattern the parents had to adopt to make ends meet meant that they only had one day a fortnight to be together.

    We have to do stupid hours. I mean my partner, she works nights. I work mainly days … we’re kind of like passing ships in the night.

    The places these families turned to were local community centres run by a range of organisations. The common themes about why they accessed these centres were the warm, welcoming, non-judgemental approach taken by staff, trusting relationships with staff and the range of services and support that were offered.

    This bodes well for the Best Start strategy – if it is able to deliver the full range of services the government has outlined in a local trusted space. However, this will be a significant challenge in communities that have lacked support over recent years, are suffering the hardships of poverty and that may have lost trust in government services.

    Sally Pearse received funding from the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government

    – ref. England’s family hubs plan aims to build on Sure Start’s success – but may struggle to overcome today’s child poverty levels – https://theconversation.com/englands-family-hubs-plan-aims-to-build-on-sure-starts-success-but-may-struggle-to-overcome-todays-child-poverty-levels-260630

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Superman: James Gunn’s prolonged punch-fest falls flat

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Laura Crossley, Senior Lecturer in Film, Bournemouth University

    The first two superhero movies of the year examined the morality of power and politics (Captain America: Brave New World) and mental health and personal accountability (Thunderbolts*) in thoughtful and often nuanced ways. It is rather depressing, then, that the third act of Superman is largely a prolonged CGI punch-fest that lacks any narrative or visual vigour to make it interesting.

    There is a lot riding on the success of the DC Universe (DCU), now under the creative stewardship of director James Gunn and producer James Safran. After the varied fortunes of the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), this iteration of Superman marks a reboot of DC properties and is the introductory instalment of the first phase, or “chapter” as they are being called, with the subtitle Gods and Monsters.

    The films also marks a shift from the “Snyderverse” – the series of interconnected films made under the oversight of director Zack Snyder – which were characterised by the darkness of both their themes and their aesthetics.

    This darkness, and the attendant moral ambiguity, of the Snyderverse has been replaced by a more optimistic tone. This new Superman film is more simplistic and clear-cut, with good versus bad and a bright, comic-book design.

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    Anyone familiar with Gunn’s previous superhero offerings (The Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy; The Suicide Squad) will recognise much of the tone and the look. This is very much the Superman movie that Gunn wants to make. And therein lies part of the problem.

    As the opening film of chapter one, this effectively sets the tone for all that is to come across the DCU. But that raises the question of how Gunn’s overall approach will work with future properties that will have (or should have) very different styles, narrative themes and concerns.

    This film is deliberately not an origin story. We meet Superman (David Corenswet), bloodied and battered after having lost an off-screen fight. He’s already an established superhero in a world accustomed to them after approximately 300 years of “metahumans” – as the opening exposition dump helpfully informs us.

    Superman then returns to the icy Fortress of Solitude, complete with robot staff and adorable CGI super-dog, Krypto. We are, in effect, entering the middle of the story, with Superman’s dual identity as Clark Kent already known to his girlfriend Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan).

    The pair have a fun, palpable chemistry. In an early stand-out scene, Lois, in journalist mode, grills Clark/Superman on the finer points of superhero accountability and responsibility after he single-handedly – and without any form of legal jurisdiction – stops a war between the fictitious countries of Boravia (eastern European, evil) and Jahanipur (a south-east Asian/Middle Eastern mash-up in which the people are impoverished and entirely agency-free), just before the movie begins. Sadly, these valid and deeply relevant questions remain unexplored for the rest of the film.

    The trailer for Superman.

    Brosnahan is a spiky, intelligent and self-assured Lois Lane who is not given enough to do, partly because this “starting in the middle” approach robs her relationship with Clark/Superman of any real tension and complexity. But also because the film is so overstuffed that there is little room for any meaningful character development.

    What we do have is incoherent plotting, clunky dialogue and exposition and too many characters who are too thinly drawn.

    The gang’s back together

    Corenswet is a fine Superman, commandingly heroic and believably vulnerable when required. However, there is not much opportunity for him to explore his Clark Kent alter-ego before he is in full superhero mode, thereby denying the character time to establish the humanity that is core to Superman’s personality.

    Lex Luthor (Nicholas Holt), the quintessential Superman villain, is supposed to be brilliant but here is rendered more as an Elon Musk-like figure with hints of Trump. He’s a megalomaniac with a populist touch with motivations that are so unclear as to be nonsensical.

    We also get members of the Justice Gang, including a horribly bewigged Nathan Fillion as Green Lantern, Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced) and Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi).

    Gathegi steals almost the entire movie with a charismatic, laid-back turn that is crying out for his own standalone entry. Mister Terrific gets the movie’s most fun set piece: a single-handed fight against multiple goons choreographed to an upbeat pop soundtrack that is straight out of the James Gunn playbook.

    As is the Justice Gang’s fight against an inter dimensional giant squid, which plays out as the comedic backdrop visible through a window during a pivotal scene with Lois Lane, and in which a depressed Superman takes no part. Any moments of seriousness are immediately undercut by on the nose and often cheap jokes.

    The lack of narrative focus and character development results in a story that does not give us any tangible reasons to care about these characters beyond the fact that they are already well-established cultural icons. The lack of scaffolding means that when we reach what should be the emotional turning points, there is no heft to these moments.

    The phoney war between Boravia and Jahanipur also provides problematic optics. The people of Jahanipur are an anonymous mass of peasants armed only with sticks who get a single word of dialogue shared between them (“Superman!”). They are at the mercy of their warlike neighbours in Boravia, whose evil is made evident through the grotesque physicality of their leader (Zlatko Buric).

    This plot device seems to be making a passing reference to both the war in Ukraine and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, without having anything of value to say about either. The situation is resolved by the arrival of the American Justice Gang (because all metahumans are exclusively based in America, apparently) and then we’re on to the next joke.

    In this Superman reboot, the humanity of the character is largely lost, something we are told about rather than see. This is ironic given that truth, justice and humanity are supposed to be the guiding principles of the Superman story.

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

    – ref. Superman: James Gunn’s prolonged punch-fest falls flat – https://theconversation.com/superman-james-gunns-prolonged-punch-fest-falls-flat-260940

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Wimbledon’s electronic line-calling system shows we still can’t replace human judgment

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Feng Li, Chair of Information Management, Associate Dean for Research & Innovation, Bayes Business School, City St George’s, University of London

    The Wimbledon tennis tournament in 2025 has brought us familiar doses of scorching sunshine and pouring rain, British hopes and despair, and the usual queues, strawberries and on-court stardust. One major difference with this year’s tournament, however, has been the notable absence of human line judges for the first time in 147 years.

    In a bid to modernise, organisers have replaced all 300 line judges with the Hawk-Eye electronic line-calling (ELC) system powered by 18 high-speed cameras and supported by around 80 on-court assistants.

    It has been sold as a leap forward but has already caused widespread controversy. In her fourth-round match against Britain’s Sonay Kartal, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was forced to replay a point she had clearly won, because ELC had failed to register that a ball had landed out. Furious, Pavlyuchenkova told the umpire: “You took the game away from me … they stole the game from me.”

    British players Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper have also voiced concerns about the accuracy and reliability of the technology.

    We have seen this before in business, government and elite sport (think VAR in football). Promising technologies fail, not necessarily because the systems are flawed – though some are – but because the institutions around them have not kept up. The belief that technology can neatly replace human judgement is seductive. It’s also deeply flawed.

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    Systems like Hawk-Eye at Wimbledon offer measurable gains in accuracy, but accuracy is not the same as legitimacy. People don’t just want correct decisions, they also want understandable and fair ones. When human line judges made mistakes, they were visible and open to appeal. When a machine fails, with no explanation and no route for redress, it breeds confusion and frustration.

    Consider Formula 1. At the 2025 British Grand Prix in Silverstone, driver Oscar Piastri was handed a 10-second penalty by race stewards for erratic braking during a safety car restart. He called it inconsistent and harsh, and many fans agreed.

    The key difference? We knew who made the call. There was someone to question, and a process to scrutinise. With machines, however, there’s no one to challenge. You can’t argue with a black box, or hold it to account.

    Beyond performance

    Technology is usually introduced to improve performance or reduce costs, but the full story is rarely made explicit. Wimbledon’s adoption of the new system was framed as a move towards greater accuracy and consistency, but it was also likely driven by the desire to speed up matches, cut costs, and reduce reliance on human labour.

    Yet sport is not just about accuracy. It is entertainment. It thrives on emotion, tradition and theatre. For 147 years, line judges were part of Wimbledon’s identity. Their posture, uniforms, gestures, indeed even the drama of a close call, added to the spectacle. Removing them may have improved accuracy (and cut costs), but the atmosphere was also changed.

    Tradition is often dismissed as nostalgia, but in institutions like Wimbledon, tradition is part of what makes the experience legitimate and enjoyable. When it’s stripped away with only a token explanation, players and audiences can lose trust, not just in the change, but in the institution itself. It is a cultural change, which is never easy.

    One common solution is to combine human judgement with the technology especially during the transition period, but hybrids rarely work well in practice as responsibilities get blurred.

    In business, this is known as the “hybrid trap”: bolting new technologies onto old systems without rethinking or redesigning either. Instead of the best of both worlds, the result is often confusion, duplication and failure.

    Wimbledon did not seem to offer a formal challenge system or human override during matches. Although 80 former line judges were retained as on-court assistants, their role was not adjudicative. This might speed up play, but it leaves the system brittle. When something breaks, there is no immediate redress. We have seen this elsewhere.

    What this tells us about AI

    Wimbledon’s failure was a textbook case of poor tech adoption. Hawk-Eye did what it was designed to do, but the institution wasn’t ready, least of all the players, umpires and spectators.

    The same pattern is playing out with artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies, from customer service bots to healthcare triage systems. These tools are being rolled out at speed, often with minimal oversight. When they hallucinate, embed bias or produce erratic results, there is rarely a clear route to appeal, and often no one to hold accountable.

    The real problem is not just technical but institutional. Most organisations aren’t ready for what they’re adopting. Instead of transforming themselves to harness new technologies, they bolt them onto legacy systems and carry on as before. Key questions go unanswered: Who decides? Who benefits? Who is accountable when things go wrong? Without clear answers, new technologies don’t solve dysfunction, they entrench it. Sometimes, they hardwire it.

    If we want technology to improve how the world works, we can’t just automate tasks, processes or jobs. We need to rethink and redesign the institutions these systems are meant to serve, using new capabilities these technologies make possible. Until then, even the best systems will continue to fall short, both quietly and occasionally spectacularly.

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

    – ref. Wimbledon’s electronic line-calling system shows we still can’t replace human judgment – https://theconversation.com/wimbledons-electronic-line-calling-system-shows-we-still-cant-replace-human-judgment-260845

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: The Bangladesh delta is under a dangerous level of strain, analysis reveals

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Md Sarwar Hossain, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Science & Sustainability, University of Glasgow

    The Ganges delta in Bangladesh. Emre Akkoyun/Shutterstock

    Bangladesh is known as the land of rivers and flooding, despite almost all of its water originating outside the territory. The fact that 80% of rivers that flow through Bangladesh have their sources in a neighbouring country, can make access to freshwater in Bangladesh fraught. And the country’s fast-growing cities and farms – and the warming global climate – are turning up the pressure.

    In a recent analysis, my colleagues and I found that four out of the ten rivers that flow through Bangladesh have failed to meet a set of conditions known as their “safe operating space”, meaning that the flow of water in these rivers is below the minimum necessary to sustain the social-ecological systems that rely on them. These rivers included the Ganges and Old Brahmaputra, as well as Gorai and Halda.

    This puts a safe and reliable food and water supply not to mention the livelihoods of millions of fishers, farmers and other people in the region, at risk.

    Water flow on the remaining six rivers may be close to a dangerous state too, due to the construction of hydropower dams and reservoirs, as well as booming irrigated agriculture.

    Get your news from actual experts, straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter to receive all The Conversation UK’s latest coverage of news and research, from politics and business to the arts and sciences.

    The concept of a safe operating space was devised by Stockholm University researchers in 2009 and typically assesses the Earth’s health as a whole by defining boundaries such as climate warming, water use and biodiversity loss which become dangerous to humanity once exceeded. A 2023 update to this research found that six of the nine defined planetary boundaries have been transgressed.

    Since the Bangladesh delta is one of the world’s largest and most densely populated (home to around 170 million people), we thought it prudent to apply this thinking to the rivers here. We found that food, fisheries and the world’s largest intertidal mangrove forest, a haven for rich biodiversity, are all under strain from water demand in growing cities such as Dhaka.

    The knock-on effects

    During all seasons but winter, river flows in the Bangladesh delta have fallen over the past three decades.

    No river in the Bangladesh delta is within its safe operating space.
    Kabir et al. (2024)

    Our analysis highlights the limits of existing political solutions. The ability of the Ganges river to support life and society is severely strained, despite the Ganges water sharing treaty between India and Bangladesh, which was signed in 1996.

    Rivers in Bangladesh have shaped the economy, environment and culture of South Asia since the dawn of human civilisation here. And humans are not the only species suffering. Hilsha (Tenualosa ilisha), related to the herring, is a fish popular for its flavour and delicate texture. It contributes 12% to national fish production in Bangladesh but has become extinct in the upper reaches of the Ganges due to the reduction of water flow.

    Excessive water extraction upstream, primarily through the Farakka barrage, a dam just over the border in the Indian state of West Bengal, has also raised the salinity of the Gorai river. A healthy river flow maintains a liveable balance of salt and freshwater. As river flows have been restricted, salinity has crept up, particularly in coastal regions that are also beset by sea level rise. This damages freshwater fisheries, farm yields and threatens a population of freshwater dolphins in the Ganges.

    Low river flows and increasing salinisation now threaten the destruction of the world’s largest mangrove forest, the loss of which would disrupt the regional climate of Bangladesh, India and Nepal. It would also release a lot of stored carbon to the atmosphere, accelerating climate change and the melting of snow and ice in the Himalayan mountain chain.

    Resilience to climate change

    Solving this problem is no simple task. It will require cooperation across national boundaries and international support to ensure fair treaties capable of managing the rivers sustainably, restoring their associated ecosystems and maintaining river flows within their safe operating spaces.

    The mighty Ganges is running dry in some parts of Bangladesh during the hotter months.
    Md Sarwar Hossain

    This is particularly challenging in the Bangladesh delta, which contains rivers that drain many countries, including China, India, Nepal and Pakistan. The political regimes in each country might oppose transboundary negotiations, which could nevertheless resolve conflict over water which is needed to sustain nearly 700 million people.

    There have been success stories, however. The Mekong river commission between Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam is a useful template for bilateral and multilateral treaties with India and Nepal for the Ganges, and China and Bhutan for the Jamuna river.

    Tax-based water sharing can help resolve conflicts and decide water allocation between countries in the river basin. The countries using more water would pay more tax and the revenue would be redistributed among the other countries who share rivers in the treaty. Additionally, water sharing should be based on the historical river flow disregarding existing infrastructure and projections of future changes.

    Reducing deforestation, alternating land use and restoring wetlands could enhance resilience to flooding and drought and ensure water security in the Bangladesh delta. Ultimately, to secure a safe operating space for the rivers here is to secure a safe future for society too.

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

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

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

    – ref. The Bangladesh delta is under a dangerous level of strain, analysis reveals – https://theconversation.com/the-bangladesh-delta-is-under-a-dangerous-level-of-strain-analysis-reveals-241097

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Tackling the chaos at home might be the secret to a more successful work life

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Yasin Rofcanin, Professor of Management Strategy & Organisation, University of Bath

    Maria Svetlychnaja/Shuttersotck

    In a world of hybrid working and four-day weeks, most workers are asked to be agile, creative and strategic – not just at work but also at home. But what if the energy and focus workers invest into solving family life challenges could actually make them better at adapting and innovating in their jobs?

    Our recent study suggests that managing household life – what we call “strategic renewal at home” – doesn’t just benefit family functioning. It also boosts employees’ ability to generate ideas, reshape their roles and respond effectively to change at work.

    In short, proactively adapting and reorganising your home life could be a hidden asset for your career.

    “Strategic renewal” is a concept long associated with business transformation – think of a company reinventing its operations to respond to shifts in the market. But we argue that this same concept can apply to people managing life at home.

    Get your news from actual experts, straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter to receive all The Conversation UK’s latest coverage of news and research, from politics and business to the arts and sciences.

    Imagine a working parent who streamlines their childcare routine, redistributes chores with their partner or introduces a new system for managing family meals. These efforts – far from mundane – are proactive, forward-thinking moves to adapt to a changing environment. That’s strategic renewal, just in a different setting.

    Our findings show that when people engage in this kind of domestic renewal, it creates powerful ripple effects, shaping how they think, feel and perform at work.

    The hidden power of home life

    We followed 147 dual-earning couples in the US over six weeks. Each week, employees reported how much they engaged in strategic renewal at home and at work. We also captured their experiences of “flow” at home (those rare, deeply focused and enjoyable moments).

    For instance, when someone is completely absorbed in gardening, painting a room, or even following a complex recipe – activities that are both enjoyable and require focus – time seems to fly. We also captured their confidence in handling challenges (self-efficacy), and their partner’s view of how well they were managing work–family balance.

    We uncovered several interesting points. Employees who took proactive steps to improve family routines felt more “in flow” at home.

    These moments of flow built their confidence (self-efficacy), making them feel more capable of tackling future challenges – not just at home, but at work too. That confidence translated into more strategic renewal at work. Employees were more likely to change how they approached tasks, pitch ideas or redesign their roles.

    Crucially, their partners also noticed. Employees high in self-efficacy were rated as better at balancing work and family, as well as being more effective in family life.

    In other words, strategic behaviour at home doesn’t stay there – it travels with us. What happens at the breakfast table can spill over into the boardroom.

    But not all environments are equal. The benefits of home-based strategic renewal were much stronger when the family was supportive of creativity. When people felt free to try new things, take risks and share ideas at home, the gains from their efforts were amplified.

    This could be as simple as trying out a new meal, brainstorming weekend plans together or encouraging a partner to experiment with a new hobby. These activities reflect openness, curiosity and support for creative expression in everyday life.

    The same was true at work. Employees who felt their organisations fostered a climate of creativity – valuing new ideas, experimentation and autonomy – were more likely to act on their confidence and engage in strategic behaviour.

    We found a big takeaway for workers. Cultivating open, creative climates in both domains makes all the difference. Encouraging new ideas at home or at work doesn’t just make people feel good – it helps workers to be flexible and adaptive.

    What employers can do

    There’s a crucial lesson here for organisations too. The home is not a “black box” – some kind of impenetrable space that has no bearing on work. Instead, home life can play an active and meaningful role in shaping employees’ energy, confidence and creative capacity. Home can be a source of renewal, resilience and even innovation.

    Forward-thinking companies should avoid treating home and work as separate silos. Instead, they can invest in developing self-efficacy in employees. This could be providing training, coaching and feedback that reinforces workers’ belief in their ability to handle challenges.

    They should also encourage family-supportive leadership. Managers who ask about employees’ home life, support flexible arrangements and accommodate caring responsibilities help create the space for home-based renewal to thrive.

    Celebrating employees – for things beyond their professional achievements – is important.
    La Famiglia/Shutterstock

    And they should recognise “off-the-clock” moments. Celebrating life milestones, offering childcare support or simply acknowledging the mental load of home life all signal that organisations value the full person, not just the professional.

    For decades, companies have looked inward for solutions to innovation and adaptability – to things like better tech, better processes and better metrics. But our study found leaders should instead look outward — toward employees’ lives beyond work.

    When employees reorganise their domestic life, they’re demonstrating foresight, adaptability and leadership. These are precisely the qualities workplaces are looking for in a world of constant disruption.

    When workplaces start seeing the home not just as a stressor but as a source of strength, they can open the door to smarter, more sustainable strategies for resilience, creativity and growth.

    So the next time you redesign your morning routine, don’t think of it as just surviving the chaos. You might just be sharpening your edge for the workday ahead.

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

    – ref. Tackling the chaos at home might be the secret to a more successful work life – https://theconversation.com/tackling-the-chaos-at-home-might-be-the-secret-to-a-more-successful-work-life-258487

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  • MIL-OSI Analysis: How China’s green transition is reshaping ethnic minority communities

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Reza Hasmath, Professor in Political Science, University of Alberta

    China has emerged as a global front-runner in the fight against climate change, with sweeping policies aimed at curbing environmental degradation and building a more sustainable future.

    Yet behind these green ambitions lies a more complicated human story. Ethnic minority communities — who make up roughly nine per cent of China’s total population and often inhabit ecologically sensitive regions like Tibet, Xinjiang, Yunnan and Inner Mongolia — are experiencing the transition in ways that involve significant trade-offs.

    Where they live, how they work and the cultural practices they depend on have all been shaped by state environmental policies, often without meaningful input or representation.

    My ongoing research examines the lesser seen consequences of China’s environmental agenda, focusing on how it affects the lives of ethnic minority communities across four critical dimensions: traditional livelihoods, internal migration, economic well-being and cultural identity.

    Disruptions to traditional livelihoods

    For centuries, many ethnic minorities in China have built their livelihoods around the land. Tibetan nomadic herders, Uyghur and Kazakh farmers and communities like the Yi, Qiang or Tu have long depended on agriculture, grazing and forest products not just for economic survival, but as a way of life deeply tied to ancestral customs and ecological knowledge.

    That fabric is now fraying. Climate change, rising temperatures and desertification have degraded pasturelands in Tibet and farmland in Xinjiang, undermining herding and agriculture.

    At the same time, state policies like the Grain for Green program, which converts farmland into forest to reduce erosion, have displaced upland farmers and restricted access to traditional lands.

    These disruptions are compounded by restrictions on small-scale logging and non-timber forest product collection. These practices have long sustained communities such as the Hani, Dai and Yi.

    Although these initiatives aim for environmental conservation, they often lack provisions for alternative livelihood options, rendering affected ethnic minority communities vulnerable to economic hardship.

    Internal migration

    As China’s environmental and development policies reshape rural regions, ethnic minority communities are increasingly affected by internal migration. Some ethnic minority families move voluntarily for work, while others are displaced by large-scale infrastructure or conservation projects.

    In Tibet, expanded rail and road networks have boosted trade, but contributed to the migration of herding communities. In Yunnan, dam construction has displaced villages inhabited by ethnic groups such as the Nu, Lisu, Hani and Bai, often with minimal consultation.

    Relocation into urban areas introduces new pressures: overcrowded infrastructure, limited services and increased competition for employment. These conditions can exacerbate the marginalization of ethnic minorities and heighten social tensions.

    The effects are especially stark in Xinjiang. Uyghur communities have been relocated to new urban zones where efforts framed as economic development often fracture social structures and push assimilation.

    Coupled with securitization measures, such transitions risk eroding cultural identity and deepening socio-economic disparities, particularly among ethnic minority women.

    Ultimately, internal migration fragments extended family networks, an essential characteristic for many ethnic minority cultures. Without inclusive planning, these relocations can entrench the very inequities that sustainability efforts seek to address.

    A double-edged economy

    Green transition policies promise new livelihoods through eco-tourism, conservation work and renewable energy sectors. For some communities, these transitions have created new pathways.

    Pilot programs in ecologically sensitive zones such as Qinghai have involved Tibetan herders as conservation workers, combining ecological protection with livelihood maintenance.

    These examples remain exceptions. Most affected communities lack training and access to green jobs. The Grain for Green program offers short-term land conversion subsidies, but little in the way of long-term retraining. As a result, some households plunge deeper into poverty after losing access to their farmland or pasture.

    Ironically, relocated families sometimes end up in low-paid construction jobs tied to the very projects that displaced them. This circular dependency — displaced by green projects, then employed in their construction — offers no route to upward mobility and deepens socio-economic marginalization.

    Cultural displacement

    Perhaps the most intangible impact of China’s green transition is cultural. In many ethnic minority communities, livelihoods are intertwined with the environment; rituals follow the seasons and sacred sites mark the land.

    Conservation bans and resettlement disrupt ancestral customs and erase mobility patterns, as seen with the sedentarization of Tibetan nomads.

    Eco-tourism campaigns and “heritage villages” try to preserve culture. However, they often turn it into a spectacle. Traditions become performances curated for tourists, while the deeper practices — language, inter-generational teaching and land-based rituals — fade.

    Well-meaning efforts to promote ethnic minority festivals in the name of boosting tourism have also sometimes led to the standardization of diverse traditions into single narratives, minimizing internal variation in customs and flattening community voices.

    A more inclusive green transition?

    There is no doubt that China’s climate ambition is transforming its economy and the daily lives of millions. From the Tibetan Plateau to the Tarim Basin in Xinjiang and across the vast grasslands of Inner Mongolia, environmental protection is impacting the people whose lives are rooted in these fragile ecosystems.

    Making this transition equitable means ensuring ethnic minorities shape, not merely receive, state policy. That includes integrating local ecological knowledge into conservation planning, providing long-term training for displaced populations and ensuring that relocation compensation reflects economic losses, as well as social and cultural costs.

    China frames its environmental vision through the concept of “ecological civilization,” a philosophy rooted in Confucian ideals and socialist principles that seeks to harmonize human development with nature. At its best, this model aspires to align economic growth with ecological balance.

    For ecological civilization to fulfil its promise, it must be inclusive and prioritize cultural rights alongside environmental goals. Environmental policymakers must recognize that sustainability is about both reducing emissions and preserving the dignity, heritage and agency of all communities.

    China’s green transition has the potential to be a global model. To lead by example, however, it must confront not only the climate crisis, but also the deeper challenge of inclusion.

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

    – ref. How China’s green transition is reshaping ethnic minority communities – https://theconversation.com/how-chinas-green-transition-is-reshaping-ethnic-minority-communities-259793

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Kaptur Applauds $650,000 in Research Awards to University of Toledo, Stresses Importance of Federal Funding

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-09)

    Toledo, OH — Today, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-09) announced two major research awards totaling $650,000 for the University of Toledo from the National Science Foundation (NSF). These investments are a testament to Northwest Ohio’s scientific leadership and a clear reminder of the critical role federal research funding plays in the future of American innovation, education, and security.

    “The University of Toledo continues to shine as a center of scientific excellence and innovation,” said Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-09). “These awards are a powerful example of how federal research funding drives discovery, creates jobs, and gives students real opportunities here in Northwest Ohio. But we must be clear: if the Trump Administration fails to protect funding for science and innovation, we not only stall progress — we risk losing the talent, technology, and competitiveness that keep the innovative engine of our nation alive.”

    The two NSF awards include:

    •  $149,999 for research into fatigue-resistant aerospace-grade aluminum nanocomposites, led by Dr. Meysam Haghshenas. This work aims to improve safety and durability in critical sectors like aviation, space, and transportation.

    • $500,000 for the development of adaptive metal origami structures, spearheaded by Dr. Ala Qattawi, which has applications in robotics, defense systems, and biomedical devices.

    “This National Science Foundation project is an exciting convergence of two foundational research missions, where an equipment award from the U.S. Department of Defense provided the critical infrastructure that now empowers our fundamental investigations supported by the National Science Foundation,” said Dr. Meysam Haghshenas, an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering and the director of UToledo’s Failure, Fracture and Fatigue Laboratory. “It is a perfect example of how strategic investment in cutting-edge instrumentation can bridge agencies and catalyze fundamental scientific discovery at the core of national interest.”

    “I’m honored and excited to receive the National Science Foundation’s CAREER Award,” said Dr. Ala Qattawi, an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering. “This award will help propel our research into foldable metal structures inspired by origami by using advanced 3D printing and smart materials that respond to heat and other triggers. These adaptable geometries hold great promise for applications in aerospace, robotics and biomedical devices. Federal support through the NSF, along with growing interest from industry partners, is helping us build critical momentum in this area along with the ability to train and prepare future workforce in advanced materials manufacturing. I’m grateful for the opportunity to push the boundaries of what’s possible and to provide UToledo students with more exposure and experience in basic research and additive manufacturing.”

    Combined, these projects are projected to support dozens of undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and lab technicians over the next several years. The research also bolsters workforce development by integrating student-led research into university coursework, and by providing outreach opportunities in local K–12 classrooms — exposing young learners to high-tech, hands-on science before they reach college.

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    MIL OSI USA News –