For generations, women have relied on informal networks of friends, family and neighbors to navigate the complexities of birth and motherhood. Today, research is finally catching up to what generations of women have known: Peer support can be a lifeline.
Despite growing evidence, the unique wisdom and strength that arise when mothers help mothers has been surprisingly under‑explored in the scientific literature, but that’s beginning to change. Peer-delivered programs are beginning to bring together long-standing community traditions and structured, evidence-based approaches to support the mental health of new and expectant moms.
We are clinicalpsychologists at the University of Colorado Boulder Renée Crown Wellness Institute. Our work and research weaves together psychological science and the wisdom of mothers supporting mothers. Our program, Alma, supports women in restoring well-being in ways that are community-rooted, evidence-based and scalable.
Pressure on parents
Nearly 50% of parents report feeling overwhelmed by stress on most days. An even larger share, about 65%, experience feelings of loneliness, according to a 2024 report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. These feelings hit mothers especially hard, the report says.
Many mothers report experiencing depression during pregnancy, which is one of th emost common complications of childbirth. kieferpix/GettyImages
The science of peer support is part of a larger field exploring community health workers as one way to address the shortage of mental health providers. Peer mentors are trusted individuals from the community who share common experiences or challenges with those they serve. Through specialized training, they are equipped to deliver education, offer mental health support and connect people with needed resources.
A study that analyzed 30 randomized clinical trials involving individuals with serious mental illness found that peer support was associated with significant improvements in clinical outcomes and personal recovery. Researchers have proposed that peer support creates space for learning and healing, especially when peers share lived experience, culture and language.
As clinical psychologists, we heard from mothers in our work and communities that wanted to help other moms recover from depression, navigate the challenges of motherhood and avoid feeling alone. This insight led us to co-create Alma, a peer-led mental health program based on behavioral activation.
Alma is based on the principle that depression must be understood in context and that changing what you do can change how you feel. One strategy we use is to help a mother identify an activity that brings a sense of accomplishment, connection or enjoyment – and then take small steps to schedule that activity. Mothers might also be guided on ways to ask for help and strengthen their support networks. Alma is offered in English and Spanish.
Peer mentors typically meet with moms once a week for six to eight sessions. Sessions can take place in person or virtually, allowing flexibility that honors each family’s needs. Traditionally, peer mentors have been recruited through long-standing relationships with trusted community organizations and word-of-mouth referrals. This approach has helped ensure that mentors are deeply rooted in the communities they serve. Alma peer mentors are compensated for their time, which recognizes the value of their lived expertise, their training and the work involved in providing peer mentoring and support.
“This was the first time I felt like someone understood me, without me having to explain everything,” shared one mother during a post-program interview that all participants complete after finishing Alma.
To date, more than 700 mothers in Colorado have participated in Alma. In one of our studies, we focused on 126 Spanish-speaking Latina mothers who often face significant barriers to care, such as language differences, cost and stigma. For nearly 2 out of 3 mothers, symptoms of depression decreased enough to be considered a true, measurable recovery — not just a small change.
Notably, most of the depression improvement occurred within the first three Alma meetings. We also observed that peer mentors delivered the Alma program consistently and as intended. This suggests the program could be reliably expanded and replicated in other settings with similar positive outcomes.
A second study, conducted through a national survey of Spanish-speaking Latina new and expectant mothers, found that peer-led mental health support was not only perceived as effective, but also highly acceptable and deeply valued. Mothers noted that they were interested in peer-led support because it met them where they were: with language, trust and cultural understanding.
Supporting mothers works
Supporting mothers’ mental health is essential because it directly benefits both mothers and their children. Those improvements foster healthier emotional, cognitive and social development in their children. This interconnected impact highlights why investing in maternal mental health yields lasting benefits for the entire family.
It also makes strong economic sense to address mood and anxiety disorders among new and expectant mothers, which cost an estimated US$32,000 for each mother and child from conception through five years postpartum. More than half of those costs occur within the first year, driven primarily by productivity losses, preterm births and increased maternal health care needs.
Beyond the impact on individual families, the broader economic toll of untreated mood and anxiety disorders among new and expectant mothers is substantial. For example, it’s estimated that $4.7 billion a year are lost to mothers who have to miss work or reduce their job performance because of symptoms like fatigue, anxiety and depression.
Together – as individuals, families, communities and institutions – we can cultivate a world where the challenges of parenting are met with comprehensive support, allowing the joy of parenting to be fully realized. Because no one should have to do this alone.
Sona Dimidjian reports funding from philanthropic foundations and the National Institute of Health, and founding and receiving revenue from Mindful Noggin, Inc. and Access Consulting, LLC.
Anahi Collado reports receiving funding from philanthropic foundations.
But behind the spirit’s flash of marketing and growing popularity lies a rarely asked question: Where did the knowledge to distill agave come from in the first place?
In recent years, scholars studying how Indigenous communities responded to colonialism and global trade networks have begun to look more closely at the Pacific world. One key focus is the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade route, which linked Asia and the Americas for 250 years, from 1565 to 1815.
After Spain colonized the Philippines in 1565, Spanish galleons – towering, multidecked sailing ships – carried Chinese silk and Mexican silver across the ocean. But far more than goods traveled aboard those ships. They moved people, ideas and technologies.
For centuries, the rise of tequila has been credited to the Spanish. After the conquest of Mexico in the 16th century, colonizers introduced alembic stills, which are based on Moorish and Arabic technology. Unlike simple boiling, distillation requires managing heat and capturing purified vapor. These stills represented a major technological leap, allowing people to transform fermented drinks into distilled spirits.
Agave, long used to make the fermented drink pulque, soon became the base for something new: tequila and mezcal.
Colonial records, including the “Relaciones Geográficas,” a massive data-gathering project initiated by the Spanish Crown in the late 16th century, describe local Mesoamerican communities learning distillation from Spanish settlers. This version is well documented. But it assumes that technology moved in only one direction, from Europe to the Americas.
A second idea suggests that Mesoamerican communities already had some understanding of vapor condensation. Archaeologists have found ceramic vessels in western Mexico that may have been used to capture steam. While distillation requires additional steps, this prior knowledge may have primed Indigenous groups to more readily adopt new techniques.
A third perspective, which other researchers and I are exploring, traces a potential Filipino influence. The galleon trade brought thousands of Filipino sailors and laborers to Mexico, particularly along the Pacific coast. In places such as Guerrero, Colima and Jalisco, Filipino migrants introduced methods for fermenting and distilling coconut sap into lambanog, the coconut-based spirit.
The stills they used, sometimes called Mongolian stills, were built with clay and bamboo and included a condensation bowl. Historian Pablo Guzman-Rivas has noted that these stills more closely resemble the earliest Mexican agave distillation setups than European alembics. He has also documented oral traditions in some coastal Mexican communities to link local distillation practices to their Filipino ancestors.
The still on the left in Jalisco, Mexico, has similarities to the lambanog on the right from Infanta, Quezon, Philippines. Photo on left courtesy of Patricia Colunga-GarcíaMarín and Daniel Zizumbo-Villarreal; photo on right courtesy of Sherry Ann Angeles and Rading Coronacion, CC BY-SA
Beyond the bottle
Filipino influence extends beyond the distilling pot.
In Colima and other Pacific port towns, traces of the Manila galleon trade ripple through daily life – in kitchens, cantinas and even in architecture. The word “palapa,” used in Mexico and Central America today to describe rustic thatched roofs, is exactly the same as the term for coconut fronds that’s primarily used in the Bicol Region of the Philippines.
Filipino migrants in Mexico also shared knowledge of boatbuilding, fermentation and food preservation. Coconut vinegar, fish sauce and palm sugar-based condiments became part of Mexican cuisine. One of the most enduring legacies is tuba, the fermented coconut sap still popular in coastal areas of the Mexican state of Guerrero, where Filipino sailors once settled. Known locally by the same name, tuba is sold in markets and along roadsides, often enjoyed as a refreshing drink or as a cooking ingredient.
A replica of a galleon, the Spanish trading ship that traversed the world’s oceans from the 16th century to the 18th century. Dennis Jarvis/flickr, CC BY-SA
Exchange moved both ways. Filipino vessels carried corn, peanuts, sweet potatoes and cacao back across the Pacific, reshaping food in the Philippines. These exchanges took place under the shadow of colonialism and forced labor, but their legacies endure in language, in taste and even in the roofs over people’s heads.
Technical knowledge rarely travels through official channels alone. It moves with cooks in ship galleys, with carpenters below deck, with laborers who desert ships to settle in unfamiliar ports. Sometimes it was a way to build a roof or preserve a flavor. Other times, it was a method for turning a fermented plant into a spirit that could keep for long voyages. And by the early 1600s, new types of distilled agave spirits were being made in Mexico.
Tequila is unmistakably a product of Mexico. But it is also a product of movement. Whether Filipino migrants directly introduced distillation methods or whether they emerged from a mix of Indigenous experimentation and European tools, every time you sip tequila, you’re tasting an echo of those long ocean crossings from many centuries ago.
Stephen Acabado receives funding from the Henry Luce Foundation and the National Science Foundation.
Found in everything from protein bars to energy drinks, erythritol has long been considered a safe alternative to sugar. But new research suggests this widely used sweetener may be quietly undermining one of the body’s most crucial protective barriers – with potentially serious consequences for heart health and stroke risk.
A new study from the University of Colorado suggests erythritol may damage cells in the blood-brain barrier, the brain’s security system that keeps out harmful substances while letting in nutrients. The findings add troubling new detail to previous observational studies that have linked erythritol consumption to increased rates of heart attack and stroke.
In the new study, researchers exposed blood-brain barrier cells to levels of erythritol typically found after drinking a soft drink sweetened with the compound. They saw a chain reaction of cell damage that could make the brain more vulnerable to blood clots – a leading cause of stroke.
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.
Erythritol triggered what scientists call oxidative stress, flooding cells with harmful, highly reactive molecules known as free radicals, while simultaneously reducing the body’s natural antioxidant defences. This double assault damaged the cells’ ability to function properly, and in some cases killed them outright.
But perhaps more concerning was erythritol’s effect on the blood vessels’ ability to regulate blood flow. Healthy blood vessels act like traffic controllers, widening when organs need more blood – during exercise, for instance – and tightening when less is required. They achieve this delicate balance through two key molecules: nitric oxide, which relaxes blood vessels, and endothelin-1, which constricts them.
The study found that erythritol disrupted this critical system, reducing nitric oxide production while ramping up endothelin-1. The result would be blood vessels that remain dangerously constricted, potentially starving the brain of oxygen and nutrients. This imbalance is a known warning sign of ischaemic stroke – the type caused by blood clots blocking vessels in the brain.
Even more alarming, erythritol appeared to sabotage the body’s natural defence against blood clots. Normally, when clots form in blood vessels, cells release a “clot buster” called tissue plasminogen activator that dissolves the blockage before it can cause a stroke. But the sweetener blocked this protective mechanism, potentially leaving clots free to wreak havoc.
The laboratory findings align with troubling evidence from human studies. Several large-scale observational studies have found that people who regularly consume erythritol face significantly higher risks of cardiovascular disease, including heart attacks and strokes. One major study tracking thousands of participants found that those with the highest blood levels of erythritol were roughly twice as likely to experience a major cardiac event.
However, the research does have limitations. The experiments were conducted on isolated cells in laboratory dishes rather than complete blood vessels, which means the cells may not behave exactly as they would in the human body. Scientists acknowledge that more sophisticated testing – using advanced “blood vessel on a chip” systems that better mimic real physiology – will be needed to confirm these effects.
The findings are particularly significant because erythritol occupies a unique position in the sweetener landscape. Unlike artificial sweeteners such as aspartame or sucralose, erythritol is technically a sugar alcohol – a naturally occurring compound that the body produces in small amounts. This classification helped it avoid inclusion in recent World Health Organization guidelines that discouraged the use of artificial sweeteners for weight control.
Erythritol has also gained popularity among food manufacturers because it behaves more like sugar than other alternatives. While sucralose is 320 times sweeter than sugar, erythritol provides only about 80% of sugar’s sweetness, making it easier to use in recipes without creating an overpowering taste. It’s now found in thousands of products, especially in many “sugar-free” and “keto-friendly” foods.
Erythritol can be found in many keto-friendly products, such a protein bars. Stockah/Shutterstock.com
Trade-off
Regulatory agencies, including the European Food Standards Agency and the US Food and Drug Administration, have approved erythritol as safe for consumption. But the new research adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that even “natural” sugar alternatives may carry unexpected health risks.
For consumers, the findings raise difficult questions about the trade-offs involved in sugar substitution. Sweeteners like erythritol can be valuable tools for weight management and diabetes prevention, helping people reduce calories and control blood sugar spikes. But if regular consumption potentially weakens the brain’s protective barriers and increases cardiovascular risk, the benefits may come at a significant cost.
The research underscores a broader challenge in nutritional science: understanding the long-term effects of relatively new food additives that have become ubiquitous in the modern diet. While erythritol may help people avoid the immediate harms of excess sugar consumption, its effect on the blood-brain barrier suggests that frequent use could be quietly compromising brain protection over time.
As scientists continue to investigate these concerning links, consumers may want to reconsider their relationship with this seemingly innocent sweetener – and perhaps question whether any sugar substitute additive is truly without risk.
Havovi Chichger 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.
Hosepipe bans have been announced in parts of England this summer. Following the driest spring in over a century, the Environment Agency has issued a medium drought risk warning, and Yorkshire Water will introduce restrictions starting Friday, 11 July. It’s a familiar story: reduced rainfall, shrinking reservoirs and renewed calls for restraint: take shorter showers, avoid watering the lawn, turn off the tap while brushing your teeth.
These appeals to personal responsibility reflect a broader way of thinking about water: that everyone, everywhere, is facing the same crisis, and that small individual actions are a meaningful response. But what if this narrative, familiar as it is, obscures more than it reveals?
In my new book, Thirst: The global quest to solve the water crisis, I argue that the phrase “global water crisis” may do more harm than good. It simplifies a complex global reality, collapsing vastly different situations into one seemingly shared emergency. While it evokes urgency, it conceals the very things that matter: the causes, politics and power dynamics that determine who gets water and who doesn’t.
What we call a single crisis is, in fact, many distinct ones. To see this clearly, we must move beyond the rhetoric of global scarcity and look closely at how drought plays out in different places. Consider the UK, the Horn of Africa, and Chile: three regions facing water stress in radically different ways.
Roughly a fifth of treated water is lost through leaking pipes, some of them over a century old. At the same time, privatised water companies have come under growing scrutiny for failing to invest in infrastructure while paying billions in dividends to shareholders. So calls for households to use less water often strike a dissonant note.
The UK’s droughts are not just the product of climate variability. They are also shaped by policy decisions, regulatory failures and eroding public trust. Temporary scarcity becomes a recurring crisis due to the structures meant to manage it.
Horn of Africa: survival and structural vulnerability
In the Horn of Africa, drought is catastrophic. Since 2020, the region has endured five consecutive failed rainy seasons – the worst in four decades. More than 30 million people across Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya face food insecurity. Livelihoods have collapsed and millions of people have been displaced.
Climate change is a driver, but so is politics. Armed conflict, weak governance and decades of underinvestment have left communities dangerously exposed. These vulnerabilities are rooted in longer histories of colonial exploitation and, more recently, the privatisation of essential services.
Adaptation refers to how communities try to cope with changing climate conditions using the resources they have. Local efforts to adapt to drought (such as digging new wells, planting drought-resistant crop or rationing limited supplies) are often informal or underfunded.
When prolonged droughts strike in places already facing poverty, conflict or weak governance, these coping strategies are rarely enough. Framing climate-induced drought as just another chapter in a global water crisis erases the specific conditions that make it so deadly.
Chile’s water crisis is often linked to drought. But the underlying issue is extraction. The country holds over half of the world’s lithium reserves, a metal critical to electric vehicles and energy storage.
Lithium is mined through an intensely water-consuming process in the Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth, often on Indigenous land. Communities have seen water tables drop and wetlands disappear while receiving little benefit.
Chile’s water laws, introduced under the Pinochet regime, allow private companies to hold long-term rights regardless of environmental or social cost. Here, water scarcity is driven less by rainfall and more by law, ownership and global demand for renewable technologies. Framing Chile’s situation as just another example of a global water crisis overlooks the deeper political and economic forces that shape how water is managed – and who gets to benefit from it.
No single crisis, no single solution
While drought is intensifying, its causes and consequences vary. In the UK, it’s about infrastructure and governance. In the Horn of Africa, it’s about historical injustice and systemic neglect. In Chile, it’s about legal frameworks and resource extraction.
Labelling this simply as a global water crisis oversimplifies the issue and steers attention away from the root causes. It promotes technical solutions while ignoring the political questions of who has access to water and who controls it.
This approach often favours private companies and international organisations, sidelining local communities and institutions. Instead of holding power to account, it risks shifting responsibility without making meaningful changes to how power and resources are shared.
In Thirst, I argue that the crisis of water is a cultural and political one. Who controls water, who profits from it, who bears the cost of its depletion: these are the defining questions of our time. And they cannot be answered with generalities. We don’t need one big solution. We need many small, just ones.
This article features a reference to a book that has been included for editorial reasons. If you click on one of the links to bookshop.org and go on to buy something, The Conversation UK may earn a commission.
Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?
Filippo Menga 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.
For the uninitiated, fermented foods include anything that uses bacteria to break down organic matter into a new product. Look around an ordinary kitchen and you’ll almost certainly find something fermented: yoghurt (milk), beer and wine (grain/fruit) or vinegar (alcohol). Not all of these will give you the promised health boost, however, which comes from “live” ferments containing probiotic microbes, usually lactic acid bacteria. In alcohol and vinegar the fermenting bacteria die during the process.
The health benefits of fermented foods are widely promoted. Some advocates, like epidemiologist Tim Spector, suggest the gut microbiome is the key to our health, while others are more cautious: in essence, although kefir is certainly good for your gut, it isn’t a cure-all. Still, the research is ongoing and diversifying: one study has even suggested that probiotics could fight the less pleasant recent phenomenon of microplastics in our stomachs.
The future of fermented foods is definitely something to keep an eye on, but equally interesting is their long past and the different fermented food fashions we see over time.
Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here.
Garum eventually lost its popularity in Europe during the Middle Ages, but fermented fish made a comeback in the 18th century. In Asia fish sauces had continued strong, and colonialism brought the south Asian fish sauce kê-chiap to Europe, alongside soy sauce (fermented soybeans). Salt-fermenting oysters and anchovies in this style became popular in England and North America, and people eventually branched out to preserving tomatoes – giving us modern ketchup.
Cabbage cultures
No discussion of fermentation would be complete without pickled vegetables. Today, the most talked-about fermented vegetable is the cabbage, in the form of kimchi and sauerkraut, thanks to its strong probiotic and vitamin C content.
The historical origins of these dishes are unclear. Online articles might tell you that pickled cabbage was first eaten by the builders of the Great Wall of China 2,000 years ago and brought to Europe in Genghis Khan’s saddlebags. These kinds of apocryphal stories should be taken with more than a grain of salt.
An illustration of the cultivation of grapes and winemaking in Ming dynasty China (1368–1644). Wellcome Collection
Still, as Jan Davison, author of Pickles: A Global History, writes, literary evidence suggests that salt pickling in general does have a long precedence. Pickled gourds were eaten in Zhou dynasty China around 3,000 years ago.
It’s hard to say when sauerkraut became a common dish, but the term was in use by the 16th century and was associated with Germany by the 17th. As to Korean kimchi, research suggests this style of preservation was practised by the 13th century, only using turnips rather than cabbage.
The popularity of radish and cabbage kimchi only came about in the 16th century, alongside the use of chilli peppers. Now an iconic aspect of this bright-red dish, peppers were not part of “Old World” diets before the Columbian exchange.
History reveals our long relationship with fermented food. Our pickling ancestors were more interested in food preservation than in their bacterial microbiome – a very modern concept. Looking to past practices might even help us innovate fermentation technologies, as recent research from the Vrije Universiteit Brussels shows. I’m not sure about bringing back fermented fish guts, but more pickled turnips doesn’t sound half bad.
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.
Serin Quinn does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Kate Sullivan de Estrada, Associate Professor in the International Relations of South Asia, University of Oxford
Preparing to react to a maritime ’emergency’.Romuald Robert, CC BY
The coils of black hose, drum skimmers designed to collect oil from the ocean’s surface, and orangey-red containment booms all looked out of place on the white sand of Mombasa’s touristy Nyali beach. But on July 9, dozens of emergency responders in red and orange hi-vis gear took over a portion of this beach. They were braving the wind and choppy Indian Ocean waves as they mock up the onshore response to a simulated oil spill at sea.
I research how countries in the western Indian Ocean cooperate to make the seas around them safer, and I was there to observe a field training exercise that brought together around 200 participants from ten coastal and island states for one week in east Africa’s largest port city. Codenamed MASEPOLREX25, it put two types of emergency response to the test.
The first was Kenya’s national-level response to marine oil pollution, guided by its national contingency plan. The second was a regional-level response that can bring in outside help from other nations. The organiser of the exercise, the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) – an intergovernmental group of Western Indian Ocean islands headquartered in Mauritius – wanted the countries of the region to rehearse a joint response to marine pollution.
Preparations begin on Kenya’s Nyali beach for the emergency exercise. Romuald Robert., CC BY
The exercise put two IOC-designed regional centres through their paces. Think of them like a pair of regional helpdesks for ocean security, each with a distinct purpose.
How does it unfold?
The exercise began the day before with a briefing on the marine pollution scenario. The Kenyan authorities had received a distress call from the fictional captains of two damaged vessels.
An oil tanker with a deadweight tonnage of 50,000 had collided with a feeder ship in Tanzanian waters, just south of Kenya’s maritime zone. The captain of the tanker suspected that 3,000-to-4,000 metric tonnes of intermediate fuel oil (persistent, thick oil that won’t evaporate by itself) had spilled into the ocean.
Such an incident is plausible. A 2023 IOC-commissioned internal study pinpointed the Kenya-Tanzania border as a hotspot for marine pollution risk. Two major ports sit in close proximity in a busy maritime transit corridor.
Clustered around an incident board, Kenya’s incident management team mounted their national response. Nuru Mohammed, liaison officer for the Kenya Maritime Authority, explained that the assessment of the size of the spill and expectations of its behaviour had already led the team to anticipate the need for regional support. At this time of year, the sea current would carry the slick northward into Kenyan waters.
At the back of everyone’s minds was the 2020 Wakashio incident, in which a bulk carrier owned by a Japanese shipping company but flagged to Panama ran aground to the southeast of Mauritius. An estimated 800-to-1,000 tonnes of fuel oil spilled into the sea, affecting 30km of Mauritian coastline. The cost to marine life, food security and human health were compounded by economic and connectivity challenges posed by the COVID pandemic.
Responders prepare oil-spill equipment on the beach near Mombasa. Romuald Robert, CC BY-SA
For the exercise, aerial surveillance of the mock spill triggered the first attempt at containment. A live video feed of the offshore national response showed rice husks, a substitute for the oil, afloat on the waves. Two vessels sprayed simulated oil-spill dispersants in challenging winds.
In real life, as in this exercise, oil properties determine how the spill will behave. IOC consultant Peter Taylor warned that churning waves could mix with the oil forming emulsions that were viscous and not dispersible.
We turned our attention to the chat feed on SeaVision, an information-sharing platform. A notification popped up. The Regional Maritime Information Fusion Centre (RMIFC) in Madagascar had shared mapped and timestamped projections of the drift of the oil slick for the following 72 hours. The centre’s director, Alex Ralaiarivony, later explained how it could provide other technical support such as satellite imagery, and could calculate the proportions of oil that were likely to become submerged, evaporate, remain adrift and reach the shoreline.
By July 9, the fictional oil spill had reached the coast. The team on Nyali beach hurried to deploy an oil containment boom, a floating barrier that can shield sensitive areas such as shorelines.
Back at headquarters, SeaVision was busy with messages. The other centre, the Regional Coordination of Operations Centre (RCOC) in Seychelles, was urgently requesting more shoreline equipment to help with oil spills, such as booms, from regional partners. Mauritius and Madagascar both made offers to help that Kenya accepted, and the RCOC coordinated a Dornier aircraft from Seychelles for collection and delivery.
How does the emergency response work?
The two centres help countries in the Western Indian Ocean secure their maritime zones against threats such as piracy, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, the trafficking of illicit goods – and marine pollution incidents.
In Madagascar, the RMIFC gathers and analyses maritime data from multiple sources to detect potential threats at sea. This enables early warning of threats like oil spills, as well as suspicious ships or boats engaged in illicit maritime activities.
The RCOC in Seychelles responds to these threats. It draws on a shared pool of aircraft and ships belonging to its members, using these to coordinate joint responses – whether through sea patrols, boarding and inspecting ships, or laying the legal groundwork to prosecute offenders.
The two regional centres serve seven states: IOC island members Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles and France — through its island territory of La Réunion — as well as East African coastal states Kenya and Djibouti.
On July 10, the exercise ended with an evaluation. One takeaway was that the two regional centres could have been used even more – for instance, to coordinate technical assistance from different partners. But a key purpose of the exercise was to help participating countries understand what the centres offer, and get them used to a regional-level response.
Coastal and island states thousands of kilometres apart are being brought closer by maritime threats in their shared ocean. And the two centres are building their operational capacity to support the whole region, while also creating trust among countries. This matters in a geopolitical context of strategic competition in the Indian Ocean, where islands and East African coastal states sometimes want to put their own needs first.
At the end of the exercise, IOC officer-in-charge Raj Mohabeer reminded participants that the island and coastal states of the Western Indian Ocean have vast maritime zones and face multiple seaborne security threats to their economies, ecologies and livelihoods. “No developing country can deal with a significant marine pollution event alone.”
Kate Sullivan de Estrada receives funding from Research England’s Policy Support Fund allocation to the University of
Oxford via the Public Policy Challenge Fund. Her project under the Fund is titled “Balancing ‘Sovereignty Trade-offs’ in Small-State Maritime Security Co-operation: The Case of the Indian Ocean Commission.”
As roses fill gardens and hedgerows this season, there is a story, millions of years in the making, unfolding beneath their petals.
Analysis of rose genomes and floral structure is revealing how the stunning diversity we admire is rooted in the genes of these plants, offering new insight into how the beauty in our world is built at the molecular level.
Modern roses are a riot of colour. Some roses are showy and fragrant while others are modest and understated. Jude the Obscure is coloured in peach, Kew Gardens a soft white and Catherine’s Rose a coral pink.
Many people think of plants as nice-looking greens. Essential for clean air, yes, but simple organisms. A step change in research is shaking up the way scientists think about plants: they are far more complex and more like us than you might imagine. This blossoming field of science is too delightful to do it justice in one or two stories.
All modern roses, in one way or another, stem from a pool of ancient ancestors. The genus Rosa first appeared over 30 million years ago, while the more recent ancestral species that gave rise to today’s roses emerged around 6 million years ago. Diversifying over this time, all modern roses have come into being from these plants.
An April 2025 study by Chinese researchers suggests that the first Rosa flowers 30 million years ago were probably yellow. The researchers studied key traits of modern roses, like petal colour and the number of petals, and mapped them onto an evolutionary tree of roses. Tracing these traits through time allowed them to see how roses have changed over millions of years. For example, the next colours to appear in rose petals were pinks and reds. They also found the ancestor of modern roses alive 6 million years ago was probably pink.
The 2025 study’s evolutionary reconstruction of key rose traits suggests the first roses were simple in form, bearing a single layer of petals. Jude the Obscure and Catherine’s Rose are both double-flowered roses, meaning their blooms have extra petals. These extra petals originated through natural mutations, which were later selected for during rose breeding.
Scent is one of the main appeals of roses in our gardens. Jude the Obscure has a strong fruity fragrance, while Catherine’s Rose is said to have a subtle hint of mango. Yet, some roses are completely scentless.
Floral fragrances come from plant compounds. For instance, roses that emit a lemony aroma owe it to the compound citronellol. Scientists aren’t sure why some Rosa species produce these compounds, but they probably help attract specific pollinators or serve as part of the plant’s defence system.
A 2024 study found that fragrant roses have more genes involved in the production of scent compounds compared to their less fragrant cousins. These fragrant plants produce compounds in high abundance, their complex aromas attracting pollinators and our senses alike. This suggests that, over time, scent production became an advantageous strategy for some roses, because it costs energy to produce these genes.
After their origin over 30 million years ago, roses gradually evolved a remarkable range of forms, colours and fragrances. Today, there are more than 300 accepted species in the genus Rosa. Fossil evidence and genetic studies suggest that the ancestors of roses first evolved in central Asia, probably in modern-day China and the Himalayan foothills. Their natural diversity helped roses adapt to temperate climates, spreading throughout Asia. From there, they gradually expanded westward, reaching Europe around 15 to 25 million years ago.
In only the last couple of centuries, roses have undergone a second wave of diversification, this time driven by human hands. Modern rose breeders selected between eight and 20 wild rose species — particularly from Asia, such as Rosa chinensis and Rosa multiflora, as well as European species Rosa gallica and Rosa canina — to create all modern cultivated varieties. This process enhanced traits that appeal to our senses and produced flowers with more petals, deeper and more vibrant colours and stronger, more complex scents.
The origin of rose breeding: Rosa multiflora, Rosa canina and Rosa gallica Wikimedia
For example, genes involved in petal development have been selected to produce fuller, double-flowered blooms. Other genes associated with pigment production have been targeted to enhance deeper and more vibrant colours. Likewise, genes involved in the synthesis of scent compounds, such as one known as NUDX1, have been favoured to intensify rose fragrance.
Other characteristics flower breeders targeted include recurrent flowering, disease resistance and reduced prickle formation. Many wild rose species originally had far more prickles than modern garden varieties. Outside of our gardens, this may leave them more vulnerable to grazing animals.
This botanical experiment, guided by human hands, has shaped the stunning diversity we cherish today. This cultivation is what sets roses apart from their close relatives. Rubus, a closely related genus including blackberries and raspberries, has more than 800 species. There are over 300 Rosa species but it is estimated there are over 35,000 varieties of modern rose.
Beauties such as Jude the Obscure, Kew Gardens and Catherine’s Rose are the result of centuries of careful cultivation and scientific understanding. So, the next time you walk through a rose garden, take a moment to appreciate the deep history behind each bloom.
Alexander Bowles receives funding as a Glasstone Fellow at the University of Oxford.
In March 2025, President Félix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) offered the country’s critical mineral reserves to the United States and Europe in exchange for security and stability.
At the time, the March 23 (M23) militia insurgency was unleashing violence: killing civilians, committing sexual violence, displacing communities and looting mineral resources. Since 1996, eastern Congo has been engulfed in wars and armed conflicts driven by regional powers and more than 120 armed groups.
The U.S.-brokered peace agreement between Rwanda and the DRC raises critical questions: Is this a genuine path to sustainable peace, or a continuation of U.S. President Donald Trump’s strategy to secure access to critical minerals through coercive diplomacy?
The global shift toward renewable energy, digital infrastructure and military modernization has sparked a geopolitical scramble for critical and rare earth minerals.
The DRC’s offer must be viewed through this lens of global resource competition.
Congo’s critical mineral wealth
The DRC holds some of the world’s richest deposits of critical minerals and metals. A 2012 article estimated the value of Congo’s untapped mineral wealth at US$24 trillion, a figure nearing the U.S. first-quarter 2025 GDP of $29.962 trillion.
U.S. involvement in Congo stretches back to the Cold War, when it played a role in the 1961 assassination of Patrice Lumumba, Congo’s first elected prime minister who sought economic sovereignty.
In 1996, the U.S. was accused of backing Rwanda and Uganda in the initial invasion of eastern Congo. A U.S. diplomat, “Mr. Hankins,” was quoted in Goma saying: “I am here …to represent American interests.”
In 2024, President Joe Biden met Tshisekedi to advance the Lobito Corridor, a strategic trade route to counter China’s dominance in the region. Chinese companies currently control around 80 per cent of Congo’s copper market.
When Trump signed the 2025 peace agreement, he openly stated the U.S. would gain “a lot of mineral rights … foreign trade and investment from the regional critical mineral supply chains.”
U.S.-brokered peace deal
The deal, however, prioritizes America’s access to minerals over the well-being of Congolese citizens. Historically, Congo’s mineral wealth has enriched elites and foreign powers while leaving its people impoverished and vulnerable. The new agreement could entrench existing inequalities and inflame tensions further.
The U.S. has also cut off aid for war survivors, including emergency medical kits and antiretrovirals for rape victims, undermining humanitarian efforts.
Crucially, the agreement overlooks:
The root causes and drivers of conflict at national, regional and international levels.
The role of Rwanda and Uganda, whose militaries and intelligence services have long been implicated in supporting groups like M23. Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, son of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, has referred to M23 as “our brothers” and threatened military action in Congo.
The voices of Congolese civil society, war survivors and the public, who were excluded from the negotiation process.
State fragility and institutional collapse — major enablers of protracted violence.
The grievances of Hutu and Tutsi communities in the DRC, deeply rooted in colonial and regional politics.
The presence of more than 120 armed groups, many of them proxies for foreign powers engaging in what some scholars call “geocriminality.”
Between January and February 2025 alone, more than 7,000 people were killed in the DRC. The United Nations and several human rights organizations have documented mass atrocities, including crimes of genocidal magnitude.
A path toward real peace
The peace agreement fails to demand justice for crimes committed against the Congolese people. Nobel Peace laureate Denis Mukwege condemned the deal for “rewarding aggression, legitimizing the plundering of Congo’s natural resources, and sacrificing justice for a fragile peace.”
It also ignores the roles of international mining corporations and external entities that have long profited from Congo’s instability.
True and lasting peace in the DRC cannot be imposed from the outside. U.S.-led mineral extraction without justice risks deepening the crisis. Since 1999, UN peacekeepers have been deployed in the Congo , yet violence continues.
Sustainable peace will require:
An end to impunity;
Thorough investigations into war crimes;
Regional truth-telling processes;
Justice and reparations for victims;
And most importantly, inclusion of Congolese voices in shaping their future.
Without these commitments, the U.S. risks replicating a long history of exploitation, trading in minerals while ignoring the human cost.
Evelyn Namakula Mayanja receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and from Carleton University
Earlier this month, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants against the Taliban leadership in Afghanistan.
The court’s Pre-Trial Chamber II cited reasonable grounds for believing supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and chief justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani were guilty of “ordering, inducing or soliciting the crime against humanity of persecution on gender grounds.”
The warrants – the first ever on charges of gender persecution – are being hailed as an “important vindication and acknowledgement of the rights of Afghan women and girls”.
But will they improve the plight of women and girls in Afghanistan, given the Taliban does not recognise the court or its jurisdiction?
The signs are not good with the Taliban denying the allegations and condemning the warrants as a “clear act of hostility [and an] insult to the beliefs of Muslims around the world”.
Erased from public life
Strict rules and prohibitions have been imposed on the Afghan people since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021.
Women and girls have been singled out for even worse treatment by reason of their gender.
According the warrants, the Taliban has
severely deprived, through decrees and edicts, girls and women of the rights to education, privacy and family life and the freedoms of movement, expression, thought, conscience and religion.
Women are banned from public places and girls from attending school once they turn 12.
Zahra Nader is the editor-in-chief of newsroom Zan Times which investigates human rights violations in Afghanistan. She says Afghan women and girls are being silenced, restricted and stripped of their basic human rights.
It is this discriminatory system of control of woman and girls in Afghanistan that is at the core of the court’s prosecution.
The warrants also accuse the Taliban of persecuting
other persons who don’t conform with the Taliban’s ideological expectations of gender, gender identity or expression; and on political grounds against persons perceived as ‘allies of girls and women.
This is the first time an international tribunal or court has confirmed crimes against humanity involving LGBTQIA+ victims. This marks an important milestone in the protection of sexual minorities under international law.
Crimes against humanity
International law clearly spells put the offences which constitute crimes against humanity.
The aim is to protect civilians from serious and widespread attacks on their fundamental rights. Different definitions of crimes against humanity have been included in the statutes of a handful of international tribunals and courts.
The definition under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is the most comprehensive. It includes severe deprivation of personal liberty, murder, enslavement, rape, torture, forced deportation or apartheid.
Specifically, the Taliban leaders are accused under Article 7(1)(h) of the Rome Statute, which states:
Persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender […] or other grounds that are universally recognised as impermissible under international law.
Physical and direct violence is not necessary for persecution on “gender […] grounds” to be established. Systemic and institutionalised forms of harm, which can be the imposition of discriminatory societal norms, are sufficient.
Women and girls are often disproportionately affected by Taliban policies and rules. But proving gender-based crimes have occurred is not enough. Discriminatory intent must also be established.
The Taliban has been open about its religious beliefs and interpretations, suggesting a clear intention to persecute on the grounds of gender.
Not just symbolic
As with other cases, the court relies on the cooperation of states to execute and surrender those accused.
The interim government in Kabul which was formed after the US-led invasion in 2001 became a party to the Rome Statute in 2003. Afghanistan remains legally obligated to prosecute perpetrators of these crimes – it must accept the Court’s jurisdiction in the matter.
The Purple Saturdays Movement, an Afghan women-led protest group, is warning the arrest warrants must be more than just symbolic. Any failure to prosecute would likely result in an escalation of human rights violations:
The Taliban has historically responded to international pressure not with reform, but by intensifying such repressive policies.
Hopeful step
It is important to note the strict policies and widespread abuses targeting women and girls in Afghanistan are ongoing, despite the intervention by the International Criminal Court.
The court’s Office of the Prosecutor is stressing its commitment to pursuing “effective legal pathways” to bring the Taliban leadership to account. The Afghan Women’s Movement in Exile wants an independent international judicial committee established to monitor and accelerate the legal process.
It is not yet clear if the warrants will actually lead to arrest and prosecution in The Hague. But we know this is possible. A prime example being the the arrest earlier this year of former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte.
At the very least, the arrests warrants are a hopeful step towards accountability for the Taliban and justice for the women and girls of Afghanistan.
Yvonne Breitwieser-Faria does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: The Conversation – USA – By Anna Erickson, Professor of Nuclear and Radiological Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
This travel case holds a toolkit containing equipment for inspecting nuclear facilities.Dean Calma/IAEA, CC BY
What happens when a country seeks to develop a peaceful nuclear energy program? Every peaceful program starts with a promise not to build a nuclear weapon. Then, the global community verifies that stated intent via the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
Once a country signs the treaty, the world’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, provides continuous and technical proof that the country’s nuclear program is peaceful.
These are not just log reviews. Inspectors know what should and should not be there. When the IAEA is not on site, cameras, tamper-revealing seals on equipment and real-time radiation monitors are working full-time to gather or verify inside information about the program’s activities.
Safeguards toolkit
The IAEA safeguards toolkit is designed to detect proliferation activities early. Much of the work is fairly technical. The safeguards toolkit combines physical surveillance, material tracking, data analytics and scientific sampling. Inspectors are chemists, physicists and nuclear engineers. They count spent fuel rods in a cooling pond. They check tamper seals on centrifuges. Often, the inspectors walk miles through hallways and corridors carrying heavy equipment.
That’s how the world learned in April 2021 about Iran pushing uranium enrichment from reactor-fuel-grade to near-weapons-grade levels. IAEA inspectors were able to verify that Iran was feeding uranium into a series of centrifuges designed to enrich the uranium from 5%, used for energy programs, to 60%, which is a step toward the 90% level used in nuclear weapons.
Around the facilities, whether for uranium enrichment or plutonium processing, closed-circuit surveillance cameras monitor for undeclared materials or post-work activities. Seals around the facilities provide evidence that uranium gas cylinders have not been tampered with or that centrifuges operate at the declared levels. Beyond seals, online enrichment monitors allow inspectors to look inside of centrifuges for any changes in the declared enrichment process.
Seals verify whether nuclear equipment or materials have been used between onsite inspections.
When the inspectors are on-site, they collect environmental swipes: samples of nuclear materials on surfaces, in dust or in the air. These can reveal if uranium has been enriched to levels beyond those allowed by the agreement. Or if plutonium, which is not used in nuclear power plants, is being produced in a reactor. Swipes are precise. They can identify enrichment levels from a particle smaller than a speck of dust. But they take time, days or weeks. Inspectors analyze the samples at the IAEA’s laboratories using sophisticated equipment called mass spectrometers.
In addition to physical samples, IAEA inspectors look at the logs of material inventories. They look for diversion of uranium or plutonium from normal process lines, just like accountants trace the flow of finances, except that their verification is supported by the ever-watching online monitors and radiation sensors. They also count items of interest and weigh them for additional verification of the logs.
Beyond accounting for materials, IAEA inspectors verify that the facility matches the declared design. For example, if a country is expanding centrifuge halls to increase its enrichment capabilities, that’s a red flag. Changes to the layout of material processing laboratories near nuclear reactors could be a sign that the program is preparing to produce unauthorized plutonium.
Losing access
Iran announced on June 28, 2025, that it has ended its cooperation with the IAEA. It removed the monitoring devices, including surveillance cameras, from centrifuge halls. This move followed the news by the IAEA that Iran’s enrichment activities are well outside of allowed levels. Iran now operates sophisticated uranium centrifuges, like models IR-6 and IR-9.
Removing IAEA access means that the international community loses insight into how quickly Iran’s program can accumulate weapon-grade uranium, or how much it has produced. Also lost is information about whether the facility is undergoing changes for proliferation purposes. These processes are difficult to detect with external surveillance, like satellites, alone.
An alternative to the uranium enrichment path for producing nuclear weapons material is plutonium. Plutonium can’t be mined, it has to be produced in a nuclear reactor. Iran built a reactor capable of producing plutonium, the IR-40 Heavy Water Research Reactor at the Arak Nuclear Complex.
Iran modified the Arak reactor under the now-defunct Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action to make plutonium production less likely. During the June 2025 missile attacks, Israel targeted Arak’s facilities with the aim of eliminating the possibility of plutonium production.
With IAEA access suspended, it won’t be possible to see what happens inside the facility. Can the reactor be used for plutonium production? Although a lengthier process than the uranium enrichment path, plutonium provides a parallel path to uranium enrichment for developing nuclear weapons.
Continuity of knowledge
North Korea expelled IAEA inspectors in 2009. Within a few years, they restarted activities related to uranium enrichment and plutonium production in the Yongbyon reactor. The international community’s information about North Korea’s weapons program now relies solely on external methods: satellite images, radioactive particles like xenon – airborne fingerprints of nuclear activities – and seismic data.
What is lost is the continuity of the knowledge, a chain of verification over time. Once the seals are broken or cameras are removed, that chain is lost, and so is confidence about what is happening at the facilities.
When it comes to IAEA inspections, there is no single tool that paints the whole picture. Surveillance plus sampling plus accounting provide validation and confidence. Losing even one weakens the system in the long term.
The existing safeguards regime is meant to detect violations. The countries that sign the nonproliferation treaty know that they are always watched, and that plays a deterrence role. The inspectors can’t just resume the verification activities after some time if access is lost. Future access won’t necessarily enable inspectors to clarify what happened during the gap.
Anna Erickson receives funding from DOE National Nuclear Security Administration.
Think back to a time you helped someone move a heavy object, such as a couch. While at first the task may have appeared simple, it actually required a suite of advanced behaviours.
The job needed verbal commands for social coordination (“pivot!”) and anticipation of near-future events (moving other furniture out of the way). It also required a clear, shared vision of the final goal (which room to take the couch to).
It’s a small but satisfying example of human cooperation. But before we all get too pleased with ourselves, consider that ants – creatures with tiny brains and no capacity for speech – routinely pull off feats that rival, and sometimes exceed, our own.
Ants routinely pull off feats that rival, and sometimes exceed, our own. Andre Moura/Pexels
Understanding ant intelligence
Earth is literally crawling with ants. Scientists estimate there are at least 20 quadrillion ants on Earth. That’s 20 followed by 15 zeros – more ants than stars in our galaxy!
These incredible insects are amongst the most successful organisms on the planet. Part of the success comes from an ability to form complex societies, ranging from a few individuals to millions. And those societies, or colonies, are remarkably co-operative.
Take, for example, ants’ abilities to move large food items. To do it, they mobilise teams of dozens – or even hundreds – of fellow workers. Together, they efficiently work together to transport the load back to the nest.
Longhorn crazy ants (Paratrechina longicornis) are even known to clear debris from a path before a heavy object arrives – seemingly anticipating its trajectory and preparing the way.
One experiment pit longhorn crazy ants against humans, all tasked with moving T-shaped objects (scaled to body size) through tight spaces. In some trials, the human teams were not permitted to speak or use gestures.
And the result? Ants performed better in larger groups compared to smaller ones, showing the clear benefits of collective action. In contrast, human performance did not improve with group size. And when communication was restricted, human performance declined as group size increased.
All this highlights how ants rely on collective intelligence, without the need for central control or sophisticated cognition.
Expert farmers
Humanity’s invention of agriculture 12,000 years ago is understandably hailed as one of our greatest achievements.
But leaf cutter ants beat us to it. These ants (from the species Atta and Acromyrmex) evolved to undertake large-scale agriculture about 55 million years ago.
These ants cut and transport fresh leaves not to eat directly, but to feed a fungus that serves as their main food source.
This evolutionary partnership allows the ants to feed colonies with populations in the millions.
Remarkably, leaf cutter ants have also evolved a form of biological pest control to protect their crops from bacteria. Some worker ants patrol the gardens, detecting infected sections of the fungus. Then they apply antibiotics produced by bacteria that live on their bodies.
As these farmed insects feed on plant sap, they excrete a sugary liquid the ants eagerly collect. In return, ants serve as bodyguards, defending their tiny livestock from predators such as ladybirds and lacewings.
In some species, queen ants gently carry sap-sucking insects in their jaws as they fly off to start new colonies. Fossilised ants preserved in amber suggest this behaviour evolved up to 20 million years ago, long before humans domesticated animals.
Ant medicine
Medical care may seem like a distinctly human innovation. But several ant species have evolved sophisticated ways to treat injuries.
When a Florida carpenter ant (Camponotus floridanus) is injured during a battle between colonies, its nest-mates will amputate a damaged limb to prevent infection from spreading. Ants receiving this battlefield care are more likely to survive than ants left untreated.
Army ants (Eciton burchellii) join their bodies together to form structures. These include bridges across gaps on the forest floor, and “scaffolds” across steep terrain to prevent other ants from slipping.
Even the nest is made of hundreds of thousands of ants joined together, complete with tunnels and chambers housing the larvae and the queen. The entire structure is packed up and rebuilt each day, after the colony emigrates a few hundred metres into the forest.
They also form a line of workers that pull leaves together in treetops to form nests. Once the leaves are winched into place, other ants arrive with ant larvae in their jaws. Each larva produces a tiny blob of silk which the ants use to glue the leaves together.
Fire ants (Solenopsis invicta), a major pest species, owes its invasive success partly to a unique method of dispersal.
When their underground nests are flooded by rain, the ants join together into a huge raft which floats on a layer of buoyant larvae. These rafts can ride floodwaters in safety for hundreds of kilometres, until the ants reach dry land.
When their nests are flooded, fire ants join together into a huge raft. TheCoz/Wikimedia, CC BY
Lessons for humanity?
Humans rightly take pride in our greatest achievements – agriculture, medicine, engineering and building civilisations. But remarkably, ants mastered these innovations millions of years before we did.
Ants may be tiny – but by working together they can build complex societies and solve many problems. They might even teach humans a thing or two.
Tanya Latty co-founded and volunteers for conservation organisation Invertebrates Australia, is former president of the Australasian Society for the Study of Animal Behaviour and is on the education committee for the Australian Entomological Society. She receives funding from the Australian Research Council, NSW Saving our Species, and Agrifutures Australia
Chris R. Reid receives funding from the Australian Research Council and Macquarie University. He is secretary of the Australasian Society for the Study of Animal Behaviour and is on the education committee for the Australasian Entomological Society.
Spinal cord stimulators are electrical devices that are surgically implanted in the body to treat long-term pain. They have a battery pack and leads that deliver electrical impulses directly to the spinal cord. The devices are thought to work by providing electrical impulses that interfere with how the brain senses pain.
Spinal cord stimulators are mainly used to treat chronic back pain, especially when other less invasive treatments have not worked. They also aim to reduce people’s reliance on risky pain medicines. These include opioids, which research shows are ineffective and harmful for low-back pain.
But research, including our own, shows spinal cord stimulators work no better than a placebo. And they can also carry risks.
Do they work?
In a 2023 Cochrane review, researchers reviewed data from 13 randomised controlled trials on low-back pain and found no benefits in the short and medium term. These international reviews draw together the most robust evidence to provide a detailed summary of what we know on a particular topic.
Only one of the trials in the review tested efficacy in the longer term (six months). That trial found no benefits of spinal cord stimulation.
An earlier Cochrane review looked at the evidence of spinal cord stimulation for chronic pain in general, including for neck pain. Reviewers looked at 15 randomised controlled trials and couldn’t be certain about its benefits, largely due to the quality and reliability of the available trials.
Are there side effects?
Aside from disappointing results for pain relief, there are risks and side effects to consider.
We co-authored an analysis of 520 adverse events reported to Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). We found 79% of reported events were rated as severe, with 13% life-threatening. The same research found 80% of events required surgery to correct.
Our recent analysis in the Medical Journal of Australia looked at data from private health insurers. These cover 90% of spinal cord stimulation implants in Australia. Five major insurers, which covered 76% of privately insured people, contributed de-identified data.
We found about one-quarter of people who had a spinal cord stimulator implanted needed corrective surgery afterwards. These surgeries occurred within a median of about 17 months. This indicates these surgeries are not routine or expected interventions, such as to replace batteries, which are meant to last five to ten years.
Our previous research shows the sorts of reasons for corrective surgery. These include to replace a malfunctioning device, or the person was in more pain, had an infection, or a puncture of the delicate tissues covering the spinal cord.
However, even our latest findings are likely to underestimate the risk of these devices.
Sometimes the lead delivering the electrical current moves away from the spinal cord to elsewhere in the body. This requires surgery to reposition the lead, but does not necessarily require new hardware, such as a brand new lead. So this type of corrective surgery is not counted in the data from the private health insurance companies.
How much does it cost?
We found spinal cord stimulators cost about A$55,000 per patient, including the device, its insertion, and managing any associated additional surgeries.
For people who only had a “trial” – where the leads are implanted temporarily but the battery pack remains outside the body – this cost was about $14,000 per patient.
These figures do not include any out-of-pocket costs.
What do regulators say about the devices?
In 2022 the TGA began a review of spinal cord stimulators on the market because of safety and performance concerns.
The rest of the devices had conditions imposed, such as the manufacturers being required to collect and report safety data to the TGA at regular time points.
Should I do my own online research?
Yes, but be careful. Unfortunately not all online information about spinal cord stimulators is correct.
Look for sites independent of those who manufacture or implant these devices.
Government agencies, health departments and universities that have no financial interests in this area may be a better option.
The Cochrane Library is also a reliable and independent source for trustworthy health information.
What shall I ask my doctor?
The Australian health department provides useful advice for consumers about medical implants.
It says medical implants “are considered higher-risk therapeutic goods, and the decision to get one should not be taken lightly”. It recommends asking your health professional these questions:
do I really need this medical implant?
what are the risks/benefits?
is the medical implant approved?
where can I get more information?
what happens if I experience an adverse event?
What else could I do for my back pain?
There are other treatment options that are effective and have fewer risks than spinal cord stimulation.
For example, education about how to manage your pain yourself, exercise, cognitive behavioural therapy (a type of psychological therapy), and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medicines (such as ibuprofen) all have solid evidence to back them. All offer benefits that are not outweighed by their potential risks.
Australian research has shown other types of therapy – such as sensorimotor retraining and cognitive functional therapy – are also effective. You can discuss these and other options with your health professional.
Spinal cord stimulation is a good example of a treatment that got ahead of the evidence. Although the devices have been around since the 1960s, we’ve only had reliable trials to test whether they work in recent years.
Everyone wants to find ways to help people with chronic pain, but we must ensure medical care is grounded in reliable science.
Christopher Maher holds a research fellowship funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council.
Caitlin Jones 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.
During the devastating magnitude 7.7 Myanmar earthquake on March 28 this year, a CCTV camera captured the moment the plate boundary moved, providing the first direct visual evidence of plate tectonics in action.
Tectonic plate boundaries are where chunks of Earth’s crust slide past each other – not smoothly, but in sudden, violent ruptures.
The footage shows Earth’s surface lurching sideways, like a gigantic conveyor belt switched on for just a second, as the fault slips.
What we’re seeing is the propagation of a large earthquake rupture – the primary mechanism that accommodates plate boundary motion at Earth’s surface. These shear fractures travel at several kilometres per second, making them notoriously difficult to observe.
This video explains the moment Myanmar’s Sagaing Fault ruptured in a large earthquake, allowing the tectonic plate boundary to shift. Research: https://doi.org/10.1785/0320250024.
These rare events, separated by centuries, have shaped our planet’s surface over millions of years, creating features such as Aotearoa New Zealand’s Alpine Fault and the Southern Alps.
Until now, seismologists have relied on distant seismic instruments to infer how faults rupture during large earthquakes. This video sheds new light on the process that radiates seismic energy and causes the ground to shake.
Analysis of the video
In our new study, we analysed the video frame by frame. We used a technique called pixel cross-correlation to reveal that the fault slipped 2.5 metres sideways over a duration of just 1.3 seconds, with a maximum speed of 3.2 metres per second.
The total sideways movement in this earthquake is typical of strike-slip fault ruptures, which move the land sideways (in contrast to faults that move land up and down).
But the short duration is a major discovery.
The timing of when a fault starts and stops slipping is especially difficult to measure from distant recordings, because the seismic signal becomes smeared as it travels through Earth.
In this case, the short duration of motion reveals a pulse-like rupture – a concentrated burst of slip that propagates along the fault like a ripple travels down a rug when it’s flicked from one end.
Capturing this kind of detail is fundamental to understanding how earthquakes work, and it helps us better anticipate the ground shaking likely to occur in future large events.
Validation of the ‘slickenline’ hypothesis
Our analysis also revealed something more subtle about the way the fault moved.
Called “slickenlines”, these geological scratch marks on the fault record the direction of slip.
Our work shows the slickenlines we see on outcrops are curved in a manner similar to the curvature seen in the CCTV footage. Based on our video analysis, we can be certain that curved slip occurs, giving credence to our interpretations based on geological observations.
In our earlier research, we used computer models to show that curved slickenlines could emerge naturally when an earthquake propagates in a particular direction. The Myanmar rupture, which is known to have travelled north to south, matches the direction predicted by our models.
This alignment is important. It gives us confidence in using geological evidence to determine the rupture direction of past earthquakes, such as the curved slickenlines left behind after the New Zealand Alpine Fault’s 1717 earthquake.
This first glimpse of a fault in motion shows the potential for video to become a powerful new tool in seismology. With more strategic deployments, future earthquakes could be documented with similar detail, offering further insight into the dynamics of fault rupture, potentially revolutionising our understanding of earthquake physics.
Jesse Kearse receives funding from Royal Society Te Apārangi Marsden Fund.
People are falling in love with their chatbots. There are now dozens of apps that offer intimate companionship with an AI-powered bot, and they have millions of users. A recent survey of users found that 19 per cent of Americans have interacted with an AI meant to simulate a romantic partner.
The response has been polarizing. In a New Yorker article titled “Your A.I. Lover Will Change You,” futurist Jaron Lanier argued that “when it comes to what will happen when people routinely fall in love with an A.I., I suggest we adopt a pessimistic estimate about the likelihood of human degradation.”
Podcaster Joe Rogan put it more succinctly — in a recent interview with Sen. Bernie Sanders, the two discussed the “dystopian” prospect of people marrying their AIs. Noting a case where this has already happened, Rogan said: “I’m like, oh, we’re done. We’re cooked.”
We’re probably not cooked. Rather, we should consider accepting human-AI relationships as beneficial and healthy. More and more people are going to form such relationships in the coming years, and my research in sexuality and technology indicates it is mostly going to be fine.
‘60 Minutes Australia’ examines people’s relationships with AI companions.
Ruining human connection
When surveying the breathless media coverage, the main concern raised is that chatbots will spoil us for human connection. How could we not prefer their cheerful personalities, their uncomplicated affection and their willingness to affirm everything we say?
The fear is that, seduced by such easy companionship, many people will surely give up their desire to find human partners, while others will lose their ability to form satisfying human relationships even if they want to.
It has been less than three years since the launch of ChatGPT and other chatbots based on large language models. That means we can only speculate about the long-term effects of AI-human relationships on our capacity for intimacy. There is little data to support either side of the debate, though we can do our best to make sense of more short-term studies and other pieces of available evidence.
The companies that provide these apps can go out of business, or they can change their terms of service without warning. This can suddenly deprive users of access to technology that they’ve become emotionally attached, with no recourse or support.
Complex relationships
In assessing the dangers of relationships with AI, however, we should remember that human relationships are not exactly risk-free. One recent paper concluded that “the association between relationship distress and various forms of psychopathology is as strong as many other well-known predictors of mental illness.”
This is not to say we should swap human companions for AI ones. We just need to keep in mind that relationships can be messy, and we are always trying to balance the various challenges that come with them. AI relationships are no different.
We should also remember that just because someone forms an intimate bond with a chatbot, that doesn’t mean it will be their only close relationship. Most people have lots of different people in their lives, who play a variety of different roles. Chatbot users may depend on their AI companions for support and affirmation, while still having relationships with humans that provide different kinds of challenges and rewards.
Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg has suggested that AI companions may help solve the problem of loneliness. However, there is some (admittedly very preliminary data) to suggest that many of the people who form connections with chatbots are not just trying to escape loneliness.
In a recent study (which has not yet been peer reviewed), researchers found that feelings of loneliness did not play a measurable role in someone’s desire to form a relationship with an AI. Instead, the key predictor seemed to be a desire to explore romantic fantasies in a safe environment.
Support and safety
We should be willing to accept AI-human relationships without judging the people who form them. This follows a general moral principle that most of us already accept: we should respect the choices people make about their intimate lives when those choices don’t harm anyone else. However, we can also take steps to ensure that these relationships are as safe and satisfying as possible.
First of all, governments should implement regulations to address the risks we know about already. They should, for instance, hold companies accountable when their chatbots suggest or encourage harmful behaviour.
Governments should also consider safeguards to restrict access by younger users, or at least to control the behaviour of chatbots who are interacting with young people. And they should mandate better privacy protections — though this is a problem that spans the entire tech industry.
Second, we need public education so people understand exactly what these chatbots are and the issues that can arise with their use. Everyone would benefit from full information about the nature of AI companions but, in particular, we should develop curricula for schools as soon as possible.
While governments may need to consider some form of age restriction, the reality is that large numbers of young people are already using this technology, and will continue to do so. We should offer them non-judgmental resources to help them navigate their use in a manner that supports their well-being, rather than stigmatizes their choices.
AI lovers aren’t going to replace human ones. For all the messiness and agony of human relationships, we still (for some reason) pursue other people. But people will also keep experimenting with chatbot romances, if for no other reason than they can be a lot of fun.
Neil McArthur 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.
With the decline of dating apps, we are seeing a return to in-person dating activities like speed dating, running clubs and daytime raves.(Unsplash+)
With plummeting subscriber numbers, rising costs and users who are sick of endless swiping, the dating app industry is in crisis. Recent layoffs at Bumble are raising questions about the future of dating apps and alternatives for people who want to find romance and connection offline instead.
One of the most popular alternatives is a return to in-person dating activities like speed dating, running clubs and daytime raves.
For millennials and older generations, in-person dating is familiar territory, but if you’re part of Gen Z — often described as the “digital generation” — that isn’t necessarily the case.
This inter-generational divide was on display recently at Canada’s first sex tech conference, where I made a presentation on masculinity, dating apps and in-person alternatives to swiping. During the Q&A, a young woman chimed in with a comment that stopped me in my tracks: “Check your extrovert privilege,” she said.
After a few moments of awkward silence, the discussion resumed with a new focus on how difficult it is for younger folks to date in-person. Many of you are disillusioned with dating apps and lack the interpersonal experience some of us older generations take for granted.
So where does that leave you? Telling Gen Z to just “get out there” is not only culturally tone-deaf, but it could also contribute to rising levels of loneliness and feelings of not mattering that already affect many young people today.
Dating today can feel like a mix of endless swipes, red flags and shifting expectations. From decoding mixed signals to balancing independence with intimacy, relationships in your 20s and 30s come with unique challenges. Love IRL is the latest series from Quarter Life that explores it all.
These research-backed articles break down the complexities of modern love to help you build meaningful connections, no matter your relationship status.
In-person dating is trending
If dating apps are starting to feel more like a chore than a chance at connection, you’re not alone. A New York Times article by reporter Catherine Pearson encourages Gen Z to create meaningful communities and be open to different kinds of relationships versus the pressure-laden focus to find “the one.”
Some dating apps have joined the movement to support in-person dating. For example, Hinge hosts One More Hour, a social impact initiative to help people make in-person connections. It’s aimed at Gen Z, many of whom report anxiety around face-to-face interactions.
With plummeting subscriber numbers, rising costs and users who are sick of endless swiping, the dating app industry is in crisis. (Unsplash+)
The hyper-digitized environment many Gen Z are a part of can feel pretty disingenuous over time, which makes connecting with someone at a park, bar or library refreshing and novel.
Meet-cutes in physical places can also take frustrating app-based practices like catfishing out of the equation. Interestingly, 38 per cent of Gen Z polled in a recent survey expressed a desire to have designated spaces for hookups and self-love at work.
How one organization is re-thinking dating
Although not specifically for Gen Z, another noteworthy force in the in-person dating landscape is the relationship-building organization called We Met IRL, founded in 2022 by entrepreneur Maxine Simone Williams.
Born out of frustration with dating apps and the lack of diversity in traditional dating spaces, We Met IRL hosts speed dating events, mixers and social gatherings that encourage romantic or platonic connections offline.
The desire for in-person romance among Gen Z is beginning to shift the cultural needle, at least in the United States where a recent survey indicates that only 23 per cent of Gen Z adults met their partner through a dating app, social media or online community.
So, if a lot of these young people are already dating in-person, why is it often spoken about as being hard or stressful?
In-person dating is hard
Dating in-person can be challenging for a number of reasons. Key culprits include the fact that dating apps focus on performative and inauthentic forms of communication, the challenges of coming-of-age during the pandemic and the cultural shift away from relationships all together.
A study I conducted with Gen Z students also highlighted the reasons behind the decline of relationships. Gen Z want meaningful partnerships, but fear getting cheated on, ghosted or emotionally hurt.
The rise of misogynistic influencers and politicians openly denigrating women as part of their radicalization of boys and young men is only making things worse.
And yes, some of the awkwardness around in-person dating might come down to what that young woman called “extrovert privilege.” A recent study found that Gen Z are more shy than other generations but not for no reason. Growing up immersed in smartphone technology and social media means Gen Z have had fewer opportunities to develop interpersonal skills.
In-person dating can be hard, but not because there’s something wrong with you or because there are fewer good catches out there. It’s hard because connection, trust and vulnerability are difficult in a complex world that doesn’t always create the space you need to learn about relationships and interpersonal communication.
How to build confidence with in-person dating
As a formerly painfully shy young person, I can say with confidence that the categories of introvert and extrovert are not written in stone. There is ample evidence to show that Gen Zers who are less confident in the realm of romance can learn to enhance their in-person skills and reduce anxiety around social events.
Prepare for the event ahead of time when possible.
Reframe how you view and feel about uncertainty — not as a threat, but as an opportunity for growth.
Stay grounded in who you are.
Practise social skills to gain confidence.
Pay attention to your body language — to make sure you appear open and welcoming.
Remind yourself you’re not the only one struggling with feeling confident.
Consider seeking the help of a therapist if fear or anxiety is overwhelming.
Reframing your vulnerability as being less about your ingrained tendencies and more an opportunity for you to reflect on who you area as a social being is one of the most powerful things you can do.
Tools like reflexive vision boards or self-reflection exercises can help you explore your values, goals and identity in meaningful ways. These reflective practices are even more effective when supported by schools, communities or organizations that can help young people turn moments of risk or fear into opportunities for personal exploration.
Building resilience is like building muscle: it needs to be exercised and challenged to grow into the resource we need it to be. With the right support and space to practice, you can build the kind of confidence and self-awareness that carries into every part of your life, not just dating.
Treena Orchard has received funding from SSHRC, CIHR, and Western University, however, no research funding was awarded or used in the creation of this article.
Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Louis Busch, Psychotherapist, Doctoral Candidate (UofT OISE), Bear Clan Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation., University of Toronto
For Indigenous Peoples who have been discriminated against in health institutions, healing can take place outside of conventional health practices. (Freepic), CC BY
For nearly two decades, I worked as a therapist in a large psychiatric hospital in Toronto, supporting people living with severe mental health challenges. Many of those I encountered were navigating complex intersections of psychiatric diagnoses, chronic physical illness, poverty, and the breakdown of family and social support. Stories of fear, isolation, abuse and abandonment were pervasive.
Occasionally, I witnessed transformative outcomes; patients reconnecting with loved ones, reclaiming aspects of their identity and building meaningful lives beyond their diagnoses. Unfortunately, such outcomes were typically the exception. More commonly, individuals cycled through repeated hospitalizations, and were placed in institutional or custodial settings. Some lost their lives before they got any better.
Within my own journey of mental health recovery, I found healing alongside helpers across Turtle Island, rather than within the confines of a mental health institution or pages of a manualized treatment protocol.
It’s common for First Nations Peoples to refer to “helpers” or “helping work” when describing individuals who provide relationally-based support to others. As a community psychotherapist and later PhD student, I became increasingly interested in these helpers as unsung heroes of community wellness. They didn’t necessarily have a graduate degree in a mental health field, and they were rarely recognized or compensated for their efforts, yet they made great personal sacrifices to support the healing journeys of those around them.
Who are Indigenous helpers?
My doctoral research investigates who these Indigenous helpers are, the nature of their helping work and the role of language and dialogue in the relationships they form with those they help.
Here is what I’ve learned so far:
1. Knowledge is defined by lived experience
Indigenous helpers are individuals who emerge naturally from within their families and communities rather than being self-appointed professionals or receiving accreditation from a college or certification board. Their knowledge and skill is defined by their lived experiences, their kinship obligations and the trust placed in them by their community. They seamlessly blend practical support such as caregiving and crisis intervention with relational and spiritual guidance rooted in ancestral values and traditions.
2. Helping work is holistic and relational
Helping work is a holistic, relational practice rooted in cultural values and kinship responsibility. It involves a continuous, reciprocal process of healing, where the act of helping heals the helper, their relative and the collective. Helping work is guided by an ethic of relational accountability and powered time spent together and deep, action-based dialogue. It integrates physical, emotional, cognitive and spiritual dimensions through storytelling, presence and joint engagement in work, rest, play and ceremony. It is a long-term process that is highly contextual and nonlinear.
3. Language is medicine
Indigenous languages hold the blueprint for helping and healing work. Embedded within Indigenous languages are complex relational networks that shape how people understand themselves, their families, their worlds, and their roles within the broader community. While English is an analytic, noun-based language, Nêhîyawêwin (the Cree language) and many other Indigenous languages are polysynthetic, verb-based and highly contextual. This linguistic structure encodes kinship ties, responsibility and ways of being in relation to others (human and non-human).
Cree protectors and caretakers
One powerful example of the complexity of Indigenous languages comes from the words used to describe “Elders,” which is often a point of contention, as the English word doesn’t capture what people are trying to say when referring to the helper-leaders in our communities.
The Nêhîyawêwin (Plains Cree) word for an Elder is kisêyiniw. This is often translated simply as “old man,” but in reality carries a much deeper meaning.
Healing and talking can take place outside of the confines of traditional medical spaces. (Unsplash), CC BY
The root kisê- comes from the Cree word ê-kisêt, which describes an animal feigning injury to protect its young. The second root -niw- means “a person,” making kisêyiniw not just an old man, but a protector and a caretaker who sacrifices for future generations.
Kisêyiniw describes those who embody relational responsibility: protecting, guiding and enduring suffering for the well-being of others. So rather than just being an aged person, or even an aged person who has wisdom or leadership qualities, the word kisêyiniw describes those who embody relational responsibility — protecting, guiding and enduring suffering for the well-being of others.
This contrasting of meaning reveals how the Cree language structures identity, healing and responsibility in ways that the English translation fails to capture.
A child forced to cease speaking their native language, and speak only English, would lose all of the values and meaning that exist within the relational networks that comprise the word and its concepts, and be left with a simple arbitrary label. I believe this to be at the core of much of the intergenerational suffering found in the wake of the Indian Residential School system.
Culturally specific mental health care
This is one of the reasons Indigenous-led approaches must reclaim language as central to healing, recognizing that Indigenous languages hold entire systems of wellness, governance, relationship and emotional regulation.
Truly culturally responsive care must prioritize language revitalization, ceremony and kinship-based care as core practices.
Funders, policymakers, researchers and clinicians must recognize, fund and integrate Indigenous helpers — Elders, ceremonial leaders, traditional knowledge keepers and natural helpers identified by their communities — as core mental health providers, not cultural add-ons.
Governments, universities and regulatory bodies must remove barriers preventing Indigenous helpers from full participation in mental health professions. Efforts to include Indigenous helpers should avoid forcing Indigenous helping practices into western psychotherapy models with strict, compartmentalized boundaries.
Genuinely culturally responsive and anti-colonial mental health care requires shifting resources and power back to Indigenous helpers, languages and communities.
Louis Busch receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), including a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship and a SSHRC Impact Award.
Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Andy Curtis, Distinguished Guest Professor, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, City University of Macau
Small is Beautiful: A Study of Economics as if People Mattered is the title of the highly influential 1973 book written by the German-born British economist E.F. Schumacher.
The book marked its 50th anniversary in 2023, but a couple of years later, we find ourselves in a time where “big is best,” at least according to the 47th president of the United States, Donald Trump, and his administration.
Understandably, the focus in the extensive news coverage of the nearly 900-page document has been on the contents of the bill, especially the economic implications for American citizens, institutions and organizations.
But very little attention has been paid to the actual language of the bill, not least because, well, who has the time to pore over 900 pages of language?
In my 2022 book, I deconstructed and analyzed the speeches of past American presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden. In my subsequent 2024 book, I subjected five of Trump’s major campaign speeches to an in-depth level of linguistic analysis that had not been applied before.
One of the findings of my 10 years of analyzing Trump speeches since 2015, when he famously announced his plans to run for the presidency while riding on a golden escalator, is how effective the advice was of his former adviser, Steve Bannon. He reportedly told Trump in 2018 “to flood the zone with shit.”
In other words, Bannon was advising Trump to ensure there was so much information, disinformation and misinformation coming from the Trump campaign that neither the political opposition nor the media could keep up with it.
Applying Schumacher’s idea that “small is beautiful” to language analysis is one way of countering the kind of deliberate language overload employed by the Trump administration.
Taking small but complete slices of language and subjecting them to a new kind of forensic, linguistic analysis can help us understand, in this case, why more than 77 million American voters decided that what their country and the world needed was another Trump presidency. What role did Trump’s language play in that outcome?
An example of a small but complete piece of language is the official announcement of the One Big Beautiful Bill on the White House website on July 7.
The announcement was entitled: “President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill: A Win for Workers, Farmers, and America’s Future.”
The first thing to notice is what this is not. It is not presented as a bill passed by the U.S. government or even the Republican Party. It is Trump’s bill, which may be a small but clear, concise example of the ways in which a nation’s government can be reduced to a single person, like autocraticdictatorships and absolutemonarchies.
Then there is the title of the legislation, which has been described as “absurd” and therefore easy to dismiss. But the three-B alliteration is nonetheless catchy, which makes it memorable and all the more irresistible to the world’s mainstream media.
The title also identifies three supposedly big winners in the bill: American workers, American farmers and America the Beautiful.
Stoking fears
“Winner takes all” appears to be the mantra of the second Trump administration, but it’s important to notice the exclusions of large groups, including those who live in the U.S. but aren’t working — like children, retirees and the unemployed, which is the majority of citizens — and those who aren’t farmers, which is more than 99 per cent of all Americans.
It’s also critical to be aware of the aggrandizing and misleading language of the bill. The introductory paragraph on the page announcing the bill describes it as a “sweeping legislative triumph” — despite the fact that the legislation passed by a single vote — while referring to “the largest tax cuts in history” and “historic funding for national security.”
The recurring references to American history are at odds with the fact that Trump lacks knowledge of both U.S. and world history, which has been on displaymany times over manyyears.
The introductory paragraph also highlights the importance of “America’s defences” and “our nation’s defence,” which continue to give the impression that the U.S. is a country under siege and vulnerable to attack from various enemies at any time. But given how much the U.S. spends on its military, there is probably no other country in the world more capable of defending itself.
But the language is the point. By constantly repeating the “we are under attack” line, fear is effectively created and maintained, especially the fear of anyone who doesn’t look or sound like Trump and his followers.
Using words to manipulate
Keeping with the wartime-like language, the introduction claims that the One Big Beautiful Bill “unleashes economic prosperity and empowers every American.” Such statements are already being shown to be untrue, as many millions of American are likely to be severely, negativelyimpacted by the legislation.
The introduction is followed by 10 statements that are, in effect, “product endorsements” published in obscure, pro-Trump media, like The National Hog Farmer, all expressing gushing enthusiasm and unqualified support for the points made in the introduction.
This new kind of in-depth linguistic analyses of the language of the world’s most powerful people can help us move beyond their obviously false and misleading statements and claims, to become more aware of how their words may be being used not to communicate — but to manipulate.
Andy Curtis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Elaine McWhirter, Chair, Melanoma/Skin Disease Site Group, Juravinski Cancer Centre, Hamilton Health Sciences, and Associate Professor, Oncology, McMaster University
There is certainly growing awareness of the damaging effects of overexposure to the sun, including skin cancers.
Still, I see in both my medical practice as a skin cancer specialist and in the course of my research as an associate professor of oncology that there are still many harmful habits and ideas about tanning that still circulate.
As a result, many may think they’re already doing enough to look after themselves and their families when the incidence of skin cancer is actually growing. Clearly, we need to do more to stay safe, and that starts with knowledge.
Perhaps someday, we will look at lying on a beach slathered with oil in the same way we look at smoking cigarettes. Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is also a carcinogen and, like smoking, is a modifiable risk factor for cancer.
Here are some sun facts to think about and act on:
Being outdoors and in the shade is better than being in the direct sun, but even in the shade, one is still exposed to damaging UV rays, especially if there are nearby reflective surfaces, such as water or sand.
Sun protection is necessary all year round. Damage can happen when people think July and August are the only months when it’s necessary to pay attention to sun exposure. Hauling out the bike during a winter thaw? Protect yourself. Spring gardening or fall raking and it’s only 10 degrees outside? It’s time for some protection. Check your local weather forecast for the UV index; if it’s three or greater, wear sunscreen.
Any suntan or sunburn is evidence of sun damage. Developing a tan is the body’s response to harm to the DNA of cells in our skin. The persistent idea of a “healthy tan” is simply incorrect. When I see someone tanning, I see a future with premature wrinkles and risk of skin cancers, including melanoma. A burn is far more damaging. Avoid both.
Sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of 50, applied every two to three hours, starting 30 minutes before exposure, is the most practical protection for exposed skin. Pick something you like, whether a lotion, stick or spray, and be sure to use enough. Reapply more often when you are very active outdoors, and hourly if in water. Remember when applying sunscreen to protect your feet, which is easy to forget in flip flops. I see a lot of ears and back of necks get missed as well!
Wear a hat, of course, but also choose your hat carefully. Ball caps leave the ears and neck too exposed. The best hats have broad brims that go all the way around the head. The very best hats have a flap in the back that covers the neck.
It is possible to experience sun damage even through your clothes. Special SPF clothing, made from purposely formulated material and labelled as such, is optimal for reducing sun exposure. A white cotton summer T-shirt offers an SPF of maybe four or five — a small fraction of the protection a good sunscreen or SPF clothing will provide.
Though sun exposure does provide beneficial Vitamin D, it is better to use Vitamin D supplements year-round — something in the range of 600-800 IU is a good benchmark – rather than risking unprotected sun exposure.
Cloud cover is deceptive. While there is a little protection in clouds, it’s less than most think. The sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays still get through and cause damage. Use sun protection even on cloudy days.
People exposed to the sun at higher altitudes, such as skiers, are receiving more UV exposure than people at lower altitudes and should protect themselves accordingly.
Skiers, boaters, swimmers and fishers are all more susceptible to sun damage because they are both in the direct path of the sun and receive significant UV exposure from light reflecting off snow or water. Many people describe receiving a windburn from such outdoor activities when what they have is a sunburn.
People who swim outdoors should seriously consider a special swimming shirt — like a rash guard or board shirt that surfers use — made from swimsuit fabric with SPF.
Remember to check your skin monthly for skin cancer using the ABCDE rule. Our warm weather season is short, and it’s important to enjoy the outdoors. The point isn’t to be sun-scared — just stay sun-safe.
Elaine McWhirter has participated in advisory boards for BMS, Merck, Pfizer, Novartis,Regeron and Sanofi. She was a Board member of Melanoma Canada from 2015-2024.
Most universities and colleges have formal and informal programmes and initiatives to support student and staff development. Their goal is to create learning experiences that help students succeed academically. Typically, academic development practitioners design and run these programmes. They are usually academics themselves. To help students, they use tools like data analytics to design tutoring and mentoring programmes. For staff, development might include formal courses, webinars, workshops and seminars. Education researchers Anthea Adams, Sandra Williams, Patricia Muhuro and Charlene Van Wyk-Geduld reflect on their recent paper on academic development in South African higher education.
What is the role of academic development in South African higher education?
It started in the early 1980s when black students were first allowed to register at universities that had previously been reserved for white students.
After 1994 when South Africa became a democracy, the main aim of academic development was to help transform society by giving black students better opportunities to succeed at university.
Research on whether these efforts were making a difference in improving student learning, and our reflections, show a mismatch between what academic development is supposed to achieve and how it is being carried out in practice.
What is the mismatch between goals and practices?
Academic development has come a long way, mainly thanks to government support and funding. There is evidence of this in research and annual progress reports submitted to the Department of Higher Education and Training. This evidence clearly shows the positive impact of academic development efforts over the years.
But even with these strides, we can’t ignore a major concern: many black students drop out of university or do not progress with their studies as expected. This tells us that there’s a serious disconnect between what academic development aims to achieve and its actual practices.
One of the biggest red flags is the ongoing gap in graduation rates across different population groups. For example, the Council on Higher Education’s 2022 review of higher education highlighted that in 2018, white students were six percentage points more likely to complete their studies than black students.
What’s also worrying is that South African curricula and learning approaches are not yet relevant to diverse learning contexts. Students, academic staff and professional organisations like the Higher Education Learning and Teaching Association of Southern Africa have all said that academic development practices may not sufficiently address the academic realities of the majority of students.
What lessons can we learn?
We propose that academic development work should be based on research that can genuinely support all students’ success.
A number of scholars have argued that the quality of current research on academic development work contributes to the mismatch between its goals and actual practices. The research is not yet as theoretical, scholarly and critical as it needs to be to help us fully understand and improve academic development work.
This critique helps us understand why academic development research often feels limited to one specific context. This is particularly true of research that looks into why some students are dropping out or struggling to complete their studies.
This kind of research doesn’t offer insights that help practitioners and academics think more broadly about how to apply the findings in different learning contexts.
Valuable work is being done by both veteran and less experienced academic development practitioners. Their efforts have influenced academic development work as we know it today. But we should respond to the observation that most academic development work is still, in practice, limited to one context.
What is the way forward?
Less experienced academic development practitioners and scholars may find it daunting to produce research rich in theory. Therefore, we propose working together in communities of practice to build networks and benefit from reciprocal mentorship opportunities.
Mentors can be peers or seasoned academic development practitioners and researchers. They can help each other unpack what it means to produce rigorous research based on real-life teaching and learning contexts.
Working alongside each other and sharing knowledge and expertise can be fulfilling. It can also be the catalyst for building theory that will advance an understanding of academic development work. Opportunities to form peer networks help academics develop confidence and competence as teachers and scholars.
This kind of work can happen naturally as long as the context is supportive. However, we recognise opportunities for both formal and informal reciprocal mentoring relationships. This is based on our reflections on our teaching experiences and engagements in postgraduate diplomas in higher education.
Several scholars support the proposal for national directives to develop academics as university teachers and scholars. Professional development initiatives, such as postgraduate diplomas, can be conducive learning spaces where academics can engage in the scholarship of teaching and learning.
In other words, supported by experienced facilitators, academics can use research and evidence to interrogate how they teach and how students learn.
Professional development initiatives are not a panacea for the mismatch between academic development goals and actual practices. However, they can be a place where academics help each other to build theory in academic development. Only then, by working together, can academics respond to challenges casting a shadow on academic development work.
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.
QAnon supporters wait for Donald Trump to speak at a campaign rally at Atlantic Aviation on September 22, 2020, in Moon Township, Pennsylvania.eff Swensen/Getty Images
In early 2025, a federal court unsealed portions of the court documents. While names of some of the alleged clients and victims were released, many were redacted or withheld.
Epstein’s arrest and death became a central focus for QAnon followers, who saw them as proof of a hidden global elite engaged in child trafficking and protected by powerful institutions. The release – or withholding – of the Epstein files is often cited within QAnon movement circles as evidence of a broader cover-up by the so-called “deep state.”
Some followers of the MAGA – Make America Great Again – movement and the Republican Party believe in the false claim that the United States is secretly controlled by a cabal of elites who are pedophiles, sex traffickers and satanists.
Over time, what started as a baseless conspiracy on obscure platforms has migrated into the mainstream. It has influenced rhetoric and policy debates, and even reshaped the American political landscape. The foundational belief of many of the QAnon followers is that Trump is a heroic figure fighting the elite pedophile ring.
Trump’s attempts at downplaying or obstructing the very disclosures they believe would validate their worldview has led to confusion. To some, the delay in the release of the files feels like a betrayal, or even the possibility of his wrongdoing. Others are trying to reinterpret Trump’s actions through increasingly baseless conspiracy logic.
Trump has publicly dismissed demands for the full release of the Epstein Files as a “hoax.” He has also made false claims. On July 15, 2025, Trump said: “And I would say that, you know, these files were made up by Comey. They were made up by Obama.”
As a scholar who studies extremism, I know that the movement views Trump as a mythological figure and it interprets Trump’s actions to fit this overarching narrative – an elasticity which makes the movement both durable and dangerous.
From Pizzagate to QAnon
The QAnon movement began with the Pizzagate conspiracy theory in 2016, which falsely claimed that high-ranking Democrats were operating a child sex trafficking ring out of a Washington, D.C., pizzeria. The baseless theory gained enough online momentum that a man armed with an assault rifle stormed the restaurant, seeking to “free the children.”
In 2017, an anonymous figure called “Q” began posting cryptic messages on message boards like 4chan and 8kun. The baseless accusations of a global network of elites involved in controlling global institutions, including governments, businesses, and the media, as well as operating a child trafficking and ritual abuse, were central to the QAnon movement’s narrative.
Supporters of President Donald Trump with messages referring to the QAnon conspiracy theory at a campaign rally at Las Vegas Convention Center on February 21, 2020. Mario Tama/Getty Images
The movement has recruited followers through language like “Save the Children,” to mobilize around issues of child trafficking.
The QAnon movement recruits new followers through appeals to stop child trafficking. Hollie Adams/Getty Images
QAnon followers perceived Trump as a messianic figure working to expose this cabal in a climactic reckoning known as “The Storm” – a moment when mass arrests would finally bring justice.
They claimed that this moment would eventually bring about a “Great Awakening,” a reference to the religious revivalist movements of the 18th and 19th centuries. In this context the phrase described the supposed political and spiritual enlightenment that would follow “The Storm” – a moment of mass realization when people would “wake up” to the truth about the “deep state.”
In 2019, the FBI identified QAnon as a domestic terrorism threat, and major social media platforms began banning related content, but by then, QAnon had bled into mainstream conservative politics. Q-endorsing candidates, such as Marjorie Taylor Greene, ran for and won elected office a year later.
Trump and QAnon
During Trump’s first administration – from 2017 to 2021 – the QAnon movement flourished. The posts from Q claimed to reveal insider knowledge of a secret war being waged by the president, often in coordination with the military, against the powerful elite.
Trump’s rhetoric, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 election, gave new life to QAnon narratives. When he questioned the integrity of the electoral process, QAnon followers interpreted it as confirmation of the deep state’s meddling.
However, after Trump’s loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential race, QAnon followers revised their original prophecy to maintain belief in “The Storm” and “The Great Awakening.” Some claimed the defeat was part of a larger secret plan, with Biden’s presidency serving as a cover for exposing the deep state. Some believed Trump remained the true president behind the scenes, while others reframed the awakening as a spiritual rather than political event.
At various campaign rallies in 2022 and after Trump used the movement’s symbolism. On Truth Social, his social media platform, he retweeted Q-affiliated accounts, and praised QAnon supporters as “people who love our country.” That same year he reposted an image of himself wearing a Q lapel pin overlaid with the words “The Storm is Coming.”
After the 2020 elections
Trump’s departure from the White House in January 2021 created an existential crisis for the QAnon movement. Predictions that he would declare martial law or arrest Joe Biden and other Democrats on Inauguration Day failed to materialize. Q’s posts also stopped, leaving many followers adrift.
Some abandoned the theory. Others rationalized the failed predictions or embraced new conspiracy narratives, such as the belief that Trump was still secretly in charge or that the military would soon act to reinstate him.
Estimating the number of QAnon believers is difficult because many individuals do not openly identify with the movement, and those who do often hold a range of loosely connected or partial beliefs rather than adhering to a consistent or uniform ideology. Not everyone who shares a Q meme or echoes a Q talking point identifies as being part of the movement.
That said, surveys by groups like the 2024 Public Religion Research Institute and the Associated Press have found that 15–20% of Americans believe in some of QAnon’s core claims, such as the existence of a secret group of Satan-worshipping elites controlling the government.
This does not mean all these people are hardcore QAnon adherents, but it does show how far the narrative, or parts of it, has seeped into mainstream thinking.
Epstein as evidence of ‘the cabal’
The Trump administration’s failure to disclose the information in Epstein files has fueled internal confusion, disillusionment and even radicalization within the movement.
For some QAnon believers, this failure was a turning point: if Trump – once seen as the hero in the conspiracy narrative – would not or could not reveal the truth, then the “deep state” must be more entrenched than imagined.
At the same time, frustrations have grown within MAGA and the QAnon movement’s spaces. Some see it as a failure to fulfill one of his most important promises: exposing elite pedophiles. Others believe the delay is strategic, another example of “the plan” requiring more patience.
The QAnon movement continues to evolve, even as its central figure hedges and hesitates, showing how potent myths can be in times of uncertainty. In my view, understanding why this belief continues to gain traction is essential for understanding the current state of American democracy.
Art Jipson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio watch Speaker of the House Mike Johnson on television after the House passed the bill on July 3, 2025.Joyce N. Boghosian/White House via AP
As a legal scholar who studies how taxes increase the gap in wealth and income between Black and white Americans, I believe the law’s provisions make existing wealth inequalities worse through broad tax cuts that disproportionately favor wealthy families while forcing its costs on low- and middle-income Americans.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, for example, predicted that low-income taxpayers would gain US$70 a year from the 2017 tax cuts. But that figure did not include the results of eliminating the individual mandate that encouraged uninsured people to get health insurance through the federal marketplace. That insurance was heavily subsidized by the federal government.
Rep. Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico speaks during a news conference at the Capitol focused on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, on June 3, 2025. AP Photo/Rod Lamkey Jr.
Wealth-building for whom?
Perhaps the most revealing part of the bill is how it turns ideas for helping low-income families on their head. They are touted as helping the poor – but they help the wealthy instead.
A much publicized feature of the bill is the creation of “Trump Accounts,” a pilot program providing a one-time $1,000 government contribution to a tax-advantaged investment account for children born between 2025 and 2028.
While framed as a “baby bonus” to build wealth, the program’s structure is deeply flawed and regressive. Although the first $1,000 into the accounts comes from the federal government, the real tax benefits go to wealthy families who can avoid paying taxes by contributing up to $5,000 per year to their children’s accounts.
As analysts from the Roosevelt Institute, a progressive economic and social policy think tank, have pointed out, this design primarily benefits affluent families who already have the disposable income to save and can take full advantage of the tax benefits.
For low-income families struggling with daily expenses, making additional contributions is not a realistic option. These accounts do not address the fundamental barrier to saving for low-income families – a lack of income – and are more likely to widen the wealth gap than to close it.
This regressive approach – regressive because the wealthy get larger benefits – to wealth-building is mirrored in the bill’s renewal and enhancement of the New Markets Tax Credit program. Although extended by the “big, beautiful bill” to drive investment into low-income communities by offering capital gains tax breaks to investors, the program subsidizes luxury real estate projects that do little to benefit existing low-income residents and accelerate gentrification and displacement. Studies show that there is very little increase in salaries or education in areas with these benefits.
A harsh new rule
The child tax credit is another part of the bill that purports to help the poor and working classes while, in fact, giving the wealthy more money.
A family can earn up to $400,000 and still get the full $2,200 tax credit per child, which reduces their tax liability dollar for dollar. In contrast, a family making $31,500 or less cannot receive a tax credit of more than $1,750 per child. And approximately 17 million children – disproportionately Black and Latino – will not receive anything at all.
More significantly, the law tightens eligibility by requiring not only the child but also the taxpayer claiming the credit to have a Social Security number. This requirement will strip the credit from approximately 4.5 million U.S. citizen children in mixed-status families – families where some people are citizens, legal residents and people living in the country without legal permission – where parents may file taxes with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number but lack a Social Security number, according to an April 2025 study.
President Donald Trump, joined by Republican lawmakers, holds a gavel after signing the One, Big Beautiful Bill Act into law, on July 4, 2025 in Washington, DC. Eric Lee/Getty Images
A burden on the poor
Perhaps most striking is the law’s “pay-fors” – the provisions designed to offset the cost of the tax cuts.
The law imposes new monthly “community engagement” requirements, a form of work requirement, for able-bodied adults to maintain Medicaid coverage. The majority of such adults enrolled in Medicaid already work. And many people who do not work are caring full time for young children or are too disabled to work. The law also requires states to conduct eligibility redeterminations twice a year.
Redeterminations and work requirements have historically led to eligible people losing coverage. For SNAP, the bill expands work requirements to some Americans who are up to 64 years old and the parents of older children and revises benefit calculations in ways that will reduce benefits.
By funding tax cuts for the wealthy while making cuts to essential services for the poor, the bill codifies a transfer of resources up the economic ladder.
In my view, the “big, beautiful bill” represents a missed opportunity to leverage fiscal policy to address the American wealth and income gap. Instead of investing in programs to lift up low- and middle-income Americans, the bill emphasizes a regressive approach that will further enrich the wealthy and deepen existing inequalities.
Beverly Moran does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Rachael Eastham, Lecturer in Young People’s Health Inequalities, Division of Health Research, Lancaster University
Homabay, Kenya, in February 2025.Rachael Eastham, CC BY
My phone wouldn’t stop ringing – nurses, social workers, young mothers – all begging for help. ‘I’ve lost my job,’ ‘I have no food,’ ‘What do we do now?’ I felt helpless.
These are the words of Rogers Omollo, founder and CEO of Activate Action – a youth-led non-profit organisation that supports young people with HIV and disabilities in Homa Bay, a town in west Kenya on the shores of Lake Victoria.
As specialists in youth and sexual and reproductive health, we were on a field trip to learn from Omollo and others like him. We wanted to find out about the work they were doing to tackle HIV, stigma and health inequalities.
But our time there was dominated by one thing: President Donald Trump’s executive order which put almost all international spending by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on pause for a 90-day review and subsequently took a wrecking ball to all international aid programmes funded by the US.
In July, research published in The Lancet medical journal found that the US funding cuts towards foreign humanitarian aid could cause more than 14 million additional deaths by 2030, with a third of those at risk of premature deaths being children. Davide Rasella, who co-authored the report, said low- and middle-income countries were facing a shock “comparable in scale to a global pandemic or a major armed conflict”.
In the immediate aftermath, we saw firsthand the profound impact the “pause” had in this community. Activate Action is not directly funded by USAID, but as we followed in the footsteps of our host, Omollo, meeting the organisation’s collaborators and beneficiaries, the true extent of the funding freeze became shockingly apparent.
Places like Homa Bay relied heavily on USAID funding to keep hospitals and clinics running, to ensure access to essential medicines, and to support reproductive health and HIV programmes. The executive order, in principle, resulted in the immediate halting of over US$68 billion (£51 billion) in foreign aid, a substantial portion of which supports lifesaving reproductive health and HIV programmes worldwide.
The Insights section is committed to high-quality longform journalism. Our editors work with academics from many different backgrounds who are tackling a wide range of societal and scientific challenges.
As we walked through abandoned offices and healthcare facilities speaking to bewildered people out of work and in need of critical services in February 2025, the chilling reality set in. Omollo reflected:
People who have spent years saving lives are now struggling to survive. The clinics are empty, the hope in their voices fading. It broke my heart. I wanted to scream, to fix it, but the truth hit hard – we can’t depend on one lifeline. If funding stops, lives should not. We must build something stronger, something that lasts.
So, before we even set off on our research trip to unite sexual and reproductive health advocates and collaborate with African partners, we knew we were swimming against this tide.
Final figures remain unclear but in early 2025, the abrupt suspension of an estimated US$500 million of funding to Kenya was suggested by Amnesty International to have led to the layoff of 54,000 community health workers – many of whom had been part of robust, locally led responses to HIV, tuberculosis and malaria.
The decision to do this was driven by US audit and efficiency “reevaluations” over 8,000 miles away in Washington. Decisions were made and implemented by small numbers of people within the Trump administration including Elon Musk, whose estimated individual wealth far exceeds the gross domestic product of many entire east African nations, including Kenya.
Despite years of progress in community-based healthcare systems managed by Kenyans just like Activate Action, these cuts by one external donor disrupted critical services overnight. This also demonstrated that African health systems, no matter how effective, remain subject to profound external control.
Our project was funded in October 2024, before Trump’s re-election. One week of activities in the UK, one week in Kenya. By the time Activate Action visited Lancaster, in the north of England, in January 2025, we had already started to raise eyebrows as our colleagues began receiving communications from USAID-funded initiatives about pausing projects. Two weeks later, by the time we gathered in Kenya, the immediate human cost was clear to see.
‘The field has been eviscerated’
We sat at the back of a meeting observing training for an Activate Action initiative that would see community health champions offer peer support for their neighbours on safer sex and HIV prevention. In a building that was usually busy and populated by USAID-funded staff, the lights remained on in only one room.
Before visiting Homa Bay, we knew of its reputation when it came to the so-called triple threat of gender-based violence, HIV infection and teenage pregnancy rates – all of which disproportionately affects this semi-rural county in west Kenya.
As we watched the training, a colleague based in Europe (who was instrumental in connecting some of the members of our group) texted after learning we were in Kenya, saying:
It’s terrifying. Document it. No one gets it. The field has been eviscerated.
So, what did this evisceration look like?
Staff directly affected by the order were either not permitted to talk about what was happening on the record or didn’t feel safe doing so. We spoke to at least five people who told us directly they couldn’t “speak out” and were nervous about us taking any photographs.
An Activate Action event on International Condoms Day in February 2023. Rogers Omollo, CC BY
We saw how scores of people were served their notice to cease projects, backdated and effective immediately – a stop work order, followed by (for reasons with cloudy legal foundations) official terminations to contracts. Their economic and professional futures left hanging in the balance.
As we navigated workshops and meetings, Omollo (now unexpectedly advantaged through Activate Action not being USAID-funded) continued to receive multiple texts, calls and emails from people seeking work.
A researcher we know working on a USAID supported HIV and maternity care project described doing frantic overtime in the face of uncertainty. She needed to put in hours of extra (unpaid) work to communicate with research participants as it would not be ethical to abruptly disappear on people currently engaged in an active research programme.
She had no way to manage expectations with those she spoke to and no way of knowing if they were saying a final “thank you and goodbye” to the people she had been working with for months. Despite the descriptions of USAID project funds being “paused”, she was quickly served a full termination of employment notice.
In east Africa, where this sudden and mass unemployment of vital technical and administrative staff is happening, more than half of young people aged 15-35 are unemployed. The rate is even higher among young women in rural areas (up to 66%.)
A greater horror unfolds when you consider who these unemployed workers are usually paid to help because they serve communities with some of the highest needs related to HIV, teenage pregnancy and gender-based violence.
The youth health facility we visited, for example, was locked up when we arrived. We sat in stunned silence in an empty three-roomed building with a youth HIV counsellor. We were shown photographs that showed how it was once a vibrant and busy place.
Locked up youth health facility. Rachael Eastham, CC BY
Here, the free services and information on HIV, contraception and mental health was being delivered by skilled and non-judgmental youth specialists. But it was closed down from January 20, 2025 and its future remains uncertain. A free condom dispenser outside lay empty, all supplies given out on closure day in a last ditch attempt to help young people remain safe over the coming weeks.
In Homa Bay, huge achievements have been made in addressing teenage pregnancy and adolescent HIV infection in recent years. There has been a remarkable decline in prevalence rates, new infections, and HIV-related deaths, aided by robust treatment programmes that contribute to better health. People have been living with HIV at undetectable levels, therefore unable to transmit infection. But this “safe” status requires ongoing treatment with antiretroviral medication.
What now in the absence of USAID?
But at the time of our visit, the delivery of antiretroviral therapy was becoming more restricted and would require collection by the user every three weeks, rather than the usual three months, therefore lasting the user a shorter time. To service providers we spoke to, this increase in the frequency of collection of medication was known to be a significant barrier for people having to travel long distances more frequently without transport to get their supply replenished.
Omollo explained to us that Homa Bay is also a medication hub, of sorts. People come here from other communities where, due to stigma, the risks of being identified as someone who is HIV positive in their own communities are much higher.
Every conversation we had yielded new information about the reality. Gender-based violence projects were also suspended, in part because of the Trump administration’s intentions to end “gender ideology”. A service provider joked despondently during a presentation how: “I got sacked for saying gender.”
In Kenya, femicide (the murder of women or girls because of their gender) has been described as a “crisis” requiring urgent action. In Homa Bay specifically, the sexual and gender-based violence statistics are higher than national averages and have been on the rise, especially among young people.
This follows alarming countrywide coverage about femicide across Kenya including high profile and horrifying cases such as that of the Ugandan athlete Rebecca Cheptegei.. Official figures are unclear but there are currently widespread protests and calls to action related to this injustice.
Activate Action had recently won one USAID award focusing on men living with HIV and substance use problems (factors that are both implicated in gender-based violence). Since the USAID funding freeze this offer has instantly been dissolved with no expectation of reinstatement.
Meanwhile, the fight against cervical cancer – the leading cause of cancer death in Kenya – has also been hit. Human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination campaigns across the county have stalled, despite the fact the vaccines help prevent cervical cancer.
At one point, a 23-year-old mother of three small children asked us directly if we found it troubling (as she did) that she will not be able to receive maternal healthcare and her contraception. The list of effects is grim and feels endless.
Collateral damage
When our group convened for a workshop at a community venue with sexual and reproductive health and rights staff from across the area, the chatter was similarly focused on the effects of the USAID funding freeze, but this time in the direct shadow of operations.
Next door, four-wheel drive Jeeps had been recalled and locked behind USAID premises gates, gathering dust instead of being out in the field delivering HIV outreach services. They represented the stasis of operations more widely.
Dr Peter Ibembe, from a party of service providers visiting from Uganda, was formerly a Programme Director for the non-governmental organisation Reproductive Health Uganda where he was in charge of service delivery. He spoke to us about the atmosphere:
An eerie tone of quiet has descended on the place. Many have been suddenly rendered jobless; creating mental stress, depression, anxiety. But there has also been an indirect effect on the wider community through the entire value chain: landlords, banks and other credit institutions; food vendors; gas stations; transportation facilities and companies; hotels, restaurants and lodges; schools hospitals and the like.
Everyone has been left in limbo. Kenya, despite gradual improvements, is a lower middle income country. Poverty identified by the World Bank as a key development challenge for the nation with, in 2022, over 20 million Kenyans identified as living below the poverty line. So these knock-on effects can be drastic.
At an organisational level we also saw clearly how the boundaries of any one project running within any organisation cannot be neatly drawn, nor can projects be plucked from this matrix discretely in the way we might imagine when we hear how “USAID projects” have been suspended. This way of thinking profoundly undermines the reality of what these cuts mean because many projects are interdependent and interrelated. Omollo added:
Whilst Activate Action was not directly funded by USAID, the overall reduction in health services affects the community they serve. The lack of support for HIV prevention, mental health and economic empowerment programmes placed additional strain on grassroots organisations like us … which have had to fill gaps with limited resources.
Omollo taking a selfie with Activate Action on International Condoms Day in February 2023. Rogers Omollo, CC BY
Services the world over, especially community based services, usually operate with multiple funding streams each providing different projects. Naturally the people, resources and activities overlap. To stress, this is not evidence of the “corruption” the Trump administration claims it wants to weed out, but it is the reality of how services reliant on external funding work.
It is usual that a patchwork of project grants function together to keep the doors open and the lights on. In fact, the sharing of operational resource is what bolsters an organisation’s capacity to serve its communities most effectively.
Considering “USAID projects” as single discretely bounded entities belie the messy complexity of how community and healthcare services work.
For another example of this kind of inter-connection, look no further than “table banking”. Table banking has been described as a “microcredit movement by women and for women” – effectively a DIY bank. We saw table banking used at Activate Action’s Street Business School, an initiative that tackles HIV through training women and building economic sustainability so they do not become trapped in poverty which may force them into have transactional sex. From a seated circle under trees, we watched as the collective pay in and take out loans to support their businesses from a central informal “bank account”.
Beneficiaries from this project continue to come together every Thursday, pooling finances and taking loans to sustain their business needs for the coming week (for example, buying stock for their market stalls). They told us how they are planning to collaborate on a catering business which will mean the older, sicker members of the group remain able to work and earn.
Similarly, Omollo told us how “a bit like table banking”, among his friends and colleagues, they also pool finance on a weekly basis to tick off items on a collective shopping list. He said: “One week we buy for one person, the next week, the next person and so on, until we all have a microwave.”
These demonstrations of microfinance arguably present, however idealistic, inspiration for a more financially sustainable future whereby its principles offer a “light of hope” at grassroots level, possibilities for nations in meeting sustainable development goals and, crucially in this context, freedom from dependency on external donors.
Social dictators of health
When we planned this exchange project, we wanted to work with Activate Action because of our shared interests.
Its explicit focus on the “social determinants of health” (the non-medical factors that affect health) is a refreshing departure from so many health programmes that seek to intervene on a person’s behaviour without attending to how it may be shaped by the wider social system.
For example, in the case of Homa Bay, Activate Action works to address root causes, such as poverty. Poverty means that transactional sex (which could be sex for food or period products) is common. Unsafe sex can be a hallmark of these sexual encounters, increasing HIV risk and transmission. Helping women build businesses, earn their own money to buy food and make their own period pads, reduces the need to trade sex for necessities.
As we sat discussing the various ways the cancelling of USAID would have devastating effects on different programmes and so the lives of different people, we realised how myriad social determinants – such as income, unemployment and healthcare services – are overwhelmingly contingent on distant regimes. Regimes run by people who seem to demonstrate little regard for the lives of disadvantaged and minoritised people.
No period of consultation, no management of expectations – a profound example of how bigger systems that govern our social lives can, in fact, dictate the outcomes of our health.
Antiretroviral drugs for HIV literally keep people alive and prevent transmission to others. Efforts to critique the USAID freeze by the inspector general of USAID, Paul Martin, saw him sacked. Again, no reason was given, and the White House did not have any comment.
When we were trying to explore whether termination notices for staff in Kenya were even legal, one media report about a judicial effort to halt the USAID stop work order noted that Trump has a “high threshold for legal risk”. An insight into what type of threats we may need to consider when trying to understand risks to and protections for health in the future.
Dr Ibembe, who provided closing remarks to our workshop, highlighted how “the effect of USAID cuts on the east African development landscape has been nothing short of seismic. It has created an environment of uncertainty, fear and stress. In some instances, up to 80% of health-related initiatives are donor supported. The funding and operational gap created is almost insurmountable.”
This reliance on external financial support and limited domestic financing in Kenya and other sub-Saharan African countries is common. This makes a nation vulnerable. Kenya also experiences substantial “donor dependency” especially across the health system which makes it harder to absorb the shock of a donor pulling funds.
In other words, this is a highly precarious system that is going through a shock which it will find incredibly difficult to withstand.
The situation is a stark reminder of just how unfair the power dynamics are that dictate African health governance and sovereignty.
Conversations about reducing the dependence of countries like Kenya on external donors have been going on for a long time. Throughout it has been acknowledged that any transition away from donor dependence needs to be carefully managed to avoid upsetting all the gains that have been made through initiatives like those funded by USAID. This has been completely impossible given the pace of change since January 2025 when the USAID stop work order came into play.
African solutions to African problems
The question now is not merely how African institutions will survive these disruptions but how they will leverage them as an impetus for change. Discussions about donor dependency arguably contribute to the framing of African states and institutions that are economically vulnerable and a “risk”. This in turn creates a negative bias that has recently been identified as costing African nations billions in lost or missed investment opportunities.
While financial constraints are a reality, the dominance of stereotypes also means we may overlook the effective strategic responses and resilience demonstrated by African organisations over the years. The challenge is not simply to reduce donor reliance but to reposition African institutions as key architects of health solutions through approaches that emphasise ownership, sustainability and regional integration.
Omollo talking to The Street Business School in January 2023. Rogers Omollo, CC BY
The Afya na Haki (Ahaki) institute provides a clear example of this shift towards what they refer to as “Africentric” models of health governance. The aim is to build African solutions to African problems.
This approach is anchored on four key pillars: amplifying positive African narratives; strengthening engagement with African regional institutions; supporting and fostering collaboration among African non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other organisations; and bringing together African experts and communities to create knowledge that reflects local realities and needs.
Yet, restrictive policies that pre-date the USAID cuts such as the global gag rule which means NGOs are prohibited from receiving any US government funding if they provide, advocate for, or even refer to abortion services, have significantly disrupted this work, forcing institutions to rethink their operational strategies. An Ahaki staff member told us how their core focus on empowering Africans has been “thrown into disarray”.
Research that puts African stories and priorities front and centre is crucial – not just for shaping policies but for shifting the focus from dependence on external aid to African-led solutions and self-determination.
‘Hope hasn’t disappeared’
Within days of the USAID executive order on January 20, the USAID website was unreachable and our colleagues in Homa Bay sat reeling. By February 14, just after our visit, it was confirmed that a federal judge had successfully blocked the funding suspensions, although the relevance of this for people and projects like those we met in Homa Bay, whose contracts had already been terminated, was limited.
This executive order is one of many that has triggered global shockwaves. But for every action there is a reaction and we have also witnessed international resistance, from protests of USAID and nonprofit workers in Washington, to 500 Kenyan community workers demanding their unpaid salaries.
Musk’s company Tesla has been subject to widespread boycott and coordinated protest by “Tesla Takedown” in over 250 cities around the world. Canada has also made strides to reject American imports and strengthen its domestic markets, building greater independence from the USA, echoing desires of many African nations in relation to US donor dependence.
Musk suggested that USAID needs “to die” due to widespread corruption – an assertion that remains unsubstantiated. However, the violence and damage of this sentiment is being realised. As the sites we visited remain eerie and empty, gathering dust, our immediate concern is for the people and communities that agencies once funded by USAID represent and serve.
Omollo, and others like him, are now finding new ways to navigate these problems. The ripple effects of the USAID funding freeze have hit hard, programs have stalled, uncertainty has grown and communities are feeling the strain.
“But in the cracks, we’ve found ways to adapt,” he said. “At Activate Action, we’ve leaned on local partnerships, stretched every resource, and kept showing up for young people. Hope hasn’t disappeared; it’s just become something we fight for daily.”
To hear about new Insights articles, join the hundreds of thousands of people who value The Conversation’s evidence-based news. Subscribe to our newsletter.
We would like to acknowledge the specific contribution of Rogers Omollo from Activate Action in developing this article.
Christopher Baguma works with Afya na Haki as a Director of Programmes.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Sarah Parkhouse, British Academy Research Fellow, Centre for Biblical Studies, University of Manchester
Cynthia Erivo, the award-winning actor and star of Wicked, will play Jesus Christ at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles between August 1 and 3 2025.
Unsurprisingly perhaps, the casting of the Wicked star as the son of God in Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s provocative rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar has caused upset on social media. Accusations of blasphemy have been made based on Erivo’s gender, sexuality, race – and even hairstyle.
The UK-based Christian magazine Premier Christianity responded to the outcry, featuring articles on whether a female Jesus was “inclusive” or “offensive”. Erivo laughed it all off.
I’m an expert in the reception of Biblical narratives. As such, I believe the outrage over this particular casting choice misses the fact that women have been involved in reimagining and retelling the Jesus story since antiquity.
The earliest gospels were originally written anonymously. They have only retroactively been ascribed to male authors, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Within a few generations after Jesus’s death, a work titled the Gospel of Mary was written from the perspective of Mary Magdalene, positioning her as Jesus’s favoured disciple and bearer of secret knowledge.
While we can’t prove the Gospel of Mary was written by a woman any more than we can prove the four canonical gospels were written by men, within the text the male disciple Peter attacks Mary precisely for being a woman. This suggests that the author was clued into gender dynamics, especially in the context of early Christian discourse and authority.
Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here.
As Christianity was gaining state approval within the Roman empire in the fourth and fifth centuries, the elite woman poet Faltonia Betitia Proba and the Byzantine empress Aelia Eudocia composed their own gospel retellings. They reconfigured the Hebrew Bible and gospel stories by using verses from Virgil and Homer.
These ancient works offer a distinctively female perspective. Their retellings pay careful attention to the experiences of female characters who are often marginalised in the canonical tradition, depicting the particularly gruelling experience of Mary’s maternal grief when her son was crucified.
These retellings aren’t apocryphal outliers – they belong to the same literary tradition of the four gospels Bible readers know today.
Just as Matthew and Luke (and possibly John) very clearly reworked Mark by adapting and rearranging scenes and strings of words, so too the Gospel of Mary retells the resurrection scene from John. Proba and Eudocia combine and rearrange gospel material to tell the story anew again.
Women continue to retell the Jesus story today, sometimes focusing more on the female characters. In Edinburgh, director Suzanne Lofthus has been writing and directing the city’s annual Passion Play for the last 20 years. Her 2024 and 2025 productions reimagined Jesus’s masculinity and placed the experiences of women at its centre. This year, she showed Jesus willingly getting stuck into the “women’s work” of making bread at the house of Mary and Martha, and questioning the culpability of the man in the story of the woman caught in adultery.
The Nativity Story focused on women’s experiences.
Catherine Hardwicke, meanwhile, best known for directing the first Twilight movie, directed The Nativity Story in 2006, a tender portrayal of Mary’s journey through her pregnancy, with particular emphasis on the women around her.
These creative contributions are really quite different to brutal, hypermasculine retellings such as Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ (2004), for which a sequel is reportedly in development. Hardwicke herself contrasted The Nativity Story with The Passion, noting striking differences “especially [in] the quarts of blood per frame”.
Women playing Jesus
The role of Jesus is often played by women in these retellings. Erivo herself sang the role of Mary Magdalene in a 2017 New York concert that led to two all-female concept albums, controversially titled She Is Risen. The project was the brainchild of singer and actor Morgan James, who performed the role of Jesus.
Just last year, an all-female cast performed Jesus Christ Superstar in Santa Barbara, California. And a gender-blind casting led to the role of Jesus being given to Mina Kawahara in a 2017 production of the hippy-ish retelling of the gospel, Godspell, at Villanova Theatre, Pennsylvania. She followed a precedent of other female leads in this musical. The Japan-born Kawahara donned a white pantsuit with flowers in her hair.
A Japanese woman named Yuko Takeda took on the role of the son of God in the 2010 Helsinki Passion Play – another casting choice that enraged some conservative Christians. The female director, Miira Sippola, commented that the decision would free the audience from focusing too much on whether the performer resembles the Jesus of medieval artwork – already so far from the historical Jesus.
Over in New Jersey, a 15-year-old American girl played the role of Jesus in a 2023 passion play, carrying a 12-foot cross for over two miles in bare feet. These are a mere smattering of examples, of which there are many more.
The controversy over Erivo’s casting reveals more about cultural assumptions than historical precedent. The Hollywood Bowl’s Jesus Christ Superstar continues the often-overlooked tradition of women who have long participated in retelling, reshaping and performing the story of Jesus — on the page, on screen and on stage.
Sarah Parkhouse receives funding from the British Academy.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Giray Gozgor, Associate Professor of Economics & Finance, School of Management, University of Bradford
Historically, UK spending on defence has often been pitted against welfare, education and local government. But at a time when the government has pledged to meet Nato’s target for defence spending – 5% of GDP in the next decade, up from around 2.3% – it appears to be offering a different fiscal equation.
The government has suggested that it aims to shift the tax burden upwards, targeting especially large profits and tax avoidance. Despite recent fury over its welfare reforms, as far as taxes go, the government still appears to believe that those with the broadest shoulders should carry the weight.
Past approaches to balancing the books relied on austerity or slashing welfare spending. Throughout the 2010s and early 2020s, Conservative governments framed public finance as a rigid trade-off. This mentality dominated budget decisions, forcing domestic priorities to shrink as defence budgets grew.
However, Labour now appears to want to boost defence spending without austerity-level cuts to public services.
Beyond defence, this shift of the tax burden could signal a broader transformation in how national priorities are financed. If implemented effectively, this approach could protect public services even during times of global insecurity.
But while it may seem like a win-win, reforms of this nature have often faced political resistance or been deprioritised in favour of short-term fixes. What is different now is that global economic uncertainty is creating growing pressure for more sustainable and equitable choices.
So who pays?
The core question in any public finance debate is not what the money is spent on, but who pays for it. First, the government wants to close some of the loopholes that allow large firms to legally reduce their tax bill. Of course, the risk here is that some leave the UK and their taxes are lost entirely.
The government also has in its sights high-income individuals. While around 60% of tax receipts come from the top 10% of earners, these people can also benefit from lower effective tax rates thanks to tax-efficient investments, for example. Again though, the risk for Labour is that it causes some of them to leave the country.
Similarly, those with a high net worth often hold assets offshore in order to pay less tax in the UK. This can be legal, but opaque, and the government would like to increase the tax these people pay.
Lastly, Labour is looking more closely at what to do about taxing sectors with windfall profits, namely energy.
This approach is not only ideological but also strategic. By targeting wealth and excess, the government hopes to fund new priorities without alienating working and middle-class voters, and to avoid painful cuts to essential services.
But clearly, it is not quite as simple as that. To make this sustainable, a combination of targeted tax reform, economic growth and spending efficiency will be needed. However, this approach could mark a pivot towards a fairer way of sharing the burden. It also reflects a more profound shift in political storytelling.
Labour leaders have made clear that there will be no return to austerity. The broader policy direction suggests ambitions to invest in the NHS, early-years and social housing, as well as refining in-work welfare benefits such as universal credit.
But these aims require fiscal headroom, and this is where the challenge lies. Parallel commitments such as raising defence spending and funding welfare might look impossible to live up to. Many are questioning whether the government can maintain economic stability without increasing the overall tax burden on ordinary households.
The answer depends on three things: political will, economic performance and execution. Even if there is public support for a fairer tax system, building and enforcing it will require effort and patience beyond this parliament. The government will need to strengthen tax compliance, close legal loopholes and prevent the flight of capital.
None are easy, but we argue they are entirely achievable. Progress globally is already proving it. Automatic tax-data sharing between nations and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s global minimum tax (which ensures that large corporations operating in member nations pay at least 15% tax) have made offshore tax havens far less viable.
At home, modernising tax laws and properly funding enforcement can shut down legal exploitation of the system. With political will and international cooperation, these reforms can deliver a fairer system without sacrificing competitiveness.
The UK’s debt to GDP ratio is very high, and economic growth is sluggish. Therefore, there is little space for manoeuvre. That’s why tax reform, not just tax increases, will be key. Efficiency in collection, transparency and closing loopholes are just as crucial as raising tax rates.
The financial implications of military expansion are real, but so are the choices in how the country funds it. Labour is betting that a fairer tax system can finance Britain’s rising defence commitments while protecting public services. However, efforts to procure or produce new military equipment rank very low on the public’s priorities..
Aiming taxes upwards could be a vote-winner with lower and middle earners. JMundy/Shutterstock
Defence needs steady funding to handle national security threats. Welfare programmes are vital to support vulnerable people, reduce economic inequality and to help more people into paid work.
Progressive taxation taps wealth from the richest but often sparks fierce resistance from powerful groups. The alternative (cutting schools, hospitals or pensions) is politically and morally costly.
But this strategy requires clear communication and a commitment to both security and social justice. If successful, it could mark a real turning point in how the UK balances its responsibilities.
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.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Natalie Hanley-Smith, Teaching fellow in early modern history, University of Warwick
The Stolen Kiss by Jean Honore Fragonard (1787).Hermitage Museum
A stolen glance across a crowded room, a shadowy figure slipping through a doorway, a lover hidden behind a curtain – adultery has long been a drama of secrecy. From Renaissance masterpieces to tabloid snapshots, the act of romantic betrayal has not only shaped personal lives but also left its mark on art history. Painters across the centuries have turned this most intimate of transgressions into art, inviting viewers to become voyeurs of passion, guilt and desire.
Historically, artistic representations of adultery have been used to raise questions about the importance of love and sexual desire in marriage. Artists have also used their works to explore themes of culpability and punishment, and to explore the consequences of infidelity for the families of the adulterers.
Renaissance and Baroque artists picked up on the theme of adultery by depicting episodes from the Bible. Portraying scenes that were set in eras during which the punishment women faced for adultery was death, artists including Rembrandt, Rubens and Tintoretto, explored religious disciplinary processes and the difficulties of pronouncing moral judgments.
Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here.
Rembrandt’s The Woman Taken in Adultery (1644) tells the story of how Christ’s compliance with Jewish law was put to the test by a council of Pharisees (members of a biblical Jewish sect who were fanatic about obeying religious laws), who bring an adulteress before him.
The punishment for her crime according to Mosaic law was to be stoned to death. Christ’s response, “he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her”, emphasised the moral hypocrisy of the men who stood as judges.
Close up of The Woman Taken in Adultery by Rembrandt (1644). National Gallery
Although the figure of Jesus is prominent in the painting, the adulteress is central. She appears penitent, dressed in white and bathed in light – a striking contrast to the dark male figures that surround her.
That is not to say women were always portrayed as vulnerable. Throughout early modern Europe (circa 1450-1800), perceptions of women were heavily influenced by biblical figures such as Eve.
Women were largely believed to be the more lustful sex, weaker and more likely to succumb to temptation, and to be more deceptive and manipulative than men. The German Renaissance painter, Lucas Cranach demonstrated this belief in The Fable of the Mouth of Truth (1534).
The painting depicts another married woman surrounded by men who are scrutinising her. But in this case, she is not repentant. Instead, she is trying to trick her way out of receiving any punishment for her infidelity with the help of her lover, who is masquerading as a fool.
Certain artistic genres were employed to publicise and critique changes to laws regarding adultery and divorce. For centuries, church courts dealt with marital disputes and adultery in Britain.
A full divorce (that allowed both parties to remarry) was only possible by act of parliament, which made it unobtainable for all but very wealthy men.
The art of divorce
After the Matrimonial Causes Act was passed in 1857, divorce became a matter for the civil courts, and therefore a viable option for a greater proportion of British society.
Several pre-Raphaelite artworks, including Augustus Egg’s Past and Present series, depicted the damage that infidelity and subsequent divorce could have on the family unit. Egg’s work emphasised that women, who were often ostracised and cut from their social and familial networks after divorce, were punished more severely than men for their transgressions.
Past and Present Number Two by Augustus Egg (1858). Tate Britain
Satirists including James Gillray and Thomas Rowlandson chose very different devices to critique laws concerning adultery when they ridiculed “Criminal Conversation”, a civil suit that was introduced in the early 18th century, and only ended with the 1857 Act.
“Crim con” allowed a man to sue his wife’s lover for robbing him of her affections and domestic support. If his suit was successful, the husband could claim financial compensation from his rival, sometimes to the tune of tens of thousands of pounds.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, such suits were most often pursued by members of the landed gentry and the aristocracy. Moreover, as they were heard in the Court of the King’s Bench, which was open to journalists and the public, the salacious details of the affairs were published in newspapers and pamphlets.
The 1782 cartoon by James Gillray, depicting Sir Richard Worsley helping George Bisset view his wife naked in a bath-house. National Portrait Gallery
Crim con suits were much deplored by contemporary moralists. They emphasised the impropriety of a man receiving money from another man for the sexual services of his wife, as well as the debauchery of some elite husbands, who were viewed as being culpable and complicit in their wives’ affairs.
The crim con trial of Worsley versus Bisset in February 1782 attracted a considerable amount of publicity and was depicted by several of London’s best satirists. A story about the affair that inspired many satirical prints had been discussed at length in court. Lady Worsley had been enjoying a dip at Maidstone bathhouse, when her husband allegedly hoisted her lover, Captain Bisset, on to his shoulders, so that he could see her naked body.
The notion that Worsley was a voyeur who had pimped his wife out for his own delectation was so popular that it even influenced the judge, who awarded him a humiliating one shilling in damages.
The satires were meant to entertain and titillate their audiences, but they also raised awareness of the apparent profligacy of the ruling elite. Representations of the adulterous liaisons of celebrities, including military heroes like Admiral Lord Nelson, politicians like Charles James Fox, actresses like Mary Robinson, and even royals, such as George IV, were used to highlight their moral corruption, and they provided much fodder for activists demanding political reform.
The history of adultery in art draws attention to the intersections between personal relationships and the public realm. Even today, when consensual relationships between adults are not formally policed, affairs continue to prompt public discussions about private morality, ideal marriages and the suitability of casting judgment. We continue to enjoy the opportunity to moralise while being entertained by the salacious portrayals of other people’s affairs.
Natalie Hanley-Smith 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.
A case that first appeared in a medical journal several years ago has recently resurfaced in the media, highlighting an unexpected risk of hormone therapies: a baby girl in Sweden developed unusually large genitals after lying on her father’s bare chest, accidentally exposed to his testosterone gel.
The incident is a reminder that hormone treatments, while safe when used correctly, can pose risks to others if proper precautions aren’t followed.
Testosterone is a powerful sex hormone that plays a crucial role in male development. In the early months of life, babies undergo rapid development, making their bodies, and hormones, extremely sensitive. Even small amounts of testosterone absorbed through the skin can affect a baby’s development, particularly with repeated exposure.
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.
During “mini-puberty” – a short surge in hormone levels occurring a few months after birth – boys experience rising testosterone levels that help complete reproductive system development and prime it for adulthood. This process also influences brain development.
In girls, oestrogen rises slightly during this period, but testosterone remains very low. When a girl is exposed to external testosterone, such as from hormone gel, it can cause unexpected changes, including enlarged clitoris or fusion of the labia. This is precisely what occurred in the Swedish case.
Testosterone gels are commonly prescribed to treat men with low testosterone deficiency. The gel is typically applied once daily to clean, dry skin on the shoulders, upper arms or stomach. These alcohol-based gels help the hormone absorb into the skin.
While the gel dries within minutes, residue can remain on the skin for an hour or two after application. If someone touches the treated area too soon, or rests directly on it, they can inadvertently absorb some of the hormone. This risk is particularly significant for babies and children, whose thinner, more absorbent skin and developing bodies make them more vulnerable.
Testosterone gels are also increasingly used off-label in women to treat menopause symptoms (such as low libido, low mood and fatigue) and at around one-tenth of the dose given to men. This lower dose is achieved by applying a smaller amount of the same male product — this time to the lower abdomen, buttocks or outer thighs.
This means there’s much less hormone overall, but incidental exposure from women is also possible, for example, when holding a child soon after application.
Some perspective
While stories like this understandably cause concern, it’s crucial to understand the actual risk level. In the UK, around 50,000 to 100,000 people are prescribed testosterone on the NHS, with gel formulations popular due to their ease of application. If accidental exposure were common, we would see far more cases than the small number reported in medical journals.
The instructions accompanying these gels are clear: apply only to specified areas, wash hands immediately, cover the skin once dry and avoid close skin contact for several hours. When these guidelines are followed, transfer is very unlikely.
In the case of the Swedish child, when the father stopped resting the baby on his bare chest, the genital changes reversed over time. This pattern holds true for other reported cases – if exposure stops early, many effects can fade naturally.
However, in more severe or prolonged cases, children may need medical treatment. This could include hormonal tests, continued monitoring, anti-hormone treatment, or even surgery if physical changes don’t resolve. Early intervention is key, making it essential to consult a doctor if there’s any concern.
For those with babies, young children, or pregnant partners at home, the solution is straightforward planning. Apply the gel when you won’t be in direct contact immediately afterwards, or consider alternative application methods such as injections, skin patches, or tablets (available in the US), which carry lower risks of unintentional exposure to others.
This case serves as a valuable reminder that testosterone therapy, like all medications, comes with responsibilities. When used properly, it’s an effective treatment for men with diagnosed testosterone deficiency, improving sexual function and mood, with evidence suggesting it can also support muscle mass, bone health, and metabolism.
There is no need to fear these treatments, but if you are prescribed this medication, use it responsibly and follow the instructions carefully.
Daniel Kelly does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By David Bartlett, Senior Lecturer of Exercise Immunology, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, School of Biosciences, University of Surrey
CLL starts when a type of immune cell called a B cell – normally responsible for producing antibodies – becomes cancerous. This not only stops it from working properly, but also weakens the rest of the immune system.
For many people, CLL begins as a slow-moving, low-grade disease that doesn’t need immediate treatment. These patients are placed on “active monitoring,” where they’re regularly checked for signs of progression. Others, especially those with more aggressive forms of the disease, will need immediate and targeted treatment to destroy the cancer cells.
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.
People on active monitoring often find themselves in a kind of medical limbo: well enough not to need treatment, but not well enough to feel secure. Fatigue, anxiety, social isolation and fear of infection are common. For those receiving treatment, side effects including nausea, bleeding, diarrhoea and extreme tiredness can make everyday life even more challenging.
Because CLL weakens the body’s ability to fight infection, many people begin avoiding places where germs might spread: busy shops, family gatherings, even the gym. But while this instinct is understandable, it can come at a cost. Over time, isolation and inactivity can chip away at physical fitness, reduce resilience and make it harder to recover from illness or cope with stress.
The role of exercise
Exercise is good for everyone but for people living with CLL, it can be life-changing. Our research shows that physical activity is strongly linked to fewer symptoms and a better quality of life. Fatigue, the most common and often most debilitating symptom, was significantly lower in people who stayed active. Many also reported reduced pain and a greater sense of physical wellbeing.
Cancer-related fatigue isn’t just feeling a bit tired. It’s a deep, persistent exhaustion that doesn’t improve with sleep or rest. The exact biological reasons behind it aren’t fully understood, but one thing is clear: regular movement helps. People who are more active tend to feel better – and live better.
The good news is that even gentle activity can make a difference. Low-intensity activities are safe for almost everyone and come with meaningful health benefits. Walking, yoga, swimming – anything that gets you moving – can help ease symptoms. In fact, research shows that just 12 weeks of regular exercise can reduce fatigue and improve day-to-day wellbeing.
People with additional health concerns, such as heart disease, diabetes or bone conditions, should take extra care. It’s always a good idea to speak to a doctor or physiotherapist before starting a new routine. The PAR-Q+ (physical activity readiness questionnaire) is a helpful tool to assess whether it’s safe to begin exercising.
Once cleared, the goal is to work up to the recommended activity levels: 150–300 minutes of moderate activity a week (like brisk walking or cycling) or 75–150 minutes of vigorous activity (like jogging or swimming), along with two sessions of muscle-strengthening activities per week. Start slowly and build gradually.
Because people with CLL are immunocompromised, it’s important to reduce infection risks while staying active. That might mean exercising outdoors, avoiding crowds, wearing a mask, or choosing quieter times at the gym. But, as long as precautions are taken, the benefits of movement far outweigh the risks.
Benefits of keeping active
In one of our pilot studies, people with CLL who had not yet started treatment showed smaller increases in tumour cell counts after 12 weeks of exercise. Their immune systems also appeared more robust, with stronger responses to abnormal cells. This research is still in its early stages, but it’s encouraging to see that exercise doesn’t appear to accelerate disease progression – and might even help to slow it.
The biggest improvements were seen in people who started off with the worst symptoms or poorest physical condition. In other words, those with the most to gain, gained the most. Older adults, in particular, seemed to benefit from even modest activity.
People receiving treatment were generally less active and reported lower quality of life than those who weren’t but their symptom levels were similar. That suggests physical activity might offer especially meaningful benefits for people going through treatment.
Exercise is already a well-established part of care for people with solid tumours such as breast or bowel cancer.
What’s different about CLL is that many people don’t receive treatment for years – yet still experience symptoms and lower quality of life. Our study shows that physical activity matters just as much for this group. Whether someone is on active monitoring or undergoing treatment, staying active can help ease symptoms, boost energy and improve daily life.
It’s a powerful reminder that even small steps can make a big difference and that living well with CLL isn’t just about waiting for treatment. It’s about reclaiming strength, mobility and agency, one movement at a time.
David Bartlett receives funding from the American Society of Hematology
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Chee Meng Tan, Assistant Professor of Business Economics, University of Nottingham
Political and economic pressures might force Chinese president and overall leader Xi Jinping to delegate some of his powers to his deputies in a highly significant move. This has prompted some observers and media outlets to speculate that Xi’s grip on power may be waning.
A major part of why this is happening is likely to stem from Xi’s difficulties in dealing with China’s economic woes, which began from a real estate crisis in 2021. For years, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has relied on providing economic prosperity to legitimise its rule over the country.
But the continuously lacklustre performance of the Chinese economy over the past four years coupled with Trump’s trade war with Beijing is making recovery a difficult task. And this is likely to be a factor that undermines Xi’s rule.
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.
These rumours about Xi started just after the latest meeting, on June 30, of the politburo (the principal policy making body of the party), which brings China’s top leaders together to make major decisions.
For people who don’t follow Chinese politics, the idea of Xi delegating some authority might seem nothing special. However, in understanding China, it’s important to understand that Xi has massive power, and it seems the politburo is signalling there are some changes on the horizon.
What are the clues?
Symbolism and indirect language play an important role in how the communist party communicates with Chinese people. The way it is done comes through slogans or key phrases, which are collectively known as “tifa (提法)”’.
This method of information is important since it shapes political language and debate, and influences how a Chinese, and international, audience understands what’s going on. At first glance, the politburo’s call for enhancing “policy coordination” and the “review process” of major tasks may appear to indicate that the central government is seeking to ensure local officials follow through with Beijing’s agenda.
For experienced China watchers there are hints here that this powerful decision-making body is making a veiled threat against Xi for holding on to too much power. But the opaque nature of China’s elite decision-making process, where a great deal of backroom politics occurs behind closed doors, means that decoding its messages isn’t always easy.
China’s president Xi Jinping on a public outing, after several weeks when he was not seen in public.
Because of all of this, there is increasing speculation that a power struggle is in progress. This isn’t entirely surprising given Xi’s purge of many senior party officials through anti-corruption campaigns and dominance over the highest levels of government is likely to have earned him many enemies over the years.
Another sign that all isn’t going well with Xi’s regime is the removal of some his allies from key positions within the government. Xi began his anti-corruption campaign in 2012 when he became China’s leader. On paper, while officially framed as a drive to clean up corruption, evidence suggests that the campaign may have been used to remove Xi’s political rivals.
The problem for Xi is that the campaign is being used against his loyalists as well. In October 2023, defence minister Li Shangfu, who was considered a Xi ally, was sacked due to what was later confirmed in 2024 to be from due to corruption charges. But the dismissals of Xi loyalists continued.
But even if it weren’t and the purges are part of a concerted effort to stamp out corruption, Xi’s campaign will not only cast aspersions on his ability to appoint the right people into government, but also create a climate of fear among allies and potentially create further enemies. Either scenario puts Xi on the spot. But since Xi became China’s head of state in 2013, he and his loyalists have taken over leadership of many key national commissions, making him the most powerful Chinese leader since the time of Chairman Mao.
But it looks like Xi is about to delegate some of his power, and there are some other decisions that may indicate a shift. For the first time since coming into power in 2012, Xi skipped the annual summit organised by the Brics group (named after Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). Instead, from July 5 to 7 this year, Chinese premier Li Qiang, led a delegation to Rio de Janeiro.
This isn’t the first time that Li has represented Xi in high-profile conferences abroad. In September 2023, Li attended the G20 summit in New Delhi, India, and has taken part in Asean summits.
But the Brics appearance alongside with Li’s increasingly prominent role in economic policy making may suggest that his influence is on the rise, while Xi’s is declining. Watch this space.
Chee Meng Tan 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.
Imagine waking up to the news that a deadly new strain of flu has emerged in your city. Health officials are downplaying it, but social media is flooded with contradictory claims from “medical experts” debating its origin and severity.
Hospitals are filled with patients showing flu-like symptoms, preventing other patients from accessing care and ultimately leading to deaths. It gradually emerges that a foreign adversary orchestrated this panic by planting false information – such as the strain having a very high death rate. Yet despite the casualties, no rules define this as an act of war.
This is cognitive warfare, or cog war for short, where the cognitive domain is used on battlefields or in hostile attacks below the threshold of war.
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.
A classical example of cog war is a concept called “reflexive control” – an art refined by Russia over many decades. It involves shaping an adversary’s perceptions to your own benefit without them understanding that they have been manipulated.
In the context of the Ukraine conflict, this has included narratives about historical claims to Ukrainian land and portraying the west as morally corrupt.
Cog war serves to gain advantage over an adversary by targeting attitudes and behaviour at the individual, group or population level. It is designed to modify perceptions of reality, making “human cognition shaping” into a critical realm of warfare. It is therefore a weapon in a geopolitical battle that plays out by interactions across human minds rather than across physical realms.
Because cog war can be waged without the physical damage regulated by the current laws of war, it exists in a legal vacuum. But that doesn’t mean it cannot ultimately incite violence based on false information or cause injury and death by secondary effects.
Battle of minds, bodily damage
The notion that war is essentially a mental contest, where cognitive manipulation is central, harks back to the strategist Sun Tzu (fifth century BC), author of The Art of War. Today, the online domain is the main arena for such operations.
The digital revolution has allowed ever-more tailored content to play into biases mapped through our digital footprint, which is called “microtargeting”. Machine intelligence can even feed us targeted content without ever taking a picture or recording a video. All it takes is a well-designed AI prompt, supporting bad actors’ pre-defined narrative and goals, while covertly misleading the audience.
Such disinformation campaigns increasingly reach into the physical domain of the human body. In the war in Ukraine, we see continued cog war narratives. These include allegations that the Ukrainian authorities were concealing or purposefully inciting cholera outbreaks. Allegations of US-supported bioweapons labs also formed part of false-flag justifications for Russia’s full-scale invasion.
During COVID, false information led to deaths when people refused protective measures or used harmful remedies to treat it. Some narratives during the pandemic were driven as part of a geopolitical battle. While the US engaged in covert information operations, Russian and Chinese state-linked actors coordinated campaigns that used AI-generated social media personas and microtargeting to shape opinions at the level of communities and individuals.
Fake image of Donald Trump being arrested. wikipedia
The capability of microtargeting may evolve rapidly as methods for brain-machine coupling become more proficient at collecting data on cognition patterns. Ways of providing a better interface between machines and the human brain range from advanced electrodes that you can put on your scalp to virtual reality goggles with sensory stimulation for a more immersive experience.
Darpa’s Next-Generation Nonsurgical Neurotechnology (N3) program illustrates how these devices may become capable of reading from and writing to multiple points in the brain at once. However, these tools might also be hacked or fed poisoned data as a part of future information manipulation or psychological disruption strategies. Directly linking the brain to the digital world in this way will erode the line between the information domain and the human body in a way never done before.
Legal gap
Traditional laws of war assume physical force such as bombs and bullets as the primary concern, leaving cognitive warfare in a legal grey zone. Is psychological manipulation an “armed attack” that justifies self-defence under the UN charter? Currently, no clear answer exists. A state actor could potentially use health disinformation to create mass casualties in another country without formally starting a war.
Similar gaps exist in situations where war, as we traditionally see it, is actually ongoing. Here, cog war can blur the line between permitted military deception (ruses of war) and prohibited perfidy.
Imagine a humanitarian vaccination programme secretly collecting DNA, while covertly used by military forces to map clan-based insurgent networks. This exploitation of medical trust would constitute perfidy under humanitarian law – but only if we start recognising such manipulative tactics as part of warfare.
Developing regulations
So, what can be done to protect us in this new reality? First, we need to rethink what “threats” mean in modern conflict. The UN charter already outlaws “threats to use force” against other nations, but this makes us stuck in a mindset of physical threats.
When a foreign power floods your media with false health alerts designed to create panic, isn’t that threatening your country just as effectively as a military blockade?
While this issue was recognised as early as 2017, by the groups of experts who drafted the Tallinn Manual on cyberwarfare (Rule 70), our legal frameworks haven’t caught up.
Second, we must acknowledge that psychological harm is real harm. When we think about war injuries, we picture physical wounds. But post-traumatic stress disorder has long been recognised as a legitimate war injury – so why not the mental health effects of targeted cognitive operations?
Finally, traditional laws of war might not be enough – we should look to human rights frameworks for solutions. These already include protections for freedom of thought, freedom of opinion and prohibitions against war propaganda that could shield civilians from cognitive attacks. States have obligations to uphold these rights both within their territory and abroad.
The use of increasingly sophisticated tactics and technologies to manipulate cognition and emotion poses one of the most insidious threats to human autonomy in our time. Only by adapting our legal frameworks to this challenge can we foster societal resilience and equip future generations to confront the crises and conflicts of tomorrow.
David Gisselsson Nord receives funding from the Swedish Research Council, the Swedish Cancer Society and the Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundation. He has also received a travel grant from the US Department of Defence.
Alberto Rinaldi has received funding from the The Raoul Wallenberg Visiting Chair in Human Rights and Humanitarian Law and the Swedish Research Council.
Pollution causes more illness and early death than any other environmental threat, accounting for one in six deaths worldwide. For decades, the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Research and Development (ORD) has driven many of the biggest advances for safeguarding human health and ecosystems from chemicals.
But that changed when a recent Supreme Court ruling gave the Trump administration the green light to proceed with widespread redundancies and the total elimination of ORD.
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.
Now, in so doing, the US is not just gutting its own scientific foundation. It’s also putting decades of global progress in chemical safety, pollution control and public health at risk.
ORD is the EPA’s independent science arm, conducting research that supports clean air, water and land. From detecting pollutants and assessing health risks to guiding environmental cleanup, it ensures EPA decisions are grounded in credible, evidence-based research. ORD develops this science under intense scientific, policy, political and legal scrutiny, which means it produces the best available science that is credible and robust.
While most scientists focused on known pollutants, ORD used advanced screening tools to detect GenX, a little-known synthetic “forever chemical”. Despite evidence that GenX was contaminating the river basin since the 1980s, not much was known about its potential to harm living systems.
Forever chemicals were found to be polluting North Carolina’s Cape Fear River in the US. Kosoff/Shutterstock, CC BY-NC-ND
ORD rapidly filled this void, linking GenX to decreased birth weight and increased mortality in newborn rats, prompting swift regulatory action against the manufacturer to ensure cleaner, safer water for local communities. No other government agency in the world delivers this kind of rapid, science-led response.
It’s not just the strength of ORD’s science that sets it apart, but also its visionary thinking. Among ORD’s most influential ideas is a model that maps out how a chemical is causing harm.
This works like a chain of building blocks, linking tiny effects (like a chemical disrupting a hormone) to much bigger problems, such as cancer or even extinction. Each step shows how one change leads to another until it reaches something we truly care about. This approach helps scientists detect danger early, before it leads to irreversible damage.
Then there’s the EPA’s groundbreaking work in computational toxicology. Nearly two decades ago, leading scientists warned that chemical safety testing relied too heavily on outdated methods and animal experiments.
In response, ORD built ToxCast, a system that uses tiny cells and computer models to screen thousands of chemicals for effects like endocrine disruption or cell damage. It’s faster, cheaper and more humane, and helps scientists predict which substances may pose serious risks.
These scientific breakthroughs don’t come from policy offices. They require researchers with the independence to explore and innovate.
Beyond the US
Europe has bold goals to phase out animal testing. Much of the science driving this shift comes from ORD.
Tools like Ecotox (the world’s largest chemical toxicity database) and the CompTox dashboard (a platform that links predictive models and non-animal test data for over a million substances) are widely used across the EU and UK. Without ORD, these vital resources, hosted by EPA, could disappear, stalling global progress toward safer, more ethical chemical testing.
ORD is a leading scientific institution with global reach. Its tools and ideas have shaped how governments detect hazardous chemicals, understand their effects, and protect people and the planet. From toxicity databases to modern, non-animal testing methods, ORD underpins how we respond to pollution. Eliminating it would create a dangerous void, just as chemical and climate threats are accelerating.
Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?
North Carolina State University receives funding from the California Air Resources Board for a research project for which Dr. Frey is a co-principal investigator. H. Christopher Frey served from 2022 to 2024 as Assistant Administrator for the Office of Research and Development, and as Science Advisor, at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Tamara Tal previously worked at the US EPA in the Office of Research and Development.
.jpg#/media/File:Lucas_Cranach_d.%C3%84._-_Bocca_della_Verit%C3%A0_(ca.1530).jpg/2){kind=link}
