Whether you’re an avid runner or frequently go to the gym, many fitness enthusiasts find they eventually get stuck in a routine – logging the same miles or doing the same workout over and over again.
What if there were a way to challenge both endurance and strength at once with an effective, varied training routine?
Welcome to Hyrox – the increasingly popular fitness race that blends endurance running and strength. Designed for everyday athletes and elite competitors alike, Hyrox offers an accessible yet competitive race format.
By focusing on functional fitness, this workout provides a structured way for people to push their limits while training for a clear goal. It also comes with many physiological benefits regardless of your skill level – including strength, endurance and power.
Athletes run 8km in total, but after each kilometre they must complete a functional fitness exercise. In a Hyrox race, the first exercise is 1,000m on a ski ergometer, followed by a 50m sled push, a 50m sled pull, 80m of burpee broad jumps, a 1,000m row, a 200m farmer’s carry, 100m walking sandbag lunges – finishing with 100 wall balls.
A Hyrox race can be competed individually, in pairs, or in a team of four done in a relay-format. The difficulty of the race depends on your skill level. Athletes in the pro division work with heavier weights than the open division. Those competing as a pair split the stations but run together – adding teamwork to the race.
The average finish time of a Hyrox race is 90 minutes – though this can vary depending on a person’s age, gender and fitness level. Elite racers will aim for a sub-60 time – with current world records set at around 50 minutes.
A race of this duration and intensity puts serious physiological stress on the body – which requires a good level of overall fitness.
Transitioning between runs and exercises causes the body to shift between different energy systems during Hyrox. The aerobic system uses oxygen to steadily fuel the muscles over a period of time. This is essential for the running segments. The anaerobic system, on the other hand, provides short bursts of energy without needing oxygen. This is crucial for the high-intensity exercise portions.
The adrenaline and intensity of the race also means your endurance, explosive power and strength are put to the test simultaneously. Without adequate training and a race plan, this could leave you feeling fatigued towards the end of the race, which can affect your coordination and power.
Hyrox training
Because Hyrox is a new competition format, research on its training benefits is limited. But some early findings suggest that a successful race performance is linked to the amount of training a person puts in ahead of competition and their overall fitness levels. This aligns with what we know about endurance and strength-based training.
The combination of running and intense exercises over a long duration challenges the body’s ability to use oxygen efficiently. Training for Hyrox can lead to improvements in the aerobic capacity or maximum oxygen uptake (VO₂ max), a measure of aerobic fitness.
An improvement in VO₂max means your body can use oxygen more efficiently, allowing you to sustain higher intensities of exercise for longer periods of time. This improves endurance, helps you maintain speed throughout the race and contributes to overall cardiovascular health.
Training for Hyrox requires a balanced approach of running, strength training and Hyrox-specific workouts. This training strategy is known as concurrent training. Research shows concurrent training has benefits for strength, muscular health and cardio-respiratory fitness in people of all ages.
Regular long runs of 40-60 minutes at a low intensity help improve aerobic capacity as well. This allows your body to use oxygen more efficiently for sustained effort. Meanwhile, high-intensity interval runs – such as repeatedly running 400m to 1km with short rest periods of 30-60 seconds – improves your body’s anaerobic threshold. This means you can sustain higher intensities of exercise for longer before fatigue sets in.
The functional stations require full-body strength and muscular endurance, which will be built up gradually as you train for a race. Once you’re more familiar with these exercises, you can begin practising them under fatigue. This is essential for both performance during a race and for preventing injuries.
To maximise performance, a typical weekly training plan should prioritise endurance training over strength training to ensure you are well-prepared to finish a Hyrox race. For the best results, this structured approach should be followed for at least six weeks.
Even without signing up for a race, Hyrox training can give you fitness benefits. You can modify the exercises and how much you run depending on your fitness level.
An all-round Hyrox programme does not just improve functional fitness – it pushes athletes to new limits with a clear, goal-oriented training approach. Whether you’re an elite racer or just looking for a new fitness challenge, Hyrox offers a unique test of endurance and strength.
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 Will Hawkes, Insect Migration Researcher, College of Life and Environmental Science, University of Exeter
As I sprinted across the flower-rich meadow on the eastern coast of Cyprus, I could barely see my car. The air was full of tiny black dots, pelting like bullets past me. I hauled open the car door and breathed a sigh of relief once inside. I was surrounded by millions of flies, amid the most incredible migration event I have ever seen.
The migration cameras my team and I use to monitor these insects counted nearly 6,000 flies per metre per minute. Being hit by a fly travelling over 25mph (helped by the wind) hurts enough to make you want shelter quickly.
All of these flies had just travelled at least 60 miles (100km) across open sea from the Middle East to Cyprus. This journey forms part of their springtime migration towards northern Europe.
Butterflies and dragonflies are well-known insect migrants, but not because they’re the most numerous. That title is given to the flies. I have studied all of the insects migrating through Cyprus and the Pyrenees on the France-Spain border. Flies make up nearly 90% of all migrants. Yet they have been consistently overlooked by scientists and their ecological contribution has been hugely underappreciated.
My colleagues and I set out to change this. We have spent months collecting written sources that mentioned fly migration from anywhere in the world. Our findings, now published in Biological Reviews, could change our perception of flies forever. Previously, nobody really knew the extent to which flies migrated, yet they are the most numerous and most ecologically important of all terrestrial migrants.
Fly migration has been part of written human history for millennia. In the book of Exodus, when the pharoah of Egypt didn’t let Moses’s people go, God sent a plague of flies to change his mind. Then God removed flies from the land until “not a fly remained”. This last biblical quote is key.
If these flies had been misidentified mayflies coming out of the river Nile, which are known to amass in huge numbers, their exhausted bodies would have remained for days. Because they all disappeared without a trace, this suggests a huge migration of flies. Egypt is on an important fly migration route. So perhaps fly migration was significant enough to be the subject of divine intervention.
Flies migrate to reproduce, moving to exploit seasonal food resources. All over the world, it’s mostly females that migrate. They have been recorded migrating through mountain passes high in the Himalayas, on ships hundreds of miles out to sea in the Gulf of Mexico and in their millions migrating through western Europe. Amazingly, while on fieldwork in the Maldives, I saw Forcipomyia midges use their soft foot hairs to stick to dragonfly wings to hitch a lift over the Indian Ocean.
Vital roles
Flies are so important to the planet and to us. No other group of terrestrial migrants (including vertebrates such as mammals) are as ecologically diverse as flies. More than half (62%) of all migrating flies, including hoverflies, are pollinators. Without them, food crop production would decline.
As they migrate, flies transport and disperse pollen between flowers. This could help plants adapt to climate change by maintaining genetic diversity.
Many migratory fly species (34%) are decomposers, ensuring the planet isn’t covered in rotting carcasses and animal dung. One study showed that the larvae of just 50 houseflies (Musca domestica), – the very ecologically similar and equally abundant autumn housefly Musca autumnalis migrate south through the Pyrenees in their millions – can decompose up to 444kg of pig manure.
The ecological roles of flies are not all positive, though. My latest study shows that monoculture crops provide lots of food for some migratory fly species (18%) that have subsequently become crop pests. Some (16%) carry diseases, such as mosquitoes that migrate huge distances and bring diseases such as malaria.
But migratory flies have an overwhelmingly positive impact on the planet. Hoverfly larvae eat trillions of aphids each year in southern England. Insect migration is already known to be the most important way that the nutrients plants need to grow are moved across the land and flies make up the majority of the insects that transport the nutrients.
The movement and subsequent death of trillions of migrating flies, whose bodies contain elements, such as phosphorous and nitrogen which plants need to grow, could be vital to soil health of the soils too. Migratory birds have been noted feeding on and moving at the same time as migratory flies, perhaps using them as fuel for their journeys.
We’re only just waking up to the significance of flies. Hopefully, it’s not too late to protect them. One German study found that the number of aphid-eating migratory hoverflies declined by 97% over the last 50 years. Fewer aphid-eating hoverflies means more crop-eating aphids and also fewer pollinators. So that’s a terrifying statistic that could have drastic consequences.
A sunrise of hope exists, however. These brilliant migratory flies have so many young that if we improve landscape connectivity, reduce pesticide usage and provide suitable habitat, they can bounce back really quickly. We need these flies as much as we need the air we breathe. So next time you see a fly up against your window, open it and let it out. It has a long way to go and such important work to do.
Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Press release
“New partnership” between defence and private sector set to boost UK defence sector
Major venture capitalists from across Europe can help unlock billions of pounds of private investment into UK technology and defence firms, as part of a “new partnership” between defence and private investors, the Defence Secretary has said today.
Defence Secretary John Healey at a table speaking with investors.
Influential investors convened in London to discuss future routes to defence financing.
Government’s record spending uplift and reforms will help unlock private-sector investment into UK defence, Defence Secretary said.
Defence “is an ethical investment” as Government set to back Britain’s high-growth companies with new innovation funding.
Comes alongside up to £250 million of Government investment into UK firm to help boost missile defence.
In a first-of-its-kind meeting between venture capital firms and a UK Defence Secretary, John Healey MP spoke at a breakfast roundtable at Plural’s offices in central London. The meeting was convened by Plural co-founder Khaled Helioui, and Grace Cassy of Ten Eleven Ventures who has supported the development of the Strategic Defence Review as part of the Defence Review Team.
In a changing world, with increasing threats and war in Europe, the group discussed how to incentivise greater private investment into defence and deep technology, to help deter Britain’s adversaries, secure the UK economy, protect the incomes of hard-working families up and down the country and support European security.
The Defence Secretary set out how the Government’s largest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War – with 2.5% of GDP spend by April 2027 and a commitment to hit 3% in the next Parliament – coupled with defence reforms, can unlock private sector investment into high-growth British firms – boosting jobs and delivering on the Government’s Plan for Change by making defence an engine for growth across the UK. This includes:
A new ambition to unlock more private defence investment, supported by long-term certainty of rising Government defence investment over the next decade, alongside the new Government direct expenditure target for SMEs including start-ups and scale-ups to give high-growth companies more certainty and sight of future investment.
Turbocharging innovation with a new £400 million ringfenced budget for UK Defence Innovation, announced by the Chancellor last week, alongside a commitment to spend 10% of the MOD equipment budget on novel technologies.
Making clear that “defence is an ethical investment” in deterring conflict and preventing the huge human and economic costs caused by conflicts such as Ukraine. It comes as some funds look to renegotiated Limited Partner Agreements to better enable investment into defence.
In a sign of the Government backing British firms with long-term public investment, the meeting comes as the Government confirms up to £250 million investment across the next six years with UK defence tech firm Roke – supporting around 150 jobs and delivering analysis, trials and technology development against ballistic and hypersonic missile threats.
Roke – based in Hampshire and focused on innovation and AI development – have been awarded a contract up to six-years in length, known as Science and Technology Oriented Research and development in Missile defence (STORM). The framework streamlines crucial research into innovative technologies, helping enhance the UK’s ability to detect, identify, and defeat ballistic and hypersonic missile threats – work that is essential to safeguarding the UK and its allies.
Defence Secretary, John Healey MP said:
In this new era of rising threats, national security isn’t just a military imperative. It’s the foundation for economic growth, securing Britain’s future and our Government’s Plan for Change.
As Defence Secretary, I am determined to bring together investors, innovators and industry in a new partnership that drives British jobs and growth. We want to mobilise private investors to take a fresh look at defence, alongside the certainty of our Government’s record long-term uplift in defence spending.
With countries across Europe facing new threats stepping up to take more responsibility for our continent’s defence is an ethical investment, and it’s good to see increasing numbers of private investors recognising that. There is no more important investment than in our European security.
As a government we are determined to tackle any blockers which are preventing private finance from flowing into UK defence, which is why today’s landmark meeting is so important.
The Defence Secretary also said the government is bringing “a clear mandate to bring innovative technology to the frontline at speed and enable the defence sector to create high-growth British success stories that deliver investor returns and national security.”
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
A study published in Nature looks at the effect of the shingles vaccine (Zostvax) on dementia risk.
Comments provided by our friends at the Australian Science Media Centre:
Dr Joseph Doyle, Professor of Infectious Diseases at Monash University and President of the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases, said:
“The paper [by Eyting and colleagues in Nature] presents results of a natural experiment in Wales, United Kingdom, on the effect of shingles vaccination on new diagnosis of dementia. The study observed that older adults appeared to have less chance of dementia diagnosis in the seven years after receiving live-attenuated shingles vaccination (Zostavax). The authors estimate there were 3.5% fewer dementia diagnoses among people who received the live-attenuated shingles vaccine.
“This study had an observational design, so we need to be cautious in assuming the vaccine itself caused this decline in dementia diagnoses. It is plausible that episodes of infection, immune system changes, or health care engagement are among the factors behind this association, but further research is needed to help determine whether there is a causal link.
“Importantly, we don’t know whether these findings apply to both the live-attenuated shingles vaccine (Zostavax) used in their study and the newer recombinant subunit shingles vaccine (Shingrix) now used widely in Australia.
“Australia approved and subsidised Shingrix on the National Immunization Program in 2023. This newer shingles vaccine is available for older adults and is safer for people who are immunocompromised.
“While we do not know whether the newer shingles vaccine used locally has the same association with less dementia yet, we do know the shingles vaccine provided free in Australia is very effective and protective against episodes of shingles.
“Older adults and people with weak immune systems at higher risk of shingles are encouraged to see their doctor to talk more about vaccination.”
Professor Anthony Hannan, Group Head of the Epigenetics and Neural Plasticity Group at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, said:
“This new research article in Nature adds to the evidence that the nervous system and immune system closely interact, and that this has implications for dementia risk, as well as potentially new approaches to dementia prevention and treatment. Furthermore, it provides evidence that vaccination has the potential to impact positively on human health, beyond the particular disease that the vaccine was intended to prevent.
“A key question, not answered by this new study, is how the shingles (herpes zoster) vaccine may have helped protect (reducing risk by 20%) against dementia. We now know that, despite the blood-brain barrier, the brain has its own immune cells, which serve many roles including removal of specific toxic molecules that accumulate with age (particularly in the most common form of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease).
“It is possible that the vaccine had direct effects on these brain immune cells, but it is also possible that the vaccine acted indirectly, for example, by slowing brain aging and/or enhancing brain resilience to the ravages of age. The next step is to work out exactly how this vaccine exerts its protective effects against dementia and to use that information to develop new ways to prevent and treat dementia. It also increases the likelihood that in future there may be specific vaccination programs whose primary aim is to prevent dementia.”
Dr Henry Brodaty, Scientia Professor of Ageing and Mental Health and Co-Director of the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing at the University of New South Wales, said:
“They examined the effect of a live virus to prevent shingles administered to people aged 79 to 80. The researchers took advantage of a decision in Wales that 79-80-year-olds born before 2nd September 1933 were ineligible for life to receive the shingles vaccine, whereas those born on or after that day were eligible for at least one year to receive the vaccine. There were 16,595 adults who had become eligible for the vaccine from a total sample of 282,541 adults in the sample.
“They compared people who were one week too old with those who were one week younger. Those who received the vaccine had an absolute reduction of 7% of developing dementia over the next seven years. Compared to those who were unvaccinated, their risk of dementia was 20% lower. The benefits were stronger for women than men.
“The authors examined multiple competing hypotheses to explain the results. There were no differences in dementia diagnoses for those who had and had not received influenza vaccines. Other possible explanations were also discounted. The authors considered the possible mechanism maybe preventing the reactivation of the shingles of the herpes varicella virus. The authors confirmed their findings in a different population by combining a different type of data from England and Wales and using deaths certified as being due to dementia.
“Limitations include that these results only pertained to 79-80-year-olds in Wales and to the use of the live vaccine.
“There has been evidence for some time that older people who receive their vaccinations in general are less likely to develop dementia. This is the best evidence yet to show this. Future research will determine whether the newer non-live virus, Shingrix will provide the same benefit and whether immunisation at younger ages may be just as effective.”
‘A natural experiment on the effect of herpes zoster vaccination on dementia’ by Markus Eyting et al. was published in Nature at 16:00 UK time on Wednesday 2 April 2025.
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-08800-x
Declared interests
Professor Anthony Hannan: No COI’s.
Dr Henry Brodaty: is or has been an advisory board member or consultant to Biogen, Eisai, Eli Lilly, Medicines Australia, Roche and Skin2Neuron. He has received funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).
Prof Joseph Doyle: is a board member of the Australian Society for Infectious Diseases and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee. The views expressed here are personal opinions and are not necessarily those of his employers or professional bodies.
The program includes a comprehensive study of approaches to formulating queries (prompts) for the effective solution of various problems using artificial intelligence. During the training, participants will master the creation and optimization of queries for generating texts, images, video and audio, and will also learn to improve prompts to achieve the most accurate and high-quality results.
The course consists of theoretical lectures and practical classes covering both the basics of modern language models and the practical possibilities of using neural networks in professional and everyday activities. Participants will be able to consolidate their acquired knowledge by working on real examples and projects.
The program is scheduled to start on May 20, 2025. The course duration is 4 months. Classes will be held online, in the format of webinars, video lectures and practical consultations with teachers.
Upon completion of the course, students will create their own portfolio, confirming their competencies in the field of industrial engineering and the practical use of artificial intelligence.
Armen Beklaryan, teacher of the program “Prompt-engineering: neural networks for humans”
“The Prompt Engineering program will introduce you to methods of constructing and optimizing queries for modern artificial intelligence systems. During the training, you will learn how to correctly structure text commands, adapt them to different AI models, and analyze the results. The program combines theoretical classes with extensive practice: students will create their own projects, practicing their skills in working with the latest tools for generating text, images, audio, and video information. This program will not only deepen your understanding of the principles of AI, but also acquire in-demand competencies for effective interaction with modern digital technologies.”
Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
BEVERLY HILLS, California, April 02, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Orocidin A/S (“Orocidin”), a subsidiary of Nordicus Partners Corporation (OTCQB: NORD) (“Nordicus” or the “Company”), a financial consulting company specializing in supporting Nordic and U.S. life sciences companies in establishing themselves in the U.S. market, today announced positive efficacy results for its lead periodontitis candidate, QR-01, in a preclinical study involving dogs diagnosed with periodontitis.
The 13-day small efficacy study was conducted on beagle dogs with clinically confirmed periodontitis. and demonstrated consistent improvements across key clinical endpoints, including the Gingival Index, the Plaque Index and overall periodontal Disease. The animals were fasted for a minimum of 8 hours prior to assessment of the efficacy.
Importantly, QR-01 was well tolerated, with no adverse side effects reported throughout the treatment period.
“I am pleased to report that all dogs in the study showed encouraging and consistent responses to the treatment. This represents a significant milestone for Orocidin’s lead product, QR-01 and strengthens our confidence as we prepare for the upcoming human pilot efficacy study, planned to begin by the end of 2025,” said Allan Wehnert, CEO & Founder of Orocidin.
For further information, contact: Mr. Henrik Rouf Chief Executive Officer hr@nordicuspartners.com Tel +1 310 666 0750
About Orocidin
Orocidin’s mission is to develop the preferred treatment against aggressive periodontitis. Our innovative therapeutic agent, QR-01, distinguishes itself through its unique ability to provide treatment of both inflammation and bacterial infection.
About Nordicus Partners Corporation
Nordicus Partners Corporation is the only U.S. publicly traded business accelerator and holding company for Nordic life sciences companies. Leveraging decades of combined management experience in domestic and global corporate sectors, Nordicus excels in corporate finance activities including business and market development, growth strategies, talent acquisition, partnership building, capital raising, and facilitating company acquisitions and sales. In 2024, Nordicus acquired 100% of Orocidin A/S, a Danish preclinical-stage biotech company developing next-generation therapies for periodontitis and 100% of Bio-Convert ApS, a Danish preclinical-stage biotech company dedicated to revolutionizing the treatment of oral leukoplakia. For more information about Nordicus, please visit: www.nordicuspartners.com, and follow us on LinkedIn, X, Threads and BlueSky.
This press release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. You can identify these statements by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “project,” “estimate,” “intend,” “continue” or “believe” or the negatives thereof or other variations thereon or comparable terminology. You should read statements that contain these words carefully because they discuss our plans, strategies, prospects and expectations concerning our business, operating results, financial condition and other similar matters. We believe that it is important to communicate our future expectations to our investors. There may be events in the future, however, that we are not able to predict accurately or control. Any forward-looking statement made by us in this press release speaks only as of the date on which we make it. Factors or events that could cause our actual results to differ may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all of them. We undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
A large language model tries to generate what a random person who had produced the previous text would produce. (Shutterstock)
In 1948, the founder of information theory, Claude Shannon, proposed modelling language in terms of the probability of the next word in a sentence given the previous words. These types of probabilistic language models were largely derided, most famously by linguist Noam Chomsky: “The notion of ‘probability of a sentence’ is an entirely useless one.”
In 2022, 74 years after Shannon’s proposal, ChatGPT appeared, which caught the attention of the public, with some even suggesting it was a gateway to super-human intelligence. Going from Shannon’s proposal to ChatGPT took so long because the amount of data and computing time used was unimaginable even a few years before.
ChatGPT is a large language model (LLM) learned from a huge corpus of text from the internet. It predicts the probability of the next word given the context: a prompt and the previously generated words.
ChatGPT uses this model to generate language by choosing the next word according to the probabilistic prediction. Think about drawing words from a hat, where the words predicted to have a higher probability have more copies in the hat. ChatGPT produces text that seems intelligent.
There is a lot of controversy about how these tools can help or hinder learning and practising creative writing. As a professor of computer science who has authored hundreds of works on artificial intelligence (AI), including AI textbooks that cover the social impact of large language models, I think understanding how the models work can help writers and educators consider the limitations and potential uses of AI for what might be called “creative” writing.
LLMs as parrots or plagiarists
It’s important to distinguish between “creativity” by the LLM and creativity by a human. For people who had low expectations of what a computer could generate, it’s been easy to assign creativity to the computer. Others were more skeptical. Cognitive scientist Douglas Hofstadter saw “a mind-boggling hollowness hidden just beneath its flashy surface.”
Linguist Emily Bender and colleagues described the language models as stochastic parrots, meaning they repeat what is in the data they were trained on with randomness. To understand this, consider why a particular word was generated. It’s because it has a relatively high probability, and it has a high probability because a lot of text in the training corpus used that word in similar contexts.
Selecting a word according to the probability distribution is like selecting text with a similar context and using its next word. Generating text from LLMs can be seen as plagiarism, one word at a time.
The creativity of a human
Consider the creativity of a human who has ideas they want to convey. With generative AI, they put their ideas into a prompt and the AI will produce text (or images or sounds). If someone doesn’t care what is generated, it doesn’t really matter what they use as a prompt. But what if they do care about what is generated?
An LLM tries to generate what a random person who had written the previous text would produce. Most creative writers do not want what a random person would write. They want to use their creativity, and may want a tool to produce what they would write if they had the time to produce it.
LLMs don’t typically have a large corpus of what a particular author has written to learn from. The author will undoubtedly want to produce something different. If the output is expected to be more detailed than the input, the LLM has to make up details. These may or may not be what the writer intended.
Most creative writers do not want what a random person would write, but to use their creativity. (Shutterstock)
Some positive uses of LLMs for creative writing
Writing is like software development: Given an idea of what is wanted, software developers produce code (text in a computer language) analogously to how writers produce text in a natural language. LLMs treat writing code and writing natural language text the same way; the corpus each LLM is trained on contains both natural language and code. What’s produced depends on the context.
Writers can learn from the experience of software developers. LLMs are good for small projects that have been done previously by many other people, such as database queries or writing standard letters. They are also useful for parts of larger projects, such as a pop-up box in a graphical user interface.
If programmers want to use them for bigger projects, they need to be prepared to generate multiple outputs and edit the one that is closest to what is intended. The problem in software development has always been specifying exactly what is wanted; coding is the easy part.
Generating good prompts
How to generate good prompts has been advocated as an art form called “prompt engineering.” Proponents of prompt engineering have suggested multiple techniques that improve the output of current LLMs, such as asking for an outline and then asking for the text based on the original prompt augmented with the outline.
Another is to ask the LLM to show its reasoning steps, as in so-called chain of thought. The LLM outputs don’t just the answer a question, but explains the steps that could be taken to answer it. The LLM uses those steps as part of its prompt to get its final answer.
Proponents of prompt engineering propose techniques that improve the output of current LLMs. (Shutterstock)
Such advice is bound to be ephemeral. If some prompt-engineering technique works, it will be incorporated into a future release of the LLM, so that the effect happens without the need for the explicit use of the technique. Recent models that claim to reason have incorporated such step-by-step prompts.
In this age of misinformation, it is important for everyone to have a way to judge the often self-serving hype.
There is no magic in generative AI, but there is lots of data from which to predict what someone could write. I hope that creativity is more than regurgitating what others have written.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Scientists comment on a SACN statement on the WHO’s guideline on non-sugar sweeteners (NSS).
Dr Havovi Chichger, Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Science, Anglia Ruskin University, said:
“The SACN recommendations published in their position statement this morning are highly appropriate given the WHO report and research findings in the field. The committee recommends that children not be given drinks containing non-nutritive sweeteners and that adults work towards a sweetener-free diet. Although the use of non-nutritive sweeteners is an important tool to reduce sugar overconsumption, and the related negative health effects, we now understand that these sweet additives can pose various health risks on the public. It might seem contradictory, but studies have shown that all commercially-available sweeteners are associated with the development of obesity and diabetes, potentially through a metabolic disruption pathway (Bonnet 2018; McLay-Cooke 2016; Stamataki 2020). The SACN position statement also recommends that the government monitor the amount of non-nutritive sweeteners in the UK diet and encourage the food and drink industry to clearly communicate the amount of sweeteners within labelling. These recommendations are based on an in-depth review of studies in the field however these studies do not always specify which sweeteners were consumed. There are also confounding factors to be considered, for example, the studies show a link between sweetener consumption and negative health outcomes which could be due to underlying and undetected health conditions rather than the sweetener itself. As such, there is a real need for large-scale studies in the field to understand the direct causative effect of non-nutritive sweeteners on human health.”
Prof Naveed Sattar, Professor of Cardiometabolic Medicine/Honorary Consultant, University of Glasgow, said:
“I think this is a very balanced statement. SACN have accepted that the best quality evidence available (i.e. randomised trials) show that non-sugar sweeteners (NSS) lower weight albeit modestly as compared to taking sugar rich drinks and that other types of evidence which suggest some harm from NSS are unreliable. I fully agree and would rather people take low calorie drinks with artificial sweeteners every time than sugar rich drinks both for weight and dental benefits and potentially other gains. However, SACN also correctly points out that until we have more evidence in the future on benefits and safety of NSS, it would be best to limit the intake of all such sweetened (including NSS) drinks in early childhood so that children become accustomed to drinking unsweetened drinks, preferably water. A sensible and mature summary of a complex set of data.”
Source: United Nations General Assembly and Security Council
(Based on information provided by the Protocol and Liaison Service)
The new Permanent Representative of Guinea to the United Nations, Mohamed Dabo, presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General António Guterres today.
Prior to his appointment, Mr. Dabo served in his country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Integration and Guineans Living Abroad as Coordinator of Economic Diplomacy, Strategic Intelligence and International Cooperation, from January 2022 to December 2024.
Before that, from April 2019 to January 2022, he served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation, African Integration and Guineans Abroad, as Adviser responsible for diaspora and international careers.
From October 2017 to April 2019, he served as a member of the Minister’s cabinet and Special Assistant to the Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Guineans Abroad. Before that, from August 2013 to October 2017, he served in the Permanent Mission of Guinea to the United Nations as First Secretary and Special Assistant to the Permanent Representative.
Mr. Dabo holds a master’s degree in political science, policies and strategies of international public action and a bachelor’s degree in political science, international relations and security defence, both from the University Jean Moulin Lyon 3, France. He also holds a degree in law and political science from the University Lumière Lyon 2 and a degree in law from the University of Lille 2, both in France.
Source: United Nations General Assembly and Security Council
(Based on information provided by the Protocol and Liaison Service)
The new Permanent Representative of Liberia to the United Nations, Lewis Garseedah Brown II, presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General António Guterres today.
Mr. Brown returns to the post after a previous tenure from March 2016 to September 2018. During that time, he served as Vice-President of the seventy-second session of the General Assembly and chaired the Assembly’s Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization). Throughout his career, he has held several key Government positions. He served as the Government’s Chief Spokesperson in the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism. He was also Liberia’s Chief Negotiator at the Accra Comprehensive Peace Conference.
In 2003, Mr. Brown served as Minister for Foreign Affairs. Prior to that, he held roles in the Ministry of State for Presidential Affairs as National Security Advisor and Managing Director of the Liberia Petroleum Refinery Company. Additionally, he was a member of Liberia’s Transitional Legislative Assembly.
Mr. Brown holds a Master of Science in management from Johns Hopkins University in the United States, and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Liberia.
__________
* This supersedes Press Release BIO/4854 of 30 June 2016.
Source: United Nations General Assembly and Security Council
(Based on information provided by the Protocol and Liaison Service.)
The new Permanent Observer for the Pan-African Intergovernmental Agency for Water and Sanitation for Africa, Nabhit Kapur, presented his letter of appointment to UN Secretary-General António Guterres today.
Since 2016, Mr. Kapur has been Founder and Chairman of the Peacfulmind Foundation, which uses workshops and outreach programmes to advocate for the awareness of mental health. The organization engages with policymakers and Government officials to support mental health initiatives.
Prior to his appointment, Mr. Kapur worked as Director of the Sustainable Developments Goals (SDG) Program, National Association of Somalia between 2023 and 2024. From 2021 to 2023, he served as Adviser to the Vice-President of Liberia.
He holds a Master of Arts in psychology from Kalinga University, a Master of Science in counselling and psychotherapy from the Institute for Behavioural and Management Sciences Chittoor and a Bachelor of Arts in applied psychology from Amity University.
Source: United States Senator for Massachusetts Ed Markey
Safety Starts at the Top Act would ensure aerospace manufacturers prioritize safety over profits
Bill Text (PDF)
Washington (April 2, 2025) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, today introduced the Safety Starts at the Top Act, legislation that would require large aerospace manufacturers to include two labor representatives and two safety experts on their boards of directors. The legislation comes in response to concerns that Boeing has prioritized profits over safety and failed to consider the views of its workforce in critical engineering decisions.
“For years, Boeing has prioritized financial engineering over mechanical engineering, undermining the company’s safety culture. It’s time for that to change,” said Senator Markey. “Without input from the workers on the factory floor every day, Boeing is flying blind. By requiring Boeing’s Board to include worker and safety representatives, the Safety Starts at the Top Act will ensure that Boeing listens to the professionals who know safety best.”
“IAM 751 appreciates and supports this proposed legislation and if passed would ensure that workers voices are heard at the highest levels when decisions impacting aerospace manufacturing and safety are being discussed and implemented,” said Jon Holden, President & Directing Business Representative for the International Association of Machinists (IAM) District 751.
“SPEEA applauds Senator Markey for introducing the Safety Starts at the Top Act and we look forward to working towards its enactment. This bill invests in our nation’s aerospace engineering and manufacturing leadership by making sure the leading aerospace firms are committed to building a safety culture, continuing to improve product quality, and reestablishing effective communication between the bridge and the engine room. With the Safety Starts at the Top Act, business decisions at these firms will be made with input from the men and women who design and build the greatest aerospace products in the world,” said John Dimas, President of Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (SPEEA, IFPTE) Local 2001.
Senator Markey has long called for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and companies such as Boeing to be held accountable for their actions that undermine aviation safety. Last month, Senator Markey wrote a letter to Chris Rocheleau, Acting FAA Administrator, with questions about the FAA’s recent decision to deploy three Starlink terminals from Elon Musk’s SpaceX. In January 2024, Senator Markey, along with then Senator J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) and Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), sent a letter to Boeing’s then-CEO David Calhoun about the company’s manufacturing quality control and oversight of contractors.
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Suleman Lazarus, Visiting Fellow, Mannheim Centre for Criminology, London School of Economics and Political Science
This digital infrastructure includes reliable access to electricity and the internet, as well as digital tools such as proxy servers, spoofing software, phishing kits and virtual private networks. Those involved must possess technical competencies in areas like web development, social engineering and systems maintenance, skills that are critical for sustaining fraudulent operations behind the scenes.
Research on cybercrime is expanding in west Africa, particularly studies of Nigeria and Ghana. But Cameroon is understudied. This gap in research has obscured a pervasive problem in Cameroon: website developers who create digital storefronts for fraudsters.
Rather than focusing on the fraudsters themselves, our study examined the infrastructure that enables this fraud to happen and the hidden networks of actors who make deception possible. Our research sheds light on a little-known group of enablers: website developers in anglophone Cameroon who knowingly build fake shopping websites.
Through interviews with 14 website developers engaged in this illicit trade, we explored the socio-economic and political forces that drive their participation.
Our findings showed that a mix of economic hardship, social norms and cultural beliefs drive fraud enablement in Cameroon. Our study highlights the need for a more nuanced understanding of cybercrime. The website developers in Cameroon do not fit the typical profile of a fraudster. They see themselves as skilled workers navigating a complex socio-political landscape where survival often comes before morality, given that Cameroon, under Paul Biya’s presidency of more than 40 years, has experienced widespread poverty, instability and an uncertain succession struggle.
To address fraud effectively, interventions must go beyond simply punishing offenders. Instead, efforts should focus on dismantling the structures that allow fraud to thrive, starting with those who enable it.
Why fraudsters choose this activity
A central theme emerging from our interviews was the impact of the Ambazonian Crisis, an ongoing separatist conflict in Cameroon’s anglophone regions. The crisis began as peaceful demonstrations in 2016 when trade unionists and lawyers protested against the mandatory use of the French language in schools and law courts. By 2017, these protests had turned violent as armed separatist groups emerged within the anglophone regions, engaging in sporadic conflict with government forces. The separatists called for the secession of the two anglophone regions, referring to them as Ambazonia. The conflict has since escalated. Reports estimate that the violence has led to approximately 6,000 civilian deaths, the displacement of 600,000 people within Cameroon, and the forced migration of over 77,000 people into Nigeria as refugees.
The website developers we interviewed described how daily gunfire, displacement and political instability had made it difficult to secure stable employment and find clients.
Interviewees cited frequent power outages and internet blackouts as barriers to working with legitimate clients.
As one developer put it:
There are times when we go without electricity or network for days. I might have a legitimate client, but if the power goes out, I lose the job. Fraudsters, on the other hand, don’t care about delays. They are always there with another request.
Ghost-town protests, where separatists enforce economic shutdowns and force people to stay in their homes, further limit opportunities for legitimate business. In this unstable environment, undertaking website development for fraudsters became one of the few steady income streams.
A second theme was spiritual beliefs. We found that spiritual beliefs had an impact on decision-making. Developers rationalised their work by distinguishing between fraud and fraud enablement. Directly perpetrating fraud against victims, they believed, carried spiritual consequences, while simply building websites for fraudsters did not. Some fraudsters in west Africa visit a so-called “juju priest”, who may demand animal sacrifice and even murder in return for their blessing. The website developers we spoke to did not want to get involved in this.
One of the developers shared his fears about spiritual repercussions:
Scammers who do rituals for money, they don’t last. Most of the time, you see them dying at the age of 20 or 30. I don’t want to be involved in that. But making websites? That’s different. I’m not the one taking the money.
A third theme in our findings was the Big Boy culture, a subculture that glorifies online fraud as a symbol of success. In some west African communities, fraudsters who display their wealth through expensive cars, clothes and lifestyles are seen as role models rather than criminals.
Vanesa, a developer, explained:
Everybody wants to chill with the Big Boys. Fraudsters want to be seen as superstars, and that means spending money like celebrities.
The normalisation of internet fraud in some circles has created a perception that financial success justifies the means by which it is achieved. While some developers disapproved of fraudsters’ extravagant lifestyles, others saw it as a model of economic survival to aspire to.
Rethinking fraud prevention
These findings challenge the simplistic notion that the internet inherently enables fraud. Instead, fraud thrives within a complex ecosystem that includes not just the perpetrators but also the enablers who facilitate deception for economic, political, and cultural reasons.
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.
ADHD is a neurodevelopmental condition that affects around five to nine per cent of children and around five per cent of adults in Canada.(Shutterstock)
However, navigating and accessing reliable health-care information online can be challenging, especially for people from marginalized communities who often feel like their concerns are dismissed or minimized.
Common ADHD symptoms include difficulties with inattention (trouble focusing, losing things or making mistakes), hyperactivity (fidgeting or restlessness) and impulsivity (interrupting others or struggling with patience).
There is no single way to have ADHD, and one person’s experiences can be very different from some one else. Diagnosis involves a thorough and fairly long evaluation, often including interviews, questionnaires and reports from family members, teachers or co-workers.
Content about ADHD is thriving on TikTok, however, navigating and accessing reliable health-care information online can be challenging. (Shutterstock)
ADHD on TikTok
Many adults with ADHD who don’t fit the archetype of a young boy with hyperactivity can often be left undiagnosed and struggle with their symptoms. TikTok offers a space where people from all backgrounds and walks of life can share their experiences, find community and discuss how ADHD manifests for them and how they manage it.
For example, procrastination can be a sign of ADHD. However, while procrastination is more common in people with ADHD, it is also something that occurs in other mental health conditions like depression, and is something that everyone does at least a little bit from time to time.
But on TikTok, procrastination might be framed as a clear-cut sign of ADHD, making viewers question whether they have it. Some creators also present exaggerated actions that are funny, like walking into things, as being among ADHD symptoms, when clumsy walking is not something that usually happens to people with ADHD.
ADHD content on TikTok
In our recently published study, we had two clinical psychologists who research and treat ADHD watch the top 100 most popular #ADHD TikToks. They looked at how accurate the information was, according to professional standards, and how helpful they found the videos in teaching people about ADHD.
Many of the videos were incredibly popular, averaging more than half a million views and almost 100,000 likes.
However, we found that 94 per cent of these videos didn’t cite any reliable sources. This tracks with the fact that more than half of the claims made in the videos were not backed up by science and did not match the official diagnostic criteria of ADHD, according to the psychologists who evaluated them.
Even more concerning, many of the videos were trying to sell something or asking for money through Venmo or Amazon Wishlists.
How does ADHD content affect TikTok users?
Next, we wanted to understand how these videos impact viewers. We recruited 843 undergrads between the ages of 18 and 25 with varying experiences with ADHD (professionally diagnosed, self-diagnosed, or did not have ADHD). Participants watched the videos that the psychologists had rated as the top five and bottom five.
We found that the young adults who watched more TikToks about ADHD were also less critical of them, giving a higher score to the bottom psychologist-rated TikToks.
A high diet of ADHD-related content was also related to the way that users viewed ADHD. The young adults who watched more TikToks about ADHD also estimated that ADHD was almost seven to 10 times more prevalent than it actually is in the general population and felt worse about their own symptoms.
We also asked participants how confident they were about having ADHD three times: Before watching any TikToks; right after watching TikToks; and after watching a short video from a clinical psychologist breaking down what the TikToks got right and wrong.
People with an official ADHD diagnosis stayed confident about their ADHD throughout. However, those who initially didn’t think they had ADHD became less sure after watching the TikToks, while those who self-diagnosed became more convinced they had ADHD.
After watching the psychologist video, those without ADHD regained their confidence that they didn’t actually have ADHD. However, those who self-diagnosed stayed just as convinced they had ADHD, even after hearing the psychologist’s explanation.
Takeaway message
We don’t want our research to scare away people from discussing their symptoms and finding community online. TikTok can be a great place to express yourself and find others with similar struggles.
Instead, we want to urge people to be more critical of the content they consume and consider that it might not fully represent ADHD.
For example, if you are seeking mental-health information on social media, you can:
1) Check the source. Is the information posted by a reputable organization (for example, medical institutions, universities, research centres, ADHD advocacy groups)?
2) Look for expertise. What are the content creator’s credentials? Are they a doctor or a registered clinical psychologist?
3) Crosscheck information. Does the information match up with authoritative information from other sources relying on research like the Centers of Disease Control, World Health Organization or other medical authorities?
4) Be wary of absolutes. Remember, ADHD is complex.
5) Follow the money. Is the content creator trying to sell you something (like supplements that claim to cure ADHD, ADHD coaching, ADHD diagnosis website).
The bottom line is that we need more accurate information about ADHD on social media. But the solution isn’t just better content. We need to tackle barriers to health-care access and rebuild trust between young people and mental-health experts.
Vasileia Karasavva receives funding from the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship.
Amori Yee Mikami receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada.
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Suleman Lazarus, Visiting Fellow, Mannheim Centre for Criminology, London School of Economics and Political Science
This digital infrastructure includes reliable access to electricity and the internet, as well as digital tools such as proxy servers, spoofing software, phishing kits and virtual private networks. Those involved must possess technical competencies in areas like web development, social engineering and systems maintenance, skills that are critical for sustaining fraudulent operations behind the scenes.
Research on cybercrime is expanding in west Africa, particularly studies of Nigeria and Ghana. But Cameroon is understudied. This gap in research has obscured a pervasive problem in Cameroon: website developers who create digital storefronts for fraudsters.
Rather than focusing on the fraudsters themselves, our study examined the infrastructure that enables this fraud to happen and the hidden networks of actors who make deception possible. Our research sheds light on a little-known group of enablers: website developers in anglophone Cameroon who knowingly build fake shopping websites.
Through interviews with 14 website developers engaged in this illicit trade, we explored the socio-economic and political forces that drive their participation.
Our findings showed that a mix of economic hardship, social norms and cultural beliefs drive fraud enablement in Cameroon. Our study highlights the need for a more nuanced understanding of cybercrime. The website developers in Cameroon do not fit the typical profile of a fraudster. They see themselves as skilled workers navigating a complex socio-political landscape where survival often comes before morality, given that Cameroon, under Paul Biya’s presidency of more than 40 years, has experienced widespread poverty, instability and an uncertain succession struggle.
To address fraud effectively, interventions must go beyond simply punishing offenders. Instead, efforts should focus on dismantling the structures that allow fraud to thrive, starting with those who enable it.
Why fraudsters choose this activity
A central theme emerging from our interviews was the impact of the Ambazonian Crisis, an ongoing separatist conflict in Cameroon’s anglophone regions. The crisis began as peaceful demonstrations in 2016 when trade unionists and lawyers protested against the mandatory use of the French language in schools and law courts. By 2017, these protests had turned violent as armed separatist groups emerged within the anglophone regions, engaging in sporadic conflict with government forces. The separatists called for the secession of the two anglophone regions, referring to them as Ambazonia. The conflict has since escalated. Reports estimate that the violence has led to approximately 6,000 civilian deaths, the displacement of 600,000 people within Cameroon, and the forced migration of over 77,000 people into Nigeria as refugees.
The website developers we interviewed described how daily gunfire, displacement and political instability had made it difficult to secure stable employment and find clients.
Interviewees cited frequent power outages and internet blackouts as barriers to working with legitimate clients.
As one developer put it:
There are times when we go without electricity or network for days. I might have a legitimate client, but if the power goes out, I lose the job. Fraudsters, on the other hand, don’t care about delays. They are always there with another request.
Ghost-town protests, where separatists enforce economic shutdowns and force people to stay in their homes, further limit opportunities for legitimate business. In this unstable environment, undertaking website development for fraudsters became one of the few steady income streams.
A second theme was spiritual beliefs. We found that spiritual beliefs had an impact on decision-making. Developers rationalised their work by distinguishing between fraud and fraud enablement. Directly perpetrating fraud against victims, they believed, carried spiritual consequences, while simply building websites for fraudsters did not. Some fraudsters in west Africa visit a so-called “juju priest”, who may demand animal sacrifice and even murder in return for their blessing. The website developers we spoke to did not want to get involved in this.
One of the developers shared his fears about spiritual repercussions:
Scammers who do rituals for money, they don’t last. Most of the time, you see them dying at the age of 20 or 30. I don’t want to be involved in that. But making websites? That’s different. I’m not the one taking the money.
A third theme in our findings was the Big Boy culture, a subculture that glorifies online fraud as a symbol of success. In some west African communities, fraudsters who display their wealth through expensive cars, clothes and lifestyles are seen as role models rather than criminals.
Vanesa, a developer, explained:
Everybody wants to chill with the Big Boys. Fraudsters want to be seen as superstars, and that means spending money like celebrities.
The normalisation of internet fraud in some circles has created a perception that financial success justifies the means by which it is achieved. While some developers disapproved of fraudsters’ extravagant lifestyles, others saw it as a model of economic survival to aspire to.
Rethinking fraud prevention
These findings challenge the simplistic notion that the internet inherently enables fraud. Instead, fraud thrives within a complex ecosystem that includes not just the perpetrators but also the enablers who facilitate deception for economic, political, and cultural reasons.
– Fake online shops rely on tech skills: what drives Cameroon’s web developers to assist online fraudsters – https://theconversation.com/fake-online-shops-rely-on-tech-skills-what-drives-cameroons-web-developers-to-assist-online-fraudsters-252429
CHICAGO, April 02, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Surge for Water (“Surge”) received a donation from the SBB Research Group Foundation, which partners with local nonprofits through its Champion A Charity Program.
The SBB Research Group Foundation’s partnership with Surge for Water has helped create lasting change since 2016. Surge, a community-led, women-centered nonprofit, focuses on driving transformational progress across four key areas: water access, sanitation, hygiene, and menstrual health. Through their work with local field partners, they support communities in Haiti, Uganda, the Philippines, and Indonesia.
Over the years, this partnership has enabled the SBB Research Group Foundation to help improve the lives of over 150,000 individuals by providing funding for vital projects such as well drilling, soap-making initiatives, and latrine construction.
This year, in a continued effort to support Surge’s progress, the SBB Research Group Foundation donated to fund Surge for Water’s Monitoring and Evaluation Officer. This role is critical in ensuring the success of Surge’s mission to deliver sustainable access to clean water and hygiene. The officer oversees phased infrastructure installations, regular maintenance, educational programs, and training, while continuously enhancing the operational effectiveness of the organization’s efforts. This work currently benefits more than 100,000 people in rural Uganda.
To learn more about Surge for Water and their impactful work, visit their website at https://surgeforwater.org/.
About the SBB Research Group Foundation
The SBB Research Group Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that furthers the philanthropic mission of SBB Research Group LLC (SBBRG), a Chicago-based investment management firm led by Sam Barnett, Ph.D., and Matt Aven. The Foundation provides grants to support ambitious organizations solving unmet needs with thoughtful, long-term strategies. In addition, the Foundation sponsors the SBBRG STEM Scholarship, which supports students pursuing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics degrees.
Contact: Erin Noonan Organization: SBB Research Group Foundation Email: grants@sbbrg.org Address: 450 Skokie Blvd, Building 600, Northbrook, IL 60062 United States Phone: 1-847-656-1111
BILLERICA, Mass., April 02, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — E Ink (8069.TW), the originator, pioneer, and global commercial leader in electronic paper (ePaper) technology, today announced the signing of a term sheet to form a joint venture (JV) with AUO Display Plus (ADP), a wholly-owned subsidiary of AUO. Both companies will jointly invest TWD 390 million to establish large-sized Electrophoretic Display (EPD) module production lines at AUO’s Longke site in Taoyuan, with mass production expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2025.
According to the term sheet, ADP will hold a 51% stake in the JV, while E Ink will hold the remaining 49%. The JV company will combine E Ink’s advanced ePaper materials and technology leadership, AUO Group’s strength in panel design, smart manufacturing, and production management, as well as ADP’s customer base and global market footprint in smart retail and digital signage sectors, driving aggressive expansion in large-sized ePaper display applications.
“Leveraging our world-leading ePaper technology, E Ink is committed to building a robust and forward-looking industry ecosystem in close collaboration with our supply chain partners,” said Johnson Lee, CEO of E Ink. “E Ink and the AUO Group have maintained a long-standing partnership—from the early days of TFT backplane supply to now co-founding a joint venture for high-spec large-sized ePaper module production. This milestone reflects not only our shared strength and determination to advance the ePaper industry, but also E Ink’s continued support for its partners. Looking ahead, E Ink will continue to enhance innovation and manufacturing capabilities in ePaper materials, working hand-in-hand with ecosystem partners to expand the scale and competitiveness of the large-sized ePaper sector. Together, we aim to accelerate the adoption of ePaper display applications and unlock broader market opportunities.”
“AUO Group values strategic partnerships to develop diverse display technologies within the ecosystem. With our strong know-how in display technologies and strength in smart manufacturing, we create value with partners across various sectors, offering customers more innovative and customized products and services,” said Dr. Frank Ko, CEO and President of AUO. “The strategic partnership between ADP and E Ink integrates technology, manufacturing, and marketing resources, providing more competitive products, a robust supply chain, and more comprehensive solutions to market demands. We aim to seize the market opportunity by leveraging a stronger ecosystem for large-sized color ePaper sector.”
As ESG principles gain global momentum, ePaper is increasingly favored by the smart retail and digital signage industries for its low-carbon, energy-efficient, and eco-friendly characteristics. Through this partnership, E Ink and ADP will leverage E Ink’s cutting-edge ePaper material innovations and AUO Group’s extensive expertise in display technologies and smart manufacturing. Together, the companies aim to deliver high-quality, durable display solutions, establish a comprehensive and reliable large-sized ePaper supply chain, and accelerate their expansion in the fast-growing large-sized ePaper market.
About E Ink E Ink Holdings Inc. (8069.TWO), based on technology from MIT’s Media Lab, provides an ideal display medium for applications spanning eReaders and eNotes, retail, home, hospital, transportation, logistics, and more, enabling customers to put displays in locations previously impossible. E Ink’s electrophoretic display products make it the worldwide leader for ePaper. Its low power displays enable customers to reach their sustainability goals, and E Ink has pledged using 100% renewable energy in 2030 and reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2040. E Ink has been recognized for their efforts by receiving, validation from Science-Based Targets (SBTi) and is listed in both the DJSI World and DJSI Emerging Indexes. Listed in Taiwan’s Taipei Exchange (TPEx) and the Luxembourg market, E Ink Holdings is now the world’s largest supplier of ePaper displays. For more information, please visit www.eink.com. E Ink. We Make Surfaces Smart and Green.
Contact: V2 Communications for E Ink eink@v2comms.com
The success of Netflix drama Adolescence, along with concerns about misogynistic influencers such as Andrew Tate, has brought the “manosphere” into public discussion.
Many parents, particularly of young boys, may fear they don’t know enough about what their children are exposed to online. I research radical misogyny online, and the pathways by which young people encounter these spaces. Here is what parents should know about this content.
What is the manosphere?
The manosphere is a network of communities that create, consume and distribute content online aimed at men and boys. It includes multiple groups that differ in their aims and focus, but are all largely anti-feminist.
These groups discuss masculinity, but also topics such as health, gaming, politics and finance. They trivialise hateful rhetoric through memes, comedy and trolling (provocation or bullying for amusement) by framing it as self-help, entertainment and tools for financial success. This can make it difficult for parents to identify and for children to realise the extreme messages they are being exposed to.
Manosphere content is promoted by various influencers on popular social media platforms. These influencers often showcase unattainable wealth and status, selling the illusion that followers can achieve success by adopting their teachings.
The most notable manosphere influencer is Andrew Tate, who rose to fame in 2022. He and his brother Tristan are currently under investigation in Romania for charges of rape, human trafficking and money laundering, and in the UK for rape and human trafficking. However, he is not the only influencer out there.
In recent years, there have been a number of incidents of violence that have been linked to manosphere content. The extent of real-world effects is difficult to measure, and not everyone who engages with the manosphere will go on to commit violence. But it’s clear that these communities can promote violence or spread harmful ideas about women and girls.
It is important to note, however, that this content also harms men and young boys. The manosphere promotes unrealistic expectations and extreme measures which can lead to poor self-esteem, mental health problems and, in some cases, suicide. This content preys on vulnerabilities and insecurities of boys and young men, especially related to social isolation and sexual rejection.
Misinformation and pseudoscience
Much of the content that spreads in the manosphere is based on disinformation or pseudoscientific theories. These provide an easy framework for men to assess and improve their status while framing women and feminism as the problem.
For example, the “80/20 rule” refers to the pseudoscientific theory that 80% of women are only attracted to the top 20% of men. In the manosphere, this rule is used to blame women for mens’ feelings of sexual or romantic rejection.
Influencers and community members promote step-by-step instructions that people can follow to improve their social standing. Many of these guides involve extreme or harmful physical transformations in a phenomenon known as “looksmaxxing”, which can even involve facial surgery in a bid to increase their sexual “value”.
The manosphere has an expansive lexicon which is used to incite hatred towards women and fuel rivalry between men. Common terms include:
Red pill: TRP, the manosphere’s core philosophy, derived from the Matrix, frames the red pill as an awakening to feminism’s oppression of men. The blue pill represents ignorance, and the black pill, used by incels, as accepting their “terminal” celibacy status.
Amog (alpha male of the group), Alpha, Gamma, Omega, Sigma, Sub-5 – These terms categorise and compare men and their social status. While sigma and alpha males or Amogs are considered the top of the hierarchy, the terms gamma, omega, and sub-5 denigrate men perceived to be of a lower status.
White Knight, Soyboy: Derogatory terms describe men who are viewed as being subservient to women.
Awalt (All women are like that), Foid/Femoid (female humanoid), Becky, Carousel: Terms used to denigrate and dehumanise women.
Parents should not panic if they hear their children using manosphere terms. They may not fully understand their meanings and may have encountered them innocently. However, changes in how boys talk about women and girls, withdrawal from family and friends, and frequent use of these terms can be an indication that they are being influenced by the manosphere.
Supporting your child
Most adolescents will come across manosphere content at some point. A recent survey found that 59% of boys accessed manosphere content through innocent and unrelated searches. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they endorse the misogynistic values spread by these groups.
Here are some steps you can take to support your child.
1. Explore online together
Research commissioned by media regulator Ofcom found that children were more likely to come across harmful content if their parents are less engaged in what they are doing. Watching content that relates to your children’s hobbies, and sending them content you think they would like, can help train algorithms to promote more moderate content and open up an avenue for discussion.
Engaging online with your child can be a natural way to start conversations about what they are exposed to. It is important that you are not trying to intervene or critique, but rather understand why they enjoy watching certain influencers or content.
2. Encourage reflection and media literacy
Research suggests that teaching children to be sceptical about what they see online can inoculate them against mis- and disinformation.
The most obvious disinformation they are most likely to come across in the manosphere may be in the form of statistics, summaries of “academic” reports, and news articles about instances of female aggression or false rape allegations. They may also come across misleading content in educational or self-help posts, about improving their appearance or how to be successful.
Ask your children why they trust certain influencers and where they think their friends get their information. These kinds of questions can help them develop their own fact-checking skills without it seeming like a lesson.
3. Ask open-ended questions
Asking children about what they consume or what slang they use online can feel cringe. The best way to get around this is to ask simple open-ended questions such as “How do boys in your class talk about girls?” or “Have you ever heard of…?”
What you hear may be shocking, but approach it with curiosity and without judgment or dismissal to let them know they can share things with you.
If you are concerned about your child’s behaviour, you can also get support from resources such as Young Minds mental health support, the Center for Countering Digital Hate’s free parents guide or the government’s radicalisation helpline ACT Early. Getting support from government services is not a punishment. It won’t go on a person’s criminal record, but can provide access to governmental services like Prevent.
Annabel Hoare 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 Sophie King-Hill, Associate Professor at the Health Services Management Centre, University of Birmingham
Netflix television series Adolescence has captured the attention of people across the UK – including the prime minister.
The series follows a 13-year-old boy accused of the murder of his female classmate. It touches upon incel online hate groups, toxic influencers and the misogynistic online spaces of the manosphere.
Adolescence is a drama and deserves the praise it has attracted. But it wasn’t developed as an educational resource, the kind that is produced in consultation with young people and schools and should be underpinned by robust research and well planned evaluations.
The series shows an extreme example of one teenager drawn into the world of the manosphere. Not all boys will see themselves reflected in this portrayal. And as a researcher working on masculinity and misogyny, my concern is that showing the series in schools may lead boys to think that they are all perceived as potential threats.
Showing the series as a teaching tool risks framing boyhood as monolithic, with one particular – and problematic – way of being a boy.
Already, a broad-brush, blame-heavy approach is often taken to boys in response to issues relating to sexual harassment and violence. “We may have a problem with boys and young men that we need to address”, Keir Starmer has said.
Boys dealing with blame
In research I have carried out for a forthcoming book on boys and masculinity, I worked with young men and boys aged 13 to 19. One 15-year-old boy said that “I am always told that I am part of the problem but never allowed to be part of the solution”. I also found that this broad blame culture leads to feelings of worthlessness in young men and boys, which shuts down vital dialogue and also may lead them to resort to looking for direction from negative spaces such as the manosphere.
It is evident from reports and evidence that young men and boys do carry out a large amount of reported sexual harassment and harms against young women and girls. This can be seen in the 2021 Ofsted report into sexual harassment in schools in England, for example. The 2025 2000 Women report states that, in the UK, a woman is killed by a man every three days.
There is evidently a serious, endemic and complex problem. The misogyny that can be popularised by toxic influencers online also needs urgently addressing.
But a “one-size-fits-all” approach to tackle “boys’ issues” may result in making things worse, not better, due to the lack of recognition of the intersectionality of boyhood. Other aspects of identity, such as race, age, class, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, sexuality and physical and mental health will have implications for the approaches that need to be taken.
My ongoing research has demonstrated that boyhood means differing things to different boys. In steering groups with young men and boys from various ethnicities and differing social classes, a consistent theme emerged. This was a conflict between the internal and external self that the boys felt that they had to portray. This was also highlighted in a further 16 focus groups carried out on the project, again with a range of boys.
The internal self refers to who the boys actually are, including other identity traits such as race and class, and all the other intersecting aspects of their identity. The external self is what they felt they should show as a boys to fit into the hierarchy of masculinity and how they should portray themselves to fit within the social expectations of being a boy. This causes a conflict of external and internal self.
Efforts to help boys deal with issues such as the messages of the manosphere need to be attuned to the nuance of their internal selves. Generalising boys does not account for the individual identities that they bring to the issues that affect them.
Boys as individuals
The monolithic perspective of “boys” and the ensuing group blame oversimplifies complex issues, resulting in less than effective solutions and interventions that do not acknowledge or account for the nuances and complexities that surround individual boys.
This approach ignores diversities and intersecting identities and steers societal thinking about boys as a set group. It risks stereotyping them and causing prejudicial approaches. When boys are stigmatised in such a way, it compounds issues across genders, breaks down valuable communication and can also cause resentment and hostility.
One of the key voices and valuable perspectives that is missing from this debate is that of young men and boys themselves. We need to truly listen to their perspectives and their needs and build upon these as they are the experts in the world they are experiencing. Good practice accounts for and builds upon these experiences, with young people.
My research has demonstrated that young people want to be a part of these discussions rather than having things decided for them. It also shows that, quite often, we are teaching them what they already know and providing support and education that is too little, too late. We need to move away from the broad brush blaming of boys and young men and begin to approach them based upon their own individual identities – of which gender is only a part.
The war in Ukraine is often marked by specific dates, like February 24, 2022 – the day of the full-scale invasion. But for many Ukrainians, that February never really ended. For me, then a 22-year-old master’s student in construction engineering, that day shattered everything I understood about my future. I was glued to my phone, refreshing news updates in a frantic attempt to make sense of the chaos.
The distant echoes of explosions rumbled through the city, shaking windows and setting off endless car alarms. Air raid sirens wailed, their sound slicing through the early morning stillness. Outside, people hurried past with suitcases, their faces pale and tense, while others lined up at pharmacies and ATMs, their hands trembling as they stocked up on essentials.
My family and friends sent frantic messages (Are you safe? Are you leaving? What do we do?) but no one had an answer. Fear settled in like a second skin, thick and suffocating. The streets, once familiar, now felt unrecognisable, transformed by the weight of uncertainty.
We were all touched by the war, including my family. My father, who is a scientist and professor of Mykolaiv University of Shipbuilding, voluntarily joined the military forces to fight for Ukraine and give my family the possibility to work and study while the war raged outside.
Meanwhile, my hometown, Mykolaiv – previously a strategically important shipbuilding and port city on the Black Sea – became a key stepping-stone for Russian forces on the road to Odesa. It is very close to currently occupied territories and the frontline.
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Controlling access to the city and its bridges was crucial in the battle for Ukraine. The destruction of these bridges cut off vital supply routes, leaving Mykolaiv isolated and struggling to hold the line. What were once ordinary crossings became symbols of survival, as the city fought to stay connected and withstand the siege.
As my home was attacked, I realised something fundamental: bridges were not just engineering projects. They were lifelines.
Engineering hope
Rebuilding bridges and roads is about more than repairing physical structures; it is about restoring security, economic stability and vital connections between communities. A collapsed bridge isolates people from essential services, disrupting supply chains and deepening vulnerability. The war has exposed just how critical Ukraine’s infrastructure is for survival.
Mykolaiv is one of the hardest-hit regions. According to the Ukrainian government, more than 20 bridges were destroyed or severely damaged by Russian attacks, including the Inhul Bridge, a vital artery for the city.
The Snihurivka Bridge, another key crossing, was also wiped out, leaving thousands stranded without reliable access to healthcare and supplies. For months, humanitarian aid and commerce were forced onto alternative, unreliable routes, further isolating communities. The reconstruction of key bridges in my home region has allowed life to resume, but the scale of the challenge across the country remains immense.
Elsewhere, the destruction has been just as devastating.. The Irpin Bridge, north-west of Kyiv, which once carried 40,000 vehicles a day, became a symbol of both loss and survival. Ukrainian forces had to destroy the bridge to stop Russian advances on Kyiv. Thousands of civilians fled across its wreckage under fire.
Science: a light in the dark
Fast forward to the autumn of 2022. Ukraine’s power grid was under relentlessattack. Entire cities were plunged into darkness. I sat at my desk in Lviv, in western Ukraine, where I have been working on my PhD thesis. My laptop battery was draining and a single candle flickered beside me. I was writing a research paper on strengthening methods for buildings and infrastructure. Yet, all around me real infrastructure was collapsing, making my work feel disconnected from reality.
Laptop battery draining and a single candle flickers during one of the regular power cuts. Nadiia Kopiika
The city had endured weeks of missile strikes targeting critical infrastructure and power cuts became part of daily life. Simple tasks like boiling water for tea, charging a phone, or even sending an email became unpredictable challenges. The hum of generators filled the streets and people lined up at charging stations trying to stay connected. The darkness wasn’t just outside, it seeped into everything, a constant reminder that the war was never far away.
At that moment, a question struck me: what if science could help rebuild Ukraine? Could research, something that had once felt so theoretical, actually make a difference in the aftermath of war?
The project aimed to not only repair what was damaged but to build better infrastructure: homes that are more resilient, more sustainable and ready for future crises. Mitoulis recalled that the whole idea for BridgeUkraine was born out of a deeply personal moment:
I first thought of BridgeUkraine when I spoke with my former MSc student, Marat Khodzhaiev, who was in Ukraine when the war started. He was stranded in his house and at risk of missing the opportunity to graduate from his MSc course in the UK. All bridges around him had collapsed, there was no escape route. His wife was pregnant at the time. That call made me realise the urgent need, not only to rebuild infrastructure, but also to support and empower Ukrainian engineers to build their future. BridgeUkraine became more than just a research alliance, it became a mission that ensures that Ukraine’s recovery will be driven by its own people, equipped with the best knowledge and tools to rebuild their country.
The KSE Institute estimates that more than 300 bridges across Ukraine require urgent reconstruction, with damages exceeding US$2.6 billion. But this isn’t all about infrastructure; it is about securing Ukraine’s independence and ensuring that its economy and society can function even under the most difficult conditions. Every bridge rebuilt is a step toward recovery, a restored connection between families and communities, and a symbol of resilience.
To address these challenges, rebuilding Ukraine’s infrastructure cannot follow conventional methods. The sheer scale of destruction demands a new approach, one that not only restores what was lost but strengthens the country for the future.
At BridgeUkraine, we are developing solutions that prioritise resilience over quick fixes. Instead of rebuilding vulnerable structures, we are integrating sustainable materials, climate-adaptive engineering, and strategic planning to ensure that Ukraine’s transport networks are built to last.
Rebuilding fairly and efficiently
A comprehensive assessment conducted by the government of Ukraine, the World Bank Group, the European Commission, and the United Nations estimates that the total cost of Ukraine’s reconstruction and recovery stands at approximately €506 billion (US$524bn) over the next decade. This underscores the necessity for continued and enhanced international support to address the extensive needs arising from the conflict.
There are no academic guidelines on how to rebuild after such destruction. What is the most effective way to approach reconstruction in this context? We quickly came to the realisation that conventional methods were too slow and rigid to address the urgent and widespread damage.
Our research team wanted to re-imagine how to rebuild infrastructure and homes that are resilient to future challenges, from war-related destruction to climate-induced disasters. As Mitoulis told me:
Rebuilding infrastructure is not just about restoring roads and bridges, it’s about rebuilding lives. Our approach is centred on people, ensuring that the infrastructure is designed by Ukrainians, for Ukrainians. It must not only reconnect communities but also support economic recovery and long-term resilience.
But such ethical reconstruction must be inclusive, sustainable and community-driven, ensuring that those who depend on infrastructure have a say in how it is rebuilt.
Reconstruction must be a participatory, creative effort – one that rebuilds cities with beauty and meaning, connecting them to their past while preparing for the future. Too often, post-war recovery efforts have been dictated by external donors, prioritising short-term economic gains over long-term resilience.
People like me, who have grown up in these places, understand the culture, the rhythm of daily life, and the importance of preserving identity as well as buildings. We want to see our cities restored in a way that reflects our history and spirit.
For example, in post-second world war Warsaw, reconstruction efforts initially ignored the city’s historical character in favour of Soviet-style urban planning. It was only through the persistence of local architects and historians that parts of the Old Town were painstakingly restored to reflect their original designs.
Ukraine cannot afford such myopic, profit-driven decision-making. Instead, it must empower local communities, integrating their knowledge, needs and skills into the reconstruction process.
This vision started to take shape through workshop discussions with experts in geography and urban planning. Everyone agreed on the need for an adaptable transportation system where modular designs and relocatable, prefabricated bridges (like the Mabey bridge in US) could respond to evolving demands and disruptions.
Similarly, at the ReBuild Ukraine 2024 conference leading engineers, policymakers and researchers showcased groundbreaking technologies designed to accelerate reconstruction while reducing long-term environmental and economic risks (for example, nature-based solutions, 3D-printing, Virtual Reality and Building Informational Modelling).
Revolutionising damage assessment with AI, radar and satellite imagery
But to effectively plan for recovery and reconstruction, it’s crucial to first accurately characterise the damage. A clear picture of what has been destroyed allows for smarter decisions, prioritising the most urgent repairs and using resources effectively.
Our latest research, published in Automation in Construction, introduces a faster, more precise way to assess damage to key infrastructure, particularly bridges. Bringing together expertise from a large multidisciplinary team, we developed a new approach that combines satellite images and radar and artificial intelligence to swiftly and accurately analyse damage.
This technology allowed us to assess the condition of bridges remotely, without having to be onsite in dangerous or inaccessible areas. By providing rapid, data-driven insights, our method helps ensure that reconstruction efforts start where they are needed most, speeding up recovery and making rebuilding efforts more effective.
We tested this approach on numerous bridges in the Irpin region of Ukraine, and the results were striking. It significantly improved both the speed and accuracy of damage assessments. Using Sentinel-1 SAR images (radar satellite images from the European Space Agency’s Copernicus program), crowdsourced data (photos and reports from people on the ground), and high-resolution imagery, we developed a comprehensive approach for damage detection and classification.
This approach works on multiple levels: it provides a big-picture view of damage across entire regions while also zooming in on specific structural issues in individual bridge components. By combining satellite data with detailed images, our method makes damage assessments more precise, faster and safer, ensuring that reconstruction efforts focus on the most critical areas first.
These findings can play a crucial role in damage and needs assessment such as those conducted by the World Bank.
Sustainable infrastructure
In war zones, destruction often affects vital humanitarian and evacuation corridors, making it essential to prioritise reconstruction based on factors such as the national importance of a bridge, its role in border crossings, and its impact on social services.
But rebuilding after a disaster is also an opportunity to create something stronger, smarter, built to last – and with a sustainable focus.
From the first day of the invasion, Nadiia began volunteering at Lviv Polytechnic National University helping to weave camouflage nets. @kathryn_moskalyuk
Given Ukraine’s commitment to net-zero emissions and resilience, we expanded our research [and published a study] which introduced an innovative model for rebuilding infrastructure that can withstand future hazards while minimising carbon emissions. At its core, the model features a “smart prioritisation system” that helps decision-makers allocate resources effectively. It assesses key factors such as repair urgency, community impact and long-term durability, ensuring that rebuilding efforts provide the greatest benefits where they are needed most.
For example, when assessing damaged structures, the system prioritises projects that will provide the most long-term benefits. That might mean restoring energy systems to prevent future blackouts or repairing bridges that serve as key evacuation routes and economic lifelines.
As Stanislav Gvozdikov, deputy director of Euro-integration Process at Ukraine’s State Road Research Institute, told me: “Every bridge we restore, every road we reopen, isn’t just about infrastructure, it’s about restoring life, reconnecting families and ensuring that communities have the resilience to withstand whatever comes next.”
This is already a reality near my home town, Mykolaiv, where newly rebuilt bridges have restored transport links and also revived local economies, giving people hope for the future.
But no one rebuilds a country alone.
The UK-Ukraine 100-year agreement, announced in February 2025, underscored a deep commitment to Ukraine’s security, economic resilience, and post-war reconstruction. The partnership recognises the importance of cooperation between the UK and Ukraine to strengthen technological innovation and to increase collaboration in transport more widely.
I’ve also had the privilege of working with some of the brightest minds in the field, including more than 50 practitioners, consultants, academics, institutions and international bodies. This alliance of experts was united by a shared vision: to change the way the world approaches post-war reconstruction.
A key part of this mission is training engineers, equipping them with the latest knowledge in damage assessment, resilience-based and people-centred design and international standards to lead Ukraine’s reconstruction.
We come from different backgrounds – engineering, economics, policy, humanitarian efforts, and governmental bodies. But we all share the same motivation in wanting to help our country.
Leading researchers from Ukraine specialising in AI technologies, infrastructure engineering, sustainable and energy-saving buildings or climate change, are also members of BridgeUkraine. AI-specialist, Ivan Izonin has spoken passionately about how he believes that the collaborative efforts we have started “will lay the foundation for large-scale scientific projects that will be pivotal in post-war reconstruction…”. While Natalya Shakhovska , also a specialist in AI, recalled: “My activity in the BridgeUkraine alliance gave me the opportunity to align my research to critical infrastructure assessment, enabled by my AI modelling…Today I really feel included, I understand that my expertise is helping [my country’s recovery]”
Another enthusiastic Ukrainian researcher, Khrystyna Myroniuk, who specialises in building physics, told me how the collaboration had given her the opportunity to continue her “research on sustainable housing solutions for Ukraine”.
Stopping the brain drain
One of the most critical challenges facing Ukraine today, aside from the physical destruction, is the brain drain – the mass exodus of skilled professionals who left the country in search of safety and better opportunities abroad.
This trend has had a significant impact on the country’s ability to rebuild. Engineers, architects and other highly trained specialists have long been a pillar of Ukraine’s development. But the war has forced many to leave, with no clear path back to contribute to the reconstruction effort. BridgeUkraine is helping to reverse this trend by offering a compelling reason for these skilled professionals to return.
Our engagement with Ukrainian engineers then sparked another idea: what if we trained local professionals to apply our expertise, equipping them to drive this transformation within their engineering communities?
This ensures that Ukraine’s recovery is driven by its own people, equipped with the latest global knowledge. By bridging the knowledge gap and integrating the best methods and ideas from across Europe, Ukraine can position itself as a leader in resilient infrastructure design.
Our research was taken up by the Ministry of Restoration of Ukraine. Stanislav Gvozdikov collaborated with us to launch a joint programme of Continuing Professional Development seminars for engineers designed to help them stay up to date with the latest knowledge and skills in their field. To date, our expertise has been shared with over 1,500 Ukrainians.
Argyroudis emphasised to me how critical the role of engineers will be in Ukraine’s reconstruction, saying: “It’s about rebuilding Ukrainian identity as a country.”
The ultimate goal is to build a culture of innovation and self-reliance among local professionals who have the expertise and passion to drive this change.
Professionals can now contribute to projects and be part of a larger community of practice, which brings together engineers, academics and international partners.
I am, personally, incredibly proud to have had the privilege, over the past two years, to help empower Ukrainians to develop world-leading research that accelerates their country’s recovery.
Shaping tomorrow
My hometown, Mykolaiv, still bears the scars of war. Returning there, I saw firsthand what was lost. But also what could be rebuilt. War has taken, and continues to take so much, but it has also forged a new generation of engineers who understand that our profession is no longer just about calculations and designs. It is about resilience, survival and national recovery.
Three years ago, I would have imagined a very different career for myself. But today, I know that engineering is more than my profession, it is my mission.
I am committed to ethical and inclusive infrastructure recovery in Ukraine, because science must be the foundation of national resilience. Ethical reconstruction must prioritise people over profits, creating systems that empower and strengthen communities.
Ukraine’s recovery is about setting a global precedent for post-conflict reconstruction. Our research, training programs and commitment to innovation are laying the groundwork for a stronger, more connected Ukraine, offering a paradigm shift to the war-torn world. Because rebuilding is about more than replacing the past. It is about creating a future that can withstand whatever comes next.
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Nadiia Kopiika receives funding from British Academy. She is affiliated with University of Birmingham, UK and Lviv Polytechnic National University, Ukraine.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Nigel Mulligan, Lecturer in Psychotherapy, School of Nursing, Psychotherapy and Community Health, Dublin City University
Imagine a therapist could live in your pocket. They’d be on hand for every wobble, every meltdown, every crisis – no matter where or when. They’d be cheap and accessible, so no more worries about finding the money for expensive therapy or lingering on a waiting list for months for NHS treatment. Sounds too good to be true?
Maybe, but few can deny the appeal of AI therapy, which uses artificial intelligence, like chatbots and digital platforms, to provide mental health support, guidance, coping strategies and structured exercises, often mimicking talk therapy.
The growing popularity of AI therapy may be troublingsome experts but it’s understandable why so many people are turning to this convenient and cost-effective resource for mental health support.
In the UK, an NHS mental health referral can take 18 weeks or longer. According to 2025 data from the British Medical Association: “Services are not currently resourced to meet the increased demand, resulting in long waits and high thresholds for treatment; latest estimates put the mental health waiting list at one million people.
It’s perhaps no wonder then that a growing number of young people, in particular, are turning to AI chatbots to help them cope with mental health issues.
But, while AI can prove beneficial for some – often as a supplement to human therapy – it isn’t an effective substitute for a human therapist. And it could even prove dangerous.
Psychotherapy, known as the “talking cure”, uses dialogue to explore thoughts and feelings to help clients understand and address mental health challenges. Psychotherapists are now using AI tools to improve their work in mental health treatment. For example, software such as ChatGPT is being used by therapists to carry out client assessments. They enter details of the client, such as their sex, age, and psychological issues. In response, the chatbot collates the information to create a treatment plan for the therapist to follow.
But, although AI is proving helpful for some therapists, people turning to chatbots for help with mental health crises might find the lack of human supervision and input far less useful.
Lack of Humanity
Chatbots can simulate empathy, but don’t understand or feel emotions. Human therapists can provide emotional nuance, intuition and a personal connection, which chatbots currently cannot replicate in a meaningful way. Chatbots also have a limited ability to understand complex emotions and can struggle with understanding the complexity of human emotions, particularly when the situation involves deep trauma, cultural context or complex mental health issues.
Chatbots, then, are unsuitable for those with severe mental health issues. The software may provide some support for less severe cases, but they aren’t equipped to deal with severe mental health crises, such as suicidal thoughts or self-harm. Human therapists, however, are trained to recognise and respond to these situations with appropriate interventions.
While chatbots can be programmed to provide some personalised advice, they may not be able to adapt as effectively as a human therapist can. Human therapists tailor their approach to the unique needs and experiences of each person. Chatbots rely on algorithms to interpret user input, but miscommunication can happen due to nuances in language or context. For example, chatbots may struggle to recognise or appropriately respond to cultural differences, which are an important aspect of therapy. A lack of cultural competence in a chatbot could alienate and even harm users from different backgrounds.
So while chatbot therapists can be a helpful supplement to traditional therapy, they are not a complete replacement, especially when it comes to more serious mental health needs. Human psychotherapy provides a supportive, safe space for clients to slow down, reflect, and explore their thoughts and feelings with expert guidance. Human therapists are held accountable through ethical guidelines and professional standards.
Some people might become overly dependent on chatbot therapists, potentially avoiding traditional therapy with human professionals. This could lead to a delay in receiving more comprehensive care when needed, making vulnerable people more isolated rather than easing their suffering.
The talking cure in psychotherapy is a process of fostering human potential for greater self-awareness and personal growth. These apps will never be able to replace the therapeutic relationship developed as part of human psychotherapy. Rather, there’s a risk that these apps could limit users’ connections with other humans, potentially exacerbating the suffering of those with mental health issues – the opposite of what psychotherapy intends to achieve.
Nigel Mulligan 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.
LEWES, Del., April 02, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — John Snow Labs, the AI for healthcare company, today announced the release of Generative AI Lab 7.0. The update enables domain experts, such as doctors or lawyers, to evaluate and improve custom-built large language models (LLMs) with precision and transparency. New capabilities include no-code features to streamline the process of auditing and tuning AI models.
While the Generative AI Lab already exists as a tool for testing, tuning, and deploying state-of-the-art (SOTA) language models, this upgrade enhances the quality of evaluation workflows. With the ability to compare LLM outputs side-by-side, annotate specific text spans, apply structured scoring, and export results, domain experts can quickly and easily train or fine-tune LLMs downstream.
Key features of the release include:
Customizable project templates for LLM output evaluation with support for HTML content, including hyperlinks to references. Two modes are supported: individual and side-by-side response evaluation. Inter-Annotator Agreement (IAA) charts are also available for those projects.
Support forHierarchical Condition Category (HCC) coding enables users to streamline clinical risk adjustment workflows by automatically linking International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes to HCC categories, prioritizing high-value tasks, and validating codes more efficiently.
Comprehensive and configurable framework forevaluating AI models across dimensions like accuracy, bias, robustness, fairness, and performance—enabling users to identify model weaknesses, improve reliability, and streamline iterative model enhancement through automated test management, visual insights, and data augmentation capabilities.
Domain experts are often best positioned to develop AI-driven solutions tailored to their specific business needs. However, limited technical skills and resources can pose significant barriers to the adoption of AI solutions. The Generative AI Lab addresses this challenge by providing a user-friendly, no-code platform that empowers teams to build reliable models, identify potential failures, evaluate output quality, and responsibly integrate AI into essential workflows.
“Evaluating custom-built AI models and LLMs for specific use cases is complex and goes beyond relying solely on public benchmarks. Determining their efficacy, safety, and value requires targeted, context-aware testing to ensure models perform reliably in real-world applications,” said David Talby, CEO, John Snow Labs. “With the new structured evaluations and detailed feedback included in the Generative AI Lab, domain experts can improve model quality, reduce errors, and accelerate safe, scalable AI deployments without the support of a data scientist.”
Click here to learn more about Generative AI Lab 7.0 or register for our upcoming training session to see the new side-by-side response evaluation feature in action.
About John Snow Labs John Snow Labs, the AI for healthcare company, provides state-of-the-art software, models, and data to help healthcare and life science organizations put AI to good use. Developer of Medical LLMS, Healthcare NLP, Spark NLP, Spark NLP, the Generative AI Lab No-Code Platform, and the Medical Chatbot, John Snow Labs’ award-winning medical AI software powers the world’s leading pharmaceuticals, academic medical centers, and health technology companies. Creator and host of The NLP Summit, the company is committed to further educating and advancing the global AI community.
Contact Gina Devine Head of Communications John Snow Labs gina@johnsnowlabs.com
A portrait of President Donald Trump in the ‘America’s Presidents’ exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery.Win McNamee/Getty Images
I teach history in Connecticut, but I grew up in Oklahoma and Kansas, where my interest in the subject was sparked by visits to local museums.
I fondly remember trips to the Fellow-Reeves Museum in Wichita, Kansas, and the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. A 1908 photograph of my great-grandparents picking cotton has been used as a poster by the Oklahoma Historical Society.
This love of learning history continued into my years as a graduate student of history, when I would spend hours at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum learning about the history of human flight and ballooning. As a professor, I’ve integrated the institution’s exhibits into my history courses.
The Trump administration, however, is not happy with the way the Smithsonian Institution and other U.S. museums are portraying history.
On March 27, 2025, the president issued an executive order, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” which asserted, “Over the past decade, Americans have witnessed a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth. Under this historical revision, our Nation’s unparalleled legacy of advancing liberty, individual rights, and human happiness is reconstructed as inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed.”
Trump singled out a few museums, including the Smithsonian, dedicating a whole section of the order on “saving” the institution from “divisive, race-centered ideology.”
Of course, history is contested. There will always be a variety of views about what should be included and excluded from America’s story. For example, in my own research, I found that Prohibition-era school boards in the 1920s argued over whether it was appropriate for history textbooks to include pictures of soldiers drinking to illustrate the 1791 Whiskey Rebellion.
But most recent debates center on how much attention should be given to the history of the nation’s accomplishments over its darker chapters. The Smithsonian, as a national institution that receives most of its funds from the federal government, has sometimes found itself in the crosshairs.
America’s historical repository
The Smithsonian Institution was founded in 1846 thanks to its namesake, British chemist James Smithson.
Smithson willed his estate to his nephew and stated that if his nephew died without an heir, the money – roughly US$15 million in today’s dollars – would be donated to the U.S. to found “an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.”
The idea of a national institution dedicated to history, science and learning was contentious from the start.
In her book “The Stranger and the Statesman,” historian Nina Burleigh shows how Smithson’s bequest was nearly lost due to battles between competing interests.
Southern plantation owners and western frontiersmen, including President Andrew Jackson, saw the establishment of a national museum as an unnecessary assertion of federal power. They also challenged the very idea of accepting a gift from a non-American and thought that it was beneath the dignity of the government to confer immortality on someone simply because of a large donation.
In the end, a group led by congressman and former president John Quincy Adams ensured Smithson’s vision was realized. Adams felt that the country was failing to live up to its early promise. He thought a national museum was an important way to burnish the ideals of the young republic and educate the public.
Today the Smithsonian runs 14 education and research centers, the National Zoo and 21 museums, including the National Portrait Gallery and the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which was created with bipartisan support during President George W. Bush’s administration.
In the introduction to his book “Smithsonian’s History of America in 101 Objects,” cultural anthropologist Richard Kurin talks about how the institution has also supported hundreds of small and large institutions outside of the nation’s capital.
In 2024, the Smithsonian sent over 2 million artifacts on loan to museums in 52 U.S. states and territories and 33 foreign countries. It also partners with over 200 affiliate museums. YouGov has periodically tracked Americans’ approval of the Smithsonian, which has held steady at roughly 68% approval and 2% disapproval since 2020.
Smithsonian in the crosshairs
Precursors to the Trump administration’s efforts to reshape the Smithsonian took place in the 1990s.
In 1991, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, which was then known as the National Museum of American Art, created an exhibition titled “The West as America, Reinterpreting Images of the Frontier, 1820-1920.” Conservatives complained that the museum portrayed western expansion as a tale of conquest and destruction, rather than one of progress and nation-building. The Wall Street Journal editorialized that the exhibit represented “an entirely hostile ideological assault on the nation’s founding and history.”
The exhibition proved popular: Attendance to the National Museum of American Art was 60% higher than it had been during the same period the year prior. But the debate raised questions about whether public museums were able to express ideas that are critical of the U.S. without risk of censorship.
In 1994, controversy again erupted, this time at the National Air and Space Museum over a forthcoming exhibition centered on the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima 50 years prior.
Should the exhibition explore the loss of Japanese lives? Or emphasize the U.S. war victory?
Veterans groups insisted that the atomic bomb ended the war and saved 1 million American lives, and demanded the removal of photographs of the destruction and a melted Japanese school lunch box from the exhibit. Meanwhile, other activists protested the exhibition by arguing that a symbol of human destruction shouldn’t be commemorated at an institution that’s supposed to celebrate human achievement.
Protesters demonstrate against the opening of the Enola Gay exhibit outside the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum in 1995. Joyce Naltchayan/AFP via Getty Images
Republicans won the House in 1994 and threatened cuts to the Smithsonian’s budget over the Enola Gay exhibition, compelling curators to walk a tightrope. In the end, the fuselage of the Enola Gay was displayed in the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. But the exhibit would not tell the full story of the plane’s role in the war from a myriad of perspectives.
Trump enters the fray
In 2019, The New York Times launched the 1619 project, which aimed to reframe the country’s history by placing slavery and its consequences at its very center. The first Trump administration quickly responded by forming its 1776 commission. In January 2021, it produced a report critiquing the 1619 project, claiming that an emphasis on the country’s history of racism and slavery was counterproductive to promoting “patriotic education.”
That same year, Trump pledged to build “a vast outdoor park that will feature the statues of the greatest Americans to ever live,” with 250 statues to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
President Joe Biden rescinded the order in 2021. Trump reissued it after retaking the White House, and pointed to figures he’d like to see included, such as Christopher Columbus, George Washington, Betsy Ross, Sitting Bull, Bob Hope, Thurgood Marshall and Whitney Houston.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with honoring Americans, though I think a focus on celebrities and major figures clouds the fascinating histories of ordinary Americans. I also find it troubling that there seems to be such a concerted effort to so forcefully shape the teaching and understanding of history via threats and bullying. Yale historian Jason Stanley has written about how aspiring authoritarian governments seek to control historical narratives and discourage an exploration of the complexities of the past.
Historical scholarship requires an openness to debate and a willingness to embrace new findings and perspectives. It also involves the humility to accept that no one – least of all the government – has a monopoly on the truth.
In his executive order, Trump noted that “Museums in our Nation’s capital should be places where individuals go to learn.” I share that view. Doing so, however, means not dismantling history, but instead complicating the story – in all its messy glory.
The Conversation U.S. receives funding from the Smithsonian Institution.
Jennifer Tucker 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 – USA – By Rita V. Burke, Associate Professor of Clinical Population and Public Health Sciences, University of Southern California
The fires first erupted on Jan. 7, 2025, in the Pacific Palisades, a small enclave of Los Angeles, and in Eaton Canyon, where the tight-knit community of Altadena is nestled in the foothills just north of Pasadena. Fierce winds pushed the flames through neighborhoods, making this one of the top five most destructive wildfires in California history.
In the immediate aftermath of this disaster, much of the focus has been, rightfully, on lives lost, homes damaged or destroyed, and the ability to maintain livelihoods. But noticeably missing from most media coverage have been the consequences of the wildfires for children and discussion of the unique challenges they face surrounding disasters.
But when the destruction impacts your own community, it hits differently. Like many others, we were directly affected by the school closures and poor air quality in the Los Angeles area.
We both had friends and colleagues who suffered property damage in the fires, including Rita’s best friend who lost her home in the Altadena fire. Our work, which focuses on disaster recovery and resilience in children, suddenly felt deeply personal.
We are currently studying the effect of wildfires on families and what factors help children recover faster and lead to more resilient lives.
The importance of schools
School districts across the region closed their doors due to dangerous air quality and structural damage. This included the Los Angeles Unified School District, which is the second-largest in the nation, serving over 500,000 students. Some schools were destroyed, while others were left with hazardous conditions, including toxic ash from burned homes. Even when schools reopened, many parents and caregivers were worried about sending their children back into classrooms that might not be safe.
According to the Education Recovery Scorecard, as of spring 2024 the average U.S. student remained nearly half a grade level behind prepandemic achievement in math and reading, which points to the long-term impacts of school closures.
Rita’s best friend who lost her home shared that when it came to her children, her immediate priority “was getting them back into some type of normalcy.”
To her, this meant sending them back to school, but this wasn’t possible right away. “With the holidays and then the fires, my daughter was out of school for almost two months,” she said.
Her concerns about her children echo those of many parents in the wake of disasters.
After the 2020 Slater Fire in Happy Camp, California, a rural town about 25 miles south of the Oregon border, we conducted focus groups with children who had lost homes and schools.
Our study found that despite experiencing profound loss, many of the children expressed gratitude for their communities and an eagerness to rebuild. Their perspectives revealed both resilience and critical gaps in disaster response – gaps that we see unfolding in Los Angeles today.
One of the biggest lessons from the Slater Fire and other disasters is that children recover best when they are given a sense of stability and normalcy as quickly as possible. The faster children can return to a routine, the better their emotional and academic outcomes tend to be. Schools, child care facilities and structured activities all play a crucial role in this process.
Helping children cope with stress
To assist parents and caregivers in navigating difficult conversations after a natural disaster, substantial research has explored how to talk to kids about disasters.
For families navigating the emotional toll of this disaster, open conversations are key. Avoiding the topic in an attempt to protect children can make them more anxious. Instead, caregivers should create space for children to express their emotions and ask questions. Children’s responses to trauma vary based on their age and experiences, but common reactions may include anxiety about future wildfires, trouble sleeping, and withdrawing from activities they once enjoyed.
Children need help from the adults in their lives to cope with stress after a natural disaster.
Children may react differently, and it is important to be on the lookout for signs of stress. Younger children between ages 1 and 5 may become more irritable and may exhibit signs of developmental regression.
Tweens and teens may also find comfort in the shared experience with their friends. Rita’s best friend shared that her 11-year-old daughter and 10 of her friends named their chat group “70% homeless,” a telling reflection of how they are processing the disaster together.
Caring for our children after a disaster
Organizations such as Project:Camp, a nonprofit that provides pop-up camps for children affected by disasters, have stepped in to offer immediate child care relief in Eagle Rock, California, about 8 miles from Altadena. These programs not only support children’s mental health by offering structured, trauma-informed care in a fun environment, but they also give caregivers the time and space necessary to begin rebuilding their lives.
The services provided by these sorts of programs can serve as models that can be incorporated into the planning process for cities and counties. This allows more time for adults to focus on recovery needs while limiting the time that children must spend alone.
For families still struggling after the LA fires, we recommend talking to school counselors, seeking community support and contacting local disaster relief programs.
Looking ahead
Rebuilding after a disaster is about more than just reconstructing homes and infrastructure. It’s about restoring a sense of security for families, especially children.
If there is one thing our research has taught us, it is that children are incredibly resilient. But resilience is not built in isolation. Rather, it comes from strong support systems, thoughtful policies and communities that put their youngest members first in times of crisis. Prioritizing schools and child care centers in recovery plans helps to ensure that children can return to safe, supportive environments as soon as possible.
Rita V. Burke received funding from funding from the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado Boulder with the Support of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Science Foundation for this work. She is also funded by the Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response. She is also Chair of the Board of Advisors for Project:Camp.
Santina Contreras receives funding from the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado Boulder with the Support of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Science Foundation.
Nearly 90% of U.S. Christian religious leaders believe humans are driving climate change. When churchgoers learn how widespread this belief is, they report taking steps to reduce its effects, as we found in our research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
We examined data collected in 2023 and 2024 from a nationwide survey of 1,600 religious leaders in the United States. The sample included religious leaders from fundamentalist and evangelical churches, Baptists, Methodists, Black protestants, Roman Catholic denominations and more – all recruited to match the proportions of churches across the country. The survey assessed religious leaders’ beliefs about climate change and whether they discuss climate change with their congregations.
According to that data, while the overwhelming majority of Christian religious leaders accept the human-driven reality of climate change, nearly half have never mentioned climate change or humans’ role in it to their congregations. Further, only a quarter have spoken about it more than once or twice.
Why it matters
When it comes to climate change, faith communities are often seen as divided. There is an assumption that religious conservatism and climate skepticism go hand in hand. This assumption is based on religious beliefs such as that the Earth was created by God and therefore humans cannot and should not alter it, along with rejection of climate science and diminished concern about climate change.
We then surveyed a sample of Christian Americans from major denominations across the country and found they think roughly half of Christian leaders in the U.S., and in churches like their own, deny that humans cause climate change. Given the actual number is closer to 1 in 10 based on the data we examined, it appears Christians overestimate the prevalence of climate denial among their leaders by around five times the level found in polling.
Churchgoers who think their religious leaders don’t believe humans cause climate change report being less likely to discuss it with fellow congregants and less interested in attending events that aim to address climate change or raise awareness of the issue.
The research also tested what would happen if we informed churchgoers of the true level of consensus among their religious leaders who accept that climate change is driven by humans. In a brief survey, Christians were told the percentage of Christian leaders nationally, and among their denomination specifically, who accepted that human activities cause climate change. As a result, we found, their perceptions and attitudes toward climate change shifted in a variety of ways.
Specifically, churchgoers who were informed about the actual consensus among religious leaders in accepting climate change were more likely to state that “taking action to reduce climate change” was consistent with their church’s values.
Churchgoers who received this information were also more likely to feel it would be inconsistent with their church’s values to vote for a political candidate who opposes actions that could slow climate change.
These findings highlight that religious leaders have a unique power to influence climate action – but only if they let their beliefs be known.
These findings are not focusing on what is going on in specific churches and denominations. We provided churchgoers only with information on the consensus of acceptance of human-made climate change among Christian religious leaders across the U.S. A natural next step is to conduct research with religious leaders to examine the impact of their communication directly with their congregations, including if they convey the consensus described in this work.
Religious leaders, often viewed as moral guides, have the ability to reshape climate discourse within faith communities. If they vocalize their acceptance of human-made climate change, we believe they can correct widespread misperceptions, foster dialogue and encourage action in ways that secular authorities may struggle to achieve.
The Research Brief is a short take on interesting academic work.
Stylianos Syropoulos is affiliated with DearTomorrow, the See Change Institute, the Applied Cooperation Initiative and Think Beyond The Pump.
Gregg Sparkman receives funding from the National Science Foundation.
As soon as the genetic testing company 23andMe filed for bankruptcy on March 23, 2025, concerns about what would happen to the personal information contained in its massive genetic and health information database were swift and widespread. A few days after, a U.S. judge ruled that the company could sell its consumer data as part of the bankruptcy.
The attorneys general of several states warned their citizens to delete their genetic data. California urged its citizens to request that 23andMe delete their data and destroy their spit samples. Michigan’s attorney general released a statement warning that “23andMe collects and stores some of the most sensitive personal information, our genetic code.”
When customers originally signed up for 23andMe, they agreed to terms and conditions and a privacy notice that allows the company to use their information for research and development as well as share their data, in aggregate, with third parties. If consumers consented to additional research, which the vast majority did, the company can additionally share their individual information with third parties. 23andMe has also been clear that if it is involved in a bankruptcy or sale of assets, consumer information might be sold or transferred.
While 23andMe has warned customers all along about everything that is currently happening, many are still surprised and concerned.
I’m a lawyer and bioethicist who has been studying direct-to-consumer genetic testing for almost a decade. Understanding what information 23andMe has been collecting, and how it might be used if sold or shared, can help clarify concerns for consumers.
The direct-to-consumer business model is fairly straightforward: A consumer orders a genetic test kit online, spits into a tube that comes in the mail, returns it to the company and accesses their results in an online portal. Over 15 million consumers bought 23andMe, and the vast majority consented to its research. At its peak, the company was valued at US$6 billion.
The fate of the trove of personal information 23andMe has gathered over the years has wide-ranging implications for consumers.
Reasons for this rapid decline include a decrease in the sale of test kits after a 2023 hack of almost 7 million people’s data, as well as a failure to profit enough from providing data access to other private sector companies. Lack of private interest in 23andMe data may be related to the fact that much of the information the company collects is self-reported, which is often considered less reliable than information written down by a doctor in a medical record.
What kind of data does 23andMe collect?
While the saying goes “If you’re not paying, you’re the product,” 23andMe managed to convince its consumers to both pay for AND be the product. It did this by selling genetic testing kits to consumers as well as collecting a massive amount of their valuable data.
This means that not only does 23andMe possess the genetic data of 15 million people, but it also possesses almost a billion additional data points associated with this genetic information. This makes the 23andMe dataset potentially very private – and very valuable.
At first, drug companies seemed to agree. For example, in 2018, 23andMe granted pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline an exclusive license to use consented customer data to develop new drugs. GlaxoSmithKline also made a $300 million equity investment in 23andMe. When 23andMe went public in 2021, its $6 billion valuation reflected the promise of this business model.
But for over a decade, scholars, including me, have been warning that allowing 23andMe to collect and use personal data was not one that customers fully understood, or were actually comfortable with.
What should 23andMe customers worry about?
In response to current public concern about data privacy, 23andMe has stated that there will be no changes to how it stores and protects data during its bankruptcy proceedings. But once that stage is through, what exactly should customers worry about?
First, law enforcement could use genetic information in civil or criminal cases. This happened in 2018, when police used the genetic testing company GEDmatch to help identify the Golden State Killer. Police pretended they were customers looking for genealogy data and sent in an old crime scene blood spot. This allowed them to connect to known suspects with blood relatives who had given their genetic information to the company as consumers. While this was in violation of GEDmatch’s own policies, the evidence was successfully used in court.
Second, genetic information could be used to discriminate against customers if it shows that they have or are at high risk of developing a genetic disease or disorder. The federal Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act prohibits health insurers and employers from asking about genetic information or using it to discriminate in work or health insurance decisions. It does not, however, protect against discrimination in long-term care or life insurance.
Giving someone your genetic, medical and personal information gives them opportunities to exploit you. Westend61/Getty Images
Many of the warnings from the media and attorneys general are focused on genetic information because it is unique to only one person. But direct-to-consumer genetic testing companies also retain a massive amount of personal information from the surveys consumers are asked to complete. Much of this information could be embarrassing if it were inadvertently or intentionally revealed, such as a person’s intelligence.
In the 2025 book “Careless People,” former Meta executive Sarah Wynn-Williams reported that Facebook would use indications of self-consciousness about personal appearance, such as deleting a selfie, to promote beauty products. If companies know such intimate details about a person, they could not only be used to sell products, but also potentially manipulate them over social media or the internet in ways they do not even realize. It could be used for targeted advertising or to build algorithms that exploit a person’s vulnerabilities.
I believe consumers are right to be worried about how their genetic data could be misused. But the survey data containing all sorts of other personal information are at least as much, if not more, of a privacy problem. This is particularly concerning if the data is pooled together with other information available on the internet, like a dating profile, to create a more detailed – and personal – picture of an individual.
I am deleting my own 23andMe data. In the future, I would also warn consumers against freely gifting the private sector with information about their fears, hopes, limitations and successes.
That information is valuable to more people than just you.
Kayte Spector-Bagdady receives funding from the National Center for Advancing Transnational Sciences and the Greenwall Foundation.
Imagine you’ve planned the trip of a lifetime for your animal-loving family: a cruise to Antarctica with the unique opportunity to view penguins, whales and other rare wildlife. Your adventure-loving kids can kayak through fjords, plunge into icy water and camp under the Antarctic sky.
But rather than being ecstatic, as you anticipated, your kids whine about skipping an after-school scout meeting at a neighbor’s house. Missing this ordinary weekly event triggers such intense FOMO – “fear of missing out” – for them that they don’t want to go on your amazing expedition.
If this kind of debacle sounds familiar to you – or at least if you find it perplexing – you’re not alone. The three of us are marketingprofessors andsocial psychologists who focus on how consumers make decisions and how this shapes well-being. We’ve been studying FOMO for over a decade and recently published our work in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Over the years, we’ve learned what really drives intense feelings of FOMO – which explains why a run-of-the-mill meeting might feel more crucial than an over-the-top vacation.
FOMO’s real trigger
People use the term FOMO in many different ways. In our research, we focus on a very specific type of FOMO: the kind that occurs when people miss out on events that involve valued social connections.
With this kind of FOMO, we found that the pain of missing out is not related to missing the actual event or opportunity – although that could be there as well. The FOMO we study happens when people miss the chance to bond with friends, co-workers or teammates they care about.
So, the critical part of FOMO is missing out on interactions with people you value. FOMO about a group dinner at a restaurant isn’t really about the food and great lighting. Nor is FOMO about a concert just about the band’s performance. Instead, it’s about the lost opportunity to connect and make memories with people who are important to you.
Why is this upsetting? Imagine the scenario where all your best friends go out to dinner without you. They bond and make lasting memories with each other – and you’re not there for any of it.
If they get closer to each other, where does that leave you? What happens to your social relationships and your sense of belonging? Do you become a less important friend? Less worthy of future invites? Or even kicked out of the group altogether? The anxiety of FOMO can begin to spiral.
People with what psychologists call an anxiousattachment style chronically fear rejection and isolation from others. Because FOMO involves anxiety about future social belonging, it may not come as a surprise that people who are naturally more anxious about their friendships tend to get more intense FOMO. When we asked people in one of our studies to scroll social media until they encountered something social they missed, we found that the more anxiously attached a participant was, the more intense FOMO they experienced.
Getting FOMO for an amazing event you can’t attend makes sense. But if FOMO is less about the event itself and more about the social bonding, what happens when you miss something that’s not really fun at all?
We find that people anticipate FOMO even for unenjoyable missed events. As long as there is some form of missed social bonding, feelings of FOMO emerge. One of our studies found that people anticipated more FOMO from missing an un-fun event that their friends would be at, than a fun event without their friends.
For better or for worse, sad and stressful events can often be emotionally bonding: Going to a funeral to support a friend, cleaning up the mess after a party, or even white-knuckling through a harrowing initiation ceremony can all offer opportunities to forge stronger connections with one another. Stressful contexts like these can be fertile grounds for FOMO.
How to fend off FOMO
Popular discussions about the negative consequences of FOMO tend to focus on the FOMO people feel from compulsively scrolling on social media and seeing what they missed out on. Consequently, much of the suggestedadvice on howto mitigate FOMO centers on turning off phones or taking a vacation from social media.
Those recommendations may be tough for many people to execute. Plus, they address the symptoms of FOMO, not the cause.
Our finding that the core of FOMO is anxiety about missed social relationships yields a simpler strategy to combat it: Reminding yourself of the last time you connected with close friends may provide a sense of security that staves off feelings of FOMO.
In an experiment testing multiple interventions, we asked 788 study participants to look through their social media feeds until they encountered a post of a missed social event. We asked about 200 of these participants to immediately rate how much FOMO they were feeling. They averaged a 3.2 on a 1-to-7 scale.
Another group of about 200 participants also scrolled through their social media feeds until they encountered a post of a missed social event. But before indicating how much FOMO they were feeling, we asked them to think back to a prior experience socializing and bonding with their friends. Encouragingly, this reflection exercise seemed to curtail FOMO. Their average FOMO rating was 2.7 out of 7, a significant drop.
Reminding yourself about other good times with your pals can help keep FOMO at bay. AJ_Watt/E+ via Getty Images
With the remaining participants, we tested other strategies for mitigating FOMO – thinking about the next time they might see their friends or imagining what they’d say to a FOMO-suffering friend – but the simple reflection exercise was by far the most promising.
So, reminding yourself of the meaningful relationships you already have and reaffirming your social belonging in the moment may help combat the rush of anxiety that is characteristic of FOMO.
And missing out on social bonding experiences doesn’t have to be anxiety-provoking. In fact, in our activity-packed, hectic lives, missing some “must-attend” events may be a welcome relief – especially if you remind yourself that your social belonging is not in jeopardy. Cue a recent wave of counter-FOMO programming called JOMO, or “Joy of Missing Out.”
To quote Stuart Smalley, the fictional self-help guru of 1990s “Saturday Night Live,” reminding yourself that “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!” might be just the trick to mitigate FOMO.
Jacqueline Rifkin received grant funding support for this project from the Marketing Science Institute (MSI).
Barbara Kahn received funding from the Marketing Science Institute (MSI) and research support from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
Cindy Chan received grant funding support for this project from the Marketing Science Institute (MSI).
“I celebrate her,” heartwarmingly shares Mom Jacqueline Vanderhoof this World Autism Awareness Day on April 2 about the amazing difference her daughter Fiona, 4, is already making in the world to advance scientific knowledge and a potential new treatment for those with autism spectrum disorders, especially profound autism like hers.
Meet Fiona Vanderhoof, 4, of Philadelphia who is changing the world and autism research by sharing her cells for advanced study at UConn School of Medicine.
As a baby Fiona was diagnosed with a genetic condition that causes profound autism known as Dup15q Syndrome.
“We noticed Fiona wasn’t holding her head up like an infant should and she started doing some weird involuntary movements of her arms and shuttering. We called the pediatrician, and to them it seemed like she was having seizures. We took her down to the ER and ultimately, she was diagnosed with epilepsy. But as part of that journey, we did genetic testing.”
Her mother says Fiona’s medical journey speaks volumes of the vital importance of doing follow-up genetic testing to catch a possible diagnosis and to inform a child’s care.
“The genetic testing came back right away that she has what’s called Dup15q syndrome, she basically has an extra chromosome, similar to Down syndrome, so she has an extra piece of her fifteenth chromosome. Through that journey we learned the disorder causes autism among other symptoms,” shared Vanderhoof.
Due to the genetic condition of Dup15q, Fiona is very significantly developmentally delayed. Also, her verbal communication is very challenged as well as her understanding of spoken language.
“But the very good news is she says a few words now, and we never thought that could happen! We also didn’t know if she would ever walk, but she does now! She’s very active and it’s really great!” Mom happily reports. Also, Fiona’s repetitive seizures are now under control, and she’s been weaned off her epilepsy medication. But her mother says it’s a waiting game to see if the seizures ever come back.
“The unknown is very hard,” stresses Mom. “But thanks to Fiona’s shared cells we’re so close to finding a new genetic therapeutic to help her and others with autism,” Mom happily shares.
Research at UConn School of Medicine was recently awarded funding in February by the Eagles Autism Foundation and UConn’s research findings could directly impact Fiona’s future.
Fiona Vanderhoof developed profound autism due to the genetic autism-linked condition Dup15q Syndrome. But her diagnosis is not slowing her down. Fiona is a very active child.
After Fiona’s diagnosis Vanderhoof became a self-proclaimed “science nerd” to find more answers and to help more kids with autism.
“I had a mobile phlebotomist come to the house and take Fiona’s blood samples to create specialized cells in a lab in California so they could be shared with scientists for further study,” Vanderhoof says.
“I made cell lines and had them shipped to UConn for research after contacting Dr. Eric Levine’s Lab,” Vanderhoof said. “I now talk to Dr. Levine and his UConn team, and they say, ‘I’m working on Fiona’s cells’ or ‘we used Fiona’s cells today for this and that.’ I’m so glad they are putting her cells to good use! Anything we can do to help autism!”
“It’s a hope, but soon a reality, we are going to have a gene therapy in the next few years. That’s really exciting!” Vanderhoof exclaims. “Our biggest hope is to improve the quality of life for these kids like Fiona.”
“We love the Philadelphia Eagles,” says Vanderhoof whose family lives in Philadelphia and are now championing the growing grant funding awarded by the organization for the study of autism and future treatments. “This past year they were able to fund two different Dup15q syndrome researchers a total of $800,000 which is fantastic!”
For Fiona’s Dup15q genetic disorder the Eagles Autism Foundation grant is funding UConn and Levine’s research looking into the genetic makeup of that extra piece of chromosome.
“The fact that this UConn researcher is looking into that really gives me hope that in her lifetime there will be a therapeutic that will help her. I am not looking for a cure and not looking to fix Fiona. We love her,” says Vanderhoof. “That all gives me a lot of hope for kids like Fiona that have the same syndrome. One of the big things that is concerning with her Dup15q syndrome are the seizures and what that can do for her quality of life and what that does to her development.”
And this World Autism Awareness Day and every day, Fiona’s mom wishes for one thing.
“It’s so important that rare and profound autism stays top of mind too. Don’t lose sight of these kids and their challenges. They are so special!”
The cutting-edge autism research of UConn Neuroscientist Levine and his lab won $400,000 in research funds thanks to football fans donating to the annual Eagles Autism Challenge. His lab’s work explores autism’s genomic genesis and identifying genetic pathways that may cause autism spectrum disorders and better ways to study them. His team has been studying the two rare, genetic disease syndromes that also result in profound autism, Dup15q Syndrome and Angelman Syndrome. They impact about 1 in 5,000 children.
While it still is not clear yet scientifically about autism spectrum disorders’ genetic origins, it is known that both of these autism-linked syndromes are connected to a child’s genetic differences that lead to a missing piece of a chromosome (Angelman Syndrome) or chromosomal duplication (Dup15q Syndrome) in the same 15q11-q13 region.
Levine’s innovative autism research at UConn is reprogramming the donated skin or blood cells of patients like Fiona to develop them in the lab into brain cells that exactly mirror each patient’s genomics for further study.
“This is really unique, personalized medicine, and a better way for us to study the genomics and physiology of a real child’s brain cells and the possible role multiple genes may be playing leading to autism. All kids are different. We can analyze the physical structure of their neurons, measure intracellular calcium dynamics, and record functional electrical activity,” says Levine, is grateful to have received donations of cells from families for study like the Vanderhoof’s. “It’s very exciting to pivot our autism research to translational research studying actual patient-derived human neurons.”
In his translational research efforts, Levine hopes to compare neurons of patients and identify what role various genes play in the brain cells of the patients with syndromes also causing autism, and how their brain cells behave differently, and even test what possible current drugs or new drugs might be beneficial to patients to improve both their symptoms and quality of life.
“There is so much to learn about the brain,” says Levine, whose work as a neuroscientist every day is driven by his fierce curiosity to learn more and more about how the brain works, and also inspired by the autism patients and families he has had the privilege to meet like the Vanderhoof family.
UConn Neuroscientist Dr. Eric S. Levine in his lab at UConn School of Medicine conducting cutting-edge autism research (Photo by Lauren Woods).
“The families I have met are so grateful for our autism research efforts, and more hope is on the way. It is a very exciting time for autism research and real, tangible progress and results with research advances and drug clinical trials,” says Levine. “Our focus at UConn is finding the next generation of therapies,” says Levine, whose ultimate goal for his autism research is exploring the future power of gene testing and gene therapy for autism spectrum disorders and related-syndromes, including very early-on in life whether in-utero or during a young child’s life.
“If we can better understand the common pathway in the brain for these two genetic syndromes that lead to autism, we may someday understand other forms of autism, especially what causes behavioral issues such as loss of verbal communication, cognitive deficits, and impaired motor-function skills,” says Levine.
The University of Connecticut thanks and celebrates you, Fiona!
A new study has demonstrated that the brains of people who experience migraines and other types of headaches cannot modulate visual stimulation in the same way a person without these conditions can.
Daniele Piscitelli, assistant professor of kinesiology in the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources (CAHNR), published these findings in Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience.
Piscitelli had been collaborating with colleagues in Brazil to study changes in the cortical activity and neuroplasticity in the brains of individuals with stroke. In the course of their work, they found that other researchers had been using the same kinds of measurements to study migraines.
This led Piscitelli and his collaborators to wonder if their work could improve understanding of what causes migraines.
Piscitelli was co-responsible for the study design and data analysis. The study was conducted in the laboratory of Kátia Monte-Silva, Ph.D., at the Laboratório de Neurociência Aplicada, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil.
They recruited three populations of participants: people who experience migraines, people who regularly experience other kinds of headaches, and a “healthy” population that did not have migraines nor other headaches in the past month.
They took measurements of cortical excitability in each of the groups. Cortical excitability is a measure of brain activity, essentially how much a person’s brain responds to stimuli. Previous research had demonstrated that people who experience migraines have higher cortical excitability. This means their neurons have a lower threshold for excitability than the healthy population, leading their brains to become overstimulated more easily.
The researchers here were interested specifically in two areas of the cerebral cortex – the visual cortex, which processes visual information, and the motor cortex – which controls voluntary movement.
“We were interested in seeing the cortical excitability, specifically the motor cortex excitability and the visual cortex excitability in a window that was one day after or before the [migraine or headache] attack,” Piscitelli says.
To evaluate motor cortex excitability, the researchers the researchers applied single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the motor cortex and recorded the resulting muscle activity using electromyography (EMG) from the hand muscles. To measure excitability in the visual cortex they asked participants when they saw light (phosphenes) in their visual field when TMS was applied over the occipital cortex.
“Both of these are measures that are broadly used to measure the cortical excitability that give us an indirect information about the threshold of the neurons,” Piscitelli says.
In these preliminary measurements, there were no significant differences between the three groups.
The next part of the study involved participants looking at a black and white checkerboard that alternated colors with one eye covered at a time (i.e., pattern-reversal visual stimulation). The researchers then took the same visual and motor cortex excitability measurements after this stimulation.
This time, the researchers saw significant differences between the groups.
Both those who experience migraines and other headaches had increased levels of visual cortex excitability compared to the healthy control group.
“Healthy subjects were able to modulate cortical excitability following the stimulation while people with migraines and other types of headaches had an increase in the cortical excitability,” Piscitelli says.
There were no differences in motor cortex excitability.
The fact that both people with migraines and other headaches responded in the same way to the stimulation indicates that both conditions share a neurological basis.
These results also indicate that existing medications that reduce visual cortex excitability, like those used to treat epileptic seizures, could be useful for this population as well.
Given this, one of the next steps of this research will be conducting a study with people who experience seizures to determine if they have similar cortical excitability.
“How the brain organizes information is the key to pathophysiology and is probably the key to treat the patients,” Piscitelli says.
This work relates to CAHNR’s Strategic Vision area focused on Enhancing Health and Well-Being Locally, Nationally, and Globally.
In the Arctic, permafrost plays a crucial role in building infrastructure. However, as the region warms and permafrost thaws, infrastructure is threatened as the ground shifts beneath the built environment. Unfortunately, the full extent of the risks associated with this process is not yet understood, but researchers are working to address this knowledge gap.
UConn Department of Natural Resources and the Environment researchers, including Ph.D. student Elias Manos and Assistant Professor Chandi Witharana, along with Anna Liljedahl from the Woodwell Climate Research Center, developed a method that uses high-resolution satellite imagery and deep machine learning to double the mapped infrastructure of Alaska and more accurately project economic risks associated with permafrost thaw. Their findings are published in Nature Communications Earth and Environment.
Witharana says this is the latest in his research group’s long-term study of how satellites can help monitor changes in the Arctic landscape over time, in this case, the largely unaccounted for risks of thawing permafrost for communities and their vital infrastructure like buildings and roads.
“The main focus here is, there was a visual gap for infrastructure, and we need to have more detail to create critical information layers for downstream analysis like economic risk. We didn’t have that for Alaska,” says Witharana.
A home in Point Lay, Alaska that is affected by thawing permafrost. (Photo courtesy of Benjamin Jones)
The motivation behind this research stems from the need to understand hazards in a changing world, says Manos. However, those assessments cannot happen without a clear understanding of what is in harm’s way.
“We know that local temperatures are rising and there is change in the frequency, intensity, and timing of extreme weather and hazardous events. Whether they are rapid onset events like hurricanes, flooding, wildfires, or slow onset hazards like droughts, permafrost thaw in this case, we need to understand the potential harm these events pose,” says Manos.
Manos says that permafrost serves as a structural foundation where piles are secured through it and buildings are designed to help maintain its thermal integrity. It is, therefore, essential that the pile foundation remains stably anchored into the permafrost, but the structural integrity is compromised as this layer thaws.
“When the temperature of permafrost starts to increase, piles start to shift out of place, and that’s what we call bearing capacity loss, or decrease in bearing capacity. That was the main hazard that we looked at which impacts buildings,” says Manos. “Then there’s also transportation infrastructure that’s primarily impacted by ground subsidence. When ice-rich permafrost thaws, the ground will cave in and that was the hazard we used to assess the disaster risk for roads.”
Previous studies made risk estimates based on data from OpenStreetMap (OSM), which is one of the most widely used geospatial data sets available, says Manos. OSM is available for every nation across the globe, and information is updated by volunteers who manually input local data, like buildings, trails, roads, or other kinds of infrastructure, from high-resolution imagery on a global scale.
For some regions, like Europe and parts of the United States, the data is accurate, says Manos, but that is not true for all locations. Unfortunately for the Arctic, OSM data is lacking.
Top four panels (and two zoom-ins) show delineations of buildings, roads, and storage tanks predicted by the infrastructure detection model from Maxar satellite imagery of four different Alaskan communities (Utqiagvik, Kotzebue, Hooper Bay, and Bethel). The bottom panel compares the map produced by the UConn team’s methodology (titled High-resolution Arctic Built Infrastructure and Terrain Analysis Tool (HABITAT)) to other existing Arctic infrastructure data products. OpenStreetMap is a widely used open-source geographic database supported by volunteer mapping efforts. As displayed, OpenStreetMap is often incomplete in many areas of the Arctic. The Sentinel-1/2 derived Arctic Coastal Human Impact dataset (SACHI) is a circumpolar-scale map of Arctic buildings, roads, and other human-modified land produced with machine- and deep-learning algorithms and Sentinel-1/2 satellite imagery. As displayed, this dataset has a comparatively coarse resolution that struggles with identifying individual objects. (Courtesy of Maxar, Inc. and Annett Bartsch)
“There are several previous risk studies that relied on this incomplete infrastructure data. It all goes back to the fact that infrastructure across the Arctic is not completely mapped, and that’s problematic if you want to understand disasters because you must have the full picture to understand the scale of what is or could potentially be exposed,” says Manos.
One of the objectives of Witharana’s research group is to improve methods to analyze large sets of satellite images quickly and accurately. Here, they developed a method to accurately map infrastructure and permafrost thaw risk called High-resolution Arctic Built Infrastructure and Terrain Analysis Tool (HABITAT). The model uses machine learning and AI to extract road and building information from high-resolution satellite images from the years 2018-2023. They compared the HABITAT data with OSM data to evaluate the new model’s quality and to look for potential misclassifications. Then they added the new information to OSM, nearly doubling the previous amount of information available for Alaska.
“The sheer amount of infrastructure and buildings that were missing from Open Street Map was, really shocking to me, 47% missing,” says Manos. “Though OpenStreetMap is a powerful volunteer-based resource, it has limitations and that is not a surprise.”
Owing to the large amount of data previously not considered, the researchers estimate that the costs of permafrost damage to infrastructure will double under low and medium emissions scenarios by 2050.
“Damages to infrastructure caused by permafrost thaw is on par with the average yearly cost of all natural disasters in the country, yet permafrost thaw is not recognized by the federal government as a natural hazard, making it harder for people in Alaska to obtain disaster relief funding. In addition, Alaska is decades behind the rest of the country in terms of geospatial data readiness. Maps are key for assessments and planning, and I think the research community can help with some of that,” says Liljedahl.
Witharana’s research group and collaborators are working to fill these knowledge gaps to create data that can be used to help prepare communities for the future. Manos plans to expand this analysis to account for the entire Arctic region to assess economic losses using a comprehensive infrastructure map.
Witharana adds that by combining OSM data with the thousands of sub-meter resolution satellite images provided by the National Science Foundation, along with access to NSF supercomputing infrastructure, it was possible for the researchers to enhance the completeness of these datasets.
“We can see that impact and do better assessments of economic disturbances and risk so we can prepare for whatever policy actions or downstream efforts that are needed,” says Witharana. “That’s a major outcome. Overall, the integration of AI and big data sets within our application has helped make useful, actionable products that researchers and communities can use right now.”
The combined HABTAT and OSM dataset is available for anyone to explore on the Permafrost Discovery Gateway. This work is funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Office of Polar Programs (NSF-OPP) (grant No. 1927723 and 2052107) and Google.org’s Impact Challenge on Climate Innovation. The image in Fig. 1b was acquired and provided through NSF RISE-1928237. Furthermore, this work used the Delta supercomputer at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign through allocation #EES220055 from the Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Coordination Ecosystem: Services & Support (ACCESS) program, which is supported by National Science Foundation grants #2138259, #2138286, #2138307, #2137603, and #2138296. Geospatial support for this work was provided by the Polar Geospatial Center under NSF-OPP awards 1043681, 1559691, and 2129685.
