NewzIntel.com

Category: Science

  • MIL-Evening Report: Bug drugs: bacteria-based cancer therapies are finally overcoming barriers

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Justin Stebbing, Professor of Biomedical Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University

    Lightspring/Shutterstock

    Imagine a world where bacteria, typically feared for causing disease, are turned into powerful weapons against cancer. That’s exactly what some scientists are working on. And they are beginning to unravel the mechanisms for doing so, using genetically engineered bacteria to target and destroy cancer cells.

    Using bacteria to fight cancer dates back to the 1860s when William B. Coley, often called the father of immunotherapy, injected bacteria called streptococci into a young patient with inoperable bone cancer. Surprisingly, this unconventional approach led to the tumour shrinking, marking one of the first examples of immunotherapy.

    William Coley (centre), a pioneer of bug drugs.
    Wikimedia Commons

    Over the next few decades, as head of the Bone Tumour Service at Memorial Hospital in New York, Coley injected over 1,000 cancer patients with bacteria or bacterial products. These products became known as Coley’s toxins.

    Despite this early promise, progress in bacteria-based cancer therapies has been slow. The development of radiation therapy and chemotherapy overshadowed Coley’s work, and his approach faced scepticism from the medical community.

    However, modern immunology has vindicated many of Coley’s principles, showing that some cancers are indeed very sensitive to an enhanced immune system, an approach we can often capture to treat patients.

    How bacteria-based cancer therapies work

    These therapies take advantage of the unique ability of certain bacteria to proliferate inside tumours. The low oxygen, acidic and dead tissue in the area around the cancer – the tumour “microenvironment” (an area I am especially interested in) – create an ideal niche for some bacteria to thrive. Once there, bacteria can, in theory, directly kill tumour cells or activate the body’s immune responses against the cancer. However, several difficulties have hindered the widespread adoption of this approach.

    Safety concerns are paramount because introducing live bacteria into a patient’s body can cause harm. Researchers have had to carefully attenuate (weaken) bacterial strains to ensure they don’t damage healthy tissue. Additionally, controlling the bacteria’s behaviour within the tumour and preventing them from spreading to other parts of the body has been difficult.

    Bacteria live inside us, known as the microbiome, and treatments, disease and, of course, new bacteria that are introduced can interfere with this natural environment. Another significant hurdle has been our incomplete understanding of how bacteria interact with the complex tumour microenvironment and the immune system.

    Questions remain about how to optimise bacterial strains for maximum anti-tumour effects while minimising side-effects. We’re also not sure of the dose – and some approaches give one bacteria and others entire colonies and multiple bug species together.

    Recent advances

    Despite these challenges, recent advances in scientific fields, such as synthetic biology and genetic engineering, have breathed new life into the field. Scientists can now program bacteria with sophisticated functions, such as producing and delivering specific anti-cancer agents directly within tumours.

    This targeted approach could overcome some limitations of traditional cancer treatments, including side-effects and the inability to reach deeper tumour tissues.

    Emerging research suggests that bacteria-based therapies could be particularly promising for certain types of cancer. Solid tumours, especially those that have a poor blood supply and are resistant to conventional therapies, might benefit most from this approach.

    Colon cancer, ovarian cancer and metastatic breast cancer are among the high-mortality cancers that researchers are targeting with these innovative therapies.
    One area we have the best evidence for is that “bug drugs” may help the body fight cancer by interacting with routinely used immunotherapy drugs.

    Recent studies have shown encouraging results. For instance, researchers have engineered strains of E coli bacteria to deliver small tumour protein fragments to immune cells, effectively training them to recognise and attack cancer cells. In lab animals, this approach has led to tumour shrinkage and, sometimes, complete elimination.

    E coli have been used to deliver cancer tumour fragments to immune cells.
    Kateryna Kon/Shutterstock

    By exploiting these mechanisms, bacterial therapies can selectively colonise tumours while largely sparing healthy tissues, potentially overcoming limitations of conventional cancer treatments.

    Ultimately, we need human trials to give us the answer about whether this works, by controlling or eradicating cancer and, of course, if there are side-effects, its toxicity.

    In one study I worked on, we showed that part of a bacterial cell wall, when injected into patients, could safely help control melanoma – the most deadly form of skin cancer.

    While we’re still in the early stages, the potential of bacteria-based cancer therapies is becoming increasingly clear. As our understanding of tumour biology and bacterial engineering improves, we may be on the cusp of a new era in cancer treatment.

    Bacterial-based cancer therapies take advantage of several unique mechanisms to specifically target tumour cells. As a result, these therapies could offer a powerful new tool in our arsenal against cancer, working in synergy with existing treatments like immunotherapy and chemotherapy. And, as we look to the future, bacteria-based cancer therapies represent a fascinating convergence of historical insight and groundbreaking science.

    While challenges remain, the progress in this field offers hope for more effective, targeted treatments that could significantly improve outcomes for cancer patients.

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

    – ref. Bug drugs: bacteria-based cancer therapies are finally overcoming barriers – https://theconversation.com/bug-drugs-bacteria-based-cancer-therapies-are-finally-overcoming-barriers-251278

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI USA: MAINE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION NAMES ROMAYN RICHARDS AS INTERCONNECTION OMBUDSMAN

    Source: US State of Maine

    New Role Aims to Improve Maine’s Interconnection Process for Renewable Energy Projects and Help Resolve Customer Disputes

    March 17, 2025

    Hallowell, Maine – The Maine Public Utilities Commission (Commission) has named Romayn Richards to the newly created position of Interconnection Ombudsman. This position was established pursuant to 35-A M.R.S. 3474(4) and as set forth in Chapter 328 of the Commission’s rules.

    As Interconnection Ombudsman, Richards will assist customers seeking interconnection of renewable energy projects by facilitating the efficient and fair resolution of disputes between customers seeking to interconnect and investor-owned transmission and distribution utilities. Additionally, Richards will review interconnection policies to identify opportunities for reducing disputes, convene stakeholder meetings to facilitate effective communication, and track interconnection-related concerns.

    “We are pleased to add this position at the direction of the Legislature and look forward to better serving both customers and our investor-owned transmission and distribution utilities throughout the interconnection process,” said Commission Chair Philip L. Bartlett II.

    Im honored to take on this new role and look forward to working with customers, utilities, developers, and the various other stakeholders to help improve Maines interconnection process, said Richards. My goal is to facilitate a fair and effective process for resolving interconnection disputes, while ensuring clear communication exists between all parties involved throughout the process.

    Richards holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Power Engineering from Maine Maritime Academy. He has been with the Commission since November 2022 working as a Utility Analyst in the Electric and Gas Division, where he has collaborated with renewable energy interconnection experts to ensure that the Commissions small generator interconnection procedures reflect nationally recognized best practices.

    Prior to joining the Commission, Richards worked as a Distribution Planning Engineer at Central Maine Power Company. He also held roles as a Reliability Engineer throughout Maines shipbuilding and pulp and paper industries.

    For more information on Small Solar Interconnection Issues, please visit:

    CONTACT: Susan Faloon, Media Liaison CELL: 207-557-3704 EMAIL: susan.faloon@maine.gov

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: What is the rules-based order? How this global system has shifted from ‘liberal’ origins − and where it could be heading next

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Latham, Professor of Political Science, Macalester College

    Global order? Put a pin in it. Getty Images

    The phrase “international rules-based order” has long been a fixture in global politics.

    Western leaders often use it to describe a framework of rules, norms and institutions designed to guide state behavior. Advocates argue that this framework has provided the foundation for decades of stability and prosperity, while critics question its fairness and relevance in today’s multipolar world.

    But what exactly is the international rules-based order, when did it come about, and why do people increasingly hear about challenges to it today?

    The birth of a universal vision

    The rules-based international order, initially known as the “liberal international order,” emerged from the devastation of World War II. The vision was ambitious and universal: to create a global system based on liberal democratic values, market capitalism and multilateral cooperation.

    At its core, however, this project was driven by the United States, which saw itself as the unmatched leader of the new order.

    The idea was to replace the chaos of great power politics and shifting alliances with a predictable world governed by shared rules and norms.

    Central to this vision was the establishment of institutions such as the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. These institutions, alongside widely accepted norms and formalized rules, aimed to promote political cooperation, the peaceful resolution of disputes, and economic recovery for countries damaged by war.

    However, the vision of a truly universal liberal international order quickly unraveled. As the Cold War set in, the world split into two competing blocs. The Western bloc, led by the United States, adhered to the principles of the liberal international order.

    Meanwhile, the Soviet-led communist bloc established a parallel system with its own norms, rules and institutions. The Warsaw Pact provided military alignment, while the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance managed economic cooperation. The communist bloc emphasized state-led economic planning and single-party rule, rejecting the liberal order’s emphasis on democracy and free markets.

    Emerging cracks

    When the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s, the liberal international order appeared to have triumphed. The United States became the world’s sole superpower, and many former communist states integrated into Western institutions. For a brief period, the order’s universal vision seemed within reach.

    By the 1990s and early 2000s, however, new cracks began to appear.

    NATO expansion, the creation of the World Trade Organization and greater emphasis on human rights through institutions such as the International Criminal Court all closely aligned with Western liberal values. The spread of these norms and the institutions enforcing them appeared, to many outside the West, as Western ideology dressed up as universal principles.

    In response to mounting criticism, Western leaders began using the term rules-based international order instead of liberal international order. This shift aimed to emphasize procedural fairness – rules that all states, in theory, had agreed upon – rather than a system explicitly rooted in liberal ideological commitments. The focus moved from promoting specific liberal norms to maintaining stability and predictability.

    New challenges to the status quo

    China’s rise has brought these tensions into sharp relief. While China participates in many institutions underpinning the rules-based international order, it also seeks to reshape them.

    The Belt and Road Initiative and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank illustrate Beijing’s efforts to establish alternative frameworks more aligned with its interests. These initiatives challenge existing rules and norms by offering new institutional pathways for economic and political influence.

    Meanwhile, Russia’s actions in Ukraine – especially the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the 2022 invasion – challenge the order’s core principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity.

    Western inconsistencies have long undermined the credibility of the rules-based order. The 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, widely criticized for bypassing international norms and institutions, exemplified a selective application of the rules. This double standard extends toward Washington’s selective engagement with international legal bodies and its inconsistent approach to sovereignty and intervention.

    An uncertain future

    Supporters argue that the rules-based order remains vital for addressing global challenges such as climate change, pandemics and nuclear proliferation.

    However, ambiguity surrounds what these “rules” actually entail, which norms are genuinely universal, and who enforces them.

    This lack of clarity, coupled with shifting global power dynamics, complicates efforts to sustain the system.

    The future of the rules-based international order is uncertain. The shift from “liberal” to “rules-based” reflected an ongoing struggle to adapt a complex web of rules, norms and institutions to a rapidly changing international environment.

    Whether it evolves further, splinters or endures as is will depend on how well it balances fairness, inclusivity and stability in an increasingly multipolar world.

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

    – ref. What is the rules-based order? How this global system has shifted from ‘liberal’ origins − and where it could be heading next – https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-rules-based-order-how-this-global-system-has-shifted-from-liberal-origins-and-where-it-could-be-heading-next-250978

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Europe had worst measles outbreak since 1997 – new data

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Michael Head, Senior Research Fellow in Global Health, University of Southampton

    SamaraHeisz5/Shutterstock

    Europe has had the highest number of measles cases since 1997, according to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO). There were 127,350 cases in 2024 – about double the number from 2023.

    “Measles is back, and it’s a wake-up call,” says Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe. “Without high vaccination rates, there is no health security.” Last year, there were 38 deaths from measles.

    Transmission is similar to COVID, with respiratory droplets and aerosols (airborne transmission) spreading the virus between people. The infection produces a rash and fever in mild cases, and encephalitis (brain swelling), pneumonia and blindness in severe cases.

    Hospitalisation and deaths are overwhelmingly in unvaccinated people, with mortality rates in developed countries around one in 1,000 to one in 5,000 measles cases.

    Each person infected with measles will, on average, spread the virus to between 12 and 18 other people. This is more infectious than COVID. For example, someone with the omicron variant would spread the virus to around eight others.

    In 2022 the WHO had described measles as an “imminent threat in every region of the world”. The widespread impact of COVID made it harder for people to access healthcare, reducing the ability of regular health services, like vaccinations, to function properly.

    These new stark figures from WHO Europe are an inevitable consequence of lower vaccination rates. Measles is almost entirely vaccine-preventable, with two doses providing greater than 99% protection against infection. The vaccine has an excellent safety record, with severe harm being extremely rare.

    The proportion of the population that needs to be vaccinated to keep local transmission low and prevent outbreaks (so-called “herd immunity”) is around 95%.

    WHO Europe highlighted some examples of where there are clear gaps in vaccine coverage. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Romania, fewer than 80% of eligible children were vaccinated in 2023, with rates below 50% for the past five or more years. Romania had the highest number of measles cases in Europe in 2024 – an estimated 30,692 cases.

    Misinformation is the driver

    Misinformation is an important factor that reduces vaccine uptake. For example, in the UK, former physician Andrew Wakefield presented falsified data in 2002 claiming the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine caused autism. He somehow got these claims published in The Lancet – although the paper was later retracted.

    This fake scare received sustained media coverage, which resulted in lower uptake in young children at the time and was then a key factor a large measles outbreak among teenagers in England in 2012.

    The claims have spread internationally. In 2020, a US population survey found that “18% of our respondents mistakenly state that it is very or somewhat accurate to say that vaccines cause autism”.

    Sadly, misinformation about health can even be found at the highest levels of government. US President Donald Trump repeatedly made false claims during the COVID pandemic, including the suggestion that injecting disinfectant might cure COVID. In 2025, he appointed Robert F. Kennedy as the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Kennedy has long espoused anti-vaccine viewpoints, including being required to apologise in 2015 for comparing vaccination programmes to the Holocaust.

    RFK Jr. was made to apologise for comparing vaccination programmes with the Holocaust.
    Maxim Elramsisy/Shutterstock

    In a recent interview with Fox’s Sean Hannity, Kennedy said of the MMR vaccine: “It does cause deaths every year. It causes — it causes all the illnesses that measles itself causes, encephalitis and blindness, et cetera.”

    This is untrue. The Infectious Disease Society of America points out that there have been “no deaths related to the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine in healthy individuals”. This is amid two measles deaths in unvaccinated people in the US, the first such deaths since 2003. There are estimates that the measles vaccine prevented 94 million deaths globally between 1974 to 2024.

    The US National Institute for Health, one of the world’s biggest funders of health research, announced on March 10 2025 that it was axing research that aimed to understand and address vaccine hesitancy.

    This goes alongside the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) apparently planning a large study into potential associations between vaccines and autism, despite dozens of studies indicating there being no such link.

    This volatility coming from the US and elsewhere matters for Europe. Trump and the US have political supporters in Europe, so their messaging carries weight and could do harm. Anti-vaccine sentiment promoted on Facebook from within the US resulted in comments on the posts from multiple countries. The use of social media has been observed to spread misinformation internationally, for example, within Europe. Russian trolls are also involved in creating arguments about vaccines.

    There is an urgent need for outbreaks to be brought back under control and for accurate information about vaccines to be the key message in public discussions. As Dr Kluge highlights: “The measles virus never rests – and neither can we.”

    Michael Head has previously received funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Research England and the UK Department for International Development, and currently receives funding from the UK Medical Research Foundation.

    – ref. Europe had worst measles outbreak since 1997 – new data – https://theconversation.com/europe-had-worst-measles-outbreak-since-1997-new-data-252327

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Bug drugs: bacteria-based cancer therapies are finally overcoming barriers

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Justin Stebbing, Professor of Biomedical Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University

    Lightspring/Shutterstock

    Imagine a world where bacteria, typically feared for causing disease, are turned into powerful weapons against cancer. That’s exactly what some scientists are working on. And they are beginning to unravel the mechanisms for doing so, using genetically engineered bacteria to target and destroy cancer cells.

    Using bacteria to fight cancer dates back to the 1860s when William B. Coley, often called the father of immunotherapy, injected bacteria called streptococci into a young patient with inoperable bone cancer. Surprisingly, this unconventional approach led to the tumour shrinking, marking one of the first examples of immunotherapy.

    William Coley (centre), a pioneer of bug drugs.
    Wikimedia Commons

    Over the next few decades, as head of the Bone Tumour Service at Memorial Hospital in New York, Coley injected over 1,000 cancer patients with bacteria or bacterial products. These products became known as Coley’s toxins.

    Despite this early promise, progress in bacteria-based cancer therapies has been slow. The development of radiation therapy and chemotherapy overshadowed Coley’s work, and his approach faced scepticism from the medical community.

    However, modern immunology has vindicated many of Coley’s principles, showing that some cancers are indeed very sensitive to an enhanced immune system, an approach we can often capture to treat patients.

    How bacteria-based cancer therapies work

    These therapies take advantage of the unique ability of certain bacteria to proliferate inside tumours. The low oxygen, acidic and dead tissue in the area around the cancer – the tumour “microenvironment” (an area I am especially interested in) – create an ideal niche for some bacteria to thrive. Once there, bacteria can, in theory, directly kill tumour cells or activate the body’s immune responses against the cancer. However, several difficulties have hindered the widespread adoption of this approach.

    Safety concerns are paramount because introducing live bacteria into a patient’s body can cause harm. Researchers have had to carefully attenuate (weaken) bacterial strains to ensure they don’t damage healthy tissue. Additionally, controlling the bacteria’s behaviour within the tumour and preventing them from spreading to other parts of the body has been difficult.

    Bacteria live inside us, known as the microbiome, and treatments, disease and, of course, new bacteria that are introduced can interfere with this natural environment. Another significant hurdle has been our incomplete understanding of how bacteria interact with the complex tumour microenvironment and the immune system.

    Questions remain about how to optimise bacterial strains for maximum anti-tumour effects while minimising side-effects. We’re also not sure of the dose – and some approaches give one bacteria and others entire colonies and multiple bug species together.

    Recent advances

    Despite these challenges, recent advances in scientific fields, such as synthetic biology and genetic engineering, have breathed new life into the field. Scientists can now program bacteria with sophisticated functions, such as producing and delivering specific anti-cancer agents directly within tumours.

    This targeted approach could overcome some limitations of traditional cancer treatments, including side-effects and the inability to reach deeper tumour tissues.

    Emerging research suggests that bacteria-based therapies could be particularly promising for certain types of cancer. Solid tumours, especially those that have a poor blood supply and are resistant to conventional therapies, might benefit most from this approach.

    Colon cancer, ovarian cancer and metastatic breast cancer are among the high-mortality cancers that researchers are targeting with these innovative therapies.
    One area we have the best evidence for is that “bug drugs” may help the body fight cancer by interacting with routinely used immunotherapy drugs.

    Recent studies have shown encouraging results. For instance, researchers have engineered strains of E coli bacteria to deliver small tumour protein fragments to immune cells, effectively training them to recognise and attack cancer cells. In lab animals, this approach has led to tumour shrinkage and, sometimes, complete elimination.

    E coli have been used to deliver cancer tumour fragments to immune cells.
    Kateryna Kon/Shutterstock

    By exploiting these mechanisms, bacterial therapies can selectively colonise tumours while largely sparing healthy tissues, potentially overcoming limitations of conventional cancer treatments.

    Ultimately, we need human trials to give us the answer about whether this works, by controlling or eradicating cancer and, of course, if there are side-effects, its toxicity.

    In one study I worked on, we showed that part of a bacterial cell wall, when injected into patients, could safely help control melanoma – the most deadly form of skin cancer.

    While we’re still in the early stages, the potential of bacteria-based cancer therapies is becoming increasingly clear. As our understanding of tumour biology and bacterial engineering improves, we may be on the cusp of a new era in cancer treatment.

    Bacterial-based cancer therapies take advantage of several unique mechanisms to specifically target tumour cells. As a result, these therapies could offer a powerful new tool in our arsenal against cancer, working in synergy with existing treatments like immunotherapy and chemotherapy. And, as we look to the future, bacteria-based cancer therapies represent a fascinating convergence of historical insight and groundbreaking science.

    While challenges remain, the progress in this field offers hope for more effective, targeted treatments that could significantly improve outcomes for cancer patients.

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

    – ref. Bug drugs: bacteria-based cancer therapies are finally overcoming barriers – https://theconversation.com/bug-drugs-bacteria-based-cancer-therapies-are-finally-overcoming-barriers-251278

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Changes to speech and language can help detect Alzheimer’s early – here are five things to look out for

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Sarah Curtis, Doctoral Candidate, Language use in Down Syndrome and Alzheimer’s Disease, School of Arts and Humanities, Nottingham Trent University

    More people than ever are being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease New Africa/Shutterstock

    Ten million people are diagnosed with dementia worldwide each year – that’s more than ever. According to the Alzheimer’s Society approximately one million people in the UK are currently living with the disease. Studies predict this figure will rise to 1.6 million people by 2050.

    Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia and leads to a decline in memory and thinking skills. This is a physical illness that causes the brain to stop working properly and gets worse over time. Identifying the onset of Alzheimer’s early can help patients and caregivers find the right support and medical care.

    One way to detect Alzheimer’s early is by spotting changes to people’s use of language. This is because new speech problems are one of the first signs of a mental decline that could indicate the onset of this disease.

    Here are five early, speech-related signs of Alzheimer’s disease to look out for:

    1. Pauses, hesitations and vagueness

    One of the most recognisable symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease is trouble remembering specific words, which can often lead to frequent or long pauses and hesitations. When a person with Alzheimer’s is struggling to remember a word, they may talk vaguely such as saying “thing”, or describing and talking around a word. For example, if someone is having trouble remembering the word dog, they may say something like “people have them as pets … they bark … I used to have one when I was a child”.

    2. Using words with the wrong meaning

    Trouble remembering the right word can be an early feature of Alzheimer’s. People with Alzheimer’s might replace a word they are trying to say with something related to it. For example, instead of saying “dog”, they might use an animal from the same category, saying “cat” for instance. In the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, however, these changes are more likely to be related to a broader or more general category such as saying “animal” instead of “cat”.

    3. Talking about a task rather than doing it

    Someone with Alzheimer’s may struggle with completing tasks. Instead of performing a task, they may talk about their feelings toward the task, express doubts, or mention past abilities. They might say, “I’m not sure I can do this” or “I used to be good at this”, rather than discussing the task directly.

    4. Less word variety

    A more subtle indicator of Alzheimer’s disease is the tendency to use simpler language, relying on common words. People with Alzheimer’s often repeat the same verbs, nouns and adjectives instead of using a broader vocabulary. They can also use “the”, “and” or “but” frequently to connect sentences.

    5. Difficulty finding the right words

    People with Alzheimer’s can have trouble thinking of words, objects or things that belong in a group. This is sometimes used as a cognitive test for the disease. For example, those with Alzheimer’s may struggle to name things in a specific category, such as different foods, different parts of the body or words that start with the same letter. This gets harder as the disease progresses, making these tasks increasingly challenging.

    Age is the biggest risk factor for developing Alzheimer’s – the chance of developing the disease doubles every five years after the age of 65. However, one in 20 people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease are under the age of 65. This is referred to as younger – or early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.

    While forgetting words now and then is normal, persistent and worsening problems remembering words, speaking fluently, or using a variety of words could be an early sign of Alzheimer’s disease. Identifying these signs early can be particularly important for people at higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease as they age, such as people with Down Syndrome.

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

    – ref. Changes to speech and language can help detect Alzheimer’s early – here are five things to look out for – https://theconversation.com/changes-to-speech-and-language-can-help-detect-alzheimers-early-here-are-five-things-to-look-out-for-252251

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Europe faces worst measles outbreak since 1997 – new data

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Michael Head, Senior Research Fellow in Global Health, University of Southampton

    SamaraHeisz5/Shutterstock

    Europe has had the highest number of measles cases since 1997, according to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO). There were 127,350 cases in 2024 – about double the number from 2023.

    “Measles is back, and it’s a wake-up call,” says Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe. “Without high vaccination rates, there is no health security.” Last year, there were 38 deaths from measles.

    Transmission is similar to COVID, with respiratory droplets and aerosols (airborne transmission) spreading the virus between people. The infection produces a rash and fever in mild cases, and encephalitis (brain swelling), pneumonia and blindness in severe cases.

    Hospitalisation and deaths are overwhelmingly in unvaccinated people, with mortality rates in developed countries around one in 1,000 to one in 5,000 measles cases.

    Each person infected with measles will, on average, spread the virus to between 12 and 18 other people. This is more infectious than COVID. For example, someone with the omicron variant would spread the virus to around eight others.

    In 2022 the WHO had described measles as an “imminent threat in every region of the world”. The widespread impact of COVID made it harder for people to access healthcare, reducing the ability of regular health services, like vaccinations, to function properly.

    These new stark figures from WHO Europe are an inevitable consequence of lower vaccination rates. Measles is almost entirely vaccine-preventable, with two doses providing greater than 99% protection against infection. The vaccine has an excellent safety record, with severe harm being extremely rare.

    The proportion of the population that needs to be vaccinated to keep local transmission low and prevent outbreaks (so-called “herd immunity”) is around 95%.

    WHO Europe highlighted some examples of where there are clear gaps in vaccine coverage. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Romania, fewer than 80% of eligible children were vaccinated in 2023, with rates below 50% for the past five or more years. Romania had the highest number of measles cases in Europe in 2024 – an estimated 30,692 cases.

    Misinformation is the driver

    Misinformation is an important factor that reduces vaccine uptake. For example, in the UK, former physician Andrew Wakefield presented falsified data in 2002 claiming the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine caused autism. He somehow got these claims published in The Lancet – although the paper was later retracted.

    This fake scare received sustained media coverage, which resulted in lower uptake in young children at the time and was then a key factor a large measles outbreak among teenagers in England in 2012.

    The claims have spread internationally. In 2020, a US population survey found that “18% of our respondents mistakenly state that it is very or somewhat accurate to say that vaccines cause autism”.

    Sadly, misinformation about health can even be found at the highest levels of government. US President Donald Trump repeatedly made false claims during the COVID pandemic, including the suggestion that injecting disinfectant might cure COVID. In 2025, he appointed Robert F. Kennedy as the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Kennedy has long espoused anti-vaccine viewpoints, including being required to apologise in 2015 for comparing vaccination programmes to the Holocaust.

    RFK Jr. was made to apologise for comparing vaccination programmes with the Holocaust.
    Maxim Elramsisy/Shutterstock

    In a recent interview with Fox’s Sean Hannity, Kennedy said of the MMR vaccine: “It does cause deaths every year. It causes — it causes all the illnesses that measles itself causes, encephalitis and blindness, et cetera.”

    This is untrue. The Infectious Disease Society of America points out that there have been “no deaths related to the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine in healthy individuals”. This is amid two measles deaths in unvaccinated people in the US, the first such deaths since 2003. There are estimates that the measles vaccine prevented 94 million deaths globally between 1974 to 2024.

    The US National Institute for Health, one of the world’s biggest funders of health research, announced on March 10 2025 that it was axing research that aimed to understand and address vaccine hesitancy.

    This goes alongside the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) apparently planning a large study into potential associations between vaccines and autism, despite dozens of studies indicating there being no such link.

    This volatility coming from the US and elsewhere matters for Europe. Trump and the US have political supporters in Europe, so their messaging carries weight and could do harm. Anti-vaccine sentiment promoted on Facebook from within the US resulted in comments on the posts from multiple countries. The use of social media has been observed to spread misinformation internationally, for example, within Europe. Russian trolls are also involved in creating arguments about vaccines.

    There is an urgent need for outbreaks to be brought back under control and for accurate information about vaccines to be the key message in public discussions. As Dr Kluge highlights: “The measles virus never rests – and neither can we.”

    Michael Head has previously received funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Research England and the UK Department for International Development, and currently receives funding from the UK Medical Research Foundation.

    – ref. Europe faces worst measles outbreak since 1997 – new data – https://theconversation.com/europe-faces-worst-measles-outbreak-since-1997-new-data-252327

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: This is why physical affection can boost your health

    Source: Anglia Ruskin University

    By Viren Swami, Anglia Ruskin University

    In the opening scene of Love, Actually, Hugh Grant’s character says how, whenever he gets gloomy with the state of the world, he thinks about the arrivals gate at Heathrow airport. The reason is on screen: we see couples kissing, old friends embracing, children smiling and laughing as they jump into the arms of their parents.

    Airports are great places to really understand the importance of physical affection – hugging, kissing, cuddling, holding hands, or even just touching. But physical affection is ubiquitous in everyday life, too – and with good reason. Science shows that non-sexual physical affection produces more than just moments of joy – it also benefits our mental and physical health.

    Physical affection is one of the most direct and important ways that people communicate intimacy in their romantic relationships. And it seems to occur in romantic relationships all over the world, despite cross-cultural differences in ideas of love and romance.

    People in romantic relationships report more intimate physical affection than singletons. They’re also more comfortable allowing their partners to touch more of their bodies than strangers or friends. For example, most people are comfortable being touched on their thighs and abdomen by their partner, but not by other people.

    Even how we touch our partners is different to how we touch other people. When participants in one study were asked to stroke their partner, a friend, a stranger, or an artificial arm, they did so more slowly with their partner. Slower strokes may be experienced as more pleasant and erotic than quicker strokes. Even just thinking about physical affection from a partner evokes pleasant and erotic sensations.

    There is now strong evidence showing that physical contact is associated with better physical and mental health. One review of “touch interventions” – think massage – in 212 studies involving more than 13,000 participants found that physical touch benefited everything from sleep patterns to blood pressure to fatigue. Touch interventions were especially helpful in reducing pain, depression and anxiety.

    Couple’s therapy

    Before you rush off to book yourself a massage, you should know that much of the evidence suggests the strongest benefits come from physical affection with romantic partners. Several studies have found that, in couples, physical affection is associated with a range of physiological effects, including lower blood pressure and better immune responses.

    In couples, physical affection is also associated with better psychological wellbeing. One study found that couples who sleep-touched – cuddling shortly before or after sleep – felt happier and calmer in the morning, which meant they were more likely to enjoy the company of their partners.

    Physical affection – including kissing and affection after sex – is also associated with greater relationship and sexual satisfaction, and better ratings of one’s relationship overall, which in turn contribute to better psychological wellbeing. And even when conflicts do occur, hugging seems to reduce levels of negative mood in couples.

    Cuddle up, because there’s more. Receiving physical affection from a partner makes us feel psychologically stronger. One study found that women showed less activation in parts of the brain that respond to threat when holding their husband’s hand. Even just imagining touch from a partner can increase one’s willingness to take on challenging tasks.

    Another way to look at this is to examine what happens when we lose physical affection. Studies have shown that “touch deprivation” – the absence of touch – is associated with greater symptoms of depression and anxiety. Indeed, the loss of affection from others during the pandemic hit many people hard. Among couples, a lack of physical affection is associated with lower relationship satisfaction, stress, and feelings of loneliness.

    There are several ways in which physical affection provides these benefits. Affectionate touch is known to activate reward centres of the brain, which boosts our mood and promotes feelings of wellbeing. Touch also stimulates the release of oxytocin, which can strengthen social bonds and increase feelings of trust between individuals. It’s for these reasons that oxytocin is sometimes called the “cuddle chemical”.

    Physical affection also reduces levels of the stress hormone cortisol and reduces perceived pain, which suppress physiological stress systems. One study found that a 10-minute neck-and-shoulder massage from one’s partner helped lower cortisol responses, helping to regulate levels of stress.

    Psychologically, physical affection in romantic relationships is an important way to keep our emotions under control. Touching one’s partner in a caring manner helps to improve their mood and makes them feel loved, secure, and safe. As feelings of connection, trust, and belonging are strengthened through non-sexual physical signs of affection, negative effect is reduced and psychological well-being is improved.

    However, not everyone likes to be touched, even if it is by their romantic partners. Some people are “touch avoidant” – and some people may actually be apprehensive about being touched. For instance, people with avoidant attachment styles – characterised by a discomfort with emotional closeness – often have very negative views about cuddling and are more hesitant to touch their partners. Conversely, people with anxious attachment styles – characterised by a fear of abandonment – may desire more touch than they receive.

    But when couples have similar touch preferences, it can lead to greater attraction, closeness, and commitment to one another. And if you’re looking for a fun way to incorporate non-sexual physical affection into your relationships, consider home massage. One study found that couples who took turns massaging each other at home felt a deeper connection with each other, and felt more relaxed and less stressed.

    Viren Swami, Professor of Social Psychology, Anglia Ruskin University

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

    The opinions expressed in VIEWPOINT articles are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARU.

    If you wish to republish this article, please follow these guidelines: https://theconversation.com/uk/republishing-guidelines

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Christian nationalism in the U.S. is eerily reminiscent of ‘dominionist’ reformers in history

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Gary K. Waite, Professor Emeritus, Early Modern European History, University of New Brunswick

    In this etching from Dutch theologian Lambertus Hortensius’ 1614 book ‘Van den oproer der weder-dooperen,’ Anabaptists warn the residents of Amsterdam of the coming vengeance of Christ in 1535. (Lambertus Hortensius)

    Far-right politics and Christian nationalism are on the rise in North America and Europe, leading to growing concerns about what it means for human rights and democracy.

    As an historian of the demonizing language of the 16th century, I have been watching current events, around QAnon and Christian nationalist support for United States President Donald Trump with considerable trepidation.

    Why? Because we’ve seen before what happens when religious groups use government to force their beliefs and morality upon society.

    Religion scholar Bradley Onishi writes that the Christian nationalist movement known as the “New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) is one of the most influential and dangerous Christian nationalist movements in the United States” and has become “a global phenomenon.”



    Read more:
    New Apostolic Reformation evangelicals see Trump as God’s warrior in their battle to win America from satanic forces and Christianize it

    This movement has reshaped its theology in ways eerily reminiscent of the prophets of the Anabaptist kingdom of Münster of the 1530s in present-day Germany. As my scholarship has examined, those religious dissenters faced polemical demonizing by religious authorities and faced violent oppression, via torture and execution.

    Today’s Christian nationalists, however, have faced no such maltreatment. Yet, like persecuted dissenters of the 1530s, they claim divine authority to remake society.

    The Anabaptists of Münster

    A portrait of Jan van Leiden, a leader of the Münster Anabaptists, by Dutch artist Jan Muller circa 1615.
    (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

    The 16th-century Reformation had originally broken down the religious state of medieval Europe. However, Protestant leaders like Martin Luther and John Calvin quickly saw the advantage of having civic governments force conformity to their reforms, and punish dissent.

    Among those targeted were the small groups of dissenters whose Biblical interpretation, congruent with the life and teaching of Jesus, led them to follow the Gospel’s command to preach and baptize “on confession of faith” and a person’s commitment to discipleship.“ By contrast, reformers, and the church they sought to reform, “practised and required infant baptism for the entire population (usually required by law).”

    Derisively called Anabaptists, the small group of dissenters also refused to participate in government. For these practices they were persecuted, with hundreds horrifically tortured and executed.

    Driven to desperation, some Anabaptists in northwestern Europe and northern Germany looked for hope to the Westphalian city of Münster in present-day Germany.

    Here the city’s major preacher, Bernhard Rothmann, was moving the city into the Reformed Protestant camp, rather than that of their Lutheran neighbours. When large numbers of Anabaptist refugees arrived in 1533, they won the civic election and Münster became an Anabaptist city.

    The Catholic bishop of Münster had other ideas. Hiring Catholic and Lutheran troops, he laid siege to the city and things became desperate. Enraged by persecution, the Münsterite Anabaptists changed their image of Jesus from the peacemaker of the Gospels to the apocalyptic Jesus of Revelation.

    The Jesus of Anabaptist Münster

    Rothmann’s original theology was like what Calvin would develop for Geneva. What made the two cities distinct was the charismatic leadership of the Dutch Anabaptist prophet Jan Matthijs, who predicted that Christ would return on Easter Day, 1534, adding both urgency and confidence in applying God’s directives.

    Now besieged, Matthijs and Rothmann took their reform movement in a more “dominionist” direction, meaning they believed their movement should take moral, spiritual and religious control over society. They expelled anyone who refused to co-operate.

    When Christ did not return on Easter 1534 and Matthijs was killed by the besiegers, his successor, Jan van Leiden, simply postponed Christ’s return to the following Easter and declared himself a semi-divine king.

    He also abandoned the message of the Jesus of the Sermon on the Mount in favour of the vengeful Jesus of the Book of Revelation. Rothmann justified this in a tract which I translated as:

    “It was … the intention of our hearts in our baptism, that we would suffer for Christ, whatever men did to us. But it has pleased the Lord … that now we and all Christians at this time may not only ward off the violence of the godless with the sword, but also, that he has put the sword into our hands to avenge all injustice and evil over the entire world.”

    King van Leiden sent people out to spread this revolutionary message and take over other cities. This led to several militant episodes, including in Amsterdam, where in February 1535, 11 Anabaptists paraded naked through the streets proclaiming the “naked truth” of God’s anger.

    Others delivered the message while waving swords. Finally, in May, 1535 about 40 Anabaptists captured Amsterdam’s city hall. All were arrested and executed. These were the actions of desperate people inspired by their prophets’ assurances of divine authority. When, however, Münster fell at the end of June 1535, the result was massive disillusionment, a return to non-violence and increased persecution.

    This etching (circa 1629-1652) by Dutch artist Pieter de Hooch depicts Anabaptists walking naked through the streets of Amsterdam after being inspired to remove and burn their clothes in February 1535.
    (Rijksmuseum)

    Divine authority to remake society?

    This transformation of the Münster Anabaptists into vengeful militants reminds me of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). As Matthew D. Taylor has revealed, this movement sees itself as fighting a “spiritual battle” against the demonic forces opposing Trump; some participated (non-violently) in the Jan. 6, 2020 riot.

    Taylor concludes with a warning that the NAR act as “spiritual warmongers, constantly expanding the arena of spiritual warfare, mapping it onto geographical territory and divisive politics in a deeply destabilizing and antidemocratic manner.” It is as if we are listening to Rothmann’s fiery sermons again.

    One difference, of course, is that the NAR folk are not under persecution, despite what they might claim. Taylor describes this as “the Evangelical Persecution Neurosis.”

    Three of the NAR’s principle components are:

    1. A charismatic approach to Christian life that affirms God speaks directly to them. They see themselves as biblical prophets who speak God’s commands which must be implemented regardless of social impact.

    2. The Evangelical Christian belief of living in the end-times on the eve of Jesus Christ’s return for judgment. NAR preachers proclaim that while Jesus in the Gospels taught to “turn the other cheek,” they now follow the judgmental Jesus of the apocalyptical Book of Revelation and mobilize a struggle with Satan to rely on scapegoat ideology.

    3. Derived from a group of Reformed or Calvinist theologians called “Christian Reconstructionists,” and building on Calvin’s theology of the “godly city,” they pursue a broader “dominionist” rationale to take over all of society for Christ. Believing one is living in the end-times means that society must be taken over and cleansed immediately, adding to urgency.



    Read more:
    I went to CPAC as an anthropologist to see how Trump supporters are feeling − for them, a ‘golden age’ has begun

    Believers, drawing on these three beliefs, derive an assurance they speak with God’s voice. This was the case for the Münster Anabaptists, and now similarly, for the NAR. As the example of the Münster Anabaptists suggests, we’ve seen this many times before throughout history, and it doesn’t end well.

    A 1685 engraving by Dutch poet and engraver Jan Luyken depicting the 1571 burning of Anabaptist woman Anneken Hendriks from Thieleman van Braght’s 1660 book ‘The Bloody Theatre or Martyrs Mirror.’
    (Allard Pierson Museum)

    There have been many more recent episodes of Christian groups claiming divine authority to remake society. Like Jan van Leiden, those in the NAR or who concur with its theology have recast the Jesus of the Gospels, and U.S. President Donald Trump, in apocalyptic terms.

    U.S. congresswoman Lauren Boebert, for example, who has been described as a Christian nationalist and is a strong gun advocate, is among those who say God anointed Trump to the presidency.

    This gives a gloss of divine approval for Trump’s autocratic goals. As authoritarianism and Christian nationalism rises, the fusion of charismatic authority with Reformed Protestant certitude and end-times fervour continues to attract followers.

    Gary K. Waite has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

    – ref. Christian nationalism in the U.S. is eerily reminiscent of ‘dominionist’ reformers in history – https://theconversation.com/christian-nationalism-in-the-u-s-is-eerily-reminiscent-of-dominionist-reformers-in-history-250600

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Fungi are among the planet’s most important organisms — yet they continue to be overlooked in conservation strategies

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Jonathan Cazabonne, Doctorant en mycologie et écologie des vieilles forêts, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT)

    Fungi are among the most important organisms on Earth. Even though most of the world’s described 157,000 fungal species are only visible with a microscope, these organisms are essential to our ecosystems, our societies and economies.

    They break down organic matter and interact with all groups of organisms — including other fungi. They’re key actors in forest carbon storage, nutrient cycling, as well as plant growth and resistance to environmental stress.

    Fungi are also important to human cultures — including as a source of food, medicine and art. Economically, fungi also support a growing economy centred around mycotourism — with a growing number of travellers visiting Canada and Spain each year to forage for wild mushrooms.



    Read more:
    Rural communities in Québec are embracing ‘mushroom tourism’ to boost local economies

    All the benefits fungi provide to humans are estimated to be worth the equivalent of US$54.57 trillion. This is why it’s an understatement to say that the world’s ecosystems and human societies are shaped by fungi.

    And yet fungi continue to be an important but overlooked element of conservation strategies.

    Why fungi are forgotten

    Conservation efforts have long focused on protecting well-studied animals and plants. This is reflected in the number of species that have been assigned a conservation status by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

    Around 84 per cent of known species of vertebrates have received an IUCN conservation status. But just 0.5 per cent of all described fungi — 818 fungal species — are currently present on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Considering scientists estimate that there could be around 2.5 million fungal species in the world — of which we currently only know about six per cent of them — this means just 0.03 per cent of all fungi have been assigned a conservation status.

    Several factors explain this alarming reality.

    Fungi are difficult to study in both nature and under experimental conditions. This is because of many species’ microscopic size, their short lifespan and the hidden habitats they call home — such as soils, the tissues of other organisms and dung deposits.

    Many species of fungi are difficult to study because of their microscopic size.
    (Shutterstock)

    Fungi are also considered “uncharismatic” — meaning they don’t have the level of human appeal that some other species have. Much of their diversity is cryptic, as well. This means that while many fungi were once considered to be a single species, in reality they’re made up of multiple species that may look similar but are genetically distinct from one another. Because of this, conservation projects for fungi are poorly funded and do not easily capture public interest.

    Protecting the unknown

    In recent years, there’s been momentum within the scientific community to recognise fungi as a distinct kingdom within conservation strategies — one that’s on equal footing with animals and plants.

    A significant milestone in this movement has been the adoption of the term “funga,” which mirrors “fauna” and “flora”. This designates the fungal diversity within a given environment or habitat.

    Another important advancement was the recent pledge for fungal conservation that was presented at the 2024 Conference of Parties (COP16) in Colombia. This pledge urged parties to make fungal conservation a priority given fungi are central to achieving the biodiversity targets set out by the Kunming-Montréal Global Biodiversity Framework.

    More local initiatives are also emerging. In Québec, over 70 mycologists and biologists signed an opinion letter encouraging the government to integrate fungi into its legislative framework.

    Such progress is not trivial and may help correct misconceptions about fungi that continue to be present among the public, economic sectors and policymakers. For example, the misconception that fungi are plants is something that still persists to this day. Allowing this misconception to continue being perpetuated is harmful to the field of mycology, and may be preventing it from becoming a standalone discipline that deserves dedicated funding and specialists.

    Still, there’s much we don’t know about these unique, important organisms. And in order for us to be able to protect and preserve the planet’s fungi, we need to begin by formally identifying areas where knowledge is lacking and close these gaps.

    Last year, researchers used Laboulbeniomycetes — a class of poorly understood microfungi — as a case study to understand what biodiversity and conservation shortfalls continue to affect funga. This group of fungi includes species that rely on arthropods to disperse their spores or act as hosts for them. Many of these fungi live as minute parasites on the surface of insects such as cockroaches and ladybirds.

    The case study uncovered four major biodiversity shortfalls that are undermining the conservation of funga. These include knowledge gaps in species diversity, distribution, conservation assessments and species persistence.

    Part of conservation

    Failing to protect fungi means, by extension, failing to protect the roles they play in our ecosystems and daily lives.

    This is especially timely, as fungi, like animals and plants, are also facing numerous threats. Habitat degradation, pollution, invasive species and climate change may all increase their risks of extinction.

    And, as recently exemplified in vertebrates, many undescribed species of fungi may be even more at peril than we might know. This is because they’re most likely to be found in remote geographical regions — such as tropical rainforests — and thus heavily susceptible to human-induced changes.

    A key priority to better integrate fungi into conservation biology is to accumulate data on species diversity. But in order to accumulate data and understand how we can better protect fungal species worldwide, we need to fund research on fungi and make mycology a more attractive field for young scientists.

    One thing remains certain: the more we explore, the more we realise just how little we know.

    Jonathan Cazabonne is financially supported by a B2X doctoral research fellowship from the Fonds de Recherche du Québec – Nature et technologies (FRQNT).

    Danny Haelewaters receives funding from the Czech Academy of Sciences (Lumina Quaeruntur Fellowship LQ200962501).

    – ref. Fungi are among the planet’s most important organisms — yet they continue to be overlooked in conservation strategies – https://theconversation.com/fungi-are-among-the-planets-most-important-organisms-yet-they-continue-to-be-overlooked-in-conservation-strategies-250483

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Youth are charting new freshwater futures by learning from the water on the water

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Andrea Reid, Assistant Professor, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia

    The future of freshwater is increasingly in jeopardy across Canada and around the world.

    Lakes, rivers and wetlands face numerous threats, from climate change to a range of harmful pollutants. Today, one-quarter of freshwater fauna are at risk of extinction.

    As climate change and other stressors worsen, ecological grief is increasingly recognized as a legitimate response to the losses of valued species and ecosystems.

    This grief poses a serious threat to mental health and well-being for many, with young people often feeling an outsized burden. While young people have contributed little to these challenges over their lifetimes, they face bearing the brunt of intensifying climate change impacts.

    Similarly, this existential angst is reportedly heightened among marginalized groups. This is often true for Indigenous Peoples, who are frequently the least responsible for greenhouse gas emissions that warm the planet yet face higher climate risk or vulnerability to the direct consequences of climate change.

    What we need are adaptive approaches that address this grief and reconnect people with the natural world at this time of profound disconnection. Research about ecological grief points to approaches that centre social support, deep listening and sensitivity, as well as valuing an ethic of care as key elements. This is ultimately about fostering community and interconnectedness in relationships.

    As freshwater scientists, we are committed to contributing toward a better future for fresh waters. This is what led us to create a registered charity, Riparia, where we work to unite these concerns and approaches by facilitating free land-based learning programs for young people, especially Indigenous young women.

    These programs are geared towards facing this climate-uncertain future together and the profound need for improved stewardship of freshwater ecosystems.

    Why land-based learning

    Land-based learning is, by definition, experiential and rooted in local culture and history. It is a mode of education that arises from connecting learners with the land, by spending time on the land, in ways that engage minds, bodies, hearts and spirits.

    This approach has always been at the core of Indigenous learning. While conventional classrooms are often a far cry from these lived experiences, there is growing interest in breaking out of these confines and engaging in active land-based learning across the continent.

    In our time contributing towards land-based learning initiatives over the last decade, we have observed numerous benefits. There’s a saying that numbers numb and stories stick; we find that the voices of youth who participated in land-based learning best convey its meaning and impact.

    Among other benefits, land-based learning has fostered a heightened sense of connection to the land and water, spurred a deep drive to steward and care for these systems and built a community of practice to achieve that. In the words of youth aged 13-18 who participated in Riparia programs between 2019-2024:

    “I could feel my point of view of the world changing. In every way. I felt as though I had become closer to the land.”

    “This experience changed my view on how we should be more active in the environment and protect our water.”

    “Being with these girls reassured me that our environment’s future isn’t something we have to take on alone and it will be much easier if we do it together.”

    Together, our experiences with Riparia and the growing body of literature highlighting beneficial outcomes of land-based learning, tell us that these approaches can play an important role in fostering the community of care required to chart new freshwater futures.

    Learning that centres Indigenous perspectives

    Throughout the history of outdoor education — as an organized approach to learning in western systems — harmful stereotypes have been reproduced and Indigenous knowledge systems have been appropriated.

    How many recall attending youth camps bearing the names of Indigenous Peoples or places? Were they involved in any way? Was there regard for whose land this is?

    How many have participated in journey “wilderness”-based experiences? Many such experiences have often perpetuated western ideas of a “pristine” or “wild” “nature,” free from human influence. This point of view is in line with the doctrines of terra nullius (Latin for “nobody’s land”) and aqua nullius (“nobody’s water”) used to justify European colonization of Indigenous lands and waters.



    Read more:
    Terra nullius has been overturned. Now we must reverse aqua nullius and return water rights to First Nations people

    What we need is learning that recognizes that Indigenous Peoples, languages and cultures are alive and evolve in close relationship with the land.

    We also need learning to be accessible so it can play a foundational role building the community of care that humans and fresh waters now require.

    Little programming — from youth outdoor education through university — is built with Indigenous learners in mind. Few initiatives are offered at no cost to participating youth and their families. Women remain underrepresented in existing outdoor education initiatives because of cultural and social inequalities.

    What we can do

    As scientists supporting youth engagement through Riparia, we join the growing movement to break down these specific barriers to access.

    You can also contribute to this movement by helping connect young people in your life to existing youth engagement programs and offering support through relevant local ways or donations.

    But youth are not the only ones who need connection to land and water. We all deal with eco-grief. We all need water. And we all need to work together to chart new futures. Spending time in and on the water together is an important step in this direction. This video offers an opportunity to dive into what land-based learning with, in, and for fresh waters can look like and feel like.

    As a 15-year-old Kanien’kehá:ka participant in a Riparia 2019 program shared with us: “Water is the most important thing, it’s the thing we all have in common.”

    Dr. Andrea Reid co-directs Riparia from her role as an Assistant Professor at The University of British Columbia. She is a Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Indigenous Fisheries Science.

    Dr. Dalal Hanna co-directs Riparia from her position as an assistant professor at Carleton University, where she leads the Watershed Stewardship Research Collaborative.

    – ref. Youth are charting new freshwater futures by learning from the water on the water – https://theconversation.com/youth-are-charting-new-freshwater-futures-by-learning-from-the-water-on-the-water-250987

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Canada’s local food system faces major roadblocks without urgent policy changes

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Rosie Kerr, Research Associate, Sustainable Food Systems Lab, Lakehead University

    As Canada’s trade conflict with the United States escalates, governments are encouraging Canadians to buy local to support the country’s economic, social and environmental stability and independence.

    But while enthusiasm in purchasing locally made food is growing, actually identifying Canadian products in grocery stores is often confusing. Decades of free trade have deeply integrated Canada’s food supply chains with the U.S., making it difficult to determine what is actually local.



    Read more:
    Trump tariffs have sparked a ‘Buy Canadian’ surge, but keeping the trend alive faces hurdles

    Even for Canadian-owned companies, most food products are enmeshed in global supply chains and often contain a mix of Canadian and foreign ingredients.

    Canada’s beef industry is a striking example of this. Two multinational corporations — American-owned Cargill and Brazilian-owned JBS — process more than 95 per cent of beef produced in Canada. This means that even if some of the food consumers purchase is labelled as Canadian-owned, the economic benefit may be flowing outside the country

    As food systems researchers and practitioners who have explored ways for Canadians to feed themselves in equitable and sustainable ways, it has become clear that local food systems lack the infrastructure and supply to meet increasing demand.

    What’s holding local food systems back?

    In collaboration with Sustain, an Ontario-wide network that promotes healthy, just and sustainable food and farming, we conducted a study to understand the policy priorities of organizations and businesses working to build local food economies in regions across the province.

    Ontario already has a vibrant network of farmers, organizations and food entrepreneurs ready to meet local food demand. However, systemic challenges continue to hinder their ability to scale up production and distribution.

    To better understand how to support Ontario’s food system, we surveyed over 90 organizations working in different food-related sectors.

    Through this research, we developed a series of policy reports focused on supporting aspiring farmers, protecting land for food production and strengthening local food systems.

    Our findings show that regulatory changes to support small- and medium-sized enterprises and key investments could remove barriers and allow local food economies to flourish.

    Smaller farms struggling to survive

    Our study identified several barriers holding back Ontario’s local food economy. The first set of barriers are on the supply side. A strong local food system depends on a strong network of farmers. However, many small- and medium-sized farms that supply local markets face disproportionate barriers that threaten their survival.

    Many current government policies favour large-scale food production, making it difficult for smaller farmers to flourish.

    Compounding the issue is Canada’s looming farm succession crisis. More than 40 per cent of farmers in Canada are expected to retire by 2033, yet many aspiring farmers cannot afford to purchase farms or access start-up capital. When farmers can’t afford land, it’s often sold for non-agriculture uses.

    To tackle these barriers, our study calls for provincially supported low-interest loan programs to finance down-payments, construction and equipment. Strengthening policies to protect farmland from urban sprawl, among other strategies, is also essential, as is expanding access to public land for local, ecological food production.

    Processing, distribution bottlenecks

    The second set of barriers we identified affect the farm-to-plate process. Small- and medium- sized farmers need better access to retail opportunities to sell fresh produce, along with the infrastructure to process raw foods into products like flour, packaged meats, jams, sauces and pickles.

    This is especially evident in Ontario’s meat-processing sector, where a shortage of local abattoirs has led to long wait times.

    To address these issues, our study recommends increased investment in regional food hubs. Food hubs are shared-use facilities that manage the aggregation, processing and distribution of food products from local and regional producers, giving them better access to markets.

    These hubs are essential to meeting the growing demand coming for sustainable, local food from businesses, public institutions and school food programs. But they are only part of the picture.

    We also identified funding opportunities that could bolster local food economies. These include expanding Ontario’s Fair Finance Fund to provide more financing options for regional food enterprises and supporting new abattoirs through the expansion of the Meat Processors Capacity Improvement Initiative.

    A co-ordinated strategy is needed

    Ontario manufacturers, retailers and farmers have all shown a willingness to expand local food production, but they need better support from policymakers to make it viable. There must be policies in place to support local food production and processing, remove key barriers and prioritize much-needed investments.

    Across Canada, other provinces and territories face similar challenges in building strong local food networks. Most of the recommendations we heard are similarly outlined across different regions.

    With consumer interest in local food on the rise, this is a critical moment for governments at all levels to improve avenues for new farmers, invest in processing and storage facilities and build local distribution networks — all essential to building a robust local food system.

    Moe Garahan, a board member of Sustain Ontario, co-authored this article.

    Rosie Kerr receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

    Charles Z. Levkoe receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Government of Ontario.

    Leigh Potvin receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Ontario Council for Articulation and Transfer, the Government of Nova Scotia, and the University of the Arctic.

    – ref. Canada’s local food system faces major roadblocks without urgent policy changes – https://theconversation.com/canadas-local-food-system-faces-major-roadblocks-without-urgent-policy-changes-251578

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Government of Saskatchewan Extends 4R Nutrient Stewardship Agreement with Fertilizer Canada

    Source: Government of Canada regional news

    Released on March 17, 2025

    The Government of Saskatchewan has renewed its ongoing collaboration with Fertilizer Canada to support education, training and expansion regarding 4R Nutrient Stewardship in the province through the signing of a new three-year Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC).

    Extending the joint effort based on previous agreements, the Ministry of Agriculture will work with Fertilizer Canada to continue advancing the implementation of 4R Nutrient Stewardship in Saskatchewan. This approach to crop nutrient management and environmental stewardship follows the four “Rs” of fertilizer use: Right Source @ Right Rate, Right Time, Right Place.

    “Healthy soil means healthy crops, and that is part of the reason Saskatchewan enjoys a reputation as a major global producer of quality agri-food products,” Agriculture Minister Daryl Harrison said. “The 4R approach is fundamental to a responsible, sustainable agriculture industry driven by producers who set the bar for best practices, and we are very pleased to continue working with Fertilizer Canada to enhance 4R Nutrient Stewardship in our province.”

    “Saskatchewan is a cornerstone of Canadian agriculture, demonstrating industry leadership through its commitment to responsible nutrient management and science-based farming practices,” Fertilizer Canada Interim President and CEO Catherine King said. “With 40 per cent of Canada’s cropland, the province is a key driver of the national economy. The Government of Saskatchewan’s commitment to the 4R Nutrient Stewardship framework reflects its dedication to balancing environmental responsibility with economic growth in agriculture, strengthening Canada’s global competitiveness. Fertilizer Canada values this strong partnership and the province’s ongoing efforts to promote best practices on the farm, ensuring the long-term success of the agricultural sector.”

    Areas of collaboration between the Ministry of Agriculture and Fertilizer Canada outlined in the new agreement focus on progress toward achieving shared objectives, including data and information sharing and knowledge transfer activities. The ministry has promoted 4R practices to a broad audience of producers and industry through events such as the Crop Diagnostic School and the Agronomy Research Update, as well as publications, webinars and research and demonstration initiatives. The percentage of agricultural land in Saskatchewan under a 4R stewardship plan has experienced steady growth, increasing by over 20 per cent from 2022 to 2023.

    Pursuant to the agreement, the ministry and Fertilizer Canada have co-chair roles on the 4R Nutrient Stewardship Steering Committee, which includes representation from industry partners – the Canadian Association of Agri-Retailers, Canola Council of Canada, Ducks Unlimited Canada, the Prairie Certified Crop Adviser Board, and Agriculture-Applied Research Management (Agri-ARM) sites -and the University of Saskatchewan.

    More information on 4R Nutrient Stewardship and sustainable farming practices in Saskatchewan is available at https://fertilizercanada.ca/our-focus/stewardship/4rs-across-canada/saskatchewan/. 

    -30-

    For more information, contact:

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: 17 March 2025 News release Nearly 50 million people sign up call for clean air action for better health

    Source: World Health Organisation

    In an unprecedented show of unity, more than 47 million health professionals, patients, advocates, representatives from civil society organizations, and individuals worldwide have signed a resounding call for urgent action to reduce air pollution and to protect people’s health from its devastating impacts.

    Air pollution is one of the biggest environmental threats to human health and a major contributor to climate change. Around 7 million people die from air pollution each year, mainly from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.

    This global call to action, spearheaded by the World Health Organization (WHO) and international health organizations will be presented at the Second Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health, set to take place in Cartagena, Colombia, on 25–27 March 2025.

    “Forty-seven million people from the health community have issued a clarion call for urgent, bold, science-driven action on air pollution, and their voices must be heard,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “Around the world, WHO is supporting countries to implement evidence-based tools to address air pollution and prevent the disease it causes. At the second WHO Conference on Air Pollution and Health in Cartagena, we hope to see concrete commitments from countries to implement those tools and save lives.”

    Hosted by WHO and the Government of Colombia, the conference will bring together political leaders, representatives from civil society organizations, UN agencies and academia to drive a global clean air agenda which promises benefits for public health, climate change response and sustainable development, both globally and locally.

    Recognizing the heavy toll of air pollution, the health community is calling on governments to take immediate and ambitious steps to reduce emissions, enforce stricter air quality standards, and transition to cleaner energy sources, unlocking multiple benefits for the health of people and planet. The topic will also be a focus ahead of the 2025 UN High-Level Meeting on noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), where world leaders will be called upon to take stronger action.

    Key facts:

    • Air pollution in both cities and rural areas generates fine particulate matter which results in NCDs such as stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, chronic respiratory diseases as well as acute conditions such as pneumonia.  
    • Around 2.1 billion people are exposed to dangerous levels of household air pollution, while using polluting open fires or stoves for cooking.
    • Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), are among the leading causes of death, many are linked to air pollution exposure. The global NCD epidemic claims 41 million lives annually. Addressing air pollution is a key strategy in reducing the burden of NCDs and improving global health.
    • Sources of air pollution are varied and context-specific. The major pollution sources include polluting energy sources used in homes, energy production, industrial emissions, transport, agriculture, waste as well as natural sources such as desert and dust storms or wildfires.

    Improving air quality by implementing well-known and available solutions will prevent premature deaths, improve health, drive sustainable economic development, and mitigate climate change.

    At the conference, countries are expected to commit to concrete measures, including setting and enforcing stronger air quality standards aligned with the WHO Global Air Quality Guidelines. WHO, in collaboration with the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), has unveiled the updated 2025 Air Quality Standards database last month, which now includes data from approximately 140 countries, showcasing their air pollution regulatory efforts aimed at protecting public health.

    “While the challenge is immense, progress is possible. Many cities and countries have significantly improved air quality by enforcing stricter pollution limits,” said Dr Maria Neira, WHO Director for Environment, Climate Change and Health. “Clean air is not a privilege; it is a human right as recognized by the UN General Assembly. We need to work together urgently to scale up transitioning from coal-fired power to renewable energy, expanding public and sustainable transport, establishing low-emission zones in cities and promoting clean energy for cooking and solar power in healthcare facilities.”

    The commitments made at the upcoming Second Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health and the UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs will play a crucial role in paving the way for a healthier, more sustainable future for all. Now is the time to take the call and step up efforts for cleaner air, everywhere.

    For interviews, please contact WHO Media Team.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI: Form 8.3 – Life Science REIT Plc

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    8.3

    PUBLIC OPENING POSITION DISCLOSURE/DEALING DISCLOSURE BY
    A PERSON WITH INTERESTS IN RELEVANT SECURITIES REPRESENTING 1% OR MORE
    Rule 8.3 of the Takeover Code (the “Code”)

    1.        KEY INFORMATION

    (a)   Full name of discloser: Rathbones Group Plc
    (b)   Owner or controller of interests and short positions disclosed, if different from 1(a):
            The naming of nominee or vehicle companies is insufficient. For a trust, the trustee(s), settlor and beneficiaries must be named.    		  
    (c)   Name of offeror/offeree in relation to whose relevant securities this form relates:
            Use a separate form for each offeror/offeree    		 Life Science REIT Plc
    (d)   If an exempt fund manager connected with an offeror/offeree, state this and specify identity of offeror/offeree:  
    (e)   Date position held/dealing undertaken:
            For an opening position disclosure, state the latest practicable date prior to the disclosure    		 14/03/2025
    (f)   In addition to the company in 1(c) above, is the discloser making disclosures in respect of any other party to the offer?
            If it is a cash offer or possible cash offer, state “N/A”    		 No

    2.        POSITIONS OF THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE

    If there are positions or rights to subscribe to disclose in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 2(a) or (b) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security.

    (a)      Interests and short positions in the relevant securities of the offeror or offeree to which the disclosure relates following the dealing (if any)

    Class of relevant security: 1p Ord
      Interests Short positions
      Number % Number %
    (1)   Relevant securities owned and/or controlled: 52,962,363 15.13%    
    (2)   Cash-settled derivatives:        
    (3)   Stock-settled derivatives (including options) and agreements to purchase/sell:        

            TOTAL:

    		 52,962,363 15.13%    

    All interests and all short positions should be disclosed.

    Details of any open stock-settled derivative positions (including traded options), or agreements to purchase or sell relevant securities, should be given on a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions).

    (b)      Rights to subscribe for new securities (including directors’ and other employee options)

    Class of relevant security in relation to which subscription right exists:  
    Details, including nature of the rights concerned and relevant percentages:  

    3.        DEALINGS (IF ANY) BY THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE

    Where there have been dealings in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 3(a), (b), (c) or (d) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security dealt in.

    The currency of all prices and other monetary amounts should be stated.

    (a)        Purchases and sales

    Class of relevant security Purchase/sale Number of securities Price per unit
           

    (b)        Cash-settled derivative transactions

    Class of relevant security Product description
    e.g. CFD    		 Nature of dealing
    e.g. opening/closing a long/short position, increasing/reducing a long/short position    		 Number of reference securities Price per unit
             

    (c)        Stock-settled derivative transactions (including options)

    (i)        Writing, selling, purchasing or varying

    Class of relevant security Product description e.g. call option Writing, purchasing, selling, varying etc. Number of securities to which option relates Exercise price per unit Type
    e.g. American, European etc.    		 Expiry date Option money paid/ received per unit
                   

    (ii)        Exercise

    Class of relevant security Product description
    e.g. call option    		 Exercising/ exercised against Number of securities Exercise price per unit
             

    (d)        Other dealings (including subscribing for new securities)

    Class of relevant security Nature of dealing
    e.g. subscription, conversion    		 Details Price per unit (if applicable)
           

    4.        OTHER INFORMATION

    (a)        Indemnity and other dealing arrangements

    Details of any indemnity or option arrangement, or any agreement or understanding, formal or informal, relating to relevant securities which may be an inducement to deal or refrain from dealing entered into by the person making the disclosure and any party to the offer or any person acting in concert with a party to the offer:
    Irrevocable commitments and letters of intent should not be included. If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state “none”
    None

    (b)        Agreements, arrangements or understandings relating to options or derivatives

    Details of any agreement, arrangement or understanding, formal or informal, between the person making the disclosure and any other person relating to:
    (i)   the voting rights of any relevant securities under any option; or
    (ii)   the voting rights or future acquisition or disposal of any relevant securities to which any derivative is referenced:
    If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state “none”
    None

    (c)        Attachments

    Is a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions) attached? No
    Date of disclosure: 17/03/2025
    Contact name: Chinwe Enyi – Compliance Department
    Telephone number: 0151 243 7053

    Public disclosures under Rule 8 of the Code must be made to a Regulatory Information Service.

    The Panel’s Market Surveillance Unit is available for consultation in relation to the Code’s disclosure requirements on +44 (0)20 7638 0129.

    The Code can be viewed on the Panel’s website at.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Amway’s advertising campaigns focus on health, sustainability and scientific innovation to engage diverse audiences, reveals GlobalData

    Source: GlobalData

    Amway’s advertising campaigns focus on health, sustainability and scientific innovation to engage diverse audiences, reveals GlobalData

    Posted in Business Fundamentals

    Amway’s YouTube advertising campaigns from December 2024 to February 2025 adopted a research-driven approach, emphasizing wellness, scientific validation, and consumer lifestyle integration. By focusing on health-conscious choices, these ads highlight product functionality, natural ingredients, and sustainable practices. The strategy aims to engage diverse audiences by addressing personal care, nutrition, and performance needs while keeping up with changing market trends, reveals the Global Ads Platform of GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

    Sagar Kishor, Ads Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Amway’s campaigns cater to specific consumer needs, with Satinique addressing hair and scalp health, Nutrilite ensuring ingredient traceability, and XS Energy appealing to active individuals with its sugar-free formula. The strategy integrates the fusion of nature and science, positioning the brand as a provider of effective and sustainable wellness solutions. The advertisements strategically use visually appealing demonstrations and research-backed messaging to build trust and appeal to a wide range of consumers.”

    GlobalData’s Global Ads Platform reveals the key focus areas of Amway’s advertisements below:

    Botanical Ingredient Integration: Amway’s ads for Satinique and Nutrilite emphasize plant-based ingredients like pomegranate and rosemary, aligning with the growing demand for naturally derived, sustainable products. This strategy positions the brand as eco-conscious, catering to health and beauty consumers seeking natural, effective solutions.

    Scientific Credibility and Innovation: The inclusion of PhytoJuve and PhytoLiposome underscores a data-driven approach, emphasizing advancements in formulation development. By highlighting these processes, the products are advertised as rigorously tested solutions, appealing to consumers who prioritize research-backed efficacy and product transparency.

    Targeted Scalp and Hair Solutions: Satinique ads highlight solutions for dandruff, hair fall, and hydration, framing scalp care as an extension of skincare. This approach moves beyond cosmetic appeal, emphasizing long-term scalp health in line with evolving consumer preferences and dermatological care trends.

    Holistic Wellness Framework: Nutrilite’s Begin 30 program structures health into four key areas: nutrition, hydration, movement, and mindfulness. By presenting measurable benefits in the advertisement such as energy improvement and weight management, it appeals to the audience who is looking for a structured approach to wellness.

    Performance and Energy Boost: XS Energy + Burn positions itself as a zero-sugar energy solution in the ads, incorporating EGCG, ginger extract, and B-vitamins. The focus on metabolic support and sustained energy caters to active consumers looking for functional beverages aligned with performance and lifestyle needs.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI: University of Arizona Student Shares Educational and Career Updates After Receiving SBB Research Group Foundation STEM Scholarship

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    CHICAGO, March 17, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The SBB Research Group Foundation is proud to announce the continued success of Emerald Bell after receiving the STEM Scholarship in 2024. The $2,500 award empowers students to create value for society by pursuing higher learning through interdisciplinary combinations of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM).

    Emerald Bell received the SBB Research Group Foundation STEM Scholarship during her fourth year at the University of Arizona to pursue a graduate degree in nursing.

    Since receiving the scholarship, Bell won her university’s Outstanding PhD Dissertation Award at her graduation. She continues to work in the Herbst-Kralovetz lab and plans to publish the findings from her dissertation.

    “Emerald is an incredible student, and we are so happy to hear that she has finished her program and was recognized for her dissertation. We wish her the best in her career,” said Matt Aven, co-founder and board member of the SBB Research Group Foundation.

    The SBB Research Group Foundation is honored to have played a role in Bell’s success. We look forward to continuing to support outstanding students in STEM and helping them achieve their full potential.

    For eligibility criteria and more information on the Foundation’s STEM scholarship, please visit http://www.sbbscholarship.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 sponsors the SBB Research Group Foundation STEM Scholarship, supporting students pursuing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) degrees. In addition to its scholarship program, the Foundation provides grants to support ambitious organizations solving unmet needs with thoughtful, long-term strategies

    Contact: Erin Noonan
    Organization: SBB Research Group Foundation
    Email: scholarship@sbbrg.org
    Address: 450 Skokie Blvd, Building 600, Northbrook, IL 60062 United States
    Phone: 1-847-656-1111
    Website: https://www.sbbscholarship.com/

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: SPbGASU named the winning team of the qualifying round of the International Engineering Championship “CASE-IN”

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

    Source: Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering – Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering – Team “C-Key” (Ekaterina Buryak, Alexandra Leonova, Elizaveta Petrova, Alexey Khimichev, Sofia Tarkhanova, Denis Lebedev, Alexander Katsyuba) and Kirill Pivovarov

    The results of the selection round of the student league of the International Engineering Championship “CASE-IN” in the direction of “Architecture, design, construction and housing and public utilities” were summed up at SPbGASU. The defense of case solutions and the award ceremony for the winners took place on March 12.

    CASE-IN was created 13 years ago to promote engineering and technical education and to train future highly qualified specialists. The organizers of the championship are the Nadezhnaya Smena Foundation, the Youth Forum of Mining Leaders Non-Commercial Partnership, AstraLogika LLC, and the presidential platform Russia – the Land of Opportunities. The championship is included in the Science of Winning initiative of the Decade of Science and Technology in Russia.

    According to Marina Malyutina, Vice-Rector for Youth Policy, SPbGASU has been participating in CASE-IN since 2019. According to Marina Viktorovna, this is a fundamental and important decision for an engineering university. Students show good results, the number of those wishing to participate is growing year after year. In the future, they are offered practice, internship, and employment. Previously, the university participated in the “Engineering Design” competency, and the tasks were not entirely specialized. Now, thanks to the Metropolis company, SPbGASU students have the opportunity to apply the specialized knowledge they receive at the university.

    Artem Korolev, director of the Nadezhnaya Smena charity foundation and founder of the CASE-IN International Engineering Championship, shared his plans for the 13th season in a video message: this year, there will be school, student, and special leagues. 280 schools are expected to participate in the school league. More than 220 universities are expected in the student league, 80 of which will host the in-person selection round. A total of 18,500 participants are expected – schoolchildren, students, young professionals, experts, mentors, and curators. The theme of the 13th season is Technological Innovations.

    The first deputy general director of the autonomous non-profit organization “Russia – Land of Opportunities” Gennady Guryanov spoke about the successes of the project in a video message: during its existence, the project has united more than 120 thousand schoolchildren, students and young professionals from Russia and neighboring countries. Since 2019, together with the presidential platform “Russia – Land of Opportunities”, the project provides young people with opportunities for personal, professional and career growth.

    Eight teams spent 21 days solving a case from Metropolis, the initiator of the direction and strategic partner of the championship. Each team brought together students from different directions. Under the guidance of mentors, future architects, builders, and designers developed a hotel and tourist complex in a natural area. The results of their work were assessed by an expert commission, which included representatives of Metropolis and SPbGASU.

    The architectural and design solutions, power supply systems, heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, general requirements (technology, fire safety, energy efficiency, automation systems) were assessed. The speakers’ fluency in professional terminology, their ability to express and justify their opinions, the clarity and understandability of the slide structure, the logicality of their answers to questions, etc. were also taken into account. After the defenses, the experts provided targeted feedback to the teams assigned to them: they highlighted strengths and growth areas, provided comments and advice on improving the solution.

    Andrey Surovenkov and Olga Bochkareva

    Olga Bochkareva, a member of the expert committee, deputy dean of the Faculty of Economics and Management for academic work, associate professor of the Department of Construction Management, believes that the championship gave students the opportunity to “pump up” their knowledge in practice, to feel that the entire project depends on the joint work. In addition, the competition showed that students of technical specialties need to learn to speak: “Whatever profession students are studying – builder, designer, architect – it is important to be able to “sell” their project. In the modern world, there is no way around it!”

    Andrey Surovenkov, a member of the expert committee and head of the architectural design department, believes that the benefit of the championship is that students from different specialties, who most likely did not know each other before, unite into a team. For the curators, this is also a useful experience – they had to set the vector for creating a good project.

    Participants of the selection round. Ahead is the expert committee: chief architect of the project OOO Metropolis Alexey Bondarenko, Kirill Pivovarov, chief specialist of the design solutions department Alina Sitova, senior lecturer of the department of heat and gas supply and ventilation of SPbGASU Sergey Kashnikov, deputy director of the educational center of digital competencies of SPbGASU Denis Nizhegorodtsev, associate professor of the department of water use and ecology of SPbGASU Alexander Podporin

    Kirill Pivovarov, Chairman of the Expert Commission and Head of the Metropolis Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning Department Group, is confident that for the company, the championship is, first and foremost, about attracting new employees. Moreover, employers have the opportunity to evaluate their abilities without an interview or probationary period. For students, this is an opportunity to create. When compiling the assignment, the company was guided by the students’ current capabilities and, at the same time, sought to bring the tasks closer to reality.

    “This is a great experience for the guys in terms of applying their skills in practice. The theory they study at the university is superimposed on a real project here, and this will help them in their future work. Many students are great: they have quite serious projects at the level of practicing designers. I would rate the overall level of work as very high,” said member of the expert commission, senior lecturer of the Department of Heat and Gas Supply and Ventilation Sergey Kashnikov.

    “I regularly participate in assessing student work at a variety of competitions – both within our university and at other venues. I would like to note that it is precisely such competitions that develop students’ extremely important skills of independent work, including as part of project teams. And it is especially pleasant to see that the level of students’ work is growing from year to year,” said Denis Nizhegorodtsev, a member of the expert commission and deputy director of the Educational Center for Digital Competencies.

    Third place went to the YeezyBIM team (mentor – associate professor of the Department of Heat and Gas Supply and Ventilation Viktor Yakovlev). It included Alina Kizchenko (fourth-year bachelor’s degree student of the Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Urban Management, leader/BIM coordinator), Arina Tereshchenko (fourth-year bachelor’s degree student of the Faculty of Architecture, architect), Olga Gavrichenkova (third-year bachelor’s degree student of the Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Urban Management, water use and sanitation engineer), Anna Yarullina (fourth-year bachelor’s degree student of the Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Urban Management, design engineer of internal electrical equipment and lighting), Yaroslav Perevalov (fourth-year bachelor’s degree student of the Faculty of Civil Engineering, designer), Polina Orlova (fourth-year bachelor’s degree student of the Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Urban Management, heating and ventilation engineer).

    The second place was won by the team “Bim Bam Boom” (mentor – assistant of the Department of Design of Architectural Environment Dmitry Fleisher). The team consists of Emilia Sukhareva (fourth-year bachelor’s degree student of the Faculty of Architecture, leader/architect), Kirill Besedin (fourth-year bachelor’s degree student of the Faculty of Civil Engineering, designer), Daniil Goncharenko (fourth-year bachelor’s degree student of the Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Urban Management, heating and ventilation engineer), Mikhail Danilchenko (third-year bachelor’s degree student of the Faculty of Civil Engineering, designer), Kirill Ivanov (fourth-year bachelor’s degree student of the Faculty of Civil Engineering, BIM coordinator), Sergey Sergeev (fourth-year bachelor’s degree student of the Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Urban Management, power supply engineer), Dmitry Sidorchuk (fourth-year bachelor’s degree student of the Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Urban Management, water supply and sanitation engineer).

    “The team decided to implement the current principle of nature-likeness as the most suitable for the given topic. It implies minimizing the impact on the environment and using natural factors for the functioning of the facility. The team worked under the leadership of captain Emilia Sukhareva, a talented student studying at the Department of DAS. Kirill Besedin is the most experienced and proactive member of the team. Daniil Goncharenko, having project experience, successfully implemented the general concept of ventilation and heating. Dmitry Sidorchuk, having extensive experience in participating in competitions of this kind, managed to provide the facility with water supply and sewerage networks. Sergey Sergeev, also an experienced team member, was engaged in the design of power supply networks and showed an excellent result. Mikhail Danilchenko gained his first experience of participating in a team on this project, but he coped with the tasks set by the KR very well. Kirill Ivanov provided BIM technologies throughout the project and in all its areas. Well done!” – summed up Dmitry Fleisher.

    The first place was awarded to the “C-Key” team (mentor – Deputy Dean for Career Guidance, Associate Professor of the Department of Technosphere Safety Alexander Glukhanov). It included Ekaterina Buryak (third-year specialist student of the Faculty of Construction, chief project engineer), Alexandra Leonova (third-year specialist student of the Faculty of Construction, BIM coordinator), Elizaveta Petrova (third-year undergraduate student of the Faculty of Architecture, architect), Sofia Tarkhanova (third-year specialist student of the Faculty of Construction, designer), Denis Lebedev (third-year specialist student of the Faculty of Construction, designer), Alexey Khimichev (third-year undergraduate student of the Faculty of Architecture, architect), Alexander Katsyuba (third-year undergraduate student of the Faculty of Engineering Ecology and Urban Economy, specialist in engineering networks).

    “It was difficult. But we approached the solution comprehensively, followed all the requirements of the technical specifications and achieved the result!” – Ekaterina Buryak is sure.

    “This is the first experience of such live interaction with the subject area. I worked with guys from other specialties, it was very interesting. I learned some programs all over again, I learned a lot of new things in these three weeks. The experience is colossal!” – shared Alexander Katsyuba.

    “We developed the architectural solutions section together with Elizaveta Petrova. And we want to say that this project was very interesting for us from the point of view of interaction between specialists in related fields. It was interesting to track how architectural issues are connected with issues of utility networks, design solutions, how all issues are resolved in the design system,” said Alexey Khimchev.

    The mentor of the winners, Alexander Glukhanov, gave his comment: “The team developed a concept for the development of a tourist cluster on the Black Sea coast. The students created a detailed description of the construction project, took into account the features of the area, the needs of tourists, and the possibilities of using the infrastructure. They created a harmonious arrangement of the park area located in the heart of the territory, the active recreation area and the entrance area, integrated recreation areas and other functional components of the complex. Special attention was paid to the optimal combination of space-planning solutions: they took into account functional, sanitary and hygienic and fire safety requirements.”

    The champions and prize winners of the Architecture, Design, Construction and Housing and Utilities category will be invited to an internship at Metropolis with the prospect of further employment. The winning team will take part in the final competition, which will be held in Moscow at the end of May. We wish them good luck!

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: You’ve heard of the Big Bang. Now astronomers have discovered the Big Wheel – here’s why it’s significant

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Themiya Nanayakkara, Lead Astronomer at the James Webb Australian Data Centre, Swinburne University of Technology

    The Big Wheel alongside some of its neighbours. Weichen Wang et al. (2025)

    Deep observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have revealed an exceptionally large galaxy in the early universe. It’s a cosmic giant whose light has travelled over 12 billion years to reach us. We’ve dubbed it the Big Wheel, with our findings published today in Nature Astronomy.

    This giant disk galaxy existed within the first two billion years after the Big Bang, meaning it formed when the universe was just 15% of its current age. It challenges what we know about how galaxies form.

    What is a disk galaxy?

    Picture a galaxy like our own Milky Way: a flat, rotating structure made up of stars, gas and dust, often surrounded by an extensive halo of unseen dark matter.

    Disk galaxies typically have clear spiral arms extending outward from a dense central region. Our Milky Way itself is a disk galaxy, characterised by beautiful spiral arms that wrap around its centre.

    An artist impression of the Milky Way showcasing the dusty spiral structures similar to The Big Wheel.

    Studying disk galaxies, like the Milky Way and the newly discovered Big Wheel, helps us uncover how galaxies form, grow and evolve across billions of years.

    These studies are especially significant, as understanding galaxies similar to our own can provide deeper insights into the cosmic history of our galactic home.

    A giant surprise

    We previously thought galaxy disks form gradually over a long period: either through gas smoothly flowing into galaxies from surrounding space, or by merging with smaller galaxies.

    Usually, rapid mergers between galaxies would disrupt the delicate spiral structures, turning them into more chaotic shapes. However, the Big Wheel managed to quickly grow to a surprisingly large size without losing its distinctive spiral form. This challenges long-held ideas about the growth of giant galaxies.

    Our detailed JWST observations show that the Big Wheel is comparable in size and rotational speed to the largest “super-spiral” galaxies in today’s universe. It is three times as big in size as comparable galaxies at that epoch and is one of the most massive galaxies observed in the early cosmos.

    In fact, its rotation speed places it among galaxies at the high end of what’s called the Tully-Fisher relation, a well-known link between a galaxy’s stellar mass and how fast it spins.

    Remarkably, even though it’s unusually large, the Big Wheel is actively growing at a rate similar to other galaxies at the same cosmic age.

    The Big Wheel galaxy is seen at the centre. In striking contrast, the bright blue galaxy (upper right) is only about 1.5 billion light years away, making the Big Wheel roughly 50 times farther away. Although both appear a similar size, the enormous distance of the Big Wheel reveals its truly colossal physical scale.
    JWST

    Unusually crowded part of space

    What makes this even more fascinating is the environment in which the Big Wheel formed.

    It’s located in an unusually crowded region of space, where galaxies are packed closely together, ten times denser than typical areas of the universe. This dense environment likely provided ideal conditions for the galaxy to grow quickly. It probably experienced mergers that were gentle enough to let the galaxy maintain its spiral disk shape.

    Additionally, the gas flowing into the galaxy must have aligned well with its rotation, allowing the disk to grow quickly without being disrupted. So, a perfect combination.

    An illustration of how a massive spiral galaxy forms and evolves over billions of years. This evolutionary path is similar to real-world galaxies like Andromeda, our closest spiral galaxy neighbour, which also developed distinct spiral arms similar to the Big Wheel.

    A fortunate finding

    Discovering a galaxy like the Big Wheel was incredibly unlikely. We had less than a 2% chance to find this in our survey, according to current galaxy formation models.

    So, our finding was fortunate, probably because we observed it within an exceptionally dense region, quite different from typical cosmic environments.

    Besides its mysterious formation, the ultimate fate of the Big Wheel is another intriguing question. Given the dense environment, future mergers might significantly alter its structure, potentially transforming it into a galaxy comparable in mass to the largest ones observed in nearby clusters, such as Virgo.

    The Big Wheel’s discovery has revealed yet another mystery of the early universe, showing that our current models of galaxy evolution still need refinement.

    With more observations and discoveries of massive, early galaxies like the Big Wheel, astronomers will be able to unlock more secrets about how the universe built the structures we see today.



    Read more:
    From dead galaxies to mysterious red dots, here’s what the James Webb telescope has found in just 3 years

    Themiya Nanayakkara receives funding from Australian Research Council.

    – ref. You’ve heard of the Big Bang. Now astronomers have discovered the Big Wheel – here’s why it’s significant – https://theconversation.com/youve-heard-of-the-big-bang-now-astronomers-have-discovered-the-big-wheel-heres-why-its-significant-252170

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: NIST Releases Reference Material to Aid Gut Microbiome Research

    Source: US Government research organizations

    A unit of RM 8048 consists of four vials each from two dietary pools: omnivore and vegetarian.

    Credit: NIST

    The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released a human stool reference material that will help scientists accurately measure the gut microbiome. The initiative aims to speed progress in a cutting-edge field of medical research targeting some of humanity’s most serious and intractable diseases.

    The human gut microbiome is a rich, teeming ecosystem of microorganisms and their byproducts that line the human gastrointestinal tract. Over the last decade, scientists have linked activity in the gut microbiome to obesity, diabetes, mental illness, cancer and other medical conditions. Researchers believe that a new class of drugs targeting the gut microbiome can treat many of these conditions.

    NIST’s Human Gut Microbiome Reference Material consists of eight frozen vials of exhaustively studied human feces suspended in aqueous solution, along with more than 25 pages of data identifying the key microbes and biomolecules the material contains. Scientists, including those working at biopharmaceutical and biotech companies, can use this material to further their research and develop new drugs that target the microbiome, including new treatments that contain living bacteria. bacteria.

    NIST’s stool reference material is “the most precisely measured, scientifically analyzed and richly characterized human fecal standard ever produced,” said NIST molecular geneticist Scott Jackson. “We hope our reference material will lay the foundation for gut microbiome research to thrive and reach its full potential.”

    Gut Microbiome Medicine

    NIST researchers remove a fecal sample from deep freeze for analysis. Samples were stored at minus 80 Celsius.

    Credit: D. Ellisor/NIST

    As unappealing as it may sound, one of the most promising areas of medical and health research involves treatments and medicines derived from human feces.

    Two such drugs have been approved by the FDA to treat recurrent C. difficile infection.  This bacterial infection, commonly picked up in hospitals, is associated with up to 30,000 deaths in the U.S. every year.

    Fecal transplants — literally transplanting stool from one person to another — have also been used to treat recurrent C. difficile infection. This proved so effective, with a success rate of 95%, that researchers are exploring the use of fecal transplants to treat a broad range of other diseases that may involve the gut microbiome, including alcoholic hepatitis, cancer, colitis and many other illnesses.

    Feces-derived treatments work by altering the composition and behavior of the gut microbiome to boost health. Many probiotics sold over the counter at pharmacies today make generic health claims, but they aren’t FDA-approved or thoroughly vetted for clinical efficacy.

    Jackson said the next generation of microbial medicines will be scientifically tested and proved to be efficacious at treating specific diseases. NIST’s reference material will help to make this possible.

    “We are at the beginning of a new era of live microbial therapies,” said Jackson, “This isn’t just wishful thinking. It’s already happening.”

    Why a Reference Material Is Needed

    Gut microbiome research is a fast-moving, highly competitive field. Scientists consistently report breakthroughs, and companies invest billions to develop new drugs. However, the field is still relatively new, and researchers use a variety of methods to measure the human microbiome.  The myriad approaches can, and often do, lead to differing results that cannot be compared in a meaningful way.

    “If you give two different laboratories the same stool sample for analysis, you’ll likely get strikingly different results,” Jackson said.

    Scientists recognize that the wide range of approaches creates problems with reproducibility, where they cannot replicate each other’s results. Reproducibility is considered vital in science as it enables researchers to validate and build upon each other’s experiments.

    The NIST fecal RM aims to help standardize research on the gut microbiome. “It will help ensure accuracy, consistency, comparability and reproducibility in the field,” Jackson said.

    How the Reference Material Can Be Used

    NIST produces over 1,000 reference materials, many for the life sciences, including cholesterol, human DNA and human blood serum. Laboratories use them to ensure accuracy, precision and quality control. NIST’s cholesterol reference material, for example, helps ensure that doctors and patients can trust the accuracy of their cholesterol test results.

    “We are at the beginning of a new era of live microbial therapies. This isn’t just wishful thinking. It’s already happening.”  —Scott Jackson, NIST molecular geneticist

    Among the possible uses for NIST’s stool reference material are:

    • Comparing diverse methods and techniques. The reference material can serve as a “gold standard” or benchmark for evaluating the wide array of approaches researchers and companies use to measure and analyze human feces. The results of these approaches can be compared to NIST’s results and to each other to determine which is best suited to achieving specific objectives.
    • Enabling reproducibility. If two different labs get similar findings using NIST’s reference material, they know that their methods and techniques produce results that can be meaningfully compared.

    How the Reference Material Was Made

    To obtain fecal material, NIST contracted with a medical services company that recruited individuals and collected stool samples from them. The individuals were all healthy adults, including both men and women. Roughly half were vegetarians and half were omnivores. Because diet affects the composition of the gut microbiome, using these two cohorts ensured that the RM captured a broad range of variability. NIST has no information on the individual donors.

    Analyzing the material was a challenge. Fecal matter contains trillions of microorganisms from hundreds of different species, food particles, human cells, and countless proteins, enzymes and metabolites. It is considered one of the most complex biological materials on the planet.

    Over a dozen scientists worked for six years to turn those samples into NIST’s microbiome reference material. They identified more than 150 metabolites using advanced chemical analysis techniques and more than 150 species of microbes based on their genetic signatures.

    They also ensured that the reference material is stable — it’s designed to have a shelf life of at least five years — and homogeneous — every sample is the same, within the bounds of stated uncertainties in the measurements. 

    “Through a lot of trial and error, brainstorming and collaboration with the scientific community, we were able to create a reference material that fulfills the needs of our stakeholders,” Jackson said.

    The reference material includes eight 100-milligram tubes — four from the vegetarian cohort and four from the omnivores — along with a wealth of information about the microbes and metabolites that NIST identified. The NIST team focused special attention on those compounds and organisms thought to be most relevant to human health and new medical treatments.

    “The release of our reference material is a significant step forward,” said Jackson. “We’re moving toward a time when we can all agree on exactly what we’re talking about when we’re discussing the human gut microbiome.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Software is increasingly being built by AI – so it’s vital to know if it can be trusted

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Iván Alfonso, Assistant researcher, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST)

    panuwat phimpha / Shutterstock

    Software is ubiquitous, powering almost every aspect of our lives. The computerised systems in your car alone incorporate tens of millions of lines of code. The increasing digital transformation of our society means that demand for more and better software is likely to continue into the future.

    The dilemma is that there are not enough human programmers to build all this
    software. This means that more and more of the software you use every day is built with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI).

    Software developers are already very familiar with tools such as GitHub Copilot, a kind of ChatGPT for programmers. It works something like a smart autocomplete tool to increase the productivity of human programmers.

    But we are now witnessing a more radical revolution, where AI “agents” are poised to carry out many types of development tasks on behalf of human programmers. Agents are programs that use AI to perform tasks and achieve specific objectives for a human user. AI agents can learn and make decisions with some level of autonomy, though they are still under human supervision – for now.

    We predict that in a near future, many software apps will be entirely built by AI agents. “Agentic” systems are communities of AI agents cooperating together, each one specialised in solving a specific type of task. With an agentic system, you can
    generate a software application from a plain English description of what you would like the application to do.

    This has potential positive impacts. Agentic systems could empower users without software programming skills to build or adapt software to their needs. There are also potential negatives consequences. Agents are far from perfect and they can easily generate code that is vulnerable to attacks, is not efficient or is biased against certain communities.

    For example, an agent building recruitment software might favour male over female candidates because of biases in the data used to train, or improve, the software. Therefore, we need to put mechanisms in place to minimise such risks, as required by AI regulations such as the EU’s AI Act.

    Researchers are addressing this challenge first by intensively testing the LLMs (Large Language Models) that are at the core of any agent. An LLM is an AI system trained on massive amounts of data. Agents rely on their internal LLM to predict and generate the best response to a user request.

    By evaluating all major LLMs against a number of concerns such as accuracy, security vulnerabilities and biases, software developers can choose the best LLM for an AI agent. This would depend on the specific tasks that the agent would be involved in.

    Users could customise new software with the help of blueprints, applying similar principles to the blueprints used in architecture and construction.
    Lee Charlie / Shutterstock

    This helps ensure a certain amount of ethical behaviour in the agents. But how can we be sure they understand and follow our instructions? Our solution is to start from the blueprints (the designs) of the software to be built.

    Broadly speaking, it’s possible to understand blueprints of a house even if you’re not an architect. Similarly, if we make a blueprint for software as easy to understand as possible, users without advanced software development skills should be able to grasp the concepts and how to make changes to it.

    From the user’s initial description, the AI agent or agents would propose a detailed blueprint of a potential solution and explain it to the user in plain English. The user could then validate it or request improvements. Only after the final validation would the software application be automatically generated from the blueprint.

    This way of building software is known as low-code or no-code development, as most of the code (all of it for some applications) is generated by the computer from the blueprints, instead of being hand written by a human from scratch. Our open source BESSER platform helps you build applications in this way.

    As the science fiction author Arthur C Clarke once observed: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” And soon enough, this magic will be part of our daily lives. We just need to be careful that the magic doesn’t turn into sorcery with the potential to disrupt, rather than improve.

    We, and many other researchers, are working to put guardrails (mechanisms for preventing potential harms) on the behaviour of AI agents to keep them in check. This would help transform every citizen into a capable developer with the power to autonomously build the ideal software solutions for their companies or other aspects of their lives.

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

    – ref. Software is increasingly being built by AI – so it’s vital to know if it can be trusted – https://theconversation.com/software-is-increasingly-being-built-by-ai-so-its-vital-to-know-if-it-can-be-trusted-251728

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Museums have tons of data, and AI could make it more accessible − but standardizing and organizing it across fields won’t be easy

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Bradley Wade Bishop, Professor of Information Sciences, University of Tennessee

    Museum collections are invaluable to many researchers. Miguel Habano/E+ via Getty Images

    Ice cores in freezers, dinosaurs on display, fish in jars, birds in boxes, human remains and ancient artifacts from long gone civilizations that few people ever see – museum collections are filled with all this and more.

    These collections are treasure troves that recount the planet’s natural and human history, and they help scientists in a variety of different fields such as geology, paleontology, anthropology and more. What you see on a trip to a museum is only a sliver of the wonders held in their collection.

    Museums generally want to make the contents of their collections available for teachers and researchers, either physically or digitally. However, each collection’s staff has its own way of organizing data, so navigating these collections can prove challenging.

    Creating, organizing and distributing the digital copies of museum samples or the information about physical items in a collection requires incredible amounts of data. And this data can feed into machine learning models or other artificial intelligence to answer big questions.

    Currently, even within a single research domain, finding the right data requires navigating different repositories. AI can help organize large amounts of data from different collections and pull out information to answer specific questions.

    But using AI isn’t a perfect solution. A set of shared practices and systems for data management between museums could improve the data curation and sharing necessary for AI to do its job. These practices could help both humans and machines make new discoveries from these valuable collections.

    As an information scientist who studies scientists’ approaches to and opinions on research data management, I’ve seen how the world’s physical collection infrastructure is a patchwork quilt of objects and their associated metadata.

    AI tools can do amazing things, such as make 3D models of digitized versions of the items in museum collections, but only if there’s enough well-organized data about that item available. To see how AI can help museum collections, my team of researchers started by conducting focus groups with the people who managed museum collections. We asked what they are doing to get their collections used by both humans and AI.

    Museums can have vast collections – everything from samples from archeological sites to preserved insects to dinosaur bones. And huge collections means lots of data to collect and organize.
    Justin Pumfrey/The Image Bank via Getty Images

    Collection managers

    When an item comes into a museum collection, the collection managers are the people who describe that item’s features and generate data about it. That data, called metadata, allows others to use it and might include things like the collector’s name, geographic location, the time it was collected, and in the case of geological samples, the epoch it’s from. For samples from an animal or plant, it might include its taxonomy, which is the set of Latin names that classify it.

    All together, that information adds up to a mind-boggling amount of data.

    But combining data across domains with different standards is really tricky. Fortunately, collection managers have been working to standardize their processes across disciplines and for many types of samples. Grants have helped science communities build tools for standardization.

    In biological collections, the tool Specify allows managers to quickly classify specimens with drop-down menus prepopulated with standards for taxonomy and other parameters to consistently describe the incoming specimens.

    A common metadata standard in biology is Darwin Core. Similar well-established metadata and tools exist across all the sciences to make the workflow of taking real items and putting them into a machine as easy as possible.

    Special tools like these and metadata help collection managers make data from their objects reusable for research and educational purposes.

    Many of the items in museum collections don’t have a lot of information describing their origins. AI tools can help fill in gaps.

    All the small things

    My team and I conducted 10 focus groups, with a total of 32 participants from several physical sample communities. These included collection managers across disciplines, including anthropology, archaeology, botany, geology, ichthyology, entomology, herpetology and paleontology.

    Each participant answered questions about how they accessed, organized, stored and used data from their collections in an effort to make their materials ready for AI to use. While human subjects need to provide consent to be studied, most species do not. So, an AI can collect and analyze the data from nonhuman physical collections without privacy or consent concerns.

    We found that collection managers from different fields and institutions have lots of different practices when it comes to getting their physical collections ready for AI. Our results suggest that standardizing the types of metadata managers record and the ways they store it across collections could make the items in these samples more accessible and usable.

    Additional research projects like our study can help collection managers build up the infrastructure they’ll need to make their data machine-ready. Human expertise can help inform AI tools that make new discoveries based on the old treasures in museum collections.

    Bradley Wade Bishop receives funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the National Science Foundation.

    – ref. Museums have tons of data, and AI could make it more accessible − but standardizing and organizing it across fields won’t be easy – https://theconversation.com/museums-have-tons-of-data-and-ai-could-make-it-more-accessible-but-standardizing-and-organizing-it-across-fields-wont-be-easy-250487

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: What was the first thing scientists discovered? A historian makes the case for Babylonian astronomy

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By James Byrne, Assistant Teaching Professor in the Herbst Program for Engineering, Ethics & Society, University of Colorado Boulder

    Ancient Babylonians looked to the skies to predict what would happen. mikroman6/Moment via Getty Images

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

    What was the first thing scientists discovered? – Jacob, age 9, Santiago, Panama

    All societies have had ways of understanding nature based on their experiences of it. For example, farmers need to understand the seasons and weather to know when to plant and harvest their crops. Hunters need to understand the lives of animals to know how to hunt them.

    This kind of understanding of the natural world isn’t quite the same as science though. Science typically refers to knowledge that’s more organized and formal than that. It’s not just an explanation, but a system that uses observations and experiments to build theories that are recorded, passed on to others and built on.

    With that idea in mind, as a historian of science, my best answer to the question of what the first scientists discovered is Babylonian astronomy.

    The Babylonians lived from about 2,500 to 4,000 years ago in the area that’s now Iraq. What makes Babylonian astronomy stand out as being especially scientific is the careful, organized way in which Babylonian scribes – their keepers of knowledge – observed, recorded and eventually mathematically predicted the ways that the Sun, Moon, stars and planets move in the skies.

    Babylonian astronomy was uniquely scientific

    Before clocks, observing the sky was how people knew the time. During the day you can see the Sun, and at night you can see the stars. Many calendars are based on the skies too. A month is about how long it takes the Moon to go through its phases. A year is one full revolution of the Earth around the Sun.

    But keeping track of time wasn’t the only way the Babylonians used astronomy. Like today’s world, Babylonia could be both predictable and chaotic. The weather changed with the seasons; crops were planted and harvested; festivals were celebrated; people were born, aged and died, all predictably. But a bad harvest might cause high prices for grains and starvation; a king might die young, causing political upheaval; a disease might kill thousands, all unpredictably.

    The stars and planets can seem like that, too. The stars are always in the same places in relation to one another, so you can identify constellations, and those constellations rise and set at regular times over the course of a year. But the planets move around – they’re not always in the same places, and sometimes they even seem to stop and move backward in their paths. Sometimes even more spectacular events occur, such as eclipses.

    An eclipse might have seemed like a powerful omen of something that would happen next.
    Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images

    For the Babylonians, those ideas were linked. They saw changes in the motions of the planets or rare events such as eclipses as signs – omens – about what was going to happen on Earth. For example, they might think the shadow of the Earth moving over the Moon in a certain way during a lunar eclipse meant that a flood would also happen.

    The scribes kept a book called Enūma Anu Enlil listing omens and their meanings. So if the seemingly changing motions of the heavens could be predicted, maybe earthly events could be, too. This led the scribes to study astronomy.

    How Babylonian astronomy worked

    The foundation of Babylonian astronomy was kept in a book called MUL.APIN, meaning “The Plough Star,” the name of a constellation. It recorded the positions of the stars, when in the year they would first be visible, the paths of the Sun and Moon, the periods when the planets would be visible in the night sky, and other fundamental astronomical knowledge.

    Later, Babylonian scribes began to keep their Astronomical Diaries, which contained detailed records of the positions of the Moon and planets along with events on Earth such as the weather and the price of grain. In other words, they recorded their observations of both astronomical omens and the events they might have predicted.

    Babylonian scribes used cuneiform to write down records of all kinds.
    mikroman6/Moment via Getty Images

    This kind of careful observation and record-keeping is a major part of science. The Astronomical Diaries were kept for over 700 years, making them maybe the longest-running scientific project ever.

    The records in the Astronomical Diaries helped Babylonian scribes take another scientific step: predicting astronomical events. One part of this was computing what the Babylonians called goal-years: the number of years it took for a planet to return to the same place on the same day. For example, they computed that the period for Venus was eight Babylonian years. So if Venus was somewhere on a particular day, it would be in the same place on the same day eight years later.

    By around the fourth century B.C.E., the scribes developed this knowledge into a system of mathematically predicting astronomical events. They made tables called ephemerides that showed when these events would happen in the future. So Babylonian scribes succeeded in their project: They made the motions of the Sun, Moon and planets predictable.

    Babylonian astronomy and you

    MUL.APIN, the Astronomical Diaries, the ephemerides and all of Babylonian astronomy had a major impact on later astronomers, one that continues to today. Greek astronomers used Babylonian observations to make geometric models of planetary motions, part of the long path toward modern astronomy. The ephemerides were the ancestors of astronomical tables, which still exist. For example, NASA has a table of eclipses online that goes to the year 3000.

    We tell time using the Babylonian system.
    Catherine McQueen/Moment via Getty Images

    But the most familiar thing that comes from Babylonian astronomy is how we tell time. The Babylonians didn’t use a decimal system with units of 10 like we do. Instead, they used a sexagesimal system, with units of 60. Babylonian observations were so important that later people kept Babylonian units for astronomy, even though they used a base 10 system for other things.

    So if you’ve ever wondered why an hour has 60 minutes, and a minute has 60 seconds, it’s because we’ve kept that way of measuring from Babylonian astronomy. Whenever you tell the time, you’re using some of the very oldest science.

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

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

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

    – ref. What was the first thing scientists discovered? A historian makes the case for Babylonian astronomy – https://theconversation.com/what-was-the-first-thing-scientists-discovered-a-historian-makes-the-case-for-babylonian-astronomy-244463

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Trump’s first term polarized teens’ views on racism and inequality

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Laura Wray-Lake, Professor of Social Welfare, University of California, Los Angeles

    Teens who supported President Trump in 2016 became less aware of societal inequalities after the election. AP Photo/Evan Vucci

    When asked about reactions to Donald Trump being president, a 16-year-old Black girl said, “I feel unsafe and not protected. The United States is supposed to be the land of the free but is really the land of racism.”

    In contrast, a 16-year-old white girl said, “I think it’s OK … I do feel bad for minorities … I’m white however and come from a somewhat similar background so I will be alright.”

    These two teenagers responded very differently to the racial climate created by Trump – during his first presidency. Research on adolescents during Trump’s first term takes on new relevance now that he is back in office.

    As a scholar of adolescent development, I have studied U.S. teenagers for over two decades. When Trump took office in 2016, I was in the midst of leading a five-year study to understand how young people become civically engaged. My colleagues and I were tracking adolescents’ beliefs and behaviors over time, which gave us a unique opportunity to document changes after Trump was elected.

    Focusing on 1,400 ninth through 12th graders, I hypothesized that adolescents would become more divided during Trump’s presidency, given the political divisions evident among adults in 2016. And, like other social scientists, my team and I did identify diverging worldviews about racism and inequalities among teenagers and increased discrimination.

    Decades of research shows that adolescents are influenced in lasting ways by societal events and political shifts, such as the Great Depression, the Civil Rights Movement, the 9/11 terrorist attacks and changing presidential administrations. Likewise, the short-term impacts of Trump’s presidency identified by research may portend long-lasting effects for this generation of young people.

    Diverging worldviews

    In our study, young Trump supporters were more likely to be white and male and to have politically conservative parents, and less likely to be immigrants. Teenagers in our study who disapproved of Trump were more likely to be female and Latino, Black or Asian, to have politically liberal parents, and to have parents or grandparents who were immigrants. These groups were not just different demographically; they diverged in their worldviews about race and inequality over time.

    Across Trump’s first year in office, young Trump supporters decreased their race consciousness – that is, their support for racial equity and inclusion declined. We measured race consciousness by whether high schoolers agreed with statements like “I show support for equal rights for people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds” and “I express concern about discrimination faced by racial and ethnic groups.”

    Young Trump supporters also grew less aware of inequalities in society during this time frame, becoming less likely to endorse statements like “In America, certain groups have fewer chances to get ahead.”

    Conversely, young Trump detractors increased their race consciousness and awareness of societal inequalities during this time. Another study that interviewed youth of color during Trump’s first presidency similarly found that adolescents critical of Trump developed deeper capacities to understand societal inequalities in response to Trump’s policies.

    Did these divergent beliefs translate into different behaviors?

    Interestingly, only young Trump supporters in our study became more likely to vote after Trump’s first election. This heightened interest in voting among young Trump supporters aligns with 2024’s election results. Although people ages 18-29 were more likely to support Kamala Harris than Donald Trump, the majority of white youth (54%) and young men (56%) who voted turned out to support Trump. The adolescents we surveyed in 2016 and 2017 are among this cohort of young voters in 2024.

    Dozens of incidents of swastikas and other racist graffiti were reported in schools in Revere, Mass., between May and November 2018.
    Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

    Increased discrimination

    The divergent beliefs of Trump supporters and detractors may have implications for other behaviors in addition to voting.

    After Trump’s first election, 28% of K-12 teachers reported witnessing increases in students’ derogatory remarks toward minority groups, especially in predominantly white schools. Students were emboldened to make bigoted statements about immigrants, Muslims and other groups. Researchers documented incidents of anti-Black racism and anti-transgender discrimination in schools.

    Our study found that Latino youth experienced more discrimination after Trump was elected. Latino adolescents also expressed fears and anxieties due to Trump’s hostile immigration policies and rhetoric, and they attributed Trump’s stance to racism. Four psychologists who systematically reviewed the available research concluded that the first Trump presidency harmed Latino adolescents’ mental health.

    These studies did not definitively attribute increased discrimination to actions of young Trump supporters. But young Trump supporters did become less concerned about discrimination and racial equity. And adult Trump supporters did endorse more racist and anti-immigrant attitudes and the use of political violence compared with other adults.

    What about now?

    Trump’s executive orders in 2025 have expanded the detention and deportation of immigrants, declared that gender is binary, and that diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives are illegal.

    Based on how people responded in the early days of Trump’s first term, these orders may directly harm adolescents and embolden discrimination again. For example, immediately after the 2024 election, crisis calls from LGBTQ+ youth increased by 200%, and harassing texts were sent to Black, Latino and LGBTQ+ adolescents across 20 states.

    The executive order to eliminate teaching on racial and gender equity from schools, if upheld, would limit adolescents’ opportunities to learn about racism, sexism and inequalities faced by different groups.

    Adolescents’ awareness of and concerns about inequalities diverged during Trump’s first presidency based on their political views. Given the policy focus of Trump’s second term, I anticipate similar or greater divisions in young people’s racial attitudes and actions than my research revealed over the course of his first term.

    Laura Wray-Lake received funding for research reported herein from the National Science Foundation and John Templeton Foundation. She is a registered Democrat.

    – ref. Trump’s first term polarized teens’ views on racism and inequality – https://theconversation.com/trumps-first-term-polarized-teens-views-on-racism-and-inequality-249911

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI: Form 8.3 – AXA INVESTMENT MANAGERS: Life Science REIT plc

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    FORM 8.3

    PUBLIC OPENING POSITION DISCLOSURE/DEALING DISCLOSURE BY
    A PERSON WITH INTERESTS IN RELEVANT SECURITIES REPRESENTING 1% OR MORE
    Rule 8.3 of the Takeover Code (the “Code”)

    1.        KEY INFORMATION

    (a)   Full name of discloser: AXA Investment Managers S.A.
    (b)   Owner or controller of interests and short positions disclosed, if different from 1(a):
            The naming of nominee or vehicle companies is insufficient. For a trust, the trustee(s), settlor and beneficiaries must be named.    		  
    (c)   Name of offeror/offeree in relation to whose relevant securities this form relates:
            Use a separate form for each offeror/offeree    		 Life Science REIT plc
    (d)   If an exempt fund manager connected with an offeror/offeree, state this and specify identity of offeror/offeree:  
    (e)   Date position held/dealing undertaken:
            For an opening position disclosure, state the latest practicable date prior to the disclosure    		 14 March 2025
    (f)   In addition to the company in 1(c) above, is the discloser making disclosures in respect of any other party to the offer?
            If it is a cash offer or possible cash offer, state “N/A”    		 NO

    2.        POSITIONS OF THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE

    If there are positions or rights to subscribe to disclose in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 2(a) or (b) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security.

    (a)      Interests and short positions in the relevant securities of the offeror or offeree to which the disclosure relates following the dealing (if any)

    Class of relevant security: 1p ordinary
      Interests Short positions
      Number % Number %
    (1)   Relevant securities owned and/or controlled: 3,762,872 1.08    
    (2)   Cash-settled derivatives:        
    (3)   Stock-settled derivatives (including options) and agreements to purchase/sell:        
    TOTAL: 3,762,872 1.08    

    All interests and all short positions should be disclosed.

    Details of any open stock-settled derivative positions (including traded options), or agreements to purchase or sell relevant securities, should be given on a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions).

    (b)      Rights to subscribe for new securities (including directors’ and other employee options)

    Class of relevant security in relation to which subscription right exists:  
    Details, including nature of the rights concerned and relevant percentages:  

    3.        DEALINGS (IF ANY) BY THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE

    Where there have been dealings in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 3(a), (b), (c) or (d) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security dealt in.

    The currency of all prices and other monetary amounts should be stated.

    (a)        Purchases and sales

    Class of relevant security Purchase/sale Number of securities Price per unit
           

    (b)        Cash-settled derivative transactions

    Class of relevant security Product description
    e.g. CFD    		 Nature of dealing
    e.g. opening/closing a long/short position, increasing/reducing a long/short position    		 Number of reference securities Price per unit
             

    (c)        Stock-settled derivative transactions (including options)

    (i)        Writing, selling, purchasing or varying

    Class of relevant security Product description e.g. call option Writing, purchasing, selling, varying etc. Number of securities to which option relates Exercise price per unit Type
    e.g. American, European etc.    		 Expiry date Option money paid/ received per unit
                   

    (ii)        Exercise

    Class of relevant security Product description
    e.g. call option    		 Exercising/ exercised against Number of securities Exercise price per unit
             

    (d)        Other dealings (including subscribing for new securities)

    Class of relevant security Nature of dealing
    e.g. subscription, conversion    		 Details Price per unit (if applicable)
           

    4.        OTHER INFORMATION

    (a)        Indemnity and other dealing arrangements

    Details of any indemnity or option arrangement, or any agreement or understanding, formal or informal, relating to relevant securities which may be an inducement to deal or refrain from dealing entered into by the person making the disclosure and any party to the offer or any person acting in concert with a party to the offer:
    Irrevocable commitments and letters of intent should not be included. If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state “none”
    None

    (b)        Agreements, arrangements or understandings relating to options or derivatives

    Details of any agreement, arrangement or understanding, formal or informal, between the person making the disclosure and any other person relating to:
    (i)   the voting rights of any relevant securities under any option; or
    (ii)   the voting rights or future acquisition or disposal of any relevant securities to which any derivative is referenced:
    If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state “none”
    None

    (c)        Attachments

    Is a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions) attached? NO
    Date of disclosure: 17 March 2025
    Contact name: Sabrina AID
    Telephone number*: +33 1 44 45 58 79

    Public disclosures under Rule 8 of the Code must be made to a Regulatory Information Service.

    The Panel’s Market Surveillance Unit is available for consultation in relation to the Code’s disclosure requirements on +44 (0)20 7638 0129.

    *If the discloser is a natural person, a telephone number does not need to be included, provided contact information has been provided to the Panel’s Market Surveillance Unit.

    The Code can be viewed on the Panel’s website at www.thetakeoverpanel.org.uk.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Response to RFI on Development of AI Action Plan

    Source: US State of New York

    overnor Kathy Hochul today announced New York State’s comments in response to the request for information on the development of an Artificial Intelligence Action Plan from the Trump Administration. As a global leader in AI and related technologies, New York has driven advancements that have furthered America’s national and economic security, expanded the safe deployment and use of AI, created high-quality jobs, and expanded access to high performance computing systems. New York is home to world-renowned research institutions, pioneering AI companies, and a thriving innovation ecosystem that has led to increased economic productivity thanks to transformative breakthroughs in AI, semiconductors, and quantum networking and computing. As the federal government develops an AI Action Plan, New York urges the Trump Administration to prioritize global competitiveness and commercialization, intellectual property and research security, and energy innovation and sufficiency.

    “The United States is in a race with China and the rest of the world in the global AI revolution, and with our first-in-the-nation Empire AI Consortium, New York is leading the way. With our world-class innovation economy, energy grid investments, and protection of artists and creators intellectual property rights we stand ready to ensure that AI is a force for good, not just for huge global companies,” Governor Hochul said. “New York is continuing to help New Yorkers launch businesses and access good jobs in this growing economy while building an AI future that is safe, sustainable, and globally competitive. We welcome opportunities to collaborate with the Trump Administration to advance those goals.”

    Governor Hochul’s commitment to advancing New York’s leadership in AI builds on her broader agenda to expand cutting-edge technology development in the Empire State. Last year, Governor Hochul appointed IBM CEO Arvind Krishna and Girls Who Code CEO Dr. Tarika Barrett as co-chairs of the newly created Emerging Technology Advisory Board (the Board) — an independent group of industry leaders tasked with informing and accelerating New York’s transformation into a hub for growth and innovation. The Board released its initial recommendations in December 2024.

    New York State Director of State Operations and Infrastructure Kathryn Garcia said, “We want to harness AI technologies to benefit people and organizations across New York State. As a leader in AI and emerging technology, New York has been making the investments necessary to ensure the U.S. has a comparative advantage over global competitors.”

    New York State Chief Cyber Officer Colin Ahern said, “New York is strong in industry talent, academic expertise, and innovative ideas. We want to ensure those resources strengthen our state and nation and are not siphoned off by our adversaries. Strong research security and intellectual property protections will help make sure the benefits of AI help New Yorkers and Americans.”

    Empire State Development President, CEO and Commissioner Hope Knight said, “New York will continue to leverage our thriving innovation ecosystem to develop and commercialize AI that creates quality jobs, attracts additional investments, and further strengthens our economic security.”

    The Governor previously signed New York’s historic Green CHIPS legislation to drive semiconductor research, development and manufacturing in New York State and announced a $10 billion partnership to bring next-generation chips research to NY CREATES’ Albany NanoTech Complex. The Governor has continued to advance a $620 million Life Science Initiative to support innovation in biomedical research. Additionally, through strategic investments such as the $113.7 million Battery-NY initiative, Governor Hochul has fueled the growth of the sustainability, green technology and energy storage economies in New York State.

    The Governor’s innovation agenda has catalyzed major public and private investments, transforming New York’s economy and creating good-paying jobs of the future. GlobalFoundries recently announced an $11.6 billion investment to expand its chip manufacturing campus in New York’s Capital Region, creating 1,500 direct jobs and thousands of indirect jobs. In 2022, Micron announced a 20-year, $100 billion investment to create a megafab campus in Central New York, creating 50,000 new direct and indirect jobs and unlocking hundreds of millions of dollars in community benefits.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Two CAHNR Faculty Among World’s Most Highly Cited Researchers

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    Two faculty in UConn’s College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources were among the world’s most highly cited researchers in 2024.

    Yangchao Luo, associate professor of nutritional sciences, and Zhe Zhu, associate professor of natural resources and the environment, are the two UConn faculty named to the list.

    The 2024 Highly Cited Researchers list, released by Clarivate and the Web of Science index, uses both quantitative and qualitative analysis to identify individuals from around the world who have demonstrated significant and broad influence in their chosen field of research.

    The list of Highly Cited Researchers is drawn from the highly cited papers that rank in the top one percent by citations for field and publication year in the Web of Science citation index over the past decade.

    The list also identifies the research institutions and regions where they are based.

    Yangchao Luo of the Department of Nutritional Sciences in the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources works in a laboratory in the Advanced Technology Laboratory. (Jason Sheldon/UConn Photo)

    The methodology that determines the “who’s who” of influential researchers draws on the data and analysis performed by bibliometric experts and data scientists at the Institute for Scientific Information at Clarivate.

    At the time of the report, Luo has a total of 175 publications and has been cited more than 11,000 times in over 8,000 articles.

    Luo’s research leverages food engineering, nanotechnology, and machine learning to enhance food safety, quality, functionality, and sustainability.

    Associate professor of natural resources and the environment Zhe Zhu. (Carson Stifel/UConn Photo)

    At the time of the report, Zhu has published 90 articles. He has been cited over 20,000 times across over 8,000 articles.

    Zhu’s research interests include remote sensing, global environmental change, land cover and land use change, disaster and hazard monitoring, time series analysis, machine learning, biodiversity conservation, and climate change.

    This is the fifth year in a row Zhu has been on this list. Luo has been named five times since 2019.

    Follow UConn CAHNR on social media

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: From pulpits to protest, the surprising history of the phrase ‘pride and prejudice’

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Margie Burns, Lecturer of English, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

    Despite the phrase’s rich history, the fame of Jane Austen’s novel ended up drowning out all other associations. Suzy Hazelwood/Pexels

    Most readers hear “pride and prejudice” and immediately think of Jane Austen’s most famous novel, that salty-sweet confection of romance and irony with a fairy-tale ending.

    Few people, however, know the history of the phrase “pride and prejudice,” which I explore in my new book, “Jane Austen, Abolitionist: The Loaded History of the Phrase ‘Pride and Prejudice.’”

    Like most Austen fans and scholars, I had read and loved her novels for years without learning much about the history of the title, which Austen chose after scrapping the original one, “First Impressions.”

    By the 20th century, “pride and prejudice” became solely associated with Austen’s 1813 novel.

    The phrase, which has religious origins, appeared in hundreds of works before Austen was born. From Britain it traveled to America, and from religious tomes it expanded to secular works. It even became a hallmark of abolitionist writing.

    Fighting words for religious factions

    While 2025 marks Austen’s 250th birthday, the phrase “pride and prejudice” first appeared more than 400 years ago, in religious writings by English Protestants. As the daughter, sister, cousin and granddaughter of Church of England ministers, Austen was certainly aware of the tradition.

    If ministers wanted to reproach their parishioners or their opponents, they attributed criticism of their sermons to “pride and prejudice” – as coming from people too arrogant and narrow-minded to entertain their words in good faith.

    While the usage began in the Church of England, other denominations, even radical ones, soon adopted it: “Pride and prejudice” appears in the writings of Nonconformists, Anabaptists, Quakers, Dissenters and other representatives of “Schism, Faction and Sedition,” as one anonymous writer called them.

    One early takeaway is that, amid fervent religious conflicts, various denominations similarly used “pride and prejudice” as a criticism.

    The unnamed minister himself complained that, owing to “the Pride and Prejudice of mens Spirits, the prevailing Interests of some Factions and Parties, the greatest part of the Nation are miserably wanting in their Duty.”

    At the same time, the phrase could be invoked to support religious toleration and in pleas for inclusiveness.

    “When all Pride and Prejudice, all Interests and Designs, being submitted to the Honour of God, and the Discharge of our Duty,” an anonymous clergyman wrote in 1734, “the Holy Scriptures shall again triumph over the vain Traditions of Men; and Religion no longer take its Denomination from little Sects and Factions.”

    From politics to prose

    In the 18th century, advances in publishing led to an explosion of secular writing. For the first time, regular people could buy books about history, politics and philosophy. These popular texts spread the phrase “pride and prejudice” to even more distant shores.

    One fan was American founding father Thomas Paine.

    In his 47-page pamphlet “Common Sense,” Paine argued that kings could not be trusted to protect democracy: “laying aside all national pride and prejudice in favour of modes and forms, the plain truth is, that it is wholly owing to the constitution of the people, and not to the constitution of the government[,] that the crown is not as repressive in England as in Turkey.”

    Others included Daniel Defoe, author of “Robinson Crusoe.” In his 1708 essay “Review of the State of the British Nation,” Defoe satirically exhorted the public to vote Tory rather than electing men of sense, to “dispell the Poisons” that “Sloth, Envy, Pride and Prejudice may have contracted, and bring the Blood of the Party into a true circulation.”

    After the philosophers, the historians and the political commentators came the novelists. And among the novelists, female writers were especially important. My annotated list in “Jane Austen, Abolitionist” includes more than a dozen female writers using the phrase between 1758 and 1812, the year Austen finished revising “Pride and Prejudice.”

    Among them was Frances Burney. Scholars have often attributed Austen’s famous title to Burney, who used the phrase “pride and prejudice” in her novel “Cecilia.”

    But Burney was not alone. Female novelists who used the expression before Austen included Charlotte Lennox, sisters Harriet and Sophia Lee, Charlotte Turner Smith, Mrs. Colpoys, Anne Seymour Damer and mother and daughter Susannah and Elizabeth Gunning, who jointly authored their novel “The Heir Apparent.”

    An abolitionist rallying cry

    As the critique embodied in the phrase progressed beyond religious and partisan conflict, it became increasingly used in the context of ethics and social reform.

    My most striking discovery in this research is the long-standing association of the phrase “pride and prejudice” with abolitionism, the movement to eradicate enslavement and the slave trade.

    The leaders of transnational antislavery organizations used it at their conventions and in the books and periodicals they published. In 1843, 30 years after the publication of Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice,” British Quaker Thomas Clarkson wrote to the General Antislavery Convention, which was meeting in London.

    He exhorted the faithful to repudiate slavery “at once and forever” if there were any among them “whose eyes may be so far blinded, or their consciences so far seared by interest or ignorance, pride or prejudice, as still to sanction or uphold this unjust and sinful system.”

    He even used the phrase twice. Acknowledging that some violent abolitionists had aroused reaction, he warned his audience that “this state of feeling arises as much from pride and prejudice on the one hand, as from indiscretion or impropriety on the other.”

    At the funeral for abolitionist John Brown, the minister prayed over his body, “Oh, God, cause the oppressed to go free; break any yoke, and prostrate the pride and prejudice that dare to lift themselves up.”

    The prayer uttered at John Brown’s burial.
    Library of Congress

    Use of the phrase did not end with Emancipation or the end of the U.S. Civil War.

    In fact, it was one of Frederick Douglass’ favorite phrases. On Oct. 22, 1883, in his “Address at Lincoln Hall,” Douglass excoriated the Supreme Court’s decision rendering the Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional.

    As was typical of Douglass, the speech ranged beyond racial inequities: “Color prejudice is not the only prejudice against which a Republic like ours should guard. The spirit of caste is malignant and dangerous everywhere. There is the prejudice of the rich against the poor, the pride and prejudice of the idle dandy against the hard-handed workingman.”

    Austen’s independent women

    Early on in “Pride and Prejudice,” the conceited Caroline Bingley snipes that Elizabeth Bennet shows “an abominable sort of conceited independence.” Later, the snobbish Lady Catherine accuses Bennet of being “headstrong.” But near the ending, Mr. Darcy tells Bennet that he loves her for “the liveliness” of her “mind.”

    In this respect, Bennet reflects a quality that all of Austen’s heroines possess. While they try to adhere to standards of courtesy and respect, none are guilty of saying only what the leading man wants to hear.

    Jane Austen.
    Stock Montage/Getty Images

    Given that Austen chose her title to honor the phrase and its history, it is ironic that her own fame ended up drowning out the abolitionist associations of “pride and prejudice” after the Civil War.

    If there is any work of fiction that successfully makes self-sufficiency, independent thinking and open-mindedness look good – and makes sycophants, rigidity and hysterical devotion to rank and status look bad – it is “Pride and Prejudice.”

    Yet the lasting popularity of Austen’s novel demonstrates that the ethics contained in the phrase continue to resonate today, even if its context has been lost.

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

    – ref. From pulpits to protest, the surprising history of the phrase ‘pride and prejudice’ – https://theconversation.com/from-pulpits-to-protest-the-surprising-history-of-the-phrase-pride-and-prejudice-249836

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: The US military has cared about climate change since the dawn of the Cold War – for good reason

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Paul Bierman, Fellow of the Gund Institute for Environment, Professor of Natural Resources and Environmental Science, University of Vermont

    Military engineers managing supply routes in Greenland in the 1950s paid attention to the weather and climate.
     US Army/Pictorial Parade/Archive Photos/Getty Images

    In 1957, Hollywood released “The Deadly Mantis,” a B-grade monster movie starring a praying mantis of nightmare proportions. Its premise: Melting Arctic ice has released a very hungry, million-year-old megabug, and scientists and the U.S. military will have to stop it.

    The rampaging insect menaces America’s Arctic military outposts, part of a critical line of national defense, before heading south and meeting its end in New York City.

    Yes, it’s over-the-top fiction, but the movie holds some truth about the U.S. military’s concerns then and now about the Arctic’s stability and its role in national security.

    A poster advertises ‘The Deadly Mantis,’ a movie released in 1957, a time when Americans worried about a Russian invasion. The film used military footage to promote the nation’s radar defenses along the Distant Early Warning line in the Arctic.
    LMPC via Getty Images

    In the late 1940s, Arctic temperatures were warming and the Cold War was heating up. The U.S. military had grown increasingly nervous about a Soviet invasion across the Arctic. It built bases and a line of radar stations. The movie used actual military footage of these polar outposts.

    But officials wondered: What if sodden snow and vanishing ice stalled American men and machines and weakened these northern defenses?

    In response to those concerns, the military created the Snow, Ice and Permafrost Research Establishment, a research center dedicated to the science and engineering of all things frozen: glacier runways, the behavior of ice, the physics of snow and the climates of the past.

    It was the beginning of the military’s understanding that climate change couldn’t be ignored.

    Army engineers test the properties of snow on Greenland’s ice sheet in 1955, a critical determinant of mobility on the ice and one that changes rapidly with temperature and climate.
    U.S. Army

    As I was writing “When the Ice is Gone,” my recent book about Greenland, climate science and the U.S. military, I read government documents from the 1950s and 1960s showing how the Pentagon poured support into climate and cold-region research to boost the national defense.

    Initially, military planners recognized threats to their own ability to protect the nation. Over time, the U.S. military would come to see climate change as both a threat in itself and a threat multiplier for national security.

    Ice roads, ice cores and bases inside the ice sheet

    The military’s snow and ice engineering in the 1950s made it possible for convoys of tracked vehicles to routinely cross Greenland’s ice sheet, while planes landed and took off from ice and snow runways.

    In 1953, the Army even built a pair of secret surveillance sites inside the ice sheet, both equipped with Air Force radar units looking 24/7 for Soviet missiles and aircraft, but also with weather stations to understand the Arctic climate system.

    The public reveal of U.S. military bases somewhere – that remained classified – inside Greenland’s ice sheet, in the February 1955 edition of REAL.
    Paul Bierman collection.

    The Army drilled the world’s first deep ice core from a base it built within the Greenland ice sheet, Camp Century. Its goal: to understand how climate had changed in the past so they would know how it might change in the future.

    The military wasn’t shy about its climate change research successes. The Army’s chief ice scientist, Dr. Henri Bader, spoke on the Voice of America. He promoted ice coring as a way to investigate climates of the past, provide a new understanding of weather, and understand past climatic patterns to gauge and predict the one we are living in today – all strategically important.

    Henri Bader describes drilling high on Greenland’s ice sheet in 1956 or 1957 in a Voice of America recording (National Archives), “The Snows of Yesteryear,” and a movie (U.S. Army). Created by Quincy Massey-Bierman.

    In the 1970s, painstaking laboratory work on the Camp Century ice core extracted minuscule amounts of ancient air trapped in tiny bubbles in the ice. Analyses of that gas revealed that levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere were lower for tens of thousands of years before the industrial revolution. After 1850, carbon dioxide levels crept up slowly at first and then rapidly accelerated. It was direct evidence that people’s actions, including burning coal and oil, were changing the composition of the atmosphere.

    Since 1850, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have spiked and global temperatures have warmed by more than 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit (1.3 Celsius). The past 10 years have been the hottest since recordkeeping began, with 2024 now holding the record. Climate change is now affecting the entire Earth – but most especially the Arctic, which is warming several times faster than the rest of the planet.

    Since 1850, global average temperature and carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere have risen together, reflecting human emissions of greenhouse gases. Red bars indicate warmer years; blue bars indicate colder years.
    NOAA

    Seeing climate change as a threat multiplier

    For decades, military leaders have been discussing climate change as a threat and a threat multiplier that could worsen instability and mass migration in already fragile regions of the world.

    Climate change can fuel storms, wildfires and rising seas that threaten important military bases. It puts personnel at risk in rising heat and melts sea ice, creating new national security concerns in the Arctic. Climate change can also contribute to instability and conflict when water and food shortages trigger increasing competition for resources, internal and cross-border tensions, or mass migrations.

    The military understands that these threats can’t be ignored. As Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro told a conference in September 2024: “Climate resilience is force resilience.”

    A view of aircraft carriers docked at the sprawling Naval Station Norfolk show how much of the region is within a few feet of sea level.
    Stocktrek Images via Getty Images

    Consider Naval Station Norfolk. It’s the largest military port facility in the world and sits just above sea level on Virginia’s Atlantic coast. Sea level there rose more than 1.5 feet in the last century, and it’s on track to rise that much again by 2050 as glaciers around the world melt and warming ocean water expands.

    High tides already cause delays in repair work, and major storms and their storm surges have damaged expensive equipment. The Navy has built sea walls and worked to restore coastal dunes and marshlands to protect its Virginia properties, but the risks continue to increase.

    Planning for the future, the Navy incorporates scientists’ projections of sea level rise and increasing hurricane strength to design more resilient facilities. By adapting to climate change, the U.S. Navy will avoid the fate of another famous marine power: the Norse, forced to abandon their flooded Greenland settlements when sea level there rose about 600 years ago.

    Norse ruins in Igaliku in southern Greenland, illustrated in the late 1800s while flooded at spring tide by sea level, which had risen since the settlement was abandoned around 1400.
    Steenstrup, K.J.V., and A. Kornerup. 1881. Expeditionen til Julianehaabs distrikt i 1876. MeddelelseromGrønland

    Climate change is costly to ignore

    As the impacts of climate change grow in both frequency and magnitude, the costs of inaction are increasing. Most economists agree that it’s cheaper to act now than deal with the consequences. Yet, in the past 20 years, the political discourse around addressing the cause and effects of climate change has become increasingly politicized and partisan, stymieing effective action.

    In my view, the military’s approach to problem-solving and threat reduction provides a model for civil society to address climate change in two ways: reducing carbon emissions and adapting to inevitable climate change impacts.

    The U.S. military emits more planet warming carbon than Sweden and spent more than US$2 billion on energy in 2021. It accounts for more than 70% of energy used by the federal government.

    In that context, its embrace of alternative energy, including solar generation, microgrids and wind power, makes economic and environmental sense. The U.S. military is moving away from fossil fuels, not because of any political agenda, but because of the cost-savings, increased reliability and energy independence the alternatives provide.

    Solar panels generate power on many U.S. military bases. This array at Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos, Calif., generates enough power for more than 15,000 homes and has a backup battery system to provide power when the sun isn’t shining.
    Frederic J . Brown/AFP via Getty Images

    As sea ice melts and Arctic temperatures rise, the polar region has again become a strategic priority. Russia and China are expanding Arctic shipping routes and eyeing critical mineral deposits as they become accessible. The military knows climate change affects national security, which is why it continues to take steps to address the threats a changing climate presents.

    Paul Bierman receives funding from the US National Science Foundation, this work in part supported by grant EAR-2114629.

    – ref. The US military has cared about climate change since the dawn of the Cold War – for good reason – https://theconversation.com/the-us-military-has-cared-about-climate-change-since-the-dawn-of-the-cold-war-for-good-reason-246333

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Minister Champagne calls on Canada’s five largest grocery chains to take action to stabilize retail prices for consumers

    Source: Government of Canada News (2)

    September 18, 2023 – Ottawa, Ontario

    Today, the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, met with the leaders of Canada’s five largest grocery chains, who have committed to supporting efforts to stabilize food prices.

    During the meeting, the Minister stressed that the cost of groceries has risen drastically. Minister Champagne also said that for millions of Canadians, the price of food has become a real concern, affecting their quality of life and forcing them to make tough decisions.

    Minister Champagne acknowledged that the grocery sector faces numerous challenges, but he emphasized the particularly key role that the largest grocery chains play in the Canadian retail grocery sector.

    Minister Champagne reiterated that the government expects concrete actions from the largest grocers by Thanksgiving. Such actions must not negatively impact small suppliers or the price that farmers receive for their products, nor should they impact pricing mechanisms as determined by supply-managed industries.

    Stressing the need for a wide-ranging approach, the Minister said he looks forward to his continued work with the largest grocery chains and other industry actors—both domestic and foreign—in the coming weeks to bring relief to Canadians.

    Associated link

    MIL OSI Canada News –