Since 2015, students from across the USA have been partnering with scientists at NASA to advance research on growing plants in space, ultimately to feed astronauts on long-distance space missions, as part of Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden’s Growing Beyond Earth project, which is now in its 9th year. This classroom-based citizen science project for 6th-12th grade students includes a series of plant experiments conducted by students in a Fairchild-designed plant habitat similar to the Vegetable Production System (VEGGIE) on the International Space Station.
This year, 8000+ students from 400+ schools are testing new edible plant varieties, studying radiation effects on growth, exploring the perfect light spectrum for super-sized space radishes, and experimenting with cosmic soil alternatives.
Watch these South Florida students show us how it’s done.
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NASA citizen science projects are open to everyone around the world, not limited to U.S. citizens or residents. They are collaborations between scientists and interested members of the public. Through these collaborations, volunteers (known as citizen scientists) have helped make thousands of important scientific discoveries. More than 450 NASA citizen scientists have been named as co-authors on refereed scientific publications. Explore opportunities for you to get involved and do NASA science: https://science.nasa.gov/citizen-science/
The Growing Beyond Earth project is supported by NASA under cooperative agreement award number 80NSSC22MO125 and is part of NASA’s Science Activation Portfolio. Learn more about how Science Activation connects NASA science experts, real content, and experiences with community leaders to do science in ways that activate minds and promote deeper understanding of our world and beyond: https://science.nasa.gov/learn
It’s been more than three decades, but still there are only two treatments for a stroke: either rapid use of a clot-busting medication called tPA or surgical removal of a clot from the brain with mechanical thrombectomy. However, only 5% to 13% percent of stroke cases are actually eligible for these interventions.
In his research laboratory at UConn School of Medicine, Rajkumar Verma Ph.D., of the Department of Neuroscience and the Pat and Jim Calhoun Cardiology Center at UConn Health (Tina Encarnacion/UConn Health photo).
“We need to be persistent with our research to find a new therapy for stroke,” says Rajkumar Verma, M.Pharm., Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Neuroscience at UConn School of Medicine working in cross-campus collaboration with Professor Raman Bahal Ph.D. of the Deparment of Pharmaceutical Sciences in the UConn School of Pharmacy. “Stroke research is hard and challenging to do. But without trying we won’t make progress. We need to keep trying. UConn is determined to keep trying.”
In addition to being life-threatening, stroke is the major cause of long-term disability worldwide.
“When a stroke strikes a patient, we don’t have any treatment to offer to effectively repair the brain’s damage. Once brain cells and tissue are damaged by a stroke, nothing can help restore the damage. In essence, the cascading inflammation caused by a stroke in the brain is like a fire in a house. We need to find a way to stop stroke’s fire,” says Verma.
Verma and his multidisciplinary research team believe they have found a new innovative therapy to try to stop a stroke’s “fire” or inflammation. This October they reported their new findings in the journal Molecular Therapy: Nucleic Acid.
To try to more effectively control a stroke’s damage and turn back time, UConn researchers are leveraging the power of micro-RNA (MiRNA), small molecules that regulate protein expression inside cells as they are able to control multiple proteins at a time.
“MiRNAs are small RNA molecules that help cells to regulate multiple gene and protein expression,” says Verma. “UConn researchers discovered that during a stroke these MiRNA get dysregulated, thus leading to brain damage by multiple unchecked proteins. Also, our laboratory research has confirmed the presence of increased levels of one such MiRNA, known as miRNA-141-3p, in blood samples of stroke patients.”
Novel gamma PNA based miRNA-141-3p inhibitors (syPNA-141) reduced brain damage (image on right with less atrophy) after stroke in mouse model of ischemic stroke. (Courtesy of Verma laboratory image).
Verma adds, “We are thrilled to report that we have successfully tested a novel MiRNA-141-3p inhibitor synthesized in our collaborator Dr. Bahal’s lab with the ability to reduce stroke damage and extinguish spreading inflammatory fire in the brain. In mouse models, we have seen swift restoration of once-lost motor function and memory. Also, we see a decrease in brain injury and enhanced expression of neuroprotective genes and growth factors fueling the brain’s recovery from stroke.”
The new promising therapeutic modality developed to inhibit stroke is called anti-miR-141-3p. UConn’s medical school is currently working to commercialize the discovery and take it toward clinical trial testing as a future treatment option for stroke.
Verma says UConn’s research findings once again showcase the powerful tool of miRNA and the promise of their newly developed miRNA inhibitor’s ability to stop the overexpression of dangerous, dysregulated bad proteins causing inflammation in the brain post-stroke.
Verma came to the U.S. over a decade ago from India and continued his stroke research journey at UConn School of Medicine studying stroke.
“I saw the big therapeutic gap in a new drug treatment for stroke to mitigate its brain damage and help with post-stroke recovery, and was motivated to try to fill this gap by learning more about stroke and by performing more translational research. I have chosen to stay at UConn for my stroke research, as UConn excels at this.”
But Verma is also driven to fight stroke personally.
“So many people have a personal story or family member who has been personally impacted about stroke – including me,” Verma shares. “My father died from a cardiovascular incident. We are not sure if it was in the brain or the heart. But this experience has led to my motivation for pursuing more stroke research.”
As the US presidential election inches closer, a recent survey found that the economy is the top issue for voters, and many are also concerned about healthcare, foreign policy and inequality. Amid all the noise about these key issues however, food has received only marginal coverage in the campaigning despite the country’s high cost of living.
Project 2025, a 900-page policy document produced by conservative thinktank the Heritage Foundation, has become a major talking point in the election campaign. Although Republican candidate Donald Trump has denied any links between his campaign and Project 2025, the people who have authored this document are no strangers to the former president, with more than half of the 307 contributors having served in the Trump administration or on his campaign or transition teams.
Trump’s Democratic rival in the race to the White House, Vice President Kamala Harris, has been very vocal about the dangers to the American people if the Project 2025 proposals were to be implemented. Instead, her campaign has promised an “opportunity economy” to support the American middle class, which will seek to cut prices and taxes, lower household costs, and offer various tax reliefs.
Analyses of Harris’ versus Trump’s economic policies suggest that the tariffs Trump has proposed will cause a rise in prices of imported goods – including food. On the other hand, Trump’s policies could lower energy costs because more domestic fossil fuel production could make US-produced foodstuffs cheaper.
But Project 2025 proposes deregulation of US dietary guidelines and US food assistance programmes, including Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap), Women, Infants and Children Program (WIC), and the National School Lunch Program. Democrats have argued that this will “drastically reduce” the access that families have to fresh American-grown food, threatening the health of the most vulnerable.
Democrats have also claimed that Project 2025 policies would reduce support to small-scale farmers, favouring large agribusinesses while deregulating the flow of ultra-processed food manufactured and distributed by influential corporations. Some estimates suggest that 73% of US food supply is already made up of ultra-processed foods, and they have been found to provide 60% of the calories consumed by the average US adult.
The links between ultra-processed food and negative health outcomes are increasingly being drawn. As such, food policy under Project 2025 would be very likely to have a negative impact on wider public health in the US.
But at the same time, Project 2025 would probably make healthcare less affordable and more restrictive for millions of citizens. It promises to reinstate the ability of the pharmaceutical industry to fix prices, raising the cost of drugs for American people.
It would also cut funding for health coverage for low-income Americans, threatening the survival of hospitals, health centres or doctors who serve those people.
These healthcare policies, combined with deregulation of the food industry and dietary guidelines, as well as the defunding of food assistance programmes, could spell a triple whammy for the health and wellbeing of some of the most vulnerable people in America.
How do Harris’s plans compare?
Harris’s plans, on the other hand, aim to make healthcare less expensive and more accessible, particularly for those from vulnerable groups such as black Americans or those on low incomes, the elderly or veterans.
But while these proposals might remove barriers to healthcare, they won’t directly improve food provision for Americans. Some of the proposals in Harris’s “opportunity economy”, however, could directly address the issue.
The outcome of the presidential election could have serious consequences for food security and wellbeing – especially among America’s poorer populations. Tada Images/Shutterstock
Harris’s proposals focus on strengthening and diversifying supply chains for food production, processing and distribution. She has been outspoken about investigating price-fixing of food products by large corporations – and prosecuting firms anywhere in the supply chain where this is found to have happened.
Harris’s plans would also support small producers, processors, distributors, family farms and food and farm workers with more funding to compete with large conglomerates. This could result in more decentralised supply chains, which are known to make it easier to provide healthier food to more people by encouraging crop diversity and lowering the cost of fresh local products.
And she is promising to crack down on mergers and acquisitions of food corporations, which are known to compromise the sustainable provision of healthy food by curbing farmers’ bargaining power and leaving communities with little say over how their land is used.
Food is integral to the public sector economy, alongside things such as providing healthcare, protecting the environment and reducing inequalities. The organisation of the entire food system – from production to processing, trade to transport, and consumption to nutrition – needs to consider ways in which feeding a country can strenghten its public sector economy, and meet its obligation to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The US has already made a commitment to these goals through global food security programmes like Feed the Future.
These issues are especially pertinent to the US, as its food system is highly centralised. In fact, 6% of farms grow 60% of food. Meanwhile family farms – which represent 88% of the total – contribute only 19%. Harris’s proposals could go some way to correcting this imbalance. But the rhetoric coming from her rivals on the other hand could ultimately end up making the US worse off in terms of food provision and health.
Shonil Bhagwat is a member of the UK Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs Science Advisory Council: Social Science Expert Group and the National Trust, UK, Specialist Advice Network: Natural Environment Advisory Group. He has received funding from UK Research and Innovation (Research England, Natural Environment Research Council, Economic and Social Research Council), European Union Horizon 2020, The Leverhulme Trust, The Royal Society, and the British Ecological Society.
A staggering one in three people in England lack access to nature-rich spaces within a short walk from their homes. Now, a growing movement is bringing nature back to cities across the UK. The Miyawaki forest method involves planting a diverse mix of densely packed native woodland trees – or “tiny forests” – that grow quickly in small areas, around the size of a tennis court.
Already, there are more than 280 Miyawaki-style forests nationwide. Tucked away within housing estates, school grounds and wasteland on the urban edge, these urban forests are growing faster than conventionally planted trees.
This means that the forest has distinct layers from the slow-growing canopy species right down to the smaller shrubs and ground covering herbs. These habitats are self-sustaining, so after three to five years’ growth they apparently don’t need much maintenance.
The environmental charity Earthwatch Europe uses the Miyawaki method to plant tiny forests in urban areas. So far, with the help of local communities, they have planted 285 forests since 2022.
Some local councils and community groups are embracing this tiny forest revolution. At Tychwood in Witney, near Oxford, the UK’s first tiny forest now has an outdoor classroom area that’s used by schoolchildren and local residents who can work on citizen science projects and tree maintenance.
Since it was first planted in March 2020, the habitat has become home to insects, birds and lots of native plants such as oak, birch, crab apple, dogwood and goat willow.
But while a government-funded pilot project called Trees Outside Woodlands has received attention for its possible socio-environmental benefits, very little research has quantified how best to do this effectively. One report published by conservation charity the Tree Council shows that Miyawaki plots have significantly higher survival rates and are more cost-effective than non-Miyawaki plots. But lots of unknowns remain.
A climate of uncertainty
Despite recognition of the potential benefits, including carbon storage, biodiversity conservation and educational opportunities, there’s a lot of uncertainty about how to apply the tiny forest method in different climates, particularly in the UK.
Our recent study, published in the Arboricultural Journal, explores how suitable these tiny forests are within the UK context. Our interviews with 12 professionals (tree experts from academia or practitioners) reveal that while half of them supported the Miyawaki method, especially in specific urban areas such as schools and small parks, concerns remained about tree mortality and the high costs of buying saplings, prepping soil and maintaining trees. A few people told us that they could see potential in using unused farmland to establish tiny forests in rural settings too.
Climate adaptation is paramount and planting trees in urban environments has never been more important. Access to nature also improves people’s health and wellbeing, with green spaces helping to connect communities and reduce loneliness, as well as mitigate the negative effects of climate change, such as air pollution, heatwaves and flooding, and improve biodiversity.
As UK cities face both climate change and biodiversity loss, the tiny forest method offers a promising solution. There are still many challenges to overcome as this movement is still in its infancy – but it could be key to a greener, more resilient future.
Nicola Dempsey is on the Board of Green Estate, CIC, Secretary of the Sheffield Green Spaces Forum and a member of the Sheffield Street Tree Partnership.
Hanyu Qi 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.
America is in the grip of a crisis of truth and its political and electoral systems are under duress. Losing the connection between what is true and what is fiction could have enormous consequence in the middle of this US election campaign.
Academics refer to this as an epistemological crisis, a situation where different people believe different “truths” and it becomes difficult to get a shared understanding of key facts. This, they argue, can lead to polarisation and potentially, even, an ungovernable country, based on an inability to decide on what is factually correct.
Jonathan Rauch, the journalist and author of The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth, says historically disagreement about what is true has, on some occasions, led to untold killing and suffering.
Right now in the US, it’s clear that there are massive differences in what people believe is true. Polls show, for instance, that around 69% of Republicans and Republican-leaning voters think the 2020 election result was not legitimate and that Joe Biden did not win.
This division is amplified by what is happening in and around the campaigns, and the use of new and developing techniques. The Trump campaign, for instance, continues to make claims that the 2020 election was stolen.
Sharing misinformation (that is, when inaccurate content is disseminated but not with the intent to mislead) has always been part of political life, but it is now quickly amplified by social media. Spreading disinformation takes this to the next level, when organisations or individuals deliberately spread lies. But the means to do so have grown more sophisticated, as demonstrated in the recent Moldovan election, where a massive Russian disinformation campaign was discovered.
History reminds us that fake news is at a premium during wartime and the world is currently experiencing two major conflicts. In both cases, the geopolitical consequences for the US are sky-high.
By spring 2024, US news media were reporting on Russia’s potential to interfere in the US election. The US administration’s position on the Ukraine war in particular matters greatly to the Kremlin, and it is no secret that a Donald Trump victory would suit Putin far better than a continuation of the Ukraine-funding Democrat alternative.
What is an epistemological crisis?
In September, US officials warned of election threats, not only from Russia but also Iran and China. Former director of the US Cyber-Security and Infrastructure Agency, Chris Krebs, stated that 2024 is “lining up to be a busy election interference season”. What makes these multi-faceted and constantly evolving threats even harder to manage is the fact that Maga influencers are embroiled in the proceedings. This makes a unified American response against an external threat all but impossible.
One recent such example involved a company in Tennessee which was used by members of the Russian state-owned broadcaster RT (formerly Russia Today) to spread Russia-friendly content. The content-creators were paid US$10 million (£7.7 million) by RT to publish pro-Russia videos in English on a range of social media platforms. The RT employees were charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and violating the Foreign Agent Registration Act.
This is one of many developments by the foreign interference machine as the election on November 5 nears. Other incidents include dozens of internet domains used by the Kremlin to spread disinformation on websites designed to look like news sites and to undermine support for Ukraine. The US government response to these complex and boundary-blurring threats is complicated by the tension between maintaining discretion and informing the public.
Old challenges, new technology
Looking back, the 2016 presidential campaign and subsequent victory for Trump brought many firsts, some comical, others deadly serious in this post-truth arena. The lighter side included inaccurate claims made by White House press secretary Sean Spicer about the size of Trump’s 2017 inauguration crowd. When Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway declared on television to have “alternative facts” to those reported by the media on the crowd size, her phrase entered general use.
With hindsight, such falsehoods now seem a little quaint, as the images from the day told the truth better than any script. Far more disturbingly, Russia’s Project Lakhta involved a “hacking and disinformation campaign” described in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s 2019 Report as vast and complex in scale. The scheme involved human and technological input and targeted politicians on the political left and right, with a view to causing maximum disruption. Just a year later, Russia interfered in the 2020 race, this time spreading falsehoods about Biden and working in Trump’s favour.
Fast forward to 2024 and we are awash with AI-created images and writing. Now any sort of lie is possible. Deep fakes, voice, image and video manipulation now mean that we literally can no longer believe our ears and eyes.
Kellyanne Conway on alternative facts.
Meanwhile, back on the campaign trail in 2024, Team Trump demonstrates few qualms when dishing out alternative facts. A long-time proponent of “truthful hyperbole” the former real-estate dealer takes exaggeration to a point no longer on the scale. From sharing an AI-generated image of Taylor Swift endorsing him (she soon backed his opponent) to claims that helicopters were not getting through with hurricane relief, the news cycle is awash with baseless content.
An inevitable outcome of this crisis and conflict over truth is voters’ confusion and disengagement, and increasing public tension, with a new poll reporting that the majority of Americans are expecting violence after the election.
Voters deserve to know whether what they know is real, but in this campaign it is increasingly clear that they don’t and the consequences of this could be stark.
Clodagh Harrington 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.
As it moves into the final week, the US election campaign remains so tight that most commentators are calling it a toss-up. But Donald Trump’s campaign may have just dealt itself its own “October surprise” – something no candidate for the US president wants as it stands for a last-minute disaster.
At his much anticipated “closing argument” rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City on October 27, various warm-up speakers engaged in strong, dark rhetoric about the state of the nation that laid the ground for Trump to take the stage and assert his position as the “protector”,“fixer”, and “liberator” of what he and his support base like to think of as an “occupied” country.
But the tone and content of the event was problematic from the start. Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe made opening remarks in which he described Puerto Rico as an “island of garbage”.
Deep offence at these remarks rippled across America’s Puerto Rican community and beyond. His slur on Puerto Rico drew condemnation across the political spectrum and mobilised a rash of new endorsements for the Harris-Walz campaign. The incident has raised the prospect of a Puerto Rican backlash that could well have an impact on the outcome of the election.
Tony Hinchcliffe: an October surprise?
Causing such deep offence to a significant minority population at a crucial moment in the campaign could have real consequences. Ultimately, the outcome of the election is determined by electoral college votes. These, in the end, will rely heavily on tallies across seven swing states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Caroline, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
The outcome of the 2016 and 2020 elections, although the Democrats received far more votes than the Republicans in total (3 million and 7 million, respectively), came down to very close margins across these swing states. In 2020, Joe Biden won the electoral college vote across these seven states – but with an average of less than half a percentage point (0.47%).
Why Puerto Rico matters
Puerto Rico is what is known as an “unincorporated territory” of the United States. Since it is not a state, it does not have any electoral college votes. But Puerto Ricans are citizens of the United States – a status they have enjoyed since 1917 – and can move freely between Puerto Rico and the mainland.
Those who reside in Puerto Rico may not vote in federal elections, but those who do live in the United States are eligible to vote in the states where they are registered.
Historically Puerto Ricans have been more likely to support the Democrats. But their turnout has been in consistent in the past. And both campaigns have made special effort to target this group. If enough people take offence at Hinchcliffe’s remarks, this could have a significant impact on the election result.
Millions of Puerto Ricans have made successful lives and careers in the US. As of 2021, Puerto Ricans make up 2% of the US population (5.8 million, up from 4.7 million in 2010). Despite this relatively low percentage overall, it is the distribution of the Puerto Rican population that makes them important in the presidential election.
The table below shows the Puerto Rican population across swing states in 2024 as well as the number of electoral college votes that are up for grabs in each state and the winning vote margin for Joe Biden in 2020. The figures in the table are for the whole Puerto Rican population.
Across these seven swing states, it is clear that the distribution of Puerto Ricans is not insignificant. This is especially the case in the key state of Pennsylvania. The total number and proportion of Puerto Ricans living there is easily large enough to affect the marginal vote share needed to tip the state to one of the two main political parties, which has 19 electoral college votes.
It’s telling that the Harris-Walz campaign was in Pennsylvania actively courting Latino voters at the same time the rally was underway in New York. The rapid impact from the rally manifested in real time and included the endorsement of the Harris-Walz campaign from world-famous celebrities.
Shortly after the remarks at the rally, Bad Bunny, the world’s most-streamed musical artist on Spotify between 2020 and 2022, endorsed Harris, as did singer Ricky Martin and actress Jennifer Lopez, whose parents come from Puerto Rico.
Bad Bunny showed his support by resharing with his millions of social media followers a video of Harris speaking about Trump’s response to the devastating hurricanes Irma and Maria that ravaged Puerto Rico in 2017. Ricky Martin posted “Esto es lo que piensan en nosotros” (This is what they think of us) with a tag of “vote for @kamalaharris”.
In a race where margins of victory are extremely thin, a small island country like Puerto Rico with its special status and mobile voters may just tip the scales in Harris’s direction.
Todd Landman receives funding from International Justice Mission, US State Department Trafficking in Persons Office, J. Sainsbury’s Ltd., and the US National Institute for Justice. .
Games Workshop, the British company behind the tabletop war game Warhammer and its futuristic counterpart Warhammer 40,000 (also known as Warhammer 40k), is now worth in the region of £3.75 billion. And it counts among its fans celebrities like Henry Cavill, Brian May and the late Robin Williams.
The original Warhammer (known as Warhammer Fantasy Battle) was a fantasy tabletop miniature war-game. Released in 1983 it featured J.R.R. Tolkien-esque orc, goblin, dwarf and elf characters. A few years later, Games Workshop launched a science fiction version of the game, Warhammer 40k, where many of the fantasy races were re-imagined for a futuristic science fiction setting.
Historically, many fans of science fiction have looked down on Warhammer 40k as something of a niche interest, the darker, grimier cousin of the clean-cut American franchises of Star Wars and Star Trek. But things are starting to change. Warhammer 40k is now so much more than a simple tabletop battle game. It is a whole universe of rich and diverse characters of great depth, and it is supported by a body of literature.
Here are five reasons the Warhammer 40k franchise is as worthy of science fiction fandom as its American cousins.
1. The grand scope of its format
Warhammer 40k is no longer just a miniatures game. Rather, it is a complete fictional universe far grander in scope than any other science fiction universe that exists today.
This multi-modal format means that fans don’t just have to collect model miniatures to enjoy it. There are so many different formats available, including animations, role-playing and video games, as well as comic books and the extensive literary publications from the Black Library, the publishing arm of Games Workshop.
2. The franchise’s scale
Warhammer 40k universe is huge. And I mean, seriously huge. The Horus Heresy series – the key saga that sets the context for the “present day” universe – spans some 54 books, with a further ten books mapping out the series’ conclusion.
This is arguably the biggest single collective literary undertaking in all of science fiction. The series started in 2006 with the novel Horus Rising, and has now reached its conclusion, with just the final few books awaiting their paperback release.
3. Depth of storytelling
Make no mistake, Warhammer 40k is no simple battle of good versus evil. Rather, it is a universe of deep politics, philosophy and nuance, where even the so-called “good guys” are forced to make difficult choices in the name of survival.
This tension is encapsulated in the leader of the Imperium (humanity), known as The Emperor, who has sat atop his golden throne for more than 10,000 years. He is sustained by the ritual daily sacrifice of thousands of souls, who give up their lives in order that he continue his psychic battle with the forces of chaos in the psychic realm, known as The Warp.
Such depth has helped the universe flourish over many decades, providing a constant stream of ideas for fans to engage with, and characters to explore.
4. The grimdark aesthetic
Such has been the impact of the Warhammer 40k universe that it has even spawned its own unique sub-genre of science fiction and fantasy, known as grimdark. Spearheaded by legendary artist John Blanche, grimdark is characterised by its bleak aesthetic that calls back to a kind of primordial existence, where day-to-day survival is not guaranteed.
This sub-genre extends far beyond the realms of Warhammer, even shaping the work of bestselling fantasy novelists such as Joe Abercrombie, author of The First Law trilogy.
5. Research potential
Researchers are also now starting to take Warhammer seriously. In September, Germany hosted the world’s first academic conference dedicated to all things Warhammer. The conference attracted almost 60 speakers, with academics from across the globe looking at the universe through their own particular academic lens.
Meanwhile, the depth of academic literature on Warhammer is also growing rapidly. In my own research I often write about science fiction and its potential to help us think about complex problems in new ways. With Warhammer, I have been able to explore what it means to be a soldier, and the symbolic relationship between the soldier and the state. I do this by exploring the portrayal of 40k’s most iconic characters, the space marines – genetically enhanced super-soldiers who live a monk-like existence committed to waging endless war against the enemies of mankind.
The Prime series Secret Level will feature a Warhammer 40k episode.
Time to go mainstream
While it is fair to say that Warhammer 40k has so far been fairly underrepresented in science fiction circles, it seems the tide is finally starting to turn. Just last year Games Workshop signed a deal with Amazon to produce a TV series. There will also be a Warhammer 40k animation, due for release in December 2024. There have also been several important critical successes for 40k in the realm of video games, the most recent example being Space Marine II.
With the growth of the tabletop hobby, the continued success of licensed video games and with an Amazon series on the horizon, we are now at a point where Warhammer is about to go mainstream. No longer is it merely a game of rolling dice, and painting model miniatures. Rather now, it is a huge and deeply significant work of science fiction, and one that is worthy of being spoken about in the same way as its American peers.
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Mike Ryder does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: United States Senator for West Virginia Shelley Moore Capito
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Today, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies (CJS), announced funding from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for West Virginia University (WVU).
This award, which was secured through a Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) request made by Senator Capito in Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24), will support new research equipment and resources.
“WVU is known to be a global leader in critical research initiatives,” Senator Capito said. “During the appropriations process, I worked closely with the university to identify the areas of need, and it was clear that strengthening their research capabilities was a priority. This award will help the university continue its efforts by acquiring state-of-the-art equipment that meets the demands of a leading electron microscopy facility, which can ultimately lead to attracting and retaining a high caliber of research faculty and students. I was proud to help secure this award that will have long-lasting benefits for WVU and our entire state.”
Award details listed below:
$1,140,000 CJS CDS award to WVU (Morgantown, W.Va.) for a suite of research equipment to develop standards and optimization in the areas of advanced energy systems, advanced manufacturing, and fundamental biomedical, neuroscience and life science studies. This equipment will be used to upgrade the existing Sample Preparation Laboratory (SPL) within the Electron Microscopy Facility (EMF) to optimally utilize current and future electron microscopes. The SPL processes samples for the EMF, as well as other research facilities. The availability of modern electron microscopy sample preparation facilities will support the recruitment of new faculty and student talent and in the retention of existing talent. The award also has the potential to benefit the entire Shared Research Facility by enabling faculty to propose and execute more ambitious studies in collaborative teams and by promoting greater industrial engagement by means of the materials insights that WVU can contribute.
Most stars form in collections, called clusters or associations, that include very massive stars. These giant stars send out large amounts of high-energy radiation, which can disrupt relatively fragile disks of dust and gas that are in the process of coalescing to form new planets. A team of astronomers used NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, in combination with ultraviolet, optical, and infrared data, to show where some of the most treacherous places in a star cluster may be, where planets’ chances to form are diminished. The target of the observations was Cygnus OB2, which is the nearest large cluster of stars to our Sun — at a distance of about 4,600 light-years. The cluster contains hundreds of massive stars as well as thousands of lower-mass stars. The team used long Chandra observations pointing at different regions of Cygnus OB2, and the resulting set of images were then stitched together into one large image. The deep Chandra observations mapped out the diffuse X-ray glow in between the stars, and they also provided an inventory of the young stars in the cluster. This inventory was combined with others using optical and infrared data to create the best census of young stars in the cluster. In this new composite image, the Chandra data (purple) shows the diffuse X-ray emission and young stars in Cygnus OB2, and infrared data from NASA’s now-retired Spitzer Space Telescope (red, green, blue, and cyan) reveals young stars and the cooler dust and gas throughout the region. In these crowded stellar environments, copious amounts of high-energy radiation produced by stars and planets are present. Together, X-rays and intense ultraviolet light can have a devastating impact on planetary disks and systems in the process of forming. Planet-forming disks around stars naturally fade away over time. Some of the disk falls onto the star and some is heated up by X-ray and ultraviolet radiation from the star and evaporates in a wind. The latter process, known as “photoevaporation,” usually takes between 5 and 10 million years with average-sized stars before the disk disappears. If massive stars, which produce the most X-ray and ultraviolet radiation, are nearby, this process can be accelerated. The researchers using this data found clear evidence that planet-forming disks around stars indeed disappear much faster when they are close to massive stars producing a lot of high-energy radiation. The disks also disappear more quickly in regions where the stars are more closely packed together. For regions of Cygnus OB2 with less high-energy radiation and lower numbers of stars, the fraction of young stars with disks is about 40%. For regions with more high-energy radiation and higher numbers of stars, the fraction is about 18%. The strongest effect — meaning the worst place to be for a would-be planetary system — is within about 1.6 light-years of the most massive stars in the cluster. A separate study by the same team examined the properties of the diffuse X-ray emission in the cluster. They found that the higher-energy diffuse emission comes from areas where winds of gas blowing away from massive stars have collided with each other. This causes the gas to become hotter and produce X-rays. The less energetic emission probably comes from gas in the cluster colliding with gas surrounding the cluster. Two separate papers describing the Chandra data of Cygnus OB2 are available. The paper about the planetary danger zones, led by Mario Giuseppe Guarcello (National Institute for Astrophysics in Palermo, Italy), appeared in the November 2023 issue of the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, and is available here. The paper about the diffuse emission, led by Juan Facundo Albacete-Colombo (University of Rio Negro in Argentina) was published in the same issue of Astrophysical Journal Supplement, and is available here. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center controls science operations from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts. JPL managed the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington until the mission was retired in January 2020. Science operations were conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at Caltech. Spacecraft operations were based at Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado. Data are archived at the Infrared Science Archive operated by IPAC at Caltech. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. Read more from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. Learn more about the Chandra X-ray Observatory and its mission here:
chandra
https://chandra.si.edu
This release features a composite image of the Cygnus OB2 star cluster, which resembles a night sky blanketed in orange, purple, and grey clouds. The center of the square image is dominated by purple haze. This haze represents diffuse X-ray emissions, and young stars, detected by the Chandra X-ray observatory. Surrounding the purple haze is a mottled, streaky, brick orange cloud. Another cloud resembling a tendril of grey smoke stretches from our lower left to the center of the image. These clouds represent relatively cool dust and gas observed by the Spitzer Space Telescope. Although the interwoven clouds cover most of the image, the thousands of stars within the cluster shine through. The lower-mass stars present as tiny specks of light. The massive stars gleam, some with long refraction spikes.
Megan WatzkeChandra X-ray CenterCambridge, Mass.617-496-7998mwatzke@cfa.harvard.edu Lane FigueroaMarshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama256-544-0034lane.e.figueroa@nasa.gov
The UK’s drugs regulator – the MHRA – has approved the Alzheimer’s drug donanemab, but it won’t be available on the NHS.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice), which determines what treatments are available on the NHS, decided not to recommend donanemab for NHS use. This is because of its cost, potential side-effects and what some consider insufficient benefits.
While Nice’s decision is disappointing for a lot of people (about 70,000 people people in England would have qualified to receive the drug), it’s important to know why the decision was made.
Slowing decline
A key characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease is the presence of amyloid plaques. These are sticky proteins that clump together and destroy brain cells (neurons), resulting in Alzheimer’s.
Donanemab is a monoclonal antibody – a lab-made protein that targets and binds to amyloid to help eliminate it. This treatment is administered by an intravenous infusion, so the drug is delivered directly into the bloodstream. Each session lasts about 30 minutes and is needed every four weeks.
In a clinical trial, donanemab was shown to be reasonably successful. The trial compared participants with early Alzheimer’s disease taking donanemab against those taking a placebo.
Donanemab slowed the decline in memory and thinking by as much as 35% in people in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. This is the equivalent of reducing the disease’s progression by four to seven months. Participants taking donanemab experienced a 40% slower decline in their ability to perform daily tasks, including managing finances, driving and enjoying hobbies.
While these results are promising, it’s important to note that the clinical trial had some limitations.
The trial lasted only 18 months, so it remains unclear how donanemab’s effects will play out long-term for those using it. Future studies will be needed to explore the long-term effects.
Although the trial had a large sample size of 1,736 participants with early Alzheimer’s disease, 90% of the participants were white. More diversity in clinical trials is needed to ensure that donanemab is effective for people of all races and ethnic backgrounds. Unfortunately, this lack of diversity is a common issue in medical research.
But the major drawback with donanemab was its side-effects. About 80% of the side-effects participants experienced were either mild or participants showed no symptoms at all and side-effects were only picked up in further tests.
However, 15% of participants had a serious side-effect. This included brain swelling or small brain bleeds known as amyloid-related imaging abnormalities. This may initially cause mild symptoms such as headaches, confusion or dizziness. But without constant monitoring, these conditions can become detrimental to health.
There were three deaths believed to be linked to this brain swelling among the 853 participants who were administered the drug.
Another concern in using the drug relates to the existing difficulties with diagnosis. To even qualify for the treatment, patients must be in the very early stages of Alzheimer’s disease – and already have confirmed high amyloid levels through a PET scan or lumbar puncture.
In the UK, only 2% of dementia patients receive these gold-standard diagnoses. More than one-third of people living with dementia don’t receive a diagnosis at all.
Improved and more accessible diagnostic methods would ensure more patients are eligible to receive the drug at the optimal time.
But the key reason donanemab isn’t available through the NHS is its cost. The treatment is estimated to cost around £25,000 a year per patient, based on the US cost. This does not include the expense of brain scans to monitor its effects.
Additionally, it requires monthly infusions at the hospital and careful monitoring for side-effects, which may seem excessive considering the treatment’s modest benefits.
The future for Alzheimer’s treatments
Nice’s decision on donanemab closely mirrors the decision they made about lecanemab in August 2024. This was the first ever Alzheimer’s slowing drug approved by the MHRA, and, like donanemab, is only available via private healthcare. The reasons both drugs were rejected by the Nice and the NHS are similar – with costs and side-effects being the main concerns.
While people with dementia and their families may feel let down by this decision, the fact that these new therapies can slow the disease, even slightly, offers hope.
Nice will be reassessing donanemab in 2025. There are also over 100 drugs currently in clinical trials for treating Alzheimer’s. Hopefully, one of these will prove to be as effective, if not more effective, as donanemab but with fewer side-effects and at a lower cost.
Still, it’s a remarkable step that there are two drugs licensed in the UK for treating Alzheimer’s. Although there’s still a way to go before an NHS treatment is readily available.
Rahul Sidhu 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.
Climate change and biodiversity loss are mounting threats to Australia’s water security. So ee often hear calls for more dams. But is that the answer?
Our recent research reveals large dam projects are costly gambles with public money. They often fail to deliver promised economic benefits. They also have major environmental, financial and social impacts.
In New South Wales, some members of the Lower Lachlan River community were concerned about plans to expand Wyangala Dam. They first asked us in 2020 to investigate its full costs and benefits, with findings presented at a local workshop in 2022.
The first WaterNSW estimate of capital and operating costs was A$620 million in 2018. Within a few years, it had soared to as much as $2.1 billion. In 2023, the project was scrapped because it wasn’t economically viable.
To avoid repeating costly mistakes and mismanaging taxpayers’ money, we need a smarter approach to major water projects. This includes independent assessments and greater transparency, with business cases made public and decision-making open to scrutiny. And planning for climate change must become a priority.
In Australia and worldwide, big dam cost overruns can be up to 825%. The average overrun is 120%. This casts serious doubt on such projects’ financial and social viability. Public costs for private gains are a major concern.
Our study reviewed the original business case for the Wyangala Dam expansion. The original study had concluded there would be net social benefits and gave the project the green light.
Our review found the business case was seriously flawed. It overestimated benefits and grossly underestimated physical capital and environmental costs.
Estimated building costs blew out by 239%. If the project had gone ahead, the costs would undoubtedly have increased.
On top of this, assessments of impacts on rivers and wetlands were poor and superficial. They greatly undervalued the environmental effects of expanding the dam, particularly on downstream wetlands.
On the other side of the equation, its benefits were overblown, particularly for water security and agriculture.
Local voices believed many of their concerns had been ignored. There were deep concerns that flood-dependent farmers downstream might lose some of their livelihoods. Indigenous communities were worried about their cultural sites being destroyed.
Our analysis provided a more rigorous assessment of benefits and costs of the Wyangala Dam expansion.
We found total project costs were underestimated by at least 116%. The benefits were inflated by 56%. This meant the true impacts on the environment, agriculture and local communities were misrepresented.
Rethinking Australia’s water future
Our analysis provides a salutary lesson on why we need to rethink water security. Instead of sinking billions into dams, we should find smart and sustainable ways to manage our water.
The fixation on building and expanding dams means innovative alternatives are often ignored. These other options include recycling water, managing demand and carefully recharging aquifers (using aquifers as underground dams).
The National Water Grid Fund exemplifies the misguided “build more dams” mindset. Its portfolio of 61 large water projects has a total capital cost estimate of up to $10 billion.
Despite this massive investment, only 23 of these projects have publicly available business cases. It leaves more than $1.7 billion in committed funding shrouded in secrecy.
This lack of transparency is alarming, given the history of cost overruns and inadequate assessment of environmental damage. It points to the urgent need to reassess our approach to water security. The public has a right to know that their governments are spending wisely.
To avoid repeating costly mistakes and mismanaging taxpayers’ money, we need a smarter approach. Independent business cases should be mandated for all major water projects.
We also need a strong public sector capable of transparent evaluation. Promised new National Environmental Standards as part of reforms to environmental protection laws are likely to require rigorous scrutiny too. We must embrace transparency by opening decision-making to public scrutiny and diverse perspectives, including local voices and Indigenous stakeholders, from the start.
Finally, infrastructure planning must account for long-term climate impacts on water availability. Planning for climate change is vital.
As projects such as the proposed Wyangala Dam expansion demonstrate, Australia can no longer afford to gamble its water future on outdated, costly and environmentally destructive solutions. It’s time to end the wasteful spending.
Instead, we need to channel our efforts into truly effective, sustainable and transparent water management. Strategies must give priority to community needs, First Nations’ water rights, environmental protection and long-term climate resilience.
John Kandulu is a recipient of funding from various sources, such as state and Commonwealth governments, as well as non-profit organisations. His affiliations include the Centre for Social Impact at Flinders University and the Environment Institute at the University of Adelaide.
Richard Kingsford receives funding from a range of organisations, including the Australian Research Council, state and Commonwealth governments, non-government organisations, including World Wide Fund for Nature and Australian Conservation Foundation. He is a member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists and a councillor on the Biodiversity Council.
Sarah Ann Wheeler receives funding from a range of organisations, including the Australian Research Council, state and Commonwealth governments and non-government organisations.
The creeping shadows and haunting decorations transform the everyday into something eerie at Halloween. And you might be thinking about scaring yourself with a good horror movie.
Grotesque imagery, extreme violence, startling jump scares and menacing characters are common elements, making viewers feel fear, dread and disgust.
We generally aim to avoid these negative emotions in our everyday lives.
So why would some people seek them out, and enjoy them, in horror movies?
1. Fear can be thrilling
There is lots of overlap between the emotions of fear and excitement. In both, stress hormones are released that can produce physical symptoms such as increased heart and breathing rates, sweating and muscle tension. People also feel more alert and “on edge”.
Research has consistently shown people with personalities that crave intense emotional experiences, including fear and excitement, tend to enjoy horror movies.
But for more fearful people, the jump scares and violent scenes can be too intense. This can result in coping behaviours such as looking away or putting their hands over the ears, especially if they are highly immersed in the movie.
Although, if they also happen to enjoy intense emotion, they may still enjoy the thrill of the ride.
Movie makers work hard to get these ‘jump scares’ just right. And viewers enjoy the thrill.
Watching a horror movie can be a bit of an emotional rollercoaster, with distinct peaks and troughs of fear and relief over the course of the film.
For example, in the 2017 movie It the main protagonists survive a series of scary encounters with a demonic clown. The scary moments are separated by calmer scenes, prompting a rollercoaster of emotions.
In the classic 1975 movie Jaws, viewers experience relief from the scary moments, only to be scared again and again.
Jaws is a rollercoaster of emotions.
3. They satisfy our morbid curiosity
Many horror movies feature supernatural themes and characters such as zombies, werewolves and vampires. So horror movies can help satiate a morbid curiosity.
The violence, death, destruction and grotesque elements can provide curious people a safe space to explore things that are not safe (or socially appropriate) in the real world.
Horror movies can help people satisfy their curiosity about death. But why are they curious in the first place?
4. We can work out our limits
Horror movies can reflect our deepest fears and prompt introspection about our personal thresholds of fear and disgust.
So some people may enjoy watching them to get a better understanding of their own limits.
Watching horror might also be a way to push personal boundaries to potentially become less fearful or grossed out by things in real life.
In a study one of us (Coltan) conducted, horror movie fans reported less psychological distress during the early months of the COVID pandemic compared with people not identifying as a horror movie fan.
5. They can be social
Some people say the social aspect of watching horror movies with others is a big part of their appeal.
Watching with others might help some people feel safer. Alternatively, this might help amplify the emotional experience by feeding off the emotions of people around them.
Horror movies are also a common pick as a date night movie. Being scared together gives a good excuse to snuggle and take comfort in each other.
6. They give us pleasure in other people’s misery
Horror movies can provide the pleasurable emotion we feel when witnessing the misfortune of others, known as schadenfreude. This occurs most when we feel the person experiencing misfortune deserves it.
In many horror movies the characters that suffer a gruesome fate are only side characters. Much of the time these unfortunate souls are made out to be unlikeable and often make foolish choices before their grisly end.
For example, in the 1996 teen witch movie The Craft, the character Chris Hooker is portrayed as being cruel to women. Then he dies by being blasted out of a window.
Despite the grisly nature of horror movies, a study by one of us (Coltan) found horror fans seem to have the same levels of empathy as anyone else.
In The Craft, viewers enjoy witnessing the misfortune of others, particularly if the character is a ‘baddy’.
What do I make of all this?
Horror movies allow us to confront our deepest fears through the safety of make-believe.
People enjoy them for lots of different reasons. And the precise combination of reasons differs depending on the specific movie, and the person or people watching it.
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Flora Salim, Professor, School of Computer Science and Engineering, inaugural Cisco Chair of Digital Transport & AI, UNSW Sydney
In 2014, the British philosopher Nick Bostrom published a book about the future of artificial intelligence (AI) with the ominous title Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies. It proved highly influential in promoting the idea that advanced AI systems – “superintelligences” more capable than humans – might one day take over the world and destroy humanity.
A decade later, OpenAI boss Sam Altman says superintelligence may only be “a few thousand days” away. A year ago, Altman’s OpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever set up a team within the company to focus on “safe superintelligence”, but he and his team have now raised a billion dollars to create a startup of their own to pursue this goal.
What exactly are they talking about? Broadly speaking, superintelligence is anything more intelligent than humans. But unpacking what that might mean in practice can get a bit tricky.
Their framework lists six levels of AI performance: no AI, emerging, competent, expert, virtuoso and superhuman. It also makes an important distinction between narrow systems, which can carry out a small range of tasks, and more general systems.
A narrow, no-AI system is something like a calculator. It carries out various mathematical tasks according to a set of explicitly programmed rules.
There are already plenty of very successful narrow AI systems. Morris gives the Deep Blue chess program that famously defeated world champion Garry Kasparov way back in 1997 as an example of a virtuoso-level narrow AI system.
Some narrow systems even have superhuman capabilities. One example is Alphafold, which uses machine learning to predict the structure of protein molecules, and whose creators won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry this year.
What about general systems? This is software that can tackle a much wider range of tasks, including things like learning new skills.
A general no-AI system might be something like Amazon’s Mechanical Turk: it can do a wide range of things, but it does them by asking real people.
Overall, general AI systems are far less advanced than their narrow cousins. According to Morris, the state-of-the-art language models behind chatbots such as ChatGPT are general AI – but they are so far at the “emerging” level (meaning they are “equal to or somewhat better than an unskilled human”), and yet to reach “competent” (as good as 50% of skilled adults).
So by this reckoning, we are still some distance from general superintelligence.
How intelligent is AI right now?
As Morris points out, precisely determining where any given system sits would depend on having reliable tests or benchmarks.
Depending on our benchmarks, an image-generating system such as DALL-E might be at virtuoso level (because it can produce images 99% of humans could not draw or paint), or it might be emerging (because it produces errors no human would, such as mutant hands and impossible objects).
There is significant debate even about the capabilities of current systems. One notable 2023 paper argued GPT-4 showed “sparks of artificial general intelligence”.
OpenAI says its latest language model, o1, can “perform complex reasoning” and “rivals the performance of human experts” on many benchmarks.
However, a recent paper from Apple researchers found o1 and many other language models have significant trouble solving genuine mathematical reasoning problems. Their experiments show the outputs of these models seem to resemble sophisticated pattern-matching rather than true advanced reasoning. This indicates superintelligence is not as imminent as many have suggested.
Will AI keep getting smarter?
Some people think the rapid pace of AI progress over the past few years will continue or even accelerate. Tech companies are investing hundreds of billions of dollars in AI hardware and capabilities, so this doesn’t seem impossible.
If this happens, we may indeed see general superintelligence within the “few thousand days” proposed by Sam Altman (that’s a decade or so in less scifi terms). Sutskever and his team mentioned a similar timeframe in their superalignment article.
Many recent successes in AI have come from the application of a technique called “deep learning”, which, in simplistic terms, finds associative patterns in gigantic collections of data. Indeed, this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to John Hopfield and also the “Godfather of AI” Geoffrey Hinton, for their invention of Hopfield Networks and Boltzmann machine, which are the foundation for many powerful deep learning models used today.
General systems such as ChatGPT have relied on data generated by humans, much of it in the form of text from books and websites. Improvements in their capabilities have largely come from increasing the scale of the systems and the amount of data on which they are trained.
However, there may not be enough human-generated data to take this process much further (although efforts to use data more efficiently, generate synthetic data, and improve transfer of skills between different domains may bring improvements). Even if there were enough data, some researchers say language models such as ChatGPT are fundamentally incapable of reaching what Morris would call general competence.
One recent paper has suggested an essential feature of superintelligence would be open-endedness, at least from a human perspective. It would need to be able to continuously generate outputs that a human observer would regard as novel and be able to learn from.
Existing foundation models are not trained in an open-ended way, and existing open-ended systems are quite narrow. This paper also highlights how either novelty or learnability alone is not enough. A new type of open-ended foundation model is needed to achieve superintelligence.
What are the risks?
So what does all this mean for the risks of AI? In the short term, at least, we don’t need to worry about superintelligent AI taking over the world.
But that’s not to say AI doesn’t present risks. Again, Morris and co have thought this through: as AI systems gain great capability, they may also gain greater autonomy. Different levels of capability and autonomy present different risks.
For example, when AI systems have little autonomy and people use them as a kind of consultant – when we ask ChatGPT to summarise documents, say, or let the YouTube algorithm shape our viewing habits – we might face a risk of over-trusting or over-relying on them.
In the meantime, Morris points out other risks to watch out for as AI systems become more capable, ranging from people forming parasocial relationships with AI systems to mass job displacement and society-wide ennui.
What’s next?
Let’s suppose we do one day have superintelligent, fully autonomous AI agents. Will we then face the risk they could concentrate power or act against human interests?
Not necessarily. Autonomy and control can go hand in hand. A system can be highly automated, yet provide a high level of human control.
Like many in the AI research community, I believe safe superintelligence is feasible. However, building it will be a complex and multidisciplinary task, and researchers will have to tread unbeaten paths to get there.
Flora Salim receives funding from Australian Research Council and Cisco. She acknowledges the support from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society (ADM+S) (CE200100005).
The various regulatory systems for approving pesticides in operation around the world are crude and flawed. This has long been clear to scientists and it is deeply worrying, as this regulation is supposed to protect people and the environment from harm.
The EU regulatory system for pesticides is arguably the most rigorous in the world, yet it has repeatedly approved the use of pesticides that have subsequently been found to cause harm to humans or wildlife, leading to eventual bans. It often takes decades for the harm to accumulate before it is recognised.
The history of pesticide use is littered with such examples: DDT, parathion, paraquat, chlorpyrifos, neonicotinoids, chlorothalonil and many more. Most pesticides that were once deemed safe for humans and wildlife that aren’t the target, like bees, have since been banned. This ought to tell us that the regulatory system is not working.
A new study offers yet more evidence. Research by the European Molecular Biology Laboratory shows how pesticide tests focus on the death of an animal and ignore any important “sublethal” effects.
If a creature, such as a honeybee, is alive 48 hours after exposure, then it is deemed that all is well, and the chemical may be approved for use. The bee may be unable to fly or navigate, or its immune system may no longer function, but that is not recorded.
Multiple regulatory failings
There are many other failings in UK and EU pesticide regulation.
Regulatory tests assess the “active substance” in a pesticide, but farmers use products with lots of extra ingredients that can amplify its toxicity. Strangely, the product used by farmers is not evaluated.
Tests to ascertain how deadly new pesticides are for wildlife are often done in-house by the companies seeking approval. This research is rarely made public as it is considered commercially sensitive.
Tests focus on the short-term (often 48-hour) effects of exposure in healthy test animals, such as honeybees, predatory beetles or zebra fish. In reality, exposure may last for weeks, months or years, and its effects may be cumulative.
Tests also focus on exposing subjects to a single pesticide, when wild organisms – and humans – are exposed to complex mixtures of pesticides, some of which act synergistically (meaning the harm they do is more than the sum of the effects of each chemical in isolation).
In the new study, the researchers used the larvae of fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) as a model species. This provided the scientists with huge numbers of test insects with which to study the lethal and sublethal effects of 1,024 different pesticides (almost all of the chemicals available to farmers worldwide, predominantly comprising insecticides, fungicides and herbicides).
The researchers exposed these larvae to a range of concentrations of pesticides, spanning what insects are likely to encounter in cropland, and subsequently measured aspects of their behaviour, physiology, fitness and survival over time.
Herbicides and fungicides harm insects too
Several of this study’s findings highlight inadequacies in pesticide regulation.
First, many non-insecticides kill insects. Farmers often avoid spraying insecticides when beneficial insects such as bees are active and instead spray late in the evening. They don’t usually worry about when they spray chemicals designed to target weeds and fungi. The new study suggests that it would be safer to assume that all pesticides can harm insects.
Second, many non-insecticides killed few if any insects during the 16 hours for which they were exposed to them in this study, but many died in the following ten days. Clearly, only assessing short-term effects misses the total impact.
Third, 57% of the pesticides tested affected the behaviour of insect larvae, including 382 non-insecticides, demonstrating that sublethal effects are widespread.
Fourth, the researchers found that the effects of pesticides on insect survival were often much higher at elevated temperatures, something not examined by any regulatory system in the world.
Exposure to a concentration of less than one part per million of the insecticide lindane, for example, killed no insects at 25°C but killed 79% of them at 29°C. This is obviously relevant to climate change, and particularly to the increasing frequency of heatwaves. We should perhaps not be surprised that organisms struggle to cope when faced with multiple sources of stress at the same time.
Pesticide exposure heightens the threat of climate change to insects. Kzww/Shutterstock
There have been attempts to introduce more rigorous regulations that include assessing the sublethal and chronic effects of pesticides. In 2013, the European Food Standards Agency published a revised protocol for safety testing of the effects of new pesticides on bees with a group of independent scientists. Eleven years on and the protocol has not been adopted due to stiff opposition from the pesticide industry, which argues that it would be more expensive to implement.
We are in the midst of a biodiversity crisis. A recent study estimated that wild populations of vertebrates have declined by 73% since 1970. Insects are less thoroughly monitored, but recent reviews estimate that their populations have fallen dramatically and continue to decline at an average rate of 1-2% a year.
There is lots of evidence that pesticides are contributing to these declines, and that the regulatory system has failed us. Ian Boyd, the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs chief scientist, wrote in 2017 that pesticides passing a battery of tests in a lab or field trial are assumed to be benign even when used at industrial scales. “The effects of dosing whole landscapes with chemicals have been largely ignored by regulatory systems,” he said.
Despite this admission by a senior government scientist, the system remains unchanged in both the UK and EU. While this remains the case, insect populations will continue to decline, with consequences for all of us.
Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?
Current thinking about workplace problems, mental health and the law is hindering New Zealand’s ability to prevent job-related mental harm.
The inclusion of mental health in New Zealand’s Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA) is meant to protect workers from the risk of harm arising from exposure to workplace psychosocial hazards.
These arise from the way work is designed, managed and led, and the context in which work is carried out. They can cause psychological, social or physical harm. Common examples include long work hours, role ambiguity, emotional demands, job insecurity and bullying.
Our research examined how the most senior company decision-makers understood their legal duties as they relate to mental health.
Under the HSWA, these officers – including company directors and chief executives – must exercise due diligence to ensure their company is compliant with the law.
But most of the 24 research participants, who were officers of large companies, expressed uncertainty and ambiguity about the meaning of “mental health” within the HSWA.
The harms of work
Exposure to psychosocial hazards is commonly reported by New Zealand workers.
Managerial decisions relating to how work is designed, organised and managed influence how people experience work and the psychosocial hazards they may face.
Psychosocial risk often stems from operational and performance decisions relating to things like intensification, staffing, production and market demands.
In many organisations, these decisions are made in the boardroom – far removed from where the core work of the business is carried out.
Many of the research participants felt the uncertainty about the meaning of mental health within the HSWA arose from a lack of expertise in New Zealand’s health and safety workforce, a lack of clear regulatory guidance, and the complexity of psychosocial risk.
As one participant said:
There’s no boundaries, there’s no playbook, there’s no formula they can follow, it’s hard and it’s complex and it’s different for each person, and there’s nobody who you can point to and go, “They’ve absolutely nailed it”.
But our analysis also found that uncertainty and ambiguity arose from other factors.
These included a belief that the risk of exposure was often rooted in the personal characteristics and behaviours of workers rather than in their work. There was also a focus on fixing harm rather than preventing it and the conflation of psychosocial risks with other risks.
Unfortunately, these beliefs also limited the application of the HSWA.
Instead of addressing work-related risk, senior managers became distracted by workers’ personal lives and focused on reactive management strategies rather than preventative ones. They adopted an approach to risk management that emphasised “risks to the organisation” rather than “risks to workers”.
Bullying in the workplace
These limits were most clearly evident when participants described their oversight of organisational responses to bullying and harassment.
However, in detailing their performance of due diligence, participants described ensuring such risks were managed by recounting conflict reporting and resolution systems, support for victims, and organisational policy stressing “zero tolerance” for poor workplace behaviour.
While these responses might form part of a comprehensive approach to bullying and harassment (although in practice these could be unjust, ineffective or even counterproductive), on their own they may also be inadequate when the problem is considered under work health and safety law.
The risk-based, preventative nature of the HSWA requires that harm is prevented through understanding, anticipating and intervening in the contributing factors within the work environment.
Research has firmly established that bullying is more likely in organisations where there are unreasonable workloads, high job demands and job insecurity, along with laissez-faire or “hands off” management, or management strategies that relentlessly require workers do more with less.
Consideration of these risks may be relevant in the current context of job insecurity and job cuts across the public sector which could result in increased demands on remaining workers.
The link between hazards and harm
Risk assessment must focus on what can, and ought to be, known about the relationship between these psychosocial hazards and potential harm. Risk management must aim to eliminate or minimise risks as far as reasonably practicable.
Importantly, acting on risk does not require evidence of harm. Responding to harm once it has happened is contrary to the overall purpose of the HSWA.
But addressing deeper organisational factors is much more difficult and uncomfortable for those in charge.
Preventing bullying and harassment requires considering how decisions about the design, organisation and management of work may contribute to the risk of harm.
Prevention can therefore explicitly question the decisions and practices of company directors, executives and managers – not traditionally considered within the remit of work health and safety.
As a result, bullying and harassment tend to be framed as an interpersonal problem between workers and their managers. This is less challenging than bringing the decisions relating to the management and governance of a company into question.
The preventative focus is then placed on correcting and improving behaviour rather than managing or changing the conditions of work which give rise to bullying and harassment.
Louise Deacon received a grant from Health and Safety Association of New Zealand and a Massey University Doctoral Scholarship for this research.
Bevan Catley has recieved funding in the past from The Health Research Council of New Zealand and WorkSafe New Zealand concerning work-related psychosocial risks.
David Tappin has received research funding in the past from The Health Research Council of New Zealand and WorkSafe New Zealand concerning work-related psychosocial risks.
Some of the ways migrants are exploited in the workforce get a lot of public attention. We hear tragic stories about wage theft, forced unpaid overtime, unsafe work conditions or discrimination. And we are likely to hear more such grim stories revealed at a NSW parliamentary inquiry that will examine modern slavery in Australia.
These vulnerabilities all relate to what researchers call workplace precarity – insecurity or uncertainty at work. But too often, a major piece of this picture gets overlooked.
My recent analysis of more than 900 court cases brought by migrant workers shines a light on migrants being sexually harassed, sexually assaulted or trafficked for sexual reasons in their workplaces.
Yet, with the exception of a recent landmark research report on sexual harassment experienced by migrant women, this issue has not received the attention it deserves.
The taboo nature of sexual crimes likely plays a role in this neglect. When it is covered, there is often a somewhat sensationalist focus by the media on the sex work industry.
In the process, we may overfocus on sex work and neglect many other workplaces in which migrant workers can face forms of sexual violence. Any reckoning with workplace precarity more broadly cannot afford to ignore the risk of sexual exploitation.
My research, drawn from more than 900 court cases brought by migrant workers, uncovered some harrowing examples.
In one case in Canada, an employer sexually harassed and in one case raped two migrant women who worked in his business as fish filleters. One of the women felt she had to comply with demands for fellatio to avoid deportation back to Mexico.
Following a ruling, the women were awarded damages under Ontario human rights law.
In another highly publicised case in Australia, a farmer was found guilty of raping a young British backpacker, threatening refusal to sign off on her farm work if she did not comply.
Such a “sign off” is required for a working holiday maker to be able to extend their visa for an additional year.
Sex slavery
A further case concerned sex slavery. Two Thai women entered Australia fraudulently on tourist visas with the intention of undertaking sex work. The sex work began, with their consent.
However, they came to be subjected to work that went beyond what had been contracted in terms of the number of clients, the nature of sexual services provided, frequency and rest periods.
One woman suffered damage to her sexual organs. They also had their mobile phones removed. After several legal appeals, this behaviour was found to amount to sex trafficking and the defendant employer was imprisoned.
An attempt to overturn the conviction was refused.
Recent research by the NSW Anti Slavery Commissioner’s Office with migrant workers on NSW farms also suggests allegations of sexual violence could be unreported due to a perceived risk of retaliation.
Interwoven risks
These cases, and many others, all demonstrate that economic and sexual exploitation can commingle for migrant workers.
In such cases, employers may use economic and visa vulnerability to extract sexual favours. At times in these cases, there are also egregious examples of underpayment or even non-payment.
To capture this relationship in migration systems, I developed the term sexual precarity. This has five core components:
restrictive visa conditions
debt bondage
live-in arrangements that heighten exposure to employers during non-working hours
entrapment and slavery
the combination of sexual violence with economic exploitation or other forms of physical injury.
What needs to be done?
First, as with broader migrant worker rights, education campaigns for migrants are required.
These would extend beyond making them better informed about their rights on economic exploitation to issues of discrimination and protection from sexual exploitation.
Second, practical safeguards can be put in place to protect migrant women in isolated workplaces.
This might include female-only sleeping dorms, female-only agriculture workforces, support person rules for meetings with male employers and general advice on sexual consent laws for both employers and employees.
Third, policymakers could consider whether sexual offences that are accompanied by a visa threat should suffer additional penalties under criminal or immigration law.
This has already been made the case with recent changes to visa sponsorship where employers who coerce migrants into breaching their visa conditions are subjected to certain penalties.
Anna Boucher received funding from the Australian Research Council and the University of Sydney that funded this prior research. She is Vice President (Independent) on the Australian Institute of Employment Rights. 2023-4 she was on the NSW Anti-Slavery Commissioner’s Advisory Panel.
Source: The Conversation – USA – By Karen Figueroa-Clewett, Lecturer, Agents of Change program, Department of Political Science and International Relations, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Stickers on a table on the first day of Virginia’s in-person early voting, Sept. 20, 2024, in Arlington. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
With the general election drawing close, it’s important to know your rights in case your vote is challenged.
A major part of ensuring that you are able to vote is doing the necessary preparation before you even get to the polling place. Read on to find out how and where to register, where and when you can cast your ballot, and what numbers to call for any information you can’t find online.
Are you registered to vote? Check it out
Before you vote, you need to ensure that you’re registered to vote. You can verify your registration status using this tool. If you can’t use an online tool, then call your local election office or a voter help line like the ones listed in the hotline section below.
If you find you’re not registered, you can use this tool from the National Conference of State Legislatures to find your state’s online registration application. If you need to do this in person, then call your local election office for instructions.
At this point, you may have missed your state’s deadline for voter registration. But it may not be too late to register.
Many states allow same-day registration at the polling site. You can find your state’s same-day voter laws detailed here. Ask the poll worker, at the correct polling location, for a same-day registration form; complete the form and then ask for a “conditional ballot.” A conditional ballot allows election officials to count your vote after verifying your voter eligibility. If you can’t research online, you can call your local election office to find out if you can register on Election Day.
Marchellos Scott, right, helps Morehouse College students fill out a voter registration form at a college registration booth on Aug. 19, 2024, in Atlanta. Elijah Nouvelage / AFP via Getty Images
Gather documents to verify your identity
If you live in a state that requires identity verification to vote in person, gather the required documents – which may range from a driver’s license to bank statements with identifying information – before traveling to the correct polling place. You can find your county election office’s contact information here. This webpage includes a table listing each state’s acceptable ID documents and possible exceptions for some people. You may also call your local election office to find out what’s required.
Absentee voters: Locate your state’s identity verification rules here.
Find the correct polling location
You can ensure that you’re headed to the right polling place with this tool. Or call your county election office to find your polling place and its hours of operation; you can look up your county’s election office contact information here.
Once you know your polling place and its hours, you can go there and check in. In most cases, you’ll be handed a ballot, shown where to vote and asked to put your ballot in a machine or a box, and then you can go merrily along your way.
But the moment of check-in is where things might go wrong.
Problems at your polling place
Here are potential vote challenges and ways to overcome them.
Possibility No. 1: Out-of-order polling machines.
If you’re asked to leave because of malfunctioning machines, don’t. Instead, ask for a paper ballot.
Possibility No. 2: You’re in line and officials announce the polls have closed.
If you’re in line at the polling location before it closes, don’t let them turn you away at closing time if you haven’t voted. You have the legal right to vote under those circumstances, so stay in line and wait to cast your ballot.
Possibility No. 3: You’re not on the registered voters list.
If you’re told you can’t vote because your name is not on the voter roster, ask the poll site worker to check again and to check what’s called the list of supplemental voters. If they still can’t find your name, ask the poll worker to verify that you’re at the right location.
Possibility No. 4: Someone claims you shouldn’t be allowed to vote.
If your voting eligibility remains challenged after ensuring you’re at the right polling location, ask to cast a provisional ballot, which is available in every state except Idaho and Minnesota. You can find details about your particular state’s provisional ballot rules here.
If you are not given a provisional ballot, call an election hotline for help. Here are four hotlines, run by members of the nonpartisan Election Protection coalition, that can help you:
If someone tries to scare you into voting or not voting for a candidate, stand your ground and demand a ballot from the poll site, call one of the hotlines above to report the intimidation, and file a claim with the FBI later by phone at 800-CALL-FBI – 800-225-5324 – or online at tips.fbi.gov.
File a lawsuit
If you are still blocked from voting, consider legal action – but get advice on your exact situation from one of the hotlines, which have free lawyers on hand. It’s a good idea to write down the names of people who prevented you from voting and to ask people who witnessed the incident for their contact information.
This is an updated version of a story that was originally published on Nov. 2, 2022.
Karen Figueroa-Clewett 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.
Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh Inaugurates new complex of India’s first Biomanufacturing Institute “BRIC-National Agri-Food Bio-Manufacturing Institute” at Mohali; Emphasizes Science-Driven Growth for “Viksit Bharat”
Transformation from traditional manufacturing to synthetic production through sustainable, eco-friendly solutions that rely on modern, cost-effective technology;
From “Fragile Five” to “First Five”: Minister Attributes India’s Economic Rise to Science-Driven Strategy
BioNest Incubation Centre Launched to Boost Industry Collaboration and Nurture Startups
Dr. Jitendra Singh Announces Biomanufacturing Workshop to Explore Sustainable Innovations Across Key Sectors
Posted On: 28 OCT 2024 6:30PM by PIB Delhi
Dr. Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) forScience and Technology, Earth Sciences, PMO, Atomic Energy, Space, and Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions today inaugurated the new complex of India’s first Biomanufacturing Institute, “BRIC-National Agri-Food Bio-Manufacturing Institute” (BRIC-NABI) aimed at enhancing India’s agri-food sector through advanced biotechnology.
Addressing the assembly of scientists, industry leaders, and stakeholders,the Minister emphasized the government’s dedication to fostering innovation in agriculture, creating job opportunities, and promoting environmental sustainability—essential elements in achieving Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of “Viksit Bharat.”
During the inauguration, Dr. Jitendra Singh underscored the Modi government’s robust prioritization of science and technology, referencing recent landmark decisions such as the newly launched BioE3 policy. This initiative, which stands for biotechnology in the service of the economy, employment, and the environment, exemplifies the administration’s focus on fostering a high-impact science sector. “Biotechnology and synthetic production will not only transform agriculture but redefine India’s role in global scientific advancements,” stated the Minister.
In his address, Dr. Jitendra Singh noted that India is among the first nations to implement an exclusive biotechnology policy. This shift, he emphasized, will propel a significant transformation from traditional manufacturing to synthetic production through sustainable, eco-friendly solutions that rely on modern, cost-effective technology. The Minister lauded India’s rapid rise from “fragile five” to “first five” in global economic standing, crediting this progress to the government’s science-focused strategy.
The BRIC-National Agri-Food Biomanufacturing Institute (BRIC-NABI), formed through the strategic merger of NABI and CIAB, is poised to transform India’s agricultural landscape by uniting biotechnology and bioprocessing expertise. This newly established entity aims to streamline the journey from research to commercialization, facilitating pilot-scale production and delivering innovative agri-tech solutions to the market.
Dr. Jitendra Singh highlighted that this consolidation would drive efficiency in agricultural R&D, paving the way for high-yield, disease-resistant crops, biofertilizers, and biopesticides. These advancements not only align with the government’s ambition to double farmers’ incomes but also promote sustainable, eco-friendly practices, creating new income avenues for farmers and supporting broader environmental objectives.
A significant highlight was the establishment of the BioNest Incubation Centre, designed as a collaborative hub for industry partnerships, innovation, and public-private initiatives to nurture startups. The BioNEST BRIC-NABI Incubation Center aims to empower local youth, women, and farmers by supporting startups in agriculture, food, and bioprocessing, bridging research with industry for faster commercialization of agri-food innovations.
Through joint efforts with both public and private sectors, the Minister said, BioNEST strives to drive inclusive economic growth, aligning with the “Make in India” vision and advancing India’s journey toward self-reliance. Dr. Jitendra Singh emphasized the need for active private sector involvement, noting that investment in such incubators can unlock market potential and provide sustainable employment for India’s young workforce.
In line with its mission to advance biomanufacturing, Dr. Jitendra Singh announced the Biomanufacturing Workshop 1.0, set to take place in December 2024. This pioneering workshop will delve into biomanufacturing’s applications across agriculture, food, pharmaceuticals, and energy, offering insights into cutting-edge techniques that harness biological systems for sustainable production.
Aimed at researchers and industry professionals, this event supports the government’s BioE3 policy and reflects India’s commitment to eco-friendly, innovation-driven industrial growth, the Minister noted.
Dr Jitendra Singh also addressed the brain drain of Indian scientists, encouraging young talent to pursue research and entrepreneurship within India, emphasizing the country’s competitive resources and a growing scientific ecosystem that rivals global institutions. This national focus on developing indigenous expertise, he believes, will strengthen India’s global influence in science and innovation.
The establishment of the BRIC-National Agri-Food Bio-Manufacturing Institute marks a pivotal step in India’s journey toward an integrated, science-powered economy, aligned with the Modi government’s ambitious development goals. Through initiatives like BioE3 and BioNest, India positions itself not only as a knowledge leader but as a dynamic incubator of innovation that is ready to contribute to sustainable growth worldwide. Dr. Jitendra Singh’s message was clear: the advancement of India’s agri-food sector will be pivotal to building a resilient, forward-thinking nation.
Zsófia Havasi, the new Permanent Representative of Hungary to the United Nations Office at Geneva, today presented her credentials to Tatiana Valovaya, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva.
Prior to her appointment to Geneva, Ms. Havasi had been serving as an Advisor in the Office of the seventy-eighth President of the United Nations General Assembly for General Assembly affairs, the budget and the United Nations reform team. She also served as an Advisor in the Office of the seventy-seventh President of the General Assembly for political affairs, peace and the security team at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
Ms. Havasi was posted at the Permanent Mission of Hungary to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Brussels from 2018 to 2022. Before that, she served as head of the secretariat of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary from 2017 to 2018. She was Cabinet Secretary of the Hungarian National Assembly from 2014 to 2016. At the beginning of her career, she also held posts in the Ministry of Human Resources and the Ministry of Defence of Hungary.
Ms. Havasi studied from 2004 to 2009, security and defence policy expert at Zrínyi Miklós National Defense University, Budapest, and from 2009 to 2012, international affairs and studies expert at Kodolányi János University of Applied Sciences, Budapest. She was born on 31 October 1984.
Produced by the United Nations Information Service in Geneva for use of the media; not an official record. English and French versions of our releases are different as they are the product of two separate coverage teams that work independently.
With COP29, hosted by Baku, right around the corner, let’s have a look at Azerbaijan and its secular history with Altay Goyushow, professor of history at Baku State University and visiting scholar at Sciences Po Center for International Studies (CERI).
A fine observer of the Azerbaijani regime, he answers the questions of Miriam Périer (CERI) about the ruling elite’s attitude toward religion, and Islam in particular, and the need to look back at the Soviet period to understand the current situation.
What is the aim of the current Azerbaijani ruling elite’s policies in the field of religion?
Azerbaijan is a secular state. A genuine secularist movement was started in Azerbaijan in the mid-nineteenth century by the local Russian and European-educated intelligentsia. The greatest success of this movement was the creation of the first secular republic during the First World War and the Russian Revolution.
In 1920, the Red Army put an end to this republic. However, during Soviet rule the secularist traditions of Azerbaijani society strengthened further, even though, as I said earlier, the collapse of the Soviet Union was accompanied by the impressive revival of religion. Soviet rule eradicated local sources of religious knowledge and because of this, in the 1990s, the revival was led primarily by foreign actors.
Then, in the late 1990s, local clerics educated abroad took the leading role in religious proselytism. This situation was unacceptable to Azerbaijani authorities, as they wanted religious learning to be concentrated in the hands of locally educated Muslim clerics. The authorities have been pursuing a policy of domesticating Islam. Unlike the Soviets, the current Azerbaijani government does not intend to get rid of religion; they instead want to make Islamic elites into loyal supporters of the secular system and ruling elite.
This policy has given birth to a complex religious situation in the country. On the one hand, there is an official Islam loyal to the government. On the other hand, there are Islamic communities that aim to exist without the secular state’s interference. The constitution says that the state and religion are separate; however, the real situation is much more complicated.
Both the government and independent Islamic communities complain about interference from their counterparts. Islamic communities complain that the state infringes on their freedom of conscience, while the government complains that independent communities are a threat to the secular nature of the state.
You mention that the current ruling elite of Azerbaijan is particularly concerned by Muharram traditions, partly because these do not correspond to so-called “civilised religion” according to the government. Can you tell us why?
The Azerbaijani government aims to create distinct characteristics of local Islam which it describes as a “civilised” Islam. The methods used to achieve this goal include the implementation of a unique education programme for training Muslim clerics in the newly established Theological Institute, the adaptation of distinct uniforms for Azerbaijani Muslim clerics, the promotion of joint Sunni-Shi’i prayers, among other things.
“Correcting” rituals of Muharram commemorations are among the planned reforms. It should be noted that Muharram is the most popular religious commemoration in Azerbaijan. It has been for centuries. However, beginning in the early twentieth century, some practices of Muharram commemorations, such as self-flagellation or striking oneself with swords and knives, have been heavily criticised by the local secular intelligentsia as “uncivilised” rituals.
The Soviets launched multiple campaigns against Muharram observations like these and others. In the post-Soviet era, this approach has been continued, and some practices have been replaced with novelties, such as making blood donations instead of striking themselves with knives or self-flagellation with metal chains.
During the last decade, another government concern has been the increased pilgrimage of Azerbaijani believers to Shi’i shrines in Iraq and Iran at the end of annual Muharram commemorations. The government considers the rising number of pilgrims to those places as a security risk. So, by implementing various measures and restrictions, the authorities are trying to curb the number of pilgrims.
Does the Azerbaijani population support the ruling elite’s policies toward religion? What is the position of secular youth movements in the face of the government’s attitude toward independent Muslim communities?
It is an interesting question. Azerbaijan, despite the impressive religious revival in the post-Soviet period, remains a largely secular country. So, most Azerbaijanis cherish their society’s secular characteristics and do not appreciate the interference of religion or religious communities in state affairs.
However, state institutions’ deep interference with the life of religious communities in many instances infringes on people’s freedom of conscience. And in this particular matter, there is a generational disruption within society. While the older Soviet-trained and educated part of the society, especially the urbanised part, is not particularly critical of the excesses of the government’s religious policies, the younger population, especially its quite vocal liberal and progressive representatives, despite appreciating and praising the secular fundamentals of the society, is frequently critical of the tough measures implemented by the government in the promotion of religious conformity.
It should also be added that ethnic nationalism is a strong feature of Azerbaijani society. And traditionally, secular nationalists have been critical of Islamic movements, and on this issue, they tend to align more with the government than Islamic communities.
Cover image caption: Baku, Taza-Pir mosque, the seat of the Sheikh-ul-Islam, the head of the Caucasus Muslim Board. (credits: Altay Goyushow)
