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Category: Universities

  • MIL-Evening Report: When it comes to health information, who should you trust? 4 ways to spot a dodgy ‘expert’

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hassan Vally, Associate Professor, Epidemiology, Deakin University

    Surface/Unsplash

    When it comes to our health, we’re constantly being warned about being taken in by misinformation. Yet for most of us what we believe ultimately comes down to who we trust, including which “experts” we trust.

    The problem is that not everyone who presents themselves as an expert is actually an expert. And an expert in one area isn’t necessarily an expert in everything.

    The reality is that we often rely on superficial cues to decide who to trust. We’re often swayed by how confidently someone speaks, their perceived authority, or how compelling their story sounds. For some, it’s simply the loudest voice that carries the most weight.

    Even if we feel we have some understanding of science, few of us have the time or the capacity to verify every claim made by every so-called “expert”.

    So how can we distinguish credible experts from those that are not? Here are four things I look out for.

    1. Dodgy experts don’t acknowledge uncertainty

    One thing that separates trustworthy experts from dodgy ones, is their humility. They have a healthy respect of the limitations of science, the gaps in the evidence, and even the limitations of their own expertise.

    And importantly, they communicate this clearly.



    Read more:
    Uncertain? Many questions but no clear answers? Welcome to the mind of a scientist

    In contrast, one of the most common characteristics of the dodgy expert is they are misleadingly certain. They often present issues in overly simplistic, black-and-white terms, and they draw conclusions with misplaced confidence.

    This, of course, is part of their appeal. A neat clear-cut message that downplays uncertainty, complexity and nuance can be persuasive – and often even more persuasive than a messy but accurate message.

    One of the clearest examples of unfounded certainty was the confident claim by some “experts” early in the pandemic that COVID was no worse than the flu, a conclusion which ignored uncertainties in the emerging data.

    2. The dodgy experts doesn’t strive to be objective

    Credible experts follow a well-established and disciplined approach when communicating science. They present their understanding clearly, support it with evidence, and endeavour to remove emotion and bias from their thinking.

    A core principle of scientific thinking is striving for objectivity – and language reflects this. Experts generally aim to provide high-quality information to assist the public to make informed decisions for themselves, rather than manipulating them to reach specific conclusions.

    Dodgy experts often rely on overly emotional language, inject political agendas, or resort to personal attacks against critics in order to elicit strong emotions. This is a powerful tool for manipulating opinions when the evidence is lacking.

    One of the most harmful examples of this is the use of emotional testimonials by dodgy experts who claim people have “beaten cancer naturally”, offering false hope and often leading patients to abandon proven treatments.

    3. Dodgy experts cherry-pick evidence

    Despite what those seeking to mislead you would have you believe, scientists only reach consensus when a large body of high-quality evidence points in the same direction.

    So one of the most crucial skills experts possess is the ability to critically evaluate evidence. That means understanding its strengths and weaknesses, assessing its reliability, and synthesising what the full evidence base indicates. This task requires a deep understanding of their area of expertise.

    Dodgy experts don’t do this. They tend to dismiss inconvenient evidence that contradicts their narrative and readily embrace flawed, or even discredited, studies. In short: they often cherry-pick evidence to suit their position.

    Unfortunately, this tactic can be hard to spot if you don’t have an understanding of the full evidence base, which is something dodgy experts exploit.

    Scientists only reach consensus when a large body of evidence points in the same direction.
    Matej Kastelic/Shutterstock

    A red flag that you are being misled by a dodgy expert is when there is a clear over-reliance on a single study, despite its low quality.

    Perhaps the most well-known example of cherry-picking is the way dodgy experts rely on a single, discredited study to push the false claim that the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine causes autism, while ignoring the vast body of high-quality evidence that clearly shows no such link.



    Read more:
    Monday’s medical myth: the MMR vaccine causes autism

    4. Dodgy experts don’t change their mind when the evidence changes

    Dodgy experts are often rigidly attached to their beliefs, even when new evidence emerges.

    In contrast, genuine experts welcome new evidence and are willing to change their views accordingly. This openness is often unfairly portrayed as weakness, but it reflects an expert’s desire to understand the world accurately.

    A striking example of this is the shift in our understanding of stomach ulcers. For years, ulcers were blamed on stress and spicy food, but that changed when Australian gastroenterologist and researcher Barry Marshall, in a bold move, swallowed Helicobacter pylori to demonstrate its potential role.

    His self-experiment (which is generally not recommended!) was the first step in a broader body of research that ultimately proved bacteria, not lifestyle, was the primary cause of ulcers. This ultimately led to Marshall and his colleague pathologist and researcher Robin Warren being awarded a Nobel Prize.

    As this example highlights, when presented with the evidence, clinicians and scientists acknowledged they’d got the underlying cause of stomach ulcers wrong. Clinical practice subsequently improved, with doctors prescribing antibiotics to kill the ulcer-causing bacteria.

    This is how science informs practice so we can continually improve health outcomes.

    In a nutshell

    True expertise is marked by intellectual humility, a commitment to high-quality evidence, a willingness to engage with nuance and uncertainty, flexibility, and a capacity to respectfully navigate differing opinions.

    In contrast, dodgy experts claim to have all the answers, dismiss uncertainty, cherry-pick studies, personally attack those who disagree with them, and rely more on emotion and ideology than evidence.

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

    – ref. When it comes to health information, who should you trust? 4 ways to spot a dodgy ‘expert’ – https://theconversation.com/when-it-comes-to-health-information-who-should-you-trust-4-ways-to-spot-a-dodgy-expert-253437

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Playing politics with AI: why NZ needs rules on the use of ‘fake’ images in election campaigns

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bronwyn Isaacs, Lecturer, Anthropology, University of Waikato

    Laurence Dutton/Getty Images

    Seeing is no longer believing in the age of images and videos generated by artificial intelligence (AI), and this is having an impact on elections in New Zealand and elsewhere.

    Ahead of the 2025 local body elections, voters are being warned by overseas politicians and local experts not to automatically trust that what they are looking at is real.

    Deepfakes – images or video created with the use of AI to mislead or spread false information – were used in last year’s United States presidential election. Early in the campaign, a deepfake voice clip impersonating then president Joe Biden told voters not to cast a ballot vote in New Hampshire’s primaries.

    There have also been concerns about the role of deepfakes on the campaign trail in Australia. The Labor Party, for example, released an AI-generated video of opposition leader Peter Dutton dancing on its TikTok account.

    But the worry is not just that deepfakes will spread lies about politicians or other real people. AI is also used to create “synthetic deepfakes” – images of fake people who do not exist.

    Using artificially generated images and videos of both real and fake people raises questions around transparency and the ethical treatment of cultural and ethnic groups.

    Cultural offence with AI isn’t a hypothetical concern. Australian voters have found some AI used in political advertising to be “cringe” and culturally clumsy, with one white female politician using auto-tuned rapping in her campaign.

    Australians have also reported an increase in deepfake political content. The majority were unable to detect AI content.

    Several countries including Australia and Canada are considering laws to manage the harms of AI use in political messaging.

    Others have already passed legislation banning or limiting AI in elections. South Korea for example, banned the use of deepfakes in political advertising 90 days before an election. Singapore has banned digitally-altered material misrepresenting political candidates.

    While New Zealand has several voluntary frameworks to address the growing use of AI in media, there are no explicit rules to prevent its use in political campaigns. To avoid cultural offence and to offer transparency, it is crucial for political parties to establish and follow clear ethical standards on AI use in their messaging.

    Existing frameworks

    The film industry is a good starting point for policymakers looking to establish a clear framework for AI in political messaging.

    In my ongoing research about culture and technology in film production, industry workers have spoken about New Zealand’s world-leading standards on culturally aware film production processes and the positive impact this had on shaping AI standards.

    Released in March 2025, the New Zealand Film Commission’s Artificial Intelligence Guiding Principles takes a “people first” approach to AI which prioritises the needs, wellbeing and empowerment of individuals when developing and implementing AI systems.

    The principles also stress respect for matauranga Māori and transparency in the use of AI so that audiences are “informed about the use of AI in screen content they consume”.

    The government’s Public Service AI framework, meanwhile, requires government agencies to publicly disclose how AI systems are used and to practice human-centred values such as dignity and self-determination.

    AI in NZ politics

    Meanwhile, the use of AI by some of New Zealand’s political parties has already raised concerns.

    During the 2023 election campaign, the National Party admitted using AI in their attack advertisements. And recent social media posts using AI by New Zealand’s ACT party were criticised for their lack of transparency and cultural sensitivity.

    An ACT Instagram post about interest rate cuts featured an AI generated image of a Māori couple from the software company Adobe’s stock photo collection.

    Act whip Todd Stephenson responded that using stock imagery or AI-generated imagery was not inherently misleading. But he said that the party “would never use an actor or AI to impersonate a real person”.

    My own search of the Adobe collection came up with other images used by ACT in its Instagram posts, including an AI generated image labelled as “studio photography portrait of a 40 years old Polynesian woman”.

    There are two key concerns with using AI like this. The first is that ACT didn’t declare the use of AI in its Instagram posts. A lack of transparency around the use of deepfakes of any kind can undermine trust in the political system. Voters end up uncertain about what is real and what is fake.

    Secondly, the images were synthetic fakes of ethnic minorities in New Zealand. There have long been concerns from academics and technology experts that AI generated images reproduce harmful stereotypes of diverse communities.

    Legislation needed

    While the potential for cultural offence and misinformation with faked content is not new, AI alters the scale at which such fakes can be created. It makes it easier and quicker to produce manipulative, fake and culturally offensive images.

    At a minimum, New Zealand needs to introduce legalisation that requires political parties to acknowledge the use of AI in their advertising. And as the country moves into a new election season, political parties should commit to combating misinformation and cultural misrepresentation.

    Bronwyn Isaacs is a member of the Association of Social Anthropologists of Aotearoa/New Zealand.

    – ref. Playing politics with AI: why NZ needs rules on the use of ‘fake’ images in election campaigns – https://theconversation.com/playing-politics-with-ai-why-nz-needs-rules-on-the-use-of-fake-images-in-election-campaigns-255415

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Donald Trump has cast a long shadow over the Australian election. Will it prove decisive?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Shortis, Adjunct Senior Fellow, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University

    Donald Trump is everywhere, inescapable. His return to power in the United States was always going to have some impact on the Australian federal election. The question was how disruptive he would be.

    The answer is very – but not in the ways we might have thought.

    As soon as Trump was elected president, the political debate in Australia focused on whether Prime Minister Anthony Albanese or Opposition Leader Peter Dutton would be best suited to managing him – and keeping the US-Australia security alliance intact.

    Initially, at least, this conversation was predictable.

    The Coalition looked set to continue an ideological alignment with Trumpism that had flourished under the prime ministership of Scott Morrison. Dutton prosecuted the argument that given his party’s experience with the first Trump administration, it would be better placed than Labor to handle the second.

    Albanese, meanwhile, appeared caught off guard by Trump’s victory and timid in his response.

    But as has become all too clear, the second Trump administration is radically different from the first. That has rattled the right of Australian politics and worked to Labor’s advantage.

    A turning point at the White House

    In January, the Coalition announced that NT Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price had been appointed shadow minister for government efficiency – a direct importation of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) being led by Elon Musk in the US.

    In a barely disguised imitation of the Trump administration’s attacks on “diversity, equity and inclusion” (DEI) measures, members of the Coalition, including Price, singled out Welcome to Country ceremonies as evidence of the kind of “wasteful” spending it would cut.

    When the Coalition seemed to be riding high in the polls, Dutton, too, nodded at “wokeism” and singled out young white men feeling “disenfranchised”.

    Soon after, however, this began to change. The first few weeks of Trump’s second term were marked by a cascade of executive actions targeting trans people, climate action and immigration. Trump and his new appointees began the process of radically reshaping the United States and its role in the world.

    In February, polling by the independent think tank The Australia Institute found Australians saw Trump as a bigger threat to world peace than Russian President Vladimir Putin or Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

    And then Volodymyr Zelensky went to the White House.

    The Ukrainian president was humiliated in an Oval Office meeting with Trump and Vice President JD Vance, laying bare how the administration was willing to treat the leader of an ally devastated by a war it hadn’t started.

    Trump’s territorial threats towards Canada and Greenland, in addition to his dismissive statements about European allies, shattered the long-held assumptions about the US as a force for stability in the world.

    MAGA ideology isn’t ‘pick and choose’

    After this incident, Dutton was careful to distance himself from Trump’s abandonment of Ukraine. He even went so far as to say that leadership might require “standing up to your friends and to those traditional allies because our views have diverged”.

    Similarly, influential Coalition powerbroker Peta Credlin wrote in The Australian:

    it’s hard to see America made great again if the Trump administration’s message to the world is that the strong do what they will and the weak suffer what they must.

    Therein lies the bind for the Coalition – an ideological alignment with “Make America Great Again” cannot be fully reconciled with a nationalism that puts Australian interests first.

    MAGA ideology is all-or-nothing, not pick-and-choose.

    During the election campaign, the Coalition attempted to walk the path of “pick-and-choose”. And Labor quite successfully used this against them. Assertions the opposition leader was nothing but a “Temu Trump”, or “DOGE-y Dutton”, stuck because they had at least a ring of truth to them.

    The opposition’s pledge to dramatically reduce the size of the public service, for example, was clearly linked to Musk’s efforts at DOGE to take a chainsaw to the public service in the US. This idea has been deeply unpopular with Australian voters, and the Coalition has faced innumerable questions about it.

    For all the talk of “shared values” and how essential the US alliance is to Australian security, this campaign shows that Australia is not like America.

    Most Australians concerned about Trump’s impact

    When Trump’s tariffs arrived on “Liberation Day” in early April, both leaders claimed they were best placed to negotiate.

    Albanese insisted Australia had got one of the best results in the world, while Dutton asserted, without evidence, that he would be able to negotiate a better one.

    More broadly, the Trump tariffs have contributed to a growing sense of unease in the electorate.

    A recent YouGov poll found that 66% of Australians no longer believe the US can be relied on for defence and security. According to Paul Smith, the director of YouGov, this is a “fundamental change of worldview”.

    In the same poll, 71% of Australians also said they were either concerned or very concerned Trump’s policies would make Australia worse off.

    While neither party has signalled it would make a fundamental shift in Australia’s alliance with the US if elected, that doesn’t mean changes aren’t possible.

    Independents and minor parties may well play a significant role in the formation of the next government. Some, like Zoe Daniel and Jacqui Lambie, are increasingly vocal about the risks the Trump administration poses to Australia.

    A limit to Trumpism’s appeal

    As election day approaches, many of the assumptions driving conventional Australian political thinking are under pressure.

    Labor’s recovery in the polls, and the Liberals’ election win in Canada, suggest assumptions about the dangers of incumbency might have been misplaced. The dissatisfaction with incumbent governments last year may have had more to do with unresponsive political parties and systems.

    There’s evidence emerging, instead, that in more responsive democracies with robust institutions like Australia and Canada, Trumpism does not have great appeal.

    The idea that “kindness is not a weakness” may yet prove to be a winning political strategy.

    Emma Shortis is Director of International and Security Affairs at The Australia Institute, an independent think tank.

    – ref. Donald Trump has cast a long shadow over the Australian election. Will it prove decisive? – https://theconversation.com/donald-trump-has-cast-a-long-shadow-over-the-australian-election-will-it-prove-decisive-255422

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Australians are warming to minority governments – but they still prefer majority rule

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicholas Biddle, Professor of Economics and Public Policy, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National University

    Minority governments have been part of Australia’s political history since Federation.

    In the country’s early decades, Prime Ministers Edmund Barton, Alfred Deakin, Chris Watson, George Reid and Andrew Fisher all led without commanding a majority in the House of Representatives. Since the second world war, majority governments have become the norm at the national level, underpinned by the two-party system of Labor and the Liberal-National Coalition.

    Minority government has been rare, with the notable exception of Julia Gillard’s Labor government from 2010 to 2013. However, at the state/territory level, minority governments are far more common.

    The 2025 federal election could mark another shift. While Labor has pulled ahead in the polls over the course of the campaign, a minority government remains a real possibility.

    Even if a slim majority is achieved, the trend of falling primary votes for both major parties suggests minority governments could become more common in the years ahead.

    We have examined new data from more than 3,600 respondents in the March/April wave of the 2025 Election Monitoring Survey Series (EMSS) from the School of Politics and International Relations (SPIR) at the ANU. The results shed light on how Australians feel about the prospect of minority government, and how these attitudes could shape political expectations.

    Australians are more accepting of minority governments

    When respondents were asked whether they found the idea of a minority government acceptable, more said they did (39.3%) than said they did not (32.6%).

    This pattern is especially strong among Labor voters, minor party supporters, and those undecided about their vote. Only among Liberal voters was a minority government viewed more negatively, with a majority (51.8%) saying it would be unacceptable.

    These findings suggest that minority government does not present the widespread illegitimacy and inefficiency to the electorate that is sometimes claimed by political leaders.

    Fears of instability, but hopes for accountability

    Despite growing acceptance, Australians are divided about the likely consequences of a minority government.

    When asked whether a minority government would make politics more unstable or more representative and accountable, the country was split. About 42.7% expected more instability, while 37.6% expected greater representativeness. Another 19.6% believed it would make no real difference.

    Again, partisan divides are stark. Coalition voters overwhelmingly expect instability (62.3%), whereas minor party supporters are more optimistic about minority government delivering better accountability.

    These mixed expectations suggest while many suspect minority government will be a rocky ride, most expect little to no change. This is in contrast to recent claims a return to minority government would either further damage democracy or revitalise it by forcing change.

    Public supports reforms to make minority government work

    If a minority government emerges post-election, institutions will need to adapt. Some changes will be legislative, others cultural, some political.

    Recognising the challenges that minority governments can bring, Australians are supportive of modest reforms to help them function more effectively.

    Nearly half (47.6%) support establishing an independent body to oversee power-sharing agreements between major parties and crossbench MPs. A significant share (42.7%) also back requiring minority governments to sign formal agreements with the independents or minor parties they rely on.

    These preferences suggest Australians are pragmatic: if minority governments are to become more common, they want safeguards and structures to ensure stability and transparency.

    Trust varies across parties – and independents score well

    Australians remain relatively confident in key institutions, particularly when compared to the polarisation in other democracies. Trust is also a key factor in how Australians view different political actors in a minority government setting.

    When asked how much trust they have in different groups to act responsibly in a minority parliament, Labor emerges with the highest broad trust levels (50.4%), compared to the Liberal Party (43.0%). The Greens are the least trusted (35.7%). Trust in Independents is relatively high (45.7%).

    It is also interesting to note recent research tracking trends in non-major party voting. These find the Greens are increasingly likely to win seats from the ALP, while the Independents are more likely to win seats from the LNP.

    This matters. Who holds the balance of power has implications for maintaining trust in government. These results would indicate that if independents hold the balance of power, it may not undermine, but may actually contribute to, broader trust.

    A preference for majority rule remains

    Despite growing openness to minority governments, Australians still show a strong attachment to the traditional model of majority government in the House of Representatives.

    When asked whether “stable and effective government requires a majority of seats for one of the two major parties within the House of Representatives”, 53.8% agreed or strongly agreed. Only 16% disagreed.

    Support for this statement was strongest among Coalition voters (70.9%), but even a majority of Labor voters (54.7%) agreed. Only among minor party voters was disagreement more common.

    This result is not unexpected. Both major parties assertively campaign that major party majority provides the continuity, the stability and the certainty the country needs. It is worth noting these results were recorded in the lead up to a federal election.

    This result should also be set against over three decades of minority in the Senate.

    These findings suggest Australians prefer majority government (qualified by a desire for accountability) over minority government (particularly if that majority is led by their own party!).

    It will be interesting to track these attitudes in future EMSS should a minority government occur after May 3.

    What it means for the 2025 election – and beyond

    The 2025 federal election could be a turning point. If Labor wins a majority, it may delay a broader shift toward minority government politics. But if another minority parliament emerges, it will test the resilience of Australia’s political institutions and the evolving attitudes of voters.

    Australians appear ready to give minority government a chance – but they want it to work.

    Our only concrete reference point is the Gillard government. It was recognised for its negotiation, legislative success and running full term, but widely viewed as a political failure. What this revealed is the importance of minority government that adopts a pragmatic, inclusive and flexible approach to governance.

    Whatever the result, Australian electoral trends tell us minority governments are no longer the outlier they once were in Australian politics. Voters, political leaders, and importantly public institutions may need to adapt to a new norm in Australian politics.

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

    – ref. Australians are warming to minority governments – but they still prefer majority rule – https://theconversation.com/australians-are-warming-to-minority-governments-but-they-still-prefer-majority-rule-255416

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: How does consciousness work? Duelling scientists tested two big theories but found no winner

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Bayne, Professor of Philosophy, Monash University

    cdd20 / Unsplash

    “Theories are like toothbrushes,” it’s sometimes said. “Everybody has their own and nobody wants to use anybody else’s.”

    It’s a joke, but when it comes to the study of consciousness – the question of how we have a subjective experience of anything at all – it’s not too far from the truth.

    In 2022, British neuroscientist Anil Seth and I published a review listing 22 theories based in the biology of the brain. In 2024, operating with a less restrictive scope, US public intellectual Robert Kuhn counted more than 200.

    It’s against this background that Nature has just published the results of an “adversarial collaboration” from a group called the Cogitate Consortium focused on two prominent theories: global neuronal workspace theory and integrated information theory.

    Two big theories go head to head

    With so many ideas floating around and inherently elusive subject matter, testing theories has been no easy task. Indeed, debate between proponents of different theories has been vigorous and, at times, acrimonious.

    At a particularly low point in 2023, after the initial announcement of the results Cogitate has formally published today, many experts signed an open letter arguing that integrated information theory was not only false but doesn’t even qualify as scientific.

    Nevertheless, global neuronal workspace theory and integrated information theory are two of the “big four” theories that dominate current discussions of consciousness. (The others are higher-order representation theories, and the local re-entry – or recurrency – theory.)

    The theories are hard to summarise, but both tie consciousness to the activity of neurons in different parts of the brain.

    Advocates of these two theories, together with a number of unaligned theorists, generated predictions from the two theories about the kinds of brain activity one would expect to be associated with consciousness.

    Predictions and results

    The group agreed that integrated information theory predicts conscious perception should be associated with sustained synchronisation and activity of signals in a part of the brain called the posterior cortex.

    On the other hand, they said global neuronal workspace theory predicts that a process of “neural ignition” should accompany both the start and end of a stimulus. What’s more, it should be possible to decode what a person is conscious of from activity in their prefrontal cortex.

    The posterior cortex consists of the parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes. The prefrontal cortex is the front part of the frontal lobe.
    Refluo/Shutterstock

    These hypotheses (among others) were tested by “theory-neutral” teams from across the globe.

    The results were not decisive. Some were in line with predictions of one or other of the theories, but other results generated challenges.

    For example, the team failed to find sustained synchronisation within the posterior cortex of the kind predicted by integrated information theory. At the same time, global neuronal workspace theory is challenged by the fact that not all contents of consciousness could be decoded from the prefrontal cortex, and by the failure to find neural ignition when the stimulus was first presented.

    A win for science

    But although this study wasn’t a win for either theory, it was a decisive win for science. It represents a clear advance in how the consciousness community approaches theory-testing.

    It’s not uncommon for researchers to tend to look for evidence in favour of their own theory. But the seriousness of this problem in consciousness science only became clear in 2022, with the publication of an important paper by a number of researchers involved in the Cogitate Consortium. The paper showed it was possible to predict which theory of consciousness a particular study supported based purely on its design.

    The vast majority of attempts to “test” theories of consciousness have been conducted by advocates of those very theories. As a result, many studies have focused on confirming theories (rather than finding flaws, or falsifying them).

    No changing minds

    The first achievement of this collaboration was getting rival theorists to agree on testable predictions of the two theories. This was especially challenging as both the global workspace and integrated information theories are framed in very abstract terms.

    Another achievement was to run the the same experiments in different labs – a particularly difficult challenge given those labs were not committed to the theories in question.

    In the early stages of the project, the team took advice from Israeli-US psychologist Daniel Kahneman, the architect of the idea of adversarial collaborations for research.

    Kahneman said not to expect the results to change anyone’s mind, even if they decisively favoured one theory over another. Scientists are committed to their theories, he pointed out, and will cling to them even in the face of counter-evidence.

    The usefulness of irrationality

    This kind of irrational stubbornness may seem like a problem, but it doesn’t have to be. With the right systems in place, it can even help to advance science.

    Given we don’t know which theoretical approach to consciousness is most likely to be right, the scientific community ought to tackle consciousness from a variety of perspectives.

    The research community needs ways to correct itself. However, it’s useful for individual scientists to stick to their theoretical guns, and continue to work within a particular theory even in the face of problematic findings.

    A hard nut to crack

    Consciousness is a hard nut to crack. We don’t yet know whether it will yield to the current methods of consciousness science, or whether it requires a revolution in our concepts or methods (or perhaps both).

    What is clear, however, is that if we’re going to untangle the problem of subjective experience, the scientific community will need to embrace this model of collaborative research.

    I’m a co-director with Liad Mudrik of CIFAR’s “Brain, Mind, and Consciousness” program.

    – ref. How does consciousness work? Duelling scientists tested two big theories but found no winner – https://theconversation.com/how-does-consciousness-work-duelling-scientists-tested-two-big-theories-but-found-no-winner-255610

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Why are women paid less than men? New research in South Africa shows the company you work for makes the biggest difference

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Ihsaan Bassier, Researcher in Economics, University of Surrey

    Why do women earn less than men? The usual suspects – occupation, hours, experience – explain some of it. But a powerful, often overlooked reason is simply this: where women work. The companies that hire them play a huge role in shaping their lifetime earnings.

    South Africa has a severe gender pay gap, much of which is unexplained by worker characteristics such as occupation, skills or experience.

    In our new study published in the Journal of Development Economics, using tax data on the universe of formal workers in South Africa, we uncover a striking fact: nearly half of the gender pay gap in South Africa is explained by women working at lower-paying companies than men. That is, more women tend to work at companies that pay all workers less.

    In addition, this phenomenon evolves dramatically over a woman’s life.

    We tracked millions of workers between 2010 and 2018 using tax data. We wanted to figure out how much money different companies paid, relative to each other, regardless of the type of worker. To do this, we compared what two companies pay the same worker. We looked at workers who switched companies and compared how their pay changed when they moved to a new company. By doing this for many workers and many companies, we could see how much more or less that company tends to pay people with the same kind of background or job.

    In the formal sector in South Africa, women, on average, get paid 12% less than men. We find that about 45% of this gap – 5.5 percentage points – is due to women being concentrated in firms that pay less overall (to both women and men).

    This isn’t because women are paid less within the same company — that kind of direct discrimination plays a much smaller role. Instead, it’s largely about sorting: women and men end up at different companies, and those pay differently.

    Women disproportionately enter lower-paying sectors such as education, retail, or personal care, while men are over-represented in high-premium sectors like construction, mining, and manufacturing.

    As labour and development economists, we argue that reducing the gender pay gap takes more than putting women into male-dominated jobs or promoting equal pay for equal work. It means tackling the invisible structures that steer women into lower-paying companies.

    A gender gap that grows, then shrinks

    What’s particularly revealing is how the firm-pay gap changes across the life cycle. For workers in their early twenties, this gap is almost nonexistent. But from the mid-20s to the mid-40s — roughly the child-rearing years — the gap widens significantly.

    Why does this happen?

    First, women who remain continuously employed through their 30s tend to move to worse-paying firms than men, even though they switch jobs at similar rates.

    Second, women entering or re-entering formal work (after a spell of unemployment or informal work) tend to start at lower-paying firms than men. This disadvantage when re-entering contributes to the overall gap, but is more constant over the life cycle.

    Interestingly, churn (moving in and out of employment) is common — but men and women do it at similar rates. The key difference is what type of firm they land in when they return. Nearly half the gap among entrants is explained by industry sorting — women disproportionately enter lower-paying sectors such as education, retail, or personal care, while men are overrepresented in high-premium sectors like construction, mining, and manufacturing.

    This isn’t because women have less (or different) skills. That might be another contributor to the overall gender gap in pay, but it’s not what we looked at. This is the pay disadvantage that women face from being at firms that pay less for the same job or skill.

    The firms that women join tend to be in lower-paying industries, have fewer resources, and are less likely to be covered by collective bargaining agreements (union-negotiated industry wages) that boost pay.

    Just like women leave or re-enter formal jobs at the same rates as men, they are in fact just as likely to switch jobs when employed. The problem then is that their job switches are less likely to lead to upward moves in the pay hierarchy, possibly due to employer discrimination or a need to prioritise non-pay job characteristics (like flexibility).

    Then something remarkable happens. As women age into their late 40s and 50s, the gender gap begins to close. They start making more advantageous moves than men. This is likely because, having been sorted into lower-paying firms earlier in their careers, they have more room to climb. And with child-related constraints easing later in life, they finally can.

    Firms in developing countries

    Our finding — that women ending up in lower-paying companies accounts for nearly half of the pay gap — is higher than estimates from high-income countries like Portugal or Italy, where it explains around 20%–25%. But in developing countries like Brazil and Chile, the contribution is similar to what we find.

    Why do firms matter more in places like South Africa?

    Labour markets are more “monopsonistic” — firms have more power to set wages due to high unemployment and few outside options for workers. So because formal jobs are scarce, entering or moving up within the formal sector is harder, especially for women. In fact, we show that in regions of South Africa with lower levels of formality, the gender gap in firm pay is wider.

    Policy takeaways

    One instructive exception is the public sector, where the state has actively pursued gender equity in hiring. Public administration employs a much higher share of women than men and offers relatively high pay premia.

    In developing countries especially, where formality is limited and transitions into good jobs are harder, policy can focus on easing women’s access to high-paying companies.

    This can mean policies that support childcare, promote flexibility without penalising pay, or reduce discrimination in hiring. Otherwise, sorting into low-paying firms will keep reproducing the gender pay gap, one job move at a time.

    – Why are women paid less than men? New research in South Africa shows the company you work for makes the biggest difference
    – https://theconversation.com/why-are-women-paid-less-than-men-new-research-in-south-africa-shows-the-company-you-work-for-makes-the-biggest-difference-254221

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Informal workers in Ghana’s chop bars get no benefit from foreign aid: donors are getting it wrong

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Matteo Rizzo, Senior Lecturer in Development Studies, SOAS, University of London

    Informal street food caterers, popularly known as chop bars, are a key feature of Ghanaian city life. They offer the urban poor the cheapest food.

    A 2016 survey by the Food and Agriculture Organization estimated there were about 3,300 chop bars in the capital, Accra, employing almost 4,300 workers. This figure is likely to be much higher now due to rapid urban growth in the last decade. Ghana’s urban population increased from 50.9% in 2010 to 56.7% in 2021. By the same year the Greater Accra region was home to 91.7% of the urban population in the country.

    Street food caterers in Accra face a number of problems, including insecurity of land tenure, inadequate knowledge of food hygiene, harassment from local authorities, cut-throat competition, and low returns from work.

    Foreign donors have over the years stepped in to attempt to address these problems. A flagship of this assistance has been a programme funded by Danish trade unions and the Danish Federation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. Under its aegis, Ghana’s Trades Union Congress was able to support workers in chop bars.

    Drawing on our expertise on trade unions in Ghana and on the informal economy, we assessed the effectiveness and strategic relevance of this aid.

    The aid focused on entrepreneurial skills and micro-credit. This overlooks some of the real problems in the sector. It leaves wage workers in a precarious position and does nothing to boost demand for what the sector supplies. We argue that to be more effective, foreign aid should address these gaps.

    Entrepreneurial pipe dreams

    Increased donor attention to workers in the informal economy and trade unions could be seen as a positive trend. After all, this is where the majority of workers in African cities are to be found. Ghana’s official statistical service places the size of the country’s informal sector between 70% and 80% of the working populace in its reports from 2024.

    However, close examination of the type of support given, and its results, yields a more sobering picture.

    Aid focused firstly on capacity building and entrepreneurship. This aimed at boosting skills such as financial literacy and capacity to care for customers. The programme’s own evaluation highlights the increased confidence that chop bar operators gained through this training. Important as this might be, increased confidence can do very little to overcome structural challenges, like intense competition in an oversupplied sector and the insecurity of land tenure.

    A second area of support was the provision of micro-credit via the Trades Union Congress (Ghana). One could argue that it boosted the creditworthiness of informal economy operators. But there is evidence, including our study, that credit can often result in a spiral of debt and “poverty finance”.

    Donors chose to focus on small-scale entrepreneurs as the only economic actors in the informal economy. This reflects an ideological, and market fundamentalist, understanding of the informal economy as inhabited only by small enterprises and self-employed workers, and the challenge as one of making the market work better for the poor.

    The blind spots of donors’ support to the informal economy

    This approach by donors neglects informal and highly precarious wage workers within the chop bar sector. Our research shows that the chop bar industry is stratified in terms of class. Within it, alongside genuine self-employed workers, there are people who own relatively small-scale capital (cooking assets and in some cases the land and buildings in which the bars are based) and who employ informal wage workers.

    The informal workforce is by and large made up of migrant female workers with relatively low education and skill. They work without contracts, for very long hours and very low wages, and face the risk of sudden dismissal and harassment from employers. Such poor working conditions stem from the lack of contracts, and of the rights that come with them. This is the weakest category of workers in the industry – yet they have no place in donors’ and trade unions’ activities to support workers.

    The main limitation of donors’ aid to the chop bar sector is that it focuses exclusively on supply-side interventions. It is based on the idea that improving skills and access to finance will result in increased demand for the services of small-scale entrepreneurs. Many aid programmes on employment make this mistake and suffer from so called “employment dementia” .

    This type of aid doesn’t ask where the stimulus to increase demand for street food will come from, or what the structural roots of urban employment challenges are. It doesn’t consider why African cities have large informal economies and poor-quality jobs.

    Aid priorities

    Donors should re-think their aid priorities, and put informal wage workers at their centre. This would entail moving away from the current focus on micro-solutions for job creation, and instead supporting policies to promote structural change, to tighten labour markets and increase the demand for good-quality jobs within them.

    This article was co-authored with Dr Prince Asafu-Adjaye, an associate of Labour Research Service.

    – Informal workers in Ghana’s chop bars get no benefit from foreign aid: donors are getting it wrong
    – https://theconversation.com/informal-workers-in-ghanas-chop-bars-get-no-benefit-from-foreign-aid-donors-are-getting-it-wrong-253633

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Commencement Student Speaker Spotlight: Daniella Dennis

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    Meet Daniella Dennis of New Britain. Her parents were born and raised in Jamaica and immigrated to America in the late 1990s. The youngest of four siblings, her mother as a Certified Nursing Assistant introduced her to the medical field. Before matriculating at UConn School of Medicine she was an EMT and a patient care technician during the COVID-19 pandemic. After graduation, she will be entering emergency medicine residency at UConn and will be a proud first-generation college graduate and first doctor in her family. Her advice to all students: no matter what stage you are at, you can never have too many mentors. 

    Why did you choose the UConn School of Medicine?

    I was born and raised in Connecticut so UConn growing up was a dream school for me. Something I’ve loved about UConn is its Team Based Learning curriculum which makes it very unique compared to other medical schools and its cohesiveness between faculty and students.

    Tell us more about your path to medical school.

    After New Britain High School, I attended Central Connecticut State University where I was a biomolecular science major with a minor in community engagement and graduated in 2018. Following graduation, I took two gap years where I worked as an EMT and as a patient care tech over at Hartford Hospital and then matriculated at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine in the fall of 2021.

    What activities were you involved with as a student?

    I was involved in a multitude of different leadership positions including being secretary of the Student National Medical Association, a part of the Gold Humanism Society, in various surgical student groups and participated as a mentor as part of the Health Career Opportunities Programs — a pipeline program created by Dr. Marja Hurley here at UConn Health that helps students from high school who come from underrepresented backgrounds including those who are first-generation college students to be able to get into college and then furthermore get into medical and dental school.

    What’s one thing that surprised you about UConn?

    How willing faculty are open to listening to student feedback and always looking for different ways to improve the curriculum and always looking for other new ways to improve student wellness.

    What’s one thing every student should do during their time at UConn?

    One of my favorite events that UConn has every single year is Culture Shock which is run in collaboration with the Student National Medical Association, the Latino Medical Association, and the Student National Dental Association. Culture shock is essentially our version of a school-wide talent show where we have students showcase their various talents and their cultures and most importantly it’s a great time to have the entire student body and faculty be around for a great night of celebration. The event raises money for various charities within the Greater Hartford Area. This event takes place every December and I’m glad to have been able to participate in Culture Shock and be able to attend the event every single year since my first year of medical school. I absolutely love seeing people in my class and even upper-class students be involved. Whether it’s my peers showcasing their singing skills, dancing, or most importantly the most famous part of the night is our fashion show where you get to showcase various pieces and clothing from your particular culture.

    Who inspired you to enter health care?

    It started with my mother who was a certified nursing assistant at a rehabilitation center and in elementary school after school I would visit her at work and be around various health care professionals including physicians, nurses, and physician assistants and I became very curious at that time at an early age about becoming a doctor. It wasn’t really until high school where we had a Health Academy that’s focused on helping students go into health care professionals that I really started to think more about becoming a physician. Furthermore I had a great relationship with my pediatrician growing up who became one of my first mentors in the field of medicine that I made the final decision to go to medical school after my sophomore year of college where during that summer between freshman and sophomore year I did a six-week program at Columbia University focused on first generation college students who were interested in going into health professional careers. During that program, I was able to shadow various physicians and different medical sub-specialties which really gave me the confidence and knowledge to go into medicine. From that experience I decided to go on the pathway of becoming a doctor and I’ve had a multitude of other great inspiration and mentors along the way that helped guide me on this path.

    What are your plans after graduation?

    I’ll be continuing my journey here at UConn as an Emergency Medicine resident physician.

    What’s one thing that will always make you think of UConn?

    The people! The faculty, friends, and mentors are what makes UConn have its collaborative feel and most importantly always making you feel comfortable and welcomed.

    What does being a part of UConn mean to you?

    I love being at UConn! Being at UConn feels at home. I think most importantly the reason that I love being here is that it feels like a community. I’m very thankful for my colleagues who’ve helped me throughout my entire medical school time. I really do love the faculty who also have been very supportive and very attentive to student wellness. These are the characteristics and traits that I want to continue to have as I transition in the next part of my journey of becoming a resident.

    What’s it going to be like to walk across the Commencement stage and get your degree?

    It’s going to be a huge accomplishment for me, especially in my case being a first-generation college student and now to be the first person in my family to become a doctor. It’s going to be an amazing accomplishment to share this moment with friends and family watching me on the stage and I’m super thankful for their support in terms of this entire journey to be able to get to this point.

    Any final words of wisdom for incoming students?

    Get involved and explore as early as you possibly can and most importantly you can never have too many mentors there’s always something that you can learn and grow from someone no matter what field that they come from. Always take advantage of the ability to ask for help.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: UConn School of Pharmacy Places Second in 2025 AMCP P&T Competition: Following Back-to-Back National Championships

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    In April, UConn placed second in the AMCP’s annual P&T Competition! The event invites many pharmacy schools across the nation to participate in a multiple-stage, intensive competition showcasing a team of four dedicated students from each school. 

    Students during the judging portion of the competition

    Out of 47 participating teams from pharmacy schools across the country, 15 advanced to the Semi-Final round, and just 5 teams moved on to present to a mock P&T Committee during the AMCP Annual Meeting in Houston on April 1, 2025.  

    This annual competition offers students an immersive opportunity to apply skills essential to formulary decision-making – an area critical to the practice of managed care pharmacy. Competing teams are tasked with conducting a comprehensive evaluation of a medication’s clinical economic, and safety profile to inform whether it should be added to a formulary. 

    This year’s UConn team was the youngest to ever represent the University, composed primarily of first year pharmacy students. Team members included Hira Ilyas (P3), Owen Kwok (P1), Maggie Liu (P1), and Emily Szydlo (P1) – a group whose dedication and insight impressed judges. 

    Their success reflects not only their talent but the supportive network guiding them. Associate Professor Christina Polomoff serves as the faculty advisor for the competition team and for UConn’s student AMCP chapter. Additional support comes from a group of dedicated managed care leaders: Jeffrey Casberg, Andrew Cournoyer, Joseph Honcz, Daniel Shan, and Glen Smyth, whose guidance continues to shape the program’s growth.

    Headshot of Christina Polomoff (UConn Photo)

    Adding to the celebration, Polomoff was named the recipient of the 2025 AMCP Individual Contribution Award. This national honor recognizes her leadership in expanding managed care education at UConn School of Pharmacy, from integrating managed care concepts into the core curriculum, to coordinating a dedicated elective, to offering hands-on experiences through her advanced pharmacy practice rotation at Hartford HealthCare Integrated Care Partners. 

    This award is about raising awareness about managed care.” – Christina Polomoff, Pharm.D.

    Polomoff believes her award exemplifies the progress UConn Pharmacy has made in increasing the visibility of managed care and its career opportunities to students – a momentum she’s excited to continue within the School and beyond.

    UConn’s continued success in this prestigious national competition is a testament to the School of Pharmacy’s commitment to academic excellence, innovation, and preparing the next generation of managed care leaders. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: President Ramaphosa appoints special advisor on investment promotion

    Source: South Africa News Agency

    Wednesday, April 30, 2025

    President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed former Director-General (DG) of the Department of Trade and Industry, Dr Alistair Ruiters, as Special Advisor: Investment Promotion.

    “Dr Ruiters will advise President Ramaphosa on South Africa’s continuing investment drive, which is a principal component of the 7th Administration’s focus on inclusive economic growth and job creation.

    “Government is implementing a broad range of economic reforms aimed at rendering South Africa more attractive and rewarding for domestic and international investors; advancing greater diversification of the economy, and broadening South Africa’s integration into continental and global supply chains,” the Presidency said in a statement.

    Ruiters, who is an accomplished business leader, also boasts experience in the public service.

    “He holds a D Philosophy degree from Oxford University and a BA Honours from the University of Cape Town, among other qualifications.

    “Dr Ruiters is a former Commissioner of the Competition Commission who, as an entrepreneur, established a number of businesses, and served as Chief Executive and Chairperson of diverse institutions and enterprises, including the National Empowerment Fund, Pebble Bed Modular Reactor and the Afarak Group,” the statement concluded. – SAnews.gov.za

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Cassidy, Kennedy Introduce Resolution Commemorating 100 Years of Southeastern Louisiana University

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Louisiana Bill Cassidy

    WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) and John Kennedy (R-LA) introduceda resolution commemorating 100 years of Southeastern Louisiana University educating Louisiana students.
    “Southeastern Louisiana University has been training up the next leaders of our great state for 100 years. Their quality of education attracts students from all over, who then stay in Louisiana, raise families, and make our state even better. Keep making Louisiana proud!” said Dr. Cassidy.
    “A quality education is key to both Louisiana and America’s future. By that measure, Southeastern Louisiana University ought to be proud of its life-changing impacts over the last 100 years—and its record-breaking graduation rate and enrollment increases this year prove that. I join countless Louisianians in celebrating all that Southeastern has done in the past century to brighten our state’s future,” said Senator Kennedy.
    “Southeastern is proud to have reached this significant milestone in our remarkable 100-year history. From our humble beginnings in 1925 to becoming a dynamic institution with over 150 programs of study, Southeastern’s success stems from the commitment of students, faculty, staff, and the communities that support us. We sincerely thank Senator Kennedy for authoring this proclamation in recognition of our Centennial year and look forward to celebrating with the communities we serve,” said William S. Wainwright, Southeastern Louisiana University President.
    WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) and John Kennedy (R-LA) introduceda resolution commemorating 100 years of Southeastern Louisiana University educating Louisiana students.
    “Southeastern Louisiana University has been training up the next leaders of our great state for 100 years. Their quality of education attracts students from all over, who then stay in Louisiana, raise families, and make our state even better. Keep making Louisiana proud!” said Dr. Cassidy.
    “A quality education is key to both Louisiana and America’s future. By that measure, Southeastern Louisiana University ought to be proud of its life-changing impacts over the last 100 years—and its record-breaking graduation rate and enrollment increases this year prove that. I join countless Louisianians in celebrating all that Southeastern has done in the past century to brighten our state’s future,” said Senator Kennedy.
    “Southeastern is proud to have reached this significant milestone in our remarkable 100-year history. From our humble beginnings in 1925 to becoming a dynamic institution with over 150 programs of study, Southeastern’s success stems from the commitment of students, faculty, staff, and the communities that support us. We sincerely thank Senator Kennedy for authoring this proclamation in recognition of our Centennial year and look forward to celebrating with the communities we serve,” said William S. Wainwright, Southeastern Louisiana University President.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Dmitry Chernyshenko outlined plans for the development of children’s camps in the Zaporizhia region

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: Government of the Russian Federation – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

    Deputy Prime Minister Dmytro Chernyshenko, during a working visit to Zaporizhia Oblast, assessed the readiness of the Krasnaya Gvozdika children’s center, a branch of the Artek International Children’s Center, for the summer health campaign. The events were also attended by the Governor of Zaporizhia Oblast Yevgeny Balitsky.

    By the beginning of the summer children’s holiday, a range of repair and improvement works had been carried out here. It is expected that in 2025 the children’s center will accept more than 1.5 thousand children from the DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions.

    Dmitry Chernyshenko emphasized the importance of creating a modern and comfortable infrastructure for children’s recreation, and also noted the need not only for the reconstruction of existing facilities, but also for finding new sites for the construction of children’s camps.

    Organizing summer recreation for children is one of the priority areas of the national project “Youth and Children”.

    “We must provide children with quality recreation, and the Zaporizhia region with its climate, sea, and logistics is well suited for this. Our task is not just to restore, but also to significantly improve the infrastructure of children’s camps, using effective practices, such as the work of the “Red Carnation” center. It is necessary to conduct an inventory of all potential sites, including abandoned objects, to develop a mathematical model for the development of a network of children’s camps taking into account the demand,” said Dmitry Chernyshenko.

    He also noted that work on developing the camp network should take into account seasonal factors, and special working groups could be created to check compliance with safety standards.

    At the Mayak Creation Center in Berdyansk, the Deputy Prime Minister spoke with participants in the action as part of the All-Russian Week of Cleanup Days “We are for Cleanliness.” The action at the center brought together more than 200 volunteers from different regions of Russia, including Donbass and Novorossiya, who were cleaning the territory and planting an alley of eucalyptus trees. This initiative, organized by Rosmolodezh together with the Ecosystem movement with the support of Dobro.RF, became part of an all-Russian movement that united more than 500 thousand people in the improvement of memorial sites and cities.

    Summing up the results of the Week of Subbotniks, the Deputy Prime Minister congratulated the children on the upcoming Victory Day: “Victory Day is one of the most important holidays in our country, which is honored by generations. We pay special attention to it this year, which our President declared the Year of the Defender of the Fatherland. Everything that we do every day, approaching this holiday, we must do not 100%, but 200%.”

    The Deputy Prime Minister also visited the Azov State Pedagogical University, a branch of the Sevastopol State University, which is actively participating in the Priority 2030 program. During the military actions, the infrastructure of the Azov University was seriously damaged. In less than a year, thanks to the support of the Government, the university facilities were completely restored. In total, 7 facilities with an area of about 12 thousand square meters were restored. Today, it is a modern campus with the latest equipment and exercise machines. Dmitry Chernyshenko presented the university staff with a certificate for the purchase of a minibus, and also took part in the opening of a memorial plaque to Hero of the Soviet Union Polina Osipenko.

    In addition, in Berdyansk, the Deputy Prime Minister, together with the Governor of the Zaporizhia region, inspected the Omore Hotel, where they discussed the prospects for developing tourism in the Zaporizhia region and the implementation of the Five Seas and Lake Baikal project.

    “We inspected how the resort investment project for the creation of modular non-capital accommodation facilities is being implemented. The hotel complex includes 25 assembled houses on the territory of the facility, the installation of the verandas of the houses is being completed, temporary access roads have been equipped, and a box for an electrical substation has been installed. Finishing work and landscaping of the territory are currently underway,” noted Evgeny Balitsky.

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Tatyana Golikova: Five world-class genomic research centers will be created in 2025

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: Government of the Russian Federation – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

    Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova held a meeting of the Council for the implementation of the Federal Scientific and Technical Program for the Development of Genetic Technologies for 2019–2030. The agenda included summing up the results of the competitive selection of organizations on the basis of which world-class genomic research centers will be created, as well as the competition for the distribution of grants for the implementation of research programs and projects in the field of genetics.

    “We are starting the next stage of the implementation of the Federal Scientific and Technical Program for the Development of Genetic Technologies – with updated objectives, a reboot of previously implemented areas and the selection of new research centers. It is extremely important that the centers selected today bring the expected results. According to the Strategy for Scientific and Technological Development, approved by the President in 2024, genetic technologies are designated as a priority area. Our goal is not only to deepen fundamental research in this area, but also to ensure its practical implementation,” said Tatyana Golikova.

    As the Deputy Prime Minister noted, the centers will be created in four areas of the Federal Scientific and Technical Program for the Development of Genetic Technologies until 2030:

    · biosafety and ensuring technological independence;

    · genetic technologies for agricultural development;

    · genetic technologies for medicine;

    · genetic technologies for industrial microbiology.

    The head of the Ministry of Education and Science, Valery Falkov, noted that the conditions of the competition had been revised.

    “Today we are faced with the most important task of achieving technological leadership, in connection with which many programs for supporting scientific research have been finalized, including the program for creating world-class genomic research centers. Now, the presence of an industrial partner or a qualified customer is one of the key conditions for participation in the competition,” the minister emphasized.

    World-class genomic research centers are consortia that unite the potential of research institutes, universities, and organizations of the real sector of the economy. Their activities contribute to the acquisition of new knowledge in the field of genetics and the development of new technologies.

    Following a competitive selection process, the government has formed a list of organizations on the basis of which five world-class genomic research centers will begin operating in 2025–2030.

    The Center for High-Precision Genetic Technologies for Medicine will be created on the basis of a consortium of the V.A. Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, N.I. Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, and the National Medical Research Center of Hematology. Its main areas of work include the creation of anti-cancer drugs based on recombinant oncolytic viruses, drugs for the treatment of ischemic strokes, technologies for obtaining functional protein structures and pharmacogenetic approaches for medical diagnostics, as well as personnel training and retraining.

    The Center for Predictive Genetics, Pharmacogenetics and Personalized Therapy is being created on the basis of the Russian Scientific Center of Surgery named after Academician B.V. Petrovsky. The expected results of the center include, for example, the search for and identification of new genes responsible for cardiovascular diseases; the development of a diagnostic technology (“liquid biopsy”) for monitoring the risks of rejection and oncological diseases in patients who have undergone organ transplantation; the creation of a remote access advisory center for doctors and the development of higher and professional education programs in the field of genetics and pharmacogenetics.

    The world-class genomic research center “Genetic reprogramming and gene therapy” is being created on the basis of a consortium of five organizations: the Federal Scientific and Clinical Center of Physical and Chemical Medicine named after Yu.M. Lopukhin of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency of Russia, the Federal Center for Brain and Neurotechnology of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency of Russia, the State Research Center “Institute of Immunology” of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency of Russia, the Institute of Cytology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Moscow Clinical Research Center named after A.S. Loginov. The center’s program involves bringing several completely original drugs to implementation, for example, for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy and hereditary angioedema.

    The activities of the World-Class Genomic Research Center “Ensuring Biological Safety and Technological Independence” of Rospotrebnadzor are aimed at actively introducing modern genomic technologies and synthetic biology methods into the country’s biosafety system. In particular, within the framework of the project, scientists set themselves the task of describing viruses of vertebrate and arthropod carriers in natural reservoirs that have pathogenic potential. As a result, taking into account the use of modern technological solutions for metavirome analysis, new, previously undescribed or modified viruses will be identified and their zoonotic and pathogenic potential for humans will be assessed. This will allow the Russian Federation to become the third country in the world to implement such global projects.

    The Kurchatov Genome Center consortium will include the Kurchatov Institute National Research Center, the Institute of Cytology and Genetics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the All-Russian Research Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology. The center’s main tasks include creating producer strains (bacterial systems), methodologies for designing varieties based on the analysis of large genotyping data, developing new varieties and hybrids, prototypes of varieties of strategically important agricultural crops obtained using genome editing, as well as developing and implementing educational programs for specialists (in genomic selection) and gifted schoolchildren.

    In addition, following the results of the competition for the distribution of grants for the implementation of research programs and projects in the field of genetics, 13 teams conducting research in the field of genetics and 14 projects that will result in the creation of bioresource collections will receive support. The total amount of their funding in 2025 will be 1.7 billion rubles.

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Shri Gyaneshwar Kumar Singh Takes Charge as Director General & CEO of Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs(IICA), bringing Over 30 Years of Expertise in Finance, Law, and Governance

    Source: Government of India

    Shri Gyaneshwar Kumar Singh Takes Charge as Director General & CEO of Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs(IICA), bringing Over 30 Years of Expertise in Finance, Law, and Governance

    Shri Singh has served in key positions in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs including IEPFA, IBBI, and other important institutions

    Posted On: 30 APR 2025 7:51PM by PIB Delhi

     Shri Gyaneshwar Kumar Singh, a distinguished officer of the Indian Post & Telecommunication Accounts and Finance Service (IP&TAFS), 1992 batch, has assumed charge as the new Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA), which is a think tank under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India. With an illustrious career spanning over three decades, Shri Singh brings with him a wealth of experience in Finance, Corporate law, Insolvency, Corporate Social Responsibility, ESG Reporting, Public Policy, E-Governance, and Capacity Building.

     

    He has previously served in various key roles including Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, CEO of the Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (IEPFA), and as Member of the Governing Body of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI).  He was also Government nominee to the Central Council of the Indian Institute of Company Secretaries and Indian Institute of Chartered Accountants of India from 2019 -2021. Notably, he also held the position of DG & CEO of IICA during 2017–18, when he led a remarkable turnaround of the institute, making it financially self-sustaining.

    He was Member Secretary of the Insolvency Law Committee (ILC) from 2018 to 2021.He played an important role in implementation of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code and subsequent amendments to the code up including amendment Act on Pre-packaged insolvency resolution, thereby making the Code more responsive to the needs of the economy. He also made significant contribution in establishment and strengtheningof many new institutions in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs such as NCLT, NCLAT, IEPFA and IBBI.

     He possesses core competency in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and played a pivotal role in assisting the Ministry of Corporate Affairs in launching the National CSR Awards Scheme, which aims to benchmark best CSR practices across the country. He also served as the Member & Convener of the High-Level Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility, contributing significantly to the finalization and submission of the committee’s report in 2019. Furthermore, he played a critical role in overhauling the CSR Rules, 2014, including revamping reporting formats and development of transparent systems for CSR disclosures, enhancing ease of doing business and minimising discretion.

    A thought leader in sustainable corporate governance, Shri Singh chaired the Committee on Business Responsibility Reporting (BRR) and submitted a comprehensive report in August 2020. This landmark work laid the foundation for SEBI’s mandate on Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) for the top 1000 listed companies on a voluntary basis from FY 2021–22.

    Shri Singh holds academic degrees from prestigious institutions including JNU (MA &M.Phil in Sociology), FMS Delhi (MBA in Finance), and Delhi University (LLB and BA Hons in History). His international stint as Capacity Development Advisor with UNDP Afghanistan adds a global dimension to his profile.

    His return to IICA signals a promising new chapter for the institute as it continues to serve as a think tank, policy laboratory, and capacity development hub under the aegis of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Shri Singh’s visionary leadership is expected to further IICA’s mission of promoting responsible corporate governance, sustainability, and innovation in India’s dynamic business environment.

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    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Medicine’s over-generalization problem — and how AI might make things worse

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Benjamin Chin-Yee, Hematologist/Assistant Professor, Western University

    In medicine, there’s a well-known maxim: never say more than your data allows. It’s one of the first lessons learned by clinicians and researchers.

    Journal editors expect it. Reviewers demand it. And medical researchers mostly comply. They hedge, qualify and narrow their claims — often at the cost of clarity. Take this conclusion, written to mirror the style of a typical clinical trial report:

    “In a randomized trial of 498 European patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, the treatment increased median progression free survival by 4.6 months, with grade three to four adverse events in 60 per cent of patients and modest improvements in quality-of-life scores, though the findings may not generalize to older or less fit populations.”

    It’s medical writing at its most exacting — and exhausting. Precise, but not exactly easy to take in.

    Unsurprisingly, then, those careful conclusions often get streamlined into something cleaner and more confident. The above example might be simplified into something like: “The treatment improves survival and quality of life.” “The drug has acceptable toxicity.” “Patients with multiple myeloma benefit from the new treatment.” Clear, concise — but often beyond what the data justify.

    Philosophers call these kinds of statements generics — generalizations without explicit quantifiers. Statements like “the treatment is effective” or “the drug is safe” sound authoritative, but they don’t say: For whom? How many? Compared to what? Under what conditions?

    Generalizations in medical research

    In previous work in the ethics of health communication, we highlighted how generics in medical research tend to erase nuance, transforming narrow, population-specific findings into sweeping claims that readers might misapply to all patients.

    In a systematic review of over 500 studies from top medical journals, we found more than half made generalizations beyond the populations studied. More than 80 per cent of those were generics, and fewer than 10 per cent offered any justification for these broad claims.

    Researchers’ tendency to over-generalize may reflect a deeper cognitive bias. Faced with complexity and limited attention, humans naturally gravitate toward simpler, broader claims — even when they stretch beyond what the data support. In fact, the very drive to explain the data, to tell a coherent story, can lead even careful researchers to overgeneralize.

    Artificial intelligence (AI) now threatens to significantly exacerbate this problem. In our latest research, we tested 10 widely used large language models (LLMs) — including ChatGPT, DeepSeek, LLaMA and Claude — on their ability to summarize abstracts and articles from top medical journals.

    Even when prompted for accuracy, most models routinely removed qualifiers, oversimplified findings and repackaged researchers’ carefully contextualized claims as broader statements.

    AI-generated summaries

    Analyzing nearly 5,000 LLM-generated summaries, we found rates of such over-generalizations as high as 73 per cent for some models. Very often, they converted non-generic claims into generics, for example, shifting from “the treatment was effective in this study,” to simply “the treatment is effective,” which misrepresented the study’s true scope.

    Strikingly, when we compared LLM-generated summaries to ones written by human experts, chatbots were nearly five times more likely to produce broad generalizations. But perhaps most concerning was that newer models — including ChatGPT-4o and DeepSeek — tended to generalize more, not less.

    What explains these findings? LLMs trained on overgeneralized scientific texts may inherit human biases from the input. Through reinforcement learning from human feedback, they may also start favouring confident, broad conclusions over careful, contextualized claims, because users often prefer concise, assertive responses.

    The resulting miscommunication risks are high, because researchers, clinicians and students increasingly use LLMs to summarize scientific articles.

    In a recent global survey of nearly 5,000 researchers, almost half reported already using AI in their research — and 58 per cent believed AI currently does a better job summarizing literature than humans. Some claim that LLMs can outperform medical experts in clinical text summarization.

    Our study casts doubt on that optimism. Over-generalizations produced by these tools have the potential to distort scientific understanding on a large scale. This is especially worrisome in high-stakes fields like medicine, where nuances in population, effect size and uncertainty really matter.

    Precision matters

    So what can be done? For human authors, clearer guidelines and editorial policies that address both how data are reported and how findings are described can reduce over-generalizations in medical writing. Also, researchers using LLMs for summarization should favour models like Claude — the most accurate LLM in our study — and remain aware that even well-intentioned accuracy prompts can backfire.

    AI developers, in turn, could build prompts into their LLMs that encourage more cautious language when summarizing research. Lastly, our study’s methodology can help benchmark LLMs’ overgeneralization tendency before deploying them in real-world contexts.

    In medical research, precision matters — not only in how we collect and analyze data, but also in how we communicate it. Our research reveals a shared tendency in both humans and machines to overgeneralize — to say more than what the data allows.

    Tackling this tendency means holding both natural and artificial intelligence to higher standards: scrutinizing not only how researchers communicate results, but how we train the tools increasingly shaping that communication. In medicine, careful language is imperative to ensure the right treatments reach the right patients, backed by evidence that actually applies.

    Benjamin Chin-Yee receives funding from the Gates Cambridge Trust and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

    Uwe Peters receives funding from a Volkswagen research grant on meta-science (“The Cultural
    Evolution of Scientific Practice”; WBS GW.001123.2.4).

    – ref. Medicine’s over-generalization problem — and how AI might make things worse – https://theconversation.com/medicines-over-generalization-problem-and-how-ai-might-make-things-worse-252486

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: The legal limits of Trump’s crackdown on sanctuary cities like Philadelphia

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Jennifer J. Lee, Associate Professor of Law, Temple University

    Immigrant rights advocates call on Philadelphia officials to strengthen the city’s sanctuary policies at a rally on Dec. 10, 2024. Manuel Vasquez/Juntos, CC BY-NC-SA

    President Donald Trump signed an executive order on April 28, 2025, that demands the U.S. attorney general, in coordination with the secretary of Homeland Security, publish a list of cities and states that obstruct the enforcement of federal immigration laws, with the purpose of protecting Americans from “criminal aliens.”

    Philadelphia will likely end up on the list.

    Philadelphia is what’s known as a sanctuary city. While the term has no fixed definition, it usually refers to a city that has declared its refusal to cooperate – or even works at odds – with federal immigration enforcement.

    As a law professor at Temple University in Philadelphia, where I supervise students who represent low-wage immigrant workers, I know that sanctuary policies can slow the federal immigration enforcement system.

    But the bottom line is that federal immigration officers – usually U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement – can still carry out deportations in a sanctuary city.

    Further, there is no question that localities such as Philadelphia can legally decide not to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. Cities, like states, have constitutional protections against being forced to administer or enforce federal programs. The Trump administration cannot force any state or local official to assist in enforcing federal immigration law.

    What remains to be seen is what, if any, action the administration will take against those jurisdictions that end up on their list of sanctuary cities.

    Philly’s sanctuary policies

    My work has involved researching sanctuary policies as well as how often ICE relies on local law enforcement to help identify and turn over immigrants.

    Philadelphia’s various sanctuary policies break that connection and leave ICE to its own devices. They also signal to immigrants that the city is not in the business of federal immigration enforcement. Research shows this helps immigrants feel safer to access public benefits and services such as getting care at a community health center or calling the police without fear of immigration consequences.

    Protestors participate in an ‘Abolish ICE’ march through downtown Philadelphia in 2018.
    Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto via Getty Images

    Philadelphia’s most notable sanctuary policy, an executive order signed by then-Mayor Jim Kenney in January 2016, is its refusal to have its jails honor ICE detainers or requests for release dates. An ICE detainer is a voluntary request asking local officials to hold an immigrant, who is otherwise going to be released, for an additional 48 hours so ICE can pick them up.

    Failing to honor ICE detainers disrupts the deportation pipeline and makes ICE’s job more difficult.

    Another key Philadelphia sanctuary policy dates back to 2009 and was signed by then-Mayor Michael Nutter. It makes clear that city officials do not police immigration. Not only are all city workers – including police, firefighters and behavioral health workers – prohibited from asking about immigration status in most situations, but police are specifically directed not to stop, arrest or detain a person “solely because of perceived immigration status.”

    Yet there is no way to enforce these sanctuary policies. Under these laws, city officials who violate them do not face consequences. Compliance relies on a commitment from officials who believe that following these policies is the right thing to do.

    Philadelphia has also acted in other ways to break the link between the city and immigration enforcement.

    Since 2017, Philadelphia jails have had a protocol that discourages ICE from interviewing immigrants held in jail. Prior to providing ICE with access to such individuals, the jails must first send a consent form to an immigrant to inform them of their right to decline an ICE interview.

    In 2018, Philadelphia ended ICE’s access to the city’s preliminary arraignment reporting system used by the Philadelphia Police Department and district attorney’s office. The city said it terminated its database-sharing contract with ICE given the “unacceptable” way the agency used the system, which “could result in immigration enforcement action against Philadelphians who haven’t been arrested, accused of, or convicted of any crime.”

    While these policies cannot protect Philadelphia residents who have been arrested by ICE, the lack of help of local officials will make it more difficult for the administration to deliver on its promise to deport a record number of immigrants.

    ICE raided a car wash and arrested seven people in Philadelphia on Jan. 28, 2025.
    U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement via Getty Images

    Sanctuary campuses and churches

    Apart from the city itself, other public and private institutions within Philadelphia have created sanctuary spaces.

    In June 2021, the School Board of Philadelphia adopted a sanctuary resolution as part of an effort to create welcoming schools for immigrant children. In January 2025, the Philadelphia School District reaffirmed its commitment.

    Under the first Trump presidency, religious institutions, such as the Germantown Mennonite Church in Northwest Philly and the Tabernacle United Church in West Philly, provided sanctuary inside their churches to immigrants who had received final orders of deportation from ICE.

    The University of Pennsylvania declared itself a sanctuary campus in 2016 but is currently shying away from that label while faculty, staff and students demand that the university clarify its policies on immigration enforcement.

    Since 2011, ICE has had a “sensitive locations” memo that disfavors but does not entirely prohibit immigration enforcement in places of worship, as well as hospitals and schools. The Biden administration strengthened the “sensitive locations” memo in 2021. Trump rescinded the memo during his first month in office.

    Activists want Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker to commit to defending Philadelphia’s sanctuary policies.
    AP Photo/Matt Rourke

    Retaliation against sanctuary cities

    From the viewpoint of the Trump administration, state and local officials who defy the enforcement of immigration law are engaged in “a lawless insurrection” that creates public safety and national security risks.

    Despite the administration’s strong rhetoric about the “criminal alien,” 46% of people currently held in immigration detention have no criminal record, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University. Many others have minor offenses, including traffic violations.

    The executive order vows to terminate federal grants and pursue all enforcement measures to bring such jurisdictions “into compliance with the laws of the United States.”

    Such terminations may not be legal.

    On April 24, 2025, a federal judge enjoined language in an earlier executive order directing the government to take action against sanctuary cities to ensure that they do not receive access to federal funds.

    Past instances to pull federal funding from Philadelphia because of its sanctuary city status have also failed. The first Trump administration was unsuccessful at terminating a US$1 million federal grant to Philadelphia after the city sued and won in federal court in 2017.

    The executive order also makes legally questionable claims that state and local officials who follow their sanctuary policies are engaging in criminal activity, such as the obstruction of justice, unlawful harboring or activities that violate federal RICO law. Regardless, the administration may still choose to pursue high-profile prosecutions of state and local officials.

    The federal government’s efforts to punish sanctuary cities will undoubtedly be mired in legal challenges across the country. Yet Philadelphia officials must still decide in this moment whether to stand strong with the city’s current sanctuary policies. City Council member Rue Landau has been outspoken about maintaining Philadelphia’s sanctuary status to ensure that public resources will never be used to support federal deportation efforts. But Mayor Cherelle Parker has not committed to strengthening or even ensuring the city’s sanctuary protections.

    According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, the same day Trump signed the executive order, Parker reiterated that Philadelphia still operates under its 2016 sanctuary policy. However, she did not use the term “sanctuary city,” the Inquirer noted, and she “said she would not comment in more detail until Trump makes concrete moves that affect Philadelphia.”

    This is an updated version of a story originally published on December 18, 2024.

    Read more of our stories about Philadelphia.

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

    – ref. The legal limits of Trump’s crackdown on sanctuary cities like Philadelphia – https://theconversation.com/the-legal-limits-of-trumps-crackdown-on-sanctuary-cities-like-philadelphia-255580

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: China has identified how to fight back against Trump’s tariffs, and is not ready to back down

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Chee Meng Tan, Assistant Professor of Business Economics, University of Nottingham

    US ports are now starting to see scheduled shipments from China decline as the result of Donald Trump’s 145% tariffs on Chinese goods. The port of Los Angeles, the biggest port for Chinese goods in the US, is predicting scheduled shipments in early May to be about a third lower than the same time last year.

    Declining numbers of ships arriving stocked with Chinese imports are likely to affect US supermarket shelves soon, and after warnings from US supermarket bosses, Trump responded by saying trade talks between the US and China were under way in the past few days. But Chinese president Xi Jinping quickly denied talks were happening, suggesting he has no intention of backing away from a fight with the US.

    As one of the most powerful leaders in the history of the People’s Republic of China, Xi has fashioned himself as a nationalistic icon. So if China perceives Trump’s tariffs as a bully tactic designed to undermine it, backing down from a confrontation with the US would seriously undermine Xi’s strongman image and rhetoric.

    This is something that Trump probably hadn’t considered. At a rally marking his 100 days in office, the US president was still suggesting that China would just back down and “eat the tariffs”.

    While tariffs appear to be the primary weapon in the trade war, China might have more tactics to hit back at Trump and the US economy. The question is what might they be?

    A few weeks ago it seemed like Washington might punish China’s lack of willingness to negotiate with more tariffs, but now it’s clear that Trump is willing to make a deal and is trying to get China to come to the table. Trump is now implying that US tariffs on China could come down substantially. And US treasury secretary Scott Bessent has called the trade war with China “unsustainable”.

    Leveraging agriculture and energy

    China has reduced its reliance on US farm imports since the trade war began in Trump’s first presidency. This is bad news for Washington as agriculture is one few sectors in the US that actually has a large trade surplus with China. The 125% retaliatory tariffs will harm the sector’s profitability.

    But China’s retaliatory tariffs aren’t the only issue American farmers have to contend with. As the trade war escalates, China has been using bureaucratic hurdles to restrict US agricultural products from entering China and as a potential negotiation tool. For instance, China has delayed the renewals of export license renewals of US pig farmers, and refused to renew licenses of poultry farmers for “health and safety” reasons.

    What’s the impact of tariffs?

    Beijing’s actions might be designed to particularly hit the economy in core Trump supporting states. A major part of Trump and the Republican party’s base lies in “red states”, such as Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas, all have significant farming communities. Focusing on agricultural issues is a tactic that Beijing realises will hit home with Trump voters.

    Out of the 444 US counties designated by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) as farming-dependent, 77.7% voted for Trump during the 2024 US presidential election. So, any hardship faced by the agriculture sector due to Trump’s own actions is likely to lose him support from a major political base. And with mid-term elections in 2026, Trump has to tread carefully when antagonising Beijing.

    Another support base that Beijing might seek to undermine is those involved in the fossil fuel sector. In the past, the US has been a top supplier of natural gas to China.

    China has not imported natural gas from the US since early February 2025, and has sought its natural gas from Australia, Indonesia, and Brunei. As the trade war continues, it is unlikely that the US would be able to sell its natural gas to China anytime soon, and this will have an impact on the energy industry – one of Trump’s major political support bases.

    Restricting minerals

    Another huge problem that the US faces stems from China’s restriction of the export of critical minerals. They include seven rare earth minerals namely samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium and yttrium. While these are used in the clean energy and automobile sectors, the biggest concern would come from the US defence complex.

    These critical minerals are used in manufacturing fighter jets, submarines, missiles, and radar systems. China has an effective monopoly on the extraction and processing of rare earths, while the US lacks such capabilities. This means that China’s export restrictions are likely to affect America’s defence industry, while Beijing rapidly expands its ammunition and military technology.

    The White House probably anticipated export restrictions of critical minerals from China. After all, Beijing had banned the export of critical minerals to Japan in 2010 over a fishing trawler dispute, and stopped exporting “dual-use” metals that can be used to produce civilian and military technology, such as gallium, germanium and tungsten.

    What’s next?

    For the last few years, China has been trying to overcome an ailing economy that was primarily fuelled by a real-estate crisis. Trump probably expected China to buckle under pressure and come crawling to the negotiation table. After all, the Chinese Communist Party needs to fix its economy fast. The establishment has long relied on delivering economic prosperity to legitimise its rule over China.

    Right now the tit-for-tat battle continues. By April 11, US tariffs on China peaked at 145%, while China’s retaliatory tariffs on US goods reached an unprecedented 125%.

    Although it is clearly fighting back, China could go even further by selling off US treasuries and increasing US interest rates and thus borrowing cost. But unlike Trump, Xi often plays the long game. After all, Trump’s term as president will be over in less than four years, while Chinese president Xi has no term limits. All the latter has to do is exercise patience, and a friendlier US president might come around.

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

    – ref. China has identified how to fight back against Trump’s tariffs, and is not ready to back down – https://theconversation.com/china-has-identified-how-to-fight-back-against-trumps-tariffs-and-is-not-ready-to-back-down-255325

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Wealth, wellness and wellbeing: why healthier ageing isn’t just about personal choices

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Simon Evans, Lecturer in Neuroscience, School of Psychology, University of Surrey

    Matej Kastelic/Shutterstock

    We’ve all heard it before: eat your five-a-day, and try to get some exercise. It’s advice that’s simple in theory, yet in practice, not everyone is able to follow it. So what’s standing in the way?

    Our research examined this question in depth. Using data from UK adults over the age of 50, we explored how socioeconomic status affects the likelihood of meeting the World Health Organization’s recommendations for physical activity and diet. These guidelines include at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity (or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity) physical activity per week and a daily intake of at least five portions of fruit and vegetables.

    What we found points to a clear and concerning disparity. Wealthier older adults are nearly twice as likely to meet both exercise and dietary recommendations compared to their less affluent peers. And perhaps even more striking, those who don’t meet these health guidelines are significantly more likely to suffer from depression.

    We analysed survey responses from more than 3,000 adults aged 50 to 90, using data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. While nearly 70% of participants reported doing some form of physical activity, the data revealed a sharp wealth divide.

    Adults in the highest wealth quintile (the top 20%) were almost twice as likely to be physically active as those in the lowest quintile. A similar pattern emerged for diet. Over 70% of those in the wealthiest group reported meeting the five-a-day guideline, compared to just over 40% in the lowest income bracket.

    This matters, because not meeting government guidelines for physical activity and diet can have serious long-term health consequences. Regular exercise is known to increase HDL (or “good”) cholesterol, improve cardiovascular health, and reduce the risk of chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers.

    It also benefits brain health by lowering inflammation and even promoting the growth of new brain cells. Similarly, diets rich in fibre, vitamins, and antioxidants – found in fruits and vegetables – are associated with lower the risks of disease and cognitive decline, including conditions like Alzheimer’s.

    Depression disparity

    But the impact isn’t just physical. Our research also explored links between lifestyle and mental health. Around 19% of participants met the criteria for clinical depression, with the highest risk found among women, people living alone, smokers and those with lower incomes.

    Alarmingly, rates of depression were nearly three times higher among those in the lowest wealth quintile (32.6% were depressed) compared to those in the highest (11.1%).

    Lifestyle clearly played a role in depression levels. Among inactive participants, 30% reported symptoms of depression – more than double the rate seen in those who were physically active (13.7%). Likewise, those who didn’t meet the five-a-day guideline had a depression rate of 23.4%, compared to 15.7% among those who did.

    These results suggest that staying physically active and eating well not only improves physical health but may also play a protective role in mental wellbeing. Yet not everyone has equal access to the resources, time, or environments that support healthy living. There is also the role of social isolation as a compounding factor.

    Social disconnection is strongly linked to both poor physical and mental health, including depression and even increased mortality risk. Physical activity programmes that also offer social interaction – such as walking groups or community exercise classes – may provide even greater benefits.

    Healthy ageing for everyone

    The evidence shows that health disparities in later life are deeply tied to wealth and socioeconomic status. This means that addressing them requires more than encouraging personal responsibility – it calls for policy action.

    Financial barriers to healthy food and physical activity need to be tackled through targeted programmes, subsidies and infrastructure investments. Making healthy options accessible and affordable – especially for those in lower-income groups – will benefit people and reduce strain on healthcare systems.

    As populations continue to age, promoting health in later life is a public health priority. But that effort will only succeed if it recognises – and works to reduce – the inequalities that hold people back from living healthy, fulfilling lives.

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

    – ref. Wealth, wellness and wellbeing: why healthier ageing isn’t just about personal choices – https://theconversation.com/wealth-wellness-and-wellbeing-why-healthier-ageing-isnt-just-about-personal-choices-250316

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Tony Blair opposes phasing out fossil fuels. These academics disagree

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Jack Marley, Environment + Energy Editor, UK edition

    Rapidly phasing out fossil fuels and limiting energy consumption to tackle climate change is “a strategy doomed to fail” according to former UK prime minister Tony Blair.

    In the foreword of a new report, Blair urges governments to rethink their approach to reaching net zero emissions.

    Instead of policies that are seen by people as involving “financial sacrifices”, he says world leaders should deploy carbon capture and storage, including technological and nature-based approaches, to meet the rising demand for fossil fuels.

    But speak to many academic experts on climate change and they will tell a very different story: that there is no strategy for addressing climate change that does not involve ending, or at least massively reducing, fossil fuel combustion.

    This roundup of The Conversation’s climate coverage comes from our award-winning weekly climate action newsletter. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 45,000+ readers who’ve subscribed.

    A fossil fuel phase-out is ‘essential’

    “There is a wealth of scientific evidence demonstrating that a fossil fuel phase-out will be essential for reining in the greenhouse gas emissions driving climate change,” says Steve Pye, an associate professor of energy at UCL.



    Read more:
    COP28 president is wrong – science clearly shows fossil fuels must go (and fast)

    “I know because I have published some of it.”

    Ed Hawkins, a climate scientist at the University of Reading, agrees.

    “Rapidly reducing our reliance on fossil fuels, and not issuing new licenses to extract oil and gas, is the most effective way of minimising future climate-related disruptions,” he says.



    Read more:
    Science shows the severe climate consequences of new fossil fuel extraction

    “The sooner those with the power to shape our future recognise this, the better.”

    Fossil fuels are responsible for 90% of the carbon dioxide heating the climate. The amount burned annually is still rising, and so is the rate at which the world is getting hotter. Scientists now fear we are approaching irreversible tipping points in the climate system, hence their support for an urgent replacement of fossil fuels with renewable energy.



    Read more:
    Climate tipping points are nearer than you think – our new report warns of catastrophic risk

    Blair is confident that an emergency response on this scale can be avoided by absorbing CO₂ immediately after burning fossil fuels, from the smokestacks where the greenhouse gas is concentrated.

    Not all of the emissions responsible for climate change would be prevented. UCL earth system scientist Mark Maslin says that natural gas, which would linger as an energy source thanks to carbon capture, still leaks from pipelines and storage vessels upstream of power plants.



    Read more:
    The UK’s £22 billion bet on carbon capture will lock in fossil fuels for decades

    Commercial applications of the technology also have a poor track record. Just two large-scale coal-fired power plants are operating with CCS worldwide – one in the US and one in Canada.

    “Both have experienced consistent underperformance, recurring technical issues and ballooning costs,” Maslin says.

    CCS is no alternative to turning off the fossil fuel taps.
    Pan Demin/Shutterstock

    Blair might baulk at what he perceives to be the expense of ditching fossil fuels. But economic modelling led by Oxford University’s Andrea Bacilieri suggests his concern is misplaced. A rapid phase-out of fossil fuels could save US$30 trillion (US$1 trillion a year) by 2050 she concludes, compared with allowing power plants and factories to keep burning them with CCS.

    Developing CCS will be necessary to help manage an orderly transition from fossil fuels according to Myles Allen, a professor of geosystem science at Oxford University. But it is not a substitute for undergoing that transition, he says.



    Read more:
    Getting carbon capture right will be hard – but that doesn’t make it optional

    “Above all, we need to make sure the availability of CCS does not encourage yet more CO₂ production.”

    Keeping the public on board

    Is Blair right to fret about a public backlash to lower energy use? Academics suggest multiple reasons to think otherwise if the alternative is prolonging the use of fossil fuels.



    Read more:
    Should you get a heat pump? Here’s how they compare to a gas boiler

    Replacing a gas boiler with a heat pump that runs on electricity, for example, can lower a household’s energy consumption without a deliberate effort. That’s because renewable appliances convert power to heat more efficiently (how much depends on how well insulated the home is).



    Read more:
    Heat pumps without home insulation could raise bills and energy demand – here’s what the government can do

    In fact, it’s dependence on fossil fuel that is preventing many households from making this switch. The high wholesale price of gas determines the cost of electricity for UK consumers.



    Read more:
    How gas keeps the UK’s electricity bills so high – despite lots of cheap wind power

    And surveys repeatedly show that support for net zero policies is broad and deep in the UK – including those that would involve lifestyle changes say Lorraine Whitmarsh (University of Bath), Caroline Verfuerth and Steve Westlake (both Cardiff University), who research public behaviour and climate change.



    Read more:
    Net zero: direct costs of climate policies aren’t a major barrier to public support, research reveals

    “Crucially, the public wants and needs the government to show clear and consistent leadership on climate change,” they say.

    Meanwhile, what can corrode public acceptance of sacrifices is the high-consuming behaviour of a minority (think pop stars in rockets, as Westlake recently argued). And, arguably, the statements of powerful people like Blair.



    Read more:
    Why Katy Perry’s celebrity spaceflight blazed a trail for climate breakdown

    New research even suggests the politics that Blair and many others like him favour might also play a role here. Felix Schulz (Lund University) and Christian Bretter (The University of Queensland) are social scientists who study how ideology affects personal views on climate policy.

    They identified respondents in six countries (the UK, US, Germany, Brazil, South Africa and China) who shared Blair’s neoliberal worldview, which the pair define as a belief that individuals are primarily responsible for their own fortune, and need to take care of themselves – as well as an abiding faith in the free market.



    Read more:
    People with neoliberal views are less likely to support climate-friendly policies – new research

    “We observed a strong link between a neoliberal worldview and lack of support for the climate policies in our study,” they say.

    Schulz and Bretter urge us to consider how someone’s ideology ultimately shapes their understanding of the problem and its solutions as well.

    – ref. Tony Blair opposes phasing out fossil fuels. These academics disagree – https://theconversation.com/tony-blair-opposes-phasing-out-fossil-fuels-these-academics-disagree-254530

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Even mild face blindness can cause serious difficulties in daily life – new study

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Judith Lowes, Lecturer in Psychology, University of Stirling

    Peter JB Hancock, CC BY-ND

    Have you ever been ignored by someone you knew when you bumped into them in the street or at an event? If so, you probably thought they were being rude. But they might have face blindness – a condition officially known as developmental prosopagnosia.

    In a new study my colleagues and I conducted, 29 adults with face blindness revealed the daily challenges they face. Ten of the participants said they could not reliably recognise immediate family members, and 12 couldn’t recognise closest friends in out-of-context or unexpected encounters. Yet many felt it was socially difficult to admit these struggles.

    One of the participants didn’t recognise her husband of 30 years when he unexpectedly came to pick her up from the airport. Another described how “when I am off work for a week and come back it’s really hard to figure out who is who”.

    Although public awareness of face blindness is low, there is a high chance that you already know someone with face recognition difficulties. Around one in 50 people have developmental prosopagnosia, a lifelong condition that causes severe face recognition difficulties despite otherwise normal vision, IQ and memory.

    Researchers usually describe not being able to recognise close friends and family as a “severe” form of prosopagnosia, but our new study – conducted with a colleague at Dartmouth College in the US – shows that even people classified as having “mild” prosopagnosia can have serious difficulties in daily life. This suggests that prosopagnosia diagnosis should consider real-life experiences, not just lab tests.

    Most face-blind participants who took part in the research had tried various strategies to recognise people. However, these methods required huge mental effort and often didn’t work. For example, keeping detailed notes, or even spreadsheets, with descriptions and cues about people they have met. Or mentally trying to associate a name with a personally distinctive feature.

    However, participants admitted their strategies were often “exhausting” and were particularly difficult to use at work when they were busy, concentrating on a task, or because colleagues wore uniforms or similar work clothing.

    Some prosopagnosics said they used unusual ways to recognise others, for example, by smell. Another said that worrying about a face distracted them, so they found it more helpful to look at people from behind to work out who they were.

    Prosopagnosics told researchers how their condition caused them considerable difficulties at school, at work and in everyday social situations. Two-thirds of the prosopagnosics said they could recognise fewer than ten familiar faces. Previous research suggests most adults recognise around 5,000 faces, so this difference is huge.

    A widespread worry among people with face blindness was being misjudged as rude, uncaring, or even “a bit dim” by others who didn’t understand the condition. This concern often led to social anxiety and reduced self-confidence in social situations.

    A common coping strategy was to avoid social gatherings or to deliberately keep social circles small to limit the number of faces people had to try and learn. But these strategies sometimes had a downside.

    Looking back on their lives, some people felt that their face recognition difficulties had left them socially isolated, or with “poorly developed” social skills because they hadn’t mixed much with others while growing up.

    Prosopagnosics were asked what they thought future research into face blindness should focus on. Their top priority was improved awareness and understanding that this condition exists and how it affects people. They thought this was particularly important for employers, schools and medical staff – but also for the general public.

    The research found that many simple things could make life much easier for people with face recognition difficulties. Providing large name badges at events and conferences is a simple but helpful adjustment.

    Participants said they found it a huge relief when meetings started with a round of introductions, the chair always addressed people by name, or they were given seating plans. Hot desking causes problems, so keeping a regular seating plan in a workplace or classroom can help face-blind people learn who usually sits where.

    If you are meeting a face-blind friend, sending a quick message beforehand to let them know what you are wearing and exactly where you are sitting can also help.

    A form of neurodivergence

    My colleagues and I believe that developmental prosopagnosia should be considered a type of neurodivergence. This term describes someone whose brain works differently from what is considered typical. It usually includes people with autism, ADHD, dyslexia and dyspraxia.

    Recognising face blindness as a form of neurodivergence isn’t just about awareness, it’s about dignity, inclusion and making everyday life easier for thousands of people.

    Judith Lowes receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council and the British Psychological Society Cognitive Section.

    – ref. Even mild face blindness can cause serious difficulties in daily life – new study – https://theconversation.com/even-mild-face-blindness-can-cause-serious-difficulties-in-daily-life-new-study-254644

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Medicine’s overgeneralization problem — and how AI might make things worse

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Benjamin Chin-Yee, Hematologist/Assistant Professor, Western University

    In medicine, there’s a well-known maxim: never say more than your data allows. It’s one of the first lessons learned by clinicians and researchers.

    Journal editors expect it. Reviewers demand it. And medical researchers mostly comply. They hedge, qualify and narrow their claims — often at the cost of clarity. Take this conclusion, written to mirror the style of a typical clinical trial report:

    “In a randomized trial of 498 European patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, the treatment increased median progression free survival by 4.6 months, with grade three to four adverse events in 60 per cent of patients and modest improvements in quality-of-life scores, though the findings may not generalize to older or less fit populations.”

    It’s medical writing at its most exacting — and exhausting. Precise, but not exactly easy to take in.

    Unsurprisingly, then, those careful conclusions often get streamlined into something cleaner and more confident. The above example might be simplified into something like: “The treatment improves survival and quality of life.” “The drug has acceptable toxicity.” “Patients with multiple myeloma benefit from the new treatment.” Clear, concise — but often beyond what the data justify.

    Philosophers call these kinds of statements generics — generalizations without explicit quantifiers. Statements like “the treatment is effective” or “the drug is safe” sound authoritative, but they don’t say: For whom? How many? Compared to what? Under what conditions?

    Generalizations in medical research

    In previous work in the ethics of health communication, we highlighted how generics in medical research tend to erase nuance, transforming narrow, population-specific findings into sweeping claims that readers might misapply to all patients.

    In a systematic review of over 500 studies from top medical journals, we found more than half made generalizations beyond the populations studied. More than 80 per cent of those were generics, and fewer than 10 per cent offered any justification for these broad claims.

    Researchers’ tendency to over-generalize may reflect a deeper cognitive bias. Faced with complexity and limited attention, humans naturally gravitate toward simpler, broader claims — even when they stretch beyond what the data support. In fact, the very drive to explain the data, to tell a coherent story, can lead even careful researchers to overgeneralize.

    Artificial intelligence (AI) now threatens to significantly exacerbate this problem. In our latest research, we tested 10 widely used large language models (LLMs) — including ChatGPT, DeepSeek, LLaMA and Claude — on their ability to summarize abstracts and articles from top medical journals.

    Even when prompted for accuracy, most models routinely removed qualifiers, oversimplified findings and repackaged researchers’ carefully contextualized claims as broader statements.

    AI-generated summaries

    Analyzing nearly 5,000 LLM-generated summaries, we found rates of such over-generalizations as high as 73 per cent for some models. Very often, they converted non-generic claims into generics, for example, shifting from “the treatment was effective in this study,” to simply “the treatment is effective,” which misrepresented the study’s true scope.

    Strikingly, when we compared LLM-generated summaries to ones written by human experts, chatbots were nearly five times more likely to produce broad generalizations. But perhaps most concerning was that newer models — including ChatGPT-4o and DeepSeek — tended to generalize more, not less.

    What explains these findings? LLMs trained on overgeneralized scientific texts may inherit human biases from the input. Through reinforcement learning from human feedback, they may also start favouring confident, broad conclusions over careful, contextualized claims, because users often prefer concise, assertive responses.

    The resulting miscommunication risks are high, because researchers, clinicians and students increasingly use LLMs to summarize scientific articles.

    In a recent global survey of nearly 5,000 researchers, almost half reported already using AI in their research — and 58 per cent believed AI currently does a better job summarizing literature than humans. Some claim that LLMs can outperform medical experts in clinical text summarization.

    Our study casts doubt on that optimism. Over-generalizations produced by these tools have the potential to distort scientific understanding on a large scale. This is especially worrisome in high-stakes fields like medicine, where nuances in population, effect size and uncertainty really matter.

    Precision matters

    So what can be done? For human authors, clearer guidelines and editorial policies that address both how data are reported and how findings are described can reduce over-generalizations in medical writing. Also, researchers using LLMs for summarization should favour models like Claude — the most accurate LLM in our study — and remain aware that even well-intentioned accuracy prompts can backfire.

    AI developers, in turn, could build prompts into their LLMs that encourage more cautious language when summarizing research. Lastly, our study’s methodology can help benchmark LLMs’ overgeneralization tendency before deploying them in real-world contexts.

    In medical research, precision matters — not only in how we collect and analyze data, but also in how we communicate it. Our research reveals a shared tendency in both humans and machines to overgeneralize — to say more than what the data allows.

    Tackling this tendency means holding both natural and artificial intelligence to higher standards: scrutinizing not only how researchers communicate results, but how we train the tools increasingly shaping that communication. In medicine, careful language is imperative to ensure the right treatments reach the right patients, backed by evidence that actually applies.

    Benjamin Chin-Yee receives funding from the Gates Cambridge Trust and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

    Uwe Peters receives funding from a Volkswagen research grant on meta-science (“The Cultural
    Evolution of Scientific Practice”; WBS GW.001123.2.4).

    – ref. Medicine’s overgeneralization problem — and how AI might make things worse – https://theconversation.com/medicines-overgeneralization-problem-and-how-ai-might-make-things-worse-252486

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Increased BC Parks licence plate sales support more, better parks programs

    Source: Government of Canada regional news

    Sales of the BC Parks licence plates continue to grow, helping to protect unique species and ecosystems, and improving visitors’ experiences in provincial parks.

    Between April 2023 and March 2024, more than 84,000 BC Parks licence plates were bought, a 7% increase from the same period a year before.

    “Everyone who has bought BC Parks licence plates is supporting a more sustainable future by contributing to the protection and preservation of unique species and sensitive ecosystems, as well as supporting First Nations to share their cultures and histories,” said Tamara Davidson, Minister of Environment and Parks. “From the mountains to the coast, we’ve worked with First Nations and community partners on a variety of grassroots projects. My recent visit with BC Parks staff has shown me first-hand the work that can be accomplished with these programs that are making an incredible impact on parks.”

    The licence-plate sales generated approximately $11 million in net revenue, supporting more than 250 projects and programs in parks throughout B.C. This includes a wide range of initiatives, such as the Student Ranger Program, wildlife inventories, partnerships with First Nations on educational programs and signs, wildfire-fuel mitigation, invasive-species management, ecosystem restoration, and educational programs for children and families.

    At Helliwell Park on Hornby Island, licence-plate funds help support the recovery of the endangered Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly. In 2015, BC Parks partnered with community members and scientists to begin restoring the park’s coastal-bluff meadows. The goal was to create habitat suitable for the release of hundreds of Taylor’s checkerspot larvae being captively bred at the Greater Vancouver Zoo.

    Historically, the Taylor’s checkerspot was found in several areas of southern Vancouver Island, including Helliwell Park in the early 1990s. The species was thought to be gone from Canada. However, undocumented populations were found on Denman Island in 2006 and on private land in the Courtenay area in 2018.

    Last year was the fourth year that captively bred Taylor’s checkerspot larvae were reintroduced into Helliwell Park. The butterflies are now breeding in the park and adult butterflies have been spotted flying around.

    “Support from the licence-plate program has been crucial to the success of our project,” said Chris Junck, outreach co-ordinator, Taylor’s Checkerspot Recovery Project. “In particular, consistent funding for several years enabled us to expand habitat restoration areas required to re-establish the butterfly population, and conduct surveys to monitor their survival.”

    In Gowlland Tod Park near Victoria, the PEPÁḴEṈ HÁUTW̱ Foundation used funding from the licence-plate program to assist with ecosystem restoration and the development of a restoration lesson plan for teachers to encourage land-based learning and respect for Indigenous culture.

    More than 500 students and volunteers have helped remove invasive plants, plant and seed native species and remediate contaminated areas in the park. The foundation is also in the process of installing interpretive signs to increase public awareness, understanding and respect for the importance of protecting and nurturing native species.

    The Tod Inlet area of Gowlland Tod Park is also known as SNIDȻEȽ in the SENĆOŦEN language of the W̱SÁNEĆ people and means Place of the Blue Grouse. It is an important area to the W̱SÁNEĆ and abundant with traditional food resources. 

    “The SNIDȻEȽ Resiliency Project is a collaborative initiative actively restoring the important native ecosystems of SNIDȻEȽ, which is the first WŚANEĆ village site,” said Judith Lyn Arney, ecosystems director for the PEPÁḴEṈ HÁUTW̱ Foundation. “Since 2010, W̱SÁNEĆ children and community members, local schools and organizations, international visitors and programs, and countless individuals passionate about reciprocity to the land have all participated in the healing of this special place. The PEPAKEṈ HÁUTW̱ Foundation is grateful for the support of the licence-plate program in this beautiful project.”

    Funding from the licence-plate program helped buy an adaptive mountain bike in the Kootenays so people with mobility challenges can enjoy outdoor recreation. It has also helped the BC Parks iNaturalist Program reach one million observations within six years.

    The iNaturalist Program is a collaboration between the BC Parks Foundation, BC Parks, University of Victoria and Simon Fraser University, and encourages people to use iNaturalist to instantly identify plants and animals in parks by recording and sharing their observations. More than 13,000 people have contributed to the project, recording nearly 14,000 species in parks and protected areas. Scientists use the data to better understand what species live in parks. They have found endangered and threatened species, as well as discovering new species for B.C. and Canada.

    “Your BC Parks licence plate not only looks great on your car, it shows you are a proud B.C. resident who supports the most beautiful places in this province,” said Andy Day, CEO, BC Parks Foundation. “Funds from your licence plate are used to keep parks beautiful and create more activities and adventures for you to enjoy, many of which you can now find at www.DiscoverParks.ca. Thanks for keeping B.C. beautiful by getting a plate.”

    The BC Parks Licence Plate Program is a partnership between the Province and ICBC. Licence-plate sales have been steadily increasing since 2020. As of March 2025, more than 552,000 licence plates have been sold, generating more than $54 million in net revenue for the program.

    Learn More:

    To learn more about the BC Parks Licence Plate Program and how to purchase a licence plate, visit: https://bcparks.ca/get-involved/buy-licence-plate/

    To view the 2023/2024 licence plate program report, visit: https://bcparks.ca/get-involved/buy-licence-plate/#annual-report

    For more information about BC Parks, visit: https://bcparks.ca/

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Justice Department Declines Prosecution of Company That Self-Disclosed Export Control Offenses Committed by Employee

    Source: US State of North Dakota

    Company’s Prompt Self-Disclosure and Extraordinary Cooperation Led to Employee’s Successful Prosecution for Unlawfully Exporting Software to a Restricted Chinese University

    Note: View the declination letter here.

    The Justice Department today announced that it has declined the prosecution of Universities Space Research Association (USRA) after it self-disclosed to the Department’s National Security Division (NSD) criminal violations of U.S. export control laws committed by its former employee, Jonathan Soong. Soong pleaded guilty to willfully violating the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by exporting U.S. Army-developed aviation software to a university in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) that had been placed on the Commerce Department’s Entity List and was sentenced to 20 months in prison.

    “If we stay vigilant, all of us — including our citizens, small businesses, and large corporations — can play a critical role in protecting our country,” said Sue J. Bai, head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “A criminal who compromised our national security was brought to justice because his employer caught him and immediately turned him in. We decline to prosecute his employer and are ready to work together with such responsible corporate actors who are committed to joining us in this fight to protect our country from foreign adversaries.”

    “USRA discovered that one of its employees was funneling sensitive aeronautics software to a Beijing university in violation of export control laws and at risk to our national security,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Patrick D. Robbins for the Northern District of California. “What the company did next made all the difference in the Government’s decision not to prosecute it: the company took swift and proactive measures to disclose the employee’s wrongdoing, provide all known facts, and cooperate – and continue to cooperate – with the government’s investigation.”

    According to court documents, in April 2016, USRA contracted with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to, among other things, license and distribute for a fee aeronautics-related and U.S. Army-owned flight control software. Soong was employed by USRA as a program administrator under the contract and was responsible for performing due diligence on prospective purchasers to ensure that the sale or transfer of software licenses complied with applicable law, including by checking the Entity List. Soong willfully exported software subject to the EAR to Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, also known as Beihang University (Beihang), a university in the PRC, knowing that an export control license was required for the export to Beihang because it was on the Entity List. Beihang was on the Commerce Department’s Entity List due to its involvement in the development of military rocket systems and unmanned air vehicle systems. Soong further used an intermediary to complete the transfer and export of the software to Beihang to avoid detection, and embezzled tens of thousands of dollars in software license sales by directing purchasers to make payment to an account he personally owned and controlled.

    This scheme continued until NASA inquired about the sales of software licenses to PRC-based purchasers and USRA began to investigate. Soong initially lied to USRA and fabricated evidence that he had conducted due diligence on the purchasers and provided it to USRA’s counsel to provide to NASA, but after USRA’s counsel investigated further and confronted Soong with evidence that contradicted his statements, he admitted to knowing that Beihang was on the Entity List when he exported the software to Beihang and that a license had been required for the export.

    Within days of learning that Soong had willfully violated U.S. export control laws, and before USRA had completed its own investigation to understand the scope of the misconduct, USRA self-disclosed the crime to NSD and fully cooperated with the ensuing criminal investigation, which eventually established that Soong had acted alone at USRA. USRA’s cooperation included proactively identifying, collecting, and disclosing relevant evidence to investigators, including foreign language evidence and evidence located overseas, and providing detailed and timely responses to the government’s requests for information and evidence. USRA remediated the root cause of the misconduct by disciplining a supervisory employee who failed appropriately to supervise Soong, and by significantly improving its internal controls and compliance program. USRA also compensated the government both for the funds Soong embezzled, and for the time Soong had spent embezzling funds instead of performing his duties under USRA’s contract with NASA.

    The Justice Department declined USRA’s prosecution after considering the factors set forth in the Department’s Principles of Federal Prosecution of Business Organizations and the National Security Division Enforcement Policy for Business Organizations (NSD Enforcement Policy). The NSD Enforcement Policy creates a presumption that companies that (1) voluntarily self-disclose to NSD potentially criminal violations arising out of or relating to the enforcement of export control or sanctions laws, (2) fully cooperate, and (3) timely and appropriately remediate will generally receive a non-prosecution agreement, unless aggravating factors are present.  In appropriate cases, the NSD Enforcement Policy authorizes prosecutors to go further, and exercise discretion to decline a company’s prosecution. This is the second time that NSD has exercised its discretion to decline the prosecution of a company under the NSD Enforcement Policy.

    The case was investigated by the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security; the Department of Defense’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service; and the FBI. The NASA Office of Inspector General; U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division; U.S. Army Counterintelligence; and the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations provided valuable assistance.

    Trial Attorney Rachel Craft of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara Valliere for the Northern District of California prosecuted the case.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Justice Department Declines Prosecution of Company That Self-Disclosed Export Control Offenses Committed by Employee

    Source: United States Attorneys General

    Company’s Prompt Self-Disclosure and Extraordinary Cooperation Led to Employee’s Successful Prosecution for Unlawfully Exporting Software to a Restricted Chinese University

    Note: View the declination letter here.

    The Justice Department today announced that it has declined the prosecution of Universities Space Research Association (USRA) after it self-disclosed to the Department’s National Security Division (NSD) criminal violations of U.S. export control laws committed by its former employee, Jonathan Soong. Soong pleaded guilty to willfully violating the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by exporting U.S. Army-developed aviation software to a university in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) that had been placed on the Commerce Department’s Entity List and was sentenced to 20 months in prison.

    “If we stay vigilant, all of us — including our citizens, small businesses, and large corporations — can play a critical role in protecting our country,” said Sue J. Bai, head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “A criminal who compromised our national security was brought to justice because his employer caught him and immediately turned him in. We decline to prosecute his employer and are ready to work together with such responsible corporate actors who are committed to joining us in this fight to protect our country from foreign adversaries.”

    “USRA discovered that one of its employees was funneling sensitive aeronautics software to a Beijing university in violation of export control laws and at risk to our national security,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Patrick D. Robbins for the Northern District of California. “What the company did next made all the difference in the Government’s decision not to prosecute it: the company took swift and proactive measures to disclose the employee’s wrongdoing, provide all known facts, and cooperate – and continue to cooperate – with the government’s investigation.”

    According to court documents, in April 2016, USRA contracted with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to, among other things, license and distribute for a fee aeronautics-related and U.S. Army-owned flight control software. Soong was employed by USRA as a program administrator under the contract and was responsible for performing due diligence on prospective purchasers to ensure that the sale or transfer of software licenses complied with applicable law, including by checking the Entity List. Soong willfully exported software subject to the EAR to Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, also known as Beihang University (Beihang), a university in the PRC, knowing that an export control license was required for the export to Beihang because it was on the Entity List. Beihang was on the Commerce Department’s Entity List due to its involvement in the development of military rocket systems and unmanned air vehicle systems. Soong further used an intermediary to complete the transfer and export of the software to Beihang to avoid detection, and embezzled tens of thousands of dollars in software license sales by directing purchasers to make payment to an account he personally owned and controlled.

    This scheme continued until NASA inquired about the sales of software licenses to PRC-based purchasers and USRA began to investigate. Soong initially lied to USRA and fabricated evidence that he had conducted due diligence on the purchasers and provided it to USRA’s counsel to provide to NASA, but after USRA’s counsel investigated further and confronted Soong with evidence that contradicted his statements, he admitted to knowing that Beihang was on the Entity List when he exported the software to Beihang and that a license had been required for the export.

    Within days of learning that Soong had willfully violated U.S. export control laws, and before USRA had completed its own investigation to understand the scope of the misconduct, USRA self-disclosed the crime to NSD and fully cooperated with the ensuing criminal investigation, which eventually established that Soong had acted alone at USRA. USRA’s cooperation included proactively identifying, collecting, and disclosing relevant evidence to investigators, including foreign language evidence and evidence located overseas, and providing detailed and timely responses to the government’s requests for information and evidence. USRA remediated the root cause of the misconduct by disciplining a supervisory employee who failed appropriately to supervise Soong, and by significantly improving its internal controls and compliance program. USRA also compensated the government both for the funds Soong embezzled, and for the time Soong had spent embezzling funds instead of performing his duties under USRA’s contract with NASA.

    The Justice Department declined USRA’s prosecution after considering the factors set forth in the Department’s Principles of Federal Prosecution of Business Organizations and the National Security Division Enforcement Policy for Business Organizations (NSD Enforcement Policy). The NSD Enforcement Policy creates a presumption that companies that (1) voluntarily self-disclose to NSD potentially criminal violations arising out of or relating to the enforcement of export control or sanctions laws, (2) fully cooperate, and (3) timely and appropriately remediate will generally receive a non-prosecution agreement, unless aggravating factors are present.  In appropriate cases, the NSD Enforcement Policy authorizes prosecutors to go further, and exercise discretion to decline a company’s prosecution. This is the second time that NSD has exercised its discretion to decline the prosecution of a company under the NSD Enforcement Policy.

    The case was investigated by the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security; the Department of Defense’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service; and the FBI. The NASA Office of Inspector General; U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division; U.S. Army Counterintelligence; and the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations provided valuable assistance.

    Trial Attorney Rachel Craft of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara Valliere for the Northern District of California prosecuted the case.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Meet Washington state’s 20 new winners of AI for Good Lab awards

    Source: Microsoft

    Headline: Meet Washington state’s 20 new winners of AI for Good Lab awards

    This month, Microsoft is celebrating our 50th anniversary. To help commemorate fifty years of creating technology that empowers people to achieve more, our AI for Good Lab launched an open call to support innovative AI-based projects here in Washington State.

    Our AI for Good Lab has been using AI to tackle global challenges and improve lives since 2018. We open-source our models, data, and tools so everyone can jump in, working together to make real impact. At a time when nonprofits, NGOs, and academic institutions are tasked with doing more with less, technology like AI offers a way forward.

    Through these awards, we’re investing $5 million over the next two years. This open call allows us to expand our commitments to a number of amazing projects while engaging a wide range of new organizations across the state of Washington. The 20 awardees will receive Microsoft Azure credits and the ability to collaborate with AI for Good Lab scientists.

    We’re thrilled to continue to cultivate relationships with innovative partners in this great state and the world at large. These game-changing organizations and projects are not only helping solve today’s challenges, they’re also paving the way for a brighter tomorrow. We are honored to share the following as our 2025 open call awardees.

       Sustainability

    1. Awardee: Stock-Smart.com – Washington State University Extension
      Project description: Washington State’s federal, state, tribal, and private land managers and livestock grazers are all beginning to use virtual fence systems to fine-tune ecological grazing management. Stock-Smart.com combines predicted livestock terrain use with satellite-based forage production data to inform grazing plans for livestock herds. By using AI-guided interpretation of virtual fence system geolocation data, Stock-Smart.com helps reduce wildfire risk, enhance wildlife habitats, and improve invasive species control.
    2. Awardee: Long Live the Kings
      Project description: In the Puget Sound, the impacts of rapid urbanization are compounded by climate change. Long Live the Kings employs AI and machine learning to automatically calibrate a 3D ecosystem modeling program for Puget Sound. This project will use the emulator to explore how cumulative watershed impacts affect ecosystem services and biodiversity to advance natural resource management in Puget Sound.
    3. Awardee: TealWaters
      Project description: TealWaters works to transform Washington State’s water management capacity by providing tools that inform and guide wetlands planning, protection, and restoration. TealWaters plans to support AI model testing beyond the scope of its existing tools to increase communities’ resilience to climate change and environmental stressors.
    4. Awardee: Washington State University  
      Project description: Climate change puts residents of Washington State at higher risk of dangerous wildfires. This project will develop cutting-edge AI models, fusing satellite imagery, weather data, building information, and wildfire simulation results to assess wildfire vulnerability of residential buildings in Washington State. By producing vulnerability assessments that include confidence scores, this multi-modal approach can help guide effective wildfire mitigation efforts.
    5. Awardee: Cornell University, Circular Construction Lab
      Project description: Reusing materials is the most effective circular economy strategy: it reduces waste and emissions, creates local green jobs, and supports local reuse ecosystems. AR3-Lumber aims to develop and implement AI-powered technology to reuse salvaged lumber through a local partnership with the Seattle Salvaged Lumber Warehouse. This project will enable AR3-Lumber to offer essential technical and methodological support to the circular lumber economy.
    6. Awardee: Woodland Park Zoo
      Project description: The Seattle Urban Carnivore Project aims to increase our understanding of and empathy for urban carnivores such as black bears by studying how these species live and interact with people across the greater Seattle region. This project will include a wildlife camera and bioacoustics monitoring program that collects data from green spaces across central King County and Bainbridge Island, utilizing AI to identify the diversity and density of species in urban corridors in a way that’s efficient and consumes fewer resources.
    7. Awardee: Conservation X Labs
      Project description: Conservation X Labs aims to prevent the sixth mass extinction by creating and democratizing innovative technologies to change what’s possible in conservation. The project will develop and deploy a multi-species management detection algorithm on a smart camera system to create a first –of –its –kind, real-time monitoring system for disease in wildlife that can be utilized by veterinarians, ecologists, and conservationists across Washington State.
    8. Awardee: NOAA-National Marine Fisheries Service – Habitat Conservation
       Project description: Current methods of water management and salmon habitat restoration in the Columbia River Basin tend to be either hyper-localized or computationally intensive. This project aims to use remote sensing and machine learning to classify wetlands to better predict how water management decisions and climate change impact salmon populations and support more effective conservation strategies.
    9. Awardee: Information Communication and Technology for Development (ICTD) at the University of Washington
      Project description:       More plant and animal species are threatened with extinction now than at any other time in human history. The Information Communication and Technology for Development department at the University of Washington plans to monitor wildlife using audiovisual channels on tiny compute devices, fostering a better understanding of animal populations intricately linked to food safety, disease spread, and biodiversity.

      Health

    10. Awardee: Information Communication and Technology for Development (ICTD) at the University of Washington
      Project description:       More plant and animal species are threatened with extinction now than at any other time in human history. The Information Communication and Technology for Development department at the University of Washington plans to monitor wildlife using audiovisual channels on tiny compute devices, fostering a better understanding of animal populations intricately linked to food safety, disease spread, and biodiversity.
    11. Awardee: Providence
      Project description: Current methods for identifying patients for clinical trials rely on manual screening processes that miss many patients—especially those from underserved communities—or rely on sick patients and their doctors to do the work of seeking available trials. Providence and Microsoft Health Futures are collaboratively developing Trial Connect, an AI tool that scans population-level medical data across Washington State to identify patients who qualify for clinical trials that could save their lives.
    12. Awardee: Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation
      Project description: Data from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) are used by more than 13,000 researchers around the world. IHME plans to build a global cloud laboratory to examine health locally, using satellite imagery, AI, and spatial demography to predict risks like drought and food insecurity to specific populations. This project aims to put actionable, population-level health data into the hands of decision-makers to improve individuals’ health and wellbeing.
    13. Awardee: University of Washington Radiology
      Project description: To improve public health and support patients in their most challenging moments, the University of Washington created self-improving large language models to translate radiology report findings into patient-friendly language. Patients will receive clear, lay-language explanations of their imaging results while healthcare providers provide feedback that will be used to refine the model, ensuring continuous improvement, reducing misunderstandings, and fostering better communication between patients and medical professionals.  
    14. Awardee: Institute for Protein Design – University of Washington
       Project description: Generative AI has already had a large impact ion protein structure prediction and protein design. This project aims to develop at least three specialized, open-source models, including a next-generation biomolecule design model, a model specialized for antibody/antigen structure and antibody design, and a model specialized for protein/ligand interactions to enable the next generation of therapeutics and biomaterials.
    15. Awardee: Washington State University Department of Chemistry
       Project description: Heavy and radioactive metal contamination in Spokane and Hanford threatens community health. This project will leverage geochemistry and large language models to build a publicly accessible dataset that will aid in designing effective soil decontamination methods for Spokane and Hanford, contributing to a cleaner, healthier environment for Washington residents. 

      Education/Public Good 

    16. Awardee: Washington State University
       Project description: Rural elementary teachers in Washington often struggle to design high-quality science assessments due to limitations around resources, professional development opportunities, and access to technology. This project will develop and deploy an AI-powered multi-agent assessment system to empower rural Washington elementary teachers and enhance accessibility, engagement, and instructional effectiveness.
    17. Awardee: Evergreen Goodwill of Northwest Washington
      Project description: Rising labor and business costs have reduced the ability for Evergreen Goodwill to advance their mission of providing quality, free job training and basic education to people experiencing significant barriers to economic opportunity. The project will use an AI-powered automated donation ingestion and cataloging system to tackle the backlogged volumes of donated goods received by Evergreen Goodwill. By doing so, the project will reduce waste, increase efficiency, and unlock new opportunities for scale and profitability.
    18. Awardee: Washington State University – Group Argumentation Coordinator
      Project description: This project provides science teachers in Washington State with an AI-powered tool called a Group Argumentation Coordinator that will reduce the burden on overwhelmed teachers and improve students’ learning experience in science classrooms across the state. The project promotes real-time support for argumentation-based science learning in diverse classrooms. The two-year plan supported by this award focuses on system development, small-scale classroom pilots, and teacher feedback integration to ensure usability, fairness, and transparency.  
    19. Awardee: Washington State University – WARNS
      Project description: The Washington Assessment of Risk and Needs of Students (WARNS) has effectively assessed the needs critical to healthy social, emotional, and educational development of middle school and high school students across the state. This project will develop an elementary-level version of this assessment, leveraging large language models to reduce absenteeism and prevent dropouts among elementary school students by initiating a dialogue with students about what they need to thrive in the classroom. 
    20. Awardee: Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound 
      Project description: The Puget Sound branch of Big Brothers Big Sisters is faced with the challenge of a 100 –day-long waitlist for families looking to participate in their mentorship program. Through a partnership with KPMG and Microsoft, Big Brothers Big Sisters developed an AI tool, AIMRE, to process large datasets on their waitlist and increase both the quality and timeliness of youth/mentor matches. This award will allow Big Brothers Big Sisters to conduct further testing and deploy AIMRE locally, eventually scaling nationally to speed up the matching process for kids across the country.  

    We’re thrilled to support these 20 projects in their efforts to harness the transformative power of AI to solve challenges across Washington State and beyond.

    Tags: AI for Good Lab, Innovation, Innovation Featured, quantum, Technology

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Global: People with neoliberal views are less likely to support climate-friendly policies – new research

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Felix Schulz, Research Fellow, Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies, Lund University

    Sambulov Yevgeniy/Shutterstock

    Donald Trump won the US election on a campaign that included rolling back environmental laws. In the UK, Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch has called the national net zero target “impossible”. And former prime minister Tony Blair has said the current approach of phasing out fossil fuels is “doomed to fail”.

    Meanwhile in Germany, the parties in the most likely incoming coalition government hardly engaged with climate policy during the recent election campaign – and the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), which openly denies human-made climate change, received 20% of the vote.

    With political leaders around the world moving away from progressive climate policy, it’s worth asking: is this what the public wants?

    When it comes to the climate, what people think is influenced by where they live and what else they believe in. In recently published research, we sought to find out just how much people’s ideologies affected their views on climate policy.

    We surveyed representative samples of the public in six countries about their attitudes towards different types of climate policy. We asked about support for regulation (for example, building and vehicle standards or product bans), taxes (like carbon taxes), subsidies (to promote low-carbon alternatives), and information-based policies (such as emission disclosure requirements). Our survey covered policies in transport, housing, energy and industry.

    We also asked respondents about their ideologies: cultural worldviews, personal values, free market beliefs and political trust. Our findings reveal how people’s ideologies shape their support for climate policies.

    We included three high-income countries of the global north (the US, UK and Germany) and three upper-middle income countries from the global south (Brazil, South Africa and China). Together, these six countries are responsible for half of global CO₂ emissions.

    Our definition of global south, which includes countries such as China, is based on work by UN Trade and Development and the UN G-77 countries. It includes Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, most of Asia (excluding Israel, Japan and South Korea) and Oceania (excluding Australia and New Zealand). These countries generally have lower per capita income and are considered “developing” compared to global north countries.

    This comparison is important because, as we will explain, political and economic ideologies that originated in the global north can influence how people view climate policies.

    Across all policy types, we found more support for climate policies in the global south countries. In the global north countries, we found only minority support for regulatory policies and climate-related taxes. In Germany, support for regulatory policies and taxes was as little as 18%.

    Subsidies for the four sectors – for example, to support renewable energy projects or the production of green steel – received 35% support in Germany and 48% in the US. In contrast, the majority of the public in the three countries of the global south supported subsidies and regulatory climate policies.

    As with subsidies, we found strong majority support for information-based policies in the three countries of the global south (74-79%), against only minority support in Germany (36%) and the US (49%). In the UK, 53% supported information-based climate policies.

    Personal values play a role in support for the policies. Our findings show people with stronger biospheric values – the importance people place on the environment and the relationship between humans and nature – are more supportive of climate policies. This is true irrespective of the country they live in. People who are more trusting of political institutions and politicians also support these policies more.

    But demographics such as age, gender, education or income have a negligible effect on attitudes towards these policies, when accounting for other factors in our analysis.

    Neoliberalism and the climate

    We observed a strong link between a neoliberal worldview and lack of support for the climate policies in our study. As a political economic project, neoliberalism originated in the global north. But it continues to take root in the global south, particularly in Latin America.

    The belief that individuals need to take care of themselves and are responsible for their own fortune and problems was associated with less support for climate policies. And in every country we studied, we found a strong relationship between support for the free market and lack of support for climate policies.

    People who believe the free market is best at allocating outcomes efficiently and meeting human needs without government interference, and that it is more important than some local environmental concerns, show less support for the climate policies.

    These two sets of beliefs – individualistic worldviews and support for the free market – are the core principles of neoliberal thought.

    In the Global North countries, we found only only minority support for regulatory policies and climate-related taxes.
    Fotogrin/Shutterstock

    The superiority of the market over governments as an efficient and fair allocation machine has been the mantra of neoliberal politicians, thinktanks and institutions for more than half a century.

    Neoliberalism opposes government regulation and spending, and supports the free market. It also fosters an individualistic worldview. Instead of seeing themselves as workers, citizens or members of a collective, people are persuaded to internalise market logic – to see themselves as individuals who are out to maximise their personal profit.

    The cultural shift from more communitarian and egalitarian ideals towards an ideology based on the self-driven individual and the free market has been quite successful. Empirical evidence from 41 countries shows that individualist practices and values around the world have surged significantly over the past 50 years.

    We know from research that what the public thinks (or votes for) does influence what governments do. This is true even when accounting for the influence of powerful interest groups.

    So, those creating and campaigning for urgently needed climate policies need to take this into account. Support for climate policies isn’t just about whether someone believes in human-made climate change or cares about the planet – there are deeply-rooted ideological factors at play too.

    Felix Schulz receives funding from Formas, a Swedish research council for sustainable development and the Hans-Böckler-Foundation.

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

    – ref. People with neoliberal views are less likely to support climate-friendly policies – new research – https://theconversation.com/people-with-neoliberal-views-are-less-likely-to-support-climate-friendly-policies-new-research-253478

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: No criminal charges over death of ice hockey player during game – what this means for sport and the law

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Victoria Silverwood, Lecturer in Criminology, Director of Swansea Centre of Research in Sport & Society (SCORSS), Swansea University

    The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has announced that no criminal charges will be brought against Canadian ice hockey player Matt Petgrave in relation to the death of American player Adam Johnson during a British Elite League match in October 2023.

    Petgrave had been arrested in November 2023 on suspicion of manslaughter after his skate blade struck Johnson’s neck during open play in a game between Nottingham Panthers and Sheffield Steelers. Johnson was taken to hospital but later died. Thousands of fans had been watching the match at Sheffield’s Utilita Arena.

    Petgrave was released and bailed seven times over the following 17 months while South Yorkshire Police continued their investigation. He had denied the allegations and called the incident a “tragic accident”.

    The decision ends a case that has gripped the ice hockey community. It has also raised difficult legal questions about violence in sport, degrees of responsibility, and how far criminal law should intervene in such incidents.

    Deaths in professional sport are rare, and criminal investigations following them are even rarer. Johnson’s death occurred in an extremely fast and physical game where players wear blades on their feet and routinely engage in full-contact play.

    Although this was a workplace incident, since both men were employees of their respective clubs, it was not handled by the Health and Safety Executive, as many fatal incidents in other professions would be. Instead, the case was investigated by Sheffield Council and South Yorkshire Police.

    The decision to arrest Petgrave surprised many in the sport. It is understood that all parties voluntarily cooperated with the investigation. What is often overlooked is that an arrest can help protect the rights of the person under investigation, ensuring legal representation and placing time limits on police questioning.

    Still, many questioned the length of the process, particularly the 17-month delay and repeated bail extensions. For the families of both Johnson and Petgrave, the uncertainty has been long and painful.

    What does the law saw about violence in sport?

    Sport enjoys a special relationship with the law, as my research has explored. Players are generally considered to have given “implied consent” to physical contact that would otherwise be unlawful – as long as that contact stays within the normal rules of the game.

    Ice hockey, with its high-speed collisions and culture of on-ice fighting, clearly tests the limits of that consent. But where is the line between a legal part of the game and criminal behaviour?

    To bring a criminal charge, the CPS must be satisfied of two things. First, that there is enough evidence to provide a realistic chance of conviction. And second, that a prosecution would be in the public interest. In this case, neither threshold was met.

    Criminal convictions in sport are extremely rare. In one of the few UK cases, a recreational ice hockey player, Macauley Stones, received a suspended jail sentence for grievous bodily harm during an on-ice brawl in 2017. In the trial, the judge criticised the “legal vacuum” that exists in contact sports such as ice hockey.

    This grey area affects the public interest test, as all criminal cases risk complication by the confused nature of consent. So, it is not surprising that investigations into Johnson’s death took such a long time, or that the decision was ultimately made not to charge Petgrave with a crime.

    Safety reforms

    Johnson’s death has already led to some promising changes to ice hockey player safety. Shortly after the incident, the coroner called for neck protection to be compulsory for players.

    Neck guards, which help prevent skate blade injuries, were immediately enforced by governing body England Ice Hockey, and later adopted by the Elite Ice Hockey League in which Petgrave and Johnson played. They have also been adopted by the International Ice Hockey Federation and the American Hockey League.

    This rapid response was perhaps surprising in a sport that has often been slow to bring in new safety measures. Helmets only became compulsory in North America’s National Hockey League in the late 1970s, and face visors even later.



    Read more:
    Hockey’s wake-up call: Neck guards should be mandatory following Adam Johnson’s death

    The tragedy has also united the ice hockey community globally in raising awareness of, and funds to support, player safety. Campaigns like Adam’s Angels have raised money for player safety initiatives, including providing bleed kits to teams across the UK.

    Although the criminal investigation is now closed, the broader legal questions are far from settled. Without charges being brought, the courts will not have the chance to examine the role of implied consent in this case. So, no new legal precedent will be set. That task will probably fall to the sport’s governing bodies.

    Some may assume that because ice hockey is a minority sport in the UK, this case has few wider effects. But legal precedent doesn’t always stay within its original context. A ruling about consent to violence in ice hockey could have had ripple effects across other high-contact and combat sports, from rugby to boxing and beyond.

    Johnson’s death shocked not only ice hockey fans but the wider sporting public. And while no criminal case will be heard, the conversation about safety in high-risk sport is far from over.

    Dr Victoria Silverwood has previously received PhD funding from The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). She is affiliated with Progressive Rugby.

    – ref. No criminal charges over death of ice hockey player during game – what this means for sport and the law – https://theconversation.com/no-criminal-charges-over-death-of-ice-hockey-player-during-game-what-this-means-for-sport-and-the-law-255552

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Hacks season four tackles late-night TV – and is as funny and perceptive as ever

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Jacqueline Ristola, Lecturer in Digital Animation, University of Bristol

    The comedy-drama Hacks has returned for a solid fourth season that continues to be both funny and perceptive. The series, about ruthless comedian Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) and her compassionate writer Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder), explores their developing relationship as they work in the entertainment industry. This season shifts to the backstage drama of late-night television.

    When we last saw them in season three, Deborah and colleagues were on a buzzy press tour, building Deborah’s profile to become the next host of late-night television. Deborah does indeed secure the position, promising Ava to be her head writer. But the immense pressure to succeed gets to Deborah, who rescinds her offer to go with a more established (male) writer.

    Learning of the betrayal, Ava takes a page from Deborah’s playbook, blackmailing her to reinstate her as head writer. Season four picks up from this dramatic upset, with Deborah and Ava quarrelling behind the scenes as they work on Deborah’s new series.

    Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here.

    Hacks has always examined women’s precarious place in the entertainment industry. This season introduces a new setting (late-night television) and a new character (network executive Winnie) to enable the series to subtly observe how women attain power and operate in a male-dominated industry.

    Winnie (a winning Helen Hunt) has subtly assimilated to become a detached decision-maker. In treating her children as inconveniences and telling manager-producer Jimmy (Paul W. Downs) to smile, her actions typify Hollywood’s male-dominated old guard. We see Jimmy’s business partner Kayla (Megan Stalter) developing along similar lines, belittling her staff and telling Jimmy that to establish herself, she needs to show people their place.

    Kayla’s abrupt transformation is an ostentatious example of how the series examines women in the workplace and the double-binds they often face. Be firm and get called frigid, or relent and become exploited.

    But while Ava also attains power in the industry, she resists developing a cruel streak. Ava insists on reasonable working hours for her writers, much to the chagrin of Deborah. Her own anxiety about the quality of her show drives Deborah to be overly demanding of everyone around her. This tension between empathy and ruthlessness aligns with the generational divide between Ava and Deborah. It’s a central tension that the series continues to explore to strong effect.

    The power of good editing

    While Hacks has already been lauded for its excellent performances and writing, which continues in this season, the series also deserves praise for its craft, such as editing.

    Episode four begins with a rapid montage depicting the flurry of activity in the weeks before Deborah’s late-night TV debut. Quickly cutting from her wig getting made, to production teams building the set, to Deborah anxiously weighing herself (pointing to a developing eating disorder), the montage shows both the verve and stress involved in the entire production.

    Its vivacious energy and colour (few pale blue and greys here) are an antidote to the cold pallor of most streaming series. Also, in an era where streaming television run-times are aimlessly bloated, Hacks doesn’t overstay its welcome running between 25 and 35 minutes an episode. It maintains plot and character progression at a neat pace.

    It’s been said that for a show about comedians, Hacks is more a drama than a comedy. This observation perhaps stems in part from Hacks being a comedy-drama rather than an outright sitcom.

    Whereas sitcoms typically rely on character stasis, our dynamic duo has slowly changed – and changed each other – through the series. In this way, Deborah and Ava’s relationship echoes the recent films of Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza, Phantom Thread, The Master), which examine entangled duos that recurrently attract and repel each other.

    It’s worth comparing this season to The Larry Sanders Show (1992 to 1998). The HBO sitcom, set in the office and stage of a late-night talk show, skewered late-night TV and Hollywood more broadly.

    While The Larry Sanders Show has insights about Hollywood as an industry (including women’s systematic exclusion), as a sitcom, its characters remain relatively static. The sitcom format doesn’t allow characters to develop much psychological depth. By contrast, the characters in Hacks change – albeit subtly. In a new twist to her character, normally so self-assured to the point of selfishness, Deborah feels insecure, a previously rare occurrence.

    This anxiety likely comes from her newfound vulnerability. In making her comedy more vulnerable and authentic, Deborah charges Ava with also making her comedy too “niche” as a result.

    As Deborah reminds her new writers, late-night TV works not because of the format, but “because of the person”. As she already receives scrutiny as a comedian, Deborah worries about the public’s acceptance of her new comedic persona.

    From women’s precarious place in the entertainment industry, to generational divides, Hacks explores these complex issues well in its light, compelling mix of comedy and drama.

    Jacqueline Ristola receives funding from ASIFA-Hollywood’s Animation Educators Forum.

    – ref. Hacks season four tackles late-night TV – and is as funny and perceptive as ever – https://theconversation.com/hacks-season-four-tackles-late-night-tv-and-is-as-funny-and-perceptive-as-ever-255555

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Welch on Trump’s 100 Days of Chaos: “100 days of giving a lot of rope and a lot of license to the Executive is 100 days too many. But it’s not too late for us in Congress to stand up…” 

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont)

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) joined Democrats in holding the Senate floor last night to slam the first 100 days of Trump’s second term. In his remarks, Senator Welch highlighted the myriad ways this White House has caused chaos, including Elon Musk’s so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” or DOGE, Trump’s attacks on institutions like USAID and the Administration’s push to freeze colleges’ funding for research and development to cure diseases, and Trump’s tariffs and trade war. He also shared stories from Vermont businesses affected by the tariffs. 
    “It’s 100 days. It is time to assess. And whatever you may say about President Trump and the stated goals, there’s an obligation to act functionally to achieve those goals. Stating you want an outcome is a long way from implementing a plan and executing a plan to achieve it. And there is no plan,” said Senator Welch. “There is absolutely no plan.” 
    “It is time for this Congress to make an assessment of our obligation to the citizens we represent. When is enough, enough? When has the Executive gone too far? When is it that all of us should heed the pleas of the businesses, the enterprises in each of our states about this chaotic and very destructive tariff policy? When is it we will say ‘no more’ to an Executive pushing his weight around with private law firms, private employers, with our universities, and telling them unless they do it his way, they’ll pay an enormous price in lost governmental funding or access to things that they need?” Senator Welch concluded. “In my view, 100 days of giving a lot of rope and a lot of license to the Executive is 100 days too many. But it’s not too late for us in Congress to stand up for the separation of powers, the balance of powers, and the prerogatives of the United States Senate and the United States Congress.” 
    Watch his full remarks:  

    Key quotes from Senator Welch: 
    “Let’s talk first about DOGE. DOGE is about supposedly getting rid of waste, fraud, and abuse. There’s not a single member of this Congress who is in favor of waste, fraud, and abuse. But if you are going to do that, you look at a Department. What’s its goal?  How is it achieving it? Where is it coming up short? You do an assessment, and you do a plan. What DOGE did was essentially get the personnel list and then send out e-mails to every fifth or sixth person saying you’re fired because you did a lousy job. It is not at all on the level.  
    “And, as a result, the real goal becomes revealed. It’s not to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse. It’s to eliminate USAID. It’s to eliminate the Department of Education. It’s to eliminate the Social Security response team. That’s what’s going on. And the challenge for us—and this is bipartisan — is whether we as an independent branch of government want to look at what’s before our very eyes and address it or simply ignore it.” 
    ••• 
    “The tariffs…are going to be seen by historians as the absolute worst economic blunder in the last 100 years. Whether you’re a farmer in Vermont or in Utah or in the Dakotas, these tariffs are hammering you. Most of our farmers in the northern part of the country import fertilizer, import, in many cases, grain to feed our animals, from Canada. This tariff is going to hammer farmers who are already contending with what farmers every year have to contend with—very tight margins, the will of the weather. This is having real impact on them.  
    “In Vermont, we had roundtables to hear ‘how are these tariffs going to affect you?’ Number one, ‘what tariffs?’ ‘What are they today?’ Supposedly they were 25% yesterday, then they’re suspended, then they’re back on. They apply to this part, but not that part. There’s no possibility of anybody making a plan in order to run their business.  
    “By the way, these are folks who came in and are affected by the tariffs. They are not Republicans or Democrats or Independents. They are really folks just trying to make a living….What they’re talking about is the real-world impact of these crackpot tariffs that are on again, off again.  
    “Small business owner Jason Levinthal, founder of J skis said, ‘This is essentially a tax on the consumers.’ Something the administration won’t acknowledge itself.  
    “The president of Mad River Distillers, Mimi Buttenheim said, ‘Tariffs affect our manufacturing arm by raising the price of raw materials.’  
    “Jen Kimmich, co-founder of the Alchemist Brewery: ‘We don’t know how they are going to affect us. We just know they’re going to affect us.’  
    “John Lacy, CEO of Burton Snowboards, ne of the global enterprises founded in Vermont by Jake Burton and Donna carpenter: ‘How can you navigate the playbook when you don’t know what the rules of the road are?’ It’s a fair question. And it’s a question that President Trump feels he has no obligation to answer. This goes on and on.” 
    ••• 
    “Then there’s the next step—the overreach of power. The absolutely lawless abuse of Executive authority. What business is it of Donald Trump what are hiring practices are of an individual private corporation or firm? It is the business to enforce the law. But it’s not his business to be able to tell a law firm he’ll take contracts away. It’s not his business to be able to tell a law firm that [because they] had somebody who represented the government in a case against Trump or some Trump ally that they’re going to punish you…This is a complete overreach and extension by the president. Essentially to impose his own will, not enforce the law but to enforce his will as he arbitrarily wishes.  
    “What sense does it make that because of his vendetta about higher education, that instead of addressing those concerns and having discussions, he literally takes away billions of dollars of research that has gone not just to Harvard, our oldest institution, but the University of Alabama, the University of North Carolina. People, to our benefit, have dedicated their lives to scientific research. The United States government has provided support for research and development, and we’ve had cures for terrible diseases. But if they don’t do what Donald Trump says, he’ll take away grants…destroying research, destroying development.” 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: NREL-Led Research Effort Adds Salt, Boosts Performance of Perovskites

    Source: US National Renewable Energy Laboratory

    Using an ionic salt to replace the fullerene layer in perovskite solar cells boosted their performance, efficiency, and durability, according to a global research effort led by scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

    The performance of the perovskite solar cell improved with the addition of an ionic salt.

    Their findings appear in the journal Science.

    The researchers said their findings point to a promising approach to advancing perovskite photovoltaic technologies toward commercialization. Perovskites refers to a crystalline structure that has proven highly efficient as a semiconductor material for absorbing sunlight. Work continues to improve the long-term stability of perovskite solar cells.

    Kai Zhu, a senior scientist at NREL and an architect of the research effort, said improvements involved changing the chemical composition of the electron transport layer in the perovskite solar cell. This layer is essential as it moves electrons triggered by sunlight through the cell, thereby generating electricity. The fullerene C60 is commonly used for the electron transport layer in inverted perovskite solar cells, but its molecular nature leads to a weak interface and limits the performance of the device. That is especially a problem with long-term stability.

    The researchers experimented with adding acids and chemical compounds that reacted with C60 to form an ionic salt referred to as CPMAC. The change resulted in a three-fold increase in the mechanical strength of the electron transport layer of the cell, which is crucial for long-term stability and durability.

    “That’s really the surprise, but it’s a very good surprise,” Zhu said.

    The inverted architecture of the perovskite solar cell refers to how the layers are deposited on the glass substrate. This construction is known for its high stability and integration into tandem solar cells.

    The research at NREL was supported in part by the Center for Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Semiconductors for Energy (CHOISE), an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences and the Solar Energy Technologies Office. The research reported the initial lab efficiency of the perovskite cells that used the ionic salt was 26.1%, vs. 25.5% for the C60 version.

    Using the CPMAC, the researchers obtained a 26% lab efficiency with about 2% degradation after 2,100 hours of operation at 65 degrees Celsius, and a 25.5% efficiency with about 5% degradation after 1,500 hours of operation at 85 degrees Celsius. For a minimodule made up of four subcells, six square centimeters, the lab efficiency was 23% with less than a 9% degradation after 2,200 hours of operation at 55 degrees Celsius.

    The paper is “C60-based ionic salt electron shuttle for high-performance inverted perovskite solar modules.” Other co-authors from NREL are Shuai You, Yifan Dong, Lei Chen, Matthew Beard, and Joseph Berry. Researchers who contributed to the work hailed from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (Saudi Arabia) and Newcastle University (United Kingdom) in addition to CubicPV Inc., the University of Colorado Boulder, Arizona State University, and the University of Toledo.

    MIL OSI USA News –