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Category: Universities

  • MIL-Evening Report: We compared the Labor and Coalition’s income tax proposals to see who benefits most

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra

    Shutterstock

    We now have the competing bids for our votes by the alternative governments on income tax policy.

    From Labor, future cuts to the lowest marginal tax rate and new standard deductions for work expenses. From the Coalition, a one-off return to a tax offset for low and middle income earners that was previously nicknamed the “lamington”.

    Our modelling shows slightly higher benefits for low- and middle-income earners from the Coalition’s proposals compared to Labor’s.

    Labor’s drip-fed tax policies

    The Labor government announced its main tax proposal in the recent budget. It is a permanent cut in the lowest marginal tax rate.

    Currently, the tax rate on income between A$18,201 and $45,000 is 16%. This will drop to 15% from July 2026 and then to 14% from July 2027.

    This will reduce the tax paid by taxpayers in all income brackets, with most receiving $536 a year in relief. But it is proportionately larger for those on lower incomes.



    Read more:
    Tax cuts are coming, but not soon, in a cautious budget

    At the weekend, the government announced an additional measure: allowing everyone to claim a standard tax deduction of $1,000 instead of claiming individual work-related expenses.

    Those with expenses over $1,000 can continue to claim their deduction in the current way. The government estimates this measure will assist 39% of taxpayers. The average relief for those benefiting will be $205 per year.

    Coalition’s revived tax offset

    Also at the weekend, the Coalition released its tax policies. It is essentially proposing the reintroduction of the Low and Middle Income Tax Offset (“LMITO”, which led to the nickname the “lamington”), for one financial year only.



    Read more:
    The Low and Middle Income Tax Offset has been extended yet again. It delivers help neither when nor where it’s needed

    The Morrison government introduced a low- and middle-income tax offset in the 2018-19 tax year. It was subsequently extended, but then abolished by the Labor government.

    It is now called the Cost of Living Tax Offset. Those with taxable incomes between $48,000 and $104,000 will get a one-off rebate of $1,200. Other taxpayers with incomes below $144,000 will get smaller rebates.



    Read more:
    Dutton to offer targeted income tax offset of up to $1,200

    Although Dutton was critical of Labor’s income tax cuts for not starting until 2026, the one-off rebate would also not be paid until mid-2026.

    Dutton has not explained why he said three weeks ago that the budget position would not allow for income tax cuts but now he thinks it does.

    Who benefits most from the competing proposals?

    We have estimated the distribution of the benefits from Labor’s proposed tax cut (but not the instant tax deduction) and the Coalition’s one-year tax offset.

    Given a federal election is held every three years, the estimates are provided up to mid-2028. This resulted in a slightly higher cumulative figure of around $10 billion for the Labor proposal (over two years) and $11 billion for the Coalition proposal (over one year). This is slightly higher than the Coalition’s own estimate.

    The following charts show disposable household income deciles from the poorest 10% to the 10% with the highest incomes. This is household income that has been adjusted to allow comparison of income levels between households of differing size and composition.

    The chart indicates slightly higher benefits from the Coalition for households in the lowest and second-lowest income groups. This may be an overestimate as it assumes those earning less than $37,000 get a $265 benefit. The policy is rather vague on this, saying only that they would get “up to” $265.

    The Coalition proposal provides a somewhat higher benefit for middle income earners, but withdraws it for those on higher incomes.

    All individual taxpayers earning above $45,000 will receive the same benefit from the Labor proposal. But differences in household composition mean that the benefit calculated by household continues to rise somewhat.

    The Coalition proposal gives no benefits to individuals earning over $144,000. But even the households in the highest income groups have some members earning less than this, such as adult children living at home. So the average household with a high income will still get some benefit.

    In terms of family type, the Coalition proposal will give less benefit than the Labor plan to couples with children but more to other groups, especially single parents.

    From these distributions of both income level and family type, it seems that neither party has a clear plan to target their own traditional constituencies with these policies. The Coalition proposal may be targeting households in outer suburban marginal seats which tend to have more low and middle income households.

    How much will they cost?

    According to the budget papers, Labor’s cut to the lowest marginal rate will cost $3 billion in 2026-27, $6.7 billion in 2027-28 and $7.4 billion in 2028-29.

    The cost of the instant tax deduction will be $2.4 billion over four years.

    The Coalition has claimed its rebate would cost $10 billion in 2026-27.

    This would of course increase if a Dutton government feels under pressure to extend the new rebate, as happened with the LMITO.

    Disappointing for democratic decision-making

    It is very disappointing that both major parties are releasing key policies on taxation and housing literally only days before people start voting.

    Previous leaders like Robert Menzies (when opposition leader from 1943 to 1949) and Gough Whitlam (1967 to 1972) would spend years developing, then explaining and advocating for policies. This gave time for them to be scrutinised, and if necessary revised, before voters were asked to pass judgement.

    The proposals are also disappointing for those arguing for substantial tax reform.

    John Hawkins was formerly a senior economist in the Australian Treasury.

    Yogi Vidyattama 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. We compared the Labor and Coalition’s income tax proposals to see who benefits most – https://theconversation.com/we-compared-the-labor-and-coalitions-income-tax-proposals-to-see-who-benefits-most-254576

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Half of Australian landlords sell their investments after 2 years, adding to renters’ insecurity

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ranjodh B. Singh, Senior Economics and Finance Lecturer, Curtin University

    Marc Bruxelle/Shutterstock

    Australia’s renters have to battle rising rents and a lack of available properties. They also face ongoing instability. Our new research suggests half of all landlords sell their investment properties after only two years, adding to renters’ insecurity.

    Our study released by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, models the behaviour of landlords using longitudinal data from 2001 to 2021. It looks at what motivates small-scale investors to buy, sell or keep their rental properties.

    This work can inform future planning for the private rental sector, which has been projected to continue expanding. Both Labor and the Coalition were strongly criticised for making little mention of renters or supply in their housing policies released on Sunday.

    The short-term owners

    Those landlords who got rid of their investment after two years, sometimes sooner, often did so because they hadn’t counted on the additional costs of property ownership or their circumstances changed because they divorced or lost their job.

    While younger people aged 25–34 years were more likely to buy a rental
    property compared to other age groups, this group was also more likely to sell their property sooner.

    Landlords who sold after two years or less, were more likely to be women, unemployed, unmarried and with low-to-moderate incomes.

    How this makes renting less secure

    Landlords who sell after a relatively short investment period disrupt the supply of private rental housing, which can potentially have a negative impact on both tenant security and affordability.

    This includes unplanned moves for renters after a notice period, as well as possible increases in the amount of rent they have to pay. This type of exposure to precarious housing conditions adversely affects the wellbeing of tenants.

    This is especially important given that the share of private renters in Australia has risen over the last 20 years and there is ongoing concern about affordability among private renters. Private renters now represent about 30% of the market.

    What motivates landlords?

    Understanding the factors that increase the likelihood of landlords holding onto a property will contribute to tenure security in the rental sector.

    These landlords tend to have higher educational qualifications, higher incomes and smaller mortgages on their own homes. As such, these landlords are financially stable and are able to withstand the higher economic costs of holding a rental property.

    Our findings show there is value in establishing programs that offer education on property investment. This could support landlords’ efforts to hold their rental properties. It could also increase the supply of long-term rental housing for tenants.

    As well, there should be more rigorous financial risk assessments by lenders and appropriate regulations so those who buy rental investment properties can afford to hold them.

    Potential impact of policy changes

    Policy changes that affect the costs of supplying rental housing for landlords could also have affordability consequences for renters.

    Landlords will only continue to invest in the rental market if market conditions offer them income relative to their property values.

    For instance, policy changes that apply long-term freezes to rent increases will reduce rental yields for landlords. This might in turn hurt the supply of rental properties available to renters.

    Changes to policies affecting landlords’ tax positions could also have major impacts on whether they keep their rental investment over time.

    For instance, if changes are made to capital gains tax and interest rates that directly increase the landlord’s cost of holding an investment property, they will likely pass these costs on to tenants.

    As a consequence, rents would become less affordable. Any changes to tax settings that affect landlords need to be rolled out incrementally. This will avoid destabilising rental markets and reducing the supply of housing available for tenants.

    Why we need a secure rental market

    Increasing the supply of private rental dwellings would help make renting more affordable.

    Individuals who can afford investment properties add to the supply of private rental stock. And if they can hold their rentals for long periods, the rental market becomes even more secure.

    Those who can’t hold their rental investments for long can disrupt the supply of private rental housing, with potentially negative impacts on affordability and security.

    Our study has focused on individual landlords, which make up the majority of suppliers of rental housing in Australia. However, improving tenure security for renters will require more than just encouraging a stable flow of rental housing from individual landlords.

    For instance, increasing institutional investment in rental stock might result in more diverse and affordable housing options for renters.

    Social housing is also a crucial source of secure housing for those who cannot compete in the private rental market. There is now an urgent need to redress decades of under-investment in social housing in Australia.

    Ranjodh B. Singh has received funding from AHURI.

    Chris Leishman receives funding from AHURI, SMCA, ARC, ESRC, the Office of the National Housing Supply and Affordability Council, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Scottish Government, UK Government, Welsh Government, Northern Ireland Government, South Australia Government. He is a non-executive director of Housing Choices Australia, a Trustee for the UK’s Housing Studies Charitable Trust, Chair of the Australasian Housing Studies Association, editor of the Urban Studies journal, guest editor of the Regional Studies, Regional Studies journal. He is not a member of any political party in any country.

    Rachel Ong ViforJ is the recipient of an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (project FT200100422). She also receives funding from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute.

    Jack Hewton 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. Half of Australian landlords sell their investments after 2 years, adding to renters’ insecurity – https://theconversation.com/half-of-australian-landlords-sell-their-investments-after-2-years-adding-to-renters-insecurity-254578

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Labor and the Greens likely to gain Senate seats at the election

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne

    As well as the election for the full House of Representatives, there will be an election on May 3 for 40 of the 76 senators. The 72 state senators have six-year terms, with half of them up for election every three years. The four territory senators are all up for election with each House election.

    In a double dissolution election, all senators are up for election, but this election won’t be a double dissolution. State senators elected at this election will begin their six-year term on July 1.

    The six states are entitled to equal representation in the Senate, so each state has 12 senators. This system greatly overrepresents Tasmania relative to its population. The ACT and Northern Territory have two senators each.

    Senators are elected by proportional representation in their jurisdictions with preferences. At a half-Senate election, with six senators in each state up for election, a quota is one-seventh of the vote, or 14.3%. For the territories, a quota is one-third or 33.3%. Half a quota on primary votes (7.1% in a state) is usually enough to give a party a reasonable chance of election.

    Voters will be instructed to number at least six boxes above the line or 12 below the line, but only one box above the line or six below is needed for a formal vote. Preferences are voter-directed, with the group ticket voting system scrapped before the 2016 election. Owing to exhausted votes, the final seats in states are likely to be filled on less than a full quota.

    To become law, legislation must pass both the House and Senate in the same form. With the Senate’s proportional representation, it’s very unlikely to be under government control, so governments need to negotiate with other parties to pass their legislation through the Senate.

    Party standings and seats up for election

    The Coalition holds 30 of the 76 total senators, Labor 25, the Greens 11, One Nation two, the Jacqui Lambie Network (JLN) one, the United Australia Party (UAP) one and all others six.

    During this term, Lidia Thorpe defected from the Greens, Fatima Payman from Labor and Tammy Tyrrell from JLN. As all three are state senators who were last elected in 2022, none will be up for election until 2028. The Coalition also lost two senators to defections (Gerard Rennick and David Van) – both were last elected in 2019 and will be up for election this year.

    Other than the ACT and NT seats, the seats up for election were last up in 2019. At that election, the Coalition won 17 of the 36 state senators, Labor 11, the Greens six, One Nation one and Jacqui Lambie one.

    The Coalition and One Nation combined won four of the six Queensland senators. In Tasmania, Labor and the Greens won three seats, the Liberals two and Lambie one. All other states were tied between the left and right blocs.

    In the 2022 election, Labor and the Greens combined won four of the six Western Australian senators, Tasmania once again went three Labor and Greens, two Liberals and Tyrrell from JLN, and the other states were tied between the left and right. The state senators elected in 2022 are not up for election.

    The four territory senators elected in 2022 will be up for election. In 2022, the ACT split one Labor and one for independent David Pocock, the first time its senators had not split one Labor, one Liberal. The NT is expected to once again be one Labor, one Country Liberal Party.

    Here is a table of Senate seats up for election in 2025. I have ignored the defections of Rennick and Van from the Coalition in Queensland and Victoria. The good news for the left is that only Pocock’s ACT seat looks winnable for the right.

    Left-wing parties likely to gain Senate seats

    For either the left or the right to win four of the six senators for a state, they need to win nearly four quotas of votes or 57%.

    The Poll Bludger’s BludgerTrack by state for the House currently gives Labor a 51.9–48.1 lead in New South Wales, a 52.1–47.9 lead in Victoria, a 56.4–43.6 lead in WA and a 54.7–45.3 lead in South Australia. The Coalition leads in Queensland by 52.7–47.3.

    On these vote shares, NSW, Victoria, Queensland and SA would be tied 3–3 between the left and right, while the left would probably repeat their 4–2 win in WA from 2022.

    A 3–3 split in Queensland would be a gain for the left from the right, as the right are defending a 4–2 split from 2019. A 4–2 win for the left in WA would also be a gain, as WA was 3–3 in 2019.

    Tasmania doesn’t have enough polling to be included in BludgerTrack. But analyst Kevin Bonham, who is a Tasmanian, believes the likely outcome is two Labor, two Liberals, one Green and one to Lambie, the same as in 2019.

    There haven’t been any ACT Senate polls, but cities are becoming more left-wing, and the ACT is just a city. In 2022, Labor won the ACT by 67.0–33.0 in the House, a 5.3% two-party swing to Labor. It’s plausible that any Trump-inspired backlash against the Coalition will be strongest in the ACT, so it may be difficult for the Liberals to regain their ACT Senate seat.

    If Labor and the Greens gain Senate seats in Queensland and WA, Pocock retains in the ACT, and there are no other changes to the left-right balance, the new Senate would have 38 seats for Labor and the Greens, 33 for the Coalition, One Nation and UAP, and one each of Pocock, Lambie, Thorpe, Payman and Tyrrell.

    It’s increasingly likely that Labor will win the House election. Labor and the Greens are likely to increase their Senate numbers. If Labor and the Greens hold 38 of the 76 Senate seats after the election, Labor would only need one more vote to pass legislation supported by the Greens but opposed by right-wing parties. The five others are mostly left-wing, so this shouldn’t be difficult.

    Candidate nominations down from 2022

    Candidate nominations were declared last Friday. The Poll Bludger said Saturday that there will be 330 total candidates for the Senate, down from 421 in 2022. The total number of groups (above the line boxes) dropped from 151 to 118.

    Victoria has the most groups with 20, Queensland has 19, NSW and WA 18, SA 16 and Tasmania 12. With only two vacancies each, the ACT has seven groups and the NT eight.

    Adrian Beaumont 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. Labor and the Greens likely to gain Senate seats at the election – https://theconversation.com/labor-and-the-greens-likely-to-gain-senate-seats-at-the-election-253937

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Politics with Michelle Grattan: Warwick McKibbin on trying to model economic certainty in uncertain times

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra

    Global markets have remained on edge after Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs caused panic worldwide. Now, more than ever, markets and economists are looking for trying to read the implications.

    Joining us from Washington DC is Warwick McKibbin,
    an internationally renowned economic modeller from the Australian National University whose services are now in high demand. McKibbin is also a former member of the Reserve Bank board.

    With much earlier talk about whether Australia can do a deal with Trump on tariffs, McKibbon argues,

    The best way to deal with the president is to ignore him. And I think that’s to take him off the front page of Australia’s newspapers for example. I think what we should be doing is accelerating a process that was already underway. And that was to open up our trade with other partners around the world, Korea, Southeast Asia, Europe, in particular.

    There’s a lot of trading opportunities. Our products – fortunately for us – the ones we sell to the US, we can sell somewhere else. We know that that’s a flexibility we have.

    McKibbin says it’s “unlikely” Trump’s trade wars will cause a recession in Australia, but,

    the problem we do have is that we haven’t dealt with the key problems that Australia faces, which is low productivity. We have a productivity problem which means [you’re] more likely to have a recession if you’re not growing. The second thing is we haven’t been given enough fiscal space. That is, running budget surpluses when we have full employment. But we’ve been running budget deficits, so our debt-to-GDP ratio has gone up, which means we have got less capacity to respond. But we also have a flexible exchange rate, which is good news. That helped us during the Asian financial crisis and the global financial crisis. We have the central bank, the Reserve Bank of Australia, [which] has plenty of capacity to cut interest rates if required.

    Our modelling suggests that under the scenario of no change in the severe tariffs that the US put on in the beginning of April, you would probably cut interest rates in Australia by 50 basis points over the year as a result of the tariffs alone.

    McKibbin says Australia’s interest rates are “probably a little bit too low”,

    I think at the moment where we stand is without this shock Australia’s rates are probably a little bit too low, but probably close to being neutral. This shock will give you an extra 25 to 50 basis points capacity, if you need it. We’re still at full employment, and the bank worries about inflation relative to the target and still above the target if you adjust for the cyclical elements and about employment or output relative to potential which we’re very close to potential, so really there wasn’t a big case for a big interest rate cut.

    On the Australian election, McKibbin outlines the need for reforms, which are not being much talked about in this campaign,

    We know what the fundamental problems are in Australia. We need serious reform. We need to deal with the tax system not functioning properly. We have a cost of living crisis – our reaction is to pump more money into the housing market, to drive up demand relative to supply. We’re also hitting our own exports of higher education.

    And so we’re actually responding completely the opposite way. And both parties are arguing for cutting foreign student numbers. That is a key export of the Australian economy.

    The problem with the housing market is lack of supply. You don’t fix the lack of supply by attacking foreign students who are a very, very small part of the demand coming from immigration. And actually those students, they come and they go mostly.

    Michelle Grattan 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. Politics with Michelle Grattan: Warwick McKibbin on trying to model economic certainty in uncertain times – https://theconversation.com/politics-with-michelle-grattan-warwick-mckibbin-on-trying-to-model-economic-certainty-in-uncertain-times-254591

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: This election, disinformation is swirling on Chinese social media. Here’s how it spreads

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fan Yang, Research fellow at Melbourne Law School, the University of Melbourne and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society., The University of Melbourne

    Shutterstock/The Conversation

    Since 2024, the RECapture research team has been monitoring political disinformation and advertising in Australia.

    Our focus is on WeChat, the primary news and information platform for Chinese speakers in Australia, and RedNote (Xiaohongshu), an emerging Chinese information sharing platform similar to Instagram.

    Hundreds of thousands of people in Australia use these platforms. They’re often a main source of news.

    Our research reveals while Australian news media often focus on foreign interference, in this election cycle, disinformation is being driven by commercial and domestic political interests.

    These pose substantial threats to Chinese Australian communities and our democracy.

    What is disinformation?

    Defining disinformation often hinges on three criteria:

    • the truthfulness of the content

    • the intent behind its creation and dissemination

    • the harm it causes.

    However, findings from our 2023 study on the Voice referendum challenge those assumptions. Disinformation isn’t as simple as true or false. It can involve ambiguous intent and produce harm that’s difficult to measure.

    Further, Australia’s lack of clear definition for online misinformation and disinformation presents significant challenges for researchers and regulators.

    With these limitations, we focus on deliberate misrepresentations of policy positions and the manipulation of political speech intended to influence voter behaviour.

    What have we discovered?

    We found examples that misrepresented political statements and policies and capitalised on preexisting concerns within migrant communities.

    Concerns include potential changes to investor visas, undocumented migration, humanitarian programs and Australia’s diplomatic relations with India, the US and China.

    We also found several strategies, such as:

    • exaggerating the likelihood of events (like the revival of the Significant Investment Visa – an invitation-only visa for those investing at least A$5 million in certain sectors)

    • manipulating timelines and contexts (like re-hyping past news stories to create the impression the events are happening in the present)

    • and misaligning visuals and text to suggest misleading interpretations.

    While we’re working to better understand who’s behind these cases, we know they’re not political parties. Here are two examples.

    This post on RedNote, published in April, referred to several statements, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s speech at the Future of Western Sydney Summit. Albanese stated the government had a “balanced” immigration ratio.

    However, the Chinese-language text accompanying the post omitted Labor’s past immigration policies and misrepresented the speech:

    Labor grants amnesty to all? Albo embraces immigrants! Good news for Chinese people!

    Discussions in the comments largely favoured a class-based immigration system. Users argued the Labor government disproportionately favoured humanitarian immigrants and greater preference should be given to upper and middle-class migrants.

    We also found examples on WeChat.

    On March 4, the Chinese-language media outlet AFN Daily published an article with the provocative headline:

    I am furious! How shameless! Australia is really going to be in chaos!

    The headline was sensational and intentionally ambiguous. It attracted reader attention to click through past four advertisements, including one political ad by the Liberal candidate for Bennelong, Scott Yung.

    The article claimed the Coalition’s support had surpassed Labor’s, while presenting a segment of a poll in which Labor had actually received greater voter support for its welfare, healthcare and education policies.

    The article further claimed the Labor Party had naturalised 12,500 new citizens – predominantly of Indian origin – in an attempt to sway the Chinese audience.

    This claim had been explicitly refuted by Tony Burke back in February.

    The article challenged this assertion by Burke and reinforced anti-Labor sentiment through racially charged narratives. It emphasised the strengthening diplomatic relations between Australia and India, and highlighted the growing number of South Asian and Middle Eastern migrants in comparison to Chinese migrants.

    We also observed ad hoc disinformation narratives triggered by natural disasters or public emergencies.

    For example, there was a claim on WeChat suggesting “the election is cancelled because of Cyclone Alfred.” Such disinformation requires timely intervention to prevent its rapid spread and impact.

    Why is this so harmful?

    The harms of disinformation are often more severe on digital media used by marginalised communities. Our research shows a few reasons why.

    The limited regulatory oversight of these platforms makes the harms hard to fully identify and prevent.

    Australian regulatory bodies keep intervention to address disinformation on these platforms to a minimum. This reflects broader national concerns around cybersecurity and foreign interference.

    Unfortunately, this has resulted in a largely unregulated environment where political disinformation thrives during election cycles.

    Finally, we see persistent disinformation narratives – from 2019, 2022, 2023 (around the Voice referendum), through to 2025 – where racial stereotypes intersect with partisan biases.

    What can be done?

    For Chinese-language platforms, our findings suggest disinformation might be less a product of foreign political actors, propaganda or linguistic barriers. What’s more important are the insular structure of WeChat and RedNote’s media ecosystems.

    Tailored civic education and media literacy initiatives can help users to spot disinformation. Currently, grassroots debunking efforts are largely done by community members who comment beneath posts.

    But more broadly, we need to support the public to think critically when reading digital news. This would help mitigate the exploitation of racial and gender biases for clicks and political point-scoring.

    While automation is sometimes used to detect and debunk disinformation, its application is limited here. WeChat and RedNote prohibit external automated tools. Their own systems for flagging content generated by artificial intelligence don’t always work either.

    Individual and coordinated human effort remains the best way to accurately inform Australian communities of their choices this election. This applies whether these communities tune in to mainstream broadcasts, major US-based social media platforms or Chinese language apps.

    The authors would like to thank researchers Dan Dai, Stevie Zhang, and Mengjie Cai for their contributions to this project.

    The research project is funded by the Susan McKinnon Foundation for the period 2024-2025.

    Robbie Fordyce is a member of the grants panel for the Australian Communication Consumer Action Network (ACCAN). He has previously worked on studies of online political content that has been funded by the Australian Research Council and by ACCAN.

    Luke Heemsbergen 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. This election, disinformation is swirling on Chinese social media. Here’s how it spreads – https://theconversation.com/this-election-disinformation-is-swirling-on-chinese-social-media-heres-how-it-spreads-253849

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: 3 in 4 meth users relapse – outcomes could improve if treatments considered the drug’s effect on impulsive behaviour

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bodeker, Teaching Assistant in Behavioural Psychology, University of Canterbury

    Getty Images

    Methamphetamine is New Zealand’s most harmful illicit drug and wastewater testing shows its use and availability are on the rise.

    Much of the harm results from reckless and impulsive behaviour – including ram raids and gang violence – some people show when under methamphetamine’s influence.

    Methamphetamine impairs decision making because it increases the likelihood of users acting impulsively, without regard to risk or long-term consequences.

    Impulsivity is a maladaptive pattern of choice behaviour linked to crime, violence and drug use. Research shows higher levels of impulsivity are associated with a higher risk of initiating drug use, increase the amounts used, drop out of rehabilitation programmes and relapse.

    Our new research investigates how methamphetamine affects impulsivity in rats. We argue that our findings are applicable to people and could improve treatments to reduce the high relapse rate of about 77% of methamphetamine users.

    Stimulant drugs and impulsive behaviour

    There has been substantial research and several tests have been developed to measure and define impulsivity. However, the effect of stimulant drugs such as methamphetamine on impulsivity remains unclear.

    Some studies report amphetamines reduce impulsivity whereas others have found methamphetamine increases it. A probable cause of these conflicting results is the multi-dimensional nature of impulsivity.

    Although often reported as a singular concept, impulsivity comprises several distinct but related components that must be assessed individually.

    Laboratory research can help us better understand impulsivity. Specially designed behavioural experiments present animals with choices that provide an equivalent of those humans might experience.

    The results can help us unravel the complex nature of impulsivity which we can then translate to human experience and inform treatment programmes. In our research we used rats to study two situations related to impulsivity.

    The first is a choice between a smaller reward given sooner or a larger reward received later, known as “delay discounting”. The other choice is between a smaller but certain reward and a larger uncertain reward, known as “probability discounting”. We also examined how the overall magnitude of the rewards affected choice.

    How we consider choices

    In human studies, people are often asked to make hypothetical choices about money.

    In delay discounting, opting for the smaller/sooner reward is an impulsive choice. For example, imagine you are given a choice between $400 now and $500 in one year, and choose the $400 now.

    However, if you were asked instead to choose between $40,000 now and $50,000 in one year, you may select the delayed option. When the rewards are larger, we are less likely to choose impulsively.

    In probability discounting, choice of the larger/uncertain reward is impulsive. Imagine you are given a choice between $50 for sure or a 50% chance at $100. You might be willing to gamble on the larger amount.

    But what if your choice was between $5,000,000 for sure and a 50% chance at $10,000,000? You would be more likely to choose the certain reward because we tend to be less impulsive when the possible loss is greater.

    Complex nature of impulsivity

    In our research, rats could choose between two alternatives that resulted in food rewards by pressing levers in an experimental chamber.

    Some rats completed delay discounting sessions in which they chose between smaller/sooner and larger/later food outcomes. Other rats completed probability discounting sessions and chose between smaller/certain and larger/uncertain outcomes.

    We also varied the overall amounts of food to confirm rats were less likely to choose impulsively with larger amounts. We measured the rats’ sensitivity to differences between delay, probability and magnitude.

    Results were similar to studies with humans in that the rats’ choices reflected trade-offs between delay, probability and the amount of food. Impulsive choices were reduced with larger amounts.

    We then gave the rats gradually increasing doses of methamphetamine and observed how their choices changed. Our results reflected the complex nature of impulsivity. Increasing methamphetamine doses resulted in decreasing sensitivity to the most salient difference between the two choices the rats experienced.

    On methamphetamine, more rats chose the larger delayed reward. This means a decrease in impulsive choice because sensitivity to delay was reduced and the smaller/sooner option was less attractive.

    However, we found the opposite in probability discounting. Here, methamphetamine increased preference for the larger/uncertain reward, indicating an increase in impulsivity because sensitivity to risk decreased.

    Sensitivity to magnitude also decreased, meaning rats were more likely to choose impulsively even when the reward was large.

    What this means for people

    People are obviously cognitively more complex, but methamphetamine users also demonstrate decreased sensitivity to risk in response to tasks similar to those we used with rats.

    Therefore our findings are applicable to human methamphetamine users and highlight that long-term changes to impulsivity should be taken into account in treatment programmes. This is especially important because effects on decision making can persist long after drug use during periods of abstinence.

    Psycho-education on impulsivity could be incorporated into existing treatment programmes. This would mean educating methamphetamine users about their increased risks related to decision making and how that may affect treatment outcomes.

    The Salvation Army’s Bridge Programme, a well-known drug rehabilitation programme with 20 centres throughout the country, is a good example. It uses a community reinforcement approach as part of their treatment, which involves participants building skills to cultivate rewarding experiences outside of drugs or alcohol use.

    Rehabilitation processes could implement a psycho-education component focused on the increased vulnerability to risky choices, regardless of amount, of current and former methamphetamine users. This could raise the personal agency of participants by making them more aware of the increased risk factors for relapse and other negative decision making.

    Psycho-education could help release people from the grip of this pervasive and increasingly prolific drug.

    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. 3 in 4 meth users relapse – outcomes could improve if treatments considered the drug’s effect on impulsive behaviour – https://theconversation.com/3-in-4-meth-users-relapse-outcomes-could-improve-if-treatments-considered-the-drugs-effect-on-impulsive-behaviour-253439

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI China: More weight management clinics opened across China

    Source: China State Council Information Office 2

    People exercise at a city park in north China’s Tianjin Municipality, Aug. 8, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]
    It is a balmy spring afternoon at the Anhui Acupuncture and Moxibustion Hospital, and a queue of young women waits patiently outside. But these women are not seeking traditional medical treatment — they are on the hunt for weight loss solutions.
    “All those delicious holiday feasts have left me with quite a belly,” said Zhu Rongrong, 23, adding that the extra weight has left her constantly feeling drained and affected her sleep.
    In March, Lei Haichao, head of the National Health Commission (NHC), announced plans to establish more weight management clinics at medical and health facilities, helping people shed pounds safely and pivot to healthier lifestyles. This not only provides professional services, but also gives birth to new form of medical services.
    The Anhui Acupuncture and Moxibustion Hospital opened a dedicated weight loss clinic in March, offering Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) therapies such as acupuncture to address the growing demand.
    According to Fei Aihua, an endocrinologist at the hospital, the number of patients seeking treatment for weight-related conditions more than quadrupled year on year in the first quarter of 2025.
    “Acupuncture for weight management is about holistic body regulation,” Fei said. “Effective weight control requires long-term, sustainable habits and a healthy lifestyle.”
    Fei has observed that some young women seeking treatment do not meet the clinical standards for obesity or show related symptoms, but are preoccupied with achieving a slimmer figure.
    “For them, a balanced diet and moderate exercise remain the best options,” she said.
    Alongside TCM approaches, artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming a key part of China’s weight management programs.
    A new AI-powered assistant, developed by local medical institutions and health tech companies, is helping doctors improve their diagnostic efficiency and tailor their intervention plans.
    “Now, with structured health data generated through patient interactions with the AI model, I can obtain a complete patient health profile in just 30 seconds,” said Zheng Xueying, an endocrinologist at the First Affiliated Hospital of the University of Science and Technology of China.
    Zheng’s team is exploring additional tech applications, including AI-generated diet plans and photo-based food recognition programs to assess daily calorie intake and nutritional balance.
    Weng Jianping, president of Anhui Medical University, said that integrating AI and professional clinical expertise can produce personalized obesity interventions and preventive healthcare strategies.
    Hospitals nationwide are now establishing multidisciplinary clinics to provide comprehensive weight management services.
    At the Anhui Provincial Children’s Hospital, an 8-year-old girl aroused laughter when she told doctors, “The food my mom makes is just too delicious. I can’t help eating it!” But the laughter turned to concern after tests revealed early signs of puberty linked to the patient’s obesity.
    “Our first step is to correct her perception and help her understand the health risks,” said Wang Ya, who works at the hospital’s new weight management clinic, which has the endocrinology, cardiology and psychology departments.
    Thanks to the hospital’s multidisciplinary clinic unveiled in March, such cases are now promptly referred for comprehensive evaluation and treatment.
    “Childhood obesity affects more than just physical health, and it often brings psychological challenges during these sensitive years,” Wang said.
    In Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the Second Nanning People’s Hospital has launched an integrated weight management clinic combining gastrointestinal surgery, clinical nutrition and endocrinology departments.
    The clinic offers one-stop, full-cycle services from evaluation and intervention to follow-up care for scientific and personalized weight control solutions.
    In Tianjin, the TEDA Hospital has opened a multidisciplinary clinic that integrates metabolic control, integrated Traditional Chinese and Western medicine services, nutrition and exercise therapies, and behavioral intervention to support lifelong weight management.
    In Wuhan, Hubei province, the Union Hospital of Tongji Medical College at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology has inaugurated a weight management center that integrates 14 clinical departments.
    The center aims to screen 50,000 overweight or obese patients each year while providing tiered treatment, complication prevention and long-term follow-up services.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI China: US small businesses file lawsuit against Trump’s tariffs

    Source: China State Council Information Office

    Multiple U.S. small businesses Monday sued to challenge the White House’s authority to unilaterally issue tariffs on April 2.

    The lawsuit filed in the U.S. Court of International Trade argues that U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has no authority to issue across-the-board worldwide tariffs without congressional approval.

    The lawsuit was jointly filed by the Liberty Justice Center, a nonprofit, nonpartisan and public-interest litigation firm, and Ilya Somin, a co-counsel and professor of law at George Mason University, according to a court document.

    The lawsuit is filed on behalf of five owner-operated businesses from the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia and Vermont.

    “Trade deficits have existed for decades, and do not constitute a national emergency or threat to security,” the Liberty Justice Center said in a release. “Moreover, the (Trump) Administration imposed tariffs even on countries with which the United States does not have a trade deficit, further undermining the administration’s justification.”

    Trump invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to justify the “Liberation Day” tariffs, as well as the tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China, noted the center.

    However, the IEEPA does not authorize the U.S. president to impose across-the-board tariffs, and not even authorize tariffs at all, argued the complaint.

    Amid widespread opposition, Trump signed an executive order on April 2 on the so-called “reciprocal tariffs,” imposing a 10-percent “minimum baseline tariff” and higher rates on certain trading partners.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI China: Xi’s Vietnam visit highlights ‘camaraderie plus brotherhood’

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    HANOI, April 16 — On a balmy April morning in Hanoi, the second floor of the Hanoi International Convention Center hummed with anticipation, as representatives attending the Chinese and Vietnamese People’s Friendship Meeting waited eagerly to welcome a special guest from China.

    Around 10 a.m. (0300 GMT), Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Chinese president, walked into the venue alongside General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee To Lam and Vietnamese President Luong Cuong. They strolled along the red carpet, smiling and waving to the hundreds of Chinese and Vietnamese delegates gathering there.

    Smiles, joy and applause filled the room. It felt, in many ways, like a family reunion.

    The Tuesday event was part of Xi’s fourth visit to Vietnam in a decade and his first overseas tour of the year. During each trip, he would quote on multiple occasions late Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh’s famous description of China-Vietnam relations — a bond of “camaraderie plus brotherhood.”

    That sentiment echoed in his speech on Tuesday, as he traced the deep historical ties between the two nations.

    The China-Vietnam friendship took root in the mutual support between the two peoples, Xi said, adding that they fought shoulder to shoulder for the just cause of national independence and liberation, and created a shared revolutionary legacy that shaped their deep friendship featuring “camaraderie plus brotherhood.”

    For Nguyen Vinh Quang, vice president of the Vietnam-China Friendship Association, the expression of “camaraderie plus brotherhood” remains the “best testament to that shared history of standing together through storm and stress, with unwavering loyalty.”

    “During Vietnam’s resistance wars against France and the United States, we received selfless assistance from China. It is a fact no one can or should ever forget,” he said.

    During his previous visits to Vietnam, Xi consistently emphasized the importance of passing on the traditional friendship between China and Vietnam to the younger generation. For him, the foundation of China-Vietnam friendship lies between the two peoples, and the future of this friendship will be created by the young people.

    When meeting with Chinese and Vietnamese youth representatives during his visit to Vietnam in 2015, Xi expressed a firm belief that the traditional China-Vietnam friendship will certainly span the long river of history, growing even deeper and newer in spite of time.

    When meeting representatives of young Chinese and Vietnamese and people who have contributed to the China-Vietnam friendship during his visit in 2023, Xi expressed the hope that the young people will take the lead in promoting bilateral friendship.

    On Tuesday, Xi said that in the next three years, China will invite Vietnamese youth to China for “Red Study Tours,” where they will explore the revolutionary heritage that underpins the bilateral friendship, and experience the dynamism of Chinese modernization.

    The launch of the “Red Study Tours” reflects both sides’ commitment to cherishing their shared revolutionary heritage, said Dao Ngoc Bau, director of the Institute of International Relations under the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics.

    This initiative will help strengthen the friendship between the two peoples, particularly between the younger generations, he said.

    One of the attendees, Nguyen Quang Minh, a lecturer at Vietnam’s University of Transport and Communications, said he sensed from the speech “a steadfast resolve of China and Vietnam to pursue development hand in hand.”

    “Looking ahead,” he said, “the younger generations of both countries will draw strength from their shared history to drive mutual prosperity and progress.”

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: ER Report: A Roundup of Significant Articles on EveningReport.nz for April 16, 2025

    ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on April 16, 2025.

    Trump’s racist, corrupt agenda – like a bank robbery in broad daylight
    EDITORIAL: By Giff Johnson, editor of the Marshall Islands Journal US President Donald Trump and his team is pursuing a white man’s racist agenda that is corrupt at its core. Trump’s advisor Elon Musk, who often seems to be the actual president, is handing his companies multiple contracts as his team takes over or takes

    Why the Coalition’s tone-deaf diss track was bound to hit all the wrong notes
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andy Ward, Senior Lecturer in Music, School of Business and Creative Industries, University of the Sunshine Coast Hip-hop is a cultural powerhouse that has infiltrated every facet of popular culture, across a global market. That said, one place you usually don’t see it is on the election

    Homelessness – the other housing crisis politicians aren’t talking about
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cameron Parsell, Professor, School of Social Science, The University of Queensland Igor Corovic/Shutterstock Measures to tackle homelessness in Australia have been conspicuously absent from the election campaign. The major parties have rightly identified deep voter anxiety over high house prices. They have responded with a raft of

    Superb fairy-wrens’ songs hold clues to their personalities, new study finds
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Diane Colombelli-Négrel, Senior Lecturer, Animal Behaviour, Flinders University Two superb fairy-wrens (_Malurus cyaneus_). ARKphoto/Shutterstock When we think of bird songs, we often imagine a cheerful soundtrack during our morning walks. However, for birds, songs are much more than background music – they are crucial to attract a

    ‘De-extinction’ of dire wolves promotes false hope: technology can’t undo extinction
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Martín Boer-Cueva, Ecologist and Environmental Consultant, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid Colossal Biosciences Over the past week, the media have been inundated with news of the “de-extinction” of the dire wolf (Aenocyon dirus) – a species that went extinct about 13,000 years ago. The breakthrough has been achieved

    Students are neither left nor right brained: how some early childhood educators get this ‘neuromyth’ and others wrong
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate E. Williams, Professor of Education, University of the Sunshine Coast MalikNalik/ Shutterstock Many teachers and parents know neuroscience, the study of how the brain functions and develops, is important for children’s education. Brain development is recommended as part of teacher education in universities. Neuroscience is even

    Trump’s trade war puts America’s AI ambitions at risk
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Zomaya, Professor, School of Computer Science, University of Sydney remotevfx.com/Shutterstock The global trade war triggered by US President Donald Trump earlier this month shows no signs of ending anytime soon. In recent days, China suspended exports of a wide range of critical minerals that are vital

    More bulk billing is fine. But what the health system really needs this election is genuine reform
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne Worrying signs are emerging about aspects of Australia’s health system, which will require the attention of whoever wins the May election. Despite big money

    Half way through the campaign, how are the major party leaders faring?
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Mills, Honorary Senior Lecturer, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney More than two weeks in, we know one thing for sure. This time, the election campaign does matter. In decades past, when voters were more loyally rusted on to the major parties, news

    Safe seat syndrome? Why some hospitals get upgrades and others miss out
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anam Bilgrami, Senior Research Fellow, Macquarie University Centre for the Health Economy, Macquarie University On his campaign trail, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pledged A$200 million to upgrade St John of God Midland Public Hospital in Perth. He promised more beds and operating theatres, and a redesigned obstetrics

    Allowing forests to regrow and regenerate is a great way to restore habitat
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hannah Thomas, PhD candidate in Environmental Policy, The University of Queensland Cynthia A Jackson, Shutterstock Queensland is widely known as the land clearing capital of Australia. But what’s not so well known is many of the cleared trees can grow back naturally. The latest state government figures

    A century after its discovery, scientists capture first confirmed footage of a colossal squid in the deep
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kat Bolstad, Associate professor, Auckland University of Technology The colossal squid was first described in 1925 based on specimens from the stomach of a commercially hunted sperm whale. A century later, an international voyage captured the first confirmed video of this species in its natural habitat –

    Students are neither left or right brained: how some early childhood educators get this ‘neuromyth’ and others wrong
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate E. Williams, Professor of Education, University of the Sunshine Coast MalikNalik/ Shutterstock Many teachers and parents know neuroscience, the study of how the brain functions and develops, is important for children’s education. Brain development is recommended as part of teacher education in universities. Neuroscience is even

    Pagan loaves, Christian bread, a secular treat: a brief history of hot cross buns
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Darius von Guttner Sporzynski, Historian, Australian Catholic University Jasmine Waheed/Unsplash Hot cross buns aren’t just a sweet snack that appears around Easter. They carry centuries of storytelling in their dough. From ancient gods to modern supermarkets, these sticky spiced buns have crossed many borders and beliefs. Today,

    US-China trade war leaves NZ worse off, but still well placed to weather the storm – new modelling
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Niven Winchester, Professor of Economics, Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Forecasting the potential impact of Donald Trump’s turbulent tariff policies is a fraught business – and fraught for business. The United States president has changed, paused and exempted various categories of goods so often, the only

    Caitlin Johnstone: Every day the Gaza holocaust continues, the empire tells the truth about itself
    Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – COMMENTARY: By Caitlin Johnstone Every day the Gaza holocaust continues, the Western empire tells the truth about itself. The US government is telling you the truth about itself. Israel is telling you the truth about itself. Their Western allies are telling you the truth about themselves.

    PNG’s ‘chief servant’ James Marape defeats no-confidence vote
    By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape has survived a motion of no confidence against him in Parliament. During the proceedings, livestreamed on EMTV, Speaker Job Pomat announced the results of the vote as 16 votes in favour and 89 against. In moving the motion, the member for Abau,

    Does Russia have military interest in Indonesia? Here’s what we know – and why Australia would be concerned
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matthew Sussex, Associate Professor (Adj), Griffith Asia Institute; and Fellow, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University A news report that Russia has sought to base long-range aircraft in Indonesia caught Australia’s political leaders by surprise during an already hectic election campaign. The military publication Janes

    Obama praises Harvard for ‘setting example’ to universities resisting Trump
    Asia Pacific Report Former US President Barack Obama has taken to social media to praise Harvard’s decision to stand up for academic freedom by rebuffing the Trump administration’s demands. “Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions — rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking concrete steps to make

    Election Diary: for a few hours, it seemed possible the Russians might be coming
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra For a few hours on Tuesday afternoon, it seemed just possible the Russians might be sending their planes to a base very near us. A claim on the military and intelligence site Janes that said the Russians were seeking to

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI China: US think tank projects American economic growth likely to stall this year

    Source: China State Council Information Office

    The Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE), a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, D.C., projected on Tuesday that the U.S. economic growth is likely to stall this year amid policy uncertainty.

    “Basically, it’s a story about a solid foundation giving way to stalled economic growth and higher inflation” due to policy shifts, said Karen Dynan, nonresident senior fellow at the PIIE, who led the forecast for the think tank’s semiannual Global Economic Prospects.

    Dynan, a professor of the practice in the Harvard University economics department, said at an event Tuesday that year-on-year U.S. GDP growth is projected to be 1.1 percent in 2025 and 0.6 percent in 2026. She noted that U.S. GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2025 is expected to be 0.1 percent, compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

    Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) inflation in the fourth quarter is projected to reach 4.0 percent year over year, before dropping to 3.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2026, according to the newly released Global Economic Prospects.

    In the United States, tariffs will raise prices, reduce real incomes, disrupt supply, and impede decisions, and a drastic reduction in immigration will slow growth in U.S. potential output and demand, Dynan said.

    She also argued that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, is not reducing government spending much and is not increasing efficiency. The direct savings from laying off workers is “relatively small,” and “operational disruptions” are reducing efficiency in the near term, she noted, adding that cuts in research and development will lower productivity and output in the longer run.

    Dynan estimated the odds of a U.S. recession at 40 percent, noting that major downside risks exist due to potential developments in the United States. She highlighted that economic weakness could be amplified by a larger stock market decline, a loss of confidence in U.S. fiscal management, and renewed monetary tightening if inflation expectations become unanchored.

    The Federal Reserve is expected to hold interest rates steady through year-end, waiting for clearer signs that inflation is easing before making cuts, she said.

    Globally, “under the assumption that the tariffs currently announced by the Trump administration are mostly kept in place – and some retaliation occurs – many countries will experience significantly slower growth in coming quarters than expected six months ago,” Dynan said.

    Real global GDP is now projected to increase by just 2.7 percent in 2025 and 2.8 percent in 2026, down from a 3.2 percent gain last year, according to the projection.

    Adam Posen, president of the PIIE, put U.S. recession risk at 65 percent, and highlighted U.S. policy uncertainty.

    “What we are undergoing is a fundamental shift in the regime of U.S. economic policy, and by regime, I mean it in the political economy sense, the ongoing set of norms, institutions, practices that define a situation,” Posen told the audience.

    “The bottom line is, we may get recessions, we may not, but you’re going to get inflation either way,” said Posen. 

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Why the Coalition’s tone-deaf diss track was bound to hit all the wrong notes

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andy Ward, Senior Lecturer in Music, School of Business and Creative Industries, University of the Sunshine Coast

    Hip-hop is a cultural powerhouse that has infiltrated every facet of popular culture, across a global market. That said, one place you usually don’t see it is on the election campaign trail.

    That’s right, I’m talking about the track “Leaving Labour” – the Liberal-National Coalition’s latest attempt to create beef with the Australian Labor Party, via a hip-hop track from an unnamed artist.

    You only need to go as far as the (very entertaining) comments section on the Coalition’s SoundCloud to see what people think of the campaign’s new track, the lyrics of which include such zingers as “I just wanna buy some eggs and cheese, a hundred bucks you kidding me?” and “real prices are at the pinnacle”.

    For many, it hasn’t struck the right chord. But that will be no surprise to anyone who knows what hip-hop is really about.

    A voice for the oppressed and disenfranchised

    Hip-hop has historically been a voice for Black America, and more recently for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and other First Nations peoples.

    And while it was traditionally critiqued for being proto-masculine and homophobic, the movement has evolved greatly over the past decade.

    With artists such as Lil Baby telling us there are “too many mothers that’s grieving, they kill us for no reason”, and Lil Nas X’s dance with the devil, helping the LGBTQIA+ community rise to prominence while challenging cultural norms, modern hip-hop provides a voice to the disaffected and the oppressed.

    Diss tracks: hip-hop through and through

    The culture of hip-hop – birthed in the Bronx, New York City, in 1973 – is built on five pillars central to the movement. These are MCing (rapping), DJing (turntablism), breakdancing, graffiti and, last but not least, knowledge.

    The first four pillars represent paradigm shifts in the culture of resistance towards non-violent means – initially in African American culture, but today more broadly across the world. The final pillar, knowledge, speaks to the power of education, both formal and street.

    The diss (short for disrespect) track is deeply embedded in hip-hop, as it can be considered synonymous with MCing itself. Built on the tradition of Jamaican competitive “toasting”, it was initially a way for MCs to non-violently instigate, battle through, and resolve disputes and conflict.

    Over the past 40 year, the diss track has emerged as a form in and of itself, with far-reaching influence. During the East Coast–West Coast hip-hop feuds of the 90s, Biggie Smalls and 2Pac famously traded diss tracks up until both artists were murdered (with the murders often cited as fuelled by the tracks themselves).

    In the late 90s and 2000s, artists such as JayZ dissed Mobb Deep and Nas, and vice versa. Nas’ track Ether was so influential it entered the word “ethered” into the hip-hop lexicon as a synonym for being defeated.

    Eminem has also established himself as a kind of lyrical assassin, releasing more than 40 diss tracks over some 20 years. His targets have included Limp Bizkit, Mariah Carey, Machine Gun Kelly and Will Smith, to name a few.

    More recently, Kendrick Lamar and Drake gained global attention for what can only be described as a beef for the annuls of hip-hop history.

    Social media and streaming platforms have increased the speed at which artists can trade blows back and forth.
    Shutterstock

    What were they thinking?

    So, if diss tracks have a rich history of anti-establishment action, protest, and are largely deployed by minority voices, why would a party campaigning on conservative “mainstream” values commission a hip-hop track to take on its political rival?

    It’s less likely the track signals some kind of cultural shift in the Coalition, and more likely it shows a high level of cultural tone-deafness. This is similar to conservative pundit Ben Shapiro, who was heavily criticised for dropping a racist rap track last year after spending most of his career claiming “rap isn’t music”.

    As a leader, Dutton has a history of inflaming racial tensions, including by stoking fears of so-called “African gang violence” and calling to boycott the Stolen Generation apology.

    It’s difficult for him and his party to justify using the cultural capital of hip-hop in their campaign. Diss tracks are inherently embedded in Black American spaces and history, and can’t be separated from this. When a largely white, Australian political party adopts this medium – with no ties to the culture it came from – it will feel inauthentic.

    Michael Idato, culture editor-at-large at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, described the track as “a hip-hop miss with the rhyming genius of a Little Golden Book”. Another headline from Sky News called it a “bizarre election move amid poor polls”.

    Also, for a year where arts policies have been all but completely absent from the election trail, it seems disingenuous for the Coalition to now use art for their own means.

    Andy Ward 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. Why the Coalition’s tone-deaf diss track was bound to hit all the wrong notes – https://theconversation.com/why-the-coalitions-tone-deaf-diss-track-was-bound-to-hit-all-the-wrong-notes-254595

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Homelessness – the other housing crisis politicians aren’t talking about

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cameron Parsell, Professor, School of Social Science, The University of Queensland

    Igor Corovic/Shutterstock

    Measures to tackle homelessness in Australia have been conspicuously absent from the election campaign.

    The major parties have rightly identified deep voter anxiety over high house prices. They have responded with a raft of policies, with big dollars attached, to try to make housing more affordable.

    But in doing so, homelessness has been rendered a silent crisis. We all see the destitute and displaced on our city streets or sleeping in their cars. But we are hearing very little from Labor and the Coalition about how to help the 122,000 Australians who are without permanent shelter.

    This is despite evidence that homeless services are witnessing significantly increased demand, with the rate of homelessness soaring above pre–pandemic levels.

    Election efforts to promote home ownership should be welcomed. But they will not help Australia’s homeless, who will remain excluded from shelter, a basic human right.

    Impossible dream

    Although people experiencing homelessness are not a homogeneous group, they have one thing in common – poverty. People who are homeless are overwhelmingly likely to be living in financial hardship.

    Even if they aspire to home ownership, their poverty means buying a home is an improbable solution to their homelessness, regardless of the various incentives on offer during an election campaign.

    Further, the experience of homelessness creates health problems and barriers to accessing mainstream services. People’s lives become transient, unpredictable and often dangerous.

    When homelessness is lost in major policy announcements about addressing only part of the housing crisis, we fail to confront and deal with the related harms homelessness inflicts.

    Strategic plan

    The first thing needed to confront the problem is a national housing and homelessness strategic plan. Governments should set measurable targets to end and prevent homelessness and avoid vague terms such as “address” or “respond”.

    Overseas experience shows it can be done. A strategic plan in the United States contributed to massive reductions in homelessness among military veterans.

    If a standalone homelessness plan sounds familiar, it might be because it was a Labor commitment leading up to the 2022 election. Despite an issues paper and consultation with the sector, the plan has never seen the light of day.

    Housing supply

    It is self-evident that ending and preventing homelessness, as the recent Australian Homelessness Monitor demonstrates, requires an increase in housing supply.

    Trying to fix homelessness without providing shelter would be like trying to prevent polio without vaccines, or ending illiteracy without books.

    Extra supply needs to include more social housing for people on low incomes. And permanent supportive housing, which combines affordable housing with health and social services for our most marginalised citizens.

    A whole-of-society response is required to find shelter for the 122,000 Australians who are homeless.
    TK Kurikawa/Shutterstock

    Some progress has been made by the Albanese government, which has increased the availability of social housing and boosted subsidies to renters in the private market.

    The Liberal Party’s policy platform for the election does not mention homelessness. Rather, it assumes increasing home ownership though measures like the tax deductibility of mortgage repayments for first homebuyers will be a remedy.

    More than houses

    Housing is critical to ending the scourge of homelessness. But it doesn’t tell the whole story.

    A much broader approach is needed that recognises we don’t live siloed lives. Poor connections with a range of health, social and charitable services can drive people into homelessness, and make ending it even harder.

    A more integrated approach would reduce the risk of homelessness. For example, ensuring people are not discharged from institutions such as prisons, hospitals, and foster care onto the street. The connections between homelessness and other critical areas of human need must be prioritised.

    An exclusive focus on building more dwellings will never fix homelessness. This is because the problem and its solutions cut across society, ending and preventing homelessness will require a society wide approach.

    Achieving that will be anything but simple.

    What do we value?

    Societies have worked out ways to overcome many harms to human life. Homelessness can also be remedied, but only if there is the social and political will to do so.

    In Australia we achieved significant success for a short time during the COVID pandemic when many people sleeping rough were accommodated. It can be done again.

    But any policies to end and prevent homelessness must confront the importance of values. Facts and data are needed to inform policy, but facts and data must always be framed by what we value in society.

    The way we respond to people who are homeless would demonstrate how we value each other, and how we can achieve equity and social cohesion well beyond the election campaign.

    Cameron Parsell receives funding from the Australian Research Council, as well as from numerous nonprofit organisations.

    Karyn Walsh is the CEO of Micah Projects which receives funding from the Commonwealth, state and local governments, and philanthropic and private entities to provide a range of homelessness, health, and community services. Neither Karyn nor Micah Projects will receive any financial benefit from this article

    – ref. Homelessness – the other housing crisis politicians aren’t talking about – https://theconversation.com/homelessness-the-other-housing-crisis-politicians-arent-talking-about-254453

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Superb fairy-wrens’ songs hold clues to their personalities, new study finds

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Diane Colombelli-Négrel, Senior Lecturer, Animal Behaviour, Flinders University

    Two superb fairy-wrens (_Malurus cyaneus_). ARKphoto/Shutterstock

    When we think of bird songs, we often imagine a cheerful soundtrack during our morning walks. However, for birds, songs are much more than background music – they are crucial to attract a mate and defend a territory.

    But what if a song could reveal something deeper about the singer’s personality? A new study, published today in Royal Society Open Science by my colleagues and me, shows it might.

    Addressing a research gap

    For many bird species, songs vary in complexity, with some individuals producing more intricate melodies than others. Such differences often indicate individual variation in genetic quality, age, or health. Yet most research to date has focused on males, and very few studies have investigated how song complexity relates to personality in birds.

    The new study addresses this research gap.

    My colleagues and I studied wild superb fairy-wrens (Malurus cyaneus), a small Australian songbird known for its bright plumage and complex vocal skills. Interestingly, in this species, both males and females learn to sing complex songs. This makes them a good example to study the relationship between song complexity and personality in both males and females.

    We captured wild superb fairy-wrens and brought them into short-term captivity to assess their personality. Specifically, we measured their exploration by placing them in a novel environment, where we observed where they went and how much they explored the environment.

    We also tested their aggressiveness by using a mirror, as birds often see their reflection as a rival and respond accordingly.

    We then released the birds and recorded their songs for several months to assess song complexity (that is, element types per song and syllables per song). Elements are the basic building blocks in bird songs (a little like letters in a word) and element types are categories of elements.

    Aggressive versus exploratory

    We found that, regardless of sex or life stage, birds that were more exploratory had more element types per song than those that were less exploratory. Also, more aggressive birds produced songs with fewer syllables than those that were less aggressive. You can hear this in the recordings below.

    Recording of a more exploratory male superb fairy-wren.
    Diane Colombelli-Negrel, CC BY-ND50.4 KB (download)

    Recoding of a less exploratory male superb fairy-wren.
    Diane Colombelli-Negrel, CC BY-ND35.5 KB (download)
    Regardless of sex or life stage, superb fairy-wrens that were more exploratory had more element types per song than those that were less exploratory, as this chart demonstrates.
    Diane Colombelli-Negrel, CC BY-ND

    We also found that more aggressive fledglings, but not adults, had more element types per song.

    Our study demonstrates that both males and females can advertise their personality through their songs. It also raises questions as to whom birds learn their songs from.

    In superb fairy-wrens, male and female juveniles learn from both parents as well as from other members of their species. It is possible that rather than learning from any available adults, birds may selectively copy song elements from specific individuals based on their own personality.

    In superb fairy-wrens, more exploratory birds may approach and learn from a wider range of tutors than less exploratory ones who may limit themselves to more familiar tutors.

    Additionally, our study highlights that the relationship between personality and song complexity could be shifting between different life stages. More aggressive young may experiment with a greater diversity of element types to prepare for the establishment of their own territory in their first year of life, leading to increasing song complexity.

    In contrast, adults have already settled in their territories and may not need to experiment as much.

    In superb fairy-wrens, male and female juveniles learn from both parents.
    Audra Thomson/Shutterstock

    Insights into how personality traits evolve

    Our study illustrates that learned aspects of sexual signalling are personality dependent, and that this may have some potential implications for survival or reproduction.

    This opens up exciting new questions about how vocal communication reflects individual differences — not just in males, but in females too.

    Understanding these links can give us deeper insights into how personality traits evolve and how they influence social interactions in the wild.

    Diane Colombelli-Négrel receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Australia & Pacific Science Foundation.

    – ref. Superb fairy-wrens’ songs hold clues to their personalities, new study finds – https://theconversation.com/superb-fairy-wrens-songs-hold-clues-to-their-personalities-new-study-finds-254472

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI China: Xi’s Malaysia visit to deepen ties, enhance trust

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    People welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, April 15, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

    KUALA LUMPUR, April 15 — Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived here at dusk on Tuesday for a state visit to Malaysia. Xi was warmly welcomed by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

    In a written statement released upon his arrival, Xi expressed the hope for fruitful outcomes from the visit that would usher in a new “Golden 50 Years” for bilateral relations.

    The two countries celebrated the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic relations in 2024. In 2023, Xi met with Anwar in Beijing, where the two sides agreed to jointly build a China-Malaysia community with a shared future.

    Malaysia is the second leg of Xi’s ongoing tour of Southeast Asia, which will also take him to Cambodia later this week. The visit is his second trip to Malaysia as the Chinese head of state.

    During the visit, Xi will discuss with Malaysian King Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar and Prime Minister Anwar bilateral relations, as well as international and regional issues of common concern.

    People welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, April 15, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

    “The visit by President Xi would continue to strengthen bilateral ties and expand strategic collaboration between the two countries,” said Lee Pei May, a political expert at the International Islamic University Malaysia.

    “Malaysia and China are neighbors whose relationship will continue to strengthen, capable of enduring both tests of time and adversity,” Lee added.

    China has remained Malaysia’s largest trading partner for 16 consecutive years, with the volume hitting an all-time high of 212.04 billion U.S. dollars in 2024. In recent years, Malaysia’s tropical fruits such as durian, mangosteen and jackfruit have become increasingly popular among Chinese consumers.

    In a signed article published in Malaysian media ahead of his arrival, Xi described China and Malaysia as “friendly neighbors across the sea.”

    He urged both sides to “keep a firm grip” on the strategic helm that guides bilateral friendship, highlighting how China and Malaysia made the decision to establish diplomatic ties more than half a century ago by “breaking through the gloom of the Cold War.”

    “China will work with Malaysia and other ASEAN countries to combat the undercurrents of geopolitical and camp-based confrontation, as well as the countercurrents of unilateralism and protectionism, in keeping with the historical trend of peace and development,” Xi wrote.

    Malaysia was the first ASEAN country to establish diplomatic relations with China. It currently holds the ASEAN chairmanship for 2025.

    Azmi Hassan, a senior fellow at the Nusantara Academy for Strategic Research, a local research institute, noted that China continues to benefit Malaysia and its other ASEAN trade partners, particularly through initiatives like the Belt and Road Initiative, which provides stable and long-term access to the Chinese market.

    Xi’s visit comes at an opportune time to strengthen economic and trade ties amid global uncertainties, Hassan said.

    This photo taken on April 11, 2025 shows Merdeka 118 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. [Photo/Xinhua]

    In the first quarter of this year, ASEAN maintained its position as China’s largest trading partner, with total trade reaching 1.71 trillion yuan (234.17 billion dollars) and accounting for 16.6 percent of China’s total foreign trade, according to China’s General Administration of Customs.

    The significance of President Xi’s visit goes beyond bilateral relations, said Ong Tee Keat, president of the Belt and Road Initiative Caucus for Asia Pacific.

    “It will greatly impact ASEAN-China relations, injecting new momentum into regional development and stability,” he said.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Cook, 2025 Distinguished Alumna Award Acceptance Remarks

    Source: US State of New York Federal Reserve

    Thank you, Dr. Rogers, and go Bears!
    Thank you to the Cal Alumni Club of Washington, D.C. for this honor.1 It is humbling to be in the company of so many other accomplished Cal alumni. And it is especially meaningful to receive this award from a university that has already given me so much. I am eternally grateful for my time at Berkeley and in my economics Ph.D. program, because it was a transformative experience that shaped me not only as an economist, but more importantly as a person. Again, I am deeply grateful for this honor.
    I know there is a lot going on in the news at the moment, so let me just start by saying that I do not plan to discuss policy or the current economic situation this evening. Instead, I want to keep the attention on the energetic and dedicated Cal alums here tonight and the wonderful university we all call home. I will talk about the way in which Berkeley profoundly influenced my thinking, which has served me well throughout my career, and will share a few memories from my time on campus.
    I would love to see who we have here tonight. First, where are the econ majors? Who lived in the International House? Now, where are the recent alums, say those who graduated in the past 5 years? (Congratulations, welcome to Washington.) Who here has graduated since 2010? Who here is in my generation and graduated in the 90s or early 2000s? And do we have some true Cal legends among us that are celebrating 40 or more years as a Golden Bear this spring? (Let’s give them a round of applause.)
    No matter when you attended Cal or how long you have been away, I think we can all agree that Berkeley is a special place that stays in your heart. I grew up in the South, and by the time I arrived at Berkeley, I had the good fortune to have spent time living in Africa and Europe. Even with this experience, what immediately stood out to me was the campus’s openness to many different cultures and ideas. And a clear way this was expressed, as I am sure you will recall, was through the abundance of delicious food. Berkeley was truly like heaven for this former founder of a cooking school. Better coffee and cuisine than anywhere else in the country. Dim sum everywhere, vegan and vegetarian options galore, and that sourdough at Great Harvest Bread. (You cannot blame a hungry grad student for stopping in for samples.) When I was there, Berkeley was at the forefront of the farm-to-table and healthy eating movements. I remember being in awe of the produce at Berkeley Bowl. They had five or six types of yams and sweet potatoes. I am from Georgia, and I had never seen so many yams!
    The wonderful food served as a perfect canvas upon which to share ideas. Sometimes that was having dinner at each other’s apartments, and sometimes it was slipping over to the cafeteria between Bechtel and Evans to have lunch with my friends in engineering and computer science. Shockingly, the Cal engineers had nicer facilities than the econ students in Evans Hall. By the way, Evans Hall is described on Cal’s own websites as a “dark, closed-in design. . . spoiling the main east-west axis of the campus.” Ouch, but I told you, open to ideas!2
    From these lunches and many other conversations at Berkeley, I learned the value of exchanging ideas and the free disposal of ideas. The next idea will come; be unafraid to try new things. Do not be wedded to bad ideas. I learned the value of working in teams and acknowledging and leveraging everyone’s varied scholarly and lived expertise. I learned the value of sharing and collaboration. This fosters the spirit of innovation that drives the Bay area. You can see why many of the greatest advancements in the past century have come from that region of the country, many directly from Cal alumni.
    It was awe-inspiring to be surrounded by so many outstanding students and stellar faculty members from many disciplines. The work of Cal researchers has changed the world. I often wondered what inspired these great minds. Then one day, while traversing the always congested campus, I saw it—the real incentive for great minds: Nobel laureates received reserved parking spaces. All of you who have fought Bay Area traffic and Berkeley campus parking restrictions know that tops any prize you can receive in Sweden!
    But seriously, I was extremely lucky to have an amazing group of professors and supporters at Cal. Barry Eichengreen was my dissertation adviser, and George Akerlof was an informal adviser who was just curious about economies undergoing market transitions. Janet Yellen and Laura Tyson were inspirations. They epitomized the commitment to public service that flows through the Berkley campus. When I arrived, Dr. Tyson had recently left to become chair of President Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA). Of course, Dr. Yellen would soon serve as chair of CEA as well as those of Fed chair and Treasury Secretary, the only person in history to hold all three positions. I had the mentorship and support of a whole bunch of Romers: Christina, David, and Paul. Christina would also serve as CEA Chair as we climbed out of the Global Financial Crisis
    I arrived on campus in 1991 the very week the Soviet Union started breaking up and the Russian Soviet Socialist Republic became just Russia. This series of events gave the world an unfiltered view of a Russian economy blinking into the sunlight after decades of central planning and stagnation. I asked, what would happen next, and what could we learn from this historic event? I was desperate to explore those questions and to explore them with Greg Grossman. No one in the world knew more about the Soviet and Russian economies than he did.
    However, he had other thoughts—namely, retirement. When I asked him to advise me, he was hesitant. So, he presented me with a challenge. He said the only way to study the Russian banking system and economy was to become fluent in Russian. If I could learn the language, he would delay his retirement to advise me, along with Eichengreen. I could tell he thought his retirement plans were safe with that lofty goal. A year and a half later, I walked into his office and struck up a conversation in Russian. I could see his heart sink. I had won the challenge. (What he did not know then was that I had already learned four other languages and was blessed with the ability to pick up new ones quickly.) Once he agreed to stay on, I was off and running.
    I plowed through Tsarist-era statistical tables stashed in the depths of Bancroft Library. Later, I would travel to Moscow and collect data from the Russian Statistical Agency and eventually survey and conduct interviews with Russian bankers and entrepreneurs. I credit my Berkeley professors, particularly Barry, Greg, George, and Paul, for supporting the curiosity that took me to Moscow and many other distant places to do research and push forward the field of economics with new questions, data, and analysis. I especially thank them for asking tough, thoughtful questions that prepared me to approach any situation of heightened uncertainty and in which standard models and the conventional wisdom in economics may not apply.
    One aspect that stood out about the Berkeley experience was that we defended our dissertations at the proposal stage rather than upon completion. This arrangement was not common at the time but is now becoming a more frequent practice at other schools. It sets up the dynamic of these experienced, knowledgeable professors looking for constructive ways to allow experimentation to ultimately bring ideas to fruition. It is this sense of collaboration and openness that I have taken from Berkeley and brought with me everywhere I have gone—through universities, banks, the government, and now at the Federal Reserve.
    There is a special way you learn to think at Berkeley. I hope you continue to carry that spirit in all you do here in Washington and beyond.
    Thank you again for this tremendous honor. I will always be a proud Cal alumna.

    1. The views expressed here are my own and are not necessarily those of my colleagues on the Federal Reserve Board or the Federal Open Market Committee. Return to text
    2. Evans Hall, University of California, Berkeley. Return to text

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Students are neither left nor right brained: how some early childhood educators get this ‘neuromyth’ and others wrong

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate E. Williams, Professor of Education, University of the Sunshine Coast

    MalikNalik/ Shutterstock

    Many teachers and parents know neuroscience, the study of how the brain functions and develops, is important for children’s education.

    Brain development is recommended as part of teacher education in universities. Neuroscience is even mentioned in Australia’s “early years framework”, which guides early childhood programs.

    Previous research has shown there are misunderstandings about how neuroscience works (or “neuromyths”) among teachers both in Australia and overseas.

    Our new study shows there are also some widespread neuromyths among early childhood educators.

    What are the myths? And what does the evidence say?

    Our research

    We surveyed more than 520 Australian early childhood educators in 2022 to understand their neuroscience knowledge.

    We chose to study early childhood educators because there is a research gap in our understanding of those teaching and caring for younger children. The surveys were distributed online via multiple channels including email lists, social media and professional associations.

    About 74% of respondents worked in a long daycare or a preschool/kindergarten (educating children in the final years before formal school). About 63% had either a bachelors degree or postgraduate qualification.

    Our research surveyed more than 500 early childhood educators about their neuroscience knowledge.
    Poppy Pix/ Shutterstock

    Our findings

    We asked respondents whether various false statements were true, in order to assess their level of knowledge about neuroscience. The average correct score was 13.7 out of 27.

    Some myths presented in our study were widely, and correctly, understood to be false. For example, more than 90% of respondents correctly identified “when we sleep our brains shut down” and “mental capacity is solely hereditary and cannot be changed by the environment or experience” as untrue.

    But for other myths, most respondents were either unsure or believed the statement to be correct. For example:

    • only 7% of respondents correctly identified “teaching to different learning styles will improve learning” as false.

    • only 15% of respondents correctly identified “students are either left or right brained” as false.

    This suggests educators need more evidence-based neuroscience content as part of their professional education and development. While some neuromyths may seem harmless, others can have real implications for teaching decisions and student learning.

    What is the problem with these neuromyths?

    Myth 1: ‘teaching to different learning styles will improve learning’

    The idea of learning styles became popular in the 1970s. This argued students will show improved learning if they receive information in a very specific way. For example, “visual learners” need to see information to be able to learn, while “aural learners” need to hear it.

    This has been recognised as a myth since the mid-2000s, but the idea of learning styles still persists among educators.

    While people may have preferred ways of accessing information, there is no evidence learning suffers if information isn’t provided in this format. Research has also shown teachers’ ideas of a student’s learning style do not tend to match students’ self-reported preferences.

    So teaching decisions made on assumed student “learning styles” may be flawed in any case.

    There’s no evidence learning needs to be presented in a particular format for certain ‘types’ of learners.
    myboys.me/ Shutterstock

    Myth 2: ‘students are either left or right brained’

    Another enduring idea is we have personality traits that are either right-brained (intuitive and creative) or left-brained (analytical and logical)

    There is evidence some brain functions hang out a little more on one side of the brain than the other. For example, language is more on the left and attention is more on the right. However, there’s no evidence your personality or your aptitude comes particularly from the left or right brain hemisphere.

    The harm in this myth comes from students thinking they are “more left-brained than right” and teachers reinforcing this view. And from here, young people might think they should just stick to humanities or just stick to maths or science.

    This could rob a student of exploring multiple academic and career paths. Sure, some students will seem to really flourish as an artist, some as mathematicians and some as both. But we should not be labelling students, based on a neuromyth, potentially impacting self-confidence and their potential.

    Kate E. Williams receives funding from the Australian Research Council, National Health and Medical Research Council, Queensland Government Department of Education, and Australian Government Department of Social Services. She is affiliated with Play Matters Australia as Chair of the Board of Directors.

    – ref. Students are neither left nor right brained: how some early childhood educators get this ‘neuromyth’ and others wrong – https://theconversation.com/students-are-neither-left-nor-right-brained-how-some-early-childhood-educators-get-this-neuromyth-and-others-wrong-248888

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Universities – Little birds’ personalities shine through their song – and may help find a mate – Flinders

    Source: Flinders University

    In birds, singing behaviours play a critical role in mating and territory defence.

    Although birdsong can signal individual quality and personality, very few studies have explored the relationship between individual personality and song complexity, and none has investigated this in females, say Flinders University animal behaviour experts.

    They have examined the relationships between song complexity and two personality traits (exploration and aggressiveness) in wild superb fairy-wrens (Malurus cyaneus), a species in which both sexes learn to produce complex songs.

    “Regardless of their sex or life stage, individuals that were more exploratory had more element types per song, which may be explained by the possibility that more exploratory birds approach and learn from a wider variety of tutors compared to less exploratory birds,” says senior lecturer Dr Diane Colombelli-Négrel, from the College of Science and Engineering BirdLab at Flinders University.

    “Additionally, more aggressive individuals produced songs with fewer syllables, and more aggressive fledglings, but not adults, had more element types per song. In birds, singing behaviours play a critical role in mating and territory defence.”

    The study illustrates that learned aspects of sexual signalling are personality dependent, and that this can have some potential fitness implications.

    In a new study, published in Royal Society Open Science, the personality in males and females (including juveniles) was assessed by quantifying their exploration behaviour (novel environment test) and aggressiveness (mirror stimulation test) during short-term captivity.

    First the birds were captured to measure their personality in short-term captivity. Researchers measured their exploration by placing them (in a novel environment test), and their aggressiveness (by using a mirror test).

    After the birds were released, their songs were recorded over several months to assess individual variation in song complexity (i.e., element types per song, syllables per song) in relation to personality.

    “Our study supports the idea that both male and female birds can advertise their personality when singing, which may be important for mate choice,” Dr Colombelli-Négrel says.

    The research – Personality predicts song complexity in superb fairy-wrens (2025) by D Colombelli-Négrel, AC Katsis, LK Common and S Kleindorfer – will be published by the Royal Society Open Science (The Royal Society) DOI: 10.1098/rsos.241497.

    https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.241497

    Acknowledgements: This work was funded by a Discovery Research Grant from the Australian Research Council (DP190102894) awarded to SK and DC-N and by a grant from the Australia & Pacific Science Foundation awarded to DC-N and SK.

    This research was approved by the Flinders University Animal Welfare Committee (E480, AEC BIOL5563). Fieldwork was conducted under permit from the South Australian Department for Environment and Water (Z24699) and the Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme (banding authority numbers 2601, 2719).

    Researchers also thank Cleland Wildlife Park for access to the field site and for accommodating this research.

    MIL OSI – Submitted News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: True number of people living with Huntington’s disease gene in Northern Scotland revealed The number of people who have the gene that causes Huntington’s disease in Northern Scotland has been accurately counted for the first time in 35 years in new research from the University of Aberdeen in partnership with NHS Grampian.

    Source: University of Aberdeen

    The number of people who have the gene that causes Huntington’s disease in Northern Scotland has been accurately counted for the first time in 35 years in new research from the University of Aberdeen in partnership with NHS Grampian.

    It is crucial that we know this number, and that it is accurate, so that health boards can properly plan now for care, and for treatments when they become available in the future.” Professor Zofia Miedzybrodzka

    The research used NHS family-based records to find that there are more than 160 adults living in the area who have the Huntington’s gene but have not been tested.  

    However, the scientists behind the study believe the figure will be even higher as not everyone with Huntington’s disease symptoms seek diagnosis.  

    The study, published in Neuroepidemiology, confirmed that Northern Scotland has one of the highest rates of Huntington’s disease in the world at 14.5 per 100,000 people, it is more than five times the estimated worldwide rate of 2.71 per 100,000 people.  

    Huntington’s disease runs in families, and every child of someone affected has a 50:50 chance of inheriting the gene. The gene slowly damages the brain, eventually taking away the person’s ability to walk, talk, eat and drink, make their own decisions and care for themselves.   

    The new analysis showed that, on average, every person who has been diagnosed with Huntington’s disease will have at least another 2.2 relatives who have the gene. This means there are hundreds of people in Northern Scotland who could be considered for effective treatments for Huntington’s disease when these become available in the future.   

    The research was led by University of Aberdeen’s Professor Zosia Miedzybrodzka who is also NHS Clinical Lead for Huntington’s disease in North of Scotland (covering Grampian, Highland, Orkney, Shetland, and the Western Isles), based in NHS Grampian, alongside Heather Cruickshank, Genetic Counsellor in NHS Grampian.  

    Previous studies have mainly looked at the number of people who tested positive for the Huntington’s disease gene then estimated the number of relatives at risk using statistical modelling. However, in this study, scientists used family tree clinical records to count how many people have a 50:50 chance of having inherited the neurodegenerative condition but, crucially, have not been tested.   

    This meticulous approach has not been used in the UK since the Huntington’s disease gene was discovered in 1993.   

    The authors stress how important it is to generate a clear picture of the number of people with Huntington’s disease in the region to ensure that care planning objectives are met and reinforces the need to invest in specialist care and support to help people impacted by what is a notoriously complex and difficult to manage condition.   

    Professor Miedzybrodzka said: “Previous work looked at how many people in the area have been tested for Huntington’s disease, that is people diagnosed with Huntington’s disease signs and those with a gene alteration that will develop the condition in later life. However, no one has properly counted just how many people who haven’t been tested yet must have the gene.   

    “It is crucial that we know this number, and that it is accurate, so that health boards can properly plan now for care, and for treatments when they become available in the future.   

    “A 2022 Scottish government report underestimated Huntington’s disease rates and did not account for numbers of people at risk in a way that our clinic and lab data has.”  

    Heather Cruickshank added: “In 1989, when scientists previously studied this, testing was not possible, fewer people had a diagnosis of Huntington’s disease, and families were larger.   

    “But even now, despite high rates of testing, most people at risk of developing Huntington’s disease in Scotland have not had a test.   

    “There is a massive worldwide effort seeking treatments for Huntington’s disease.   

    “Going forward, services need to plan to treat these as yet uncounted people, as well as those currently diagnosed. Regional variations in rates will become more important, including genetic counselling and testing, management, and treatment delivery. Furthermore, better knowledge of the numbers of people who could benefit will encourage investment into drug discovery.  

    “Having a test remains a free choice for people from Huntington’s disease families and our research means that care can be planned for all those at risk, without people who don’t want a test having one.”  

    Commenting on the findings of the study Chief Executive Officer of Scottish Huntington’s Association, Alistair Haw, said: “Earlier this term a Scottish Parliament motion calling for an expansion of specialist Huntington’s disease services in light of rising cases became the most supported motion in the history of devolution. This latest study further strengthens the case for immediate action to expand specialist services for families impacted by Huntington’s.   

    “Huntington’s disease is a hugely complex, widely misunderstood and extremely difficult to manage condition. Specialist services are not some ‘nice to have’ optional extra but an absolute necessity to prevent patients reaching crisis point and presenting to acute emergency statutory services. Specialist Huntington’s services need to be expanded urgently – a message further reinforced by this new and clear evidence which has major implications for health and social care providers throughout Scotland and beyond.”  

    Case Studies

    Brian Watt, 69, Hopeman  

    Brian Watt, 69, of Hopeman in Moray, is living with a Huntington’s disease diagnosis.   

    Former manager of the Chivas whisky distillery in Keith, Brian received the diagnosis in 2016.   

    Brian recalls: “I knew there was Huntington’s disease in my family – my father and my sister were both diagnosed.   

    “I wasn’t sure whether to go ahead with the test, but I am glad I did.”  

    Brian received counselling – offered by NHS Grampian’s Huntington’s disease clinic in Aberdeen – before taking the test and he felt this was ‘hugely important’ and ‘absolutely necessary’ to be able to process the news regardless of the result.   

    Almost immediately after receiving the news that he has the gene, Brian set about organising a support group in his local area for people with Huntington’s disease and their families. The group is still going strong as a Branch of the Scottish Huntington’s Association and has helped support more than 30 families in the Moray area.   

    Brian keeps busy and believes a positive outlook to be vital when living with Huntington’s disease: “It could be tempting to just lie in bed all day and feel depressed about having this disease. But you have to keep going – keep busy doing things you enjoy.”   

    Brian walks his two terriers along Hopeman beach every day, works part-time at Moray Motor Museum in Elgin and organises quarterly meetings of his support group.   

    Brian says: “Zosia said to me the best way to manage Huntington’s disease is with a balance of lifestyle, attitude and medication and I think that is spot-on. I try to keep a healthy lifestyle and positive attitude and I’m doing just fine.”  

    Alexander (Sandy) Patience, 62, Inverness  

    Sandy Patience, 62, originally from Avoch on the Black Isle lives in Inverness with his wife Laura whom he describes as a ‘blessing from God.’     

    Sandy was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease in 2017 and recounts in his own words how the disease has blighted his family throughout his life:  

    “My childhood as a young boy was shaped by going to see my grandmother – my mam’s mother, who was also HD positive, in hospital every single Saturday from when I was 8 to when I was13 years old.     

    “My dear mother then struggled with HD until she passed away when I was 21 and she was only 59 years old. I remember it began when I was just a young boy, and I watched her get progressively more unwell.    

    “After that, my dear sister Helen passed away with HD in August 2020 after more than two decades of struggle. Helen was a very special sister to me. When our dear mam passed away in1984, Helen – being eleven years older than me, tried really hard to be a ‘surrogate mother’ to me after our hearts were broken about mam. But tragically, HD in our family is never far away.   

    “Helen, very sadly never married, for obvious reasons to me. She was very intelligent in school where she won the Dux Medal, and then in her working life until HD put the brakes on that which devastated Helen at the time. I loved Helen, and my beautiful wife Laura was just the most special sister-in-law to her, not to mention, a perfect daughter in law to my amazing dad who passed away in 2013 aged 89 years.  

    “My dad’s heart would have been shattered if he was still alive when I got my diagnosis four years after he passed away. His long life of struggles included fighting a World War for five years, and being full-time carer for mam for two decades with no help from social care. I remember it like yesterday. The pain I feel for mam and dad in those forgotten decades will never leave me.     

    “But even with all of that, our family was full of love. My dear late mam was shaping my life in so many ways, and I am incredibly proud to have the same loving genes in myself – as well as the bad stuff that I refuse to name unless to raise awareness.   

    “I remember how I felt on the way home from Aberdeen after I had been diagnosed in Dec 2017. I said to Laura ‘this is a game changer in our twenty years together – please can you leave me and live the rest of your life with someone else.’  

    “But, by the Grace of God she didn’t, because her love for me is as immense as mine for her. We are very very blessed, and I can’t imagine life without my soulmate by my side, she picks me up if I am feeling down and tells me when I am behaving like a donkey – sometimes several times a day”, he laughs.  

    Even with the difficulties Sandy has faced, he remains fiercely positive, he explains: “See, life is what we make it for me and Laura.  

    “For sixteen wonderful years, from April 2006 until August 30th 2023 I had two soulmates in my life. My dear wife Laura and my wonderful Labradoodle, Rollo. He never left my side – on the couch or at my feet on the bed. He read my mind a million times over. He loved me a million times more every single day. He loved Laura and all our family, he loved my late Dad, Helen, and brother, David unconditionally for many years with his huge loving heart. I have been emotional about all my family many times when Rollo was beside me on the couch and he would be nudging me and saying: ‘it’s ok Dad, I am here to make you feel better’. He always always did. I miss him more every day.  

    Sandy was overjoyed to find out that his daughter, Kim tested negative for the HD gene: “By the grace of God, my own daughter Kim tested negative about a year after my own diagnosis. Now we know that my three beautiful grandchildren are safe from this horrific disease. Our tears at Kim’s negative test was something I waited all Kim’s life to witness, it was something truly amazing. It was something I prayed for a thousand times over since I knew the risks for Kim after my own positive test.   

    “I can fight for my own life now because I know that I am the last person in my family gene pool with this HD positive test result.”  

    And fight Sandy does: “I am fighting so much to crush it every single day, every moment of every day. The more I fight, the more I look to God for my future health and happiness. I truly don’t want to change anything about my life. I intend to be in the same place – body and mind.   

    “I am privileged to be asked by Professor Zosia to help her again with raising awareness for HD issues. She is incredibly knowledgeable about everything HD, caring for all her patients and their families.   

    “This is a fantastic opportunity for other people, just like me, to take a big leap forward and consider testing for HD. Obviously, I was devastated about my own diagnosis, but I am certain, no doubt in my mind I have done the correct thing for myself and Laura and our family.    

    “I want everyone to know that testing positive is not the end of the world, it may even be the beginning of better family relationships and countless other positive things.” 

    Related Content

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Finance and Security – Bank accounts a key tool for reducing ex-prisoner reoffending – FinCap

    Source: FinCap

    New research conducted by Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington finds that taking simple steps to enable ex-prisoners to open bank accounts would assist them in accessing housing, employment, and benefits, which would reduce the risk of re-offending.
    The research, led by Senior Lecturer Victoria Stace, was commissioned by FinCap, a charitable trust which supports more than 700 financial mentors in their work helping people who are in financial hardship. The findings of Stage 2 of this work, being released today, are based on interviews with a broad group of stakeholders, including representatives from the banking sector, financial mentoring organisations, community groups, and the Department of Corrections.
    “Enabling ex-prisoners to access banking services is a simple measure. It carries negligible cost to the government or banks, could help reduce crime, and save on the costs of imprisoning reoffenders,” says FinCap Senior Policy Advisor Jake Lilley.
    “Without a bank account, ex-prisoners struggle to be paid for work, receive benefits, pay bills, or find housing-making it hard to live legally and independently.
    “Ex-prisoners who find themselves unable to do these things are more likely to return to crime. This carries an enormous social cost to the victims and a massive fiscal cost to the government. Access to banking is a simple, effective anti-crime measure,” says Jake Lilley.
    “Many prisoners either lose access to their bank accounts upon entering prison or do not have any bank account, and those attempting to open new accounts face obstacles, particularly in meeting identification and proof of address requirements. We need uniform procedures across the banking sector to improve access to banking for prisoners,” says Victoria Stace.
    “We have developed a set of practical recommendations to make this happen, including:
    • Corrections should ensure that prisoners have ID documents prior to release (birth certificate and a form of photo ID), and given the opportunity to apply for a bank account prior to release 
    • Major banks should participate in a programme that offers bank accounts to people in prison who are due for release
    Every prison should have access to at least one financial mentoring service, with regular financial capability workshops for inmates. “Collaboration between Corrections, banks, financial mentoring organisations, and community groups is essential to overcoming these challenges. Ensuring nationwide consistency, addressing systemic barriers, and securing resources are critical for the successful implementation of the proposed recommendations,” says Victoria Stace.

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: WISH to Ignite: WISHfest25 Sparks Curiosity, Community, and Courage in Waterbury

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    More than 1,200 students, educators, and community members filled downtown Waterbury on March 28 for WISHfest25, the University of Connecticut’s third annual Waterbury Innovation, Sustainability, and Health Festival (WISHfest).

    Co-hosted by UConn Waterbury, the City of Waterbury, and Waterbury Public Schools, the festival embraced this year’s theme: “WISH to Ignite: Passion, Resilience, and Boundless Possibilities.”

    From electrifying keynotes and hands-on science exhibits to deep conversations around neurodiversity, leadership, and identity, WISHfest25 once again demonstrated that innovation isn’t limited to the lab—it thrives in community.

    From Jurassic Science to Real-Life Resilience

    The day began at the historic Palace Theater, where students heard from Jack Horner, the world-renowned paleontologist who advised six “Jurassic Park” and “Jurassic World” films—and who also happens to be severely dyslexic.

    “Being different doesn’t mean being broken,” Horner told a packed theater. “It means you see the world in a different way—and that’s where new ideas come from.”

    A panel discussion at the Palace Theater features, from left to right, Clarke, UConn NSF TRANSCEND fellow & Ph.D. student Vaishnavi Sivaprasad, Horner, and Reis, moderated by Hoeft.” (Steven Bustamante / UConn Photo)

    Horner, a MacArthur “Genius” Fellow who has received multiple honorary doctorates, shared his journey of scientific discovery and defying expectations—even showing the audience a high school report card filled with Ds and Fs. For many students, this was their first time meeting a scientist in person.

    “I still remember his talk from 10 years ago, word for word,” said Dean Fumiko Hoeft, founder and co-director of WISHfest. “It’s the kind of spark we want every student to walk away with.”

    After the event, Horner added, “You found a wonderful group of young students and lots of interesting people. I had a blast!”

    Also featured on stage was Shavana Clarke, Miss Connecticut USA 2024, a proud Jamaican American, LGBTQ+ advocate, and UConn alumna. With honesty and grace, Clarke shared her journey navigating mental health and identity, reminding students that resilience often begins with telling your story.

    Members of the Waterbury Police Department’s Mounted Unit interact with attendees at WISHfest, at the UConn Waterbury campus.” (Steve Bustamante / University of Connecticut)

    “You’re not a burden. You’re not alone. And your difference is your strength,” Clarke told the crowd, as students rose to applaud.

    Sally Reis, UConn Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor and 2025 Reed Fellow, urged educators to adopt a strength-based approach and emphasized how supporting neurodiverse and twice-exceptional learners can unlock untapped potential.

    “We spend too much time fixing what’s ‘wrong,’” Reis said. “WISHfest reminds us to discover and develop the talents of all students.”

    From the Stage to the Lab: Hands-On Learning at UConn Waterbury

    Following the morning program, energy shifted across the street to the UConn Waterbury campus, where students dove into VR simulations, brain dissections, research showcases, and interactive career stations hosted by UConn faculty, staff, and industry professionals.

    “I loved how WISHFest had such fun events at the Palace and UConn like when Jack Horner came and talked about his life,” said Julian Malusa, age 10, from Judson School in Watertown, who attended with his grandmother, reflecting on the excitement and inspiration the event provided for young attendees.

    Two UConn Waterbury students pose with Jonathan XV at WISHfest 2025 (Steve Bustamante / University of Connecticut)

    This portion of the festival was coordinated by the UConn Center for Career Readiness and Life Skills and the Northwest Regional Workforce Investment Board (NRWIB), highlighting pathways in health care, business, government, tech, and education.

    The event also earned praise from school leadership. “The Waterbury Public Schools’ students were once again wowed by WISHfest and encouraged by their visit to UConn Waterbury,” said Interim Superintendent Darren Schwartz. “I am grateful for the ongoing leadership of Dr. Fumiko Hoeft and her collaboration with the Waterbury Public Schools.”

    From 1:30 to 4:00 p.m., UConn Waterbury students participated in closed small-group sessions with keynote speakers, NSF TRANSCEND Ph.D. Fellows, researchers, and community partners—deepening discussions on AI, neurodiversity, innovation, and inclusive leadership.

    Leadership, Laughter, and Legacy: The Pre-Event Dinner

    The evening before WISHfest, over 20 civic and academic leaders gathered for a private dinner hosted by Cathy and Jim Smith at their Middlebury residence. Guests included UConn President Radenka Maric, Senator Joan Hartley, Mayor Paul Pernerewski, Interim Superintendent Schwartz, and leaders in the arts, education, and nonprofit sectors.

    A student uses a VR headset at UConn Waterbury’s WISHFest 2025 (Steve Bustamante / University of Connecticut)

    Cathy Smith, President of the Leavenworth Foundation, has long supported revitalization efforts throughout Waterbury with her husband Jim Smith—from restoring the Green and City Hall to supporting the Palace Theater, and now, WISHfest.

    Closing the Day with Art and Appreciation

    The festival concluded with a VIP reception at the Mattatuck Museum, where speakers, students, and community members came together in an evening of reflection, art, and connection.

    “This is what it means to be One UConn,” said President Radenka Maric, who returned for her second WISHfest. “We don’t just teach science or policy—we create spaces where young people can imagine new futures.”

    Powered by Partnership

    WISHfest25 is a free event, made possible through the generosity of the David and Joan Reed Endowment to UConn Waterbury, with additional support from UConn NSF TRANSCEND Ph.D. Training Program, UConn School of Business Digital Frontiers Initiative, UThe OLLI Program at UConn Waterbury, Mattatuck Museum, Palace Theater, Cathy & Jim Smith, Dunkin’, and Coca-Cola.

    A group photo of WISHfest staff, comprising UConn Waterbury staff and students, in front of the Palace Theater.(Steve Bustamante / University of Connecticut)

    “The collaboration between UConn, local schools, and community partners is what truly makes WISHfest successful,” said Monica Lattimer, co-director of WISHfest and Associate Director of Operations at UConn Waterbury. “It’s amazing to see how this event grows each year and continues to inspire our students to explore new career paths and ideas.”

    What’s Next?

    Planning is already underway for WISHfest26, which will be held on Friday, April 17, 2026, and feature Temple Grandin—renowned scientist, animal behaviorist, and autism advocate—as keynote speaker. The 2026 theme will explore agriculture, nutrition, sustainability, and neurodiversity, co-sponsored by UConn CAHNR and the USDA NextGen Fellows.

    “If this year was about igniting possibility,” said Hoeft, “next year, we’ll cultivate it.”

    To learn more, visit wishfest.waterbury.uconn.edu. To inquire about sponsorship or participation in next year’s event, email wishfest@uconn.edu.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Delivering on compassionate intervention

    [. The creation of the Alberta Recovery Model is a shift in addiction policy, with an approach that focuses on services and investments to lead people down a path of healing. Alberta’s government built this model because with the right care and support, recovery is possible.

    Despite the supports for treatment and recovery, there are some individuals who remain likely to cause harm to themselves or others as a result of their addiction or substance use. In response to these concerns, Alberta’s government is delivering on its promise to bring forward the Compassionate Intervention Act to support the health, wellness and recovery of Albertans facing severe addiction challenges and in turn, restore safety for families and communities.

    “For those suffering from addiction there are two paths – they can let their addiction destroy and take their life or they can enter recovery. There is no compassion in leaving people to suffer in the throes of addiction and in Alberta we choose recovery. That’s why we’re introducing compassionate intervention – another tool in the Alberta Recovery Model – to help keep our communities safe while ensuring our most vulnerable can access much needed recovery supports.”

    Danielle Smith, Premier

    “We cannot – and will not – stand by and let addiction destroy our families and communities. The Compassionate Intervention Act will provide life-saving support, ensuring families are no longer forced to watch their loved ones suffer from the deadly disease of addiction and endure the pain it brings.”

    Dan Williams, Minister of Mental Health and Addiction

    If passed, the Compassionate Intervention Act would create a pathway for parents, family members, guardians, health care professionals, and police or peace officers to request a treatment order or care plan for those who, because of their severe addiction, are likely to cause harm to themselves or others. Compassionate intervention is just one tool to help someone pursue recovery, which is why other options should be tried and specific criteria met before someone could be considered eligible.

    The eligibility criteria for youth are comparable to the Protection of Children Abusing Drugs Act (PChAD), which provides mandatory short-term stabilization, detox and assessment. Compassionate intervention would replace and improve PChAD, allowing for longer-term treatment, an easier application process and increased family involvement in a child’s recovery.

    “This is an opportunity to bring forward a world-leading program that will restore health to our most vulnerable Albertans, many of whom are facing the most severe addictions. I look forward to working with Recovery Alberta and Alberta’s government to help lead a thoughtful and evidence-informed implementation of compassionate intervention.”

    Dr. Rob Tanguay, interim senior medical lead for compassionate intervention, Recovery Alberta

    “With evidence-based programming and support, the compassionate intervention program will be a world leader in addressing some of the most complex cases of addiction. Recovery Alberta is well-positioned to deliver this with incredible staff and clinicians, and we look forward to supporting more people in their journey to reclaim their lives from the disease of addiction.”

    Kerry Bales, CEO, Recovery Alberta

    Premier Danielle Smith and Mental Health and Addiction Minister Dan Williams announce introduction of compassionate intervention legislation

    Alberta’s government has built a strong partnership focused on recovery with Indigenous communities across the province. The Compassionate Intervention Act includes the ability for First Nations and Métis to integrate their unique practices and traditions into the compassionate intervention process.

    Budget 2025 provides $180 million over three years to build two 150-bed compassionate intervention centres in Edmonton and Calgary, with construction expected to begin in 2026. These centres, operated by Recovery Alberta, will support intakes and assessment, and delivery of compassionate intervention care for adults. With an immediate need to provide compassionate intervention care, Alberta’s government is also exploring options to have some temporary adult spaces available within existing facilities next year. 

    For youth capacity, Alberta’s government is planning to transition protective safe houses used for PChAD into spaces for compassionate intervention. Next year, Alberta’s government expects to open the Northern Alberta Youth Recovery Centre, which will more than double addiction treatment capacity for youth and include space for care under the Compassionate Intervention Act.

    Every patient who leaves the compassionate intervention system will leave with a discharge plan for ongoing supports and services. This may include continuing treatment in a recovery community or another community bed-based program, day programming, psychiatric care and/or ongoing work with a recovery coach. It may also include help finding housing, employment, skills training and more.

    Key facts:

    • Significant investments have been made to expand treatment capacity since 2019, such as:
      • Publicly funding more than 10,000 addiction treatment spaces.
      • Building 11 recovery communities, including four in partnership with First Nations and one with the Métis Nation within Alberta.
      • Expanding Virtual Opioid Dependency Program (VODP), which provides same-day access to evidence-based addiction treatment medication.

    Related information

    • Compassionate Intervention
    • Fact sheet – Compassionate Intervention: A path to recovery
    • Fact sheet – Compassionate Intervention: Based on best practices
    • Alberta Recovery Model
    • Bill 53: Compassionate Intervention Act

    Related news

    • Laying the foundation for compassionate intervention (Feb 24, 2025)

    Multimedia

    • Watch the news conference
    • Listen to the news conference
    • Listen to Albertans’ stories

    Quotes:

    “We value our partnership with Alberta’s government as we work to save lives and bring people into recovery. But with new, increasingly deadly drugs like methamphetamine and fentanyl, we can’t keep doing the same things and expect different results while people are dying. As Chief of Enoch Cree Nation, I support compassionate intervention and welcome investments that prioritize Indigenous culture and new approaches that truly meet the needs of our people.”

    Chief Cody Thomas, Enoch Cree Nation

    “Tsuut’ina Nation is grateful for our relationship with the Ministry of Mental Health and Addiction. Compassionate intervention is an important part of addressing the opioid addiction crisis. We are confident that this policy, guided by elders and experts, will provide valuable support for individuals and families in need.”

    Chief Roy Whitney, Tsuut’ina Nation

    “We cannot afford to sit back and watch our nation members continue to suffer in their addiction. We must intervene. We would much rather step in with compassionate intervention instead of waiting until we are going to funerals.”

    Chief Ouray Crowfoot, Siksika Nation

    “As Chief of Woodland Cree First Nation, I appreciate Alberta’s commitment to addressing addiction through expanded treatment and recovery supports. With the Compassionate Intervention Act, it’s encouraging to see the government taking steps to work in partnership with First Nations. While we recognize there are complexities with this approach, our shared goal remains the same: to provide our people with the help they need and to stop the devastation that addiction continues to bring to our communities.”

    Chief Isaac Laboucan-Avirom, Woodland Cree First Nation

    “We have never felt more pain than the day we found out we lost our daughter to addiction. Addiction truly does take over a person’s life, and it is devastating that legal intervention was not available to us. As parents, my husband and I support the Compassionate Intervention Act as an option for families today dealing with the challenges of addiction.”

    Susan and Stephen Boone, parents of a child lost to addiction

    “My son was discharged from the emergency room into our care, without any addiction resources or support. The new Compassionate Intervention Act is critical for other families in crisis like mine. The opportunity for recovery in Alberta is necessary for the addict who suffers and for those who love them.”

    Janelle Watson, parent with a child affected by addiction

    “Alberta is a leader in recovery, and other jurisdictions are taking note of what they are accomplishing. Compassionate intervention is an innovative and encouraging step forward in resolving the most complex cases of addiction. I strongly support approaches like this, which commit to providing high-quality, comprehensive, evidence-based treatment within therapeutic environments.”

    Dr. Keith Humphreys, Esther Ting Memorial professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University

    “What Alberta is bringing forward for compassionate intervention and the Alberta Recovery Model is a monumental achievement and will provide a roadmap for the rest of North America. Providing options for long-term care with monitoring and accountability, similar to what we know works for doctors and pilots, is going to be a game-changer for those struggling with severe addiction and mental illness. It’s fantastic Alberta has the will to help people suffering from addiction by giving them the tools and support that will get them into recovery.”

    Dr. Anna Lembke, professor and medical director of Addiction Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine

    “As an addiction psychiatrist, I welcome Alberta’s commitment to treatment and recovery, an example for governments everywhere to follow. Compassionate intervention for those experiencing severe addiction is a policy that will save lives and restore people’s well-being. Especially encouraging is the level of care that will be given to support psychiatric treatment along with long-term recovery.”

    Dr. Charl Els, addiction psychiatrist and clinical professor, psychiatry, University of Alberta

    “The Canadian Centre of Recovery Excellence (CoRE) appreciates Alberta’s willingness to align compassionate intervention with empirically proven practices, such as opioid agonist treatments, to help those with severe illness. As the policy moves forward, CoRE will closely monitor and research the outcomes to ensure it is helping people effectively stabilize and make meaningful progress in their recovery journeys.”

    Dr. Nathaniel Day, chief scientific officer, Canadian Centre of Recovery Excellence

    “Internationally and within Canada, attempts at intervention for drug-related problems have often proven ineffective as approaches have lacked a comprehensive plan and don’t account for the co-occurrence of complex illnesses. Alberta’s system-wide, holistic approach to compassionate intervention balances the short-term rights of individuals and the intermediate and long-term health and wellness of those same people. This new legislation definitely adds to the international benchmark status of the Alberta Recovery Model.”

    Dr. Julian Somers, clinical psychologist and distinguished professor, Simon Fraser University

    “Addiction is not just a big city issue. Each one of our communities has grappled with different social challenges such as addiction. Alberta’s Mid-sized Cities Mayors’ Caucus is pleased the Government of Alberta is introducing the Compassionate Intervention Act and welcomes the provincial government’s investment in solving the addiction crisis.”

    Jeff Genung, mayor, Town of Cochrane and chair, Alberta Mid-sized Cities Mayors’ Caucus

    “The Alberta Association of Chiefs of Police supports the Alberta Compassionate Intervention Act as a vital step toward addressing the complex challenges of addiction and recovery-oriented treatment for our communities. This legislation provides law enforcement with a compassionate approach to intervene and connect individuals in crisis with the treatment and support they need. By prioritizing public safety and individual well-being, this act reflects our shared commitment to building healthier and safer communities across Alberta.”

    Mark Neufeld, president, Alberta Association of Chiefs of Police

    “The Downtown Revitalization Coalition supports a comprehensive and compassionate approach to addressing the complex challenges of addiction and mental health in our communities. We commend the Alberta government for introducing the Compassionate Intervention Act, which recognizes that some individuals are simply not able to seek help or manage recovery on their own. This legislation offers a path forward – one grounded in care, a holistic plan of support and the belief that every person deserves the opportunity to reclaim their future.”

    Cheryll Watson, chair, Downtown Revitalization Coalition, Edmonton

    “Native Counselling Services of Alberta is pleased to support the Compassionate Intervention Act. We believe this is an important piece of legislation to support recovery for people who have been entrapped by addiction and are now a danger to themselves or others.”

    Blake Jackman, director of housing, Native Counselling Services of Alberta

    “It is important to do everything possible to help a young person be lifted out of addiction onto a path of recovery. Hull Services is pleased to support the Compassionate Intervention Act to enhance life-saving services for young Albertans in need.”

    Jon Reeves, executive director, Hull Services

    “We know the despair and hopelessness parents feel when their child is struggling with addiction to harmful substances. Through compassionate intervention, Wood’s Homes is pleased to support enhanced care options for young Albertans.”

    Bjorn Johansson, CEO, Wood’s Homes

    “This commitment to compassionate intervention is ensuring we bring as many people out of addiction as possible. It’s clear Alberta’s government is taking recovery seriously with significant investment into the delivery of compassionate intervention care.”

    Bruce Holstead, person in recovery and executive director, Fresh Start Recovery Centre

    “Human trafficking often has deep ties to mental health and addiction. Vulnerabilities caused by these issues make individuals more likely to be victimized by traffickers. Consequences of trauma resulting from being trafficked can also lead to new or deepening adverse mental health and addictions impacts. Compassionate intervention has the potential to provide a much-needed tool for prevention and rehabilitation supports for people directly impacted by, or at risk of human trafficking.”

    Paul Brandt, founder and CEO, #NotInMyCity, and co-chair, Alberta Centre to End Trafficking in Persons

    “When we opened Wihchihaw Maskokamik Society (Bear Lodge), it was with the goal to help our people find healing and support, and connect with culture and services to help save their lives. I have seen first-hand the damage that addiction can cause to a person’s life, and I’m hopeful that we now have an opportunity to help people who are most in need to change their lives for the better.”

    Glori Sharphead, senior manager, Wihchihaw Maskokamik Society (Bear Lodge), Enoch Cree Nation 

    “We need to ask ourselves if it is better to leave someone to harm themselves or others with ongoing addiction or if we should compassionately intervene. The answer is obviously to intervene and do what we can to save someone’s life.”

    Earl Thiessen, person in recovery and executive director, Oxford House Foundation

    “The George Spady Society is a proud partner and contributor of the Alberta Recovery Model. Our organization appreciates the government’s approach to prioritizing the lives of people suffering from addiction through a range of care options and providing opportunities for compassionate intervention when needed.”

    Dawn-Marie Diab, CEO, George Spady Society

    “Acknowledging that no single solution will fit all, we support diverse approaches to meet community needs. The Compassionate Intervention Act addresses a critical gap in our systems, and we are encouraged by its potential to bolster the continuum of care for individuals facing severe addiction issues. We look forward to the opportunity to collaborate in shaping this effort, ensuring the number of lives lost to addiction is reduced through a dignified, human centered approach.”

    Johanna Knettig, co-CEO, Bissell Centre

    “There is nothing more heart-wrenching than families watching a loved one struggle with the illness of addiction. The families supported by PEP Society are glad to see this government’s plan for compassionate intervention, and we look forward to having this resource to rebuild health and wellness across Alberta.”

    Lerena Greig, executive director, PEP Society

    “CMHA Alberta Division and Centre for Suicide Prevention knows families struggle to access community-based addiction supports and treatment for their loved ones, all while watching their loved ones’ mental health and addiction issues deteriorate to a crisis. A framework to compassionately intervene with the most vulnerable among us can help. We are committed to continuing to build a community-based system of care that includes treatment combined with peer and family support throughout the journey.”

    Mara Grunau, CEO, Canadian Mental Health Association, Alberta Division and Centre for Suicide Prevention

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Fargo Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Robbery

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    Fargo – Acting United States Attorney Jennifer Klemetsrud Puhl announced that Lucas Tavares, Age 34 of Fargo, ND, appeared in United States District Court today and was sentenced by Chief Judge Peter Welte to serve eight years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release for the offense of Hobbs Act Robbery.  Tavares was also ordered to pay a $100 special assessment fee.

    As reflected in court documents, on March 5, 2024, Tavares robbed the Loaf ‘N Jug located at 1201 N. University Ave, Fargo, ND. An employee told responding officers that Tavares held a knife to his neck during the robbery.  Fargo Police Department detectives quickly identified Tavares as the robber and took him into custody on the same day as the robbery.  A federal grand jury indicted Tavares for one count of Hobbs Act Robbery.  Tavares pleaded guilty on January 13, 2025.

    This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office, District of North Dakota, Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Lee. 

    # # #

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force Surpasses 60,000 Arrests

    Source: US Marshals Service

    Cleveland, OH – U.S. Marshal Pete Elliott announced today that the U.S. Marshals led Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force (NOVFTF) has surpassed 60,000 arrests. 

    Members of the Cleveland NOVFTF arrested David Wayne Garner, 40.  Garner marks the 60,000th arrest for the NOVFTF. Garner was wanted by the East Cleveland Police Department for aggravated murder.  The murder occurred on January 20, 2025, in the 1700 block of Shaw Ave. in East Cleveland.  According to police, Garner shot and killed the victim while he was sitting in his car.  While a fugitive, Garner evaded law enforcement on multiple occasions. However, on March 24, 2025, Garner was located and arrested by the NOVFTF during a traffic stop near the 2200 block of Brockway Ave in University Heights. 

    Since the inception of the NOVFTF in June 2003, over 2,400 homicide suspects have been arrested.  These arrests have taken place all throughout northern Ohio as well as across the country due to the reach of the USMS as well as the partnerships across the country with the state and local police departments.  These homicide arrests include Andre McCoy who was wanted for the September 21, 2020, shooting death of 4-year-old Rowan Sweeney in Struthers, Ohio.  It also includes the out of state arrest of fugitive Martino Giles, who was a wanted fugitive on the run for 8 years.  Giles was wanted for the shooting death of his roommate, DaAndre Jackson.  After years on the run, he was arrested by the NOVFTF in Bloomington, Illinois. 

    In addition to the over 2,400 homicide arrests, the NOVFTF has arrested more than 2,500 people wanted for rape, over 4,800 wanted for robberies and another 9,700 wanted for felonious assault.  While working fugitive cases the task force often encounters fugitive who, while on the run, continue to carry firearms.  Fugitives such as Adarus Black, who while on the run for the murder of Na’Kia Crawford in Akron, was arrested in possession of an AR type rifle.  Over the past 23 years the NOVFTF has seized more than 2,900 guns.

    Additionally, over 4.5 million in U.S. currency has been seized. 

    In June 2003, the NOVFTF was created in memory of Cleveland Police Patrolman Wayne Leon who was killed in the line of duty by a fugitive on the run.  Patrolman Leon’s memory lives on through the men and woman assigned to this task force throughout northern Ohio.  Since the inception, the task force has grown from a couple teams across the northern district of Ohio to 9 fugitive investigation/apprehension teams, a missing child unit, cold case unit, sex offender investigations, and a full-time training instructor. 

    “Although the success of this task force is often measured in the number of arrests made each day, it is also measured in the partnerships that have been built and sustained over the last 22 years,” U.S. Marshal Pete Elliott stated.  “Partnership and teamwork are exemplified here in northern Ohio; without the daily positive working relationship of the law enforcement community and the civilian community the task force would not have the success it has had.  We are grateful for that.”

    Anyone with information concerning a wanted fugitive can contact the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force at 1-866-4WANTED (1-866-492-6833), or you can submit a web tip. Reward money is available, and tipsters may remain anonymous.  Follow the U.S. Marshals on Twitter @USMSCleveland.  

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Pagan loaves, Christian bread, a secular treat: a brief history of hot cross buns

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Darius von Guttner Sporzynski, Historian, Australian Catholic University

    Jasmine Waheed/Unsplash

    Hot cross buns aren’t just a sweet snack that appears around Easter. They carry centuries of storytelling in their dough. From ancient gods to modern supermarkets, these sticky spiced buns have crossed many borders and beliefs.

    Today, you can buy them in all kinds of flavours. But their story is far richer than chocolate chips and salted caramel.

    Ancient beginnings

    In some ancient cultures, bread was more than just food. It was a symbol of faith. Ancient Greeks baked small round loaves marked with crosses to honour their gods. According to some historians, these marks could represent the four seasons or four phases of the moon.

    Jewish people have also shared special bread during holy times like Passover, and scholars have debated whether these customs influenced early Christian bread traditions.

    Pagan Saxons worshipped a spring goddess named Eostre. They baked bread during springtime festivals to celebrate new life and longer days. The name “Eostre” is where we get the English word “Easter”. Over time, some of these springtime bread traditions blended with Christian customs.

    From Pagan loaves to Christian buns

    Early Christians started marking bread with a cross to show their devotion, and ate it throughout the year.

    They believed the cross kept away evil spirits and helped the dough rise. Over time, the Christian view of the bread marked with the cross shifted to focus on Jesus’ crucifixion and became associated with Easter.

    Baking bread as illustrated in the 16th century Book of Hours.
    Getty

    By the Middle Ages, many bakers only kept the cross on Good Friday bread.

    According to popular tales, one 12th-century English monk made spiced buns marked with a cross on Good Friday, because that day is the “Day of the Cross”.

    Monks often used spices to show the day was special. These spiced buns helped people remember the crucifixion of Christ and the spices used in his burial.

    In 1592, Queen Elizabeth I restricted the sale of spiced bread and buns, perhaps because of religious tensions. England had broken away from the Catholic Church, and new Church of England officials worried that “holy” buns looked too much like Catholic superstition. Others say it was an issue of bread prices and profits. Then again maybe they were just too special for just everyday.

    Under these laws, commercial bakers could only make spiced bread on Christmas, Easter and for funerals.

    Good Friday and magic buns

    By the 18th century, English street vendors sold “hot cross buns” on Good Friday. We even see an old rhyme about them in Poor Robin’s Almanac in 1733, which says:

    Good Friday comes this month, the old woman runs,
    With one a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns.

    Soon, people believed these Good Friday buns had magical powers. Some hung them from kitchen rafters, believing they would never go mouldy. They kept them for protection against evil or illness. If someone felt sick, they crumbled part of an old hot cross bun into water, hoping it would cure them. Others placed buns in their grain stores to keep pests away.

    These beliefs might sound odd today, but they were part of daily life for many.

    This hand-coloured etching from 1799 shows a woman selling hot cross buns in London.
    The Metropolitan Museum of Art

    In Victorian England, people exchanged hot cross buns with friends on Good Friday and said, “Half for you and half for me, between us two good luck shall be”.

    Whatever ancient superstition the cross once warded off, today it’s the flavour roulette that keeps us coming back. Proof that tradition now serves taste, not fear.

    An enduring symbol

    Traditional buns contain dried fruit and spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, but many modern versions swap sultanas for chocolate chips or add flavours like salted caramel, orange – or even Vegemite and cheese. They have become a secular treat. Yet the crisscross pattern remains on top, hinting at the Christian origins.

    When you smell a fresh batch of these buns, you’re sharing an experience people enjoyed centuries ago. Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Poles, Romans, Saxons, medieval monks and 18th-century street sellers all had their versions of spiced, crossed bread. Each group gave the buns its own meaning, from honouring gods to celebrating Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection.

    A woman giving hot cross buns to two children, in an illustration from 1899.
    British Library

    Eating hot cross buns at Easter also shows how traditions change with each generation. At first, they were hard to find outside Good Friday. Now, you might see them in shops just after New Year’s. They once symbolised pagan festivals, then moved into Christian rites, survived royal bans, and sailed through waves of superstition. Yet they remain a symbol of Easter in Australia and around the world.

    Darius von Guttner Sporzynski 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. Pagan loaves, Christian bread, a secular treat: a brief history of hot cross buns – https://theconversation.com/pagan-loaves-christian-bread-a-secular-treat-a-brief-history-of-hot-cross-buns-246782

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Students are neither left or right brained: how some early childhood educators get this ‘neuromyth’ and others wrong

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate E. Williams, Professor of Education, University of the Sunshine Coast

    MalikNalik/ Shutterstock

    Many teachers and parents know neuroscience, the study of how the brain functions and develops, is important for children’s education.

    Brain development is recommended as part of teacher education in universities. Neuroscience is even mentioned in Australia’s “early years framework”, which guides early childhood programs.

    Previous research has shown there are misunderstandings about how neuroscience works (or “neuromyths”) among teachers both in Australia and overseas.

    Our new study shows there are also some widespread neuromyths among early childhood educators.

    What are the myths? And what does the evidence say?

    Our research

    We surveyed more than 520 Australian early childhood educators in 2022 to understand their neuroscience knowledge.

    We chose to study early childhood educators because there is a research gap in our understanding of those teaching and caring for younger children. The surveys were distributed online via multiple channels including email lists, social media and professional associations.

    About 74% of respondents worked in a long daycare or a preschool/kindergarten (educating children in the final years before formal school). About 63% had either a bachelors degree or postgraduate qualification.

    Our research surveyed more than 500 early childhood educators about their neuroscience knowledge.
    Poppy Pix/ Shutterstock

    Our findings

    We asked respondents whether various false statements were true, in order to assess their level of knowledge about neuroscience. The average correct score was 13.7 out of 27.

    Some myths presented in our study were widely, and correctly, understood to be false. For example, more than 90% of respondents correctly identified “when we sleep our brains shut down” and “mental capacity is solely hereditary and cannot be changed by the environment or experience” as untrue.

    But for other myths, most respondents were either unsure or believed the statement to be correct. For example:

    • only 7% of respondents correctly identified “teaching to different learning styles will improve learning” as false.

    • only 15% of respondents correctly identified “students are either left or right brained” as false.

    This suggests educators need more evidence-based neuroscience content as part of their professional education and development. While some neuromyths may seem harmless, others can have real implications for teaching decisions and student learning.

    What is the problem with these neuromyths?

    Myth 1: ‘teaching to different learning styles will improve learning’

    The idea of learning styles became popular in the 1970s. This argued students will show improved learning if they receive information in a very specific way. For example, “visual learners” need to see information to be able to learn, while “aural learners” need to hear it.

    This has been recognised as a myth since the mid-2000s, but the idea of learning styles still persists among educators.

    While people may have preferred ways of accessing information, there is no evidence learning suffers if information isn’t provided in this format. Research has also shown teachers’ ideas of a student’s learning style do not tend to match students’ self-reported preferences.

    So teaching decisions made on assumed student “learning styles” may be flawed in any case.

    There’s no evidence learning needs to be presented in a particular format for certain ‘types’ of learners.
    myboys.me/ Shutterstock

    Myth 2: ‘students are either left or right brained’

    Another enduring idea is we have personality traits that are either right-brained (intuitive and creative) or left-brained (analytical and logical)

    There is evidence some brain functions hang out a little more on one side of the brain than the other. For example, language is more on the left and attention is more on the right. However, there’s no evidence your personality or your aptitude comes particularly from the left or right brain hemisphere.

    The harm in this myth comes from students thinking they are “more left-brained than right” and teachers reinforcing this view. And from here, young people might think they should just stick to humanities or just stick to maths or science.

    This could rob a student of exploring multiple academic and career paths. Sure, some students will seem to really flourish as an artist, some as mathematicians and some as both. But we should not be labelling students, based on a neuromyth, potentially impacting self-confidence and their potential.

    Kate E. Williams receives funding from the Australian Research Council, National Health and Medical Research Council, Queensland Government Department of Education, and Australian Government Department of Social Services. She is affiliated with Play Matters Australia as Chair of the Board of Directors.

    – ref. Students are neither left or right brained: how some early childhood educators get this ‘neuromyth’ and others wrong – https://theconversation.com/students-are-neither-left-or-right-brained-how-some-early-childhood-educators-get-this-neuromyth-and-others-wrong-248888

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: A century after its discovery, scientists capture first confirmed footage of a colossal squid in the deep

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kat Bolstad, Associate professor, Auckland University of Technology

    The colossal squid was first described in 1925 based on specimens from the stomach of a commercially hunted sperm whale. A century later, an international voyage captured the first confirmed video of this species in its natural habitat – a 30-centimetre juvenile, at a depth of 600 metres near the South Sandwich Islands.

    Colossal squid can grow up to seven metres and weigh as much as 500 kilograms, making them the heaviest invertebrate on the planet. But little is known about their life cycle.

    The footage of a young colossal squid in the water column was a serendipitous sighting, as many deep-sea squid observations are.

    It was seen during the live “divestream” feed of a remotely operated vehicle during the Schmidt Ocean Institute and Ocean Census partner expedition searching for new deep-sea species and habitats in the far south Atlantic, mostly focusing on the seafloor.

    Those tuned into the stream had the remarkable experience of seeing a live colossal squid in its deep-sea home, although its identity was not confirmed until the high-definition footage could be reviewed later.

    Predators such as whales and seabirds are still one of our best sources of information about the colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) because they are much better at finding it than we are.

    This partially explains why we have only just filmed this species in its natural habitat. Not only do these animals live in an enormous, dark and three-dimensional environment, they are also probably actively avoiding us.

    Most of our deep-sea exploration equipment is large, noisy and uses bright lights if we are trying to film animals. But the colossal squid can detect and avoid diving sperm whales, which probably produce a strong light signal as they swim down and disturb bioluminescent animals.

    The squid best able to avoid such predators have been passing on their genes for millions of years. This leaves us with a current population of visually acute, likely light-avoiding animals, well capable of detecting a light signal from many metres away.

    Delicate beauty of deep-sea animals

    The colossal squid is part of the “glass” squid family (Cranchiidae). Three known glass squid species are found in the Antarctic ocean, but it can be difficult to distinguish them on camera.

    Researchers from the organisation Kolossal, aiming to film the colossal squid, observed a similarly sized glass squid during their fourth Antarctic mission in 2023. But since the characteristic features needed to identify a colossal squid – hooks on the ends of the two long tentacles and in the middle of each of the eight shorter arms – weren’t clearly visible, its exact identity remains unconfirmed.

    In the Schmidt Ocean Institute footage, the mid-arm hooks are visible. And for this young individual, the resemblance to other glass squids is also clear. With age and size, colossal squid likely lose their transparent appearance and become much more of an anomaly within the family.

    While many will be amused by the idea of a “small colossal” squid, this footage showcases a beauty shared by many deep-sea animals, in contrast to the monster hype and “stuff of nightmares” click-bait titles we see all too often.

    This colossal squid looks like a delicate glass sculpture, with fins of such fine musculature they are barely visible. It has shining iridescent eyes and graceful arms fanned out from the head.

    At full size, the colossal squid may be a formidable predator, with its stout arms and array of sharp hooks, able to tackle two-metre-long toothfish. But in our first confirmed view of it at home in the deep sea, we can marvel at the elegance of this animal, thriving in an environment where humans require so much technology even to visit remotely.

    Stranger than science fiction

    Until recently, few people were able to take part in deep-sea exploration. But now, anyone with an internet connection can be “in the room” while we explore these habitats and observe animals for the first time.

    It’s hard to overstate the importance of the deep sea. It holds hundreds of thousands of undiscovered species, it is probably where life on Earth started, and it makes up 95% of the available living space on our planet.

    It has animals more splendid and strange than our most creative science fiction imaginings. This includes squids that start life looking like small light bulbs and then grow into true giants; colonies of individuals living together with each contributing to the group’s success; animals where males (often parasitic) are orders of magnitude smaller than females.

    This first confirmed sighting of a colossal squid inspires and reminds us how much we have left to learn.

    The expedition that captured the footage of the colossal squid was a collaboration between the Schmidt Ocean Institute, the Nippon Foundation-NEKTON Ocean Census, and GoSouth (a joint project between the University of Plymouth, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research and the British Antarctic Survey).

    Kat Bolstad 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. A century after its discovery, scientists capture first confirmed footage of a colossal squid in the deep – https://theconversation.com/a-century-after-its-discovery-scientists-capture-first-confirmed-footage-of-a-colossal-squid-in-the-deep-254584

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Allowing forests to regrow and regenerate is a great way to restore habitat

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hannah Thomas, PhD candidate in Environmental Policy, The University of Queensland

    Cynthia A Jackson, Shutterstock

    Queensland is widely known as the land clearing capital of Australia. But what’s not so well known is many of the cleared trees can grow back naturally.

    The latest state government figures show regrowth across more than 7.6 million hectares in Queensland in 2020-21. These trees, though young, still provide valuable habitat for many threatened species – as long as they’re not bulldozed again.

    Our new research explored the benefits of regrowth for 30 threatened animal species in Queensland. We found regrown forests and woodlands provided valuable habitat and food for species after an average of 15 years. Some species were likely to benefit from trees as young as three years.

    This presents an opportunity for governments to support landowners and encourage them to retain more regrowing forest and woodland, especially where it can provide much-needed habitat for wildlife. But it’s a challenge because there is strong pressure to clear regrowth, largely to maintain pasture.

    Clearing of regrowth woodlands in Queensland.
    Martin Taylor

    When do young forests and woodlands become valuable habitat?

    We focused on threatened animal species that depend on forests and woodlands, and occur in regions with substantial regrowth.

    We wanted to find out which species use regrowth, and how old the trees need to be. But there’s not much survey data available on threatened species living in naturally regenerated forest and woodlands.

    To elicit this information we asked almost 50 experts to complete a detailed questionnaire and attend a workshop.

    We found 15 years was the average minimum age at which regrowth became useful to threatened species. But the full range was 3-68 years, depending on factors such as what a species eats, how it moves through the landscape and whether it needs tree hollows for shelter or breeding.

    For example, one threatened bird (the squatter pigeon) could use woodlands as young as three years old. Koalas benefited from regrowth as young as nine years old.

    Some species, such as the greater glider, need much older forests. This is because they require large tree hollows to shelter in during the day, and large trees to feed on and move between at night.

    So young forests shouldn’t be seen as an alternative to protecting old forests. We need both.

    The squatter pigeon could benefit from just three years of regrowth.
    Imogen Warren, Shutterstock

    Understanding the extent of habitat loss

    We also estimated the proportion of each species’ current habitat that comprises regrowth, using satellite data and publicly available data.

    For some species, we found regrowth made up almost a third of their potential habitat in Queensland. On average, it was 18%.

    However, nearly three-quarters of the habitat lost in Queensland since 2018 was regrowth forests and woodlands. So while the loss of older, “remnant” vegetation is more damaging per unit area, the regrowth habitat is being lost on a bigger scale.

    Our research suggests retaining more regrowth could be an easy and cost-effective way to help save threatened species.

    In contrast, tree planting is time-consuming and expensive. What’s more, only 10% of our native plants are readily available as seeds for sale. This, combined with more extreme weather such as prolonged droughts, often causes restoration projects to fail.

    Encouraging landholders to retain regrowth

    The fact that habitat can regrow naturally in parts of Queensland is a huge bonus. But farmers also need to maintain productivity, which can decrease if there’s too much regrowth.

    So, how do we help these landowners retain more regrowth?

    One way is to provide incentives. For example, government-funded biodiversity stewardship schemes provide payments to cover the costs of managing the vegetation – such as fencing off habitat and managing weeds – as well as compensation for loss of agricultural production. Targeting areas of regrowth with high habitat values could be a way for such schemes to benefit wildlife.

    Alternatively, market-based schemes allow landowners to generate biodiversity or carbon “credits” by keeping more trees on their property. Then, businesses (or governments) buy these credits. For example, some big emitters in Australia have to purchase carbon credits to “offset” their own emissions.

    However, Australia’s carbon market has been accused of issuing “low integrity” carbon credits. This means the carbon credits were paid for projects that may not have captured and stored the amount of carbon they were supposed to. To make sure these markets work, robust methods are needed – and until now, there hasn’t been one that worked to retain regrowth.

    Trees are good for the land, air and sea

    In February, the Queensland government released a method by which landholders could generate carbon credits by agreeing not to clear their regrowing woodlands and forests.

    The new carbon method provides a promising opportunity to allow landowners to diversify their farm income.

    In addition, tree cover brings direct, on-farm benefits such as more shade and shelter for livestock, natural pest control and better soil health.

    At a landscape level, greater tree cover can improve local climate regulation, reduce sediment run-off to the Great Barrier Reef and reduce Australia’s carbon emissions.

    Ideally, Australia’s carbon and biodiversity markets would work alongside sufficient government funding for nature recovery, which needs to increase to at least 1% (currently it’s around 0.1%).

    Meanwhile, our research has shown embracing natural regeneration potential in Queensland will have benefits for a range of threatened species too.

    We acknowledge our research coauthors, Jeremy Simmonds (2rog Consulting), Michelle Ward (Griffith University) and Teresa Eyre (Queensland Department of Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation).

    Hannah Thomas received an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship with a $10,000 top-up from WWF-Australia. She is an early-career leader with the Biodiversity Council.

    Martine Maron has received funding from various sources including the Australian Research Council, the Queensland Department of Environment and Science, and the federal government’s National Environmental Science Program, and has advised both state and federal government on conservation policy. She is a member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, a director of the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, a councillor with the Biodiversity Council, and leads the IUCN’s thematic group on Impact Mitigation and Ecological Compensation under the Commission on Ecosystem Management. She currently sits on the Protect and Enhance advisory panel to the NSW Natural Resources Commission.

    – ref. Allowing forests to regrow and regenerate is a great way to restore habitat – https://theconversation.com/allowing-forests-to-regrow-and-regenerate-is-a-great-way-to-restore-habitat-254325

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Safe seat syndrome? Why some hospitals get upgrades and others miss out

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anam Bilgrami, Senior Research Fellow, Macquarie University Centre for the Health Economy, Macquarie University

    On his campaign trail, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pledged A$200 million to upgrade St John of God Midland Public Hospital in Perth. He promised more beds and operating theatres, and a redesigned obstetrics and neonatal unit.

    It followed other recent election promises from the Labor government, including $120 million for new birthing facilities at Sydney’s planned Rouse Hill Hospital and $150 million to build a health centre in southern Adelaide.

    New and expanded health facilities are welcome in fast-growing communities. But are hospital funding pledges in election campaigns based on health-care or political needs?

    Does pork-barrelling drive health funding decisions?

    Labor and the Coalition have faced allegations of pork-barrelling this election campaign.

    Pork-barrelling means using public funds to target specific electorates to win votes, rather than allocating resources based on need. Four in five Australians consider pork-barrelling to be corrupt.

    Former New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian suggested pork-barrelling was “business as usual” in her government.

    It also seems to occur at the federal level. The Australian National Audit Office found a $1.25 billion Community Health and Hospitals Program implemented by the former Morrison government “fell short of ethical requirements” and deliberately breached Commonwealth grant guidelines.

    Of the 63 major projects funded, only two were rated “highly suitable” – the usual benchmark for shortlisting. In fact, most approved projects were picked by the government outside of the established expression of interest processes.

    Who funds and manages public hospitals?

    The National Health Reform Agreement makes states and territories responsible for managing public hospitals. States and territories contribute around 58% of hospital funding. They also oversee planning and infrastructure.

    Local hospital networks help plan and implement capital projects such as new hospitals and facility upgrades.

    Under the National Health Reform Agreement, the Commonwealth government also contributes public hospital funding through:

    • activity-based funding. This is tied to the number and type of patients treated

    • block funding for smaller regional and rural hospitals

    • public health funding for initiatives such as vaccination programs.

    The reform agreement outlines the Commonwealth’s responsibility for supporting public hospital services. But it doesn’t restrict the Commonwealth from making hospital infrastructure promises.

    The Commonwealth often pledges direct hospital funding through supplementary agreements or ad hoc initiatives. Earlier this year, it announced an additional one-off $1.7 billion payment to ease pressure on public hospitals.

    State planning vs federal politics: who decides?

    States use formal planning frameworks to plan and prioritise health infrastructure projects. NSW Health, for example, applies a structured Facility Planning Process for projects over $10 million. This considers local population needs, health and community benefits, costs and workforce capacity.

    These types of frameworks help ensure health capital investment decisions are transparent and evidence-based.

    What is less transparent is how the Commonwealth decides which specific hospitals to pledge money to, particularly during election campaigns.

    While some federal funding announcements may align with state priorities, picking one hospital over another comes with an “opportunity cost”. For every community that benefits from a new or upgraded hospital, another potentially higher-need community may miss out.

    To prevent Commonwealth funding decisions being swayed by political priorities, more transparent processes for setting priorities and making decisions are needed.

    What would a better system look like?

    The way funds are allocated to medicines listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) provides the federal government with an exemplary approach to good health-care investment decisions.

    The Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) provides independent advice to the Minister for Health on whether the government should allocate millions to new medicines. The PBAC uses rigorous, transparent processes to make listing recommendations based on patient need and cost-effectiveness.

    Federal government hospital infrastructure funding decisions should also follow open, competitive, merit-based processes.

    Prioritising evidence and having transparent decision-making guidelines would mean funding is more likely to be allocated based on the greatest population need rather than electoral considerations.

    Other ways to improve federal government hospital funding decisions may include:

    • incorporating nationally agreed principles for hospital capital funding in future National Health Reform Agreements

    • increasing transparency. This could be achieved through a national public register of hospital development proposals, ranked by urgency and need

    • strengthening safeguards on election-period pledges. This could improve disclosures and ensure hospital funding decisions align with independent needs assessments.

    More hospitals or better prevention?

    Former St Vincent’s Health CEO Toby Hall put it bluntly:

    If Australia is to make the most of its healthcare future, it will likely need fewer hospitals, not more.

    He pointed to Denmark, which cut its number of hospitals by 67% over 1999–2019. This was achieved by shifting as many services as possible from hospitals to other types of health care including primary care, health centres and outpatient clinics.

    While more hospitals in Australia may be inevitable as the population ages, health policy should also focus on keeping people out of hospital in the first place. That means investing in prevention, early intervention and technology to support care at home.

    Australia lags behind other wealthy nations in this space, ranking 20th out of 33 OECD countries in per capita spending on prevention. It ranks 27th when measured as a share of total health expenditure.

    Some local health districts are showing what’s possible. This includes using home monitoring to help people manage chronic conditions. These kinds of innovations can improve health and reduce pressure on hospital infrastructure.

    While new hospitals and wards make for compelling election promises, a better health system will come not just from “bricks and mortar”. It will come from smarter investments in prevention, early intervention and innovative care that keeps people healthier and out of hospital.

    Henry Cutler was a member of an Expert Advisory Panel where he received remuneration from the Department of Health and Aged Care for this role. Henry has also previously received funding from NT Health.

    Anam Bilgrami 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. Safe seat syndrome? Why some hospitals get upgrades and others miss out – https://theconversation.com/safe-seat-syndrome-why-some-hospitals-get-upgrades-and-others-miss-out-253750

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Half way through the campaign, how are the major party leaders faring?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Mills, Honorary Senior Lecturer, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney

    More than two weeks in, we know one thing for sure. This time, the election campaign does matter.

    In decades past, when voters were more loyally rusted on to the major parties, news cycles more sedate, policy platforms fixed and “safe” seats truly safe, it was arguable that election outcomes were largely determined before the campaigns began.

    But in 2025, the campaign period has witnessed a dramatic shift in voting intentions, as measured by public opinion polls.

    Before the campaign, Labor trailed. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese seemed flat-footed, burdened by a poor track record in the 2022 elections and the 2023 Voice referendum.

    But even as Cyclone Alfred blew itself out, parliament returned, and the budget was brought down, Labor’s poll numbers were improving. This trend continued through the first weeks of the campaign, such that Labor now seems the likely winner, either in minority or perhaps majority.

    Why? Election campaigns can reveal how leaders and their teams behave under pressure. They also require trust and lock-step coordination between the leader and the party’s team of campaign professionals.

    Unflashy incrementalism

    Albanese has performed solidly and been relentlessly on-message and on-brand. His campaign has rolled out a well-prepared procession of announcements on Medicare urgent care clinics, pharmaceuticals, childcare and TAFE, each with local funding attached.

    Albanese does not campaign with Hawke-like charisma, Keating-like oratory or Whitlam-like policy. His one truly visionary change commitment – the Voice – collapsed in a heap.

    Instead, as he has shown over the last two weeks, his true identity is as a (Chifley-like?) incrementalist. He boasts a strong grasp of systems – health, roads, renewables – and his campaign is all about fixing, improving and expanding those systems within practical fiscal constraints.

    His vision of the future is the present that just works better for more people.

    Fattening the policy pig

    By contrast, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton seemed ready to shoot the lights out, as an uncompromising conviction politician exploiting voter grievances about cost-of-living issues.

    But he wasted a large part of his first week recovering from an off-strategy indulgence about living in Kirribilli House (“we love the harbour”), and much of the second week explaining his backflip on public service working conditions.

    The first was a campaign blunder, pure and simple. But the second spoke to a deeper malaise within the Coalition about policy development. The Coalition appeared unprepared for the cut and thrust of the campaign.

    Combined with blithe me-tooing of Labor promises on health and roads, and incomplete announcements on cutting foreign student numbers and reserving natural gas for domestic use, the backflip suggested Coalition policy-making has become a bit random: a series of tactical choices, not a strategic plan for government.

    Contrary to long-standing Liberal Party campaign wisdom that “you can’t fatten a pig on market day”, this time the Liberals are trying to force-feed their policy pig en route to the market.

    Dutton has been much more effective pitching his fuel excise promise. The decision to eschew Labor’s budgeted tax cuts for an immediate reduction at the bowser was bold, instinctive and entirely consistent with the Coalition’s outer-metropolitan electoral strategy.

    It took until the second week, but the daily scenes of Dutton pumping petrol into cars – “and utes” as he always adds – is steadily reinforcing his message, however wearying it has become for the travelling press party.

    The comfort of incumbents

    The first leaders’ debate highlighted this difference. Both leaders remained poised and polished (especially creditable by Dutton given he learned of his father’s heart attack immediately beforehand).

    But Albanese simply had more to talk about, more first-term achievements and more commitments on his future shopping list. Dutton articulated grievances without providing many policy solutions.

    The contest on the economy was a draw: Dutton conjures up Albanese’s non-delivered pledge on power prices, while Albanese points to high employment and downward trends on inflation and interest rates.

    All this has played out against the backdrop of the Donald Trump tariff wars. Like previous mid-campaign crises – Tampa in 2001 and, for those with very long memories, the Kennedy assassination in 1963 – global uncertainty reinforces an Australian incumbent. Albanese’s measured response struck the right note.

    Dutton has repeatedly tried to insert himself into the tariff story – difficult for an opposition – but had to take risks to do so. His assertion that AUKUS and ANZUS should be somehow involved was left hanging once Liberal icon John Howard made clear he disagreed.

    With policy speeches delivered, and rival policies on housing finally released, the campaign is in its final week, interrupted by Easter, before early voting starts.

    The challenge for Albanese will be to maintain his momentum, in all his unflashy, incrementalist style. Labor is likely to ramp up its Dutton-Trump comparison. Dutton will need to put further flesh on the bones of putting Australia “back on track”.

    Stephen Mills was a staff member (1986-91) for Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke and since 2015 has volunteered for local Labor election campaigns.

    – ref. Half way through the campaign, how are the major party leaders faring? – https://theconversation.com/half-way-through-the-campaign-how-are-the-major-party-leaders-faring-254387

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –