How German media attention idealises female Ukrainian refugees CC BY-ND  — Ukrainian refugee with a child leaves the country at the Slovakian border fleeing Russian aggression against Ukraine, February 2022. Yanosh Nemesh/ShutterstockAccording to the latest available data, around 3.7 million Ukrainians are internally displaced, while nearly 6.5 million have registered as refugees globally. With 1.13 million, Germany has taken in the largest cohort. Swift and decisive measures were taken to bring Ukrainian refugees into Germany in 2022: shortly after the Russian offensive began, Ukrainian arrivals were granted immediate employment rights and social benefits, including medical care. Unlike other asylum seekers in Germany, Ukrainians have also been permitted to travel back and forth to their country of origin without losing their entitlements. These expedited policy changes granted Ukrainian refugees privileges that were not extended to others. For example, in 2015, many Syrian refugees who had travelled on foot through the Balkans, Hungary and Austria were pushed back at the German border after Germany decided to reintroduce border controls. This unequal treatment shows how Ukrainian refugees have been positioned as uniquely deserving arrivals to Europe. Ukraine’s martial law also prohibits most men aged 18-60 from leaving the country, meaning the majority of international refugees are women and children. Studies have shown that gender plays a significant role in the experiences of displaced people. It can influence policy decisions that directly affect them, and impacts how they are represented, understood and integrated into host countries. Our research, published in December 2023, set out to interrogate how Ukrainian women are portrayed in German public media, and what this can tell us about how Germany perceives its refugee population. Gendered depictions of Ukrainian refugees In our study, we analysed 79 articles on female Ukrainian refugees from two high circulation German news outlets, Der Spiegel and Die Zeit, published during the first year of the latest Ukrainian conflict. We found that the dominant discourse presents Ukrainian women in Germany as keeping children safe, and as willing, able workers who will contribute to their host’s economy. Notably, early reports also paid significant attention to Ukrainian women’s aspirations, future plans, and dreams, as well as the practical compromises they make in pursuing them. Some of these attributes are emphasised in profiles that have appeared elsewhere in German media. The welcome guest: ‘Mary Poppins’ refugees We identified and explored five key characteristics that appear in the media depictions of displaced Ukrainian women: they are familiar, educated, hard-working, grateful and welcome. One interview with Lena, a Ukrainian woman, is recounted as follows: “‘We are very grateful,’ says Lena. Every few minutes she says thank you for anything or everything.” Lena is also quoted as saying “we want to be useful for Germany and for ourselves.” The article states that she wants to “learn the language, earn money and pay taxes. She wants to be a part of this society and give something back as soon as she can.” Ukrainian women are often presented as productive participants in the German labour market, or they express their aspiration to do so in the near future. Another interviewee says “I have completed my B1 German course, now B2 follows… I’ve already been promised a job in a hospital near Frankfurt am Main, but I still need the professional permit and a few other documents. It takes a long time.” Ukrainian women are also portrayed as willing to assist with maintaining their hosts’ ideals and values of cooperation, diplomacy and education. For instance, one Ukrainian woman is quoted as saying “I myself am more useful to Ukraine when I’m here. I earn money with my work and send some of it home, among other things, I donate to the Ukrainian army.” It is crucial to note that these interviews and stories are filtered through media outlets for a German audience. One journalist’s reporting on a Ukrainian woman’s desire to study at university is especially telling: “It’s as if the 22-year-old wanted to give a personal response to the violence unleashed by Russia in her homeland: more education, more international understanding, more Europe.” While such reporting may, admirably, aim to humanise refugees, it can lead to unrealistic expectations. Focusing on their potential for providing economic or cultural benefits can obscure the challenges they face as humans seeking shelter from conflict. Mary Poppins arrives in London. IMDB Over the course of our research, we concluded that the ideal female refugee would be something akin to Mary Poppins, from the well known Disney 1964 musical fantasy film of the same name: she arrives unexpectedly, brings little baggage, is well spoken, well mannered, and able to fit into her hosts’ lives, leaving only positive impacts. She is, in her own words, “practically perfect in every way”. Idealised stereotypes cut both ways Portrayals such as these are ultimately harmful to all displaced people. By uplifting one group, they cast a shadow on those who do not fit the bill, but they also raise expectations of the contributions refugees can make. Those who are unable to fit into this “practically perfect” category for a variety of reasons – be they economic, professional or cultural – may find themselves excluded or vilified. Likewise, idealised constructions of Ukrainian women displaced by conflict may also work against them, obscuring the important challenges they face, such as the slow and difficult process of getting Ukrainian qualifications recognised in Germany. Our study aims to sidestep the “common sense” ideas about displaced people that often dominate public policy and debate. These tend to focus more on what refugees can bring to the table than their intrinsic right to universal protection. Las personas firmantes no son asalariadas, ni consultoras, ni poseen acciones, ni reciben financiación de ninguna compañía u organización que pueda obtener beneficio de este artículo, y han declarado carecer de vínculos relevantes más allá del cargo académico citado anteriormente. ... The Conversation 6 min ⟶
Os laços da Brasil Paralelo, que nega crise climática, na vice-prefeitura de Porto Alegre CC BY-ND  — Vice-prefeito é apresentador na produtora; instituto de empresário ligado à BP tem atuado na cidade e recebido doações ... Agência Pública 9 min ⟶
Le commérage de bureau : un moyen précieux – mais risqué – de nouer des relations CC BY-ND  — Les commérages ne sont pas de simples bavardages, mais une monnaie sociale précieuse (et risquée) ShutterstockLes ragots circulent abondamment dans les bureaux et cafétérias de nos lieux de travail, souvent pour occuper les temps morts. Mais ces conversations omniprésentes et intrigantes ont peut-être une influence plus importante que nous ne le pensons sur nos relations professionnelles. Les ragots sont-ils une voie vers l’amitié ou un moyen infaillible de se faire des ennemis sur notre lieu de travail ? Il s’avère que la réponse dépend de la manière dont le destinataire des commérages perçoit les intentions de la personne qui les colporte. Les ragots sur le lieu de travail – définis comme des discussions informelles et évaluatives sur des collègues absents – sont omniprésents mais souvent mal compris. Traditionnellement désapprouvés et considérés comme improductifs, voire déviants, les recherches récentes brossent un tableau plus complexe des commérages. Alors que certaines études laissent entendre que les commérages favorisent les amitiés entre collègues, d’autres suggèrent qu’ils sapent les relations sur le lieu de travail. Nos recherches indiquent que ces résultats apparemment contradictoires résultent d’une mauvaise compréhension des nuances quant à la manière dont les ragots façonnent les relations sociales sur le lieu de travail. Nous nous sommes concentrés sur les destinataires des ragots – les auditeurs – et nous leur avons demandé comment ils percevaient ces échanges et quel était l’effet des ragots sur leurs relations avec leurs collègues. Comprendre les ragots sur le lieu de travail Les chercheurs utilisent trois cadres ou concepts pour comprendre les ragots sur le lieu de travail. La « perspective de l’échange » soutient que les commérages lient les collègues les uns aux autres par une sorte de quid pro quo. Un collègue peut offrir des morceaux d’information en espérant un soutien social et des informations privilégiées en retour. À lire aussi : Devrait-on former des amitiés au travail ? Voici ce que dit la science La « perspective de l’information sur la réputation » se concentre sur la manière dont les ragots façonnent l’opinion des destinataires sur les cibles – les personnes sur lesquelles portent les ragots. Des informations vitales peuvent être partagées pour mettre en garde les autres contre des personnalités toxiques ou pour signaler qu’une personne est particulièrement digne de confiance. Enfin, la « valence des ragots » indique si les ragots transmettent des informations positives ou négatives sur leur cible. L’effet des ragots Notre étude porte sur la manière dont les ragots affectent la perception qu’a le destinataire de la personne qui en est l’auteur. Les données ont été recueillies auprès des participants à l’aide de deux techniques : des rapports d’incidents écrits et des entretiens de suivi. Cette approche a permis aux chercheurs d’obtenir des descriptions détaillées de la manière dont les ragots sur le lieu de travail affectent les relations interpersonnelles du point de vue du destinataire. Nos résultats montrent que la perception qu’ont les destinataires de ces échanges est très importante. En particulier, leur interprétation des intentions de la commère peut déclencher une réaction en chaîne. Si le destinataire juge les intentions de la commère comme authentiques et sincères – une manière de s’ouvrir à son opinion réelle sur ses collègues – les commérages peuvent favoriser une nouvelle amitié ou en raviver une ancienne. Lorsqu’une personne dit, par exemple, « Je trouve ça tellement frustrant quand Mark me rabaisse comme ça », le destinataire a été mis au courant des véritables sentiments de la commère à l’égard de Mark, un collègue qui pose problème. Cela crée un lien plus fort, surtout si le destinataire est d’accord avec l’opinion exprimée. Curieusement – et peut-être de manière un peu inquiétante – nous avons constaté que les ragots négatifs étaient un moyen plus efficace de nouer des amitiés que les ragots positifs, à condition que les intentions soient interprétées comme étant authentiques. À lire aussi : L’arroseur arrosé : Quand les témoins de dénigrements au travail le font payer à leur auteur Si le destinataire évalue l’intention comme étant prosociale – en d’autres termes, s’il partage des informations exactes et précieuses qui profitent à d’autres personnes que le commère – la confiance s’accroît et les relations entre collègues sont renforcées. Comme l’a expliqué un participant de la recherche : J’ai remarqué que la source est le genre de personne qui ne dit que des choses positives sur les gens […] C’est pourquoi je pense que j’ai commencé à lui faire confiance parce qu’il ne dénigre pas trop les gens. Si les intentions de la personne qui colporte les ragots sont perçues comme étant intéressées, la confiance du destinataire diminue et il y a peu de chances que les deux personnes deviennent amies. Un participant a expliqué : Ils ont dit cela pour nuire à sa réputation et provoquer un drame sur le lieu de travail. Un autre a déclaré : Après l’avoir entendu raconter des ragots sur une autre serveuse, je me suis sentie très mal à l’aise. J’avais peur qu’il dise des choses négatives sur moi si je faisais des erreurs. Pas seulement des bavardages Notre étude confirme l’idée que les commérages ne sont pas de simples bavardages, mais une monnaie sociale précieuse (et risquée). Nous nous livrons souvent à des commérages sans même réfléchir à la raison pour laquelle nous le faisons. Mais nos résultats montrent que les autres personnes prêtent beaucoup d’attention aux motivations qui nous poussent à raconter des commérages. Étant donné que nous avons peu de contrôle sur la façon dont nos intentions sont interprétées par les autres, cette étude nous rappelle opportunément qu’il faut réfléchir avant de partager des ragots. Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche. ... The Conversation 12 min ⟶
Wits students set up Palestinian solidarity encampment CC BY-ND  — University senate expected to meet this week ... GroundUp 14 min ⟶
Pemex waste contaminates Mexican communities while talking ‘sustainability’ CC BY-ND  — When the machines and men came to bury toxic sludge on a property near her house in the Mexican state of Tabasco, Lorenza Castro Castro at first thought it was a kind of fertile soil. Companies contracted by Mexico’s state-owned oil giant, Petróleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, had come with truckloads of black earth and set […] ... Mongabay 29 min ⟶
Hold my ointment: Wild orangutan observed healing wound with medicinal plant CC BY-ND  — JAKARTA — Self-medicating in animals has been reported before, but scientists noted something particularly special when they observed a wild orangutan in Sumatra treating a wound on its face with a plant known to have healing properties. It was June 22, 2022, when the research team in the Suaq Balimbing area of Indonesia’s Gunung Leuser […] ... Mongabay 29 min ⟶
Dy raporte zbulojnë një rrjet të gjerë të portaleve dezinformuese ruse CC BY-ND  —   Shërbimi francez Viginum, si dhe rrjeti evropian kundër dezinformimit EDMO, në raportet e tyre përshkruan tërësisht rrjetin e strukturuar dhe të koordinuar rus të faqeve që përhapin dezinformata në Evropë dhe vende të tjera anembanë botës. Të krijuara sipas… ... Vertetmates 33 min ⟶
Wars cause widespread pollution and environmental damage − here’s how to address it in peace accords CC BY-ND  — Fragments of Russian shells piled at a farm in the Chernihiv region of northern Ukraine. Volodymyr Tarasov /Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty ImagesAs wars grind on in Ukraine and Gaza, another location ravaged by conflict is taking steps to implement a historic peace agreement. From the mid-1960s through 2016, Colombia was torn by conflict between the government, leftist guerrilla movements and right-wing paramilitary groups. Now the government and rebels are working to carry out a sweeping accord that addresses many critical sectors, including environmental damages and restoration. Notre Dame University researchers Richard Marcantonio and Josefina Echavarria Alvarez study peace and conflict issues, including their effects on the environment. They currently are advising negotiations between the Colombian government and several rebel factions over wartime damage to soil, water and other natural resources. They explain that while Colombia’s transition from war to peace has been difficult, the accord offers a model for addressing the ravages of war in places such as Gaza and Ukraine. Is it common for peace settlements to address environmental harm? Few agreements include environmental provisions, and even fewer see them carried out, even though research shows that many drivers of conflict can be directly or indirectly related to the environment. We work with a research program at the University of Notre Dame called the Peace Accords Matrix, which monitors the implementation of comprehensive peace accords in 34 countries worldwide. Only 10 of the accords have natural resource management provisions agreements, and these typically have not triggered major steps to protect the environment. Deforestation and conflict have plagued Colombia’s Caqueta region, shown in 2023, for decades. Both guerrillas and criminals are clearing land for farming, ranching and other pursuits. Juancho Torres/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images How is the Colombia accord different? Colombia’s is seen as the most comprehensive peace accord that has been signed to date. It considers issues ranging from security to social justice and political participation, in great detail. The accord acknowledges that a peaceful postwar society requires not only respect for human rights but also “protection of the environment, respect for nature and its renewable and nonrenewable resources and biodiversity.” More than 20% of the commitments in the agreement have an environmental connection. They fall into four main categories: – Adapting and responding to climate change – Preserving natural resources and habitats – Protecting environmental health through measures such as access to clean water – Process issues, such as ensuring that communities can participate in decisions about rural programs and resource management There also are gaps. For example, many protected areas have been deforested for ranching and coca production in the postaccord period. And there are no provisions addressing toxic pollution, an issue other agreements also neglect. Often there are power vacuums during transitions between war and peace, when government agencies are working to reestablish their operations. Natural resources and environmental health need protection during these phases. In Sierra Leone, for example, resource extraction by foreign companies drastically ramped up immediately after the Lome Peace Agreement eventually ended that nation’s civil war in 2002. Companies exploited a lack of governance and support in the rural areas and often mined metals illegally or hazardously without any regulatory oversight. Today these areas still struggle with mining impacts, including contaminated drinking water and fish, the primary protein source in the area. What is the environmental toll of war in Ukraine? The damage is vast: There’s air, water and soil contamination, deforestation and enormous quantities of waste, including ruined buildings, burned-out cars and thousands of tons of destroyed military equipment. Russia’s destruction of the Kakhovka Dam flooded villages, destroyed crops and wrecked irrigation systems. Aerial footage shows the scale of damage from the collapse of the Kakhovka Dam in a Russian-controlled area of Ukraine on June 8, 2023. The cost estimates are staggering. A joint commission of the World Bank, the government of Ukraine and other institutions currently estimate direct damages at roughly US$152 billion. In addition, cleaning up sites, rebuilding infrastructure and other repairs could cost more than $486 billion over the next decade, as of late 2023. That figure rises every day that the war continues. There’s broad interest in a green and sustainable reconstruction that would include steps like using sustainable building materials and powering the electricity grid with renewable energy. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been adamant that Russia must pay for the damage it has caused. It’s still unclear how this would work, although some U.S. and European lawmakers support seizing frozen Russian assets held in Western banks to help cover the cost. Promotional video for a November 2023 European Commission conference on a green recovery in Ukraine. There is a legal basis for holding Russia accountable. In 2022, the U.N. General Assembly adopted a set of principles for protecting the environment during armed conflicts. Among other existing statutes, they draw on a protocol to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 that prohibits using “methods or means of warfare which are intended, or may be expected, to cause widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment.” There has been only modest discussion so far of how to integrate these principles into a formal peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia. But a working group that included Ukrainian and European Union officials and former leaders from Sweden, Finland, Ireland and Brazil has recommended a framework for addressing environmental damage and holding perpetrators accountable. What environmental impacts are known or asserted in Gaza? Environmental damage in Gaza also is devastating. The U.N. estimated in early 2024 that over 100,000 cubic meters (26 million gallons) of untreated sewage and wastewater were flowing daily onto land or into the Mediterranean Sea. Gaza’s drinking water system was insufficient before the war and has been further weakened by military strikes. On average, Gazans now have access to about 3 liters of water per person per day – less than 1 gallon. Thousands of buildings have been destroyed, spreading hazardous materials such as asbestos. Every bomb that’s dropped disperses toxic materials that will persist in the soil unless it’s remediated. Simultaneous environmental and infrastructure impacts, such as water and power shortages, are contributing to larger crises, such as the collapse of Gaza’s health care system, that will have long-lasting human costs. Palestinians collect drinking water in Rafah, Gaza Strip, on Oct. 28, 2023. AP Photo/Hatem Ali How can future peace accords address these impacts? Integrating the environment into peace accords isn’t easy. Resources such as energy, clean soil and water are vital for life, which is precisely why military forces may seek to control or destroy them. This is happening in both Ukraine and Gaza. Peace negotiators tend to focus on social, political and economic issues, rather than environmental reparations. But leaving environmental damage unresolved until after a peace accord is signed keeps people who have been displaced and marginalized by conflict in precarious positions. It may even cause fighting to resume. According to the U.N. Environment Program, at least 40% of all wars within states in the past 60 years have had a link to natural resources. In those cases, fighting was twice as likely to resume within five years after conflict ended. We see some lessons for future negotiations. First, it’s important for accords to recognize environmental harm as one of war’s main consequences and to acknowledge that a healthy environment is essential for sustainable livelihoods and peace. Second, connecting environmental provisions with other issues, such as rural reform and political participation, can create better, more sustainable and equal conditions for reestablishing democracy. The Colombia accords are an example. Third, it is important to clearly define goals, such as what infrastructure and institutions need to be rebuilt, who is in charge of getting those tasks done, and the timetable for doing it. This can help ensure that environmental restoration doesn’t become a secondary goal. Fourth, the international community has an important role to play in monitoring and verifying environmental restoration and providing financial and technical support. Foreign donors have already pledged $66 billion for rebuilding Ukraine and have said that they will require grantees to follow strict environmental standards in order to receive financing. Reconstructing nations and simultaneously regenerating communities and ecosystems after wars is a daunting mission, but it’s also an opportunity to build something better. We see Ukraine and Gaza as potential test cases for addressing war’s toll on the environment and creating a more sustainable future. The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. ... The Conversation 47 min ⟶
By not lip-syncing Amy Winehouse’s songs, actress Marisa Abela confronts impossible expectations in ... CC BY-ND  — Actress Marisa Abela and actor Eddie Marsan film a scene for the Amy Winehouse biopic 'Back to Black' in London. Neil Mockford/GC Images via Getty ImagesLike Amy Winehouse, “Back to Black,” the new biopic about the late British singer, has been no stranger to controversy. In the case of the film, opinion has been fiercely split about director Sam Taylor-Johnson’s decision to have actress Marisa Abela sing – instead of lip-sync to – Winehouse’s recordings. Some viewers have lauded Abela’s voice. Others lamented that she sounds “nothing like” Winehouse, or questioned why anyone would even try to imitate such a “unique” voice. As a music scholar who studies voice and identity, I see two elements stoking this dissonance. First, Winehouse’s distinctive sound came from her own imitative abilities: She borrowed from a long history of mainly Black women singers. Second, some viewers seem to want Abela’s voice to be a carbon copy of Winehouse’s. But as I’ve learned in my research, the art of vocal impersonation is less about perfect replication; rather, it’s most successful when performers mimic specific aspects of a singer’s sound that listeners can easily identify. Actress Marisa Abela sings an Amy Winehouse track. Imitation and appropriation Winehouse, who died in 2011 at the age of 27, did not introduce a wholly new sound into the world during her brief career. The 2006 album “Back to Black,” a collaboration with Mark Ronson, was a consciously retro work. Coming on the heels of Winehouse’s 2003 debut album, “Frank,” it wove together vibrant sounds from soul, neo-soul, funk, jazz, blues and R&B – genres all created by Black musicians and communities. Yale professor Daphne Brooks has argued that Winehouse’s style appropriated its core elements from Black women singers. In Winehouse’s husky voice, Brooks heard Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, Lauryn Hill and others. In the singer’s turbulent personal life, Brooks saw echoes of the blues women of the 1920s and 1930s who suffered through addiction and trauma. And in Winehouse’s signature look – her “beehive, satin gowns and little black gloves” – Brooks saw the elegant, polished girl groups of the 1950s and 1960s, such as the Shirelles. Brooks also saw parallels to Sophie Tucker, a white Jewish singer and comedian who rose to fame in the 1920s and who, like Winehouse, made a career borrowing from the performance style of Black singers. Winehouse didn’t hide the fact that she was paying homage to music and musicians she admired. She even alluded to the difficult cultural tensions her work evoked, telling Hot Press in 2007 that she was interested in “old Motown, The Shangri-Las, Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, Ray Charles.” Nonetheless, her critics were blunt about the appropriation in the album “Back to Black,” with The New Yorker’s Sasha Frere-Jones comparing Winehouse’s singing to “some sort of blackface.” Frere-Jones wondered whether the title, “Back to Black,” was “meant to be literal.” Abela has complicated the equation with her extra layer of imitation: her Winehouse voice on top of Winehouse’s own retro sound. Capturing a singer’s ‘essence’ The portrayal of a lost and treasured performer is tricky in other ways, too. Actors are expected to live up to the memories fans cling to. Lip-syncing to the voice of the late celebrity, as Naomi Ackie did in the Whitney Houston movie “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” can skirt the issue altogether. Occasionally, like Rami Malek’s portrayal of Freddie Mercury in “Bohemian Rhapsody,” actors lip-sync to a fusion of their own voice with that of the singer they’re playing. But directors have some actors do their own vocal impersonating. Renée Zellweger sang as Judy Garland in “Judy,” Austin Butler sang Elvis’ earlier tracks himself in “Elvis.” Like them, Marisa Abela worked closely with a vocal coach. Coaches reject the implication that actors are doing cheap impressions or impersonations. Eric Vetro, who worked with Timothée Chalamet for the upcoming Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown,” told Entertainment Weekly that Chalamet is “taking on all the characteristics of Dylan’s voice and his mannerisms and his speech patterns, and bringing that into the music – so that when you hear Timothée do the music, what you’re really getting is the essence of Bob Dylan.” Likewise, Anne-Marie Speed, who coached Abela, told Rolling Stone, “You want [the vocal performance] to be very close, but not an impression.” Actor Timothée Chalamet on location for the Bob Dylan biopic ‘A Complete Unknown’ in New York City. Gotham/GC Images via Getty Images Impressionism, not replication Actors who successfully play dead singers are really engaging in the art of impersonation, akin to the hordes of Elvis impersonators in Las Vegas. Audiences know they’re not watching the real person. But they do want actors to make a nod to the vocal style, mannerisms and aura of the artist. Ten years ago, I conducted research with voice scientist Ron Scherer to find out what was going on when one singer tried to sound like another. I interviewed and recorded Canadian singer Véronic DiCaire before a performance of her Vegas impersonation show “50 Voices.” In her impressive repertoire, she covered a range of singers: Adele, Whitney Houston and even Amy Winehouse. When embodying Tina Turner, DiCaire told me that she needed very high heels to imitate Turner’s posture. When impersonating other singers, she adjusted the part of her vocal tract where she felt vibrations. For Celine Dion, she explained how she initially wanted to locate the voice in her nose. But her teacher also pointed out that Dion “sings with this long neck.” So her impersonation involved a mix of adjustments in posture and vocal technique. Using the recordings I’d made, Scherer and I compared spectrographic images – depictions of a sound’s acoustic structure in graph form – of DiCaire’s own voice with her impersonations. Then we compared her impersonations with spectrographic images of the original artists. We found that DiCaire was not producing exact replicas of the original voices she was covering. But she was hitting specific highlights of their vocal sounds, like the pronunciation of certain vowels or consonants. She’d also adjust the rate of her vibrato – and reshape her vocal tract – to align her timbre more closely with Adele’s or Lady Gaga’s at key points in a song. One mixed review of the film “Back to Black” critiques it as “a crude highlight reel” of Winehouse’s career, though the author praises Abela’s “fine impression of the late singer.” But our research hints that singing impersonation is just that: a highlight reel. In an impressionist painting, the image lies in the artist’s ordering of many details, best viewed from a distance. If you look too closely, it all falls apart. Katherine Meizel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. ... The Conversation 47 min ⟶
Rap ‘beef’ as public spectacle is a dangerous game that artists rarely win CC BY-ND  — Canadian police and television reporters gather outside the rapper Drake's Toronto mansion after a shooting there in May 2024. (Andrew Francis Wallace/Toronto Star via Getty ImagesThe shooting of a security guard near the Toronto home of Drake is the latest chapter in the ongoing beef between the Canadian rapper and Pulitizer Prize-winning rival Kendrick Lamar. Rap battles have historically been a way for emcees to display their lyrical superiority against one another through the art of the diss, or disrespect. True to the name, disses have always attempted wittiness by many means, including threats of violence and humor. Since hip-hop has become global, media and corporations have used the spectacle of violence – including rap battles – for financial gain. In fact, shortly after the release of the song “Like That,” featuring a pointed, aggressive verse from Lamar, billboards appeared in New York and Los Angeles that read, “Hip-Hop is a competitive sport.” These billboards were sponsored by Spotify and RapCaviar, the service that curates Spotify’s popular hip-hop playlist. But the history of violence projected onto rappers and the profitability of their deaths suggest that Spotify and RapCaviar might have more to gain from stoking this conflict than the artists. More people arguably sought the music of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. after their tragic deaths in the late 1990s. Since then, rappers like Pop Smoke and Juice WRLD, to name a couple, became more popular after they died. As a hip-hop artist who studies the ways Black art and Black people are exploited and erased from history, the widespread promotion of beef and conflicts between rappers is dangerous. Conflict may be lucrative for some parties, and it’s also unlikely to be eliminated from the culture, but Spotify’s invitation to view hip-hop as a competitive sport for its global audience makes it especially troublesome. ‘Battle royale’? The feud between Lamar and Drake has been brewing for years and gained publicity in 2023 when Drake and J. Cole teamed up for the song “First-Person Shooter.” On that song, Cole dismisses attempts by critics to pit the best-selling rappers against one another: “Love when they argue the hardest emcee. / Is it K-Dot? Is it Aubrey? Or me? / We the big three like we started a league, / but right now, I feel like Muhammad Ali.” Lamar apparently didn’t like the comparison. In a song released in March 2024, Kendrick tried to set himself apart from J. Cole and Drake on “Like That”: “Motherf–k the big three, n–ga, it’s just big me.” Given the long histories of witty wordplay among rappers, it’s understandable that hip-hop fans are interested in who claims the crown as the best among their favorite rappers. Longtime fans can recall the deftness with which Count Coolout described in exaggerated terms about make-believe universes where people rocked to the “disco-mania” of the 1980s in a place called “Rhythmvania.” More famously, Roxanne Shanté kicked off “The Roxanne Wars” in 1984. The rap group “U.T.F.O.” wrote a song about a “stuck up” girl they called “Roxanne.” The then-14-year-old rapper took on the name and released her “Roxanne’s Revenge,” which proclaimed her superior rap skills. Drake in Miami on March 22, 2024. 305pics/GC Images Today’s disses continue a tradition that goes back to the earliest days of hip-hop, only now for a worldwide audience. The current presentation of rap battles as public spectacle pits modern-day rappers like Drake and Lamar against one another in contests akin to what Ralph Ellison described as a “battle royale.” In Ellison’s landmark novel, “Invisible Man,” wealthy white men gather a group of Black men and cheer them on to fight until only one is left standing. For his efforts, the winner receives a prize. But given what is required to win, it’s hard to say if he really won anything. Diss tracks beyond rap The flurry of diss songs and the media coverage of each salvo reveal something about the values of the artists, their audiences and the industry. The disses that audiences have been eagerly consuming as each track is released include violence, victim-blaming for childhood assault, accusations of pedophilia, misogyny, homophobia and transphobia. While fans reward the disrespect with attention, and streaming and social media platforms make money, people who are vulnerable to the kinds of attacks the artists are using against one another are left to reckon with harmful words lobbed by global superstars and the “jokes” people are making in response. The songs and media coverage also reveal how even perceived disses are being promoted in other musical genres and across cultures. In Taylor Swift’s latest album, for instance, one of the songs on “The Tortured Poets Department” is rumored to be about the longstanding feud between Swift and Kim Kardashian and her former husband Ye (formerly Kanye West). The rumors prompted Vogue to declare 2024 the “Year of the Diss Track.” Kendrick Lamar performs in Tennessee in June 2023. Astrida Valigorsky/Getty Images The diss has even made its way to the 2024 presidential election. President Joe Biden released an ad online dissing GOP rival Donald Trump. The ad shows Biden with Vice President Kamala Harris and has Kendrick rapping in the background: “It’s always been about love and hate, now let me say I’m the biggest hater. / I hate the way that you walk, the way that you talk, / I hate the way that you dress./ But in politics and sports such as professional wrestling, trash talking is often understood by audiences and competitors as a performance and not reality. In reality, if rap is viewed as a competitive sport akin to professional wrestling, and Spotify invites us to gawk at it, then rappers might be more like the replaceable items used to make the entertainment more exciting – the chair broken across someone’s head, the ring that wrestlers get slammed on or the turnbuckle against which an opponent’s face is smashed. When something terrible ultimately happens, it’s barely considered a tragedy when they’re destroyed – and there’s not even a moment’s pause in the streaming of their music after they’re gone. A.D. Carson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. ... The Conversation 47 min ⟶
Vatican conference on ‘climate resilience’ is the latest in a long line of environment initiatives b... CC BY-ND  — A march for climate action in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican in June 2015. Pope Francis praised the participants, who included Christians, Muslims, Jews and Hindus. AP Photo/Andrew MedichiniFrom May 15-17, 2024, American leaders including California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healy will be attending a global conference on environmental issues. The host? The Vatican. The summit, “From Climate Crisis to Climate Resilience,” will focus on human adaptation, not just trying to mitigate climate change. “We need to embark on building climate resilience so that people can bend the emissions curve and bounce back from the climate crisis safer, healthier, wealthier to a sustainable world,” the Pontifical Academy of Sciences said in a statement announcing the workshop. The Catholic Church might seem a surprising institution to convene a climate change event. But many saints, activists and religious leaders have called on their faith to inspire care for the Earth. Pope Francis in particular has been vocal about the risks of climate change, especially its impact on the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people. Here are five aspects about Francis’ views – and Catholicism’s broader relationship with the environment – that scholars have written about for The Conversation. 1. God’s creation Care for the Earth has a long Catholic lineage, dating back centuries. Hildegard of Bingen did it all: music, botany, medicine, drama and theology. Miniatur aus dem Rupertsberger Codex des Liber Scivias/Wikimedia Commons “One of the basic beliefs of Christianity is that the material world was created directly by God, and thus fundamentally connected with God’s goodness,” explained Joanne M. Pierce, a religious studies scholar at College of the Holy Cross. One saint who took that teaching to heart was Hildegard of Bingen, who died in the 12th century. A German expert on herbal medicines and botany, she was also a writer, and she “espoused a kind of ‘green’ theology, called viriditas.” Another Catholic saint famous for his love of nature is Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology: an Italian friar described as treating animals “with the same dignity as human beings.” Read more: Caring for the environment has a long Catholic lineage – hundreds of years before Pope Francis 2. Faith – and reason In fact, when Pope Francis published an encyclical on the environment in 2015, he took its title from one of his namesake saint’s poems: “Laudato si.” The encyclical links concern for climate change with Catholic teachings. But it is not just meant for Catholics; Francis also makes science-based arguments that people can appreciate with or without religious faith, noted Lawrence Torcello, a philosopher at the Rochester Institute of Technology. “Laudato si” is a notable “example of how reason ought to be incorporated into public discourse,” Torcello wrote. In a time as polarized as our own, arguments need to be framed in a way that anyone can understand, even if they don’t agree, “regardless of private religious or parochial commitments.” Read more: The pope as philosopher: faith, climate change and public reason 3. An influential messenger Similarly, University of Michigan business scholars Andrew Hoffman and Jenna White zoomed in on the pope’s ability to speak to people beyond divides: Catholics and non-Catholics, Republicans and Democrats, people who care deeply about climate change and others that are skeptical about it. In the United States, they pointed out, debates over climate change are often more about worldviews than about scientific proof. “Calling on people to protect the global climate because it is sacred … will create far more personal commitment than a government call for action on economic grounds or an activist’s call on environmental grounds,” the pair wrote. Read more: The pope as messenger: making climate change a moral issue 4. Environmental front line Francis has often highlighted climate change’s unequal impact on people across the globe. That was on display in 2019, when the Vatican hosted a “Synod of the Amazon” – a region especially threatened by environmental destruction. “As a theologian who studies religious responses to the environmental crisis, I find the pope’s effort to learn from the indigenous people of the Amazon noteworthy,” wrote University of Dayton professor Vincent Miller. “Some might dismiss this synod as just a meeting,” he acknowledged. But “the Synod of the Amazon marks a significant shift from high-minded papal exhortations about taking climate action to a global religious community that gives voice to those living on the front lines of ecological destruction.” Read more: Pope affirms Catholic Church's duty to indigenous Amazonians hurt by climate change 5. Warnings and wonder In 2023, Francis released an addendum to “Laudato Si.” Like the original document, it linked environmental, social and technological challenges – such as by rebuking wealthy countries and individualistic attitudes for ignoring climate change’s impact. In the pope’s eyes, “all life exists in relationships,” wrote Lisa Sideris, an environmental ethicist at UC Santa Barbara: nature, human beings and the divine. “Francis’ social critique, I believe, stems from his vision of life – one filled with awe for the depth of meaning and mystery to be found in an interconnected world.” Part of the problem, as Francis presents it, is that people have forgotten just how deeply bound together we are – a theme likely to be front and center at this week’s summit. Read more: The pope's new letter isn't just an 'exhortation' on the environment – for Francis, everything is connected, which is a source of wonder This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives. ... The Conversation 47 min ⟶
Asian Jewish Americans have a double reason to celebrate their heritage in May CC BY-ND  — May is a reminder of how diverse two American communities are. Cavan Images via Getty ImagesMay is both Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and Jewish American Heritage Month. Two entirely separate commemorations for two entirely separate communities, right? Think again. Not only do Asian American Jews exist, but we come from a variety of places and come to Judaism in a range of ways. Centuries of history Some Asian American Jews come from long-standing Jewish communities in Asia. The two most famous of these are the Kaifeng Jews of the Henan Province in China and the Jewish communities of India. Today, the Kaifeng Jews are a tiny number of people to which very few, if any, Chinese American Jews trace their heritage. The community likely arrived in China from India or Persia around 1000 C.E. and probably had about 5,000 people at its peak. Indian Jews, however, are another matter. In fact, they consist of three separate communities: The Bene Israel, the Jews of Cochin and the Baghdadi Jews. Each arrived in India at different moments – with the Baghdahi community being the most recent – and therefore their traditions sometimes differ. For instance, the Jews of Cochin are known for their musical traditions, and the Bene Israel give particular importance to the Prophet Elijah. In 2020, there were about 4,800 Jews in India, but almost 85,000 Jews with Indian roots live in Israel and a few hundred in the United States. A Jewish man lights a lamp inside the Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue in Mumbai, India, after restoration work in 2019. AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade Indian Jewish communities have distinct cultures that come from living in a majority Hindu and Muslim society. Indian American Jewish artist Siona Benjamin, for example, creates art that fuses her American and Jewish identities with her Indian childhood – “inspired by both Indian miniature paintings and Jewish and Christian illuminated manuscripts,” as the Brooklyn Museum described her work. Figures in her paintings are often blue, reminiscent of Hindu depictions of incarnations of Vishnu, and they include images of lotus flowers. Multiple heritages Many other Asian American Jews are children of one Jewish parent and one non-Jewish Asian parent – like Angela Buchdahl, the Korean American rabbi of New York City’s Central Synagogue. Buchdahl has an Ashkenazi Jewish father, meaning that his ancestors came from Central or Eastern Europe, and a Korean Buddhist mother. Raised in a synagogue that her Jewish grandparents helped to found, Buchdahl has written and spoken publicly about the pain that she experienced as a teen and young adult when she was the only Asian person in Jewish spaces. At other times, she was not recognized as Jewish – for instance, by the Chabad rabbis on her undergraduate campus. Rabbi Angela Buchdahl speaks at an interfaith prayer vigil in New York after the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images She has also talked about moments when her family blended their heritages. During Passover, for example, the traditional plate for the Seder meal includes “maror”: bitter herbs to remind Jews of the pain of slavery. Many families use horseradish, but one year, Buchdahl’s mother swapped in kimchee. When the rabbi appeared on the PBS program “Finding Your Roots,” she talked about the resonances that she sees between Jewish and Korean Buddhist culture, such as respect for elders and education. It is this type of experience – growing up the child of an interfaith, interracial marriage – that sociologists Helen Kim and Noah Leavitt focus on in their 2016 book “JewAsian,” the first major study of Asian American Jews. ‘You’re Jewish?’ Other Asian American Jews were adopted into Jewish families, most of whom are white and Ashkenazi – an experience studied by the Adoption and Jewish Identity Project. Many families raising Asian American Jewish children face challenges that are shared with other transracial adoptive families, such as adoptive parents not knowing much, at least initially, about their child’s culture of origin. Some challenges, however, are more unique, such as the reality that Hebrew School and Chinese School are often at the same time. In fact, in my hometown when I was growing up, they were at the same time and in the same place, such that there was a Hebrew School-Chinese School car pool – but also such that no one could participate fully in both programs. In addition, Asian Jewish adoptees and other Jews of color face assumptions from many white Jews that Jews of color are not Jewish or are converts. Usually, children adopted into Jewish families do undergo a formal conversion. They grow up in Jewish homes, as familiar – or not – with Jewish traditions as people born into Judaism. Converting to Judaism Some Asian American Jews are adult converts to Judaism, like SooJi Min-Maranda, the Korean American executive director of Aleph: the Alliance for Jewish Renewal, a movement that trains and ordains Jewish leaders from a range of Jewish backgrounds. So am I, a half-South Asian scholar of American Jewish religious history. A sukkah is often covered with tree branches, reeds and other natural materials. Gilabrand/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA I usually do not look for ways to combine my Indian heritage and my Jewish religious life, but every now and then I find myself doing so – as at Hanukkah, when I have celebrated with deep-fried Indian food, and during the festival of Sukkot, when I have imagined making the holiday’s signature booths out of Indian bedspreads. As with all people who choose to live Jewish lives, Asian Americans convert to Judaism for many reasons. After conversion, we often find ourselves fending off the assumption that either we are not Jewish or that our conversions were motivated exclusively by marriage. In fact, there are enough Asian American Jews out there that several organizations serve them. For instance, the Lunar Collective “cultivates connection, belonging and visibility for Asian American Jews.” They host Seders and Friday night Shabbat events for Asian American Jews, along with a range of other programming. Other organizations, such as the Mitsui Collective, founded by Chinese American Jewish activist Yoshi Silverstein, address a broader range of the Jewish community but carefully include and make space for Asian Jewish experiences. Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and Jewish American Heritage Month come every May. They offer us a moment to remember that both of those communities are far more diverse than one might initially imagine, that they overlap, and that in their overlap, there is truly amazing diversity. Samira Mehta receives funding from the Henry Luce Foundation for a research initiative called Jews of Color: Histories and Futures. ... The Conversation 47 min ⟶
Why do religious teens engage in less risky behavior? A psychologist explains CC BY-ND  — Religious teens have lower rates of smoking, drinking and marijuana use. pastorscott/E+ via Getty imagesResearchers have long known that religious teens are less likely to engage in risky behavior. My team’s research explains why. We surveyed multiple times the religious beliefs and risk behavior of over 1,400 teens from Florida between 2010 and 2012. Although the majority of our sample self-identified as Christian, many of the teens identified as belonging to other religious groups or as nonreligious. Our work has focused on risky behaviors – such as using alcohol, drugs and tobacco – that are socially unacceptable, potentially harmful and often illegal for teens. What deters risky behavior We identified four conditions that can reduce risky behavior: low opportunity, appeal, acceptability and a high level of self-control. Take drinking alcohol, as an example. Teens are less likely to drink if they lack opportunities or if they view drinking to be unappealing, perhaps because the people who are important to them view drinking unfavorably. Teens are also less likely to drink alcohol if they find drinking to be morally unacceptable. Finally, teens are less likely to drink if they can control their impulses and resist the temptation or peer pressure. These four conditions overlap. For example, peer disapproval can reduce both the appeal and the moral acceptability of using alcohol. In addition, circumstances such as parent supervision that limit opportunity may also communicate that the behavior is morally unacceptable or unappealing. What religion offers Although religions differ in their beliefs, they all share three features that can affect the four conditions that deter risky behavior. First, all religions offer people a worldview, which is a set of beliefs that addresses questions such as why people exist, how they should behave and what happens after they die. Worldviews provide guidelines that can influence the appeal and moral acceptability of risky behavior. My research team found that religious teens – that is, teens who express stronger religious beliefs and display more frequent religious behavior – possess a stronger sense of meaning and a clear understanding of what is right versus wrong. These benefits of a worldview were also linked to lower rates of smoking, drinking and marijuana use. Second, religions often revolve around belief in an omniscient entity or God that monitors and can punish or reward behavior. Belief in God, in turn, can promote self-monitoring, self-control and ultimately less risky behavior. Religions bring together communities of people who can influence moral concepts and behavior. Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Third, religions are not just a set of beliefs; they represent communities of people who can influence thought and behavior. They can limit opportunities to engage in risky behavior. They can convey values, such as the idea that using alcohol is wrong, that influence the appeal and moral acceptability of risky behavior. And they can offer support and feelings of belongingness that can help youth with impulse control. What remains unknown Most research exploring the effects of religion on risk behavior examines Christians in the U.S. and Europe. We need more research from other cultures and other religions. It is noteworthy that our research suggests that the link between greater religiousness and less risky behavior is generally the same for boys and girls and across religious and racial groups. Research suggests that a sense of meaning and clear understanding of what is right and wrong is linked to engaging in less risky behavior even among nonreligious teens. Our interpretation is that having a strong worldview matters more than the source of the worldview. In addition, secular communities lack belief in an all-powerful God. But the larger point is that monitoring and rewards from authority figures can influence risky behavior. Secular communities may be able to reduce risky behavior in teens through greater monitoring and rewards and by adapting the other features of religion that appear to deter risky behavior in religious adolescents. The Research Brief is a short take on interesting academic work. James Shepperd receives funding from the Templeton Foundation (Grant No. 12829). ... The Conversation 47 min ⟶
Iron fuels immune cells – and it could make asthma worse CC BY-ND  — Iron carries oxygen throughout the body, but ironically, it can also make it harder to breathe for people with asthma. Hiroshi Watanabe/Stone via Getty ImagesYou’ve likely heard that you can get iron from eating spinach and steak. You might also know that it’s an essential trace element that is a major component of hemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen from your lungs to all parts of the body. A lesser known important function of iron is its involvement in generating energy for certain immune cells. In our lab’s newly published research, we found that blocking or limiting iron uptake in immune cells could potentially ease up the symptoms of an asthma attack caused by allergens. Immune cells that need iron During an asthma attack, harmless allergens activate immune cells in your lungs called ILC2s. This causes them to multiply and release large amounts of cytokines – messengers that immune cells use to communicate – and leads to unwanted inflammation. The result is symptoms such as coughing and wheezing that make it feel like someone is squeezing your airways. To assess the role iron plays in how ILC2s function in the lungs, we conducted a series of experiments with ILC2s in the lab. We then confirmed our findings in mice with allergic asthma and in patients with different severities of asthma. First, we found that ILC2s use a protein called transferrin receptor 1, or TfR1, to take up iron. When we blocked this protein as the ILC2s were undergoing activation, the cells were unable to use iron and could no longer multiply and cause inflammation as well as they did before. We then used a chemical called an iron chelator to prevent ILC2s from using any iron at all. Iron chelators are like superpowered magnets for iron and are used in medical treatments to help manage conditions where there’s too much iron in the body. When we deprived ILC2s with an iron chelator, the cells had to change their metabolism and switch to a different way of getting energy, like trading in a sports car for a bicycle. The cells weren’t as effective at causing inflammation in the lungs anymore. An asthma attack can feel like someone is squeezing your airways. Mariia Siurtukova/Moment via Getty Images Next, we limited cellular iron in mice with sensitive airways due to ILC2s. We did this in three different ways: by inhibiting TfR1, adding an iron chelator or inducing low overall iron levels using a synthetic protein called mini-hepcidin. Each of these methods helped reduce the mice’s airway hyperreactivity – basically reducing the severity of their asthma symptoms. Lastly, we looked at cells from patients with asthma. We noticed something interesting: the more TfR1 protein on their ILC2 cells, the worse their asthma symptoms. In other words, iron was playing a big role in how bad their asthma got. Blocking TfR1 and administering iron chelators both reduced ILC2 proliferation and cytokine production, suggesting that our findings in mice apply to human cells. This means we can move these findings from the lab to clinical trials as quickly as possible. Iron therapy for asthma Iron is like the conductor of an orchestra, instructing immune cells such as ILC2s how to behave during an asthma attack. Without enough iron, these cells can’t cause as much trouble, which could mean fewer asthma symptoms. Next, we’re working on targeting a patient’s immune cells during an asthma attack. If we can lower the amount of iron available to ILC2s without depleting overall iron levels in the body, this could mean a new therapy for asthma that tackles the root cause of the disease, not just the symptoms. Available treatments can control symptoms to keep patients alive, but they are not curing the disease. Iron-related therapies may offer a better solution for patients with asthma. Our discovery applies to more than just asthma. It could be a game-changer for other diseases where ILC2s are involved, such as eczema and type 2 diabetes. Who knew iron could be such a big deal to your immune system? Omid Akbari receives funding from NIH. Benjamin Hurrell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. ... The Conversation 47 min ⟶
‘Noise’ in the machine: Human differences in judgment lead to problems for AI CC BY-ND  — Bias isn't the only human imperfection turning up in AI. Emrah Turudu/Photodisc via Getty ImagesMany people understand the concept of bias at some intuitive level. In society, and in artificial intelligence systems, racial and gender biases are well documented. If society could somehow remove bias, would all problems go away? The late Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman, who was a key figure in the field of behavioral economics, argued in his last book that bias is just one side of the coin. Errors in judgments can be attributed to two sources: bias and noise. Bias and noise both play important roles in fields such as law, medicine and financial forecasting, where human judgments are central. In our work as computer and information scientists, my colleagues and I have found that noise also plays a role in AI. Statistical noise Noise in this context means variation in how people make judgments of the same problem or situation. The problem of noise is more pervasive than initially meets the eye. A seminal work, dating back all the way to the Great Depression, has found that different judges gave different sentences for similar cases. Worryingly, sentencing in court cases can depend on things such as the temperature and whether the local football team won. Such factors, at least in part, contribute to the perception that the justice system is not just biased but also arbitrary at times. Other examples: Insurance adjusters might give different estimates for similar claims, reflecting noise in their judgments. Noise is likely present in all manner of contests, ranging from wine tastings to local beauty pageants to college admissions. Behavioral economist Daniel Kahneman explains the concept of noise in human judgment. Noise in the data On the surface, it doesn’t seem likely that noise could affect the performance of AI systems. After all, machines aren’t affected by weather or football teams, so why would they make judgments that vary with circumstance? On the other hand, researchers know that bias affects AI, because it is reflected in the data that the AI is trained on. For the new spate of AI models like ChatGPT, the gold standard is human performance on general intelligence problems such as common sense. ChatGPT and its peers are measured against human-labeled commonsense datasets. Put simply, researchers and developers can ask the machine a commonsense question and compare it with human answers: “If I place a heavy rock on a paper table, will it collapse? Yes or No.” If there is high agreement between the two – in the best case, perfect agreement – the machine is approaching human-level common sense, according to the test. So where would noise come in? The commonsense question above seems simple, and most humans would likely agree on its answer, but there are many questions where there is more disagreement or uncertainty: “Is the following sentence plausible or implausible? My dog plays volleyball.” In other words, there is potential for noise. It is not surprising that interesting commonsense questions would have some noise. But the issue is that most AI tests don’t account for this noise in experiments. Intuitively, questions generating human answers that tend to agree with one another should be weighted higher than if the answers diverge – in other words, where there is noise. Researchers still don’t know whether or how to weigh AI’s answers in that situation, but a first step is acknowledging that the problem exists. Tracking down noise in the machine Theory aside, the question still remains whether all of the above is hypothetical or if in real tests of common sense there is noise. The best way to prove or disprove the presence of noise is to take an existing test, remove the answers and get multiple people to independently label them, meaning provide answers. By measuring disagreement among humans, researchers can know just how much noise is in the test. The details behind measuring this disagreement are complex, involving significant statistics and math. Besides, who is to say how common sense should be defined? How do you know the human judges are motivated enough to think through the question? These issues lie at the intersection of good experimental design and statistics. Robustness is key: One result, test or set of human labelers is unlikely to convince anyone. As a pragmatic matter, human labor is expensive. Perhaps for this reason, there haven’t been any studies of possible noise in AI tests. To address this gap, my colleagues and I designed such a study and published our findings in Nature Scientific Reports, showing that even in the domain of common sense, noise is inevitable. Because the setting in which judgments are elicited can matter, we did two kinds of studies. One type of study involved paid workers from Amazon Mechanical Turk, while the other study involved a smaller-scale labeling exercise in two labs at the University of Southern California and the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. You can think of the former as a more realistic online setting, mirroring how many AI tests are actually labeled before being released for training and evaluation. The latter is more of an extreme, guaranteeing high quality but at much smaller scales. The question we set out to answer was how inevitable is noise, and is it just a matter of quality control? The results were sobering. In both settings, even on commonsense questions that might have been expected to elicit high – even universal – agreement, we found a nontrivial degree of noise. The noise was high enough that we inferred that between 4% and 10% of a system’s performance could be attributed to noise. To emphasize what this means, suppose I built an AI system that achieved 85% on a test, and you built an AI system that achieved 91%. Your system would seem to be a lot better than mine. But if there is noise in the human labels that were used to score the answers, then we’re not sure anymore that the 6% improvement means much. For all we know, there may be no real improvement. On AI leaderboards, where large language models like the one that powers ChatGPT are compared, performance differences between rival systems are far narrower, typically less than 1%. As we show in the paper, ordinary statistics do not really come to the rescue for disentangling the effects of noise from those of true performance improvements. Noise audits What is the way forward? Returning to Kahneman’s book, he proposed the concept of a “noise audit” for quantifying and ultimately mitigating noise as much as possible. At the very least, AI researchers need to estimate what influence noise might be having. Auditing AI systems for bias is somewhat commonplace, so we believe that the concept of a noise audit should naturally follow. We hope that this study, as well as others like it, leads to their adoption. Mayank Kejriwal receives funding from DARPA. ... The Conversation 47 min ⟶
Haitians looking to escape violence and chaos face hostility in neighboring Dominican Republic CC BY-ND  — Haitians deported from the Dominican Republic head back across the border. Steven Aristil/Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesHaiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince has been under siege for several months, with reports suggesting about 200 gangs have seized control of more than 80% of the city. The surge of violence has left residents with few options other than to shelter in their homes or seek refuge in other towns or countries. But finding safety outside Haiti’s immediate borders isn’t easy. Recent actions by the U.S., one of the most common destinations for Haitian migrants, have created additional challenges. Limits on flights in and out of the country, the suspension of visa services in Haiti and a refusal to grant “temporary protected status” to Haitians arriving in the U.S. after November 2022, for example, have made it not only difficult but unlawful in most cases for Haitians to emigrate to the States. With such restrictions, and with the Biden administration intent on sending Haitians intercepted en route to the U.S. back home, many are seeking instead to migrate to the only country that shares a land border with Haiti: the Dominican Republic. But as a scholar who studies the experiences of Haitians in the Dominican Republic, I know that their reception across the border is often contentious. Anti-Haitian xenophobia The chaos that has descended on Haiti in recent months has seen more than 360,000 people being internally displaced. It has also led to a wave of xenophobia in the Dominican Republic, where Haitians make up a sizable minority. In a country of about 11 million people, the estimate of how many Haitian migrants reside in the Dominican Republic ranges from 500,000 to 1 million. Recent incidents of xenophobia have included harassment of Haitian migrants such as extortion and reports of both physical and sexual assaults. Anti-Haitian sentiment has also galvanized politicians advocating stronger border regulations in an election year. Dominican President Luis Abinader, who is currently leading in the polls ahead of the May 19 general election, has made it clear that he seeks to continue migration policies that include the building of a border wall and the placement of strategic checkpoints to prevent what his administration once described as an “avalanche of illegal foreigners, especially Haitian nationals.” A not-so-friendly neighbor Haitians have long been the target of mass deportations and violence in the Dominican Republic. In 1937, dictator Rafael Trujillo ordered the mass killing of Haitians in an incident known as the Parsley Massacre. Over six days, locals armed with machetes killed an estimated 20,000 Haitians – some estimate as many as 30,000. Now, like then, skin color has been used to identify who might be of Haitian descent. The Dominican Republic is a country that generally prides itself on its “mixedness,” in contrast with Haiti’s “Blackness.” And Dominican immigration officials have regularly been accused of racially profiling Black people as foreign, Haitian and illegal. Anti-Black racism in the Dominican Republic is so notorious that in November 2022, the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo issued a travel advisory urging Black Americans to take precautions when traveling to the Dominican Republic for risk of being mistaken as Haitian and wrongfully detained. Uptick in deportations Dominican efforts to deport Haitians has ratcheted up of late, peaking in July 2023 with 24,000 deportations. The monthly total dropped in January 2024 to 9,400, only to rise again by April 2024 to over 16,500. The rise in deportations comes in spite of pleas from human rights groups, which in March called on Dominican authorities to temporarily halt deportations of Haitian asylum-seekers. Indeed, human rights groups have long been keeping a wary eye on developments in the Dominican Republic. In 2013, constitutional amendments rescinded birthright citizenship in the country. This meant that anyone born to noncitizens in the Dominican Republic from 1929 to 2010 was no longer eligible for Dominican citizenship. Initial estimates suggested that just over 200,000 people were made stateless as a result. Critics scolded the legislation as racist, noting that among many things it seemed to violate Article 15, sections 1 and 2, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This states that everyone has a right to a nationality and that it should not be arbitrarily deprived. Ten years later, 130,000 people remain stateless, without protection and at ever-looming risk of deportation. Human rights groups have similarly flagged concern over how Dominican authorities carry out immigration policy, with multiple reports of inhumane treatment of Haitians – such as the use of excessive force in raids, deadly chases and parent-child separations. In April, video footage circulated online revealing conditions at the notorious detention center in the town of Haina, a location so contaminated by lead that it has been dubbed “Dominican Chernobyl.” In the footage, dozens of Haitians are seen sprawled on the floor in overcrowded conditions. Indifference to Haitians’ plight The Dominican public seems relatively unconcerned about the plight of Haitian migrants. A February 2024 poll of nearly 30,000 people conducted by the Listín Diario, one of the Dominican Republic’s oldest and most widely read newspapers, found that 99% of respondents believe Haitians’ human rights were not being violated despite the deportation policy. Driving this sentiment is the belief that the Dominican Republic ought to be able to regulate its own immigration laws independent of other nation states’ influence. This is evident in statements from politicians such as former President Leonel Fernández, who is running for reelection and said in a newspaper interview that international interference in Dominican immigration policy reflected a lack of respect for the country’s sovereignty and self-determination. Similarly, when Abinader, the current president, was asked whether the Dominican Republic will heed the U.N.’s plea to stop deporting Haitians, he simply stated: “No, we will not … we will continue to apply our laws and our constitution.” The measures enacted to clamp down on Haitian migrants have been accompanied by agitation from right-wing groups. One such group, the nationalist, conservative organization Ancient Dominican Order, has a stated agenda to “reconquer” the Dominican Republic from Haitians. The group has used its growing platform on social media – it has 77,000 followers on Facebook, for example – to organize protests against Haitian immigration and the “imposition of the international community.” This Dominican-first nativism is echoed in the rhetoric of the country’s president. When asked in April by the BBC how the Dominican Republic can justify continuing to deport Haitians given their current crises, Abinader responded, “The same way the United States and the Bahamas and all the other countries” do. He added that his government would not consider the possibility of offering even short-term refuge for Haitians. With Abinader’s platform set to be given a fresh mandate from Dominican voters in the upcoming election, the chances of crisis-hit Haitians being welcomed across the border look as slim as ever. Edlin Veras does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. ... The Conversation 47 min ⟶
Confusion over how pregnancy dates are measured is widespread – and makes for uninformed debate over... CC BY-ND  — The exam room of a women's health clinic, which provides abortions, in Jacksonville, Fla., is seen in April 2024. Joe Raedle/Getty Images Most Americans don’t know two key facts about pregnancy, including how they are dated and how long a trimester is – and this could matter, as a growing number of states place restrictions on abortion. Florida enacted a new law on May 1, 2024, that bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, with a few exceptions – including documented rape, incest and to save the life of the mother. Florida joins the majority of Southern states that now have complete bans or highly restrictive abortion laws, enacted since the Supreme Court overturned the federal right to get an abortion in June 2022. Many of the restrictive laws ban abortion after a set number of weeks. Anti-abortion rights groups, such as Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, have called the six-week abortion ban the gold standard in abortion policy. Florida Republicans supporting the bill have labeled it a reasonable compromise between a full abortion ban and few abortion restrictions. Some OB-GYNs have explained that many women do not even know they are pregnant at six weeks. Research shows that women on average find out they are pregnant at five and a half weeks. About 23% do not know until seven weeks of pregnancy or later. So, do Americans, including those enacting six-week bans, actually understand how the timing or dating of pregnancy works? We are scholars of political science, gender and public opinion and are writing a book about public opinion on abortion after the Supreme Court’s reversal of the federal right to get an abortion in June 2022. People rally in Orlando during a demonstration against Florida’s new six-week abortion ban on April 13, 2024. Joe Raedle/Getty Images How does pregnancy work? To gain insights into this issue, we developed a few pregnancy questions and included them in a research survey in late September 2023. The survey had 1,356 respondents, who were broadly representative of the U.S. population. The respondents’ median age was 46. Approximately 49% of these people were men, while 70% were white and 29% were college graduates. Meanwhile, 43% of them were Democrats, and 38% were Republicans. The first question asked respondents how pregnancies are dated. The correct answer is that pregnancies are dated using the first day of the woman’s last menstrual period, which is often two to three weeks before conception. The second question asked about trimesters. Many Americans are familiar with the term trimester, and polling consistently shows that Americans find abortion most acceptable during the first trimester. We asked Americans if they knew approximately how many weeks a trimester was. The correct answer is 13. Americans’ pregnancy knowledge We found that only one-third of respondents knew how pregnancy is dated. A majority – approximately 60% – falsely thought that pregnancy is dated from conception or in the weeks since the woman last had sex. Less than one-fourth of the respondents answered both pregnancy knowledge questions correctly. In our survey, we also asked respondents whether they support a six-week abortion ban. Similar to other national surveys, we find that most Americans oppose strict abortion restrictions – only 35% support six-week bans. Importantly, we find that those who support six-week abortion bans are significantly less likely than others to correctly understand the timing of pregnancy. The statistically significant relationship between having low levels of pregnancy timing knowledge and support for a six-week abortion ban holds in analyses controlling for potentially confounding variables. Some anti-abortion lawmakers have demonstrated their ignorance about pregnancy before. There is, for example, a long history of some anti-abortion politicians saying, incorrectly, that it is extremely rare for a person who is raped to get pregnant. Our survey shows that a large swath of those opposing abortion lack knowledge about the basics of pregnancy. Messages hang on the wall of a group counseling room in a Florida health clinic. Joe Raedle/Getty Images A gender disparity Perhaps not surprisingly, women in this survey knew more about pregnancy than men. The question about how pregnancies are dated, for example, was answered correctly by 43% of women compared with only 23% of men. As mentioned above, a majority of Americans incorrectly believe pregnancy is dated from conception, but significantly more men than women think this is true. This finding is particularly important when considering the gender breakdown of the Florida state lawmakers who approved the six-week ban. Although we do not have data on the pregnancy knowledge of those legislators, we do know that those who voted for the ban were overwhelmingly men. Florida’s six-week ban will make it much harder for anyone to get abortions there – and it will also affect people in neighboring states who want or need an abortion. In 2023, Florida was home to the closest abortion clinic for 6.4 million women living in the South. In 2023, around 7,700 women from other Southern states, where abortion is now largely banned, traveled to Florida to get abortions. Overall, our findings raise serious questions about whether Americans without medical training – much like those in our state legislatures – have the necessary knowledge needed to regulate abortion access. The funding for the survey discussed in this article was funded by the NC State School of Public and International Affairs.Mary-Kate Lizotte and Steven Greene do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. ... The Conversation 47 min ⟶
Gabon: post-coup dialogue has mapped out path to democracy – now military leaders must act CC BY-ND  — At the end of April 2024, a long and peaceful process of national dialogue in Gabon between the military junta, presided over by coup leader General Brice Oligui Nguema, and civil society, represented by 580 civilians, came to an end. The national dialogue followed an August 2023 coup that removed Ali Bongo Ondimba from office and ended the Bongo dynasty’s 56-year hold on power in Gabon. General Nguema, the coup leader, established a transitional government and the dialogue to chart a path to democratic rule. At the end of the dialogue, he received a report containing nearly a thousand proposals. Gabon has now entered a period where promises must give way to execution. Agenda setting must be replaced by policy implementation. Action must take the place of words. For now, the coup leader enjoys the status of a hero. There was no serious opposition to his announcement of a two-year transition. I wrote my doctoral dissertation on the rentier state in Gabon. An oil-rentier state is a country highly dependent on oil exports as a percentage of GDP, or exports, or government revenues. In 2021 the oil sector accounted for 80% of exports, 45% of GDP, and 60% of Gabon’s fiscal revenue. Since then I have published several works on the small, oil-rich central African republic, including the third and fourth editions of the Historical Dictionary of Gabon. While there is much to be praised in the man who overthrew the Bongo dynasty, unless Nguema manages to either hand over power to a civilian, generate significant economic growth or nationalise the economy for the benefit of the Gabonese, he risks becoming the country’s third authoritarian ruler. Read more: Gabon coup has been years in the making: 3 key factors that ended the Bongo dynasty The report According to the published report, Gabon will abandon its French-style dual executive, wherein a president shared executive power with a prime minister. Instead, the country is going for the presidential system with a legislature to provide checks and balances for the president. Members of Ali Bongo’s former ruling party, Parti Démocratique de Gabon, are disqualified from holding public office for three years. And the dialogue did not forbid Nguema from serving as president. So this new constitutional design might lead to two years of benign, popular, personal rule until whenever elections are scheduled. Economic growth But his first problem, the one of the legitimacy of military rulers, is not so easy to avoid. Gabon has one of the richest per capita economies in sub-Saharan Africa, thanks largely to capital-intensive extractive industries, funded by economic rent – macroeconomic revenue generated for the state without making any contribution of capital, or mining technology, or even labour. Managing this requires wise public finance. The new government must control spending, and begin extracting tax revenues either in direct taxes of businesses or indirect taxes through customs. Neither oil rent nor public finance has been easily mastered by military rulers in the region. Think only of the soldiers who took control of the oil-rentier states of Angola, Congo-Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea, Sudan or Nigeria under military rule. For most of these military rulers, the easy distribution of unearned mineral rents at first looks like a simple political solution. Then they realise that the thirst for unearned mineral wealth is unquenchable. Corrupt embezzlement to offshore fiscal paradises usually follows. Gabon’s creditors are watching closely. Like the rest of the continent, Gabon is deeply in debt: 57.4% of GDP. Mays Mouissi, the new minister of economy, and Charles M’Ba, the minister of public accounts – both appointed by Nguema – have tried to reassure private creditors that Gabon will pay back its debt. In February, the International Monetary Fund reported that “the government has initiated reforms to improve the management of public finances”. An IMF team, led by Aliona Cebotari, visited Gabon to meet the authorities and private businesses. Cebotari said Gabon was facing significant challenges including declining oil production, stagnating income per capita, high unemployment, weak governance, and a precarious fiscal situation. She forecast growth to reach 3% next year, but “not sufficient to meaningfully boost per capita incomes.” Once the honeymoon between the military regime and civil society is over, the transitional government will have to produce economic growth. It will have to improve the lives of ordinary Gabonese who have been left behind by 56 years of kleptocratic rule by the Bongo dynasty. If Nguema does not reduce poverty, his popularity will decline and it will be difficult for him to implement the other policies listed in the national dialogue report. It is easy to promise economic growth. It is another thing to deliver it. Read more: Gabon: how the Bongo family's 56-year rule has hurt the country and divided the opposition Debt crisis Nguema’s government has inherited a difficult fiscal position because of Ali Bongo’s re-election campaign spending. That widened Gabon’s budget deficit to double digits. Gabon was not paying its debt in 2023, but instead was accumulating financial fines on late payments. Nguema’s government must now pay these, further lowering available revenue. Fiscal deficits in 2024-25 may be difficult to finance in the currently tight global finance environment, the IMF warns. This means Gabon’s public debt, despite promises by the government to creditors, may continue to grow. Corruption Added to this is the problem of the billions of dollars that have been stolen by the Bongo dynasty. Despite Nguema’s personal trips to London and Paris, and the arrest of former first lady Sylvie Bongo and her son Noureddine Bongo, he has been unable to find the hidden treasure. Most of the stolen money was borrowed by the Bongos. If Nguema is unable to recover it then Gabon will have to pay back the money with its future earnings. What’s being done Nguema’s transitional government has already started reforms to improve the management of public finances. All received funds are centralised into the treasury’s account. A regulatory framework for the management of state-owned enterprises has been set up. And public investment processes will be better managed. But these reforms will take time. Nguema has assured foreign investors of political stability. He has assured both France and the United States that Gabon is an ally of the west. He has promised to lower Gabon’s debt burden to 49% of GDP by 2025. There is no doubt that whatever Nguema does over the next two years, it could not be worse than what the Bongos did for 56 years. For now, ratings agencies (Fitch and Moody’s) have upgraded Gabon’s credit ratings. If his transitional government steers the ship of state conservatively, Nguema may be able to arrive at modest, stable macroeconomic growth. Douglas Yates 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. ... The Conversation 47 min ⟶
Interest rates: the ugly dilemma facing Europe’s central banks – and why it’s a mistake to cut too s... CC BY-ND  — 'Rock, you look a lot like a hard place.' Cagkan SayinCentral banks in Europe are discovering an old dilemma: when they lower interest rates because inflation is slowing down, it’s likely to weaken their currencies. This in turn may delay the fall in inflation towards their canonical 2% target. The Swedish Riksbank experienced this first hand when it cut rates on May 8 and saw the Swedish krona slide against the euro and US dollar. The krona had already depreciated by several percentage points in anticipation of this move. Something similar might happen to the euro if the European Central Bank (ECB) cuts rates as is widely expected on June 6. More generally, traders are betting heavily that countries whose central bank looks poised to cut rates will see their currencies plummeting. We’re seeing this with the British pound, for instance, with the Bank of England recently signalling that it too might start cutting in June. The transatlantic divide The concern that cutting rates leads to currency depreciation is not new, but in recent years it has been obscured by the fact that the burst of inflation and its subsequent fall were largely synchronised across the developed world. This meant their monetary policies were in lockstep, so countries’ currencies were roughly in line with one another. However, important differences have emerged lately. The US economy remains very strong, whereas the euro area and UK have not grown over the last quarters and the outlook remains much weaker there. This has meant comparatively more inflationary pressure in the US than in Europe. US vs European GDP growth US = blue; UK = turquoise; eurozone = orange. Trading View So far, the variation in inflation data has been modest, but this divergence in growth has important implications for monetary policy. Central banks know their decisions take time to take effect, so they’re always trying to act according to where inflation is heading, not where it was over the last months. When we see the euro area, UK and also Sweden planning to cut rates while the US Federal Reserve is talking about “higher for longer”, it’s therefore being driven more by differences in GDP growth than inflation readings. US v European inflation US = blue; UK = turquoise; eurozone = orange. Trading View You can see this by looking at medium-term interest rates, which are set not by central banks but by the debt markets, and incorporate expectations of what central banks are likely to do next. For example, 1-year interest rates in the US have remained above 5% and very close to the Fed’s 5.25% to 5.50% target for its benchmark interest rate. This indicates that investors expect the Fed to keep the benchmark rate at today’s levels for another year. By contrast, 1-year rates in the euro area are 3.4%, more than 0.6 percentage points below the ECB’s benchmark rate. The situation in the UK is similar. This large difference in expectations makes the US dollar more attractive to investors, since it broadly means they can get paid more interest by buying and investing dollars. We know from recent research by the Fed that this has continued to be the case during the inflationary period of the past couple of years. A cut by the European central banks would increase the difference in medium-term interest rates even further. This could potentially weaken their currencies considerably. The implications A weaker currency stimulates growth, but also puts pressure on prices via imports. This is welcome when inflation is too low because it reinforces the direct impact of a central bank cutting interest rates. Today, however, there is a risk that a weaker currency could further aggravate inflation and delay the time it takes to return to the 2% target. But is this concern justified? It does not seem so. Any fears of a currency plunge seem far-fetched when you look at nominal effective rates, which refers to a currency’s value against a basket of international rivals. The euro’s nominal effective rate is presently hovering at close to its historical maximum. The UK pound’s is not trading at a low level either – at least compared to the recent past – and has appreciated by about 10% over the last 18 months. Euro nominal effective rate ECB Experience has also shown that a weak currency does not actually ignite inflationary pressures in practice. For instance, the euro fell to record lows in its early years in the 2000s, but inflation barely budged. The ECB estimates that a 1% depreciation in the euro only increases annual inflation by 0.04%. This means that even a 10% euro depreciation would only produce an 0.4% inflation increase. The reason why the impact of the exchange rate on inflation is small is thought to be because of retailers. They often keep their prices stable even when currency depreciation means that they have to pay more for imported goods. It is therefore unlikely that European central banks will be prevented from cutting rates by currency depreciation. What should make them hesitate is the unusually high uncertainty surrounding the inflation path at present. This is because we’re living through a unique combination of recovering from the COVID recession and the aftermath of the energy-price shock caused by the Ukraine war. Standard economic models would predict a smooth return of inflation to the 2% target, but these are unlikely to be useful to central bankers in such unusual circumstances. A recent report from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) argued that this uncertainty is a reason to move slowly with rate-cutting to ensure that central banks can re-establish their reputations as inflation fighters. According to the IMF, keeping rates high in this environment entails a smaller disruption than cutting quickly only to find that inflation does persist and rates must be raised quickly again. This “better safe than sorry” argument implies keeping rates on hold until inflation returns to target levels. 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. ... The Conversation 47 min ⟶
Expressionists: Kandinsky, Münter and the Blue Rider review – a great selection of paintings let dow... CC BY-ND  — Expressionism was an international art movement that flourished between 1905 and 1920. It was celebrated for bold colour experiments and dramatic forms. The expressionists were modern artists after post-impressionism (1886), cubism (1907-08), fauvism (1905) and futurism (1909). The influence, or confluence, of Picasso, Matisse and the futurists can be seen in various works in the Tate’s new show, Expressionists: Kandinsky, Münter and the Blue Rider. The exhibition also reveals the movement’s entanglement with cross-cultural collaborations within the context of early 20th-century Europe’s imperial ideologies and social disparities. However, the narrative presented by the curators is steeped in modern-day attitudes, which are uncritically overlaid onto historical interpretations. The Blue Rider was a group of artists who were active in Munich from 1911 to 1914. They are depicted in this exhibition as primarily focused on contemporary issues such as race, gender, environmentalism and ableism. This pervasive curatorial view obscures a nuanced understanding of the Blue Rider’s historical context and artistic motivations. Instead, it prompts viewers to uncritically engage with the curators’ interpretation. The Blue Rider embodied an inherently internationalist outlook in a world of rising nationalism. The curators chooses to portray this in terms of colonial narratives. This is evident in the depiction of Kandinsky’s and Gabriele Münter’s trip to French colonial Tunisia. Münter’s many photographs are accused of “orientalism” – the depiction of places and people in reductive, stereotypical and exoticised terms. Arguments, such as the British historian Robert Irwin’s suggestion, that orientalist art was motivated by a quest for knowledge and cultural exchange are not considered. Münter’s photographs of women are also presented as partially redemptive, as they avoid typical orientalist depictions of women as sexually provocative. It is a pity that more time was not dedicated to exploring Münter’s use of photography beyond this postcolonial critique. This strand of critique is extended to the exhibition’s interpretation of spirituality in the work. While expressionism is defined as the communication of subjective emotions and spiritual themes, Kandinsky aimed to convey a universal sense of spirituality through abstraction. However, the exhibition re-frames the group’s spiritually internationalist outlook. Expressionist spirituality incorporated European occult traditions with elements of Hinduism, Buddhism, Greek philosophy and modern science, as cultural appropriation. The curators attempted to address the unequal gender divide in the group by foregrounding the contributions of the Blue Rider’s women artists and those exploring gender identities. Room five, titled “Performing Gender”, serves as a focal point for this theme. The exhibition suggests that performance provided “safe spaces” for exploring sexuality and gender, framing the room around the Russian dancer Alexander Sacharoff’s and Russian artist Marianne Werefkin’s interest in performers who interchanged gender and power roles. Such a framing is rooted in Werefkin’s declaration: “I am not a man, I am not a woman, I am I”, which the curators interprets as a rejection of gender binaries. However, it could equally signify a desire to be evaluated solely on one’s merits as a person and an artist, regardless of gender. While the wall text asserts that “performance was central to both Werefkin and Sacharoff’s investigations and constructions of self-identity”, they did not explicitly “perform gender” in their art practice. Notably, the exhibition features no performances and “Performing Gender” only showcases paintings depicting theatrical scenes. Another misstep in interpretation can be seen in the curation of Kandinsky’s abstract artwork which famously explored the concept of “synaesthesia”. This is the phenomenon where one sensory experience triggers another, such as hearing colours or seeing sounds. Here, the show reinterprets synaesthesia through the lens of neurodivergence. They commissioned Public Art Works (a Turner Prize-nominated collective that collaborates with neurodiverse people) to make new artworks in response to the colour, form and expression explored in the work of the Blue Rider group. Tate’s attempt to bridge synaesthesia with contemporary understandings of neurodivergence was a missed opportunity for a thought-provoking exploration of how art can intersect with diverse neurological experiences. Project Art Works’ “Blue Rider Residency 2024” is peripheral to the main exhibition and synaesthesia is not mentioned once on the residency webpage. Kandinsky operated within a different cultural and artistic context to Project Art Works. He neither engaged in collaborative work with neurodivergent people nor worked as a community artist. Instead, he harnessed the evocative interplay between colour and form to create aesthetic experiences that captivated the senses and emotions of his viewers. Despite the prevailing need to view the work through a modern lens, the artworks on display manage to capture the essence of the era, offering glimpses into the spirit of the time. I was particularly drawn to some of Kandinsky’s early figurative works, which seemed to have a palette inspired by Maynards Wine Gums, and captivating portraits by female artists like Münter and Erma Bossie. Münter’s Olga von Hartman and Portrait of Marianne Werefkin, with its not-so-subtle Matisse influence, were among the painterly highlights that left a lasting impression. Others, who want to see overlooked female members of the group or big names, such as Franz Marc, will find the entrance price worth it. Expressionists: Kandinsky, Münter and the Blue Rider runs at Tate Modern until 20 October 2024. Martin Lang 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. ... The Conversation 47 min ⟶
Exams: seven tips for coping with revision stress CC BY-ND  —  pio3/ShutterstockExam season is underway across the UK. If you’re sitting exams this summer, you might be feeling stressed and a bit overwhelmed as you try to prepare. You’re not alone: stress is a normal part of the human experience, and this is a particularly challenging time. But there are ways you can manage this stress and maintain your wellbeing. Developing healthy habits to cope with stress will improve your psychological and emotional wellbeing, and ultimately support your academic achievements. Here are seven tips that you might find helpful. 1. Take a breath The first thing to do when experiencing stress in the moment is to take a deep breath. When we start to feel stressed, your heart rate increases, your palms get sweaty and your blood pressure rises. If you take a few deep breaths when this feeling sets in, you can regulate your heart rate and the physical experience of stress can be reduced. This can help focus your mind and create space to decide how to manage this stress. Once you have taken a breath, there are other things you can do to help you feel less stressed. 2. Set goals – and be realistic It is really important to remember that you can’t “complete” revision. Instead, you can set achievable goals that you feel comfortable with. Don’t write so many things on your to-do list that you feel anxious just looking at it. Think about what is realistically achievable in the time you have, and set goals for revision tasks that lead to steady progress. Don’t forget to factor in time for self-care, and remember to congratulate yourself on your achievements. 3. Take a break No one can maintain complete focus on a task like revision forever. Over time, concentrating makes us feel tired and actually reduces our ability to complete a activity well. It can also mean we need more energy to complete our task to our usual standard, and increase the chance of mistakes. So, taking regular breaks really will improve your ability to work hard. If it’s all getting too much, do something else for a bit. 4. Get active – and go outside Regular physical activity is really important for improving wellbeing and reducing stress. This can be whatever suits you: go for a walk or a run, or take part in a sport you like. Don’t avoid it because you feel you should be revising instead. You could arrange to go for a walk in the park with a friend. Antonio Guillem/Shutterstock If you can get outside to a local park to exercise, even better. My research with colleagues has shown that during the pandemic, even without the usual levels of social interaction and social support, the simple act of spending time in green spaces like parks had a positive impact on student wellbeing. 5. Find your people Social connection is a really important source of wellbeing for young people. You might be chatting to friends online throughout the day, but lots of social media use may also have a negative impact on wellbeing. It’s important to maintain connections offline, too: organise hangouts with friends during revision periods, and enjoy time in other people’s company during your rest time. Your regular breaks from revision are the perfect opportunity to bring some of these ideas together. Perhaps meet up with a friend for a walk in the park. 6. Make healthy choices It might be tempting to reach for an energy drink so you can keep on revising late into the evening. But drinking energy drinks can lead to poorer academic performance – as can drinking alcohol and vaping. Instead of an energy drink, just go for water or a nutritional alternative like a fruit smoothie. And instead of staying up late to revise, prioritise your sleep. Disrupted sleep can increase our experience of negative mood, in a similar way to experiencing jetlag – and getting a good amount of sleep is linked to doing better in exams. 7. One size doesn’t fit all The tips here are backed up by evidence and are a good place to start when it comes to managing exam stress. But you should also think about what you know works well for you. Think about what makes you happy and helps to calm you down if you feel overwhelmed: maybe writing in a journal, or listening to a favourite album. Combining healthy habits and favourite activities is a recipe for success, both in terms of exam performance and stress management. Emma Palmer-Cooper received funding from the British Academy. ... The Conversation 47 min ⟶
Navel gazing: checking your belly button can tell you a lot about your health CC BY-ND  —  Studio Romantic/ShutterstockNavels, belly buttons, innies or outies … whatever term you use, your umbilicus may have plenty to tell you about the state of your health. For some, they are the thing of nightmares – omphalophobia (the fear of belly buttons) is a real condition. For others, they are a fashion accessory to be shown off in a crop top, or decorated with a body piercing. Whatever your feelings about belly buttons, one thing’s for sure - it once joined you to your mother. The umbilical cord is severed at birth to leave just a small clamped stump that progressively withers and falls away a week or two later. What you’re left with, in most cases, is a small wrinkled depression. That’s if you have an “innie”, as most of us – 90% apparently – do. From this point, the belly button seems to become redundant – other than to gather dust and fluff. But that’s not the whole story – your navel has more depth to it than just a few millimetres. The umbilicus is an access point for the vessels carrying blood to and from the foetus. These have come from the placenta and run through the umbilical cord, coated in Wharton’s jelly – a gelatinous connective tissue contained in the cord that insulates and protects them. There are normally three vessels within the cord. The one carrying oxygen and nutrients to the foetus is the umbilical vein. It passes through the umbilicus and feeds into the developing foetal circulation. There are also two umbilical arteries, though these carry deoxygenated blood and waste products, flowing in the other direction back to the placenta. This circulation is not needed after the baby is born, and once disconnected from the placenta the umbilical vessels naturally close up. But the little stump of cut cord left clinging on can still be of use for a short time, especially in newborn babies who are poorly. The vessels can have drip lines inserted and be used for infusions of medicine, or have blood samples taken from them for testing. The umbilicus is a portal in the wall of the abdomen - it’s a little-known fact that during your embryonic development your intestines actually have to leave your abdominal cavity because of limited space, but return a few weeks later. They do so via the umbilicus, passing into the cord. As a result the umbilicus is not just an access point, but a point of weakness. An umbilical hernia occurs if a section of intestine pokes through any gap. This may require an operation to correct it. The nun and the navel Poor Sister Mary Joseph Dempsey. She was a nun who devoted much of her life to the care of patients in a hospital in Minnesota. She trained as a nurse, later becoming a surgical assistant to the doctor William Mayo. It was during this tenure that she highlighted an interesting observation. At the time (the late 19th century), cancers of the abdomen and pelvis were typically diagnosed much later, and unfortunately were often more extensive. We call this process metastasis, where a cancer starts in one organ or location, then spreads to another. Mary Joseph noted that some patients with metastatic cancer had a new palpable swelling or nodule in their umbilicus. She did the noble deed of reporting this to Mayo, who fairly evidently hadn’t noted it himself. He went on to rather ignominiously publish these findings under his own name, without giving due credit to his esteemed colleague. It was only after the deaths of Dempsey and Mayo - both in 1939 - that another doctor, Hamilton Bailey, rightly named the finding Sister Mary Joseph’s nodule. The nodule is firm, of variable colouring, and actually arises from spread of the cancer to the umbilical tissue. It’s not seen as commonly these days, since more cancers are now diagnosed earlier before extensive spreading occurs. Medusa’s head Other signs can be observed in the navel that have a footing in mythology. One example allows us to draw a connection between the liver and the umbilicus. The skin around the navel has beds of superficial veins that feed back towards the deeper circulation. They actually drain blood into the hepatic portal vein, a large vessel that is heading into the liver, chock-full of nutrients absorbed from the gut. If the pressure in the portal vein becomes too high (mostly as a result of liver diseases, like alcohol cirrhosis) pressure builds in the connecting vessels too. Veins have thinner walls than arteries and tend to balloon under pressure. As a result, the normally small veins around the navel dilate in size and become visible beneath the skin, fanning in all directions. This sign, like a head replete with snakes for hair, is named caput medusae, or Medusa’s head. In Greek mythology, the gorgon Medusa whose head was severed by the hero Perseus, had the ability to turn anyone who beheld her gaze to stone. And on that topic, all that dirt, debris and dead skin in our navels should also get an honourable (or maybe dishonourable) mention - prolonged accumulation of this material within the cavity can make it harden over time, forming a stony mass. We call this an omphalolith, or umbilical stone. So, the umbilicus is something of a reliable crystal ball in diagnosing internal illnesses. But as to whether you regard it as an attractive part of your own anatomy, one has to ask the question: are you innie or outie? Dan Baumgardt 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. ... The Conversation 47 min ⟶
Low testosterone in men associated with an early death CC BY-ND  — It has long been thought that testosterone shortens men’s lives. Studies in neutered animals and Korean eunuchs seem to confirm this. However, a new study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, draws these findings into question. In this study, led by a team at the University of Western Australia, the researchers combined the results of 11 high-quality studies (known as a meta-analysis) investigating the effect of testosterone levels on lifespan. The studies followed men for at least five years and found that participants with the lowest testosterone levels were more likely to die. Death in this study was from any cause, but digging deeper into the analysis reveals that this is mostly due to heart disease – still the leading cause of death in men globally. What is interesting is that the same process underlying heart disease might also contribute to erectile dysfunction — the inability to get and keep an erection firm enough for sex. Erectile dysfunction often occurs much earlier than symptoms of heart disease and can act as an early warning sign of existing or future heart problems. Testosterone is known to have a large effect on erectile function, again linking levels of this hormone to heart disease. Testosterone levels typically decline as men age, dropping by about 1% per year from the age of 30. This is sometimes referred to as the male menopause or andropause. This decrease over time is at least partly due to a slow waning of the ability of the testicles to produce testosterone and a reduction in the signals that tell them to. However, other factors can accelerate this decline, including chronic disease. Chicken or egg? So is low testosterone causing disease or is it caused by it? A limitation of the new study is that it is not able to figure out if low testosterone directly causes an increased risk of death. Testosterone is lowered by illness, so it could be a marker for an underlying disease that results in an increased chance of dying. This is especially true for diseases that have long-term inflammation, of which obesity is one. Helping unravel this relationship is the situation found in prostate cancer patients. When the cancer spreads, the patient is given drugs that drastically lower testosterone levels. Despite improving prostate cancer, this treatment increases the risk of heart attack and stroke in the patients. So while low testosterone may be a marker of disease, to some extent it is clearly also a contributing factor in the development of future disease and possibly death. Figuring out what a “low” level of testosterone is, is complicated. Measuring testosterone on its own might not give the full picture of what’s the right level for someone. What is low for one man may not be low for another. Researchers use average levels of testosterone from lots of people from different populations to establish normal ranges to help identify people outside of this range with a related disease. This helps doctors to identify and treat patients who might need help. However, making these generalisations across populations is tricky and often requires larger effects to show these trends. The new meta-analysis suggests that the increased risk of death in men is apparent mostly when testosterone levels are very low. What is important to note from this is that regardless of the levels defining what is considered normal for any individual, lowered levels for that person seem to increase the risk of dying. Keeping healthy T levels Given the risks associated with low testosterone, you might wonder if there is any way to prevent them. First, men should certainly try to avoid things that reduce it by adopting a healthy lifestyle and avoiding putting on weight. But when levels are low, treatment to replace the missing testosterone could be an option. There is growing evidence that testosterone replacement therapy may help reduce some of those risks, including death from any cause and from heart attack, in some men. Yet controversy still exists as long-standing – and largely outdated – concerns regarding testosterone therapy causing heart attacks endure. While most evidence now suggests there is at least no risk of heart disease associated with testosterone replacement therapy, more research is needed to determine if it can improve heart health in men. While there may be hope on the horizon in the form of testosterone for reducing the risk of men dying from heart attack, it looks as though it will be a long road until treatment becomes a common option. In the meantime, it would be wise to maintain your testosterone levels through a healthy lifestyle. Daniel Kelly 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. ... The Conversation 47 min ⟶
Претседателскиот „vox populi“ – лакмус тест за владата на Мицкоски CC BY-ND  — Има повеќе значења и толкувања завчерашното обврзување на претседателката Гордана Сиљановска Давкова дека „ќе им служи на интересите на Македонија“. Едно од нив е дека може да се гледа и толкува и како своевиден лакмус тест за постапките во односите… ... Вистиномер 2 hr ⟶
PM मोदी के समर्थन में लारा दत्ता के हवाले से वायरल बयान एडिटेड है, देखें VIDEO CC BY-ND  — दावा: पीएम मोदी के समर्थन में लारा दत्ता के दावे से हवाले से एक आपत्तिजनक बयान वायरल है. वायरल हो रहे ग्राफिक में न्यूज 24 का कार्ड इस्तेमाल किया गया है. इसमें लिखा है, 'सब लोगों को खुश रख पाना मुश्किल है और पीएम भी इंसान हैं. यह काम किसी बारडांसर के ही बस में हो सकता है जिससे बार में आनेवाले सभी ग्राहक खुश रहते हैं.'फैक्ट: बूम ने अपनी जांच में पाया कि पीएम मोदी के समर्थन में लारा दत्ता के बयान वाले ग्राफिक में अलग से आपत्तिजनक लाइनें जोड़ी गई हैं.कैसे पता की सच्चाई: बूम को वायरल पोस्ट के कमेंट सेक्शन में एक यूजर का रिप्लाई मिला जिसने न्यूज 24 का ओरिजनल पोस्ट शेयर किया था. हमें एंटरटेनमेंट न्यूज चैनल जूम के यूट्यूब चैनल पर लारा दत्ता के पूरे इंटरव्यू वाला वीडियो भी मिला. इंटरव्यू में उन्होंने कहा था कि आखिर पीएम मोदी भी एक इंसान हैं और सबको खुश रखना मुश्किल है. इसमें कहीं भी बारडांसर वाले कथन का जिक्र नहीं किया था.पूरी रिपोर्ट यहां पढ़ें. ... BOOM Live 2 hr ⟶
In North Carolina, A Sanctuary for Local Songwriters Emerges: The East Boone Listening Room CC BY-ND  — It’s 6:30 p.m. on a Friday night in Boone, North Carolina, and a hush falls over the East Boone Listening Room. “We spent many years trying to find a space like this in town,” says artist and songwriter Sarah DeShields.  Boone, which is home to Appalachian State University, has plenty […] The post In North Carolina, A Sanctuary for Local Songwriters Emerges: The East Boone Listening Room appeared first on 100 Days in Appalachia. ... 100 Days in Appalachia 2 hr ⟶
As election nears, Wisconsin caregivers seek better health care options CC BY-ND  —  Medicaid expansion and health care affordability are on many people's minds. WPR found that health care accessibility and affordability are particularly important to Wisconsin's caregiving workforce. As election nears, Wisconsin caregivers seek better health care options is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism. ... Wisconsin Watch 2 hr ⟶
Bangladesh island’s switch from solar power to fossil fuels threatens birds CC BY-ND  — Almost all 2,500 households — mostly fisher folks — on Nijhum Dwip, a national park that has the second-largest mangrove forest in Bangladesh, used solar PVs LED bulbs at night and recharge table fans and button phones. However, since October 2023, the island has been connected to the national grid, primarily powered by a 15 […] ... Mongabay 2 hr ⟶
Video Of Perfume Spray In BJP Leader's Poll Kit Peddled As Gold Biscuit CC BY-ND  — BOOM found that the rectangular shaped item in the viral video is a plastic perfume bottle and not a gold biscuit. ... BOOM Live 2 hr ⟶
अमित शाह का SC-ST आरक्षण खत्म करने वाला बयान एडिटेड है, देखें VIDEO CC BY-ND  — दावा: वीडियो में अमित शाह कह रहे हैं कि भाजपा की सरकार बनी तो SC-ST और OBC आरक्षण खत्म कर देंगे.फैक्ट: बूम ने पाया कि वायरल वीडियो एडिटेड है. मूल वीडियो में अमित शाह तेलंगाना में मुस्लिम आरक्षण खत्म करने की बात कह रहे थे. कैसे पता की सच्चाई: हमने पाया कि वायरल वीडियो में V6 न्यूज का वाटरमार्क मेंशन था. यहां से हिंट लेकर हम V6 News Telagu के यूट्यूब चैनल पर पहुंचे, यहां हमें 23 अप्रैल 2023 का अपलोड किया गया अमित शाह के पूरे भाषण का वीडियो मिला. हमने पाया कि पिछले साल तेलंगाना के चेवल्ला में दिए गए इस भाषण में अमित शाह तत्कालीन के चंद्रशेखर राव की सरकार को घेरते हुए मुस्लिम आरक्षण हटाने की बात कर कर रहे थे.पूरा फैक्ट चेक यहां पढ़ें. ... BOOM Live 2 hr ⟶
Tagging crocodiles with satellite transmitters CC BY-ND  — In a breakthrough in saltwater crocodile conservation in Bangladesh, the country has started using a satellite tagging system to monitor the species’ movements, habits, and life span in the Sundarbans mangroves in Bangladesh. This is perhaps the first time this has been done in Asia. On March 13, Bangladesh Forest Department attached satellite tags on […] ... Mongabay 2 hr ⟶
Dy raporte zbulojnë një rrjet të gjerë të portaleve dezinformuese ruse CC BY-ND  —   Shërbimi francez Viginum, si dhe rrjeti evropian kundër dezinformimit EDMO, në raportet e tyre përshkruan tërësisht rrjetin e strukturuar dhe të koordinuar rus të faqeve që përhapin dezinformata në Evropë dhe vende të tjera anembanë botës. Të krijuara sipas… ... Truthmeter 3 hr ⟶
Soup kitchen serves Eastern Cape children the only meal they’ll eat that day CC BY-ND  — The Human Rights Commission has recommended that child malnutrition in the province be declared a disaster ... GroundUp 3 hr ⟶
[Commentary] Kerala’s artisanal fishers concerned about rise of ring seine fishing CC BY-ND  — In the Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala, a small fishing village named Marianad (land of Mary) has significantly contributed to the development of the state’s fisheries sector. It was the birthplace of Kerala’s first cooperative society for fishers, which later became a model for cooperative movements across the state. The community upholds a unique fishing management […] ... Mongabay 3 hr ⟶
Chalmers is bitten by the giveaway bug in a budget that contains good news for almost everyone CC BY-ND  — Treasurer Jim Chalmers has been bitten by the giveaway bug. This budget contains not only the well-foreshadowed tax cuts for all taxpayers, but a range of new spending measures in health, education, infrastructure, aged care and more. There are few savings measures. There are no new taxes, only the promise of stronger tax compliance from the Australian tax office in receipts. On the spending side the largest saving comes from reduced spending on consultants and contractors to government. This is bad news for any consultants who evade tax, but good news for almost everyone else. Chalmers delivered a A$22 billion surplus in 2022-23. Barring some extraordinary disaster, he will deliver another, predicted at $9.3 billion, in the current year. But it stops there. From the next financial year onwards, the budget year, and the three forward estimates years, it’s all deficits. In isolation, whether a government has a surplus or deficit is not significant. It is largely a consequence of what are called “automatic stabilisers”. When the economy is doing well, unemployment and its associated benefit payments fall, income and company taxes rise. The reverse happens in a downturn. For the past two years, the government has reaped the benefits of high employment and a booming iron ore price. To its credit, it has chosen to bank most of that windfall. It could keep doing that – but at a high political cost. A key factor has been that notorious villain, bracket creep. As people’s incomes rise, they move into higher tax brackets and pay more income tax. Read more: Relief on energy bills for all in a federal budget that bets on lower inflation Eventually taxpayer patience is tested, and governments feel obliged to deliver back some or all the creep in the form of tax cuts. That inspired the previous government’s Stage 3 tax cuts, which have found their way, following much modification, into the latest budget. This, together with Treasury’s forecast on iron ore prices, are the main reasons why there is less of a windfall for the treasurer to bank in 2024-25. He is faced with new spending programs to deal with cost of living, energy transition and housing pressures. On top of that, the budget reveals traditional Labor priorities in terms of spending on health, infrastructure and education, and some bipartisan ones like defence. It is little wonder the deficit has grown to $28 billion in the budget year, $42.6 billion in 2025-26. The budget laid bare The story is laid bare by the wonderful reconciliation table in Budget Statement 3. This table sets out what changes to the budget numbers come from government policy decisions, and what arises from factors outside the government’s control (for example, the outcomes of wage cases, changes in numbers of participants in the NDIS, or natural disasters). In 2023-24 the factors outside government control added to the budget bottom line by far more than government spending decisions reduced it. In the budget year, 2024-25, this no longer happens. The net impact of factors beyond the government’s control is only $51 million, hardly more than a rounding error in the budget totals. Government policy decisions reduce the budget balance – that is, they amount to net spending– by $9.5 billion. It is a similar pattern in each of the forward years. That is why we have deficits in those years. Nevertheless, they are only modest deficits, 1% or less of Australia’s economic output (GDP) in all years but 2025-26 (still only 1.5% of GDP). If, as the government predicts, inflation drops below 3% in each of the budget and forward years, there is little in the fiscal policy settings to prompt the Reserve Bank to raise interest rates. The far more important drivers of inflation are overseas and domestic business conditions. Inherently a modest deficit like this is sustainable. If all the forecasts pan out, the government is on track to gradually reduce debt over time. This is important for intergenerational equity, not burdening future generations with the national credit card bill. In fact, there is potential for unexpected surpluses in future years if the iron ore price defies Treasury predictions and remain high. For years now, Treasury has been predicting iron ore prices will return to trend levels. Eventually they must be right. In any one year though, it’s hard to pick. What drives this is not Australian domestic demand but China’s. That is very hard to predict. It does appear China’s economy has been slowing in recent years, due to changes in domestic priorities. This could drive down Chinese demand for Australian iron ore and thus prices. But again, it might not. Forecasting China is notoriously difficult. Still, mostly our surprises on this front have been positive – and that might happen again. Read more: Budget 2024: Chalmers fights inflation, will it be enough for a rate cut? Stephen Bartos 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. ... The Conversation 3 hr ⟶
Relief on energy bills for all in a federal budget that bets on lower inflation CC BY-ND  —  Wes Mountain/The Conversation, CC BY-NDA $300 energy rebate for all households from July 1 and a 10% increase in Commonwealth Rent Assistance are key measures in a budget targeting cost-of-living relief that put downward pressure on inflation. Delivered by Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Tuesday night, the budget also freezes the maximum cost of Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) prescriptions for everyone for the year of 2025 and concession card holders for five years. As Chalmers told federal parliament, “this is a budget for the here and now and it’s a budget for the decade to come”. After an estimated surplus of $9.3 billion this financial year, a deficit of $28.3 billion is forecast for next financial year, before rising to $42.8 billion in 2025-26. The projected deficits then reduce to smaller but still substantial amounts in the following two years. Across the budget period, deficits total $112.8 billion. The various cost-of-living measures are expected to take 0.5 of a percentage point off inflation over the coming year, as the government tries to boost the prospect of an interest rate fall before the election. Looking to boost growth in the longer term, the budget invests $22.7 billion in a Future Made in Australia package over a decade to “help make us an indispensable part of the global economy”. This funding is loaded into the latter stages of the decade. This includes $13.7 billion for production tax incentives for green hydrogen and processed critical minerals “so industries are rewarded for scale and success”. A $1.7 billion Future Made in Australia Innovation Fund aims to “develop new industries like green metals and low carbon fuels” and $520 million is allocated “to deepen net zero trade and engagement with our region”. ‘Rigor’ for Future Made in Australia Fund The policy will have a National Interest Framework to impose “rigour” on government decisions. The energy relief, which will be provided through the states and providers, costs $3.5 billion over three years and will also extend to one million small businesses, which will get $325. Households will benefit from the energy help at the same time as all taxpayers receive a tax cut, which is worth an average of $36 a week. The boost in Commonwealth Rent Assistance – coming after a 15% rise in last year’s budget – will cost $1.9 billion over five years. New investment in housing is $6.2 billion. Chalmers said the budget showed the government was “realistic about the pressures people face now – and optimistic about the future”. Treasurer Jim Chalmers told his news conference that on inflation it was “not mission accomplished because people are still hurting.” International uncertainty combined with cost-of-living pressures and high interest rates will slow the economy, with growth forecast at 1.75% this financial year and 2% in the next. Unemployment is set to rise to 4.5% by the June quarter next year. Unemployment is currently at 3.8% “I want Australians to know that despite everything coming at us, we are among the best placed economies to manage these uncertainties and maximise our opportunities,” Chalmers said. He said the government was limiting real spending to an average of 1.4% a year since it came to office. It will be an estimated 3.6% in the coming financial year. The budget contains earlier announced changes to the indexation arrangements for HELP student debt and placement payments for teaching, social work and nursing students. Read more: At a glance: the 2024 federal budget split four ways There is $2.2 billion to deliver more key reforms in aged care. The budget also includes unspecified provisions for wage rises in aged care and child care. Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor said: “In this budget, Labor has added $315 billion of new spending, at a time when we need restraint. "After two years in office and three Labor budgets, the government is no closer to dealing with its homegrown inflation crisis – which means more pressure on cost of living and interest rates higher for longer.” Greens leader Adam Bandt said: “This band-aid budget is a betrayal of renters, women, students and mortgage holders. Labor’s offering a future for coal and gas that will wreck the climate, unleash corporate greed, and throw ordinary people to the wolves”. Read more: Chalmers is bitten by the giveaway bug in a budget that contains good news for almost everyone 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. ... The Conversation 3 hr ⟶
Budget 2024: As Chalmers fights inflation, will it be enough for a rate cut? CC BY-ND  — Treasurer Jim Chalmers promised an “inflation-fighting and future-making budget” and he has delivered by introducing measures aimed at directly bringing down inflation. Combined, his A$300-per-household energy rebate and his 10% increase to the maximum rate of Commonwealth Rent Assistance will cut inflation in the year ahead by 0.50 percentage points, or so his forecasts say. This means during 2024-25 inflation is forecast to be 2.75% and within the Reserve Bank’s 2-3% target band rather than 3.25%. If the Reserve Bank is as good as its word, and prepared to cut interest rates as inflation moves back towards its target, we can expect a rate cut within the year. Weak economic growth Chalmers says he is treading a “responsible middle path” helping those most struggling with the higher cost of living and keeping us out of a recession, without spending so much he stimulates the economy excessively and drives inflation back up. Economic growth is projected to pick up from an estimated 1.75% in 2023-24 to 2% in 2024-25 and 2.25% in 2025-26. The main boost to consumer spending will come from the long-planned Stage 3 tax cuts. The government modified these earlier in the year so all taxpayers will benefit rather than just those on higher incomes. It says they will add 1% to household disposable incomes. Another change that may support consumers is more than three million Australians will have $3 billion less student debt. It will now be indexed to whichever is lower, the Consumer Price Index or wages, rather than always the Consumer Price Index. The change will be backdated to June last year when wages growth was lower than prices growth, slashing the increase to apply from July this year from 7.1% to 3.2%. Chalmers says the Future Made in Australia program – a plan to capture the economic benefits of moving to net zero – will cost $23 billion over the next decade. But less than $3 billion of that cost appears in the budget forecasts, which stretch over four years. Employment is forecast to grow by only 0.75% during 2024-25, down from 2.25% during 2022-23. With the population growing faster, this will still mean the unemployment rate climbs to 4.5% by mid-2025. Weak global outlook Treasury expects the global economy to expand by a mediocre 3.25% over the next three years . Growth in China, our largest customer, is expected to slow from 5.2% in 2023 to 4.25% in 2025 and 2026, reflecting problems in China’s property market. The forecast underpins an expected halving of iron ore price from its recent peak. In accordance with its usual practice, Treasury assumes iron ore and coal prices will fall back to their “long-run anchors” by early 2025. This usual practice has meant that for quite some time Treasury has under-estimated the prices of Australia’s main exports, and therefore underestimated company tax. While this might occur again, the troubles of the Chinese property sector make a big fall in the price of iron ore more plausible this time. Inflation and interest rates Wages are expected to climb faster than prices over the forecast period but not so fast as to themselves put pressure on inflation. Wage growth is forecast to slow from 4% during 2023-24 to 3.25% in 2024-25 and 2025-26. If things work out as planned, inflation will be back within the Reserve Bank’s 2-3% target band by the end of this year, falling to 2.75% by the middle of next year and 2.5% by mid 2027. Of course, the Reserve Bank’s latest forecasts do not take into account the measures announced by Chalmers in the budget. If the forecasts are correct, the Reserve Bank is likely to cut interest rates sooner than the market expects, either late this year or in the first half of next year. Critics will argue any measures which give households more money, even in the form of electricity price rebates, will add to inflation down the track. But are the measures really large enough to materially add to inflationary pressures? Perhaps not. They amount to $3 billion out of total spending of almost $700 billion in 2024-25. Another possible source of inflationary pressure is capacity constraints in the construction industry. Read more: Inflation is slowly falling while student debt is climbing: 6 graphs that explain the CPI The Future Made in Australia package involves considerable infrastructure spending, and the budget also spends more on housing and on transport infrastructure. All will need skilled and unskilled labour. At the same time, cuts to immigration will make a smaller contribution to expanding the construction workforce. The government is forecasting net overseas migration of about 260,000 per year in the years ahead, down from 528,000 in 2022-23. While elsewhere in the budget there are funds to train more construction workers, it will take a while for them to join the workforce. An early budget next year? Next year’s budget is likely to be brought forward to March to accommodate an election in May. According to this budget, things will be looking pretty good by then – good enough for the Reserve Bank to feel much more comfortable about inflation and to have started cutting interest rates. John Hawkins was formerly a senior economic analyst and forecaster in the Reserve Bank and Australian Treasury. ... The Conversation 3 hr ⟶
Budget 2024: Chalmers fights inflation, will it be enough for a rate cut? CC BY-ND  — Treasurer Jim Chalmers promised an “inflation-fighting and future-making budget” and he has delivered by introducing measures aimed at directly bringing down inflation. Combined, his A$300-per-household energy rebate and his 10% increase to the maximum rate of Commonwealth Rent Assistance will cut inflation in the year ahead by 0.50 percentage points, or so his forecasts say. This means during 2024-25 inflation is forecast to be 2.75% and within the Reserve Bank’s 2-3% target band rather than 3.25%. If the Reserve Bank is as good as its word, and prepared to cut interest rates as inflation moves back towards its target, we can expect a rate cut within the year. Weak economic growth Chalmers says he is treading a “responsible middle path” helping those most struggling with the higher cost of living and keeping us out of a recession, without spending so much he stimulates the economy excessively and drives inflation back up. Economic growth is projected to pick up from an estimated 1.75% in 2023-24 to 2% in 2024-25 and 2.25% in 2025-26. The main boost to consumer spending will come from the long-planned Stage 3 tax cuts. The government modified these earlier in the year so all taxpayers will benefit rather than just those on higher incomes. It says they will add 1% to household disposable incomes. Another change that may support consumers is more than three million Australians will have $3 billion less student debt. It will now be indexed to whichever is lower, the Consumer Price Index or wages, rather than always the Consumer Price Index. The change will be backdated to June last year when wages growth was lower than prices growth, slashing the increase to apply from July this year from 7.1% to 3.2%. Chalmers says the Future Made in Australia program – a plan to capture the economic benefits of moving to net zero – will cost $23 billion over the next decade. But less than $3 billion of that cost appears in the budget forecasts, which stretch over four years. Employment is forecast to grow by only 0.75% during 2024-25, down from 2.25% during 2022-23. With the population growing faster, this will still mean the unemployment rate climbs to 4.5% by mid-2025. Weak global outlook Treasury expects the global economy to expand by a mediocre 3.25% over the next three years . Growth in China, our largest customer, is expected to slow from 5.2% in 2023 to 4.25% in 2025 and 2026, reflecting problems in China’s property market. The forecast underpins an expected halving of iron ore price from its recent peak. In accordance with its usual practice, Treasury assumes iron ore and coal prices will fall back to their “long-run anchors” by early 2025. This usual practice has meant that for quite some time Treasury has under-estimated the prices of Australia’s main exports, and therefore underestimated company tax. While this might occur again, the troubles of the Chinese property sector make a big fall in the price of iron ore more plausible this time. Inflation and interest rates Wages are expected to climb faster than prices over the forecast period but not so fast as to themselves put pressure on inflation. Wage growth is forecast to slow from 4% during 2023-24 to 3.25% in 2024-25 and 2025-26. If things work out as planned, inflation will be back within the Reserve Bank’s 2-3% target band by the end of this year, falling to 2.75% by the middle of next year and 2.5% by mid 2027. Of course, the Reserve Bank’s latest forecasts do not take into account the measures announced by Chalmers in the budget. If the forecasts are correct, the Reserve Bank is likely to cut interest rates sooner than the market expects, either late this year or in the first half of next year. Critics will argue any measures which give households more money, even in the form of electricity price rebates, will add to inflation down the track. But are the measures really large enough to materially add to inflationary pressures? Perhaps not. They amount to $3 billion out of total spending of almost $700 billion in 2024-25. Another possible source of inflationary pressure is capacity constraints in the construction industry. Read more: Inflation is slowly falling while student debt is climbing: 6 graphs that explain the CPI The Future Made in Australia package involves considerable infrastructure spending, and the budget also spends more on housing and on transport infrastructure. All will need skilled and unskilled labour. At the same time, cuts to immigration will make a smaller contribution to expanding the construction workforce. The government is forecasting net overseas migration of about 260,000 per year in the years ahead, down from 528,000 in 2022-23. While elsewhere in the budget there are funds to train more construction workers, it will take a while for them to join the workforce. An early budget next year? Next year’s budget is likely to be brought forward to March to accommodate an election in May. According to this budget, things will be looking pretty good by then – good enough for the Reserve Bank to feel much more comfortable about inflation and to have started cutting interest rates. Read more: Chalmers is bitten by the giveaway bug in a budget that contains good news for almost everyone John Hawkins was formerly a senior economic analyst and forecaster in the Reserve Bank and Australian Treasury. ... The Conversation 3 hr ⟶
View from The Hill: What the Reserve Bank thinks of Chalmers’ budget will be nearly as important as ... CC BY-ND  — Jim Chalmers has produced a benign third budget aimed at soothing hard-pressed voters agitated about their high cost of living and punishing interest rates. At the same time he has walked a tightrope, trying to avoid the handouts making things worse rather than better. Despite its appearance, this is unlikely to be the pre-election budget. With the poll due by next May, Anthony Albanese is still anticipated to run full term. His very narrow parliamentary majority and voters’ grumpy state of mind would make an election this year a risk. That means another budget can be expected around March. Indeed, the prime minister has flagged it. An eye to the Reserve Bank But this budget still has the election firmly in mind. The voters’ mood has to be improved, and Chalmers is hoping its relatively substantial assistance will help do the trick. And the government desperately needs interest rates to fall – hence the stress on caution, so that the projected fall in inflation materialises. What the Reserve Bank thinks of this budget looms as almost as important as what the average voter thinks of it. So, as Chalmers has been telling us, the treasurer has had to juggle the economics and the politics. Read more: Relief on energy bills for all in a federal budget that bets on lower inflation The universal help on energy bills and the extra rent assistance fit both requirements nicely. They give relief which cut inflation (at least in the short term) rather than adding to it. The biggest relief, of course, comes from the tax cuts, which are in themselves the equivalent of a reduction in interest rates. The government’s decision early this year to recalibrate the Stage 3 tax cuts, meaning all taxpayers get a prize, has been long vindicated - the broken promise has faded from most memories. Apart from hard-pressed households, the government has had a careful eye in the budget to particular constituencies, including women (superannuation on paid parental leave and more) and young people (changes to HELP indexation and payments for placements). Handouts aplenty, negatives hard to find Many welfare advocates, however, will be disappointed. While they’ll welcome the rent assistance, the Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee’s recommendation for a big boost to the overall level to JobSeeker has not been met (although there is an increase for Australians with only a partial capacity to work). With an emphasis on handouts, the budget is also notably light on negatives. Whatever nasties it has are limited or well-hidden. Its future large deficits indicate the government has deferred a serious attack on the structural deficit to another day. Or another term. The budget launches the prime minister’s signature Future Made in Australia policy, which is costed at $22.7 billion over the next decade. Read more: At a glance: the 2024 federal budget split four ways The government hopes voters will make their immediate judgements about the budget on the criterion of “what’s in it for me?” With Future Made in Australia, it is relying on people responding to the “vibe” - the idea of Australia becoming an energy superpower, or making more things. Chalmers and Albanese justify the policy, which includes expensive tax incentives, largely on the basis other countries are playing on this ground, and Australia can’t be left behind. Perhaps. But many respected economists condemn it as little more than old-fashioned interventionism and picking winners. Read more: Budget 2024: Chalmers fights inflation, will it be enough for a rate cut? However it will be years before the wisdom of some of the policy’s investments can be properly assessed, so the government will feel reasonably confident any backlash is likely to be a long time coming. Albanese told the Labor caucus on Monday this was “a Labor budget through and through”. It’s a pretty accurate description. It’s generous in spending,with an ideological tinge. The critics will say it’s too “Labor” for the times. 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. ... The Conversation 3 hr ⟶
At a glance: the 2024 federal budget split four ways CC BY-ND  — The government has handed down its budget for 2024–25. It’s delivered a $9.3 billion surplus for the financial year just about to finish but is forecasting a $28.3 billion deficit for next year. Here’s the key points: Read more: Chalmers is bitten by the giveaway bug in a budget that contains good news for almost everyone ... The Conversation 3 hr ⟶
Can a Farm Generate Solar Power and Blueberries at Once? CC BY-ND  —  This story was originally published by the Maine Monitor. Paul Sweetland brings a bucket-like object with him to work on a blueberry farm in Rockport — not to collect Maine’s hallmark fruit, but to protect his head.  That’s because this farm is a little unusual: Looming over the narrow rows of wild blueberries are 8-foot-tall […] The post Can a Farm Generate Solar Power and Blueberries at Once? appeared first on The Daily Yonder. ... Daily Yonder 3 hr ⟶
Rural Victims of Intimate-Partner Violence Need More Resources and Support, Study Finds CC BY-ND  —  While intimate-partner violence is a problem in all areas of the country, victims in rural communities need more resources and support, a new study has found. The study from the University of Minnesota’ Rural Health Research Center found that rural victims of intimate-partner violence, or IPV, face more barriers and resource limitations that could affect […] The post Rural Victims of Intimate-Partner Violence Need More Resources and Support, Study Finds appeared first on The Daily Yonder. ... Daily Yonder 3 hr ⟶
ИРИ: Пет од шест земји во Западeн Балкан би гласале за приклучување во ЕУ CC BY-ND  — Анкетата покажа дека мнозинството во пет од шесте анкетирани земји верува дека руската војна против Украина е целосно или донекаде неоправдана   Последното мултинационално истражување за Западен Балкан, кое го направи Центарот за анкетни истражувања (CISR) на Меѓународниот републикански институт… ... Вистиномер 3 hr ⟶
Lawmakers take aim at community air monitoring in Louisiana  CC BY-ND  —  Republican legislators have blunted the impact of citizen-led air monitoring, which is set to receive millions from the feds Lawmakers take aim at community air monitoring in Louisiana  is an article from Energy News Network, a nonprofit news service covering the clean energy transition. If you would like to support us please make a donation. ... Energy News Network 3 hr ⟶
Ola CEO's 'Pronoun Illness' Remark: Can AI Chatbots Get Your Gender Right? CC BY-ND  — Ola's Bhavish Aggarwal has announced a shift from Microsoft Azure to Krutrim's own cloud services, amidst the LinkedIn AI pronoun debate. ... BOOM Live 3 hr ⟶
Pour booster son cerveau, quelles activités physiques privilégier après 60 ans ? CC BY-ND  — Combiner des activités d'endurance à du renforcement musculaire, pratiquer des sports collectifs mais aussi s'adonner à des jeux vidéo interactifs qui font bouger… voici quelques pistes pour aider à booster son cerveau et ses capacités cognitives après 60 ans. Avez-vous déjà réfléchi à la raison pour laquelle nous avions un cerveau ? La réponse évidente pourrait être «pour penser». Mais le scientifique Daniel Wolpert réplique une tout autre explication, lors de la réunion de la Society for Neuroscience en 2011 : «Nous avons un cerveau pour une raison et une seule : produire des mouvements adaptables et complexes». Notre cerveau est le chef d'orchestre de notre corps, en organisant nos mouvements et nos actions. Solliciter son cerveau pour qu'il reste efficace Se concentrer, acquérir des connaissances, raisonner, s'adapter et interagir avec les autres : toutes ces facultés qui permettent d'être en interaction avec l'environnement sont regroupées dans ce que l'on appelle les capacités cognitives. Elles jouent un rôle crucial dans les activités de la vie quotidienne et permettent de maintenir une bonne qualité de vie. Leur détérioration, au même titre que celle des fonctions physiques, affecte la qualité de vie et perturbe le quotidien des personnes. Il est donc important de solliciter un maximum notre cerveau afin qu'il reste efficace le plus longtemps possible. Chaque mardi, notre newsletter « Et surtout la santé ! » vous donne les clés afin de prendre les meilleures décisions pour votre santé (sommeil, alimentation, psychologie, activité physique, nouveaux traitements…) Abonnez-vous dès aujourd'hui. Contrairement à la croyance populaire, le cerveau ne se détériore pas continuellement avec l'âge. Dès 45 ans, il subit un vieillissement normal qui conduit à une diminution, notamment, du nombre de neurones et de l'efficacité des connexions. Mais la plasticité cérébrale, bien que réduite, est présente jusqu'à la fin de la vie. Chaque individu va se créer une «réserve cognitive» pendant toute sa vie. Plus le style de vie est positif, riche et stimulant, plus la réserve est puissante et efficace. Il est possible de modérer les effets que l'avancée en âge exerce sur la cognition, ce qui représente une formidable opportunité pour les personnes qui n'auraient pas eu la chance d'accéder à un style de vie riche. Les bénéfices de l'activité physique sur les capacités cognitives après 60 ans De nombreux travaux ont montré que l'activité physique améliorait les capacités cognitives, même après 60 ans. Gain de mémoire, meilleure réactivité, plus fortes capacités de planification : les bénéfices sont multiples. Malgré cela, les seniors restent peu nombreux à pratiquer de l’activité physique adaptée à leur situation de santé, de manière suffisamment soutenue. Le manque d'envie, d'accessibilité et d'attractivité des pratiques font partie des barrières de l'engagement dans un style de vie actif. Il est tentant de proposer aux seniors des activités mono tâche et routinières en raison des diminutions des capacités physiques, cognitives et sensorielles. Effectivement, l'offre d'activité physique ainsi que les recherches dans ce domaine ont longtemps tourné autour du même triptyque : gymnastique douce, marche, yoga. Cependant, la combinaison de différentes composantes à l'entraînement peut générer des gains supérieurs. Trois ingrédients pour entraîner le cerveau des seniors Les chercheurs se concentrent actuellement sur la création d'une recette idéale et motivante pour l'entraînement des seniors, qui combine à la fois des exercices physiques et cognitifs. Cette formule serait composée de 3 ingrédients principaux : – Premier ingrédient : une stimulation physique et motrice complexe d'intensité au moins modérée Une activité physique d'endurance, avec une intensité d'effort au moins modérée, peut non seulement améliorer la santé cardiorespiratoire mais aussi rendre le cerveau plus performant. Elle génère une amélioration de l'aptitude cardiovasculaire, ce qui permet au cerveau de recevoir plus d'oxygène. Des travaux de recherche ont montré que cela peut également s'accompagner de la création de nouveaux neurones dans l'hippocampe, siège de la mémoire. Certes, les programmes qui excellent pour améliorer les fonctions cognitives doivent être composés d'activité physique d'endurance. Mais il est également nécessaire de les combiner à des exercices de renforcement musculaire, de souplesse et d'équilibre pour entraîner des bénéfices supérieurs. De plus, les chercheurs insistent sur l'intérêt d'ajouter des situations nécessitant des habiletés motrices complexes et de la coordination car elles solliciteraient notablement les fonctions cognitives (par exemple la mémoire, l'attention ou encore la flexibilité mentale), notamment chez les personnes âgées. – Deuxième ingrédient : intégrer une stimulation cognitive dans l'entraînement On entend par «stimulation cognitive» une stimulation qui fait appel aux fonctions cognitives, comme retenir une information pendant un temps et l'exécuter, anticiper des actions, mettre en place une stratégie, etc. Lorsque la stimulation cognitive est associée à l'activité physique, cela peut produire des effets synergiques et, de ce fait, être plus efficient sur les fonctions cognitives. – Troisième ingrédient : des activités collectives qui entraînent des interactions sociales Le fait de pratiquer au sein d'un groupe susciterait une augmentation de l'observance à un programme, c'est-à-dire de l'assiduité dans le suivi de ce programme. L'attractivité inhérente aux activités physiques proposées doit être un levier pour engager les personnes dans la pratique physique. Mais quelles solutions avons-nous pour respecter cette recette idéale ? Deux types de pratiques pourraient s'avérer intéressantes et font actuellement l'objet de recherche auprès des seniors. Opter pour des sports collectifs de coopération et d'opposition Les sports collectifs offrent bien plus que de simples séances d'exercice physique. Ils sollicitent l'endurance cardiorespiratoire mais engagent également l'ensemble de la condition physique. Prenons par exemple le basketball ou le handball : pour se déplacer sur le terrain, dribbler ou marquer, l'équilibre, la coordination et la souplesse sont essentiels. De même, la force musculaire est mise à contribution pour les passes, la récupération de la balle ou les changements de direction. Ces sports collectifs peuvent convenir même après 60 ans, s'ils sont réalisés et encadrés de manière adaptée. Sur le plan cognitif, ces activités créent des situations toujours nouvelles, riches et stimulantes. Cette double combinaison de stimulations s'appelle l'entraînement simultané. Plusieurs chercheurs mettent en lumière l'importance de cet engagement cognitif dans les sports collectifs et encouragent leur pratique, en particulier chez les personnes âgées. Des études récentes, comme celle menée en 2022 par des chercheuses françaises, ont montré que la participation à des sports collectifs améliorait la mémoire visuospatiale (qui permet, par exemple, de se rappeler l'emplacement de certains objets pendant un temps limité) à court terme et les capacités de planification chez les personnes âgées. Pratiquer ces jeux vidéo qui font bouger le corps : les exergames PUMS Live : Un mur immersif, du renforcement musculaire et de l'endurance pour stimuler les fonctions cérébrales et motrices. Il peut aussi être intéressant de pratiquer ces jeux vidéo appelés «exergames» qui nécessitent que les joueurs bougent leur corps pour interagir avec les jeux. Ils portent ce nom en référence à la contraction d'«exercise» et «games» (jeux, en anglais) et ont été popularisés depuis les années 2000 avec des consoles comme la Wii et la Switch de Nintendo ou la Kinect de Microsoft. Ils sont conçus pour solliciter différents aspects de la condition physique, comme l'équilibre, l'endurance, la force et la coordination, tout en stimulant simultanément les fonctions cognitives. Chez les seniors, plusieurs recherches montrent que ce type d'entraînement est efficace pour améliorer de nombreuses capacités physiques et cognitives. Courant 2020, une nouvelle génération d'exergames est apparue, utilisant des murs interactifs pour créer une expérience de jeu encore plus immersive, telle que Neo-One de Neo Xperiences, l'ExerCube de Sphery ou encore l’Aire interactive de Lü. Dans ces jeux qui mêlent mondes réels et virtuels, des objets physiques (comme des ballons) et numériques coexistent et interagissent en temps réel. Une étude récente a comparé un programme d'exergames assisté par un mur immersif à un programme de marche et de renforcement musculaire. Ses résultats suggèrent que cette nouvelle génération d'exergames peut se révéler plus efficace sur les capacités cognitives que des entraînements classiques. En conclusion, on comprend que les activités physiques et cognitives combinées offrent un environnement dynamique et social qui stimule le cerveau tout en permettant de rester actif physiquement. Cela est essentiel pour une vie active et épanouissante, quel que soit l'âge. Neva Béraud-Peigné a bénéficié d'un contrat doctoral du ministère de l’enseignement supérieur.Alexandra Perrot et Pauline Maillot ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur poste universitaire. ... The Conversation 3 hr ⟶
L’activité physique, une alliée incontournable pour la santé de notre cerveau CC BY-ND  — En plus d’être bénéfique pour notre corps, l’activité physique joue aussi un rôle crucial, souvent insoupçonné, dans le développement et la modification de notre cerveau. À travers la naissance de nouveaux neurones (la neurogenèse) et la création de connexions entre les neurones (la synaptogenèse) et de vaisseaux sanguins qui améliorent l’irrigation du cerveau (angiogénèse), l’activité physique sculpte le cerveau au même titre que le muscle et participe à améliorer nos capacités cognitives. Cognition et bien-être améliorés grâce à l’activité physique À travers ces modifications structurales (c’est-à-dire la neurogénèse, la synaptogenèse et l’angiogenèse…), les impacts de l’activité physique sont multiples. Sur le plan cognitif, de nombreux travaux ont mis en lumière une amélioration significative de la mémoire, de l’attention, de la vitesse de traitement de l’information et même de la créativité chez les individus physiquement actifs. Ces changements fonctionnels sont le résultat direct des modifications structurelles et physiologiques induites par l’activité physique. Des effets bénéfiques ont également été observés sur la prévention du déclin cognitif lié à l’âge. Une méta-analyse – un travail de recherche qui mène une analyse statistique en combinant les données de différentes études* – comprenant 15 études longitudinales et totalisant 33 816 participants âgés de plus de 55 ans (sans antécédents de démence) a été conduite pour évaluer l’influence de l’activité physique sur le déclin cognitif. Les résultats montrent que les individus pratiquant une activité physique régulière et soutenue diminuaient de 38 % le risques de développer des troubles cognitifs comparés aux individus sédentaires. Chaque mardi, notre newsletter « Et surtout la santé ! » vous donne les clés afin de prendre les meilleures décisions pour votre santé (sommeil, alimentation, psychologie, activité physique, nouveaux traitements…) Abonnez-vous dès aujourd’hui. Sur le plan émotionnel, l’activité physique influence également notre santé mentale, en réduisant les symptômes de la dépression et de l’anxiété, grâce à la régulation de certains neurotransmetteurs (tels que la sérotonine et la dopamine). Des résultats récents ont par ailleurs mis en évidence que les bénéfices de l’activité physique sur le plan émotionnel étaient particulièrement importants chez des individus ayant un faible niveau d’activité physique antérieur. De plus, étant donné que la dépression et l’anxiété nuisent à des aspects importants de notre cognition (comme l’attention, la concentration, la mémoire, la vitesse de traitement de l’information ou encore la prise de décision), l’activité physique peut jouer un rôle protecteur pour les individus touchés par ces troubles. En pratique : quelle routine d’activité physique adopter ? Les experts et l’Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS) recommandent au moins 150 minutes d’activité aérobie d’intensité modérée par semaine (ou 75 minutes d’activité plus intensive) combinée à des exercices de musculation deux fois par semaine. Par jour, entre 5000 et 7000 pas sont recommandés chez l’adulte. Au-delà des exercices physiques et sportifs (correspondant à toutes activités aérobiques, qui nécessitent un apport important en oxygène comme la course à pied ou la natation, ou musculaires planifiées, structurées et répétitives, avec ou sans compétitions), l’activité physique comprend également les activités de la vie quotidienne (marcher, monter les escaliers, tondre la pelouse, jardiner, faire le ménage…). Courir, nager, danser – mais aussi tondre la pelouse, promener son chien, ou prendre les escaliers plutôt que l’ascenseur – sont autant d’activités accessibles qui peuvent contribuer à la santé de notre cerveau. Quels mécanismes cérébraux sont à l’œuvre ? Explorons comment l’activité physique régulière ne se contente pas de remodeler notre silhouette, mais façonne également l’architecture même de notre cerveau. – La naissance de nouveaux neurones La naissance de nouveaux neurones ou neurogenèse a été pendant longtemps considérée comme un processus se limitant à la période de développement embryonnaire. Toutefois, des études ont montré que l’exercice physique stimule la neurogenèse chez l’adulte, et ce particulièrement dans l’hippocampe, une structure clé dans les processus de mémorisation et d’apprentissage. Parallèlement, les activités nécessitant un apport important en oxygène, comme la course à pied ou la natation (aussi appelées exercices aérobie) favorisent la libération de ce que l’on appelle des facteurs de croissance (tels que le BDNF pour l’anglais Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor ou facteur neurotrophique dérivé du cerveau), des protéines essentielles à la survie et à la croissance des neurones existants ainsi qu’au développement de nouvelles cellules cérébrales. – Une augmentation du volume cérébral à tous les âges D’autres recherches ont montré que l’activité physique régulière modifie aussi la structure de notre cerveau : elle augmente le volume de certaines structures cérébrales, notamment de l’hippocampe et des régions préfrontales. L’hippocampe (situé dans le lobe temporal) est une structure essentielle pour la mémoire et l’apprentissage tandis que le cortex préfrontal est impliqué dans des fonctions dites exécutives (de haut niveau) telles que le raisonnement, la planification, l’inhibition, la prise de décision, la résolution de problème… Ces changements ont été observés quel que soit l’âge des sujets, tant à l’âge adulte, dans l’enfance, l’adolescence et même chez les personnes âgées. Chez ces derniers, la pratique régulière d’une activité physique pourrait constituer un facteur neuroprotecteur du risque de développer des pathologies neurodégénératives. La réalisation d’activités physiques régulières contribue donc à la santé et au développement du cerveau, tant chez le jeune que l’adulte vieillissant. Des travaux chez l’animal suggèrent que ces changements structurels pourraient s’accompagner d’une amélioration de la connectivité entre les différentes zones du cerveau (en créant de nouvelles synapses, ces régions où ont lieu les interactions entre cellules nerveuses), ce qui rendrait la communication plus efficace entre neurones plus efficaces. – Une meilleure oxygénation et irrigation L’activité physique améliore enfin l’irrigation du cerveau. En augmentant le débit sanguin, l’activité physique (en particulier aérobie) stimule la création de nouveaux vaisseaux sanguins. Ce processus, nommé angiogenèse, améliore l’efficacité de l’apport d’oxygène et de nutriments aux neurones. L’activité physique est aussi un moteur de la plasticité cérébrale En stimulant la création de nouveaux neurones et la formation de connexions synaptiques, l’activité physique agit comme un puissant moteur de la plasticité cérébrale. On nomme « plasticité cérébrale » la capacité du cerveau à se remodeler en réponse aux stimulations de l’environnement, en modifiant la force des connexions entre les neurones ou en formant de nouvelles voies neuronales. Cette adaptabilité du cerveau est cruciale pour l’apprentissage, la mémoire, mais aussi la réorganisation après une lésion cérébrale. Cette capacité est essentielle tout au long de la vie, permettant des améliorations cognitives et une résilience accrue face au vieillissement et aux maladies neurodégénératives. Dans le contexte de pathologies neurologiques telles que la sclérose en plaques, l’activité physique adaptée se révèle être un outil précieux, non seulement pour la réhabilitation motrice, mais aussi pour la réhabilitation cognitive. Désormais, les mécanismes à l’œuvre au niveau cérébral quand on pratique une activité physique sont bien connus. Pour bénéficier pleinement de ces effets, il n’est pas nécessaire de devenir un athlète de haut niveau : une routine d’activité physique modérée mais régulière est suffisante. Cet article a été co-écrit par Béatrice Degraeve (Université Catholique de Lille, Lille, France), Bruno Lenne (Université Catholique de Lille, FranceETHICS (EA7446) Groupement des hôpitaux de l’institut catholique de Lille GHICL, neurology department, Lille, France), Caroline Massot (Groupement des hôpitaux de l’institut catholique de Lille GHICL, rehabilitation department, France Université Catholique de Lille, Lille, France UPHF, LAMIH, Valenciennes, CNRS, UMR 8201, Valenciennes, France), Laurent Zikos (Université Catholique de Lille, Lille, France). Béatrice Degraeve ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche. ... The Conversation 3 hr ⟶
In beeld: Studenten bezetten KU Leuven uit protest tegen samenwerking met Israël CC BY-ND  — Studenten voeren sinds maandagochtend actie in het College De Valk in de Tiensestraat in Leuven. De studenten bezetten het gebouw van de KU Leuven (KUL) uit protest tegen de samenwerkingen van de KUL met universiteiten in Israël, dat Gaza al maandenlang bombardeert. Ook aan de Vrije Universiteit Brussel en de Universiteit Gent vinden er studentenprotesten plaats. Reporter Sanad Latifa was aanwezig in Leuven en maakte deze beelden. ... StampMedia 3 hr ⟶
DPRD Sulsel Inisiasi Perda Terumbu Karang: Harapan Baru untuk Ekosistem Laut CC BY-ND  — DPRD Sulsel tengah menginisiasi rancangan peraturan daerah (ranperda) pengelolaan terumbu karang berbasis masyarakat, yang diharapkan bisa memperbaiki kondisi terumbu karang yang rusak di berbagai daerah. Sejumlah pembelajaran menunjukkan bahwa pengelolaan… ... Mongabay 3 hr ⟶
Mortes e parceria com o PCC: como facção venezuelana Trem de Aragua ganha espaço no Brasil CC BY-ND  — Facção violenta apostou no tráfico para expandir território; pesquisadores apontam elo do grupo da Venezuela com o PCC ... Agência Pública 4 hr ⟶
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