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March 9, 2026

B.C.’s switch to permanent DST adds to the ‘perfect storm’ for poorer adolescent sleep and mental health

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Elizabeth Keys, Assistant Professor (Nursing), University of British Columbia

The British Columbia government recently announced the province will adopt permanent daylight saving time (DST). It framed the decision as a way to improve health, reduce disruptions, simplify scheduling and provide more evening daylight.

The adoption of permanent DST raises significant concerns about social jetlag and long-term health impacts. Scientific evidence indicates that permanent DST results in a chronic mismatch between people’s daily clock-based schedules and their internal biological clock.

This mismatch is known as social jetlag, results in sleep deprivation and negatively impacts health, as detailed by the Canadian Sleep Society, Canadian Society for Chronobiology, Canadian Sleep Research Consortium and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

As nurses conducting pediatric sleep research, our focus is on promoting adequate sleep for children, adolescents and their families. We are particularly concerned about the effect of permanent DST on adolescents’ sleep because they already experience social jetlag.

Circadian rhythm

Our internal body clock uses morning light to help us “reset” our circadian rhythm. Light helps regulate our internal body functions, such as digestion, metabolism, hormone regulation and mood. This daily light reset helps people synchronize their biological clocks with the sun.

Canada’s northern latitude gives Canadians a morning dose of daylight in the summer months. The switch back to standard time in the fall provides some morning daylight as the days shorten. That will not occur with permanent DST, which — unlike maintaining standard time all year round — maintains the artificial one-hour time switch of DST permanently.

DST changes the clock time without changing sun time, so circadian rhythms are not synchronized with school and work obligations, resulting in social jetlag. Social jetlag increases the risk of smoking, higher alcohol and caffeine consumption, and a higher incidence of mental health problems. It also increases risk for obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular problems.

One in three Canadian adolescents do not get the recommended eight to 10 hours of sleep per night. Recent estimates suggest more than half of teens do not get enough sleep.

Social jetlag is already common in adolescents, who experience a “perfect storm” for sleep deprivation. This perfect storm is caused by biological (such as hormonal) and psycho-social shifts towards later bedtimes and wake times. Social jetlag occurs because they have to get up for school on weekdays. Layering permanent DST on already existing social jetlag will likely worsen the perfect storm for adolescent sleep deprivation.

The severity of adolescent’s sleep deprivation and social jetlag is shown by the difference in the amount and timing of sleep they get on weekdays (when they have to get up for school or work) compared to weekends (when many people can sleep in). On average, Canadian adolescents sleep about one hour more on weekends than weekdays, with larger differences observed for female adolescents and those who identified beyond a gender binary.

Chronic sleep loss in adolescents is linked to problems with attention, behaviour and learning, and to increased risk of depression and self-harm. A recent review reported that adolescents’ shorter sleep duration was associated with a 55 per cent increase in the likelihood of mood deficits, such as anger, depression, negative affect and anxiety. Even younger adolescents (14 years) with less than seven hours of sleep had increased risk for drug use, anti-social behaviour and sensation-seeking.

Sleep duration is a relatively modifiable factor that can protect the mental health of adolescents. When Russia adopted permanent DST in 2011 (before switching back in 2014), adolescents experienced higher rates of sleep deprivation, increased social jetlag and increased depressed mood in the winter, especially for those located in more northern communities.

Late sunrises

Canada’s wider variations in day and night lengths will exacerbate effects of permanent DST. For example, adopting permanent DST means that sunrise in cities like Victoria, Vancouver and Kamloops won’t happen until after 9 a.m. in the middle of winter. This would apply to many other cities, including Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Winnipeg and Saint John if permanent DST were adopted in those regions.

Late sunrises will especially impact more northern communities, like Fort Saint John where the sun won’t rise until after 10:30 a.m. in December. More northern communities, including many Indigenous, rural and remote communities, often already experience health inequities, including reduced access to medical services and other mental health resources. This reduced access may worsen the impact of permanent DST on sleep and mental health.

The experiment with permanent DST is likely to have significant effects over time. Evidence suggests negative effects on adolescents’ sleep and well-being. Researchers, health-care providers, policymakers and the public will need to work together to monitor the sleep duration, mood, health behaviours, and other intended and unintended consequences of the transition to permanent DST for adolescents.

Funded research examining changes at the population level is important to provide evidence about the effects of permanent DST for adolescents living in British Columbia.

Elizabeth Keys receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and Michael Smith Health Research BC.

Wendy Hall receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

– ref. B.C.’s switch to permanent DST adds to the ‘perfect storm’ for poorer adolescent sleep and mental health – https://theconversation.com/b-c-s-switch-to-permanent-dst-adds-to-the-perfect-storm-for-poorer-adolescent-sleep-and-mental-health-277587

March 9, 2026

La religion et les allégeances politiques ont-elles un impact sur l’appui à l’enseignement de certaines matières à l’école ?

Source: The Conversation – in French – By Frédérick Guillaume Dufour, Professeur en sociologie politique, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)

Deux rapports récents ont fait état d’une montée de l’homophobie et de la misogynie dans les écoles québécoises. Tant celui du GRIS-Montréal que celui de la Fédératon autonome de l’enseignement (FAE) pointe du doigt l’influence des masculinistes comme Andrew Tate.

Depuis près de deux semaines, ce rapport de la FAE s’est retrouvé au cœur des polarisations sociales en ligne, tout comme celui du GRIS-Montréal un an plus tôt. Plusieurs leur reprochent de ne pas explorer suffisamment la dimension religieuse des répondants et l’’intensité de leur pratique religieuse.

En contexte de polarisations, la présentation de telles études sur les réseaux sociaux reçoit régulièrement une réception partisane.

Ainsi, une partie de la gauche de la gauche a tendance à voir l’opposition à une éducation libérale sur les enjeux de sexualité et de droits des homosexuels dans les écoles comme étant le fait exclusif de la montée de l’extrême droite. Une partie de la droite conservatrice a quant à elle tendance à identifier le rejet de ces matières comme étant le fait exclusif des minorités musulmanes.

Le prisme des polarisations sociales

Mes recherches s’inscrivent en sociologie politique. Depuis une dizaine d’années, je m’intéresse aux polarisations sociales entourant la montée du populisme de droite. Dans le cadre d’une subvention du Gouvernement du Canada obtenue par le Musée de l’Holocauste de Montréal, j’ai été mandaté pour réaliser un sondage avec la firme Léger Marketing sur un ensemble d’enjeux de société au cœur des polarisations sociales, allant de l’intolérance à l’antisémitisme, en passant par le populisme, le conspirationnisme, et la perception de l’immigration.

Dans une première enquête sur le vivre-ensemble et les polarisations sociales, nous avons sondé 1402 adultes québécois. Afin d’avoir un portrait des clivages sur les enjeux sociaux en fonction des données sociodémographiques, des intentions de vote au provincial et au fédéral, mais aussi des confessions religieuses, nous avons sondé un sur-échantillon de répondants musulmans (138) et de répondants juifs (78). Nous avions suffisamment de répondants chrétiens (774) pour ne pas avoir besoin de les sur-échantillonner.

L’enquête a été menée en juillet 2025 sur une plate-forme électronique en fonction de l’ensemble des régions administratives du Québec et des indicateurs sociodémographiques permettant d’établir un échantillon représentatif. Il faut cependant être prudent, car plus les sous-groupes ont de petits échantillons, plus la marge d’erreur augmente.

L’avantage des enquêtes sur plates-formes électroniques est qu’elles diminuent les biais de désirabilité des enquêtes où les répondants peuvent chercher à fournir la réponse la plus appropriée en fonction du contexte.

Un volet de l’enquête portait sur les thèmes que les répondants souhaitent voir enseigner par le système d’éducation publique au Québec.

La présentation succincte des données, qui portent cependant sur des adultes et non des adolescents, met en relief le caractère partial des postures militantes, de gauche comme de droite, sur ces enjeux.

Deux questions, trois dimensions

En matière d’éducation, nous nous sommes intéressés aux enjeux plus souvent au cœur des controverses publiques, soit le niveau d’appui des répondants à l’enseignement de l’histoire du Québec, à celle des pensionnats autochtones, de l’Holocauste, des droits des gais et lesbiennes et à l’éducation à la sexualité.

Ce sont sur ces deux dernières questions que nous présentons ici les résultats. Ils sont présentés sous la forme simple d’une analyse bivariée, c’est-à-dire qui met en relation deux variables sous forme de pourcentage. La variable dépendante est le niveau d’appui à l’enseignement de la matière. Une telle analyse ne permet pas de conclure à des relations de causalité, mais seulement d’identifier des tendances.

Les indicateurs sociodémographiques

88 % des répondants étaient favorables à l’enseignement de l’éducation à la sexualité et 58 % à l’enseignement de l’histoire des droits des gais et lesbiennes (DGL).

Le sexe ne permet pas de mesurer une variation significative à l’égard de l’appui à l’éducation à la sexualité, mais les femmes sont plus favorables (64 %) que les hommes (52 %) à l’enseignement de l’histoire des DGL. L’appui à l’éducation à la sexualité est plus élevé chez les 55 et + et l’appui à l’enseignement de l’histoire des DGL ne varie pas significativement en fonction de l’âge. La région ou le niveau de scolarité n’entraîne pas de variation très importante non plus.

La religion

Parmi les répondants chrétiens, 90 % se disent favorables à l’éducation à la sexualité. C’est le cas de 85 % des répondants juifs et de 53 % des répondants musulmans.

Quant à l’enseignement de l’histoire des droits des gays et lesbiennes, 24 % des répondants musulmans, 54 % des répondants chrétiens et 65 % des répondants juifs y sont favorables. Le tableau suivant présente les résultats auxquels nous ajoutons celui des athées et où les chrétiens sont séparés entre catholiques et protestants.

Dans ce premier tableau, la proximité entre les résultats des athées, des juifs et des catholiques est frappante.

Dans ce second tableau, la répartition des données est plus importante.

Voici nos résultats en fonction de l’intensité autodéclarée de la pratique religieuse. Les répondants croyants pouvaient indiquer l’intensité de leur pratique religieuse sur une échelle d’un à quatre, allant de « Pas du tout pratiquant » à « Très pratiquant ». Nous présentons les résultats en regroupant les résultats « plutôt pratiquant » et « très pratiquant ».

Le taux de répondants défavorables à l’enseignement de l’éducation à la sexualité augmente avec le niveau de religiosité, sauf pour le groupe « protestant » qui constitue notre plus petit échantillon, donc celui dont la représentativité est la moins fiable.

Dans ce quatrième tableau, on constate que la variable de l’intensité de la pratique religieuse entretient une relation moins claire avec la variable dépendante en fonction des confessions religieuses. Si les « Pas du tout pratiquant » sont globalement plus favorables à l’enseignement des deux matières, la progression est moins claire par la suite.

Les intentions de vote

Nos données indiquent un appui favorable au cours d’éducation à la sexualité chez 95 % des répondants ayant l’intention de voter pour le Parti Québécois (360) ou pour Québec solidaire (102). L’appui reste très favorable chez les électeurs potentiels de la CAQ (117) et du PLQ (342) à 88 % et 89 %. L’appui reste important à 79 % chez les électeurs potentiels du Parti conservateur du Québec (141) de Éric Duhaime.

Quant à l’enseignement de l’histoire des droits des gais et lesbiennes, 69 % des électeurs du PQ, 62 % des électeurs du PLQ et 60 % des électeurs de la CAQ y sont favorables. L’appui grimpe à 79 % chez les électeurs de QS et il est à 31 % chez ceux du PCQ.

Au fédéral, les données indiquent un appui favorable au cours d’éducation à la sexualité chez 94 % des bloquistes (330), 91 % des néodémocrates (71), 90 % des libéraux (486) et 83 % des conservateurs (215). Quant à l’enseignement de l’histoire des droits des gais et lesbiennes, il a l’appui de 89 % des néodémocrates, 67 % des bloquistes, 64 % des libéraux et 32 % des conservateurs.

Quelles tendances ressortent ?

On constate globalement un appui très fort à l’enseignement de l’éducation à la sexualité. Cet appui est moins fort chez les répondants de confessions musulmanes et chez les partisans des formations conservatrices, mais il reste majoritaire.

On constate un appui un peu moins fort à l’enseignement de l’histoire des gays et lesbiennes. Cet appui reste globalement majoritaire, mais il est sous les 50 % chez les partisans des formations conservatrices et chez les répondants de confession musulmane. Il reste que même chez ces catégories de répondants environ 3 répondants sur 10 sont favorables à l’enseignement de la matière en question. Cette catégorie de répondants n’est donc pas monolithique.

Déjà des milliers d’abonnés à l’infolettre de La Conversation. Et vous ? Abonnez-vous gratuitement à notre infolettre pour mieux comprendre les grands enjeux contemporains.

Les « athées » et les répondants croyants s’identifiant « Pas du tout pratiquant » sont globalement plus favorables à l’enseignement des deux matières.

Des bémols en conclusion

L’opposition à l’enseignement de ces matières ne permet cependant pas de conclure que les répondants sont homophobes.

Les répondants peuvent par exemple estimer que le système scolaire québécois devrait prioriser d’autres matières.

Les répondants libertariens, qui votent souvent pour des formations conservatrices, peuvent quant à eux estimer que ce n’est pas à l’État de donner des orientations sur ces enjeux qu’ils considèrent relevant de la vie privée.

Les questions ne précisaient pas non plus l’âge auquel l’enseignement de ces matières devrait être dispensé. Cette variable pourrait faire varier les réponses de façon importante.

S’agissant de données récoltées à travers un seul sondage, elles ne permettent pas d’indiquer une variation temporelle dans une direction ou dans l’autre sur ces questions.

La question intéressante qu’il faudrait maintenant poser est : est-ce que le fait d’avoir été exposé à cette matière modifie la perception des jeunes de ces enjeux une fois rendue à l’âge adulte ? Un autre type d’enquête est nécessaire pour répondre à cette question.

Frédérick Guillaume Dufour est professeur titulaire à l’Université du Québec à Montréal. Il collabore avec le Musée de l’Holocauste de Montréal à titre de chercheur dans le cadre d’une subvention du Gouvernement du Canada obtenue par le Musée.

– ref. La religion et les allégeances politiques ont-elles un impact sur l’appui à l’enseignement de certaines matières à l’école ? – https://theconversation.com/la-religion-et-les-allegeances-politiques-ont-elles-un-impact-sur-lappui-a-lenseignement-de-certaines-matieres-a-lecole-277822

March 9, 2026

Climate change may not end skiing. But it will make it more exclusive

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Paolo Aversa, Professor of Strategy, King’s College London

The Winter Olympics just showcased alpine sport at its most spectacular and universal. But in the mountains themselves, access to winter sports is becoming increasingly unequal.

The cost of keeping slopes open in a warming climate is climbing – and so are prices for visitors. Investment will be concentrated in higher altitude resorts that are able to adapt, while smaller and lower areas fall behind. The key question for the future of skiing may not be whether it survives at all, but who it survives for.

Unlike the UK, where skiing is associated with expensive foreign holidays, in Alpine regions it has become a mainstream hobby without the same class connotations. Born as a means of transport, more affordable equipment made it increasingly accessible to people beyond the mountains. In Italy, for instance, it is not unusual for state schools to take their pupils into the mountains for a traditional “settimana bianca” – white week – skiing holiday.

Each winter, locals and tourists together support a sector that accounts for roughly €12 billion (about £10 billion) – that’s 0.5% of Italy’s national GDP, and a far higher percentage of the economy in mountain regions. Winter sports have become a major employer, as communities that once depended on seasonal farming and agriculture have progressively shifted to tourism.

Yet the climate conditions that made this possible are changing.

Peak prices

With snow falling less and melting faster, resorts invest heavily in artificial snowmaking to maintain reliable winter seasons. These investments have worked – most ski runs in the Alps are now lined by modern snowmaking machines – but they also reshape the economics of skiing.

That’s because the cost is being passed on to skiers themselves.

snow cannon beside a piste — A ‘snow cannon’ pumps out tiny droplets of water which turn to snow before they land. It uses lots of water and energy – but is very effective.
krovsmolokom13 / shutterstock

For instance in the Dolomiti Superski network, Italy’s largest, a high-season daily pass has surged from €67 (£59) in 2021 to around €86 (£75) this year, a rise of 28% in three years. The cost of skiing in Europe has risen by 34.8% above inflation since 2015, with Swiss, Austrian, and Italian resorts mostly responsible for the price increase.

In the US, prices are increasing even faster and American skiers are increasingly heading to relatively cheaper resorts in the Alps. Together with skiers from Russia and Eastern Europe who are wealthy enough to ignore the prices, they’ve helped keep Alpine tourism fully booked.

But skiing is less and less accessible for many less-affluent families, including many locals. Former Italian World Cup skier and TV commentator Paolo De Chiesa recently warned that skiing in Italy is becoming a sport for the elite.

As climate adaptation demands more and more investment, skiing will be increasingly concentrated in fewer higher altitude resorts. These resorts tend to be further into the mountains and already attract most of the wealthy tourists, which means they can also afford more snow-making.

small private jet on runway in snowy mountains — A small airport in the ski resort of Courchevel, France, caters to the jet set.
Maria Studio / shutterstock

Smaller and lower-altitude resorts with mostly local visitors are far more likely to struggle – many are already seeing their winter seasons shorten, and some have already closed entirely.

When adaptation reshapes communities

These changes are felt most strongly in mountain communities themselves. One of us (Paolo) grew up a short drive from where the recent Winter Olympics were held. During his childhood most of his friends knew how to ski, but today only a handful of them can afford to take their children.

This is one side of a growing divide within ski tourism between places that can afford to adapt and those that cannot. Artificial snowmaking increases dependence on capital investment, energy and water. This favours large resorts which, over time, pass costs on to deep-pocketed visitors and local communities.

Meanwhile, seasonal workers now often struggle to find accommodation as housing is prioritised for visitors. Narrow mountain roads are congested, parking is difficult, and public services are under pressure.

Beyond winter-only tourism

If climate change is concentrating skiing in fewer, higher-altitude resorts, the change needs to be gradual and managed rather than sudden and brutal. Much of the industry still profits from the status quo and won’t be keen to transition to other arrangements. That’s why policymakers have a responsibility to guide the transition, starting with lower-altitude resorts.

There, diversification into year-round tourism, gastronomy, wellness, or other nature experiences is one way to build a more resilient future. Protecting the local community and more fairly distributing the revenues of the tourism is becoming as important as maintaining visitor numbers.

Investment and opportunity – and even snow itself – is being further concentrated in fewer spots. Technology may save skiing, but the question is for whom. A global affluent elite may be able to handle the price rises, while local people are increasingly excluded from the system they helped to build.

Paolo Aversa receives funding from the Center for Sustainable Business at King’s College London, the Center for Sports and Business at the Stockholm School of Economics, and the Fondazione CARITRO.

Juliane Reinecke receives funding from the Center for Sports and Business at the Stockholm School of Economics.

– ref. Climate change may not end skiing. But it will make it more exclusive – https://theconversation.com/climate-change-may-not-end-skiing-but-it-will-make-it-more-exclusive-276703

March 9, 2026

Foraged mushrooms and sea beet featured in British meals in the 16th century. Why not today?

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Emmanuel Junior Zuza, Visiting Assistant Professor in Environmental Science, The Open University

Knowledge about eating wild mushrooms has been lost. Sandret/Shtterstock

Wild garlic, oyster mushrooms and sea beet were once regularly gathered and eaten as part of meals across the UK. Today, some people have concerns about eating food growing in the woods or hedgerows, but are keen to discuss why – as our research shows.

Our small study looked at current public attitudes to eating wild foods in the English county of Dorset.

In previous centuries, knowledge about what to pick and eat and even how to cook was passed down through generations.

In 16th-century Britain, rural households ate pottage (a kind of soup made from oats) and foraged for other ingredients including sorrel and leeks. Coastal communities gathered samphire and sea beet, while hazelnuts were gathered from forests and hedgerows. Wild game, such as rabbit and deer, and freshwater eels were considered ordinary foods for those who could find them.

My team’s research into public attitudes to “wild food” was based in Dorset, a strongly agricultural county. Working with an experienced forager, we selected ten foods growing wild in the county and available around the UK. We then asked a mix of farmers and people in the food industry including chefs and experienced foragers about whether they would feel comfortable eating these items.

When shown photographs of commonly available edible species including nettles, mushrooms (wood ear and oyster), blackberries, wild garlic, elder, cleavers (a native wildflower), hawthorn, hazelnut, and sea beet, many participants expressed surprise about how little they knew about the foods growing in their back gardens and nearby woods.

One farmer in the group said: “I grew up in the countryside, I was always curious about plants and what was growing outside. But I’m always surprised about how little I know and I’m someone who loves plants.” The people we spoke with were not confident about how to identify food sources on their doorsteps and add them into their cooking.

Two people out of the group of 11 correctly identified the two types of mushrooms, wood ear and oyster, that are common in Dorset and widely foraged globally. Several participants admitted they were a bit afraid of eating mushrooms. One farmer said that wild mushrooming “terrifies me a little bit”.

A foraging expert said: “A lot of people are scared because they’re told when they’re a kid, don’t touch the mushrooms, they might be poisonous.”

Urban foraging is a new trend in Germany.

One grower said that consumers have become used to buying all their food from shops, but they are less comfortable with buying, or finding, foraged food. Participants said they would be comfortable buying oyster mushrooms in a supermarket, but they would feel less secure buying them at a market, for instance.

But we found some participants were enthusiastic about trying out new wild ingredients. One said: “If you can eat something that you’ve grown, picked or foraged, it kind of has a special feeling about it.”

Another said: “I’m going to have them. It’s free! I mean, why wouldn’t you?”

It should be noted that inexperienced foragers should seek guidance on which fungi are safe to eat as not all are edible, and some are poisonous.

Participants’ perspectives shifted after discussing foraging and consumption. One participant commented: “This shows the loss of knowledge and understanding of how to find and eat wild foods, even in rural communities.”

Wild foods, such as the ones in our study, were once part of a staple diet but are not widely available in supermarkets, although a few do crop up at farmers’ markets. Examples of these include wild garlic, wood ear mushrooms, elderflower, nettle, cleavers, hawthorn, sea beet, chickweed and sea purslane.

Rebuilding knowledge about local wild foods could help reconnect people with their food environment.

Emmanuel Junior Zuza works as a Senior Lecturer at The Royal Agricultural University and is a Visiting Fellow for the Open University.

– ref. Foraged mushrooms and sea beet featured in British meals in the 16th century. Why not today? – https://theconversation.com/foraged-mushrooms-and-sea-beet-featured-in-british-meals-in-the-16th-century-why-not-today-275743

March 9, 2026

Alaska’s glacial lakes are expanding, increasing the risk of destructive outburst floods

Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Dan McGrath, Associate Professor of Cryospheric Sciences, Colorado State University

A study explored the evolution of several glacial lakes near Bering Glacier, Alaska. Google Earth, AirbusMaxar Technologies, CNES/Airbus

Every summer, people living near the Mendenhall River in Juneau, Alaska, keep a close eye on the water level. When the river level begins to rise rapidly, it’s a sign that Suicide Basin, a small glacier-dammed lake 5 miles up the mountains, has broken through the glacier again and a glacial lake outburst flood is underway.

After nearly 15 straight years of ever-larger and more damaging floods in Alaska’s capital city, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is discussing an ambitious and expensive solution: create a permanent drain from the lake that would prevent it from reaching outburst stage.

The initial cost estimates for the project range from US$613 million to $1 billion.

Scientists discuss the glacial outburst floods from Suicide Basin on Mendenhall Glacier above Juneau.

Suicide Basin is just one example of a growing problem from glacial lakes that threaten communities around the world, particularly in the Himalayas and Andes, and is transforming Alaska’s landscape as global temperatures rise.

In a new study, colleagues and I documented the evolution of 140 of the largest glacial lakes in Alaska between 2018 and 2024. We found they are expanding about 120% faster on average today than they were from 1986 to 1999 – more than twice as fast.

Using ice thickness data to reconstruct the shape of the land beneath these glaciers, we found that these glacial lakes could become more than four times larger than they are today as the glaciers melt, increasing the potential for damage to downstream ecosystems and infrastructure from glacial lake outburst floods.

A large glacier terminates in a lake. — Spencer Glacier in the Kenai Mountains: This lake, and the icebergs in the lake, have become a significant tourist attraction along the Alaska Railroad.
Louis Sass

The hazards of glacial lakes

Glacial lakes, often the color of aquamarine gems and sparkling with icebergs, are common around the margins of glaciers around the world. Years of satellite images have documented a dramatic increase in their number, area and volume – a direct response to glaciers retreating as global temperatures rise.

Tenuously held back by moraines – the jumble of rock and sediment deposited by glaciers at their edges – or dammed by glacier ice, these lakes are anything but stable.

A glacial lake with a large cut in the side of its moraine. — Tam Pokhari glacial lake in Nepal had an outburst flood in 1998 after the basin filled with water and broke through its moraine, leaving a deep gash. The resulting flood was estimated at more than 350,000 cubic feet per second, equivalent to approximately 60% of the Mississippi River’s flow.
Jonathan Jacquet/Scott McCoy

Between 1985 and 2020, ice-dammed lakes in Alaska alone broke through their barriers and drained more than 1,150 times. Alaska’s vast landscape and low population density means that the impact of these drainages on human infrastructure was fairly minimal, with a few notable exceptions, including Suicide Basin and Snow Lake, on the Kenai Peninsula.

However, the enormous amount of icy water rushing down rivers with each outburst can transform ecosystems, altering river channels through erosion and sediment deposition, tearing out trees and other vegetation, and damaging fish habitat.

Video shot from a helicopter shows several glacial lakes in Nepal and the aftermath of a glacial lake outburst flood. Nepal Investigative Multimedia Journalism Network

A recent study found that glacial lake outburst floods from moraine-dammed lakes are occurring at an accelerating rate. In the steep, narrow valleys of the Himalayan Mountains, the impact of these events are acute: destroyed hydropower stations, roads and entire villages wiped away, taking hundreds of lives over the years.

More than 15 million people globally live in areas at risk of glacial lake outburst floods. Mapping where these lakes might form and expand can help people living downstream prepare. That’s what we did in Alaska.

Mapping Alaska’s expanding lakes

Glacial lakes can form in a variety of settings: on the surface of glaciers, in side valleys, and at the terminus, or toe, of the glacier. We found that the fastest-growing lakes are those at the toe, and in our work, we showed that many of these lakes reside in deep depressions carved by glacial flow.

We mapped these depressions – known as glacial-bed overdeepenings – by subtracting ice thickness estimates from surface elevations measured by satellites.

We found that more than 80% of the lake growth has occurred in the mapped basins, illustrating how this approach can help locate glacial lakes that are likely to form and expand in the future.

With this information, we found that existing glacial lakes in the region may ultimately expand fourfold, growing by as much as 1,640 square miles (4,250 square kilometers). A glacial lake at the terminus of Malaspina Glacier, the largest glacier by area in southeast Alaska, could expand to cover an additional 570 square miles (1,475 square kilometers) alone. That would create what would be the second-largest lake in Alaska.

As glaciers continue to retreat, new basins will be exposed, many of which could fill with water. In total, more than 5,500 square miles (about 14,200 square kilometers) of overdeepened basins exist in Alaska, pointing to a landscape that is going to look very different in the coming decades to centuries.

When a glacier terminates in a lake, the warmth of the water can speed up the ice’s melting, making the glacier flow faster, thin and retreat, thereby expanding the size of the lake. We found that glaciers that terminate in lakes are shrinking 23% to 56% faster than land-terminating glaciers.

The future as glaciers retreat

Future climate projections combined with sophisticated glacier models indicate that glaciers will cumulatively retreat by 26% to 41% by 2100, spelling the loss of 49% to 83% of all glaciers globally.

This is concerning for numerous reasons. Glacier mass loss is currently the largest contributor to sea-level rise. Melting glaciers also change the water quantity and timing of ice melt that feed major rivers, particularly Asian rivers such as the Indus and Ganges. And they create hazards, such as the outburst floods that originate from glacial lakes.

The landscapes that we know and love are transforming before our eyes, and with these changes come growing concerns about hazards.

Dan McGrath receives funding from the U.S. Geological Survey.

– ref. Alaska’s glacial lakes are expanding, increasing the risk of destructive outburst floods – https://theconversation.com/alaskas-glacial-lakes-are-expanding-increasing-the-risk-of-destructive-outburst-floods-275799

March 9, 2026

US is less prone to oil price shocks than in past decades

Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Amy Myers Jaffe, Director, Energy, Climate Justice, and Sustainability Lab, and Research Professor, New York University; Tufts University

Gas prices are up, but other forces may limit the economic harm to the U.S. Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

Oil is a global market, so when prices rise in one place, they rise everywhere. The current war against Iran has already raised oil prices significantly.

Mideast oil production has been slowed by efforts to close the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for oil tankers from the Middle East to the rest of the world, as well as by attacks – and fears of attacks – on oil production, storage and shipment installations.

And this war has also disrupted the flow of liquefied natural gas from Qatar, which controls almost 20% of the global market. That also affects the world economy and supply chains. And shortages of natural gas affect production of fertilizer and aluminium, as well as other key materials.

As a professor who has been studying oil price shocks for two decades, I’m often asked about the effects of rising oil prices on the U.S. economy. The answer to that question has changed over the past two decades.

The global economic picture

Countries that import much of their oil have to pay other countries for that imported oil.

That was a problem for the U.S. back in the 1970s through the early 2000s. The U.S. sent billions of dollars a year abroad to oil-producing countries in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. That money built up other countries’ economies or sloshed around as financial surpluses that fueled financial market exuberance and asset bubbles that could suddenly pop.

Oil imports increased the U.S. trade deficit in the 1970s and beyond. And as a result, U.S. industries suffered from high energy costs, which forced closures of major U.S. steel plants and iron and copper mines. Falling purchases of cars and other durable goods also stimulated worker layoffs.

A shift in US production

Now, however, the United States is a major producer and exporter of oil and refined petroleum products. Every day, on average, the U.S. exports over 6 million barrels of refined products and over 4 million barrels of crude oil.

The U.S. does still import some crude oil, most of which is heavy oil from Canada handled at certain American refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. Factoring in those imports, net U.S. oil trade balance is a positive 2.8 million barrels per day, as contrasted with the mid-2000s, when the balance was a deficit of 12 million barrels per day.

U.S. production comes from 32 states – though mainly from the biggest producers: Texas, New Mexico, North Dakota, Alaska, Oklahoma and Colorado. Because that revenue comes to companies in the U.S., the nation’s gross domestic product is less vulnerable to oil price increases than in the past, when high prices meant more U.S. dollars flowing overseas.

A changed economy

In addition to being less dependent on imports, the U.S. economy is much less oil-intensive than it used to be, producing more economic value with far less oil use today than in the past.

And researchers at the U.S. Federal Reserve report that gasoline prices haven’t been a major contributor to U.S. inflation in recent years. That’s because there are lots of ways Americans use less gasoline, including telecommuting and remote work, online shopping and using electric vehicles and delivery trucks that run on batteries or other fuels.

Still, other economists disagree and say current oil prices, which are above $100 a barrel, could increase current U.S. inflation rates by as much as 1 percentage point.

The mental toll

Though the U.S. is economically less vulnerable to oil-price shocks, there is also a psychological factor. It’s hard not to feel pessimistic when gasoline prices at the local pump are already rising: Bulk market prices are already soaring amid hedging trades and speculative fervor among traders and wholesalers and on U.S. commodity futures markets.

Americans feel pessimistic about consumer spending when gasoline prices are rising. And a study found that high gas prices even make people feel unhappy.

Research also shows that people tend to put off major durable goods purchases, such as automobiles, when oil prices rise sharply. That could mean bad news for the U.S. auto industry.

But it is also possible that high gasoline prices might encourage more Americans to consider buying electric cars. That could help the car companies that were having difficulty moving their electric-vehicle inventories. And for people who own electric vehicles, the war and its resulting price increases can be a reminder of the benefits of living gasoline-free.

More broadly, the war might be yet another reminder of the benefits of diversifying energy sources away from fossil fuels. As my research shows, oil price shocks generally lead to greater investment in clean technologies.

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

– ref. US is less prone to oil price shocks than in past decades – https://theconversation.com/us-is-less-prone-to-oil-price-shocks-than-in-past-decades-277709

March 9, 2026

Is someone watching you? Facial recognition tech is here and Canada offers little privacy protection

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Neil McArthur, Director, Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics, University of Manitoba

Amid the recent, dizzying advances in generative AI, it’s been easy to miss the slow but steady progress in facial recognition over the last decade. In the past few months, it has broken containment.

In the United States, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has deployed a technology known as Mobile Fortify, which uses facial recognition on officers’ cellphones to “quickly verify subjects of interest during operations.”

In the United Kingdom, the Metropolitan Police scanned 4.2 million people’s faces during 2025 using live facial recognition cameras in public areas across London. And the British government recently promised to further “ramp up facial recognition and biometrics.”

Face scans may soon be everywhere and Canada’s patchwork of privacy rules is not ready to protect us. The most striking gaps concern personal and household surveillance.

Let’s look at three examples.

Ring doorbell cameras

First, there are Ring doorbell cameras. Ring, which is owned by Amazon, has sold its cameras to millions of people around the world, including many in Canada.

Last September, Ring announced it was adding facial recognition to its cameras in the form of its “Familiar Faces” feature, which scans the face of everyone who comes to your door and identifies anyone you have added to a database. That same month, it also announced “Search Party,” an AI feature that activates cameras throughout a neighbourhood to scan outdoor footage to help find a lost dog.

This provoked concerns that these two features — Search Party and facial recognition — will ultimately be combined, allowing Ring to use its network of cameras to track people as well.

These fears were seemingly confirmed by a leaked email from the company founder in which he said, though the feature was “first for finding dogs,” the company’s ultimate goal was to use it to “zero out crime in neighbourhoods.”

Equally concerning, the feature was initially supposed to operate through a partnership with Flock Safety, a surveillance technology company that works with law enforcement. After an outcry, Ring cancelled the partnership.

Meta smart glasses

The second example involves Meta, the parent company of Facebook. The New York Times revealed that Meta wants to add facial recognition to its smart glasses, according to a leaked internal memo. The company sold more than seven million pairs of smart glasses last year.

If the “Name Tag” feature works the way the company apparently hopes, it will allow the glasses to identify anyone the wearer looks at and give them information about that person using Meta’s vast database of user profiles.

Appallingly, the memo stated that the company plans to take advantage of current events in the United States, launching the feature while civil society groups “that we would expect to attack us” have “their resources focused on other concerns.”

Meta’s smart glasses have already been at the centre of a controversy after an investigation by Swedish newspapers Svenska Dagbladet and Goteborgs-Posten reported that subcontractors in Kenya reviewed intimate film and images from Meta glasses of people on the toilet, watching porn and having sex, seemingly unaware they were being recorded.

Police use of facial recognition

A third example is Canadian law enforcement. In 2024, York and Peel regional police in Ontario started using facial recognition software to, in the words of York Police Const. Kevin Nebrija, “help speed up investigations and to identify suspects sooner.”

Nebrija told the CBC that, in terms of privacy, “nothing has changed because security cameras are all around.”

In December 2025, Axon, the main supplier of body cameras in Canada, partnered with the Edmonton police department on a pilot project that allowed officers’ body cameras to identify people on a “high-risk” watch list of around 7,000 people.

Canada’s patchwork of privacy rules

Canadian privacy laws currently offer no explicit protections for our biometric data, with the exception of Québec, where Law 25 contains provisions governing its collection and use.

Everywhere else, citizens face an uneven patchwork of general privacy rules. Their application to biometrics depends on who is using the technology and in what context.

When it comes to law enforcement, Section 8 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms does protect citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures by the police. However, whether facial recognition qualifies as a search depends in part on whether the target had a reasonable expectation of privacy.

It’s an unresolved question whether biometric scans should be subjected to a higher standard than, say, cellphone cameras, when people are scanned while walking down the street or attending a protest.

Federal law enforcement is also governed by Canada’s Privacy Act, while provinces have their own privacy acts to govern provincial and municipal police. Federal and provincial privacy commissioners, who are tasked with interpreting these acts, have emphasized the sensitivity of biometric data and the importance of due process constraints in the use of facial recognition.

They have not decreed that police must get a warrant to use facial recognition. And neither they nor the courts have ruled on programs like the one in Edmonton, where police say the database only contains known offenders.

Biometric surveillance by corporations

A federal statute — the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) — governs the collection of data by private companies and its use in commercial activity.

Under PIPEDA, companies must obtain meaningful consent before collecting personal information. The law also requires that this data collection has a legitimate purpose, and be reasonable and proportionate to that purpose.

However, the act was written before the emergence of widespread biometric surveillance. It remains unclear how it would apply when companies capture and analyze the faces of people who have no direct relationship with the organization collecting the data.

Is someone watching you?

The most striking gap in our current privacy laws appears when it comes to the actions of private individuals. The laws exempt personal and household surveillance. This means that if someone uses smart glasses or a doorbell camera to identify you or trace your movements, this would normally be legal.

Civil remedies — such as provincial privacy torts or intrusion-upon-seclusion claims — might apply in specific cases where the victim could show there was targeted or harmful misuse. But not all provinces allow such claims. And even in those that do, the legal process is reactive and fact-specific, and it depends on the victim being willing to go to court.

Canada’s privacy framework is not designed for our current moment — one in which mass surveillance is becoming a reality.

Lawmakers need to act. We should demand new, stronger privacy laws, ones that deal explicitly with facial recognition. Otherwise we may find ourselves living in a world that we no longer recognize — but one that recognizes us.

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

– ref. Is someone watching you? Facial recognition tech is here and Canada offers little privacy protection – https://theconversation.com/is-someone-watching-you-facial-recognition-tech-is-here-and-canada-offers-little-privacy-protection-276852

March 9, 2026

The deaf blacksmith who married in 1576 – and the history of sign as a legal language

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Rosamund Oates, Senior Lecturer in History, Manchester Metropolitan University

Medieval manuscript illustration of a man placing a ring on a woman’s finger. British Library Royal MS 6 E VI, fol. 104/Wiki Commons

In February, Leicester Cathedral hosted a British Sign Language (BSL) service celebrating a deaf marriage that took place in the church 450 years ago, in 1576.

The groom was a deaf blacksmith from Leicester named Thomas Tilsey, who made his wedding vows in sign. It was so unusual that the clerk who witnessed the marriage recorded it in full in the parish records. Although the BBC reported that this marriage was “one of the earliest recorded examples of inclusive worship”, by 1576 deaf people had been marrying using sign language for almost 400 years.

These signs were probably not the complex languages we know today as BSL or ASL, but rather what linguists describe as “homesign”: a semi-structured form of signing that develops in small groups of deaf people. However, it was still complicated enough for deaf men and women to rely on friends and family to act as interpreters and structured enough that the 17th century mathematician John Wallis described learning the “language” of deaf signers.

The medieval church’s acknowledgement that signs were equivalent to a spoken language was transformative for deaf people. Sign language recognition unlocked the world, letting deaf people inherit property, go to court and even challenge their hearing friends and family. It is not a straightforward story of inclusion, however, and it is a struggle for equality that continues today, with the British Deaf Association continuing to campaign for the equal access to BSL.

Sign and the law

In 1198, Pope Innocent III issued a decree that deaf people should be able to get married by making their vows in sign language. Since marriage has wide-reaching legal implications, this was a powerful recognition that deaf signers were as capable of consent as anyone else.

These decrees became part of the church law that stretched across Europe, and gradually the principle was applied in other areas too. After the papal ruling, deaf people used sign language to go to court. In England, a court case involving a deaf signer was recorded in 1344, and by the start of Henry VII’s reign it was being routinely taught to legal students that signs could replace vocal speech in property law.

Medieval manuscript illustration showing a wedding.
Grandes Chroniques de France. MS/Wiki Commons

In churches across Europe, including England, deaf people could attend Mass or make their confession using signs. These practices were carried into the new Protestant Church of England.

The significance of recognising sign languages as equivalent to a spoken language can not be overstated. It challenged a long legal tradition, first seen in ancient Rome, that decreed people who were deaf and did not speak were cognitively impaired and should be treated like infants in legal situations.

Since deaf people could neither hear to understand, nor express their consent, lawyers across Europe argued well into the early modern period that they could not make contracts or even be held responsible for crimes.

As late as the 17th century, the barrister Michael Dalton claimed in a legal handbook that “if a man born deaf and dumb killeth another that is no felony, for he cannot know whether he did evil or no”. This reflected a long tradition, often attributed to Aristotle, that speech was necessary for intelligent thought, and was evidence that humans were superior to animals.

Perhaps the greatest test of how far sign language was recognised came when deaf people challenged their hearing family. Another deaf marriage, this time in Jacobean Essex in 1618, involved just that. The groom was a young deaf man called Thomas Speller, who had moved to a nearby village to train as an apprentice, fallen in love with his master’s daughter – Sarah Earle – and wanted to marry her.

Thomas’ mother, Winifred, objected – perhaps because the marriage would mean an end to a significant annuity. She did everything she could to stop the marriage. She complained that Sarah was a fortune hunter, that Thomas was being forced into the marriage against his will and that he was not capable of making informed consent.

The local bishop launched an investigation, but it was only when Thomas and Sarah travelled to London to see a representative of the bishop that the case was concluded. A secretary recorded that Thomas told the bishop’s lawyer that he wanted to marry Sarah, and he did so in sign language. His mother’s concerns were put aside, and a marriage license was issued for the pair to get married. They did so a few weeks later in London, with Thomas using signs to marry Sarah. And while it was unusual – the parish clerk noted “we had never seen the like before” – without Thomas’ mother in the picture, it went off without a hitch.

A couple of decades later, in Bedfordshire, another deaf man – George Blount – married against his parents’ will. This time the problem seems to have been that he married a former family servant, someone they held in low esteem, describing her as “one of our menial servants of unclear parentage”. When George’s father, Giles, believed that he would have to support any children from the marriage he wrote to his local magistrate, claiming that the marriage was invalid since George was not capable of consenting.

Again, there was an investigation, and the witnesses from the wedding and the vicar were interviewed: they all reported that though George couldn’t say the words of the wedding ceremony, he showed his “willingness” to marry and was declared “full of understanding”. The case was rejected, and George and his wife moved away from his parents, going on to have a long and apparently happy marriage.

Despite these success stories, prejudices about deafness and intellectual ability continued even as sign language allowed some men and women to assert themselves. Returning to the marriage of 1576 celebrated in Leicester Cathedral, we can see something of that. Before Thomas Tilsey was allowed to marry, he had to prove to the Mayor of Leicester, to the town council and to the bishop that he was intellectually capable of understanding what marriage was.

In addition, Tilsey’s friends and family had to vouch for him. When it came to the wedding ceremony itself, he had to use pre-approved signs which closely mimicked the service in the prayer book and could be understood by anyone. This was much closer to miming than the signs used by most deaf people.

Rosamund Oates receives funding from the British Academy and Leverhulme Trust.

– ref. The deaf blacksmith who married in 1576 – and the history of sign as a legal language – https://theconversation.com/the-deaf-blacksmith-who-married-in-1576-and-the-history-of-sign-as-a-legal-language-276686

March 9, 2026

Un programme psychoéducatif pour soutenir les survivants d’un AVC et leurs proches

Source: The Conversation – in French – By Laura Monetta, Professeure titulaire. École de sciences de la réadaptation. Programme d’orthophonie, Université Laval

Chaque année, environ 15 millions de personnes dans le monde sont victimes d’un accident vasculaire cérébral (AVC). Environ un tiers d’entre elles conserveront une ou plusieurs séquelles entraînant des répercussions significatives sur leurs actes de la vie quotidienne. Afin de pallier le manque d’information en lien avec la vie après un AVC, j’ai développé en collaboration avec des collègues un programme psychoéducatif destiné à accompagner les personnes ayant survécu à l’AVC et leurs proches.

Les séquelles provoquées par un AVC peuvent impliquer des difficultés au niveau de :

la motricité (ex., hémiplégie, hémiparésie)
la communication (ex., aphasie, dysarthrie)
la cognition (ex., difficultés attentionnelles, de mémoire)
l’alimentation (ex., dysphagie, dénutrition)
l’autonomie (ex., la perte du droit de conduire une automobile)
la gestion des émotions (ex., dépression)
ou la gestion des enjeux légaux

L’hétérogénéité de ces séquelles, combinée à la diversité des habitudes de vie et des rôles sociaux antérieurs de chaque personne, engendre chez les personnes victimes d’un AVC de multiples situations de handicap. Un manque de soutien adéquat ou suffisant des personnes vivant avec les séquelles d’un AVC et de leurs proches peut avoir un impact négatif significatif sur leur sentiment d’efficacité personnelle et leur intégration sociale. Parmi les lacunes notables, on compte un manque d’enseignement des stratégies concrètes applicables à domicile, un manque d’informations sur l’évolution possible des séquelles, ou un manque d’accompagnement pour discuter de la situation vécue et des services existants.

Orthophoniste de formation, je travaille en tant que professeure à l’École de sciences de la réadaptation de l’Université Laval et chercheuse au CIRRIS. Mes travaux portent, entre autres, sur le co‑développement, la validité et l’implantation de programmes réalisés en collaboration avec le milieu communautaire. Ces programmes visent à favoriser l’intégration et la participation des personnes vivant avec des troubles acquis de la communication, notamment celles ayant des séquelles d’un AVC. J’ai co-développé avec l’organisme communautaire ARTERE et un groupe d’experts issus de différents domaines liés à l’AVC le programme L’AVC : par où commencer ?

Quelle prise en charge au Québec ?

Au Québec, lorsque des séquelles persistent à la suite d’un AVC, une prise en charge par les services de santé est prévue : que ce soit à l’hôpital, en centre de réadaptation, ou à domicile lorsque cela est possible. Cependant, la continuité des services de santé ou la transition vers le retour à domicile peut représenter un défi de taille, tant pour les personnes ayant subi l’AVC que pour leurs proches.

Devant cette réalité, l’organisme communautaire ARTÈRE, œuvrant dans la ville de Québec, et des chercheurs de l’Université Laval, ont co-construit le programme psychoéducatif intitulé L’AVC : par où commencer ?

Naissance du programme L’AVC : par où commencer ?

Le programme L’AVC : par où commencer ? a été conçu dans une perspective d’innovation sociale à partir d’un besoin exprimé par l’organisme ARTÈRE qui recevait régulièrement des demandes d’information de la part de personnes ayant survécu à un AVC et de leurs proches.

Ce programme vise à informer les gens sur les caractéristiques de l’AVC, la prévention, les besoins potentiels liés aux séquelles, les enjeux des proches (ex., les enjeux légaux), ainsi qu’à offrir des conseils et des stratégies pouvant améliorer la qualité de vie (au niveau moteur, communicationnel, alimentaire, comportemental, cognitif, de l’autonomie et de la participation sociale).

Concrètement, comment ça marche ?

Le programme se déroule en présentiel dans le milieu communautaire. Il se divise en 9 séances (1 séance par semaine) articulées autour de 9 thématiques en lien avec l’AVC. Chaque séance dure environ 2h.

Une séance type se déroule comme suit : les personnes participantes au programme visionnent une ou plusieurs capsules vidéo enregistrées par des experts de contenu (médecins, orthophonistes, ergothérapeutes, psychologue, neuropsychologue, avocat, comptable, etc.) en fonction des données scientifiques actuelles. Par la suite, un temps d’échange dédié est organisé avec une personne du milieu communautaire assurant l’animation de la séance. Chaque personne participante a l’opportunité d’exprimer ses ressentis et de partager son vécu par rapport au thème présenté. La personne assurant l’animation modère les temps de parole et ajoute de l’information au besoin.

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Ce format dynamique permet de maintenir l’attention des personnes participantes et de créer des liens entre elles et avec l’organisme. De plus, une personne co-animatrice peut être présente lors des séances. En tant que survivante d’un AVC et personne ayant déjà suivi le programme, la personne co-animatrice apporte un regard complémentaire sur le programme et participe aux échanges de groupe.

Une vidéo de présentation du programme est disponible ici.

Étude pilote : Le point de vue des personnes participantes

Les résultats d’une étude pilote effectuée auprès des personnes vivant avec les séquelles d’un AVC et de leurs proches montrent que le programme a permis aux personnes participantes :

De se sentir mieux informées à propos des manifestations et signes de l’AVC, des facteurs de risque, des moyens de prévention, des conséquences possibles après l’AVC, des ressources disponibles et des stratégies d’adaptation.
De se sentir mieux outillées pour faire face aux suites de l’AVC.
De développer un sentiment d’appartenance à un groupe en rencontrant d’autres personnes ayant vécu des expériences similaires.

Le programme répond aux besoins manifestés par les personnes ayant subi un AVC et leurs proches grâce à ces trois aspects principaux.

Un programme aux quatre coins du Québec

Aujourd’hui, le programme L’AVC : par où commencer ? est offert au sein de plusieurs associations/organismes communautaires à travers la province de Québec.

Autant pour les personnes ayant subi un AVC que pour les proches, avoir l’opportunité de discuter et de créer des liens avec des gens vivant une situation similaire constitue une grande richesse.

La mise en place d’un tel programme à l’échelle provinciale et nationale francophone représente une ressource communautaire unique et importante pour les personnes ayant subi un AVC. Le programme permet de combler un besoin actuellement non satisfait pour cette population clinique chez qui il existe encore un manque de services à la suite de la prise en charge par le système de santé.

Laura Monetta a reçu un financement de recherche de la fondation ARTERE pour co-construire le programme: L’AVC par où commencer.

Héloïse Baglione 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.

– ref. Un programme psychoéducatif pour soutenir les survivants d’un AVC et leurs proches – https://theconversation.com/un-programme-psychoeducatif-pour-soutenir-les-survivants-dun-avc-et-leurs-proches-272489

March 9, 2026

¿Cómo se relaciona la identidad latina con el hecho de ser “americano”? La resaca de la Super Bowl de Bad Bunny

Source: The Conversation – (in Spanish) – By Aurken Sierra Iso, Ayudante Doctor, Departamento de Comunicación Pública, Universidad de Navarra

Momento de la actuación de Bad Bunny en la Super Bowl. NFL/YoutuBe

El 8 de febrero de 2026, la final de la Super Bowl LX marcó un hito en la historia de Estados Unidos. El espectáculo del descanso, protagonizado por Bad Bunny, fue interpretado íntegramente en español y reunió a una audiencia récord de 128,2 millones de espectadores, desplazando el foco del terreno de juego a la identidad nacional. Más allá de estas cifras y del entretenimiento, la reacción de la opinión pública y de la clase política ha generado un fuerte debate en torno a la identidad latina, abriendo la discusión de qué significa realmente “ser americano” hoy en día.

Un evento mediático como arena política

La Super Bowl es el evento de mayor audiencia en el calendario mediático estadounidense, capaz de superar en número de espectadores a cualquier debate presidencial o ceremonia de investidura. Precisamente por eso, el espectáculo del descanso funciona desde hace décadas como un escenario de negociación cultural: quién actúa, en qué idioma y con qué estética no son decisiones neutras, sino actos comunicativos cargados de significado político.

El lema proyectado en el balón oficial del encuentro, “Together, we are America” (Juntos, somos América), actuó como el detonante de una fractura social latente. En la esfera política, el presidente Donald Trump fue tajante, catalogando el evento como “absolutamente terrible”, “uno de los peores shows de la historia”, y centrando su rechazo en la barrera del idioma: “nadie entiende ni una palabra de lo que dice este tipo”. Esta crítica, que no es aislada, guarda coherencia con la línea institucional fijada en 2025, cuando la Casa Blanca estableció el inglés como idioma oficial del Gobierno Federal. Para un sector relevante de la población, la lengua es un pilar innegociable de la cohesión nacional.

De hecho, sectores afines al movimiento MAGA como Turning Point organizaron una contraprogramación alternativa.
El impacto del artista en la opinión pública arroja datos que invitan a la reflexión. Una encuesta de YouGov y Yahoo reveló que el 42 % de los encuestados cree que Bad Bunny refleja mejor los valores del país que el presidente Trump, frente a un 39 % de respaldo que obtuvo el republicano. Las diferencias entre los seguidores del presidente y muchos ciudadanos son evidentes.

¿Existe una identidad latina unitaria?

La pregunta que da título a este artículo –si existe una identidad latina– encuentra en la Super Bowl una respuesta compleja. Desde fuera de Estados Unidos, a menudo se comete el error de tratar lo “latino” como un bloque homogéneo. Sin embargo, la realidad es bien diferente si atendemos a la procedencia, el tiempo de residencia y el nivel de integración.

Esta diversidad tiene incluso reflejo institucional. Las propias comunidades latinas llevan décadas presionando a la Oficina del Censo para que sus categorías reflejen esa pluralidad. Durante cuarenta años, de 1980 a 2020, el origen hispano se trató como una etnicidad separada de la raza, agrupando bajo una misma etiqueta realidades tan dispares como la de un inmigrante mexicano recién llegado, un puertorriqueño con ciudadanía estadounidense de nacimiento o un cubano exiliado.

No en vano, “mexicano” llegó a figurar como categoría racial propia en el censo de 1930, la única vez en la historia. El debate sigue abierto: para 2030 está prevista una reforma que fusionará por primera vez las preguntas de raza y etnicidad en una sola categoría.

Esta complejidad se manifestó con claridad durante la actuación de Bad Bunny. La opinión pública en Latinoamérica, por ejemplo, percibió el show con un sentimiento de orgullo y éxito regional. Para el ciudadano de Bogotá, San Juan o Ciudad de México, Bad Bunny fue un embajador del continente. Para los latinos residentes en Estados Unidos, en cambio, la lectura fue otra: no se trataba de una influencia externa que llega al país, sino de la reivindicación de un espacio que ya consideran propio. Muchos de estos ciudadanos celebraron el evento como una confirmación de su pertenencia.

Esta distinción no es baladí. Los republicanos han demostrado una capacidad creciente para atraer al votante hispano, especialmente en sectores que priorizan la estabilidad económica y los valores tradicionales. La identidad latina en Estados Unidos, por tanto, opera en dos planos: mantiene una vinculación con su herencia lingüística y cultural a la vez que se adapta a las dinámicas sociales y las preocupaciones diarias de la política estadounidense.

Más que una anécdota, el uso del español en la Super Bowl representa la consolidación de un idioma que ya funciona como un motor social y económico en Estados Unidos. Su uso fue una invitación a reconocer una lengua que comparten más de 500 millones de personas en todo el mundo.

Este hecho demográfico se traduce en un impacto económico imposible de ignorar: el peso de la comunidad latina en la riqueza nacional es monumental. Si los latinos en Estados Unidos fueran un país independiente, su Producto Interior Bruto, que ha superado los 4 billones de dólares en 2023, los situaría como una de las mayores economías del planeta, por delante de países como Francia, India o Reino Unido.

Perspectivas ante un año electoral

En el contexto político actual, este choque adquiere un peso mayor. El presidente estadounidense incrementó sustancialmente su apoyo entre el electorado latino en los comicios de 2024. No obstante, su retórica actual podría ser contraproducente para los republicanos, que enfrentan las elecciones intermedias (midterms) de noviembre con cierta desventaja frente a los demócratas y con el reto de consolidar ese voto sin ahuyentar a su base tradicional.

El caso del distrito 34 de Texas lo ilustra bien: con mayoría latina y rediseñado por los republicanos para asegurar su victoria en 2026, sigue siendo una carrera demasiado reñida para darse por ganada. Algunos votantes latinos que apoyaron a Trump en 2024 muestran hoy disposición a cambiar su voto. En un Congreso donde los republicanos no pueden permitirse perder más de dos escaños para mantener su mayoría en la Cámara de Representantes, el voto latino podría resultar determinante.

Al mirar hacia el futuro inmediato, la convivencia bilingüe en el país plantea serios retos. La definición de lo “americano” atraviesa hoy un proceso de redefinición. A través de él, la cohesión nacional debe aprender a convivir con una realidad demográfica y cultural cada vez más heterogénea.

En ese sentido, la actuación de Bad Bunny fue un anticipo de esa disputa. La pregunta de si el español tiene lugar en el espacio público estadounidense y la pregunta de si el voto latino tiene lugar en la coalición republicana son, en el fondo, la misma pregunta formulada en registros distintos.

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.

– ref. ¿Cómo se relaciona la identidad latina con el hecho de ser “americano”? La resaca de la Super Bowl de Bad Bunny – https://theconversation.com/como-se-relaciona-la-identidad-latina-con-el-hecho-de-ser-americano-la-resaca-de-la-super-bowl-de-bad-bunny-276490