We have developed a new way to secure video transmissions so even quantum computers in the future won’t be able to break into private video livestreams or recordings. We are computer scientists who studycomputer security. Our research introduces quantum-safe video encryption, which combines two complementary techniques: quantum encryption and secure internet transmission.
With our encryption system, a hacker wouldn’t be able to access or understand the video data because it’s scrambled using a quantum key that changes unpredictably. Cryptographic keys scramble data so that only someone with the correct key can unscramble it. If the hacker even tries to peek, the system detects it and raises an alarm. The video also travels in the digital equivalent of a locked box over the internet, so nobody can swap or tamper with it in transit.
Quantum encryption scrambles video data using truly random cryptographic keys based on quantum physics. Unlike traditional encryption that relies on mathematical complexity, quantum encryption uses the fundamental unpredictability of quantum states to generate unbreakable keys.
Quantum refers to the scale of atoms and molecules, which behave in counterintuitive ways. Quantum computers take advantage of these strange behaviors to solve problems that are difficult or impossible for ordinary computers.
We combine this quantum encryption scheme with secure transmission over the internet using transport layer security. This is the encryption scheme used to keep connections between web browsers and web pages private.
Our approach works by converting each video frame into a quantum image representation, essentially a mathematical framework that captures visual information in quantum states. We then scramble the data by combining it with quantum-generated random keys, making the encrypted video statistically indistinguishable from pure noise.
Quantum encryption explained.
And because quantum encryption is resistant to future technology such as quantum computers, that video is safe for years to come.
Why it matters
Today’s encryption works well, until tomorrow’s quantum computers arrive. These super-powerful machines will be able to crack most current encryption methods in seconds. That means today’s private videos, stored on cloud platforms or transmitted over the internet, could be decrypted years from now.
More dangerously, these stolen videos can be manipulated into deepfakes: AI-generated videos that can make anyone appear to say or do anything. A forged video can ruin reputations, sway decisions and even incite violence. A secure encryption system not only protects privacy, it helps protect truth.
But most existing work focuses on images, or only on key exchange, without fully securing live or stored video data.
What’s next
We’re working toward scaling this system to encrypt full video files and real-time video streams, such as those used in video conferencing and surveillance systems.
Next steps include reducing the performance overhead for smoother playback and testing the system in real-world environments. We’re also exploring how it can work alongside deepfake detection tools, so we not only stop hackers from accessing videos but also prove the videos haven’t been altered.
While our framework shows strong early results, practical use will depend on phased adoption as quantum systems become more accessible over the years.
The Research Brief is a short take on interesting academic work.
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.
Caskets of Irish railroaders whose remains were excavated from a mass grave outside Philadelphia.AP Photo/Matt Rourke
When commuters on the R5 SEPTA train that connects suburban Chester County to Philadelphia approach Malvern station, they might spot a square stone monument on the right side in a clearing surrounded by a thick stand of forest.
Above it, a sign paid for by the Amtrak electrical workers union and suspended from the trees reads:
BURIAL PLOT OF IRISH RAILROAD WORKERS: At this site, known as Duffy’s Cut, fifty-seven Irish immigrant railroad workers from the counties of Donegal, Tyrone, Derry and Leitrim died of cholera and murder in the summer of 1832.
I’m a historian at Immaculata University, about one mile west of Duffy’s Cut. In 2004, my colleagues and I were the ones to discover the mass grave when we excavated the site with the permission of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
My students, who were about the same age as Duffy’s workers in 1832, provided a great deal of the labor at the excavation.
More recently, in May 2025, we discovered human remains that suggest a second Irish immigrant railroader mass grave 11 miles west of Duffy’s Cut, in Downingtown.
A SEPTA commuter train passes Duffy’s Cut in Malvern, Pa. William E. Watson, CC BY-NC-SA
57 dead railroaders
Duffy’s Cut was named after an Irish Catholic immigrant railroad contractor named Philip Duffy, who lived from 1783-1871 and was probably from County Donegal in northwest Ireland.
I learned about the site and its possible mass grave from Pennsylvania Railroad documents that survived in my family.
A 1909 file, labeled “History of Duffy’s Cut Stone enclosure east of Malvern, Pennsylvania, which marks the burial place of 57 track laborers who were victims of the cholera epidemic of 1832,” was compiled by future Pennsylvania Railroad president Martin W. Clement when he was an assistant supervisor. My grandfather, who was Clement’s executive assistant and later director of personnel, obtained the file before the records were auctioned off in 1972, and my brother showed me the file in 2002.
The Philadelphia & Columbia Railroad, the predecessor of the Pennsylvania Railroad, wanted to shorten the travel time from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh from three to four weeks by Conestoga wagon to three to four days by rail, canal and river.
The file my brother had in his possession stated that the dead railroaders at Duffy’s Cut were young men, recently arrived from Ireland. It also said the cost of mile 59 was vastly more expensive than the typical Philadelphia & Columbia Railroad mile. Laying a typical mile of P&C railroad cost US$5,000 in the 1830s. But at mile 59, gouging the landscape with a “cut” to lay the tracks on level ground and bridging the valley with a fill – an earthen bridge – cost $32,000. Although the work was especially difficult, the common laborers received about 25 cents a day.
Fragment of an Irish-made clay pipe unearthed near the Duffy’s Cut mass grave. AP Photo/Matt Rourke
Most of the men had sailed from the city of Derry in the north of Ireland to Philadelphia from April to June of 1832 aboard the John Stamp. The ship pulled into the Lazaretto quarantine station on the Delaware River in Essington, Pennsylvania, before sailing on to Philadelphia.
Forty-seven laborers from the John Stamp ship joined 10 other Irish immigrant workers who were already living with Duffy in a rental house in Willistown, a mile south of the work site.
Yet almost as soon as they arrived to the work camp at mile 59, so did cholera, which had spread to Philadelphia from New York City.
Cholera in the camps
Americans could read about the spread of cholera across Europe in 1831 in the newspapers, but very little was known about the disease until decades later.
Cholera is a bacterial infection that spreads due to poor sanitary practices in which human feces get into drinking water, via excrement passed into streams or by seepage from outhouses to wells.
But in 1832, people believed cholera was linked to intemperance and vice, which were thought to weaken the body. According to the prevailing miasma theory, it caused outbreaks once airborne. Immigrants and the poor were thought to be especially susceptible to the disease and primary vectors for its spread.
Cholera causes extreme diarrhea and vomiting that lead to rapid electrolyte loss. In 1832 it was fatal in about 50% of cases. In the Delaware Valley, cholera cases mounted from July into August 1832. Philadelphia registered its peak number of cases, 173, on Aug. 6 and peak number of deaths, 76, on Aug. 7. The hardest-hit areas in the region were working-class neighborhoods and canal and railroad work camps.
A typical crew on a P&C mile numbered 100 to 120 men. However, the work by Irish immigrants was segregated along sectarian lines on the railroads in the U.S., as it was in the Belfast dockyards at the same time. The other half of the workers at mile 59, according to Canal Commission reports, were Irish Protestant immigrants who worked for an Irish Protestant contractor and did the less dangerous work of laying tracks. They did not die of cholera.
The author, second from left, and his team at the dig site at Duffy’s Cut in 2011. William E. Watson, CC BY-NC-SA
Signs of a massacre
To excavate the site, we partnered with the Chester County Emerald Society, a law enforcement group that cleared our work with the county district attorney, and the coroner, in case we found human remains. The University of Pennsylvania Museum provided ground-penetrating radar, as well as archaeological and anthropological assistance for the dig. Staff trained my students in how to properly excavate and handle artifacts and bones.
Our research team uncovered seven sets of remains between 2009 and 2012 in the remaining eastern portions of the fill. The skeletons had been buried in coffins sealed with an exceptional number of nails, perhaps to contain the cholera.
Analysis at the UPenn Museum showed evidence of violence to each of the skulls – with one skull showing both an ax blow and a bullet encased in the skull. Researchers found no evidence of defensive wounds on any skeleton, suggesting that the men might have been tied up before being killed.
After our team analyzed the remains, we came to the startling conclusion that the men didn’t die from cholera – they were massacred.
I believe that fear of cholera, an epidemic that some clergymen in America and England called “a chastisement for the sins of the people,” and anti-immigrant sentiment fueled violence against them by native-born populations.
After forensic examinations of the remains, five of the skeletons were reburied during a ceremony at West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd in 2012. My team determined the identities of two of the deceased – 18-year-old John Ruddy from County Donegal and 29-year-old Catherine Burns, the daughter of one of the workers, from County Tyrone – and their remains were returned to their home counties in Ireland in 2013 and 2015.
Bishop Michael J. Fitzgerald takes part in a funeral at West Laurel Hill Cemetery in 2012 for the five 19th-century Irish immigrants whose remains were excavated from the Duffy’s Cut site. AP Photo/Matt Rourke
A second mass grave in Chester County
Historical records led us to what we believe is a second mass grave in Chester County.
An article in the Nov. 7, 1832, issue of the Village Record newspaper in West Chester reported that one man from Duffy’s Cut fled westward down the unfinished track line to another Irish immigrant railroader crew “near the line of East Bradford and East Caln.”
This was P&C mile 48 in Downingtown, Pennsylvania. It was under the direction of Irish immigrant contractor Peter Connor, whose crew of 100 to 120 men was reported to have all died around the same time as Duffy’s crew.
Forty years later, Charles Pennypacker’s 1909 “History of Downingtown” recorded that the dead Irishmen in Downingtown were carted north to a field where they were buried in a mass grave on the property of present-day Northwood Cemetery, “in the eastern part of the cemetery, near the gully.”
File photo from March 24, 2009, shows bones recovered from the mass grave at Duffy’s Cut. AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File
On May 15, 2025, the Duffy’s Cut team unearthed the first human remains from the Downingtown crew in the exact place reported by Pennypacker. This work has just started.
Up and down the East Coast, there are numerous mass graves of anonymous workers who died of epidemics and overwork in the 1820s and 1830s. Most of those people will never have their stories told.
At Duffy’s Cut, and now at the Downingtown site, we hope to humanize some of the hardworking immigrants who died building a crucial part of America’s industrial landscape.
Visitors can view artifacts found at Duffy’s Cut at the Duffy’s Cut Museum in the Gabriele Library at Immaculata University in Malvern, Pa.
William E. Watson serves as the unpaid director of the 501 c 3 educational non-profit and in 2016 served as director of an NEH summer teachers’ institute at Immaculata University. .
Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Lauren Gifford, Faculty, Ecosystem Science & Sustainability; Director, Soil Carbon Solutions Center, Colorado State University
Ralph Regenvanu, climate change minister of Vanuatu, speaks outside the International Court of Justice in The Hague on July 23, 2025.John Thys/AFP via Getty Images
The International Court of Justice issued a landmark advisory opinion in July 2025 declaring that all countries have a legal obligation to protect and prevent harm to the climate.
The court, created as part of the United Nations in 1945, affirmed that countries must uphold existing international laws related to climate change and, if they fail to act, could be held responsible for damage to communities and the environment.
The opinion opens a door for future claims by countries seeking reparations for climate-related harm.
But while the ruling is a big global story, its legal effect on the U.S. is less clear. We study climate policies, law and solutions. Here’s what you need to know about the ruling and its implications.
Small island states like Vanuatu, Tuvalu, Barbados and others across the Pacific and Caribbean are among the most vulnerable to climate change, yet they have contributed little to global emissions.
Waves hit the shore in Majuro, the capital of the Marshall Islands, during a storm on Nov. 27, 2019. Waves inundated parts of the island, washing rocks and debris into roads. Hilary Hosia/AFP via Getty Images
Their economies depend on tourism, agriculture and fishing, all sectors easily disrupted by climate change. For example, coral reefs are bleaching more often and dying due to ocean warming and acidification, undermining fisheries, marine biodiversity and economic sectors such as tourism.
When disasters hit, the cost of recovery often forces these countries to take on debt. Climate change also undermines their credit ratings and investor confidence, making it harder to get the money to finance adaptive measures.
The Maldives, shown in a satellite image from 2020, has an average elevation of less than 5 feet (1.5 meters) above sea level. With limited land where people can live, the country has tried to build up new areas of its islands for housing. NASA Earth Observatory
Tuvalu and Kiribati have discussed digital nationhood and leasing land from other countries so their people can relocate while still retaining citizenship. Some projections suggest nations like the Maldives or Marshall Islands could become largely uninhabitable within decades.
For these countries, sea-level rise is taking more than their land – they’re losing their history and identity in the process. The idea of becoming climate refugees and separating people from their homelands can be culturally destructive, emotionally painful and politically fraught as they move to new countries.
More than a nonbinding opinion
The International Court of Justice, commonly referred to as the ICJ or World Court, can help settle disputes between states when requested, or it can issue advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorized U.N. bodies such as the General Assembly or Security Council. The advisory opinion process allows its 15 judges to weigh in on abstract legal issues – such as nuclear weapons or the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories – without a formal dispute between states.
While the court’s advisory opinions are nonbinding, they can still have a powerful impact, both legally and politically.
The rulings are considered authoritative statements regarding questions of international law. They often clarify or otherwise confirm existing legal obligations that are binding.
What the court decided
The ICJ was asked to weigh in on two questions in this case:
“What are the obligations of States under international law to ensure the protection of the climate system … from anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases?”
“What are the legal consequences under these obligations for States where they, by their acts and omissions, have caused significant harm to the climate system?”
In its 140-page opinion, the court cited international treaties and relevant scientific background to affirm that obligations to protect the environment are indeed a matter of international environmental law, international human rights law and general principles of state responsibility.
The decision means that in the authoritative opinion of the international legal community, all countries are under an obligation to contribute to the efforts to reduce global greenhouse emissions.
To the second question, the court found that in the event of a breach of any such obligation, three additional obligations arise:
The country in breach of its obligations must stop its polluting activity, which would mean excess greenhouse gas emissions in this case.
It must ensure that such activities do not occur in the future.
It must make reparations to affected states in terms of cleanup, monetary payment and apologies.
While the ICJ’s opinion doesn’t assign blame to specific countries or trigger direct reparations, it may provide support for future legal action in both international and national courts.
U.S. courts rarely treat international law that has not been incorporated into domestic law as binding. And the U.S. has not consented to ICJ jurisdiction in previous climate cases.
Contentious cases before international tribunals can be brought by one country against another, but they require the consent of all the countries involved. So there is little chance that the United States’ responsibility for climate harms will be adjudicated by the World Court anytime soon.
Still, the court’s opinion sends a clear message: All countries are legally obligated to prevent climate harm and cannot escape responsibility simply because they aren’t the only nation to blame.
The unanimous ruling is particularly remarkable given the current hostile political climate in the United States and other industrial nations around climate change and responses to it. It represents a particularly forceful statement by the international community that the responsibility to ensure the health of the global environment is a legal duty held by the entire world.
Vulnerable countries now have a more concrete, legally grounded base to claim rights and press for accountability against historical and ongoing climate harm – including financial claims.
How it will be used in the coming years remains unclear, but the opinion gives small island states in particular a powerful narrative and a legal tool set.
Lauren Gifford receives funding from the National Science Foundation and the US Department of Agriculture.
Daimeon Shanks-Dumont 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.
Source: The Conversation – USA (3) – By Julie Walsh, Whitehead Associate Professor of Critical Thought and Associate Professor of Philosophy, Wellesley College
An illustration from ‘The History of Witches and Wizards,’ published in 1720, depicting witches offering wax dolls to the devil.Wellcome Collection/Wikimedia Commons
Between 1400 and 1780, an estimated 100,000 people, mostly women, were prosecuted for witchcraft in Europe. About half that number were executed – killings motivated by a constellation of beliefs about women, truth, evil and magic.
But the witch hunts could not have had the reach they did without the media machinery that made them possible: an industry of printed manuals that taught readers how to find and exterminate witches.
The printing press, invented around 1440, revolutionized how information spread – helping to create the era’s equivalent of a viral conspiracy theory.
By 1486, two Dominican friars had published the “Malleus Maleficarum,” or “Hammer of Witches.” The book has three central claims that came to dominate the witch hunts.
First, it describes women as morally weak and therefore more likely to be witches. Second, it tightly links witchcraft with sexuality. The authors claim that women are sexually insatiable – part of what leads them to witchcraft. Third, witchcraft involves a pact with the devil, who tempts would-be witches through pleasures such as orgies and sexual favors. After establishing these “facts,” the authors conclude with instructions for interrogating, torturing and punishing witches.
Prior to 1500, witch hunts in Europe were rare. But after the “Malleus Maleficarum,” they picked up steam. Indeed, new printings of the book correlate with surges in witch-hunting in Central Europe. The book’s success wasn’t just about content; it was about credibility. Pope Innocent VIII had recently affirmed the existence of witches and conferred authority on inquisitors to persecute them, giving the book further authority.
Ideas about witches [from earlier texts and folklore] – such as the fact that witches could use spells to make penises vanish – were recycled and repackaged in the “Malleus Maleficarum,” which in turn served as a “source” for future works. It was often quoted in later manuals and woven into civic law.
The popularity and influence of the book helped crystallize a new domain of expertise: demonologist, an expert on the nefarious activities of witches. As demonologists repeated one another’s spurious claims, an echo chamber of “evidence” was born. The identity of the witch was thus formalized: dangerous and decisively female.
Skeptics fight back
Not everyone bought into the witch hysteria. As early as 1563, dissenting voices emerged – though, notably, most didn’t argue that witches weren’t real. Instead, they questioned the methods used to identify and prosecute them.
These skeptics also identified something more insidious: the moral responsibility of people spreading the stories. In 1677, English chaplain, physician and philosopher John Webster wrote a scathing critique, claiming that most demonologists’ texts were straightforward copy and paste jobs where the authors repeated one another’s lies. The demonologists offered no original analysis, no evidence and no witnesses – failing to meet the standards of good scholarship.
The cost of this failure was enormous. As Montaigne wrote, “The witches of my neighborhood are in mortal danger every time some new author comes along and attests to the reality of their visions.”
Demonologists benefited from the social and political status associated with the popularity of their books. The financial benefit was, for the most part, enjoyed by the printers and booksellers – what today we refer to as publishers.
Witch hunts petered out throughout the 1700s across Europe. Doubt about the standards of evidence, and increased awareness that accused “witches” may have been suffering from delusion, were factors in the end of the persecution. The skeptics’ voices were heard.
“If they were to cease punishing (women accused of witchcraft) and treat them as mad people,” Malebranche wrote, “in a little while they would no longer be sorcerers.”
Today’s researchers have identified similar patterns in how misinformation and disinformation – false information intended to confuse or manipulate people – spreads online. We’re more likely to believe stories that feel familiar, stories that connect to content we’ve previously seen. Likes, shares and retweets becomes proxies for truth. Emotional content designed to shock or outrage spreads far and fast.
Social media channels are particularly fertile ground. Companies’ algorithms are designed to maximize engagement, so a post that receives likes, shares and comments will be shown to more people. The more viewers, the higher the likelihood of more engagement, and so on – creating a cycle of confirmation bias.
Speed of a keystroke
Early modern skeptics reserved their harshest criticism not for those who believed in witches but for those who spread the stories. Yet they were curiously silent on the ultimate arbiters and financial beneficiaries of what got printed and circulated: the publishers.
Today, 54% of American adults get at least some news from social media platforms. These platforms, like the printing presses of old, don’t just distribute information. They shape what we believe through algorithms that prioritize engagement over accuracy: The more a story is repeated, the more priority it gets.
The witch hunts offer a sobering reminder that delusion and misinformation are recurring features of human society, especially during times of technological change and social upheaval. As we navigate our own information revolution, those early skeptics’ questions remain urgent: Who bears responsibility when false information leads to real harm? How do we protect the most vulnerable from exploitation by those who profit from confusion and fear?
In an age when anyone can be a publisher, and extravagant tales spread at the speed of a keystroke, understanding how previous societies dealt with similar challenges isn’t just academic – it’s essential.
Julie Walsh receives funding from the National Science Foundation
On July 24, 2025, the American pro wrestling celebrity Hulk Hogan, whose real name was Terry Bollea, died at the age of 71. Hogan had chronic lymphocytic leukemia and a history of atrial fibrillation, or A-fib, a condition in which the upper chambers of the heart, or atria, beat irregularly and often rapidly. His cause of death has been confirmed as acute myocardial infarction, commonly known as a heart attack.
Hogan became a household name in the 1980s and has long been known for maintaining fitness and a highly active lifestyle, despite having had 25 surgeries in 10 years, including a neck surgery in May.
Hogan’s death has brought renewed attention to the importance of maintaining heart health through exercise. Many people think that bodybuilders are the “picture” of health. However, the truth is that too much muscle can increase strain on the heart and may actually be harmful. It may seem ironic, then, that people who exercise to extreme levels and appear healthy on the outside can, in fact, be quite unhealthy on the inside.
As the director of sports cardiology at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, I see patients of all age groups and at varying levels of fitness who are interested in promoting health by incorporating exercise into their lifestyle, or by optimizing their current exercise program.
More exercise and less sedentary behavior reduces the risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer and dementia. andreswd/E+ via Getty Images
Exercise is the foundation for good health
When people think of vital signs, they usually think about things such as heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, breathing rate and blood oxygen levels. However, the American Heart Association also includes “fitness” as an additional vital sign that should be considered when determining a patient’s overall health and risk of heart disease, cancer and death.
While fitness may be determined in various ways, the best way is by checking what is known as peak oxygen uptake, or VO2 max, through a specialized evaluation called a cardiopulmonary exercise test. These can be performed at many doctors’ offices and clinics, and they provide a wealth of information related to overall health, as well as heart, lung and skeletal muscle function.
In fact, a large study done by the Cleveland Clinic found that a low level of fitness poses a greater risk of death over time than other traditional risk factors that people commonly think of, such as smoking, diabetes, coronary artery disease and severe kidney disease.
When it comes to brain health, the American Stroke Association emphasizes the importance of routine exercise and avoiding sedentary behavior in their 2024 guidelines on primary prevention of stroke. The risk of stroke increases with the amount of sedentary time spent throughout the day and also with the amount of time spent watching television, particularly four hours or more per day.
Regarding cognitive decline, the Alzheimer’s Society states that regular exercise reduces the risk of dementia by almost 20%. Furthermore, the risk of Alzheimer’s disease is twice as high among individuals who exercise the least, when compared to individuals who exercise the most.
There is also strong evidence that regular exercise reduces the risk of certain types of cancer, especially, colon, breast and endometrial cancer. This reduction in cancer risk is achieved through several mechanisms.
Finally, exercise improves the quality of life for all people, regardless of their health or their age. In 2023, Hulk Hogan famously quipped, “I’m 69 years old, but I feel like I’m 39.”
7,000 steps is just over 3 miles – depending on your pace, that’s about 40 to 60 minutes of walking.
These organizations all recommend doing at least 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity exercise, or at least 75 minutes per week of vigorous-intensity exercise. Moderate exercises include activities such as walking briskly (2.5 to 4 miles per hour), playing doubles tennis or raking the yard. Vigorous exercise includes activities such as jogging, running or shoveling snow.
A good rule of thumb for figuring out how hard a specific exercise is is to apply the “talk test”: During moderate-intensity exercise, you can talk, but not sing, during the activity. During vigorous intensity exercise, you can say only a few words before having to stop and take a breath.
There is a lot of solid data to support these recommendations. For example, in a very large analysis of about 48,000 people followed for 30 years, the risk of death from any cause was about 20% lower among those who followed the physical activity guidelines for Americans.
Life can be busy, and some people may find it challenging to squeeze in at least 150 minutes of exercise throughout the course of the week. However, “weekend warriors” – people who cram all their exercise into one to two days over the weekend – still receive the benefits of exercise. So, a busy lifestyle during the week should not prevent people from doing their best to meet the guidelines.
What about the number of steps per day? In a new analysis in The Lancet, when compared with walking only 2,000 steps per day, people who walked 7,000 steps per day had a 47% lower risk of death from any cause, a 25% lower risk of developing heart disease, about a 50% lower risk of death from heart disease, a 38% lower risk of developing dementia, a 37% lower risk of dying from cancer, a 22% lower risk of depression and a 28% lower risk of falls.
One question that many patients ask me – and other doctors – is: “Is it ever too late to start exercising?” There is great data to suggest that people can reap the benefits even if they don’t begin an exercise program into their 50s.
However, in a study of previously sedentary adults with an average age of 53, two years of regular exercise reversed the age-related stiffening of the heart that otherwise occurs in the absence of routine exercise.
And it is important to remember that you do not have to look like a body builder or fitness guru in order to reap the benefits of exercise.
Almost three-quarters of the total benefit to heart, brain and metabolic health that can be gained from exercise will be achieved just by following the guidelines.
William Cornwell 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.
Vaccination against shingles increased among adults age 50 and older in the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic, but not equally across all population groups. That’s the key finding from a new study my colleagues and I published in the journal Vaccine.
Shingles is caused by the reactivation of the varicella-zoster virus, the same virus that causes chickenpox. It leads to a painful rash and potentially serious complications – especially in older adults – such as persistent nerve pain, vision loss and neurological problems. While antiviral treatments can ease symptoms, vaccination is the most effective way to prevent shingles.
We analyzed nationally representative survey data from almost 80,000 adults age 50 and over between 2018 and 2022, collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to monitor the health of the U.S. population. The survey tracked vaccination rates in people of different ethnic backgrounds as well as other factors such as sex, household income and the presence of chronic conditions like diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
The uptake of shingles vaccines rose notably during the pandemic – from 25.1% of people for whom it is recommended in 2018-2019, to 30.1% during 2020-2022. We observed this overall increase across nearly all groups in our study.
We saw the greatest relative increases among groups that historically have had lower rates of shingles vaccination. These included adults ages 50-64, men, people from racial and ethnic minority groups such as non-Hispanic Black adults, those with lower household incomes, current smokers and people without chronic conditions like cancer or arthritis.
Shingles is caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox. It leads to a painful rash and other potentially serious complications. Irena Sowinska/Moment via Getty Images
Why it matters
In the U.S., the CDC recommends shingles vaccination for all adults age 50 and older. However, uptake has been low, partly due to limited awareness, cost concerns and missed opportunities during routine health care visits.
The COVID-19 pandemic, while disruptive, may have inadvertently created new opportunities to improve adult vaccination uptake, particularly among groups with historically low uptake of the shingles vaccine. Factors contributing to this shift likely included heightened public awareness of the importance of vaccination, more frequent health care encounters, especially during COVID-19 vaccine rollouts, and the expanded availability of adult vaccines in pharmacies and primary care settings.
However, major inequities persist. While shingles vaccination rates improved across the board, groups that had lower uptake before the pandemic continued to lag behind wealthier, non-Hispanic white populations with greater health care access. Overall, the vaccination rate for shingles is still low – below other vaccines such as the flu vaccine.
This gap reflects long-standing disparities in getting needed health care, which became even more prominent during the pandemic. It also highlights the need for fairer policies and customized outreach efforts to underserved communities that build trust and raise awareness about the health benefits of the shingles vaccine.
What still isn’t known
Although the upward trend we observed is encouraging, several questions remain. For example, we could not tell from the survey data we worked with whether participants received both doses of the Shingrix vaccine. Both are needed for full protection against shingles.
Nor could we tell whether participants received the shingles vaccine alongside their COVID-19 vaccination. Receiving multiple vaccines at a single health care visit makes vaccination more convenient and may boost vaccine uptake by reducing the number of needed visits. Also unknown is how immunocompromised people fared during this period. Current guidelines recommend that immunocompromised adults regardless of age also receive the shingles vaccine, but the data only included adults age 50 and over.
Addressing these questions in future studies would help public health experts develop strategies to encourage more eligible people to receive the shingles vaccine.
The Research Brief is a short take on interesting academic work.
Jialing Lin 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.
El FC Barcelona y el gobierno de la República Democrática del Congo (RDC) han llegado a un acuerdo de patrocinio por cuatro años. Los equipos profesionales del club lucirán en la parte posterior de la camiseta de entrenamiento el lema “RD Congo-Coeur D’Afrique” (República Democrática del Congo, corazón de África). Además, el Spotify Camp Nou acogerá la Casa de la RDC en sus instalaciones.
El acuerdo es substancial para la tensionada economía culé: el club ingresará unos 44 millones de euros. Pero ha despertado suspicacias entre la sociedad civil congoleña debido a su precario nivel de vida, un hecho que diversos medios españoles han reflejado en su cobertura informativa.
Deporte de élite y branding territorial
El fútbol se ha convertido en una plataforma global para la promoción de marcas territoriales. Hay acuerdos de patrocinio que están suscritos en el marco de estrictas campañas de gestión de la marca turística (destination branding) –como el longevo acuerdo entre el RCD Espanyol y Riviera Maya (2011-2023)–, pero otros han de analizarse con más profundidad y desde la perspectiva de la geopolítica económica del deporte.
Igual que ya pasó en 2010, cuando el FC Barcelona se asoció con Qatar Foundation, el acuerdo del Barça con el gobierno de la RDC requiere un análisis más complejo.
El Barça explota su marca y su producción de conocimiento
En primer lugar, no hay duda de que la marca Barça continúa siendo una de las más valoradas de la industria del fútbol. Lo es, por ejemplo, por la capacidad que tiene de generar talento y conocimiento.
En este alto valor de marca –concretamente, 1 500 millones de euros según la consultora Brand Finance– radica el interés del gobierno de la RDC en asociarse con el FC Barcelona y así lo evidencia la nota de prensa emitida por el club. A través de las Barça Academies y el Barça Innovation Hub, el club catalán transferirá conocimiento a niños, jóvenes y adultos de la RDC con el objetivo de fortalecer la industria del deporte de ese país centroafricano.
La redefinición de la marca Barça en pleno siglo XXI se puede estructurar a partir de cinco territorios de marca (el lugar que ocupa la marca en la mente de su público objetivo): la producción de entretenimiento global, la gestión del big data, la innovación tecnológica, el simbolismo culé y, finalmente, la producción de conocimiento (sea deportivo, a través de su modelo de gobernanza o su gestión como líder del sector).
De un modo u otro, el club está sabiendo aprovechar este conocimiento para generar negocio. Además, África es un gran mercado aún por explotar y el fútbol profesional, guste o no, ha crecido históricamente bajo una lógica capitalista.
El gobierno de la RDC y su diplomacia deportiva
Es más complicado profundizar en la lógica de los intereses de la RDC en el marco de este acuerdo. Ciertamente, el incremento de la visibilidad de su marca turística –la vinculada al destination branding– gracias a la plataforma ofrecida por el club es el resultado medible más evidente. Barcelona y el Barça: una ciudad y su club.
No obstante, considerando algunas de las activaciones vinculadas al acuerdo, no cabe duda de que el gobierno de Kinsasa está desplegando una acción de diplomacia deportiva de primer orden: ofrecer a la masa de turistas y aficionados que visiten el Spotify Camp Nou los próximos cuatro años una exposición inmersiva (La Casa de la RDC) para “poner en valor la riqueza y diversidad del patrimonio cultural y deportivo congolés”.
La cuestión geopolítica
Mientras el destination branding está enfocado a la promoción turística, la diplomacia deportiva impacta directamente en la esfera de la política exterior, las relaciones de poder y el poder blando. Y, en el marco de las tensas relaciones diplomáticas entre vecinos africanos, la RDC y Ruanda parece que han decidido llevar sus diferencias, también, a la arena deportiva.
Por un lado, Ruanda (con el lema “Visit Rwanda”) ya tiene acuerdos de patrocinio con varios equipos europeos como el París Saint-Germain, el Bayern de Múnich, el Arsenal o el Atlético de Madrid. Por el otro, la RDC lo ha hecho con el AC Milán, el Mónaco y el Barcelona.
La RDC dispone de entre el 60 y el 80 % de las reservas mundiales de coltán, el 50 % de las reservas mundiales de cobalto y un gran porcentaje de reservas de oro. Además, está considerado por la Comisión Europea como uno de los países estratégicos para el suministro de materias primas críticas para la transición ecológica y la transformación digital de Europa.
No obstante, el grupo rebelde tutsi Movimiento 23 de Marzo (M23) tiene bajo su control el suministro ilegal de minerales desde el este de la RDC hacia Ruanda, que a su vez los exporta. Si bien la RDC es uno de los principales productores de coltán del planeta, Ruanda es el mayor exportador, aunque casi no dispone de este mineral en su territorio.
Así, Kinsasa acusó al gobierno de Kigali de apoyar al M23, establecido al este del territorio de la RDC. Tras las tensiones, la RDC y Ruanda firmaron en Washington, el pasado 27 de junio, un tibio acuerdo de paz que tendría que devolver la estabilidad a la zona de los Grandes Lagos, no sin antes reacomodar las relaciones entre Estados Unidos, Rusia y China en el corazón de África.
También, en 2010 el club desplazó a Unicef de su camiseta para aliarse con el emirato de Catar. Pero, atención, no todo es blanco o negro: críticas a parte, con el tiempo Catar se ha convertido en un país imprescindible como agente neutral en negociaciones de paz, participando también en las del gobierno de la RDC con el M23.
La cuestión solo podrá responderse escrutando a medio y largo plazo qué hace el FC Barcelona para mejorar la calidad de vida de los congoleños, el pueblo. Como se ha demostrado, el deporte es un activo necesario para las políticas de desarrollo global, y útil para fortalecer la cohesión social y el desarrollo comunitario, especialmente si se focaliza la acción en niños y adolescentes. Todo un reto en esta zona, políticamente tan inestable, del planeta.
Xavier Ginesta no recibe salario, ni ejerce labores de consultoría, ni posee acciones, ni recibe financiación de ninguna compañía u organización que pueda obtener beneficio de este artículo, y ha declarado carecer de vínculos relevantes más allá del cargo académico citado.
Le premier traitement contre le paludisme destiné aux bébés et aux jeunes enfants âgés de 2 mois à 5 ans a été approuvé début juillet 2025 par Swissmedic, l’agence suisse des produits thérapeutiques. Jusqu’à présent, les bébés et les très jeunes enfants étaient traités avec des médicaments conçus pour les enfants plus âgés.
The Conversation Africa a interrogé Fortunate Mokoena sur l’importance de cette autorisation et son impact sur la lutte contre le paludisme en Afrique. Elle est biochimiste et se consacre à la recherche de nouveaux traitements pour des maladies qui frappent particulièrement les enfants de moins de cinq ans, comme le paludisme et la pneumonie.
Quelle est l’importance de cette autorisation pour le traitement du paludisme en Afrique ?
Cette autorisation est extrêmement importante.
L’OMS s’est fixé un objectif ambitieux et visionnaire : éradiquer le paludisme d’ici 2030. Il s’agit d’un défi qui exige des mesures audacieuses et multidimensionnelles : des insecticides et des moustiquaires aux vaccins, en passant par la lutte contre les vecteurs et les traitements efficaces.
Ce nouveau médicament est une étape importante dans la lutte contre le paludisme. Il apporte de l’espoir et des progrès tangibles en proposant un traitement vital, spécialement conçu pour les plus jeunes et les plus vulnérables, notamment les enfants de moins d’un an et pesant seulement 4,5 kg. Chaque progrès comme celui-ci permet non seulement de sauver des vies, mais aussi de renforcer la détermination collective à créer une Afrique sans paludisme. Il s’agit de donner à chaque enfant la chance de grandir, s’épanouir et rêver libéré du poids de cette maladie.
L’avenir du traitement du paludisme en Afrique est plus prometteur que jamais. Cette autorisation permet non seulement de sauver des vies et d’assurer un avenir meilleur aux enfants africains, mais elle met davantage en évidence également l’énorme potentiel du continent.
L’éradication du paludisme pourrait sauver d’innombrables vies et débloquer environ 126 milliards de dollars du PIB de l’Afrique. ce qui pourrait avoir un impact considérable sur la santé et la prospérité.
Même si la recherche dans le secteur pharmaceutique est encore à ses débuts, elle est déjà très prometteuse. Des pionniers tels que le Professeur Kelly Chibale, dont le médicament antipaludique révolutionnaire a atteint la phase II des essais cliniques, ont démontré ce qu’il était possible de d’accomplir. Grâce à la Fondation H3D, Chibale a réuni quelques-uns des meilleurs talents scientifiques africains afin de se concentrer sur des maladies telles que le paludisme et la tuberculose, stimulant ainsi l’innovation et l’espoir.
Cette autorisation peut servir de catalyseur puissant, en inspirant et en donnant les moyens aux scientifiques africains pour leur permettre de continuer à développer des médicaments qui sauvent des vies. Avec plus d’expertise et de détermination, l’Afrique pourra non seulement traiter le paludisme, mais aussi l’éradiquer. Et peut-être même ouvrir la voie à un avenir plus sain et plus prospère pour tous.
Quelle est l’ampleur du paludisme chez les enfants en Afrique ?
Le paludisme reste l’un des problèmes de santé les plus urgents en Afrique. En 2023, on estimait à 263 millions le nombre de cas de paludisme et à 597 000 le nombre de décès dûs à cette maladie dans 83 pays, la majorité des victimes étant des jeunes enfants et des femmes enceintes.
En 2023, la région africaine de l’OMS comptait 94 % des cas de paludisme (246 millions) et 95 % (569 000) des décès dus au paludisme. Les enfants de moins de 5 ans représentaient environ 76 % de tous les décès dûs au paludisme dans la région.
Le fardeau est particulièrement lourd en Afrique subsaharienne, notamment dans les zones rurales où la pauvreté et l’accès limité aux soins de santé aggravent la situation. Mais c’est aussi un appel puissant à l’action. En luttant contre le paludisme, les Africains ont la possibilité non seulement de sauver des vies, mais aussi de libérer l’immense potentiel des enfants. Ils peuvent également renforcer les communautés et bâtir un avenir plus sain, plus prospère et plus durable pour l’Afrique.
Comment soignait-on les bébés contre le paludisme jusqu’à présent ?
Jusqu’à maintenant, il n’existait pas de traitement antipaludique efficace spécialement conçu pour les nouveau-nés. Cela a créé un grand vide dans la prise en charge des enfants les plus jeunes et les plus vulnérables.
Il est déchirant de constater que ces petits êtres précieux reçoivent souvent des médicaments conçus pour des enfants plus âgés. Cela peut entraîner des effets secondaires désagréables et des réactions toxiques. Il est important de comprendre que le corps des bébés fonctionne différemment de celui des enfants plus grands ou des adultes. Leurs besoins physiologiques sont spécifiques et nécessitent une prise en charge adaptée.
Le Ghana a déjà commencé à le déployer. Huit autres pays devraient l’approuver très prochainement : le Burkina Faso, la Côte d’Ivoire, le Kenya, le Malawi, le Mozambique, le Nigeria, la Tanzanie et l’Ouganda.
Pour réussir ce déploiement, il est indispensable d’obtenir des financements supplémentaires. Il sera aussi crucial de s’appuyer sur l’expertise locale pour améliorer l’efficacité du projet sur le terrain.
Dans certaines régions, les formulations du médicament peuvent nécessiter une lyophilisation pour faire face à des conditions telles que les coupures d’électricité. La lyophilisation, également connue sous le nom de séchage par congélation, est une forme de conservation des produits qui élimine toute l’humidité et l’eau du produit.
Il est essentiel d’investir dans les infrastructures de fabrication locales afin de réduire les coûts de production. C’est à la fois un appel à l’action et un rappel que la lutte contre le paludisme est loin d’être terminée.
Fortunate Mokoena bénéficie d’un financement de la Science for Africa Foundation (SFA) dans le cadre de la deuxième cohorte de boursiers Grand Challenges Africa de la Fondation Bill et Melinda Gates (GCA/Round10/DD-065 à F.M.). Le financement de l’agence sud-africaine pour l’innovation technologique est également très apprécié. Fortunate Mokoena est membre à part entière du Grand Challenges Drug Discovery Accelerator.
De Lagos à Cape Town, de Santiago à Séoul, tout le monde veut être cool. « Cool » est un mot que l’on entend partout : dans la musique, dans la mode, sur les réseaux sociaux. Nous l’utilisons pour décrire certains types de personnes.
Mais qu’est-ce qui rend vraiment quelqu’un « cool » ? Est-ce juste une question de popularité ou de style ? Ou y a-t-il quelque chose de plus profond ?
Dans une étude récente menée avec d’autres professeurs de marketing, nous avons cherché à répondre à une question simple mais rarement posée. Quels sont les traits de personnalité et les valeurs qui rendent quelqu’un cool, et varient-ils d’une culture à l’autre ?
Nous avons interrogé près de 6 000 personnes dans 12 pays. Nous leur avons demandé de penser à quelqu’un qu’elles connaissaient personnellement et qu’elles trouvaient soit « cool », soit « pas cool », soit « une bonne personne », soit « une mauvaise personne ». Ensuite, elles devaient décrire les traits de caractère et les valeurs de cette personne avec des outils de psychologie validés. Nous avons utilisé ces données pour examiner en quoi le fait d’être cool diffère de la sympathie ou de la moralité en général.
L’étude a couvert des pays aussi divers que l’Australie, la Turquie, les États-Unis, l’Allemagne, l’Inde, la Chine, le Nigeria et l’Afrique du Sud.
Les résultats montrent qu’à travers le monde, la coolitude se caractérise par six traits essentiels : les personnes perçues comme cool sont généralement extraverties, portées sur le plaisir, aventurières, ouvertes d’esprit, puissantes et indépendantes.
Ces conclusions permettent d’éclaircir un débat de longue date : qu’est-ce qu’être cool à notre époque ?
Certains chercheurs estiment que cette forme de « cool » remonte à l’époque de l’esclavage et de la ségrégation. Pour les Africains réduits en esclavage et leurs descendants, garder le contrôle de leurs émotions était une véritable stratégie de survie. Cette retenue devenait alors un symbole d’autonomie et de dignité face à l’oppression. D’autres pensent que cette attitude de maîtrise existait déjà bien avant l’esclavage.
Quoi qu’il en soit, ce sont les musiciens de jazz des années 1940 qui ont rendu ce style « cool » célèbre : une allure détendue, élégante et maîtrisée sur le plan émotionnel. Ce modèle a ensuite séduit la jeunesse et plusieurs mouvements contre-culturels. Au fil du temps, des marques comme Nike, Apple ou MTV ont récupéré cette attitude rebelle pour en faire un produit marketing. Ce qui était à l’origine un esprit marginal est devenu une esthétique mondiale, plus facile à vendre au grand public.
Ce qui rend quelqu’un cool
Nos conclusions suggèrent que la signification du mot « cool » a changé. C’est un moyen d’identifier et de cataloguer les personnes ayant un profil psychologique spécifique.
Les personnes cool sont extraverties et sociables. Elles recherchent le plaisir et la jouissance (hédonistes). Elles prennent des risques et essaient de nouvelles choses (aventurières). Elles sont curieuses et ouvertes à de nouvelles expériences (ouvertes). Elles ont de l’influence ou du charisme (puissantes). Et peut-être surtout, elles font les choses à leur manière (autonomes).
Cette conclusion est restée remarquablement la même dans tous les pays. Que l’on soit aux États-Unis, en Corée du Sud, en Espagne ou en Afrique du Sud, les gens ont tendance à penser que les personnes cool partagent le même « profil cool »..
Nous avons également constaté que même si le fait d’être cool recoupe le fait d’être bon ou sympathique, être cool et être bon ne sont pas la même chose. Être gentil, calme, traditionnel, sûr de soi et consciencieux était davantage associé à la bonté qu’à la coolitude. Certains traits associés à la coolitude, comme l’extraversion ou la recherche du plaisir, ne sont pas toujours vus comme des qualités morales.
Qu’en est-il de l’Afrique du Sud et du Nigeria ?
L’un des aspects les plus intéressants de notre étude est la régularité des résultats entre les cultures, même dans des pays aux valeurs et traditions très différentes.
En Afrique du Sud, les participants considéraient les personnes cool comme extraverties, hédonistes, puissantes, aventureuses, ouvertes et autonomes, tout comme les participants d’Europe et d’Asie. En Afrique du Sud, cependant, la coolitude se distingue particulièrement du fait d’être bon. L’Afrique du Sud est l’un des pays où être hédoniste, puissant, aventureux et autonome était a été associé au fait d’être cool que d’être une bonne personne.
Le Nigeria a montré des résultats un peu différents. C’était le seul pays où les personnes cool et pas cool étaient perçues comme également autonomes. En gros, l’individualité n’était pas considérée comme cool. Cette différence pourrait refléter des valeurs culturelles qui accordent une plus grande importance à la communauté, au respect des aînés ou à l’identité collective. Dans les sociétés où la tradition et la hiérarchie sont importantes, faire ce que l’on veut n’est pas forcément vu comme cool.
Cependant, comme toutes les sciences, les sciences sociales ne sont pas exactes. Il est donc raisonnable de supposer que l’autonomie est peut-être assoociée à la coolitude au Nigeria, mais que des biais d’enquête ou d’interprétation aient faussé les réponses.
Autre particularité : au Nigeria, la différence entre être cool et être bon était moins marquée qu’ailleurs. Là-bas, la coolitude est plus souvent perçue comme une qualité morale que dans les autres pays.
Pourquoi est-ce intéressant ?
Le fait que tant de cultures s’accordent sur ce qui rend quelqu’un cool suggère que la « coolitude » pourrait avoir une fonction sociale universelle. Les traits qui rendent les gens cool peuvent les pousser à essayer de nouvelles choses, à innover en matière de style et de mode, et à influencer les autres. Ces personnes repoussent souvent les limites et introduisent de nouvelles idées, que ce soit dans la mode, l’art, la politique ou la technologie. Elles inspirent les autres et contribuent à façonner ce qui est considéré comme moderne, désirable ou avant-gardiste.
Dans ce sens, la coolitude pourrait fonctionner comme une sorte de marqueur de statut culturel, une récompense pour l’audace, l’ouverture d’esprit et l’innovation. Être cool ne se limite pas à l’apparence : c’est avoir un temps d’avance et donner aux autres l’envie de suivre.
Que peut-on retenir de tout cela ?
D’une part, les jeunes d’Afrique du Sud, du Nigeria et du monde entier ont peut-être plus en commun que nous ne le pensons souvent. Malgré d’énormes différences culturelles, ils ont tendance à admirer les mêmes traits de caractère. Cela ouvre des pistes intéressantes pour mieux communiquer, collaborer et s’influencer à travers les cultures.
D’autre part, si on veut entrer en contact avec les autres ou les inspirer, que ce soit par l’éducation, l’image de marque ou le leadership, il est utile de comprendre ce que les gens considèrent comme cool. Le cool n’est peut-être pas une vertu universelle, mais c’est un langage universel.
Enfin, il y a dans tout cela quelque chose de rassurant : être cool ne dépend pas de la richesse ou de la célébrité. C’est une manière d’être.
Êtes-vous curieux ? Courageux ? Fidèle à vous-même ? Si oui, il y a de fortes chances que quelqu’un vous trouve cool, peu importe d’où vous venez.
Todd Pezzuti a reçu un financement de l’ANID Chili pour mener cette recherche.
Driven by a desire to explore Nigeria’s literary and cultural history beyond the metropolis of Lagos, I took a road trip to Ibadan, once the most important university town in the country. Ibadan, in Oyo State, was the first city in Nigeria to have a university set up in 1948.
It’s the city where celebrated Nigerian artist and architect Demas Nwoko imagined and built his utopias. Where the Oxford University Press and Heinemann Educational Books established their west African headquarters.
Books have always been a form of cultural currency in Ibadan. The presence of major publishers meant that bookshops were not just retail outlets, but intellectual salons, sites of encounter and exchange.
So while in Ibadan I visited cultural spaces and independent bookshops but it was the charms of the University campus that mostly captured my imagination. And my favourite place was the University of Ibadan Bookshop. At this campus bookshop I lingered the most, in awe and wonder. Its eclectic range of books, journals, public lecture pamphlets, novels, poetry collections and monographs excited me.
Today, when the global publishing economy has increasingly digitised and centralised, the bookshop feels almost radical just by existing. It’s a reminder that intellectual life in Africa is not peripheral or derived from the west. It is present, prolific and profoundly local. To walk through the shelves of this bookshop was to encounter a history of African thought written and produced on its own terms.
As a scholar of African literature and archives, my research traces the hidden lives of spaces that have shaped publishing and archives. University bookshops have been overlooked but are essential nodes in the continent’s intellectual history.
A snapshot of Nigeria
This campus bookshop gives a snapshot of Nigeria as a print country. Here we witness the nation through its printed matter. A nation of prolific publishing. I found the literary output in the Ibadan campus bookshop not only vast but exuberant and unrelenting. It reflects the texture of the Nigerian personality: loud, boisterous, layered and insistent. Stacks upon stacks of books.
In these stacks, it dawned on me that beneath the surface lies a vibrant, ongoing literary discourse that is unmistakably Nigerian, and sadly not resonant far beyond its borders. These are books you don’t see on reference lists of “popular” and “influential” scholarship that privileges work produced and imported to Africa from the Euro-American academy.
I was especially intrigued with how the Nigerian academic and writer does not tire in producing academic and cultural journals. There are journals for every subject under the sun.
While the critical framework of African literature is too often shaped by the global north (see critiques by Ato Quayson, Biodun Jeyifo, Simon Gikandi and Grace Musila) in Ibadan, I saw a distinctly local and deeply African critical discourse rooted in place, language and lived experience. To walk into the University of Ibadan Bookshop is to step into legacy. Its shelves bear the weight of decades of African thought, theory and storytelling.
Despite being housed in an ageing building, it has stayed defiant. Even though floods destroyed books and computers worth a small fortune in 2019, the bookshop is still standing proudly. And there was pride too among the staff who were eager to help or answer any questions about the books.
More than bookshops
The University of Ibadan bookshop reminded me of the bookshop from my undergraduate days in Zimbabwe. Even though our campus bookshop was much smaller, I used to find pleasure going there in between lectures. It often felt like walking into a vault of African knowledge and memory.
Our bookshop at Midlands State University stocked old, canonical books alongside current literature. On occasion, rare, out-of-print secondhand books would appear on the shelves. The bargain sales also meant I spent most of my money there.
But to call these spaces on African university campuses “bookshops” hardly does them justice. They are hybrid cultural ecosystems that function as part bookshop, part print shop, stationer, library and sometimes even archive. They have long served as vital nodes in the circulation of African knowledge and thought.
Yet this ecosystem is rapidly eroding, undermined by the rise of internet culture, artificial intelligence, piracy and harsh economic conditions. The result is a slow but devastating disappearance of African intellectual memory. As scholars remind us, digital platforms are not neutral. They are structured by algorithms that often marginalise black and African knowledge. So, the loss of these analogue spaces is more than nostalgic, it is epistemic erasure.
In this digital age, there is something vital about the physical presence of bookshops on African campuses. Thanks to them, as a student, for me literature was the serendipity of discovery, the tactile feel of books, the beautiful persistence of a local knowledge system that was relatable and produced by people like me.
On the way out of the city, we stopped at Bower’s Tower. From there you can see Ibadan’s sprawling layout, the ancient hills from which the settlement was built, and its red roofs.
The view reflected the complexity and density of ideas the city has nurtured. And despite shifts in Nigeria’s publishing geography from here to Lagos and Abuja, Ibadan still matters. It’s a city that remembers, that archives, that holds on to knowledge.
Tinashe Mushakavanhu 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.
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