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December 16, 2025

What Canada’s public sector voting divide could mean for future elections

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Matt Polacko, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Calgary; University of Toronto

The Liberal government’s recent budget aims to reduce the size of the federal public service by around 40,000 positions, which is roughly 10 per cent of the workforce. The government argues that the size of the public service has swelled to an unsustainable level.

Needless to say, federal public sector workers cannot relish this prospect.

Along with the Conservatives, two NDP members voted to pass the budget in order to avoid another election. But in their public responses to the budget, New Democrats have emphasized concern over the cuts by expressing their hesitation about supporting it.

This decision could have significant electoral consequences in that it may drive public sector workers away from the Liberal Party of Canada to the NDP in the next election.

Deep divide?

A conventional understanding of Canadian politics suggests a stark divide between public sector workers who support expanding the welfare state and private-sector employees who oppose that.

A Conservative-leaning pundit has portrayed contemporary Canadian politics as a battle between a “public class, who live on the avails of taxation, and a private class, who pay the taxes.” The “public class” in this instance is largely made up of public sector workers who “would welcome an expansion of the state, which would benefit their class.”

In a recent paper published in the Canadian Review of Sociology, we studied the political divide between Canadian public and private-sector workers.

We identified a sectoral divide whereby public sector workers are distinctly less likely to vote for the Conservatives than other parties. The graphs below show how being in the public sector has on impact on whether someone votes for the Conservatives, Liberals or NDP versus the two other parties combined since the 1960s.

Sectoral status seems to have the largest impact on NDP support, rather than the Liberals. But one feature of our analysis shows that increased support for the NDP and the Liberals is primarily — although not exclusively — attributable to the fact that the public sector is heavily unionized.

Effectively, non-unionized public sector workers demonstrate a weaker proclivity to support the Liberals and the NDP.

This is curious and complicates some of the stark commentary on the divide between public and private sector workers. If public sector workers were so interested in choosing a party out of self-interest, they would presumably support the federal Liberals because of their greater electability, rather than the NDP, who rarely exercise influence at the federal level.

Left-leaning attitudes

Overall, our data says something about motivation: public sector voters in Canada are more inclined to support the NDP and the Liberals — not necessarily out of self-interest to expand their budgets or increase their salaries, but because they have political attitudes more to the left than their private sector counterparts.

We show this from the information illustrated below, which shows the average support for four different types of socio-economic policies: publicly delivered child care; a government role in creating jobs, increased wealth redistribution from rich to poor and increased spending on welfare.

These data points were amassed from the Canada Election Studies from 1993 to 2019, and report support for these policies by class and sector of employment.

What’s striking about this chart is that on all four measures, public sector managers and professionals are more left-wing than their public sector counterparts.

But there is virtually no difference in the policy preferences at the level of working or routine non-manual classes. By contrast, if we run the same analysis with measures on social or cultural issues, we find almost no difference between public and private sector employees.

So the public and private sector divide in Canada today exists in some small measure because higher-class public sector workers are more left-wing economically than their higher-class private sector counterparts.

Hope on the horizon for the NDP?

We also examined whether public sector employees vote at higher rates. If public sector workers were interested in voting for the left in order to maximize their budgets, presumably, they would vote at greater rates overall.

But we found that public and private sector employees vote at roughly the same rate.

Overall, we find that there is in fact a sectoral divide in Canada. Public sector workers in Canada tend to vote Liberal or NDP. However, they do so primarily because of their more left-wing attitudes toward economic policy and redistribution, not necessarily only because of narrower interests related to job security.

The Liberal government’s intention to reduce the size of the federal public service could very likely drive some of their voters back to the NDP in the next federal election.

Matt Polacko receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

Peter Graefe has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. He is a research fellow at the Broadbent Institute.

Simon Kiss receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council for research into the New Democratic Party and is a longtime member of the NDP.

– ref. What Canada’s public sector voting divide could mean for future elections – https://theconversation.com/what-canadas-public-sector-voting-divide-could-mean-for-future-elections-272144

December 16, 2025

Chile elects most right-wing leader since Pinochet – in line with regional drift, domestic tendency to punish incumbents

Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Andra B. Chastain, Associate Professor of History, Washington State University

A supporter holds a portrait of José Antonio Kast, presidential candidate of the opposition Republican Party, after results show him leading in the presidential runoff election in Santiago, Chile.
AP Photo / Matias Delacroix

Chileans have elected the most right-wing presidential candidate since the end of the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship over three and a half decades ago.

In a runoff held on Dec. 14, 2025, José Antonio Kast, a Republican Party ex-congressman and two-time former presidential candidate, won just over 58% of the vote, while his opponent, Jeannette Jara, the left-wing labor minister of current President Gabriel Boric, won nearly 42%.

Approximately 15.6 million Chileans were eligible to vote in the first presidential election to take place with mandatory voting and automatic voter registration.

As a result of those new election rules, which went into place in 2022, an estimated 5 million to 6 million new voters went to the polls. These voters – found to be largely younger, male and lower-middle class – are seen as lacking a strong ideological identity and rejecting politics altogether.

The verdict delivered by Chile’s voters puts it in line with a broader right-wing regional shift – most recently in Bolivia – that has reversed the “pink tide” of left-leaning governments in the past two decades. But as a historian of modern Latin America and Chile, I believe Chile’s election also reflects the important local context of years of increasing disenchantment with the political system.

Amid Chile’s expanded electorate, the primary issues of voter concern during this campaign were crime and immigration. An October 2025 poll specifically found delinquency to be the top issue, with immigration, unemployment and health care also marking high.

A person walks by a spray-painted political mural. — A campaign banner reads in Spanish: Neither Jara nor Kast will make our lives better, don’t vote, rebel and fight.
AP Photo / Natacha Pisarenko

Though Chile has one of the lowest crime rates in Latin America, high-profile cases of organized crime have shaken the nation in recent years. Homicides increased between 2018 and 2022 and have decreased slightly since then. Immigration has also risen significantly, with a large number of immigrants coming to Chile having fled economic and political crises in Venezuela, as well as in Peru, Haiti, Colombia and Bolivia. The foreign-born population in Chile rose from 4.4% in 2017 to 8.8% in 2024.

The key constitutional context

Many commentators have highlighted the stark polarization of this election, with a Communist Party labor minister campaigning against the arch-conservative Kast, who has lauded the Pinochet dictatorship under which his deceased older brother once served. But there is more to the story.

Some observers have drawn comparisons between Kast and other far-right Latin American leaders like Nayib Bukele in El Salvador, Javier Milei in Argentina and Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil. But Chile is not merely following the same far-right playbook of its neighbors.

In the weeks leading up to the runoff in Chile, both candidates moved toward the center. Jara vowed to expand the prison system to combat rising crime, while Kast – who had previously threatened expulsion of undocumented migrants – softened his tone to say they would be “invited” to leave.

Moreover, Kast learned from his previous failed attempts at the presidency by speaking less about his controversial or more socially conservative positions. For example, he played down opposition to abortion under any circumstances. Chilean voters, in contrast, overwhelmingly approve of the limited abortion rights that were passed by Congress in 2017.

Yet beyond the campaign trail messaging, the results also reflect a structural fact of Chilean politics that mirror political realities of other parts of Latin America, and even globally. In every presidential election since 2006, Chileans have voted out the incumbency to swing to the opposing side of the political spectrum. With candidates barred from consecutive presidential terms, the pendulum has swung back and forth since the alternating presidencies of socialist Michelle Bachelet – 2006-2010 and 2014-2018 — and conservative Sebastián Piñera – 2010-2014 and 2018-2022.

Supporters at a political rally wave flags. — At a José Antonio Kast rally in Santiago on Dec. 14, 2025, supporters wave various flags, including one depicting late dictator Augusto Pinochet.
Eithan Ambramovich / AFP vis Getty Images

Boric, a former left-wing student leader, took office in 2022 following a wave of upheaval and popular protests over inequality in 2019-2020. In what was a historic moment, the country voted to begin a process of rewriting its Pinochet-era constitution, which entrenched neoliberal economic policies and limited the government’s capacity to confront inequality. The constitutional convention was made up of directly elected citizens, many of them from grassroots movements.

Yet in a stunning reversal, the progressive constitution – which would have protected rights to nature, Indigenous rights and social rights – was roundly defeated in a plebiscite in 2022. Just over a year later, voters similarly rejected a second attempt to rewrite the constitution, albeit under a process that conservative parties helped shape.

Boric’s approval ratings, already low, suffered from this failed constitutional process. More than the right-wing elections elsewhere in the region, this national context helps to explain Chile’s own conservative turn.

The ever-present discontent of voters

Even as the pendulum has swung back and forth in recent Chilean presidential elections, there are deeper continuities across the different Chilean governments in the 21st century. Important among them is generalized voter discontent with the political system.

This has traditionally been expressed in popular protests, such as the student movements of 2006 and 2011 and the Estallido Social – or Social Uprising – of 2019-2020 that were the largest protests since the return to democracy in 1990 and helped propel Boric to power. Public discontent was also expressed in the overwhelming vote to rewrite the constitution, which passed with 78% of the vote in 2020.

A massive crowd is shown from above during a protest. — In this Oct. 25, 2019, photo, anti-government protesters fill Plaza de la Dignidad – Dignity Square – in Santiago, Chile, during a nationwide call for socioeconomic equality and better social services.
AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd, File

Even though the constitutional process was ultimately rejected by voters, this underlying discontent has not gone away.

One of the recent signs of discontent with the political choices on offer was in the first round of voting on Nov. 16: The third-place candidate was not one of the veteran politicians on the right, but Franco Parisi, a populist economist who has not set foot in Chile in years and who called on his supporters to intentionally vote null – or “spoil” their votes. Discontent has taken many forms – outrage about inequality and neoliberalism in 2019-2020, or unease about economic precarity and crime in the current election. But it has persisted, even as Chile’s political system remains stable.

Some observers have pointed out that, unlike in many places around the world, Chile’s democratic norms are holding strong. The fact that power continues to pass peacefully despite major ideological differences is significant, particularly in light of the long struggle for democracy during the Pinochet regime. Kast’s style, for what it’s worth, is not as bombastic as that of U.S. President Donald Trump or Argentina’s Milei.

Still, his apparent politeness belies what many fear is a coming erosion of rights: the rights of women to bodily autonomy; the rights of individuals] to due process; the rights of workers to dignified conditions. These may well be up for negotiation under the new administration.

Kast, a staunch Catholic and father of nine, is opposed to abortion under any circumstances and has even attempted to ban the morning-after pill. He was a supporter of Pinochet up until the regime’s end, campaigning for the “yes” vote in 1988 that would have seen eight more years for the authoritarian leader after 15 years already in power. Kast has likewise vowed to slash public spending and deregulate the economy, a clear echo of the Pinochet years.

Despite the momentous shift heralded by Kast’s election, though, it is unlikely to change one of the principal challenges of Chile’s democracy in the 21st century: voter discontent and disenchantment. There has been a consistent trend for the government in power to lose popular support and face strong headwinds in Congress from the opposition. For all the celebration happening right now for Kast and his supporters, it is hard to see that changing once the new government takes office in March 2026.

Andra B. Chastain receives funding in 2025-26 from a Fulbright-García Robles research grant in Mexico. She has previously received funding for research in Chile from the Social Science Research Council and the PEO Foundation.

– ref. Chile elects most right-wing leader since Pinochet – in line with regional drift, domestic tendency to punish incumbents – https://theconversation.com/chile-elects-most-right-wing-leader-since-pinochet-in-line-with-regional-drift-domestic-tendency-to-punish-incumbents-272042

December 15, 2025

Epstein’s victims deserve more attention than his ‘client list’

Source: The Conversation – USA – By Stephanie A. (Sam) Martin, Frank and Bethine Church Endowed Chair of Public Affairs, Boise State University

Survivors, including Anouska De Georgiou, center, during a news conference with victims of Jeffrey Epstein outside the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 3, 2025. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The Jeffrey Epstein story has slipped in and out of the headlines for years, but in a very particular way. Most news articles ask a specific question – which powerful men might be on “the list”?

Headlines focus on unidentified elites and who may be exposed or embarrassed, rather than on the people whose suffering made the case newsworthy in the first place: the girls and young women Epstein abused and trafficked.

Right now, the story is entering a new phase. A federal judge has authorized the Justice Department to unseal grand jury transcripts and other evidence from Epstein companion Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking case. A court in Florida has cleared the release of grand jury records from a federal investigation into Epstein himself, all under the new Epstein Files Transparency Act. Passed in November 2025, that law gives the Justice Department 30 days to release nearly all Epstein-related files. The deadline is Dec. 19.

Journalists and the public are watching to see what those documents will reveal beyond names we already know, and whether a long-rumored client list will finally materialize.

Alongside that, there has been a stream of survivor-centered reporting. Some outlets, including CNN, have regularly featured Epstein survivors and their attorneys reacting to new developments. Those segments are a reminder that another story is available, one that treats the women at the center of the case as sources of understanding, not just as evidence of someone else’s fall from grace.

These coexisting storylines reveal a deeper problem. After the #MeToo movement peaked, the public conversation about sexual violence and the news has clearly shifted. More survivors now speak publicly under their own names, and some outlets have adapted.

Yet long-standing conventions about what counts as news – conflict, scandal, elite people and dramatic turns in a case – still shape which aspects of sexual violence make it into headlines and which stay on the margins.

That tension raises a question: In a case where the law largely permits naming victims of sexual violence, and where some survivors are explicitly asking to be seen, why do journalistic practices so often withhold names or treat victims as secondary to the story?

A “CBS Evening News” story from Dec. 12, 2025, teases the photos revealed by House Democrats of famous men with Jeffrey Epstein.

What the law allows – and why newsrooms rarely do it

The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly held that government generally may not punish news organizations for publishing truthful information drawn from public records, even when that information is a rape victim’s name.

When states tried in the 1970s and 1980s to penalize outlets that identified victims using names that had already appeared in court documents or police reports, the court said those punishments violated the First Amendment.

Newsrooms responded by tightening restraint, not loosening it. Under pressure from feminist activists, victim advocates and their own staff, many organizations adopted policies against identifying victims of sexual assault, especially without consent.

Journalism ethics codes now urge reporters to “minimize harm,” be cautious about naming victims of sex crimes, and consider the risk of retraumatization and stigma.

In other words, U.S. law permits what newsroom ethics codes discourage.

How anonymity became the norm and #MeToo complicated it

Anti-rape culture protesters gathered in a crowd. — The anti-rape movement in the U.S. forced newsrooms to revisit assumptions about whose voices should lead a story.
Cory Clark/NurPhoto via Getty Images

For much of the 20th century, rape victims were routinely named in U.S. news coverage – a reflection of unequal gender norms. Victims’ reputations were treated as public property, while men accused of sexual violence were portrayed sympathetically and in detail.

By the 1970s and 1980s, feminist movements drew attention to underreporting and intense stigma. Activists built rape crisis centers and hotlines, documented how rarely sexual assault cases led to prosecution, and argued that if a woman feared seeing her name in the paper, she might never report at all.

Lawmakers passed “rape shield laws” that limited the use of a victim’s sexual history in court. Some states went further by barring publication of victims’ names.

In response to these laws, as well as feminist pressure, most newsrooms by the 1980s moved toward a default rule of not naming victims.

More recently, the #MeToo movement added a turn. Survivors in workplaces, politics and entertainment chose to speak publicly, often under their own names, about serial abuse and institutional cover-ups. Their accounts forced newsrooms to revisit assumptions about whose voices should lead a story.

Yet #MeToo also unfolded within existing journalistic conventions. Investigations tended to focus on high-profile men, spectacular falls from power and moments of reckoning, leaving less space for the quieter, ongoing realities of recovery, legal limbo and community response.

The unintended effects of keeping survivors faceless

There are good reasons for policies against naming victims.

Survivors may face harassment, employment discrimination or danger from abusers if they are identified. For minors, there are additional concerns about long-term digital evidence. In communities where sexual violence carries intense social stigma, anonymity can be a lifeline.

But research on media framing suggests that naming patterns matter. When coverage focuses on the alleged perpetrator as a complex individual – someone with a name, a career and a backstory – while referring to “a victim” or “accusers” in the singular, audiences are more likely to empathize with the suspect and scrutinize the victim’s behavior.

In high-profile cases like Epstein’s, that dynamic intensifies. The powerful men connected to him are named, dissected and speculated about. The survivors, unless they work hard to step forward, remain a blurred mass in the background. Anonymity meant to protect actually flattens their experience. Different stories of grooming, coercion and survival get reduced to a single faceless category.

A window into what we think is ‘news’

That flattening is part of what makes the current moment in the Epstein story so revealing. The suspense is less about whether more victims will be heard and more about what being named will do to influential men. It becomes a story about whose names count as news.

Carefully anonymizing survivors while breathlessly chasing a client list of powerful men unintentionally sends a message about who matters most.

The Epstein scandal, in that framing, is not primarily about what was done to girls and young women over many years, but about who among the elite might be embarrassed, implicated or exposed.

A more survivor-centered journalistic approach would start from a different set of questions, including wondering which survivors have chosen to speak on the record and why, and how news outlets can protect anonymity, when it is asked for, but still convey a victim’s individuality.

Those questions are not only about ethics. They are about news judgment. They ask editors and reporters to consider whether the most important part of a story like Epstein’s is the next famous name to drop or the ongoing lives of the people whose abuse made that name newsworthy at all.

Stephanie A. (Sam) Martin 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. Epstein’s victims deserve more attention than his ‘client list’ – https://theconversation.com/epsteins-victims-deserve-more-attention-than-his-client-list-270244

December 15, 2025

How good people justify bending the rules at work — and what leaders can do about it

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Lorne Michael Hartman, Associate Faculty, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto; York University, Canada

Consider the following scenario. You’re facing pressure to meet quarterly targets, but the numbers aren’t quite where they need to be. With a deadline looming, you “round up” a figure just slightly to make the results look better.

This kind of thinking is far more common than many realize. Research in behavioural ethics shows these subtle choices are exactly how unethical behaviour takes root in organizations.

Most people see themselves as fair, rational and ethical, yet research in behavioural ethics consistently shows we are far less objective than we assume.

Even well-intentioned people can explain away questionable actions — not because they’re immoral, but because their minds are wired to protect their moral self-image.

How we talk ourselves into bad decisions

The concept of moral disengagement describes the subtle mental moves people use to convince themselves that ethical standards don’t apply “just this once.” Rather than viewing themselves as rule-breakers, people reframe their behaviour in ways that allow them to feel moral while acting otherwise.

These rationalizations tend to take the following forms:

“It’s just creative accounting.” This is euphemistic labelling, which reframes misconduct in more acceptable terms.
“I did it for the team.” A form of moral justification that recasts a self-serving decision as altruistic.
“Everyone signed off on it.” Here, individuals displace responsibility onto colleagues or superiors.
“It’s not a big deal.” This involves distorting the consequences and minimizing impacts of choices.
“At least we’re not as bad as the competition.” Known as advantageous comparison, this tactic makes questionable behaviour seem reasonable by contrasting it with a worse alternative.

These narratives allow people to preserve a positive self-image even when their actions contradict their values. Over time, these narratives can normalize misconduct and corrode workplace culture.

The real-world impact of moral rationalization

Unethical behaviour in organizations isn’t rare, nor is it limited to a few “bad apples.” Research indicates that harmful or dishonest actions at work result in significant financial losses for companies and society, amounting to billions of dollars each year.

While we often assume unethical behaviour is driven by personal greed, high-profile corporate scandals tell a different story. In cases like the Boeing 737 Max crashes, Siemens’ corruption scandal or Volkswagen’s emissions scandal, news coverage suggest employees were motivated by a sense of obligation, loyalty or pressure to advance company goals, not by personal gain.

What’s striking is not just the number of people who participated, but how many recognized wrongdoing and remained silent. This pattern highlights a deeper problem: ethical failures rarely result from deliberate malice.

They emerge when ordinary people talk themselves into crossing lines they would normally respect. Understanding how that happens is essential if leaders want to create workplaces where employees don’t just know the right thing to do, but actually act on it.

Why ethics training often falls flat

Many organizations assume that teaching employees the rules will naturally translate into better behaviour. However, knowledge alone doesn’t close the gap between intention and action.

Across several studies, I examined whether moral disengagement can be reduced through training and reframing. In one experiment, participants learned to spot eight common rationalizations. They became adept at identifying these cognitive traps, but their awareness didn’t translate into making more ethical choices later.

In another experiment, we tried shifting how people thought about responsibility by emphasizing individual accountability over group harmony. This framing slightly reduced moral disengagement, especially among women, but the overall impact was modest.

Across all studies, the bottom line is that moral disengagement is stubborn. Simply knowing better rarely ensures that people will act better.

Why is it so difficult to move the needle? A key reason is that our explanations for why we behave the way we do are shaped by cultural norms learned early in life. Once formed, these beliefs are surprisingly resistant to change, even in the face of evidence or explicit instruction.

Culture is what drives ethical behaviour

If ethics training alone has limited impact, what does make a difference?

Our research points to workplace culture, which strongly shapes levels of moral disengagement and the ethical choices that follow.

We found that environments that prize assertiveness, competition and material success are more likely to encourage rationalizations. By contrast, cultures that emphasize care, modesty and concern for others make moral disengagement harder.

Ethical behaviour, in other words, is less a matter of personal integrity than organizational context.

When employees face unrealistic goals, aggressive norms or leaders who silence dissent, the space for ethical reflection becomes increasingly narrow. Rationalization fills the gap, allowing people to maintain a sense of integrity even as their decisions drift further from their values.

7 ways to resist rationalization at work

Creating an ethical organization means designing systems that make reflection easier and self-justification harder. Effective strategies include:

1. Normalizing ethical dialogue. Ethical dilemmas often arise in grey areas, where there is no clear right or wrong answer. Leaders should encourage open discussions about ambiguous situations before they escalate into problems.

2. Rewarding the process, not only the result. When outcomes are all that matter, employees are more likely to cut corners or bend rules to achieve targets. By recognizing the work process, organizations reinforce the importance of integrity alongside performance.

3. Modelling moral humility. Leaders set the tone for acceptable behaviour. When they admit mistakes, they signal ethics is about vigilance, not moral perfection.

4. Building in “ethical speed bumps.” People are more likely to rationalize decisions under pressure. Interventions like checklists, second reviews or pausing to slow down can give employees the time to consider whether their actions align with ethical standards.

5. Creating psychological safety. Employees must feel confident that raising concerns or questioning decisions won’t lead to fear of reprisal or harm to their careers. Creating psychologically safe workplaces reduces the likelihood of ethical lapses.

6. Aligning incentives with values. When incentives focus only on short-term results or profit, employees are more likely to justify harmful shortcuts. Performance metrics should emphasize collaboration, accountability, feedback and conflict resolution.

7. Supporting well-being and work-life balance. Stress and burnout make people more prone to self-justification. Policies that support well-being indirectly foster ethical workplace behaviour.

These approaches reflect growing evidence that behaviour change requires more than information. It requires habit formation, cultural reinforcement and aligned systems.

Learning to be more reflective

Humans are rationalizing creatures. We edit our moral narratives to protect our sense of ourselves as good, competent and principled people. But understanding this tendency is empowering.

Leaders who recognize the psychology of moral disengagement can design workplace environments where ethical reflection is routine and the right decision is the easier one.

While we may never be able to fully eliminate rationalization, we can learn to notice it, question it and choose differently. Ethical workplace cultures are built on systems that help ordinary people do the right thing.

Lorne Michael Hartman 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. How good people justify bending the rules at work — and what leaders can do about it – https://theconversation.com/how-good-people-justify-bending-the-rules-at-work-and-what-leaders-can-do-about-it-270427

December 15, 2025

Voici comment gérer les allergies et les restrictions alimentaires pendant les fêtes

Source: The Conversation – in French – By Jennifer LP Protudjer, Associate Professor and Endowed Research Chair in Allergy, Asthma and the Environment, University of Manitoba

Une assiette de biscuits fraîchement sortis du four, un verre de lait de poule joliment décoré… Pour beaucoup, ces images évoquent des souvenirs chaleureux et l’anticipation des fêtes de fin d’année.

Mais pour les personnes ayant des restrictions alimentaires, ces friandises et autres gourmandises des fêtes peuvent aussi susciter d’autres émotions. Durant cette période riche en repas et en célébrations, il peut être difficile de profiter des fêtes tout en évitant certains aliments.

Les hôtes bien intentionnés préparent souvent une sélection de friandises aux saveurs de saison. Mais sans communication claire, étiquetage précis et mesures pour éviter la contamination croisée, se servir dans les plateaux ou les buffets peut comporter des risques.

En tant que chercheuse spécialisée dans les allergies, je m’intéresse principalement aux conséquences d’un diagnostic d’allergie alimentaire pour les personnes, les familles et les communautés, ainsi qu’aux types de soutien les plus efficaces dans ce domaine.

De plus en plus de Canadiens surveillent leur alimentation, notamment pour des raisons telles que le coût des aliments, la santé et des restrictions médicales. Celles-ci peuvent consister à réduire le sel ou les sucres raffinés, ou à éviter certains glucides comme le lactose ou le gluten, dans le cas des personnes souffrant d’intolérance au lactose ou de maladie cœliaque.

Mais pour les 7 à 9 % de Canadiens souffrant d’allergies alimentaires, il est vital d’éviter certains aliments en raison du risque de réaction allergique sévère. La forme la plus grave, l’anaphylaxie, peut mettre la vie en danger.

Allergies et restrictions alimentaires pendant les fêtes

Une étude canadienne montre que, contrairement à Halloween ou Pâques, périodes durant lesquelles les enfants « chassent » les bonbons, le nombre de visites aux urgences pour cause d’anaphylaxie pendant les fêtes d’hiver reste similaire au reste de l’année. Mais cela ne signifie pas que les restrictions alimentaires n’ont pas d’impact.

Celles-ci peuvent obliger à éviter de nombreux aliments. Santé Canada a identifié 11 allergènes prioritaires : le lait, les œufs, les arachides, les noix, les crustacés et les mollusques, le poisson, la moutarde, les graines de sésame, le soja, les sulfites et le blé et triticale. Beaucoup de ces aliments figurent couramment dans les recettes ou comme plats individuels pendant les fêtes.

Dans une série d’entretiens avec 21 familles, nous avons constaté que celles confrontées à des allergies apprennent rapidement à « refuser poliment » certains aliments pour éviter d’être perçues comme difficiles. Néanmoins, elles signalent tristesse, anxiété et dépression lorsqu’elles tentent de gérer les événements familiaux et sociaux. Dans certains cas, les familles qui gèrent plusieurs allergies alimentaires se sentent isolées, tandis que d’autres rapportent ne pas être invitées à des fêtes à cause de leurs restrictions.

Il existe de nombreux moyens pour les personnes ayant des restrictions alimentaires et pour les hôtes d’atténuer ces difficultés.

Mesures pratiques

Pour les personnes ayant des restrictions alimentaires, certaines mesures permettent de rendre les visites festives plus agréables et sécuritaires.

Il est important de communiquer clairement, de préférence par écrit, vos restrictions à l’hôte au moment d’accepter l’invitation. Indiquer précisément quels aliments poseront problème permet à l’hôte de réfléchir au menu et de poser des questions calmement, loin de l’agitation de la fête.

Vous pouvez aussi apporter une friandise compatible avec vos restrictions ou prendre une collation avant l’événement pour ne pas être affamé si les options sûres sont limitées. En cas de doute sur un aliment, il vaut mieux ne pas le consommer, même si vous l’avez déjà mangé auparavant, car les ingrédients peuvent changer.

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Les personnes allergiques doivent prendre des précautions supplémentaires : emporter un auto-injecteur d’épinéphrine et s’assurer qu’une personne de confiance saura le trouver et l’utiliser en cas de réaction.

Food Allergy Canada propose d’autres conseils pour manger à l’extérieur. Il faut aussi connaître les facteurs aggravants possibles : certaines maladies, comme l’asthme ou les troubles cardiaques, ainsi que l’alcool, l’exercice physique, les médicaments ou le stress émotionnel peuvent influencer la gravité de la réaction.

Recevoir pendant les fêtes

Accueillir des invités peut être un plaisir, mais comme le souligne l’Association canadienne de psychologie, des attentes de perfection peuvent augmenter le stress. Lorsque vous invitez des personnes, renseignez-vous sur leurs restrictions alimentaires et tenez-en compte lors de la préparation des menus. Des plats simples et faciles à servir aident vos invités à faire leur choix. Avoir une liste des ingrédients à portée de main et étiqueter chaque plat avec des ustensiles dédiés est également utile.

La période des fêtes rime souvent avec le partage de mets festifs. En privilégiant la joie et la convivialité, il est possible de créer des souvenirs durables. En veillant aux besoins des personnes ayant des restrictions alimentaires, nous pouvons faire en sorte que chacun profite pleinement des festivités en toute sécurité.

Jennifer LP Protudjer reçoit des financements de la Canadian Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Foundation, des Instituts de recherche en santé du Canada, de Research Manitoba, de la Health Sciences Centre Foundation (Manitoba), du Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba, de l’Université du Manitoba et du Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines du Canada.

JLP Protudjer est cheffe de section en santé affiliée et co‑responsable du volet recherche pour la Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, et siège au comité directeur du Plan d’action national canadien sur les allergies alimentaires. Elle déclare avoir reçu des honoraires de conférence de Ajinomoto Cambrooke, Novartis, Nutricia, ALK Abelló, FOODiversity et du Texas Children’s Food Allergy Symposium.

Elle est rédactrice associée pour la revue Allergy, Asthma & Clinical Immunology, membre du comité de rédaction de Pediatric Allergy & Immunology et du Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

– ref. Voici comment gérer les allergies et les restrictions alimentaires pendant les fêtes – https://theconversation.com/voici-comment-gerer-les-allergies-et-les-restrictions-alimentaires-pendant-les-fetes-271463

December 15, 2025

Vous avez trop mangé ? Pas de stress, votre corps sait quoi faire

Source: The Conversation – in French – By Bryn Beeder, Visiting Instructor in Kinesiology, Nutrition, and Health, Miami University

Pour beaucoup, les fêtes riment avec moments privilégiés et traditions familiales. Souvent riches en mets délicieux, elles sont aussi l’occasion de manger plus que d’habitude.

Vous connaissez sans doute cette sensation de trop-plein : un instant agréablement rassasié, le suivant inconfortablement repu. À ce malaise physique peut s’ajouter une culpabilité pour avoir mangé plus que prévu ou souhaité.

La pression physique et psychologique des repas de fêtes peut être difficile à gérer. En tant que diététicienne agréée, je tiens à vous assurer que votre corps peut parfaitement traiter cet apport supplémentaire de nourriture et de boissons et que votre santé et votre bien-être général ne se limitent pas à quelques jours d’excès. Partager un repas peut contribuer à créer des souvenirs positifs et durables durant les fêtes.

Si vous vous êtes déjà demandé ce qui se passe dans votre corps après un repas copieux, vous n’êtes pas seul. Mieux comprendre le fonctionnement de la digestion peut rendre les sensations post-repas moins étranges et beaucoup moins stressantes.

Ralentir la digestion

Les aliments sont composés de trois macronutriments principaux : les glucides, les protéines et les lipides. Votre tube digestif utilise des processus mécaniques et chimiques pour décomposer ces nutriments en leur forme la plus simple afin qu’ils puissent être absorbés et utilisés pour produire de l’énergie, réparer et assurer des fonctions biologiques.

Personne prenant une cuillerée de petits pois sur une table chargée de plats de Thanksgiving — Il est courant de manger plus que d’habitude lors d’un repas de fête.
(The Good Brigade/DigitalVision via Getty Images)

Lors d’un repas de fête copieux, vous consommez sans doute plus de macronutriments qu’à l’habitude, souvent en peu de temps. Une plus grande quantité de nourriture nécessite un peu plus de temps pour être digérée, ce qui signifie qu’elle se déplace plus lentement dans votre tube digestif.

Les protéines et les graisses prennent également plus de temps à se décomposer. Alors que les aliments riches en glucides, comme les barres granola ou le jus d’orange, apportent un regain d’énergie rapide, les aliments riches en protéines et en graisses, tels que les œufs ou le poulet, fournissent une énergie qui dure plus longtemps.

Dans ce cas, une digestion plus lente peut en fait soutenir un apport énergétique régulier et aider à mieux contrôler l’appétit.

Inconfort physique

Rassurez-vous, votre système digestif continuera à fonctionner, quelle que soit la quantité de nourriture ingérée. La vraie question est plutôt de savoir combien de temps la digestion prendra et si elle provoquera un inconfort temporaire.

Lorsque vous mangez, votre estomac se dilate pour accueillir les aliments que vous avez consommés. Lorsque l’estomac s’efforce de faire passer le contenu alimentaire dans l’intestin grêle, le risque de brûlures d’estomac augmente. Il s’agit d’un reflux du contenu acide de l’estomac qui peut provoquer une sensation de brûlure dans la poitrine ou un goût amer dans la bouche. Une alimentation excessive peut également entraîner des douleurs à l’estomac, des nausées, des gaz et des ballonnements, ainsi qu’une sensation générale de lourdeur.

Personne se tenant le ventre, assise devant des assiettes empilées contenant principalement des restes de nourriture — La digestion d’un repas copieux peut être inconfortable.
(seb_ra/iStock via Getty Images Plus)

Avant même la première bouchée, votre corps se prépare à digérer. La vue et l’odeur de la nourriture stimulent la production de salive et d’acide gastrique, anticipant le travail digestif à venir.

Lorsque la digestion demande plus d’efforts que d’habitude, votre corps consomme temporairement plus d’énergie pour alimenter le processus digestif, à la fois pour décomposer les macronutriments et pour absorber ce carburant. Il est donc normal de se sentir plus fatigué après un repas copieux.

Pour réduire l’inconfort physique lié à la digestion, essayez de rester debout après un repas. Même si l’envie de s’allonger est forte, cela peut accentuer les douleurs et le reflux. Donnez du temps à votre corps et laissez la gravité agir en restant debout pendant au moins deux à trois heures après avoir mangé.

Une promenade de 10 à 15 minutes peut aider la digestion, car elle augmente les contractions de l’estomac et le flux sanguin global vers le tractus gastro-intestinal. Cela permet de faire passer plus efficacement les aliments de l’estomac vers l’intestin grêle.

Au-delà de la culpabilité alimentaire

Une seule journée d’excès n’entraîne pas de prise de poids durable ni de conséquences permanentes sur la santé. En revanche, des cycles de culpabilité liés à l’alimentation répétés peuvent, à la longue, conduire à une relation malsaine avec la nourriture.

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.

Au-delà de la digestion, la façon dont vous pensez à la nourriture peut être tout aussi importante que la sensation que vous éprouvez après avoir mangé. La manière dont vous en parlez compte aussi. La nourriture n’a pas de valeur morale, et pourtant il est facile de tomber dans l’habitude de qualifier certains aliments de « bons » ou de « mauvais ». Cela se manifeste souvent pendant les fêtes. Combien de fois vous surprenez-vous ou surprenez-vous les autres à dire : « J’ai été sage toute la matinée, je peux donc manger plus ce soir » ou « Je vais faire une entorse à mon régime et manger de la tarte aussi ». La manière dont vous parlez de la nourriture influence directement votre perception de ce que vous mangez… et de vous-même.

Trois personnes assises à table en train de manger et de sourire à un chien qui demande un morceau — La nourriture alimente à la fois votre corps et vos relations.
(Catherine Falls Commercial/Moment via Getty Images)

La nourriture peut également susciter des émotions positives et de bons souvenirs. Lorsque votre corps reconnaît une émotion forte liée à l’odeur d’un aliment, le centre émotionnel de votre cerveau, l’amygdale, alerte la partie de votre cerveau qui forme et stocke les souvenirs à long terme, l’hippocampe. Cela explique pourquoi l’odeur de la tarte de votre grand-mère peut vous transporter vers un souvenir vivant.

Pendant les fêtes de fin d’année, concentrez-vous moins sur le nombre de calories et davantage sur la compagnie, les rires, les odeurs et les saveurs qui rendent vos traditions si spéciales. Choisissez les aliments qui vous apportent réconfort et lien avec les autres : vous nourrissez bien plus que votre corps.

Bryn Beeder 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. Vous avez trop mangé ? Pas de stress, votre corps sait quoi faire – https://theconversation.com/vous-avez-trop-mange-pas-de-stress-votre-corps-sait-quoi-faire-270864

December 15, 2025

Uganda election: Museveni will win, but the landscape has changed since his last victory

Source: The Conversation – Africa (2) – By Luke Melchiorre, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Marist College

On the eve of Uganda’s 2021 presidential election, it was clear that regardless of how Ugandans voted, the incumbent, Yoweri Museveni, would most likely be declared the winner. Amid mounting repression, accusations of vote rigging, and an internet blackout, that is exactly what transpired. Museveni was declared the winner for his sixth consecutive term in office.

Five years on, that prediction could just as easily and accurately be applied to the 15 January 2026 vote. This should not be taken as evidence that national politics in Uganda have remained static. Far from it.

It is true that state repression has remained a constant since the 2021 polls. Museveni’s main opponent continues to be a youthful, charismatic political outsider. But the landscape of opposition politics has shifted significantly along with speculation about 81-year-old Museveni’s potential successor.

Moreover, recent elections in Mozambique and Tanzania offer a pointed political lesson. Though an oppressive and entrenched ruling party can virtually assure its electoral triumph at the polls, it does not mean that everything after the election will go to its plan.

As a researcher of democracy and its discontents in African politics (with a particular focus on east Africa), I have followed the Ugandan case closely over the last six years. In this article, I will elaborate on the four key sources of continuity and change which mark the country’s politics heading into the upcoming election.

Bobi Wine remains the face of opposition

Robert Kyagulanyi entered the political scene in 2017 as an independent candidate in a parliamentary by-election, which he won by a landslide. Better known by his stage name, Bobi Wine, the 43-year-old popular musician-turned-presidential candidate has defied the predictions of friends and foes alike to become the undisputed face of Uganda’s political opposition.

In my academic research, I have documented his remarkable political rise and ideological evolution.

In an era of African politics marked by growing intergenerational tensions, Bobi Wine has been able to mobilise the younger generation in opposition to almost four decades of Museveni’s rule.

His captivating narrative: rising from humble origins in a ghetto of Kamwookya to a life of pop stardom and political defiance. This has made him a global icon, attracting attention in the West, as the subject of an Oscar-nominated documentary and Spotify podcast.

Since 2017, he has carved a national political reputation in Uganda. Notably, he:

led protests against the constitutional amendment that lifted presidential age limits, allowing Museveni to run again in 2021
mobilised against a new social media tax that would limit (young) people’s access to social media debates
led his party, the National Unity Platform (NUP), to a strong showing in the 2021 election.

With 57 seats in parliament, National Unity Platform became the country’s official opposition party. It won impressive support in traditional ruling party strongholds.

The party’s massive rallies and Bobi Wine’s recent attempts to build bridges across ethno-regional divides suggest that the National Unity Platform is still the country’s best hope of toppling Museveni at the polls.

But the opposition faces the ruling party’s continued use of violence to manipulate the election. This makes it difficult to know how the National Unity Platform might perform in a free and fair election. More troubling, the incumbent’s iron grip on the Ugandan military makes it nearly impossible to imagine a peaceful transfer of power.

State repression persists

As Bobi Wine’s popularity has risen, so has state violence against his movement. Nationwide protests against his arrest in November 2020 led to police killings of at least 54 people.

Bobi Wine’s political stance has also come at a great cost to himself. He has been arrested, tortured, shot in the leg, and survived multiple assassination attempts.

In the run-up to the 2026 election, prominent the National Unity Platform members remain in detention and have been tortured. In November 2024, opposition veteran Kizza Besigye was renditioned from Nairobi and has since been held in a maximum security prison.

Bobi Wine has likened the campaign trail to “a war”. Video footage recently captured police and defence force soldiers beating National Unity Platform security personnel.

The severity of the violence has led the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to warn of a “deepening crackdown on Uganda’s opposition” and urge the Museveni regime to “cease … such repressive tactics”.

Museveni’s manoeuvrings

The Museveni regime has effectively coopted key political opponents, infiltrated opposition parties, and sowed the seeds of distrust and division among and within them.

In July 2022, the Democratic Party (DP) leader Norbert Mao was appointed as Museveni’s new justice minister. Mao once bragged that he could “never be bought”. Subsequently, the Democratic Party – Uganda’s second oldest political party – entered into a formal cooperation agreement with the ruling National Resistance Movement.

Meanwhile, Besigye has left the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) after accusing fellow party leaders of accepting “dirty money” from State House.

Even National Unity Platform “isn’t really safe from Museveni’s infiltration”. In early 2024, a high-ranking leader, Mathias Mpuuga, left the party, amid allegations of corruption and wrongdoing during his tenure as leader of the opposition. Mpuuga subsequently started a new party, the Democratic Front. He has since publicly criticised his former party leader.

Breeding internal suspicion and division undermines the opposition’s ability to mount a united front against the incumbent.

The rise of Muhoozi

The 2026 elections raise political questions about the fate of Uganda post-Museveni. In the last five years, speculation has centred on the Ugandan president’s eldest son, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba.

There is a widely held belief that Museveni is grooming his son, the current defence force chief, to be his presidential successor.

The constitution prohibits serving members of this institution from running for political office. Yet Muhoozi has made his own ambitions for political power clear.

Uncharacteristic of a decorated military officer, Muhoozi is given to erratic and at times shocking public outbursts. He also constantly stokes controversy.

But Museveni appears to continue to lay the groundwork for his son’s political ascendance. A cabinet reshuffle in March 2024, and more recent party elections, phased out “the old guard” in favour of Muhoozi loyalists. This suggests that the influence and power of Museveni’s son is growing.

As political scholar Kristof Titeca recently noted, the National Resistance Movement’s electoral victory in January is certain. But the politics of “succession are not”.

Paying close attention to the fortunes of Muhoozi loyalists on key party committees and within Museveni’s new cabinet after the election, perhaps the Ugandan president’s last, will reveal much about the fate of the Muhoozi project. And the political future of Uganda more broadly.

Luke Melchiorre receives funding from NORHED-II.

– ref. Uganda election: Museveni will win, but the landscape has changed since his last victory – https://theconversation.com/uganda-election-museveni-will-win-but-the-landscape-has-changed-since-his-last-victory-271535

December 15, 2025

El lado oscuro de la Navidad: ¿por qué en estas fechas se amplifican las tensiones?

Source: The Conversation – (in Spanish) – By Dolores Fernández Pérez, Profesora Ayudante Doctora. Departamento de Psicología, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha

Cada diciembre vuelve a nuestras pantallas el Grinch, ese personaje verde, gruñón y atrincherado en su montaña. Observa desde lejos cómo el resto del mundo se deja llevar por luces, villancicos y entusiasmo colectivo. Nos recuerda que la Navidad no despierta las mismas emociones en todas las personas. Y que, bajo la superficie de una época idealizada que se nos muestra como luminosa, también aparecen tensiones, incomodidades y comportamientos poco amables.

Aunque pueda sorprender, existe investigación que ha intentado capturar el “espíritu navideño”. Un estudio de neuroimagen identificó un patrón de activación cerebral específico cuando personas que celebran estas fiestas veían imágenes navideñas, frente a quienes no tienen esa tradición. Esas reacciones estaban ligadas a emociones agradables y a la sensación de formar parte de algo. Esto sugiere que la Navidad puede generar estados emocionales diferentes.

Narcisismo y maquiavelismo para cenar

La investigación sobre la Tríada Oscura (psicopatía subclínica, narcisismo y maquiavelismo) señala que estos rasgos no describen necesariamente a personas violentas, sino a quienes procesan la empatía y las relaciones sociales de manera distinta.

La psicopatía subclínica se vincula con menor empatía y con lo que se ha denominado “prosocial apathy” –desinterés por ayudar cuando el esfuerzo no compensa–; el narcisismo, con la búsqueda de estatus; y el maquiavelismo, con el uso instrumental de los demás.

La Navidad puede amplificar estas diferencias. Mientras muchas personas viven las fiestas navideñas como un impulso a la generosidad, otras las perciben como un guion social que siguen más por obligación que por convicción. Eso no implica que estas personas se comporten mal. Quienes presentan los rasgos citados pueden cooperar cuando la situación ofrece beneficios en términos de imagen, reciprocidad futura o acceso a recursos.

Regalar para recibir reconocimiento social

Diciembre se ha convertido en un escenario público con cenas de empresa, reuniones familiares, donaciones e intercambios de regalos. Aquí los rasgos narcisistas pueden ser especialmente evidentes. El modelo de admiración y rivalidad distingue dos formas de narcisismo: una más expansiva, carismática y orientada a buscar reconocimiento (admiración) y otra más defensiva, competitiva y hostil (rivalidad). En un contexto como la Navidad, la admiración puede favorecer gestos generosos cuando hay reconocimiento social, mientras que la rivalidad puede derivar en frialdad, distancia o conflictos en las reuniones familiares.

En algunos casos, las tensiones navideñas no surgen del ambiente, sino de pequeñas maniobras destinadas a recuperar protagonismo: dramatizar conflictos, llegar tarde a propósito, provocar discusiones o usar el silencio como forma de castigo.

No siempre se busca cariño; a veces se busca impacto. Esta idea encaja con trabajos que relacionan algunas formas de narcisismo con la necesidad de reafirmar la propia relevancia cuando la atención se dirige hacia otros.

Los regalos son otro de los elementos más reveladores para entender el lado psicológico de la Navidad. No todos expresan lo mismo, ni nacen con la misma intención. Un estudio sobre narcisismo y regalos en parejas románticas mostró que las personas con más rasgos narcisistas tienden a dar presentes que sirven tanto para fortalecer la relación como para señalar estatus o poder. Investigaciones posteriores han observado que la admiración se relaciona con una mayor tendencia a hacer regalos (especialmente cuando estos permiten reforzar una imagen positiva de la persona). La rivalidad, en cambio, se asocia con menor disposición a regalar y con menos interés genuino para hacerlo.

La caridad mal entendida

Algo similar ocurre con las donaciones solidarias. Una investigación reciente sobre la Tétrada Oscura (que añade el sadismo a la triada clásica) mostró que las personas con puntuaciones más altas en ese conjunto de rasgos tienden a priorizar el propio interés y a valorar más el reconocimiento público que la ayuda en sí, también en el ámbito caritativo.

Además, la Navidad puede intensificar las dinámicas familiares. En algunos hogares, se amplifican los patrones en formas complejas de relacionarse, como la necesidad de atención, la susceptibilidad a sentirse excluido o la búsqueda de control sobre los demás. En estos contextos, algunas personas reaccionan mal a la alegría ajena, convierten los planes en motivo de conflicto o transforman momentos de celebración (como la apertura de regalos) en pequeños espectáculos de tensión.

Por tanto, la Navidad es, en el fondo, un amplificador emocional. No nos vuelve mejores ni peores sino más visibles. Quien es cálido se intensifica y quien es estratégico también. Quien se siente vulnerable puede vivir estas fechas con distancia; quien busca reconocimiento lo encuentra en los rituales sociales. Aceptar esta diversidad emocional no solo hace más fácil convivir con nuestros “Grinchs”: también nos recuerda que la bondad (la de verdad) no se fuerza ni se programa.

Dolores Fernández Pérez 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.

– ref. El lado oscuro de la Navidad: ¿por qué en estas fechas se amplifican las tensiones? – https://theconversation.com/el-lado-oscuro-de-la-navidad-por-que-en-estas-fechas-se-amplifican-las-tensiones-270537

December 15, 2025

“Pequeñas” cosas que debemos a Albert Einstein

Source: The Conversation – (in Spanish) – By Francisco José Torcal Milla, Profesor Titular. Departamento de Física Aplicada. Centro: EINA. Instituto: I3A, Universidad de Zaragoza

Albert Einstein (Photograph by , Princeton, N.J.)
Oren Jack Turner / Wikimedia Commons.

Si preguntásemos a pie de calle por el nombre de un científico, las respuestas se repartirían mayoritariamente entre Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Isaac Newton, Stephen Hawking y científicos locales, como Santiago Ramón y Cajal, o aparecidos en el cine, como Robert Oppenheimer.

Según algunas encuestas, los cuatro primeros se quedarían con aproximadamente entre el 60 % y el 90 % de las respuestas y Albert Einstein saldría ganador, por goleada.

Retrato de Marie Skłodowska-Curie (1867 – 1934).
Wikimedia Commons.

Ahora bien, si preguntásemos a continuación por qué conocen a Einstein, la inmensa mayoría de los encuestados responderían ¡la teoría de la relatividad!, aunque no supieran de que trata tal teoría… Estaremos de acuerdo en que Einstein contribuyó al progreso de la ciencia con este logro, aunque también lo hizo en otros ámbitos, menos conocidos y de gran importancia en nuestro día a día.

Cuatro artículos pioneros

En 1905, antes de dar a conocer su teoría más reconocida, Albert Einstein publicó cuatro artículos merecedores, cada uno de ellos, del premio Nobel:

Sobre un punto de vista heurístico sobre la producción y transformación de la luz, en el que propuso los cuantos de energía y explicó el efecto fotoeléctrico.

Efecto fotoeléctrico: emisión de electrones (en rojo) de una placa metálica al recibir suficiente energía transferida desde los fotones incidentes (líneas onduladas).
Wikimedia Commons., CC BY

Sobre el movimiento de pequeñas partículas suspendidas en un líquido estacionario, según lo requiere la teoría cinética molecular del calor, en el que proporcionó evidencia empírica de la realidad del átomo y dio crédito a la mecánica estadística, una rama de la física relegada por aquel entonces.
Sobre la electrodinámica de los cuerpos en movimiento, avanzadilla de su gran teoría, en el que Einstein concilió las ecuaciones de Maxwell del electromagnetismo y las leyes de la mecánica clásica: propuso la velocidad de la luz como la máxima velocidad alcanzable, sólo accesible para los fotones.
¿Depende la inercia de un cuerpo de su contenido de energía?, en el que Einstein dedujo la ecuación más famosa de todos los tiempos o, al menos, la más reproducida en camisetas y tazas de desayuno. La equivalencia entre la masa de un cuerpo en reposo y la energía en que puede convertirse: E=mc².

Parecen resultados importantes y lo son. ¿Pero de qué nos sirve todo esto a la gente de a pie?

Sincronización de relojes

Cada vez que alguien abre Google Maps o el navegador del coche, el buen funcionamiento del GPS depende directamente de la teoría de la relatividad de Einstein.

Los satélites que forman el sistema GPS se mueven muy deprisa y se encuentran lejos de la superficie terrestre, donde la influencia gravitatoria de la Tierra es menor. Einstein descubrió que el tiempo no avanza al mismo ritmo en cualquier circunstancia: la gravedad y la velocidad del objeto lo modifican. Los relojes de los satélites, por tanto, tienden a adelantarse o retrasarse respecto a los que hay en la superficie de la Tierra.

Telstar, el primer satélite de comunicaciones lanzado al espacio, en 1962.
NASA.

El sistema GPS corrige este efecto aplicando las ecuaciones de la relatividad especial y general. Si no lo hiciera, el posicionamiento tendría errores de varios kilómetros al cabo de un solo día.
Del mismo modo, la infraestructura de internet y de las telecomunicaciones modernas depende de una sincronización extremadamente precisa entre relojes distribuidos por todo el planeta, muchos de ellos también en satélites.

Si no se corrigieran dichos relojes acorde con la relatividad general, las redes eléctricas, los pagos electrónicos, la navegación aérea y el propio internet sufrirían fallos importantes.

Cada conexión, cada videollamada y cada transacción bancaria se beneficia, sin que lo notemos, del modo en que Einstein cambió nuestra comprensión del tiempo y de la gravedad.

Leer más:
La actriz a la que debemos el GPS

Paneles solares: cuestión de fotones

Los paneles solares modernos funcionan gracias al efecto fotoeléctrico, que fue explicado por Einstein en 1905 –fue este mérito lo que se premió con el Nobel en 1921–.

Planteó que la luz está formada por paquetes de energía llamados fotones y que, cuando un fotón con suficiente energía golpea ciertos materiales, puede arrancar un electrón de su superficie. Esa expulsión de electrones es lo que genera corriente eléctrica en una célula solar.

Todo panel fotovoltaico doméstico, toda farola solar y cada pequeño cargador solar portátil se basan exactamente en el proceso que este científico describió: luz que libera electrones y electrones que generan electricidad.

Leer más:
La perovskita, nuestra gran aliada en la lucha contra el cambio climático

Videollamadas y pantallas digitales

La fotografía digital, las cámaras de los móviles, las webcams y prácticamente cualquier sistema moderno de captura de imágenes funcionan también gracias al mismo efecto. En los sensores CCD y CMOS, que sustituyen a la película fotográfica clásica, cada punto de la imagen es una minúscula celda que libera electrones cuando recibe luz.

Esa liberación es medida electrónicamente y convertida en una imagen digital. El principio físico detrás de cada foto, vídeo o videollamada cotidiana es exactamente el que Einstein describió en 1905.

Láseres grandes y pequeños

Los láseres, que hoy en día aparecen en muy diversas aplicaciones, funcionan siguiendo un mecanismo que predijo Einstein: la emisión estimulada. En un artículo de 1917, aventuró que un átomo podía ser “forzado” a emitir luz idéntica a la que recibía, creando un haz de luz extremadamente puro, concentrado y ópticamente coherente.

Décadas después, esta predicción se convirtió en el principio de funcionamiento del láser. Hoy en día, encontramos láseres en lectores de códigos de barras en el supermercado, en ratones ópticos, en impresoras láser, en reproductores de CD, en fibra óptica para internet y en algunos procedimientos médicos.

Láseres de estado sólido emitiendo en distintos colores. (Wikipedia)
CC BY-SA

Medicina nuclear

La energía nuclear y varias técnicas médicas modernas dependen de la ecuación E=mc². Esa relación establece que una pequeña cantidad de masa encierra una enorme cantidad de energía.

La comprensión de este vínculo permitió explicar el funcionamiento de los núcleos atómicos y abrió el camino a los reactores nucleares, pero también a usos médicos esenciales, como la radioterapia o las exploraciones PET (tomografía por emisión de positrones), que permiten diagnosticar enfermedades detectando pequeñas cantidades de radiación procedente de desintegraciones atómicas.

Aunque no sea algo que una persona use directamente cada día, sí afecta profundamente a la salud pública y al tratamiento de millones de pacientes alrededor del globo.

En definitiva, cada vez que alguien recibe un radiodiagnóstico o un tratamiento basado en física nuclear, consulta un trayecto en su GPS o carga su teléfono móvil con un panel solar, está aprovechando de algún modo una de las ideas de Albert Einstein.

Francisco José Torcal Milla 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.

– ref. “Pequeñas” cosas que debemos a Albert Einstein – https://theconversation.com/pequenas-cosas-que-debemos-a-albert-einstein-270468

December 15, 2025

Un sistema pionero con microalgas para eliminar contaminantes y fomentar la economía circular

Source: The Conversation – (in Spanish) – By Antonio León Vaz, Investigador Postdoctoral, Universidad de Valladolid; Universidad de Huelva

Microalgas del género _Chlorella_ vistas al microscopio. Antonio Leon Vaz

La contaminación doméstica e industrial afecta cada vez más a la calidad del agua. En muchos casos, está tan sucia que deja de ser potable y ya no puede usarse para el consumo. La expansión de la industria y la creciente demanda de productos fabricados constituyen algunas de las principales causas de este serio problema.

Cada vez producimos y consumimos más, lo que genera más y más residuos que terminan afectando a los ríos, lagos y mares. Cuidar el agua significa también cuidar cómo vivimos y lo que consumimos.

Leer más:
Depuradoras de microalgas: ahorran energía, absorben CO₂ y producen fertilizantes sostenibles

¿Por qué usar microalgas?

Una de las tecnologías que se usan actualmente para limpiar aguas contaminadas es el uso de microalgas, organismos microscópicos con la capacidad de eliminar dióxido de carbono y otras sustancias dañinas del medio.

Precisamente, un grupo de investigadores de la Universidad de Huelva y de la Universidad de Umeå (Suecia) hemos desarrollado un sistema para eliminar metales pesados del agua. Este sistema utiliza microalgas que se pegan a un material hecho con azufre residual y aceite de cocina usado, formando una biopelícula que atrapa cadmio, cobre y plomo.

Eliminar estos metales es fundamental, ya que se encuentran entre los más abundantes en las aguas residuales generadas por la minería. Además, la contaminación del agua debido a la extracción de minerales es un problema serio y muy extendido.

Fotográfia del Río Tinto (Huelva).
Antonio Leon Vaz

Dos ejemplos claros los encontramos en las regiones donde se ubican las universidades mencionadas. Mientras que Huelva es una provincia con una larga tradición minera ligada al entorno del río Tinto; en el norte de Suecia se acaba de descubrir el mayor depósito de tierras raras de Europa.

Un filtro natural

Las microalgas usadas en nuestro sistema provienen de zonas muy frías del norte de Europa. Pueden soportar temperaturas muy bajas y días en los que casi no hay sol. Esa resistencia las hace muy especiales y útiles para limpiar el agua, incluso en lugares con condiciones difíciles.

Los resultados de nuestro estudio, publicado en la revista Green Chemistry, demuestran que, además de ser eficaz, este método es respetuoso con el medio ambiente. Como apuntábamos más arriba, lo interesante es que usa materiales que normalmente se tiran, como el aceite de cocina usado o el azufre residual de los procesos industriales, para crear una especie de “filtro natural” donde las microalgas hacen su trabajo.

Gracias a este sistema se logra eliminar el 95 % del cobre y del cadmio y más de la mitad del plomo del agua en solo 8 horas. Esto se consigue usando microalgas del tipo Chlorella, las cuales tienen una forma esférica, son muy pequeñas (de 1 a 5 micras) y pueden vivir en muchos lugares, como ríos, lagos o incluso aguas residuales.

Además, el proceso puede repetirse varias veces, por lo que resulta una solución sostenible y reutilizable. Pero lo más sorprendente es que los metales que se eliminan pueden recuperarse y volver a usarse. De esta forma, el sistema ofrece una solución doblemente sostenible: limpia el agua y reutiliza recursos.

Leer más:
Genes, rizobacterias y cultivo ‘in vitro’: tres aliados biotecnológicos de las plantas frente a la sequía

Un futuro prometedor

Además de contribuir al desarrollo de esta aplicación, en la Universidad de Huelva se continúa trabajando para aprovechar al máximo el potencial de esos vegetales microscópicos. Nuestro objetivo se dirige a que no solo puedan eliminar metales pesados, sino también otros contaminantes.

Un estudio que se acaba de publicar en la revista Toxics ha demostrado que algunas microalgas también pueden “alimentarse” de compuestos orgánicos procedentes de la producción de petróleo. Estos son contaminantes especialmente peligrosos, ya que se acumulan fácilmente en el agua y afectan a peces, aves y, finalmente, a las personas.

Nuestros hallazgos abren la puerta a continuar con el estudio de la eliminación de otros contaminantes utilizando microalgas adheridas a otro sistema sostenible. Podía resultar una solución prometedora a un problema para el que todavía no existe un tratamiento que funcione al 100 %.

En definitiva, los diferentes grupos científicos que estamos implicados en este tipo de investigaciones buscamos soluciones más sostenibles que imitan a la propia naturaleza. La idea es transformar un problema ambiental en una oportunidad: usar microalgas para limpiar lo que la actividad humana ensucia.

Antonio León Vaz recibe fondos del Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, y fondos Next Generation a través de un contrato postdoctoral Juan de la Cierva- Formación (JDC2022-049636-I).

– ref. Un sistema pionero con microalgas para eliminar contaminantes y fomentar la economía circular – https://theconversation.com/un-sistema-pionero-con-microalgas-para-eliminar-contaminantes-y-fomentar-la-economia-circular-269084