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February 26, 2026

Más allá de la mirada: ‘Sorda’, ‘Sirāt’ y el poder del sonido cinematográfico

Source: The Conversation – (in Spanish) – By Manuel Nicolás Meseguer, Profesor titular del Departamento de Comunicación y Director del Aula de Cine, Universidad de Murcia

Imagen de la película _Sorda_. Distinto Films

Dos de las películas españolas más relevantes de 2025, Sorda, de Eva Libertad, y Sirāt, de Oliver Laxe, han situado el sonido en el centro de su desarrollo, hasta el punto de que esta última también ha sido nominada al Óscar a Mejor Sonido. Son obras muy distintas, pero en ambas el tratamiento sonoro ocupa un lugar estructural.

La dimensión sonora es consustancial al lenguaje cinematográfico y su relevancia narrativa, expresiva y sensorial resulta incuestionable. Cuanto más sólido es un proyecto y más riguroso es el trabajo de puesta en escena, mayor atención se concede al diseño sonoro y a su potencial expresivo.

Sin embargo, la atención consciente del espectador al plano sonoro sigue siendo menor que la que presta al plano visual. Se suele decir que la audiencia solo se da cuenta del sonido cuando es malo. Conviene recordar también que solo en una sala de cine, con las condiciones acústicas y técnicas para las que fue concebida la película, puede apreciarse plenamente su experiencia sonora. El minucioso y costoso trabajo de diseño, edición y mezcla está pensado para ese entorno. En el ámbito doméstico, lo que escuchamos es necesariamente una versión reducida de ese trabajo.

¿Seguro que una imagen vale más que mil palabras?

Pocas frases están tan gastadas como esa que asegura que “una imagen vale más que mil palabras”. Una palabra, un silencio, una melodía o una atmósfera sonora pueden poseer la misma potencia estética que cualquier imagen. El valor narrativo o expresivo de un elemento visual o sonoro no depende de la cantidad de estímulos ni de su espectacularidad, sino de su pertinencia dentro del proceso comunicativo.

Nuestra experiencia cotidiana lo confirma: el oído es esencial en la percepción del mundo. El oído construye espacio, anticipa presencias, genera memoria y activa emociones.

Cuando el sonido tomó la palabra

La irrupción del sonido sincronizado en 1927 transformó radicalmente la historia del cine. El cambio afectó a las profesiones creativas –guionistas, intérpretes, directores, músicos– y a los oficios técnicos y de producción. A partir de entonces no bastaba con controlar la luz: también había que dominar el registro y el montaje del sonido. Cambiaron las infraestructuras y se transformó la experiencia del espectador.

Con la banda sonora –conformada por palabras, efectos, atmósferas, música y silencio– el control emocional adquirió una precisión inédita. El montaje incorporó un nuevo instrumental expresivo que ampliaba las posibilidades de significación. No hubo vuelta atrás. Incluso cineastas que han optado por películas prácticamente “no habladas”, como Jacques Tati, Michel Hazanavicius o Pablo Berger, han hecho un uso extraordinariamente creativo del sonido.

Desde entonces, la cuestión no ha sido si el sonido es importante, sino cómo se integra en la construcción del sentido.

‘Sorda’ y la quiebra del punto de escucha

Sorda, escrita y dirigida por Eva Libertad y protagonizada por Miriam Garlo y Álvaro Cervantes, se estrenó en la sección Panorama de la Berlinale en febrero de 2025. La protagonista del film es Ángela, una mujer sorda que afronta la conmoción vital de la maternidad junto a su pareja oyente, Héctor. Con este punto de partida, la percepción sonora se sitúa en el centro de la experiencia.

Ángela nos coloca en la posición de quien debe “escuchar con la mirada”. En su rostro percibimos la dificultad de seguir el ritmo comunicativo de las personas oyentes. La secuencia del parto, con mucha gente hablando a la vez incluso con mascarilla, adquiere una intensidad particular. Igualmente, la de la sobremesa con los compañeros de trabajo de Héctor resulta exasperante. La lectura labial no basta; los audífonos le generan malestar. En los entornos oyentes, el personaje encarna una fricción constante, bien por sobreprotección o bien por una inconsciente falta de consideración.

A lo largo de la primera mitad, la película apela a la empatía del espectador, dirigiendo su mirada hacia situaciones que evidencian la entrañable complicidad de los protagonistas y las actitudes de empoderamiento de Ángela.

Sin embargo, las sensaciones de seguridad de la protagonista se van deteriorando y en el tramo final se produce una ruptura decisiva: se quiebra el “punto de escucha”, utilizando el término del teórico Michel Chion. El espectador es situado abruptamente en la perspectiva auditiva de Ángela. La operación desestabiliza la narración y convierte el silencio en experiencia física. No se trata de una mera ausencia de sonido, sino de un desplazamiento perceptivo que conduce al espectador oyente a una experiencia sensorial que lo vuelve a conectar con Ángela.

La decisión es arriesgada porque altera la comodidad del relato y expone al espectador a una percepción que le es extraña. El sonido –o su supresión– se convierte así en herramienta ética además de estética.

‘Sirāt’: un (alta)voz clama en el desierto

Sirāt, dirigida por Oliver Laxe a partir de un guion coescrito con Santiago Fillol, se estrenó en la Selección Oficial del Festival de Cannes en mayo de 2025. En su recorrido por el desierto, la película reúne a un grupo de raveros y a un padre que, acompañado por su hijo pequeño, busca a su hija. El destino común es una rave perdida entre Marruecos y Argelia. A medida que avanzan, los vehículos, con sus pasajeros, van quedando a la deriva.

En este trayecto exterior e interior, el sonido construye el espacio y la historia tanto como la imagen. En puntos decisivos de la trama, como el momento en el que un grupo de vehículos decide escapar de la escolta militar, la realidad suena en su crudeza y simplicidad. Los ruidos de motores, las bocinas y la fricción de los neumáticos sobre los caminos pedregosos ofrecen un espectáculo épico junto a las imágenes de los camiones a la carrera envueltos por una nube de arena.

Además, el minucioso diseño de sonido de la película entrelaza de forma orgánica esos sonidos ásperos de un entorno hostil con la música trance y drone creada por Kangding Ray. En el inicio del film, los altavoces abren la puerta a la música techno y nos hacen compartir de forma explícita el trance de los que participan en la rave. Desde ese momento, los altavoces acompañan a los protagonistas en su viaje y contribuyen a que la presencia de la música fluya entre lo diegético (que sucede dentro de la película) y lo extradiegético (que solo ocurre para los espectadores) hasta el desenlace.

Es lo que sucede en momentos tan fascinantes como el que nos hace transitar entre las sensaciones místicas de los fieles musulmanes que giran alrededor de la Kaaba (en La Meca) y los camiones rodando por el desierto mientras aparece sobreimpreso el título de la película alrededor del minuto 29.

La experiencia sonora de Sirat, por tanto, articula intensas sensaciones físicas, con emociones viscerales y momentos de conmoción, contribuyendo decisivamente a convertir el viaje en experiencia mística y trascendental.

El cine desde la escucha

Sorda y Sirāt colocan la sensibilidad auditiva en el centro de la experiencia cinematográfica. En ambos casos, el dispositivo sonoro forma parte del relato y se manifiesta de manera explícita, convirtiéndose en una herramienta esencial para que cada película alcance sus objetivos.

En Sorda, se trata de que el espectador reconozca otras formas de conocer el mundo y contribuya a ampliar –y hacer más inclusivo– nuestro ecosistema comunicativo.

En Sirāt, el sonido nos hace participar sensorial y espiritualmente del viaje de los personajes. Los ritmos repetitivos de la música se funden con la realidad y generan una atmósfera envolvente que, como respuesta al impacto emocional de los sucesos, invita a una calmada introspección.

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Manuel Nicolás Meseguer 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. Más allá de la mirada: ‘Sorda’, ‘Sirāt’ y el poder del sonido cinematográfico – https://theconversation.com/mas-alla-de-la-mirada-sorda-sirat-y-el-poder-del-sonido-cinematografico-275985

February 26, 2026

Self-control is a strength, but being too good at discipline can backfire

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Christy Zhou Koval, Professor, Smith School of Business, Queen’s University, Ontario

Self-control has long been regarded as one of the strongest predictors of success. Most of us can picture that colleague who never misses a deadline, volunteers for extra projects and keeps everything running smoothly.

Research shows individuals who can resist short-term temptations in pursuit of long-term goals tend to fare better across nearly every aspect of life.

As a researcher who has spent years studying workplace dynamics, I set out to examine what happens to these highly disciplined individuals. What I found was surprising: the very trait that makes them valuable — their high levels of self-control — can also come with hidden costs.

Self-control as a social signal

My colleagues and I conducted six studies examining how people treat others based on their perceived self-control. We defined perceived self-control as a person’s beliefs about someone else’s level of self-control, such as resisting temptations, staying focused and persisting in the pursuit of goals.

Across our studies, self-control functioned as a powerful social signal.

In one study, participants read about a student who either resisted the temptation to purchase music online (demonstrating self-control) or gave in to it, then imagined working with this student on a group project. Participants expected substantially higher performance from the student who had demonstrated self-control, even though resisting an impulse to buy music had nothing to do with academic ability.

We replicated this pattern in a workplace context. Participants read about an employee who either stuck to a savings goal or struggled with it. Even though saving money has nothing to do with job performance, participants expected the self-controlled employee to have an accuracy rate roughly 15 per cent higher than the employee who showed less self-control.

In another experiment, we asked people to delegate proofreading work among student volunteers. Participants consistently assigned about 30 per cent more essays to volunteers they believed had high self-control, compared to those with moderate or low self-control, even when all volunteers were described as academically qualified.

The hidden costs of high self-control

A particularly revealing set of findings suggests that observers typically underestimate the cost of self-control.

In one study, we asked participants to complete a demanding typing task requiring a high degree of self-control. Observers who were told that someone had high self-control estimated the task required less effort. But those actually doing the work found it equally draining regardless of their self-control levels. This perceptual gap is problematic because it demonstrates that exerting self-control is physically costly.

Recent research shows people will pay money to avoid having to exercise self-control. In experiments where dieters could pay to remove tempting food from their presence, most did; and they paid more when stressed or when temptation was stronger.

High self-control individuals are doing more cognitively demanding work than their peers. They are exercising self-control more frequently. And because they do it well, observers don’t see the effort required. Research suggests that people with high self-control are perceived as more robot-like, as if their discipline means they don’t struggle like everyone else.

In one of our studies using 360-degree feedback data, we analyzed archival survey data collected from MBA students and their coworkers and supervisors.

Employees who were higher in self-control reported making more personal sacrifices and feeling more burdened by coworkers’ reliance. Their colleagues, however, did not recognize this burden. While they acknowledged the sacrifices these individuals made, they did not perceive the strain they were under.

The spillover into home life

The more capable you seem, the more you’re asked to carry. For high self-control individuals, that reputation can become a fast track to burnout in the office and at home.

In an experiment with romantic couples, participants with high self-control reported feeling more burdened by their partners’ reliance on them. This sense of burden reduced their overall relationship satisfaction.

When people high in self-control are overwhelmed at home because partners assume they can handle everything, that exhaustion can carry over into work. Similarly, when high self-control individuals are overburdened at work, it can diminish their energy and presence in their personal relationships.

This creates a vicious cycle in which highly self-controlled individuals are asked to do more at both work and at home, and the cumulative demands can result in burnout.

Burnout is a widespread issue in the workplace. A Deloitte survey found that 77 per cent of professionals have experienced burnout at their current job.

Breaking the cycle

Our findings revealed a problematic cycle: the more self-control individuals were perceived to have, the more others expected of them and the more responsibility they were assigned.

For people with high self-control, our findings underscore the importance of setting boundaries in the workplace. Saying yes to everything is unsustainable. Because disciplined employees often make demanding tasks appear effortless, colleagues and loved ones may underestimate how much they are asking of them.

For managers, our findings suggest the importance of distributing responsibilities fairly and checking in with employees about workload. Managers should ask explicitly about their employees’ capacity rather than inferring it from past performance.

Self-control remains one of the most valuable traits a person can have. But when we assume it comes effortlessly to those who demonstrate it, we risk burning out the people we depend on most. Acknowledging the hidden burden is necessary if we want capable people to thrive.

Christy Zhou Koval 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. Self-control is a strength, but being too good at discipline can backfire – https://theconversation.com/self-control-is-a-strength-but-being-too-good-at-discipline-can-backfire-275634

February 26, 2026

How Canada-Cuba relations must navigate the dangers of the U.S. embargo

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Luiz Leomil, PhD candidate, Political Science, Carleton University

The United States government recently announced it will allow companies to resell Venezuelan oil to Cuba amid a severe fuel shortage on the island. Earlier this year, the U.S. cut off oil shipments to Cuba from its main supplier, Venezuela, after American forces abducted that country’s president.

Cuba’s ambassador to Canada, Rodrigo Malmierca Diaz, recently told Canadian MPs on the House foreign affairs committee that the U.S. was “suffocating an entire people.” He was referring to the decades-long American embargo against Cuba, which has become even more severe in recent weeks.

In his remarks, Diaz also urged Canada to follow through on a promised aid package to Cuba. Canadian officials have committed to sending an additional $8 million, which will be channelled through international aid organizations operating in Cuba.

This represents a modest and indirect commitment, especially in comparison with the initiatives undertaken by other countries. Mexico has sent more than 2,000 tons of direct humanitarian aid while continuing diplomatic talks on resuming oil supplies, and other countries in the Global South are reportedly preparing similar, more tangible responses.

In January, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney delivered a widely praised address in Davos, Switzerland, that many saw as an apt diagnosis of the failings of the U.S.-led “rules-based international order.” In it, he urged middle powers such as Canada to act with greater honesty and consistency, applying the same standards to allies and rivals so that states can co-exist in an international order that actually functions as advertised.

The Davos speech set high expectations. These are now, however, fading as Carney’s government wavers in sending robust aid to the people of Cuba and in denouncing the most recent unlawful coercive measures imposed by the U.S.

Explaining restraint

Canada has crafted a longstanding image as one of the largest humanitarian contributors in the world. It also has historical and economic ties with Cuba. Canada was one of the few American allies to maintain diplomatic relations with Cuba following the 1959 revolution that overthrew the U.S.-backed regime.

Cuba is Canada’s top market in the Caribbean, and Canada is the Cuba’s largest source of tourists as well as its second-largest source of direct investment. Canada is also among the overwhelming majority of United Nations member states that regularly vote in support of resolutions condemning the U.S. blockade.

However, three factors help explain the gap between the Canadian government’s rhetoric and its actions.

First, geopolitical constraints are significant. Like other middle powers, Canada’s freedom to act in open defiance of the U.S. is tightly limited. Canada’s fundamental economic and security interests are reliant on the U.S., and this is unlikely to change anytime soon.

Canada is open to a high risk of American retaliation if it chooses to aid Cuba. Such risk is even more heightened under the Trump government, which has demonstrated a willingness to use coercive measures against Canada.

Second, domestic politics shape foreign-policy choices. Contrary to simplified assumptions in classical international relations theory, state behaviour is not determined only by systemic incentives but also by domestic constituencies and how important particular issues are to segments of the population.

In Canada today, there is no broad public movement demanding robust government aid to Cuba. By contrast, there are vocal constituencies mobilized in support of Ukraine that keep assistance to that country politically salient and prioritized.

Third, officials in Global Affairs Canada have long favoured taking what they regard as a pragmatic approach toward Cuba. That posture helps explain Canada’s reluctance to provide direct, high-profile assistance during acute shortages or crises.

Canada did not intervene during Cuba’s 2024 blackout crisis, for example. On the other hand, the same approach has also led Canada to be less critical of political issues in Cuba, unlike its firmer stance toward the Venezuelan or Nicaraguan governments.

This approach has generally allowed Canada to preserve a baseline level of diplomatic engagement and safeguard economic and strategic interests. In recent years, this posture has become partly institutionalized within Global Affairs Canada and is regarded as the most workable and sustainable policy line.

Aid by proxy, unfulfilled commitments

In recent years, Canada has preferred to send assistance to Cuba through international aid organizations, but these efforts are unlikely to be sustainable given the scale of the humanitarian needs the country may face.

It remains unclear whether Canada will adopt a more robust strategy, departing from this established approach, to support Cubans. While facing their own constraints, it’s more likely that leadership in countries from the Global South, including Mexico, China and Brazil, will take action.

The outcome is twofold. Not only is the Canadian government failing to live up to a humanitarian image it has promoted on the world stage, but the international community also applauded a Davos speech that was both conflicting and somewhat disingenuous.

At times in his speech, Carney was realistic and incisive, exposing the weaknesses in the United States-led rules-based order. At key moments, however, Carney suggested that Canada still supported those rules and was willing to defend them through a more honest and equitable approach. Here, the tension between diagnosis and prescription was never resolved.

When it comes to the U.S. blockade of Cuba, Canada’s options are widely perceived as limited, and the country is seen as being forced to “go along to get along,” as Carney said in Davos. However, the blockade also presents Canada with an opportunity to showcase how middle powers can chart their own course.

Carney also said middle powers have the “the capacity to stop pretending, to name reality, to build our strength at home and to act together.” If Canada continues to equivocate on Cuba, Carney’s speech will come to reflect a familiar pattern in Canadian foreign policy: rhetorical candour about global inequities combined with reluctance to challenge them.

Luiz Leomil 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 Canada-Cuba relations must navigate the dangers of the U.S. embargo – https://theconversation.com/how-canada-cuba-relations-must-navigate-the-dangers-of-the-u-s-embargo-276875

February 26, 2026

What the Jeffrey Epstein files reveal about how elites trade toxic gifts and favours

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Hugh Gusterson, Professor of Anthropology & Public Policy, University of British Columbia

Following horrifying revelations about Jeffrey Epstein’s systematic sexual assaults and trafficking of underage girls, the United States Department of Justice has been forced to publicly release millions of the late sex offender’s emails and texts.

I am an anthropologist of elites who conducted field work among the secretive community of nuclear weapons scientists. The Epstein files opens a window into the even more closely guarded world of capitalism’s 0.1 per cent.

Anthropologists study people through what renowned American anthropologist Clifford Geertz called “deep hanging out” — mingling informally and taking notes on what we see. We call this “participant observation.”

People like Bill Gates and Elon Musk do not welcome anthropologists bearing notebooks. But the Epstein files, where the global elite are talking to each other in private — or so they thought — open a peephole into their world.

And what do we find there?

On a mundane level, we can see how they spend sums of money most of us can only dream about.

For example, we learn that in 2011, billionaire Mortimer Zuckerman, owner of the New York Post and U.S. News and World Report, spent US$219,000 on his collection of horses, $50,000 on skiing and $86,000 to insure his private art collection.

But the Epstein files are most interesting for what they reveal about a web of gifts, favours and financial transactions that knit together what would otherwise be a disparate sprawl of bankers, developers, tech bros, media personalities and high-profile academics.

A web of gifts and favours

A century ago, French anthropologist Marcel Mauss argued in The Gift that, across cultures, gifts are a way to create relationships of solidarity and obligation.

“No gift is given but in the expectation of a return,” he wrote.

This is evident in Epstein’s relationship with Leon Black, at the time the billionaire CEO of Apollo Global Management and chairman of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Epstein claimed his advice on Black’s finances saved the billionaire as much as $2 billion. In exchange, Black steered at least $158 million to Epstein and gave $10 million to one of Epstein’s charities, Gratitude America.

Black then made Epstein a trustee of the Debra and Leon Black Foundation, and Epstein invested in a startup where two of Black’s sons were on the board.

Epstein also helped Black manage his $2.8 billion art collection. He advised on selling individual works at a profit, getting paid by museums for loaning artworks and using art as collateral for bank loans.

Incidentally, one of the lessons I take from this is that billionaires do not look at art the way I do. I may buy (modestly priced) artworks because I like to look at them. Billionaires like Black and Zuckerman see them as investments.

Favours could also be exchanged, zig-zag style, among several people to create network solidarity. Epstein asked Leon Botstein, president of Bard College, to make sure Woody Allen’s daughter was admitted, while also gifting Allen $10,000 worth of shirts and luxury underwear.

Brad Karp, head of the Paul Weiss law firm, asked Epstein if he could intercede with Allen to get a job on his movie set for his son. In turn, Epstein asked Karp for help with a woman’s visa, and Karp steered $158 million from his client, the aforementioned Leon Black, to Epstein.

Collecting academics

When there is an asymmetry among the resources of two people, gifts lead to subordination, not reciprocity. Mauss referred to this as the “poison in the gift.”

We see this in Epstein’s transactions with academics whose research he bankrolled. He collected academics the way his billionaire friends collected artwork — Botstein, president of Bard; Larry Summers, president of Harvard; Lawrence Krauss, celebrity physicist; Dan Ariely, organizational psychologist; and the evolutionary psychologists and biologists Steven Pinker, Robert Trivers, Stephen Kosslyn, Martin Nowak, Joscha Bach and Nathan Wolfe to name a few.

Epstein was drawn to these academics because of his interest in eugenics, which he needed them to legitimize. He thought Black people were intellectually inferior and wondered if they could be improved through genetic modification. In a typo-ridden message, he texted German cognitive scientist Bach:

“Maybe climate change is a good way of dealing with overpopulation.. The earths forest fire… too many people, so many mass executions of the elderly and infirm make sense… if the brain discards unused neurons, why shold society keep their equivalent.”

And he talked about creating new superhumans by seeding batches of women with his own sperm.

After spending days reading Epstein’s messages to his associates, it reveals something essential about the contemptuous way they view the rest of the world.

One of them, lawyer Kathryn Ruemmler, texted Epstein that she would “get gas at a rest stop on the New Jersey Turnpike, will observe all of the people there who are at least 100 pounds overweight … and will then decide that I am not eating another bite of food for the rest of my life out of fear that I will end up like one of these people.”

Hopefully, most of the world is not like them.

Hugh Gusterson 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. What the Jeffrey Epstein files reveal about how elites trade toxic gifts and favours – https://theconversation.com/what-the-jeffrey-epstein-files-reveal-about-how-elites-trade-toxic-gifts-and-favours-275727

February 26, 2026

Dance scenes in South African rock art: a closer look at ritual, music and movement

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Joshua Kumbani, Postdoctoral fellow, University of Tübingen

Rock art is widespread across southern Africa and includes a wide range of depictions such as human figures, animals, dots, handprints, and other painted or engraved imagery on rock surfaces. The rock art tradition of paintings was made by San hunter gatherers over thousands of years.

The first dance scenes in southern African rock art were documented 100 years ago. But there’s been some confusion as to whether certain scenes could indeed be interpreted as a dance.

Dance can be simply defined as intentional and organised bodily movement. It also functions as an expression of mood and a form of nonverbal communication. In southern African cultures, dance is also performed during moments of celebration and in ritual contexts. Sometimes dancers go into a trance.

Scholars in the past have interpreted the dances in San rock art as ritual dances, mainly trance dances. But ethnography (the study of living people) points to the fact that San communities also danced for leisure and entertainment. Hence the need to systematically examine and categorise dancing scenes in the rock art.

We are archaeologists with a special interest in sound and music in rock art. In a recent study, we examined selected dancing scenes in rock art from four of South Africa’s provinces: the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape. The aim was to categorise the different types of dances depicted and to explore whether all dancing scenes represent ritual performances or whether some might reflect entertainment or leisure activities.

We concluded that some of the performances depicted were likely undertaken for leisure and enjoyment rather than ritual purposes.

We hope that our study provides a way to categorise dancing scenes in San rock art. This framework can be refined and expanded by future researchers working in music archaeology, the study of sound and its effects, or the iconographic analysis of musical instruments and dance imagery (working out what the images mean). This kind of research also helps people appreciate their music heritage from the past.

Sources and categories

Our article examined selected dancing scenes through a literature review and by consulting the African Rock Art Digital Archive database curated by the Rock Art Research Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand.

We consulted foundational works on rock art by pioneers George Stow and Dorothea Bleek (1930), and by more recent scholars such as Patricia Vinnicombe and David Lewis-Williams. Ethnographic accounts by Lorna Marshall (1969, 1976), Richard Katz (1982) and Megan Biesele (1993) of dance among San communities in the Kalahari (Botswana) and Nyae Nyae (Namibia) regions further informed our analysis.

We identified three broad categories of dances in the ethnographic records: ritual dances, circumstantial dances, and entertainment dances. Some circumstantial dances were performed to celebrate a successful hunt, while entertainment dances included those celebrating a newlywed couple, as well as dances done simply for fun and games by boys and girls.

We therefore argue that dancing scenes in the archaeological record should be examined critically: not all of them depict rituals.

Six points of identification

To systematically identify dancing scenes, we applied six analytical attributes:

body postures, including bent figures, outstretched arms and flexed legs
paraphernalia held by dancers, such as sticks, rattles or headgear
interaction between dancers
evidence of synchrony (moving in unison)
direction of movement
the gender of the figures represented.

In the following section, we provide examples of different kinds of dances in rock art and suggest how they may be interpreted on the basis of ethnographic information.

Ritual dances

Our study identified several ritual dances depicted in the rock art, including the trance or medicine dance. (An example is the Attakwas Kloof dance image above, from a site in the Klein Karoo in the Western Cape.) This is one of the most widespread dances among San communities. It is a communal healing practice in which medicine men, believed to possess healing powers, treat the sick through touch and dispel harmful spirits or misfortune.

During the trance dance, men dance while women sing and clap in accompaniment. Some of the male dancers serve as healers. The dancers move in a circular pattern, stamping their feet until a shallow furrow forms on the ground. Prolonged dancing induces an altered state of consciousness, during which healers may fall or collapse as they enter trance.

In South Africa, several forms of trance dance are depicted in the rock art. These scenes typically show clapping female figures accompanying male dancers, who are often shown bending forward. In some images, however, the clapping figures are absent, and only the dancers are represented.

Ethnographic accounts (for example, Wilhelm Bleek and Lucy Lloyd, 1911: 190) note that leg rattles are commonly used during trance dances to produce a sharp, rhythmic vibration, yet these rattles are not frequently depicted in the rock art. A notable exception comes from the Halstone site in the Eastern Cape (above), where several dancers are shown wearing leg rattles. Some figures balance on dancing sticks and appear to be in an altered state of consciousness, or in a trance.

Female initiation rituals that are accompanied by eland dances, performed during the first menstruation rite, also appear in the rock art.

The women mimic the moves of the female eland, a spiritually important animal. These dances are performed only by women, usually in a secluded space. The dancers move in a circle while bending forward, and the ceremony celebrates a girl’s first menstruation. This interpretation is supported by ethnographic research conducted among San communities in Botswana and Namibia by anthropologists such as Marshall and Biesele.

Other ritual dances depicted in the rock art include boys’ initiation ceremonies, commonly known as the Tshoma. This dance marks the transition from boyhood to manhood and is performed exclusively by males. The ethnographic accounts mentioned above indicate that these ceremonies take place in secluded areas away from the main camp.

We identified some other dance scenes at G3 Site II (Vinnicombe 1976) (below) as possibly circumstantial or leisure dances and we suggested that this could have well been the case for the performance depicted at Witsieshoek (bottom).

It is likely that, because of their non-ritual nature, circumstantial or leisure dances – which ethnographic literature suggests were very common – were only rarely depicted in paintings.

This article is part of the ERC Artsoundscapes project (Grant Agreement No. 787842) that has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. PI: Margarita Díaz-Andreu.

Joshua Kumbani 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. Dance scenes in South African rock art: a closer look at ritual, music and movement – https://theconversation.com/dance-scenes-in-south-african-rock-art-a-closer-look-at-ritual-music-and-movement-275489

February 26, 2026

Prophets and profits: the art of the sell in Shepherd Bushiri’s YouTube sermons

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Ambrose Kolawole Dada, Research Assistant, Media and Communication, Nelson Mandela University

In a widely viewed YouTube sermon called 3 Types of Keys, a preacher, dressed in a sky blue Italian suit, holds a microphone and speaks with great assurance about spiritual matters. Prophet Shepherd Bushiri is telling his audience that their financial struggles are not accidental.

He warns that business, marriage or social standing can easily crumble if believers don’t pay their tithes to the church every month – 10% of their earnings. This message is not presented as advice, but as divine instruction.

Bushiri is one of the most influential and controversial Pentecostal prophets to emerge from southern Africa in the digital age. As journalist Pumza Fihlani writes:

This is a man who says he has cured people of HIV, made the blind see, changed the fortunes of the impoverished and, on at least one occasion, appeared to walk on air.

The growth of African evangelical movements has often been associated with self-styled pastors taking advantage of Africans who are already vulnerable. Their lives are characterised by socioeconomic failures of government, inadequate healthcare systems, beliefs in supernatural forces, and corruption-driven inequalities.

In recent years, Bushiri has been involved in a series of legal battles – including charges of financial crimes and sexual assault – leading to his exit from South Africa to Malawi, where he was born.

His sermons continue to reach masses of worshippers online, with 794,000 subscribers on YouTube alone at the time of writing. He says he has two million registered congregants today.

As media and communication scholars who are interested in religious communication, we analysed what his sermons can tell us about why his online presence is so successful.

We found that, like other rhetoric (persuasive language, for example by politicians or advertisers), his YouTube sermons are carefully framed narratives that promote ideas about faith, authority and prosperity. They strengthen the pastor’s personal influence over his audience and, at the same time, build his brand.

Who is Shepherd Bushiri?

Bushiri – called Major 1 by his followers – is the founder of the Enlightened Christian Gathering Church. He rose to prominence in the 2010s through TV broadcasts and social media (he has 5.8 million followers on Facebook alone), presenting himself as a prophet with supernatural insight.

His ministry expanded rapidly across Africa and among Africans living overseas. Reports claim that Bushiri is one of the richest pastors in Africa. His ministry reflects what has been described as “prophetpreneurship” – the strategic blending of prophecy, charisma and business.

These descriptions raise interesting questions. How are prophetic authority and prosperity communicated to followers? And what role does digital media play in sustaining this influence?

Sermons as communication

To answer these questions, we turned to Bushiri’s YouTube sermons. Video-sharing platforms play a central role in African Christianity today. YouTube has the capacity to boost religious audiences. Sermons are watched on mobile devices, replayed repeatedly and shared across borders, often outside formal church spaces.

Rather than evaluating Bushiri’s teachings as “true” or “false”, our study focused on how his sermons communicate meaning. Sermons function as public communication. Like political speeches or advertising, they’re designed to persuade, inspire and guide behaviour.

We used Critical Discourse Analysis, a research method that examines language to uncover underlying messages about power, authority and values. This was supported by framing theory, which explains how speakers present issues through storylines. A frame is simply the angle through which a message is communicated.

Four dominant themes

The analysis identified four recurring frames in a selection of 10 of Bushiri’s YouTube sermons.

1. Paying to pray

It’s a human aspiration to want to prosper. In Bushiri’s 3 Types of Keys sermon, human prosperity is closely tied to financial giving, emphasising that God requires the “whole tithe”.

South African theologian Mookgo Solomon Kgatle argues this emphasis resembles a money cult. While the Bible has references to tithing, interpretation and context are crucial. When money is a condition for divine favour, faith risks becoming about moneymaking rather than spirituality.

2. Self-positioning

In the sermon Exposure to the Spiritual World, Bushiri claims:

The spirit of God is in your nostrils; if I can breathe on you, you will see the power of God.

This teaching seems rather simplistic, and shifts focus to the self-positioning of Bushiri as a super prophet whose very breath has spiritual power.

Scholars have noted that such practices, common among new prophetic churches, can oversimplify or misrepresent spiritual truths. Despite their emotional appeal, these teachings risk misleading followers by elevating a prophet’s opinion over the scripture and established Christian tradition.

3. Building the brand

Self-branding is common in business, but in religious contexts it can be intensified. Bushiri repeatedly presents himself as a channel of divine blessings, with what he calls his “contract-winning touch”.

He recounts testimonies from international visitors who said, “Papa touched me and the contract came.” He claims that when he touches someone, he leaves a spiritual “substance” on them.

This framing encourages dependency on him. Personal contact is a drawcard for those seeking jobs or “healing” from illness.

4. Media strategy

Digital media has allowed more people to have access to more religious content, but it also raises ethical concerns. Scholars have argued that media-mediated spiritual encounters can blur the line between what’s real and what’s a performance.

In The Perfect Will of God, Bushiri claims that physical distance does not limit spiritual connection. He claims he can anoint people through the screen.

Televised images of new prophet church leaders are often carefully constructed to project success and extraordinary spiritual power, reinforcing their authority. Bushiri, for example, once made headlines for apparently raising a man from the dead.

The role of YouTube

Digital platforms intensify these frames. On YouTube, sermons can be consumed privately, without immediate discussion or challenge from a physical faith community. Emotional moments – prophecies, miracles and dramatic testimonies – are rewarded by likes and comments, and can be enhanced by controversies.

Followers affirm their faith and loyalty in a video’s comments. Over time, this creates a sense of a global spiritual community centred on a single individual.

Digital religion is not only about spreading faith. It is also about expanding influence and, in some cases, monetising belief.

Why this matters

Religion plays a vital role in African societies, offering hope, identity and belonging. But religion, like all forms of communication, is not neutral. It is designed to achieve particular aims. Recognising this does not mean dismissing faith; it means engaging with it critically and responsibly.

For audiences navigating online spaces, learning to recognise persuasive strategies, religious or otherwise, is increasingly important.

Understanding how religious messages are framed can help believers make informed choices and encourage healthier forms of accountability in religious leadership.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Prophets and profits: the art of the sell in Shepherd Bushiri’s YouTube sermons – https://theconversation.com/prophets-and-profits-the-art-of-the-sell-in-shepherd-bushiris-youtube-sermons-276277

February 26, 2026

Morocco: ancient fossils shed light on a key period in human evolution

Source: The Conversation – Africa (2) – By Mohib Abderrahim, Chercheur en Préhistoire et conservateur principal des Monuments et Sites, Institut national des Sciences de l’Archéologie et du Patrimoine in Rabat

Could a Moroccan cave hold a crucial piece of the puzzle of human origins? Hominin fossils dating back 773,000 years discovered in the country are bringing new evidence to the debate about the last common ancestor of present-day humans (Homo sapiens), Neanderthals and Denisovans. The discovery points to a long evolutionary history in north Africa, much earlier than modern Homo sapiens. It also supports Africa’s central role in the major stages that shaped the human species.

Abderrahim Mohib is a prehistoric archaeologist, heritage curator, and associate professor and researcher at the National Institute of Archaeological Sciences and Heritage in Rabat. He’s one of the authors of a recent study that explains the significance of the discovery.

What did you discover and why does it matter?

Excavations have been underway since 1994 in the Hominid Cave at the Thomas Quarry I, south-west of the city of Casablanca in Morocco. A research programme called Prehistory of Casablanca working at the site is led by Morocco’s National Institute of Archaeological Sciences and Heritage and the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.

The team has unearthed hominin fossils along with thousands of animal remains and around 300 artefacts made of quartzite and flint. The site looks like it was a den for large carnivores. This is supported by a hominin femur showing bite marks from a large carnivore, likely a hyena.

In addition to the femur, the set of hominin remains includes a nearly complete adult jaw, half of another adult jaw, a young child’s jawbone, cervical and thoracic vertebrae, and several teeth.

This discovery is significant. It sheds new light on a key period in human evolution. Fossils from this period are very scarce in Africa, Europe and Asia. These remains help document little-known populations between early Homo species and the more recent lineages. They are the oldest hominin fossils ever found in Morocco with a clear and reliable date.

All known human fossils at the Moroccan sites. Author provided (no reuse)
Fourni par l’auteur

In addition, the site is adjacent to another, older, site named Unit L in the same quarry. This site covers more than 1,000 square metres and dates back to 1.3 million years ago. It documents the oldest human occupation in Morocco. It is linked to the Acheulean material culture in north-west Africa.

How old are these early humans and how did you date them so accurately?

These fossils found in Casablanca were dated to around 773,000 years, using palaeomagnetism, the study of the Earth’s ancient magnetic field.

The sediments in Grottes à Hominidés have recorded changes in the Earth’s magnetic field. With very high-resolution sampling (every 2cm) we were able to identify the last geomagnetic reversal from a reverse polarity (Matuyama) to a normal polarity (Brunhes). This means that we have identified a period when the Earth’s magnetic field flipped. And that is a natural event that serves as a marker for dating geological and archaeological layers.

This reversal is a very solid and widely accepted chronological marker. What is extraordinary is that our fossil remains date precisely to the time of the reversal. This offers one of the most reliable datings of hominin fossils from the Pleistocene era (starting about 2.58 million years ago and often called the “Ice Age”). These data are consistent with the geological setting and palaeontological remains.

How does this change our understanding of modern human evolution?

The Casablanca fossils come from a time when Homo erectus spread out of Africa. It was also a time when older groups of hominins like the Australopithecus and Paranthropus died out.

In terms of shapes and features, the fossils show a mix of archaic traits typical of Homo erectus and more advanced traits closely related to Homo sapiens. They also fill an important gap in the African fossil record. Palaeogenetic data suggest a split between the African lineage to Homo sapiens and the Eurasian lineages that later produced the Neanderthals and the Denisovans.

The unique combination of primitive and more evolved features suggests that these individuals were in a population that lived close in time to this split.

This Moroccan population can be described as having advanced traits of Homo erectus. It has more evolved traits than older Homo erectus fossils found in Africa and Asia. But it lacks the full modern features seen in Neanderthals or anatomically modern Homo sapiens.

Until now, the fossils of Homo antecessor unearthed at the Gran Dolina site in Atapuerca, Spain were the only ones to show Homo sapiens-like traits. The fossils from the Grotte à Hominidés offer a new perspective.

They open up the possibility of an evolutionary link with the oldest known Homo sapiens fossils – those from Jebel Irhoud in Morocco, dated to around 315,000 years ago. These discoveries help clarify the emergence of the Homo sapiens lineage while reinforcing the idea that its deep roots are African.

So, based on their mix of archaic and derived traits, these finds support the deep African roots of Homo sapiens but also point to an African population close to the split between Eurasian and African lineages in the Middle Pleistocene.

Why is north Africa, and Morocco in particular, so important?

North-west Africa, along with east and southern Africa, represents one of the key regions where we currently have a new window into the evolution of Pleistocene hominins. The Mediterranean Sea likely acted as a major biogeographical barrier. It contributed to the divergence between African and Eurasian populations.

The Sahara desert’s size changed over time. It probably shaped how African populations were structured. The Moroccan fossils confirm how ancient and deep our species’ roots are in Africa. They highlight the key role of north-west Africa in the major stages of human evolution.

Mohib Abderrahim is Researcher in Prehistory and Chief Curator of Monuments and Sites, National Institute of Archaeological Sciences and Heritage in Rabat.

– ref. Morocco: ancient fossils shed light on a key period in human evolution – https://theconversation.com/morocco-ancient-fossils-shed-light-on-a-key-period-in-human-evolution-275099

February 26, 2026

Will AI accelerate or undermine the way humans have always innovated?

Source: The Conversation – USA – By R. Alexander Bentley, Professor of Anthropology, University of Tennessee

Technological innovation has always relied on experts collaborating across time and geography. EtiAmmos/iStock via Getty Images

In graduate school, my experimental archaeology professor told a student to create a door socket – the hole in a door frame that a bolt slides into – in a slab of sandstone by pecking at it with a rounded stone. After a couple of weeks, the student presented his results to the class. “I pecked the sandstone about 10,000 times,” he said, “and then it broke.”

This kind of experience is known as individual learning. It works through trial and error, with lots of each. Also known as reinforcement learning, it is how children, chimpanzees, crows and AI often learn to do something on their own, such as making a simple tool or solving a puzzle.

But individual learning has limits. No matter how much someone experiments through trial and error, improvement eventually hits a ceiling. Humans have been throwing javelins for a few hundred thousand years, yet performance has largely plateaued. At the 2024 Olympics in Paris, the gold medal javelin throw was about 5% shy of Jan Železný’s 1996 record. The level of expert play in the strategy game Go was essentially flat from 1950 to 2016, when artificial intelligence changed the equation.

Throughout humanity’s existence, these limits on individual learning have not applied to technology. Since IBM’s Deep Blue defeated world chess champion Garry Kasparov in 1997, supercomputers have become a million times faster – and now routinely outperform humans in chess and many other domains.

Why is technological improvement so different? My work as an anthropologist on cultural evolution and innovation shows that, unlike individual performance, technology advances through combination and collaboration. As more people and ideas connect, the number of possible combinations grows superlinearly. Technological innovation scales with the number of collaborators.

My new book with anthropologist Michael J. O’Brien, “Collaborators Through Time,” reveals these patterns across human existence. It traces how 2 million years of technological traditions progressed through collaboration among specialists, across generations and with other species.

Expertise has been the key. Because traditional communities know who their experts are, specialization and collaboration have consistently underpinned human success as a species.

I’d summarize our insight into how technology keeps advancing as TECH: tradition, expertise, collaboration and humanity.

Acheulean hand axes are one of the earliest technologies humans developed.
Didier Descouens/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

Traditions and expertise – the critical foundation

The longest technological tradition documented by paleoanthropologists was the Acheulean hand axe. The multipurpose stone tool was made by our hominin ancestors for almost a million years, including some 700,000 years at a single site in eastern Africa. People produced Acheulean tools through techniques they learned, practiced and refined across generations.

Later, small prehistoric societies of modern humans thrived on millennia of specialized knowledge, such as music, thatched roofs, seed cultivation, burying dead bodies in bogs, and making millet noodles and even cheese suitable for interring with mummies.

As early as 22,000 years ago, communities near the Sea of Galilee stored and used more than a hundred plant species, including medicinal plants. Shamans – ritual experts in medicinal knowledge and caregiving – helped their groups survive. Archaeological evidence from burial sites suggests these specialists were widely revered across thousands of years: One shaman woman was interred with tortoise shells, the wing of a golden eagle and a severed human foot in a cave in Israel.

Collaboration – knowledge spanning time and place

Traditional expertise alone does not advance technology. Technological progress occurs when different forms of expertise are combined.

The wheel may have emerged from copper-mining communities. One expert sourced copper from the Balkans, another transported it, another smelted it. By about 4000 B.C., additional specialists cast copper into an early wheel-shaped amulet: shaping a wax model, encasing it in clay, firing it in a kiln, pouring molten metal into the mold, then breaking the mold away.

Transport technologies reshaped ancient product networks. As communities across Eurasia and Africa built wheeled vehicles and ships, and raised domesticated horses and other pack animals, collaboration expanded across continents. Maritime and overland trade linked blacksmiths, scribes, religious scholars, bead makers, silk weavers and tattoo artists.

Expertise was often distributed between cities and their hinterlands, with cities functioning as hubs in cross-continental product networks. In ancient Egypt, no single community could produce a mummy. Mummification experts at Saqqara drew on a continental network that supplied oils, tars and resins, combining these materials with specialized techniques of antisepsis, embalming, wrapping and coffin sealing.

ancient Egyptian image of a human figure with a dog head — Anubis, god of mummification and the afterlife, depicted in a mummification setting. Mummification materials were sourced from across the continent.
André/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

Around the world, states and empires – from the Indus Valley Civilization to the Vikings, Mongols, Mississippians and Incas – expanded these networks, serving as hubs that coordinated the exchange of raw materials, specialized knowledge and finished products. These exchanges could be highly specific: Chinese porcelain was shipped exclusively to 12th-century palaces in Islamic Spain via Middle Eastern traders who added Arabic inscriptions in gold leaf.

The scale has changed, but the structure has not. Today, within a global product space, an iPhone is assembled from a distributed network of specialized expertise and facilities.

Humanity – social learning

Today, AI may disrupt the millennia-long pattern of technological advancement through TECH. Most large language models generate statistically common responses, which can flatten culture and dilute expertise and originality. The risk grows as untapped high-quality training data – our reservoir of expertise – becomes scarcer.

This creates a feedback loop: Models trained heavily on low-quality content may degrade over time, with measurable declines in reasoning and comprehension. Some scientists now warn that humans and large language models could become locked in a mutually reinforcing cycle of recycled, generic content, with brain rot for everyone involved. The dystopian extreme is AI model collapse, in which systems trained heavily on their own output begin to produce nonsense.

a grid of images of faces with some photo quality and others distorted cartoon-like illustrations — Images produced by AI that trains on its previous images are progressively degraded.
M. Bohacek and H. Farid, CC BY-SA

Brain rot is one reason some AI pioneers now question whether large language models will achieve human-level intelligence. But that, I think, is the wrong focus. The key to continually improving AI models is the same one that has sustained human expertise for millennia: keeping human experts in the loop – the E in TECH. Thanks to a kind of “pied piper” effect, an informed minority can guide an uninformed majority who copy their neighbors.

In a classic experiment, guppies, following their neighbors, ended up schooling behind a robotic fish that guided them toward food. A recent study showed that traffic congestion eases when autonomous vehicles make up as little as 5% of cars on the road. In both cases, a small, informed minority reshaped the behavior of the whole system.

Like humans, large language models are social learners, and the learning can go in either direction. Designers can increase the likelihood that models continue to improve by ensuring they incorporate the accumulated lessons of human expertise across history. In turn, this creates the conditions for people and models to learn from one another.

In the 2010s, DeepMind’s AlphaGo rediscovered centuries of accumulated human Go knowledge through individual learning, then went beyond it by crafting strategies no human had ever played. Human Go masters subsequently adopted these AI-generated strategies into their own play.

Well-trained large language models can likewise summarize vast bodies of scientific information, help talk people out of conspiracy thinking and even support collaboration itself by helping diverse groups find consensus. In these cases, the learning flows both ways.

From Acheulean hand axes to supercomputers, human innovation has always depended on tradition, expertise, collaboration and humanity. If AI is tuned to find and trust expertise rather than dilute it, it can become humanity’s next great technology – on par with ancient writing, markets and early governments – in our long story as collaborators through time.

R. Alexander Bentley 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. Will AI accelerate or undermine the way humans have always innovated? – https://theconversation.com/will-ai-accelerate-or-undermine-the-way-humans-have-always-innovated-272246

February 26, 2026

It’s never too late to learn a language – adults and kids bring different strengths to the task

Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Karen Stollznow, Research Fellow of linguistics, Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, Griffith University; University of Colorado Boulder

Adult language learners have an understanding of grammar that can help them learn a new language. But they are also likely to feel more self-conscious as they do so. Bulat Silvia/iStock/Getty Images Plus

There’s a common assumption that if someone starts learning a language when they are very young, they will quickly become fluent.

Many people also assume that it will become much harder to learn a language if they start later in life.

Research into language learning shows that how old someone is when they learn a language does matter, but there is no point at which the ability to learn a language switches off.

While a young language learner can more easily acquire a native accent, adults retain the ability to learn new languages well into later life. Anyone can continue to learn and refine their vocabulary and grammar. Other factors, like motivation, can also play a role for learners of all ages.

I am a linguist and the author of a forthcoming book, “Beyond Words: How We Learn, Use, and Lose Language,” which looks at how language is learned, used and lost across a lifespan — and why age alone does not set hard limits on our linguistic abilities.

Instead, the strategies learners use, the outcomes they achieve most easily, and how others judge their progress can all change over time.

How age shapes language learning

Someone’s age can influence their language learning ability in a variety of ways.

Scientists sometimes talk about sensitive periods, or an early development window in which the brain is especially receptive to certain kinds of input.

When it comes to language, babies and children are particularly sensitive to the sound patterns of speech. They can also pick up on subtle phonetic distinctions that adults struggle to perceive or reproduce.

This helps explain why children who grow up bilingual often sound native in both languages. Accents, more than vocabulary or grammar, are where age-related differences are most pronounced.

Sensitive periods are found in other animals, too, especially birds, which have an early sensitive period for learning their species-specific song from an adult tutor.

After this window closes, learning a new language is still very much possible. But it usually takes more conscious effort and practice.

Studies also show that children exposed to a second language early, roughly before puberty, are more likely to develop nativelike pronunciation and intonation.

Brain imaging research shows that people who learn two languages early in life tend to process both languages in the same parts of the brain. Those who learn a second language later often use slightly different brain areas for each language.

In practical terms, early bilinguals are more likely to switch between languages effortlessly. Later learners may have to more consciously work through their second language, especially at first.

Two boys sit next to each other at a desk in a classroom filled with other children at desks. — Second grade students do classwork during a Spanish-only, dual immersion class in University Hill Elementary School in Boulder, Colo., in 2022.
Glenn Asakawa/The Denver Post via Getty Images

Benefits to learning a language as an adult

Pronunciation is only one part of language proficiency. Adults bring their own strengths to the task.

Unlike young children, adult learners already have a fully developed first language. They also have skills in reasoning and pattern recognition, as well as an awareness of how language works.

This allows adults to learn in a more deliberate way, as they study grammar rules and consciously compare languages. Adults are also more likely to rely on deliberate strategies, such as memorization, to learn a language.

In classroom settings, adults often outperform children in early stages of learning, particularly in reading and writing.

Language learning never truly stops. Even in adulthood, people continue to develop and refine their first language, shaped by their education, work and social environment, and how they use it day to day.

While it may be harder for adults to acquire a nativelike accent later in life, the good news is that grammar, vocabulary and fluency remain well within reach for most adult learners.

Benefits of learning a language as a kid

Children, meanwhile, tend to learn languages implicitly, through immersion and interaction, often without conscious attention to rules.

Social and emotional factors also play a major role in successfully learning a language.

Children are generally less self-conscious than adults and more willing to take risks when speaking.

Adults, by contrast, are often acutely aware of mistakes and may hesitate to speak for fear of sounding foolish or being judged.

Research consistently shows that being willing to communicate is a strong predictor of success in learning a new language. Anxiety, inhibition and negative feedback from others can significantly slow progress, regardless of age.

Accent, bias and social pressure

Other factors, like social pressure and discrimination, matter as someone tries to learn a new language.

Research into language and identity shows that listeners frequently associate accented speech with lower intelligence or competence, despite there being no connection between accent and cognitive ability.

Non-native speakers often experience stigmatization, discrimination and prejudice from native speakers.

This bias can discourage adult learners and reinforce the false belief that successful language learning means sounding native.

Motivation and aptitude matter, too

Motivation is another key factor that affects learners of all ages.

People learn new languages for many reasons: a new country, work, school, relationships or interest in another culture.

Research distinguishes between the different reasons people learn a language. Some are practical, like advancing a career or passing a test. Others are personal, such as wanting to connect with a community, culture or family.

Learners who feel a strong personal or emotional connection to the language are more likely to keep going even when it gets difficult, and they often reach higher levels of fluency than those without this connection.

Other people have a natural aptitude for learning a language and can pick it up easily. Perhaps they quickly notice sound patterns, or they can remember new vocabulary after hearing it once or twice.

Language aptitude is different from intelligence and varies from person to person. Aptitude makes success in learning a language more likely, but it doesn’t guarantee it.

Learners with average aptitude can still become very proficient in new languages as adults if they have consistent exposure, practice and motivation.

Different ages, different strengths

So is it better to learn a second language as a child or as an adult? Research suggests the more useful question is which aspects of language learning, such as pronunciation, fluency or long-term mastery, matter most.

Learning a new language early makes it easier to sound like a native speaker and to use the language smoothly, without having to think about the rules.

Learning that language later in life draws on adult strengths, such as planning, problem-solving and focused practice.

Ultimately, some people pick up languages quickly while others struggle, regardless of how old they are.

Beliefs about language learning shape education policy, parenting choices and how multilingual speakers are treated in everyday life.

When adults are told they’ve missed their chance to learn a language, many never bother to try. When foreign accents are treated as flaws, capable speakers can be unfairly discriminated against.

In fact, research shows that learning a language is possible at any age – it’s a lifelong, achievable journey, rather than a race against the clock.

Karen Stollznow 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. It’s never too late to learn a language – adults and kids bring different strengths to the task – https://theconversation.com/its-never-too-late-to-learn-a-language-adults-and-kids-bring-different-strengths-to-the-task-276583

February 26, 2026

Fewer new moms are dying in Colorado – naloxone might be one reason why

Source: The Conversation – USA (3) – By Kaylin Klie, Associate Professor of Family Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

Overdose is the leading cause of death in postpartum women in Colorado and nationally. Evelyn Hockstein/For The Washington Post via Getty Images

In Colorado, from 2016 to 2020, 33 women who were pregnant or had recently given birth died from accidental overdoses. That’s more than died from traditional obstetric complications like infection, high blood pressure or bleeding combined.

More recent data shows an encouraging turnaround. The number of maternal overdose deaths dropped 60%, from 20 in 2022 to eight in 2023. I think one contributing factor might be increased access to naloxone for moms and families across the state.

As a perinatal addiction medicine physician, I specialize in taking care of pregnant people and families impacted by substance use disorder. Part of the care I provide is prescribing or distributing naloxone directly to patients and their family members. Naloxone is an over-the-counter medication that reverses the effects of opioid overdose.

In this video, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration explains how naloxone, an opioid overdose-reversal medication, works in the body.

I served as a member and then co-chair of the Colorado Maternal Mortality Review Committee from 2017 to 2023. The committee reviews every death of a person in Colorado that occurs during a pregnancy or within 12 months of the end of a pregnancy. I personally reviewed the records of Colorado mothers who died from overdoses.

In Colorado, unintentional overdose and suicide have been the top two causes of maternal mortality each year since 2016. Nationally, the leading cause of maternal mortality is overdose, followed by homicide and then suicide.

Almost all overdose deaths occur in the community, outside of a medical center: in homes, cars and public places. In almost all circumstances, the review committee determined that if naloxone had been present, there was a good chance the mother would have survived.

Giving naloxone directly to patients and families

In 2023, The Naloxone Project, a nonprofit, started distributing naloxone directly to pregnant and postpartum moms and their families before leaving one of the 48 birthing hospitals in Colorado. The distribution is through a program called the Maternal Overdose Matters Initiative, also known as MOMs. The initiative was in direct response to the number of women dying from overdose during pregnancy or within a year after pregnancy.

The Naloxone Project was started in Colorado in 2021 by an emergency and addiction medicine physician. The project distributes naloxone directly to patients in Colorado hospital emergency rooms at risk for opioid overdose.

To date, The Naloxone Project has distributed more than 2,500 naloxone kits to 107 hospitals to give to patients across the state. The project also works to normalize the conversation about opioid overdose and prevention in health care settings. It’s grown, and now it has chapters in 16 states.

Naloxone can make recovery possible

The American Society of Addiction Medicine defines substance use disorder as “a treatable, chronic medical disease involving complex interactions among brain circuits, genetics, the environment and an individual’s life experiences.” People with the disease of addiction can, and do, recover – but only if they can stay alive to receive the support and treatment they need.

A woman in a blue shirt holds up a clear tube in a demonstration. — Rachel Lambert, a recovering heroin user, demonstrates how to administer naloxone.
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Research shows direct distribution of naloxone to people, families and communities saves lives. Access to naloxone gives people, including Colorado moms, a literal second chance at life.

Naloxone for more than substance use disorder

While people with substance use disorder are at the highest risk for overdose, they’re not the only ones. In 2024 alone, 1,603 people died of accidental opioid overdoses in Colorado.

Prescription opioids, such as oxycodone, hydrocodone and morphine, are commonly prescribed after a surgery, including C-sections. Opioids like these taken at home, even with a prescription, can be a source of accidental overdose. For example, a person prescribed these medicines may take too much at once or have an unexpected interaction with other medications or alcohol.

Accidental overdose also occurs in people the prescription was not intended for. That includes children who find medications in their homes. In Colorado, 17 children died from opioid overdoses in 2024.

Today, parents leaving the hospital with their new baby are given naloxone and education. They learn about safe storage and disposal of medications, how to recognize an opioid overdose, and how to give naloxone in case of emergency. Nasal-spray naloxone, the most common form provided by The Naloxone Project, is safe for all ages, including infants and toddlers.

Naloxone as a standard of care

Caring for people impacted by substance use disorder has convinced me that naloxone has a place in every home, school and workplace in our community.

Recognizing and responding to opioid overdose, including giving naloxone, is now a standard part of Basic Life Support training. Opioid overdose reversal is now seen as a critical, lifesaving skill comparable to CPR. Including this skill in training empowers bystanders to intervene.

A man with tattooed arms holds a small plastic device to the nose of a man lying on the floor. — Justin, a participant in a class on opioid overdose prevention, practices with naloxone on teacher Keith Allen.
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For some of my patients, receiving naloxone during an overdose event gave them a chance to seek treatment and enter long-term recovery from substance use. Opioid use disorder treatment includes evidence-based medication for opioid use disorder, such as methadone, buprenorphine or naltrexone, residential or intensive outpatient treatment, individual therapy and peer support services, especially programs designed for pregnant and parenting moms.

How these facets of treatment come together in an individual person’s journey is unique. As much as I seek to individualize treatment plans, naloxone is for everyone. It can build a bridge between despair and hope — life and death — and as the data shows, it might be a part of saving Colorado moms’ lives.

Kaylin Klie receives funding from Colorado State Opioid Response funding. She is affiliated with The Naloxone Project as the Physician Lead for MOMS Plus.

– ref. Fewer new moms are dying in Colorado – naloxone might be one reason why – https://theconversation.com/fewer-new-moms-are-dying-in-colorado-naloxone-might-be-one-reason-why-273761