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September 16, 2025

Les laboratoires créatifs : des occasions pour développer un éventail de compétences

Source: The Conversation – in French – By Caroline Damboise, Professeure en technologies éducatives, Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR)

L’implantation des premiers laboratoires créatifs dans les milieux scolaires, artistiques, industriels et communautaires a été initiée à la fin des années 1990 par l’Institut de technologie du Massachusetts (MIT). Graduellement, le phénomène a pris de l’expansion et s’est répandu à l’échelle mondiale. Au Québec, cela se traduit, notamment, par l’émergence de laboratoires créatifs dans des milieux scolaires.

En tant que professeurs-chercheurs spécialisés respectivement en technologies éducatives ainsi qu’en didactique et orthopédagogie des mathématiques au primaire à l’Université du Québec à Rimouski, nous nous sommes intéressés au potentiel de ces dispositifs afin de favoriser l’engagement et la qualité des apprentissages des élèves.

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La grande idée derrière un laboratoire créatif

Un laboratoire créatif, c’est un environnement relativement flexible mettant plusieurs outils à la disposition des personnes participantes.

Par exemple, on peut y retrouver des imprimantes 3D, des ordinateurs, des robots, des presses à macarons, ou une machine pour découper du vinyle (Cricut). Cet aménagement permet de concevoir, de fabriquer ou de développer un projet afin de répondre à un objectif que l’on aimerait atteindre.

Le projet peut toucher les arts, la robotique, ou encore le numérique. Dans ces environnements, l’erreur fait partie du processus d’apprentissage et permet d’améliorer le projet ou le prototype construit.

Les laboratoires créatifs dans les écoles

Soutenir le plaisir d’apprendre, motiver les élèves à l’école et leur donner des occasions de vivre des situations leur permettant d’exploiter leur potentiel demeure tout un défi dans les classes pour les enseignants. Les laboratoires créatifs peuvent à cet égard constituer une occasion intéressante à exploiter dans les écoles.

Un rapport du Laboratoire de formation et de recherche sur la littératie numérique de l’UQAC fait mention de valeurs se retrouvant au sein des laboratoires créatifs et de la philosophie derrière ces milieux. L’autonomie, la créativité, la collaboration et l’aspect ludique en sont quelques exemples.

Les observations et entrevues réalisées dans le cadre du projet de recherche débuté en 2022 ont confirmé ces propos. S’agissant par exemple de la collaboration, nous avons pu observer dans certaines situations des élèves de cinquième ou sixième année aider des élèves plus jeunes.

D’ailleurs, le cadre non traditionnel des labos créatifs permet à beaucoup d’élèves de s’investir dans des projets tout en faisant des apprentissages de manière moins formelle, mais tout aussi utile. En permettant aux élèves de choisir un projet selon leurs intérêts, plusieurs types d’élèves y trouvent leur compte, notamment les élèves ayant davantage de difficultés à performer au niveau académique.

Des exemples de projets issus des laboratoires créatifs

Dans le cadre d’un projet, un élève peut par exemple développer un objet grâce à la modélisation, puis imprimer son prototype au moyen d’une imprimante 3D. L’élève peut ainsi créer une décoration spéciale pour son arbre de Noël, ou encore réaliser un porte-clés pour ses parents.

Le tout peut aussi se faire en utilisant le bois ou encore la pyrogravure.

En se prêtant à ces différentes activités, les enfants peuvent développer leur autonomie et leur esprit d’initiative tout en étant encadrés par les enseignants. Cela leur permet également d’explorer leurs intérêts, et peut-être même de les orienter vers un domaine professionnel futur.

L’utilisation de la robotique pédagogique peut constituer une expérience particulièrement riche dans un contexte de laboratoire créatif. Les élèves peuvent par exemple faire des compétitions entre des robots conçus de toutes pièces par eux, faire un véhicule en LEGO motorisé répondant à certaines caractéristiques précises, ou encore concevoir une danse avec un robot.

Le marché de l’emploi est de plus en plus lié aux technologies qui peuvent parfois coûter assez cher. Certains enfants, notamment défavorisés, n’y ont donc pas accès. Les labos créatifs peuvent remédier à ce problème en mettant à la disposition des élèves toutes sortes d’appareils, comme une imprimante 3D. Ils familiarisent par le fait même les enfants avec des technologies analogues à celles avec lesquelles ils devront composer une fois adultes.

Des élèves engagés dans la résolution de problèmes motivants

Un avantage indéniable que permettent les laboratoires créatifs découle du fait que l’atteinte des objectifs spécifiques à chaque projet favorise la prise de risque et l’engagement des élèves en contexte de résolution de problèmes.

En effet, dans le milieu scolaire, il n’est pas rare de voir des élèves éviter de s’impliquer dans les activités proposées de peur de vivre un échec. De plus, dans un contexte d’éducation inclusive, les laboratoires créatifs constituent un excellent levier permettant de faciliter la différenciation de l’enseignement afin de tenir compte des intérêts et des caractéristiques de chacun.

Cela est essentiellement attribuable au fait que chaque élève, en fonction de son niveau d’aisance respectif vis-à-vis le projet proposé, sera en mesure de formuler ses propres objectifs et de s’engager au sein d’une activité qu’il pourra mener à terme. Dans ces contextes, les élèves peuvent donc développer leur compétence de résolution de problèmes en s’interrogeant sur ce qui fait que leur projet ou leur prototype ne fonctionne pas.

Des témoignages sans équivoque

Un laboratoire créatif a par exemple été mis sur pied en septembre 2022 à l’école L’Oiseau-Chanteur de Saint-Mathieu-de-Rioux dans le Bas-Saint-Laurent. Tout au long de l’année scolaire, une trentaine d’élèves ont ainsi pu mettre à l’épreuve leur créativité en participant à une foule de projets.

À ce sujet, Mélissa Couillard, une enseignante de l’établissement, rapporte que les activités réalisées dans les laboratoires créatifs permettent aux élèves de relativiser leur rapport à l’erreur : « Ce n’est pas un échec pour eux. Ils collaborent pour trouver des solutions et des stratégies pour régler les problèmes qu’ils rencontrent ».

Bien que ce type d’environnement demande un investissement de la part des enseignants et un certain lâcher-prise, les élèves apprécient l’occasion qui leur est donnée de pouvoir investir des projets moins académiques, mais tout aussi éducatifs.

D’ailleurs, un élève moins performant au niveau académique peut justement tirer son épingle du jeu dans le contexte des laboratoires créatifs. Ainsi, Marie-Pier Gauthier, également enseignante de l’établissement, précise qu’elle a eu l’occasion d’observer des élèves qui vont particulièrement briller dans cet environnement, alors que le côté académique est peut-être moins valorisant pour eux.

Vers une collaboration des milieux scolaires et communautaires ?

Les bienfaits des laboratoires créatifs ne se limitent pas au milieu scolaire. Cet environnement peut aussi bénéficier à la communauté sans égard à l’âge des personnes qui s’engagent au sein d’un projet créatif se rapportant à un objectif personnel.

Les défis intellectuels rattachés à chacun des projets contribuent à tisser des liens entre les membres de l’environnement qui peuvent s’entraider et collaborer afin de contribuer à l’atteinte de l’objectif préalablement fixé.

Ainsi, on pourrait même envisager une collaboration avec des organismes du milieu communautaire qui pourraient venir offrir du soutien dans la réalisation de certains projets, ou encore favoriser un transfert de connaissances.

Caroline Damboise a reçu des financements de l’UQAR pour des recherches en lien avec les laboratoires créatifs, mais le texte en cours ne porte pas directement sur ces recherches.

Thomas Rajotte 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. Les laboratoires créatifs : des occasions pour développer un éventail de compétences – https://theconversation.com/les-laboratoires-creatifs-des-occasions-pour-developper-un-eventail-de-competences-240861

September 16, 2025

Who’s got the power? Studies of male and female primates show it’s not simple

Source: The Conversation – Africa (2) – By Nikos Smit, Postdoc in evolutionary/behavioural ecology, University of Turku

Our understanding of female-male power relationships in animals has changed over time. Evolutionary biologists once thought that male mammals held clear-cut power over females. Later, species with pronounced female power over males were presented as exceptions in a landscape of strict male power. Spotted hyenas and certain primates, including bonobos and most lemurs, were examples of female dominance.

These views were reinforced by the assumption that males and females competed over different resources: males over females, and females over food.

But it’s not that simple, as the research of our colleagues and our own work on various primates has shown.

We reviewed studies of primate species and found that power relationships between the sexes varied significantly. In our sample, only 25 species exhibited clear male power, 16 exhibited clear female power, and the remaining species (about 70%) exhibited moderate or no sex biases in power. Most primate females can compete directly with males and often overpower them.

Size and strength differences between males and females

Males don’t always have all the power even when they are much larger and stronger than females.

In an earlier study, we showed that female mandrills in Gabon sometimes outrank males that are more than three times heavier than them.

Gorillas are an interesting case too. Apart from the big difference between males and females in body and canine tooth size, they are also typically presented (by scientists and non-scientists) as the species with the strictest male-biased power over females among great apes. They’ve become the “male power archetype” among animals.

We drew on 25 years of data about mountain gorillas in Uganda, to test if males strictly overpower females. Our findings suggest that females may leverage support from the most powerful males to gain power over other males. Or they may leverage access to themselves, and some males yield to females to acquire such access.

Our findings in mandrills and gorillas contribute a new perspective on the ecology and evolution of female-male power relationships in great apes and other primates that is not solely based on size and strength. They call for future work to investigate similar long-standing assumptions regarding the evolutionary origins of intersexual relationships across species.

Factors influencing power across primates

Our comparative analysis showed that intersexual power is influenced by different factors. Generally, females rely less than males on physical force and coercion in order to gain power. Female power is more likely to prevail in species that are monogamous, have little or no body size difference between adult females and males, and/or forage primarily in trees. These are conditions that give females greater control over reproduction.

By contrast, male power is more likely to prevail in species where males mate with multiple females, are primarily terrestrial, and have larger bodies or greater weapons than females.

Even when these conditions are met, however, there isn’t always a clear-cut bias in intersexual power of a social group or species.

Male mandrills and gorillas mate with multiple females and are terrestrial. In these species males generally have more power than females, and the highest ranking individual in a group’s social hierarchy is always a male. Yet power is not clear-cut and females can overpower other males.

What males and females compete for

Finally, our studies suggest that females and males often compete directly over access to resources.

In the comparative study across primates, we found that contests between females and males represented on average almost half of all contests in a social primate group.

In the study on mountain gorillas, we found that power relationships between females and males determined priority of access to a precious food resource, and when a female overpowered a male, she always had priority over him.

Altogether, these new findings suggest that:

most primate societies do not have clear-cut sex-biases in power
even in species with extreme male-biases in size and strength, females can overpower males
females and males compete directly over similar resources.

These findings refine our interpretation of intersexual relationships across animals. They caution against oversimplified views based solely on physical strength while neglecting the complexity of their social landscape.

Finally, this work shows that the human profile does not really resemble other primates where there is clear male dominance or clear female dominance. Instead, humans are closer to those “intermediate” species with moderate and flexible dominance relationships. This can inform attempts to reconstruct power relationships between men and women in early humans.

Elise Huchard receives funding from CNRS and the French Agence Nationale pour la Recherche (ANR).

Nikos Smit 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. Who’s got the power? Studies of male and female primates show it’s not simple – https://theconversation.com/whos-got-the-power-studies-of-male-and-female-primates-show-its-not-simple-263292

September 16, 2025

Refugee protection in Egypt: what’s behind the return train to Sudan

Source: The Conversation – Africa (2) – By Dina Wahba, Senior Researcher, Arnold Bergstraesser Institute, University of Freiburg

A special train left the Egyptian capital of Cairo for Aswan, a town close to the border with southern neighbour Sudan, in July 2025. The train, publicised by the Egyptian government as shiny, air-conditioned and free of charge, runs a weekly service. It is transporting Sudanese refugees who are willing to go back home. Sudan, however, has been in the midst of civil war since April 2023.

The train arrives in Aswan after around 12 hours. Travellers then continue via bus or ferry into Sudan. Little is known about what happens when travellers arrive in the country.

As at mid-2025, more than 190,000 Sudanese refugees had gone back home from Egypt. This is a five-fold increase in returns from 2024. Egypt hosts the largest number of Sudanese who have fled the war. More than 1.2 million Sudanese have crossed into Egypt since April 2023, making them the largest refugee community there.

The army-led Sudanese government – which regained control of Khartoum in March 2025 after losing the capital two years earlier – promotes return as part of its alleged efforts for post-conflict stabilisation and reconstruction.

However, camouflaged behind Egypt’s voluntary return programme is a far more complex political reality, with refugees in the centre.

Initially, Egypt kept its borders relatively open, allowing women, children and older men to enter visa-free under a long-standing deal with Sudan.

As refugee numbers rose, however, new restrictions were imposed and brutally enforced from June 2023. These restrictions were codified in a new law adopted in 2024.

We have studied socio-political dynamics in Egypt and African refugee politics. In our view, while the voluntary return initiative is widely promoted by Egyptian and Sudanese authorities as a sign of solidarity and reconstruction, it masks a policy environment aimed at reducing the Sudanese population in Egypt.

Egypt has a contentious history of refugee protection. In recent years, refugees have faced hostile sentiments from host communities and rising xenophobia. Sudanese refugees in particular have been denied access to public spaces or rental property, and have faced physical violence.

The government’s response has focused on appeasing domestic audiences in the face of economic decline by providing external scapegoats. This does not bode well for the future of refugee protection in Egypt.

Countries often scapegoat refugees and other migrants to retain legitimacy with their own citizens, especially when there are pervasive inequalities that states cannot or will not bridge. This is the case in Egypt.

Egypt and Sudan’s shifting relations

Refugee hosting is never just a question of humanitarian or ethical protection measures. It is deeply embedded in domestic and external policy interests, as well as the global geopolitical context.

Egypt changed its open-border agreement with Sudan on 10 June 2023. It required all Sudanese to obtain visas before entry. Wait times stretched to two to three months, and an illicit market of visa “facilitators” sprang up, charging between US$1,500 and US$2,500 per person.

Egypt’s reception of displaced Sudanese took a more restrictive and controlling approach, including deportations. Its asylum law, passed in December 2024, formalises these harsh measures. Vague national security clauses enable status revocations and penalise the “illegal” entry of refugees.

Politically, Egypt has backed the Sudanese army as the cornerstone of stability. It backed Sudan’s October 2021 military coup and has aligned with the army in the ongoing civil war against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

While the civil war continues to rage in many regions of Sudan, army-led forces have control of the centre and east of Sudan, supporting the push for the special train programme.

Additionally, Egypt has been a core beneficiary of European Union (EU) efforts to stop onward migration from Africa and the Middle East to Europe. Though Egypt is no longer one of the most significant routes to Europe – this has shifted to Libya – Egyptians make up one of the largest national groups of irregular migrants arriving in Europe. With rising numbers of refugees in Egypt, the EU fears the situation could spiral.

To address this, Egypt signed a 7.4 billion euro (US$8.7 billion) deal with the EU in March 2024 to increase control of its (sea) borders and cooperate on returns from Europe. Thus, Egypt’s return of refugees to Sudan is in the EU’s interests.

Under such complicated settings, refugees become pawns. Egypt’s train, therefore, serves domestic policy interests of reducing Sudanese refugees, addresses the general hostile environment these refugees face and supports Cairo’s external policy interests.

What about the refugees?

When it comes to Sudan, the big question is whether states are violating a core tenet of refugee protection: the principle of non-refoulement. This states that countries cannot return refugees to a country where they would face torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and other irreparable harm.

Many Sudanese may choose to return not because they’re hopeful but as a result of economic hardship in Egypt, uncertainty with regard to their legal status, and fear.

The UN Refugee Agency advances three “durable solutions” for the return of refugees:

local integration, which is difficult in Egypt
resettlement to a third country, which has become increasingly difficult in the current global environment. The US, for instance, suspended all its resettlement programmes in January 2025.
returning voluntarily to the country of origin.

Where possible, states aim to return people – both refugees and other migrants – voluntarily. This is often done with the assistance of the International Organisation for Migration. However noble this process may be, migrants may still feel coerced.

Though army-controlled areas in Sudan like Khartoum, Sennar and El Gezira have seen relative calm, key conflict zones like Darfur and Kordofan are still actively contested. Humanitarian agencies caution that the ongoing violence undermines the voluntary nature of return.

What can be done

Usually after a conflict ends, the UN Refugee Agency draws up tripartite agreements with the countries of origin and asylum, and itself. This establishes the conditions for refugees to return and establishes proper reintegration programmes.

In the Egypt and Sudan case, however, it’s not clear who is financing the return train. Where is the tripartite agreement between Sudan, Egypt and the UN Refugee Agency? Is this even on the table given the continuing conflict in Sudan?

The trickiest part is what happens in the long run for those returning to conflict. This can amount to what scholars call “slow deportation”, where return, even when allegedly voluntary, undermines a serious commitment to refugee protection.

What Sudanese refugees need is not air-conditioned trains. Rather, they need protection of their full political, social and legal rights, as the world promised in the aftermath of the atrocities of the second world war in 1951.

Franzisca Zanker receives funding from the European Research Council for the project “The Political Lives of Migrants: Perspectives from Africa” (Grant no: 101161856).

Dina Wahba 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. Refugee protection in Egypt: what’s behind the return train to Sudan – https://theconversation.com/refugee-protection-in-egypt-whats-behind-the-return-train-to-sudan-264917

September 16, 2025

Emergency alerts may not reach those who need them most in Colorado

Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Carson MacPherson-Krutsky, Research Associate, Natural Hazards Center, University of Colorado Boulder

A firefighter watches as the NCAR Fire burns on March 26, 2022, in Boulder, Colo. Michael Ciaglo via Getty Images

Many Coloradans may never get an alert that could save their life during a disaster.

And the alerts that go out may not easily be understood by the people who do get them.

We are social scientists who study emergency alerts and warnings, the challenges that exist in getting emergency information to the public, and ways to fix these issues.

Research two of us – Carson MacPherson-Krutsky and Mary Painter – did with researcher Melissa Villarreal shows only 4 in 10 Colorado residents have opted in to receive local emergency alerts. And many alerts may not be written with complete information, translated into the languages residents speak, or put into formats accessible to people with vision or hearing loss. This means some of our most vulnerable neighbors could miss crucial information during a crisis.

A decentralized alert system

Alerts are complex. They can come from a variety of official sources, including 911 centers, weather forecast centers and others. Alerts can also come in many forms, ranging from emails and texts to sirens and radio broadcasts.

Our study, mandated and funded by Colorado House Bill 23-1237, focused on understanding alert systems in Colorado after the Grizzly Creek Fire in 2020 and the Marshall Fire in 2021.

Smoke billows from a rocky and mountainous forest near an empty highway. — The Grizzly Creek Fire burns down hillsides along I-70 in Glenwood Canyon on Aug. 17, 2020, near Glenwood Springs, Colo.
Helen H. Richardson/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images

These fires were destructive and highlighted issues related to emergency alerting. Alerts about the fires and calls to evacuate were delayed and inconsistently received. Most were only available in English despite census data that shows 1 in 10 residents of Eagle and Garfield counties speak Spanish at home and only “speak English less than ‘very well.’”

The resulting legislation focused on how to make emergency alerts in Colorado accessible to all, but especially those with disabilities and with limited-English proficiency.

As social scientists who study disasters, we know that hazards, like earthquakes and wildfires, reveal inequities and that certain groups fare worse and take longer to recover. People with disabilities have higher rates of death from disasters. This is not because these populations are inherently less able to respond, but because emergency planning and systems may not account for their specific needs.

Our Colorado study used interviews and a statewide survey of 222 officials that send alerts to better understand the challenges of providing alerts across the state and reaching at-risk populations.

A patchwork system

The state of Colorado does not have a uniform alert system. Local areas determine the alert systems they will use.

Some alerts get sent through systems that require people to opt in. This means that people sign up and choose to receive notifications. Neighboring counties often use different opt-in alert systems, meaning individuals who travel to different counties for work or recreation may need to register for multiple systems. Examples of these systems include Everbridge, used by Boulder County, and CodeRed, used by Adams and Park counties.

A boy stands on top of a car, peering through binoculars, as orange smoke billows in the background. — Amitai Beh, 6, watches the NCAR Fire on March 26, 2022 in Boulder, Colo..
Michael Ciaglo/Stringer via Getty Images

The success of these systems in an emergency relies on the community signing up for alerts.

We found that registering for alert systems was a barrier for everyone, but especially those with limited-English proficiency and with disabilities. This is because they may not be aware of the systems that are accessible to them or they are wary of providing personal information, and depending on their location, alerts may only be offered in English.

Most of the Colorado counties either have Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) approval or are in the process of getting approval. Some counties on the Eastern Plains, like Otero and Kiowa counties, have not started the process. — The current status of Integrated Public Alert and Warning System alerting entities across Colorado. Green means there’s an approved alerting authority, yellow indicates the region is in the process of becoming an alerting authority, and gray means the area has not begun the process.
Colorado Division of Homeland Security & Emergency Management, CC BY-ND

Another system is “opt out,” meaning people will receive alerts by default unless they turn them off. These include Wireless Emergency Alerts, or WEAs. These messages get broadcast through cellphone towers to phones in a specific geographic area. So if you have a cellphone in a WEA alert boundary, you will get an alert. WEAs are used in Colorado to target specific regions in danger, such as an area that needs to evacuate or for an Amber Alert.

There is no national standard or guidance for opt-in or opt-out systems, which can lead to inconsistencies in how people get alerts.

Lack of resources limits alerting authorities

We found that though authorities often want to provide alerts in other languages and accessible formats, they have significant resource constraints. Time, staff, money or training can all limit the level of accessibility they can provide.

Sixty-four percent of the authorities we surveyed said they lacked funding to make alerts more inclusive.

More than a third of our respondents didn’t know if their systems could provide alerts in languages other than English or for people with disabilities. This speaks to a need for better training on how these systems work and how to use them effectively.

An alert is complete if it includes information about the source, hazard, location and time. Recently, researchers found that fewer than 10% of all Nationwide Wireless Emergency Alerts issued from 2012 to 2022 were complete.

One of us – Micki Olson – worked with the federal government to develop the Message Design Dashboard to help alerting authorities craft clear and comprehensive emergency messages.

Fifty-six out of 64 counties in Colorado are an Integrated Public Alert and Warning System authority, which means they can send alerts across multiple platforms at once. This can improve alert access since it broadens who alerts reach.

Not all counties have this option, and even the ones who do, don’t always use it. In our study, authorities noted limited staff capacity, funds and lack of time prevents them from getting or using the IPAWS system.

“We simply do not have the resources, both financial and people, to deploy all of these systems,” a survey respondent from Gunnison County said.

Alert systems were not built to be accessible

The final issue we identified is that alert systems were not developed with accessible options and functionality like video or image options. For example, people who are blind or have low vision won’t have access to a message unless they enable text-speech features on their phone in advance.

The WEA system only allows alerts to be sent in English or Spanish. Characters like accents and tildes cannot be included. Expansion of language options was planned but is now on hold for unclear reasons. Some counties have the resources to make alerts available in additional languages, but most do not.

Almost 900,000 Coloradans speak a language other than English. According to the Migration Policy Institute, more than 230,000 Coloradans have difficulty comprehending and communicating in English.

Where do we go from here?

Recent events, including the Palisades and Eaton fires in California and the devastating floods in Kerr County, Texas, demonstrate how critical it is that timely and accessible emergency alerts reach everyone, but especially the most vulnerable individuals.

However, these systems are complex, and everyone from individuals to local government can play a part in improving them.

Federal and local governments can allocate funds to update and standardize systems. They can also implement training and procedures to ensure alerts are effective and inclusive.
Authorities that send alerts can partner more closely with trusted community organizations and networks to reach diverse audiences.
Researchers can identify how to better tailor systems to meet community needs.
Individuals can learn about and sign up for alerts. To do so, visit local government websites or enter “emergency alerts” and the name of your county or city in an online search.

Carson MacPherson-Krutsky works for the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado Boulder. Through the Center, she receives funding from the State of Colorado, NSF, USACE, USGS and others.

Mary Angelica Painter works for the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado Boulder. Through the Center, she receives funding from agencies including NSF, USACE, USGS and others.

Micki Olson has received funding from FEMA and NOAA.

– ref. Emergency alerts may not reach those who need them most in Colorado – https://theconversation.com/emergency-alerts-may-not-reach-those-who-need-them-most-in-colorado-262308

September 16, 2025

How a corpse plant makes its terrible smell − it has a strategy, and its female flowers do most of the work

Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Delphine Farmer, Professor of Chemistry, Colorado State University

The corpse plant’s bloom appears huge, but its flowers are actually tiny and found in rows inside its floral chamber. John Eisele/Colorado State University

Sometimes, doing research stinks. Quite literally.

Corpse plants are rare, and seeing one bloom is even rarer. They open once every seven to 10 years, and the blooms last just two nights. But those blooms – red, gorgeous and massive at over 10 feet (3 meters) tall – stink. Think rotting flesh or decaying fish.

Corpse plants definitely earn their nickname. Their pungent odors attract not only the carrion insects – beetles and flies normally drawn to decomposing meat – that pollinate the plants, but also crowds of onlookers curious about the rare, elaborate display and that putrid scent.

Plant biologists have studied corpse flowers for years, but as atmospheric chemists we were curious about something specific: the mixes of chemicals that create that smell and how they change during the flower’s short bloom.

While previous studies had identified dozens of volatile organic and sulfur compounds that contribute to corpse flower scents, no one had yet quantified those emission rates or looked at how the rates changed throughout a single evening. We recently got that opportunity. What we found opened a new window into the complexity and strategic behavior of a very unusual flower.

Time-lapse video of a corpse plant’s bloom in 2024 at Colorado State University. More than 8,600 visitors saw the bloom.

Meet Cosmo the corpse plant

Corpse plants are native to the Indonesian island of Sumatra but are considered endangered, even there. Several years ago, Colorado State University was given a corpse plant, or Titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum), to study. Its name is Cosmo – Titan arums are rare enough that they get names.

Cosmo sat dormant in the CSU plant growth facility for several years before showing signs that it was about to flower in spring 2024. When news came that Cosmo was going to bloom, we jumped at the opportunity to bring our atmospheric chemistry expertise into the greenhouse.

A woman reaches inside a giant open flower with a tall stalk. — During Cosmo’s bloom, Colorado State University Plant Growth Facilities Manager Tammy Brenner points toward the inside of the spathe, the large outer sheath that opens. Just below her hand is the floral chamber, where rows of tiny female and male flowers were blooming. They aren’t easy to see from outside, but the smell is impossible to miss.
John Eisele/Colorado State University

We deployed a series of devices for collecting air samples before, during and after the bloom. Then we measured chemicals in the air samples using a gas chromatography mass spectrometer, an instrument that is mentioned frequently on crime TV shows. Colleagues also brought a time-of-flight mass spectrometer that we placed downwind of Cosmo to measure volatile organic compounds every second.

To make each rare bloom count, corpse plants put vast amounts of energy into the show, producing large flowers that can weigh more than 100 pounds. The plants heat themselves up using a biochemical process known as thermogenesis that enhances emissions of organic compounds that attract insects.

Corpse plant emissions are notorious. While some local communities revered the plants, others would try to destroy them. In the 19th century, European explorers actively collected Titan arum plants and distributed them throughout botanical gardens and conservatories around the world.

Corpse plants are dichogamous: Each has both male and female flowers. Inside the giant petal-like leaf called a spathe, each plant has a central spike called a spadix that is ringed with many rows of tiny female and male flowers near its base. These female and male flowers bloom at separate times to avoid self-pollination, and they are the source of the smell.

A close up picture of the tiny flowers of the corpse plant. — Each corpse plant has both male (yellow) and female (red) flowers. The female flowers bloom first to attract pollinators coming from other corpse flowers. The next day, the male flowers bloom, providing pollen for flies and beetles to carry away to the next plant. The thin, yellow strands are pollen.
John Eisele/Colorado State University

On the first night of a corpse plant bloom, the female flowers bloom to attract pollinators that, if they’re lucky, are carrying pollen from another corpse plant.

Then, on the second night, the male flowers bloom, allowing pollinating insects to carry pollen off to another corpse plant.

The rare blooms and avoidance of self-pollination highlight not only why these plants are listed as endangered but also their need for efficient pollination strategies – exactly the chemistry we wanted to investigate.

Female flowers work harder

We found that the female flowers do most of the work attracting pollinators, as previous studies noted. They emit vast amounts of organic sulfur, plus some other compounds that mimic rotting smells to attract beetles and flies that normally feed on animal carcasses.

It’s this organic sulfur that really stinks from the female bloom: Methanethiol, a molecule in the same chemical family of compounds as the odors emitted by skunks, was the single most-emitted compound during Cosmo’s bloom.

An illustration of a corpse flower and some key aspects — Some of the keys to a corpse flower’s successful bloom. Floral biogenic volatile organic compounds (fBVOCs), are those released by flowers.
Mj Riches and Rose Rossell/Colorado State University

We also measured many other organic sulfur compounds, including dimethyl disulfide, which has a garlic smell; dimethyl sulfide, known for an unpleasant scent; and dimethyl trisulfide, which smells like rotting cabbage or onions. We also measured dozens of other compounds: sweet-smelling benzyl alcohol, asphalt-scented phenol and fragrant benzaldehyde.

While previous studies found some of the same compounds with different instruments, we were able to measure the methanethiol and quantify the concentrations quickly enough to track the progress of the bloom overnight.

As Cosmo bloomed, we combined our instrument data with measurements of the air change rate in the greenhouse – meaning how fast it takes for air to move through the space – and were able to calculate the emission rates.

The volatile emissions added up to about 0.4% of the plant’s average biomass, meaning the plant, which we estimated to weigh about 100 pounds, lost a measurable amount of weight while producing those chemicals. That’s a lot of stench.

Floral trapping

The female flowers bloomed all night, but early the next morning the emissions rapidly stopped. We wondered whether this cutoff point just might be evidence of floral trapping: a pollination strategy employed by other members of Titan arum’s family.

Four images sow the outside, cutaway, and the interior of the plant. — A cutaway of another species of *Amorphophallus, Amorphophallus declinatus,* shows how the male and female flowers surround the spadix inside the spathe.
Cyrille Claudel, The Plant Journal, 2023, CC BY-NC-ND

During floral trapping, the floral chamber can physically close through movement of hairs or expansion of parts of the plant, such as the surrounding spathe. A physical closure of the floral chamber would not be easily visible to bystanders, but it could rapidly cut off the emissions the way we observed.

An Australian arum lily that smells like dung uses this technique. The carrion insects that come for the female flowers are forced to stay for the male flowers that bloom the next night, so they can carry off that pollen to find another female corpse bloom. Our evidence suggests that the corpse flower probably does too.

The second night, the emissions started back up – at much lower levels. The male flowers emit a sweeter set of aromatic compounds and far less sulfur than the females.

A chart tracks four chemicals rising quickly and powerful during the female bloom, then rising much more subtly during the male bloom. — How four of the main chemicals released from the corpse flower rose, fell and rose again during its two-day bloom. The numbers on the left measure methanethiol; those on the right measure the three sulfides. Arrows on the left show comparison levels of methanethiol measured over landfills, waste sites and a paper mill to showcase just how stinky the bloom was.
Rose Rossell/Colorado State University

We hypothesize that the male flowers don’t need to work as hard to smell pungent in order to attract as many insects because insects are already there due to floral trapping. A 2023 study found that thermogenesis was also weaker during the male bloom: the spadix reached 96.8 degrees Fahrenheit (36 C) during the female bloom, but only 92 F (33.2 C) during the male bloom.

Stinkier than a landfill

We found that the corpse plant’s powerful emission rates can be an order of magnitude stronger than landfills – albeit only for two nights. These strong emissions are well designed to move far through the Sumatran jungle to attract carrion flies.

The odors are also resilient to atmospheric oxidation – the way organic compounds degrade in the atmosphere by reacting with oxidants in pollution such as ozone or nitrate radicals. Different compounds degrade at different rates – an important factor for attracting pollinators.

Many insects are attracted to not just one volatile compound, but by specific ratios of different volatile compounds. When atmospheric pollution degrades floral emissions and these ratios change, pollinators have a harder time finding flowers.

The female floral plume maintained a reasonably constant ratio of the major sulfur chemicals. The male plume, however, was far more susceptible to degrading in pollution and changing floral ratios in nighttime air.

These enigmatic plants put a lot of energy into clever pollination strategies. Cosmo taught us about their far-reaching scents of rotting meat, thermogenesis to increase emissions and floral entrapment, offering new insight into the corpse plant’s spectacular bloom.

Delphine Farmer receives funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Energy, and the W.M. Keck Foundation.

Mj Riches receives funding from the National Science Foundation.

Rose Rossell 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. How a corpse plant makes its terrible smell − it has a strategy, and its female flowers do most of the work – https://theconversation.com/how-a-corpse-plant-makes-its-terrible-smell-it-has-a-strategy-and-its-female-flowers-do-most-of-the-work-263409

September 16, 2025

5 ways students can think about learning so that they can learn more − and how their teachers can help

Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Jerrid Kruse, Professor of Science Education, Drake University

Learning is more than just memorization. FG Trade/E+ via Getty Images

During my years teaching science in middle school, high school and college, some of my students have resisted teaching that educators call higher-order thinking. This includes analysis, creative and critical thinking, and problem-solving.

For example, when I asked them to draw conclusions from data or generate a process for testing an idea, some students replied, “Why don’t you tell us what to do?” or “Isn’t it the teacher’s job to tell us the right answers?”

In other words, my students had developed a strong preconceived notion that knowledge comes from authority. After investigating, my colleagues and I concluded that these beliefs about learning were influencing how they approached our lessons – and thus what they were able to learn.

All students come to class with a range of beliefs about what it means to learn. In the field of education, perhaps the most sought-after belief is what we call having a growth mindset. Students with a growth mindset believe they can improve and continue to learn. In contrast, students with a fixed mindset struggle to believe they can become more knowledgeable about the topic they’re studying. When students say, “I’m bad at math,” they exhibit a fixed mindset.

As teachers, we not only try to help students understand the topic at hand but also aim to instill accurate beliefs about learning so nothing interferes with their ability to take in new information.

Other than the growth mindset, I argue that five other beliefs are particularly important to promote in classrooms to help students become better learners and more prepared for the modern world.

Learning is understanding

Some students and teachers equate learning to memorizing.

While memorization has a role in learning, deep learning is about understanding. Students will be well served recognizing that learning is about explaining and connecting concepts to make meaning.

Too much focus on memorizing can hide gaps in learning.

For example, I was once working with a preschool student when they proudly demonstrated their ability to recite the numbers 1 through 20. I then asked the student to count the pencils on the desk. The student did not understand my request. They had not connected these new words to the number concept.

To help students recognize the importance of understanding for learning, teachers and parents might engage students in questions such as, “Why is connecting a new idea to an old idea better than just trying to memorize the answer?” or “Why is an explanation more useful than just an answer?”

a young girl sitting at a desk buries her forehead in a textbook — Learning is hard.
demaerre/iStock via Getty Images

Learning is complex and requires challenge

Students’ belief that learning is akin to memorization may reflect a related belief that knowledge is simple and learning should be easy.

Instead, educators want students to embrace complexity and its challenges. Through wrestling with nuance and complexity, students engage in the mental effort required to form and reinforce new connections in their thinking.

When students believe knowledge is simple and learning should be easy, their engagement in higher-order thinking, which is required to embrace complexity and nuance, suffers.

To help students who are struggling grasp a complex idea, teachers and parents might ask questions that help students see why learning is complex and requires challenge.

Learning takes time

When students believe learning is simple and easy, educators should not be surprised they think learning should be fast as well.

Instead, students ought to understand that deep learning takes time. If students believe learning is quick, they are less likely to seek challenge, explore nuance or reflect and make connections among ideas. Unfortunately, many curricula pack so much intended learning into a short amount of time that beliefs in quick learning are subtly reinforced.

While teachers can get creative with curricular materials — and spend more time challenging students to explore complexity and make connections — just spending more time on a concept may not be enough to shift a student’s beliefs about learning.

To help students shift their thinking about the speed of learning, I ask them to discuss questions such as, “Why do you think understanding complex concepts takes so much time?” or “Why would only covering this concept for one lesson not be enough?” With these questions, my colleagues and I have found students start to recognize that deep learning is slow and takes time.

Learning is ongoing

Students should also recognize that learning doesn’t end.

Unfortunately, many students believe learning to be a destination rather than an ongoing process. Yet, because knowledge contains an inherent level of uncertainty, and increased learning often reveals increased complexity, learning must be continuous.

To help students reflect on this belief, teachers and parents might ask their students, “How do you think your knowledge has changed over time?” and “How do you think your learning will change in the future?”

a white man stands facing away from the camera toward students at row desks — Learning doesn’t come only from teachers at the front of a class.
Drazen Zigic/iStock via Getty Images

Learning is not only from teachers

I remember one high school student telling me that “teachers are supposed to tell us the answers, so we know what to put on the test.”

This student had apparently figured out the “rules of the game” and was not happy when their teacher was trying to engage them in higher-order thinking. This student was holding onto a transmission model of learning in which learning comes from authority figures.

Instead, students should recognize that learning comes from many sources, including their experiences, their peers and their own thinking, as well as from authority figures.

While teachers and parents may hesitate to undermine their own authority, they do students a disservice when they do not prepare them to question and go beyond authority figures.

To help students shift their thinking, teachers might ask students to consider, “Why might learning from multiple sources help you better understand the complexity and nuance of a concept?”

Building better beliefs about learning

Often, teachers and parents believe opportunities to engage in higher-order thinking are enough to help their students develop better beliefs about learning.

But such beliefs require explicit attention and must be planned for in lessons. This is done by asking reflective questions that target specific beliefs, such as the questions noted in the final sentence of each of the previous sections.

In my experience, the conversations I’ve had with students using the questions noted above are highly engaging. Moreover, helping kids develop more robust beliefs about learning just might be the most important thing teachers can do to prepare students for the future.

Jerrid Kruse receives funding from the National Science Foundation, the NASA Iowa Space Grant Consortium, and the William G. Stowe Foundation.

– ref. 5 ways students can think about learning so that they can learn more − and how their teachers can help – https://theconversation.com/5-ways-students-can-think-about-learning-so-that-they-can-learn-more-and-how-their-teachers-can-help-244619

September 16, 2025

Suprématie du dollar : les tarifs douaniers de Trump sur l’Inde pourrait la fragiliser

Source: The Conversation – France (in French) – By Sambit Bhattacharyya, Professor of Economics, University of Sussex Business School, University of Sussex

Au-delà de l’économie, la politique tarifaire de Donald Trump s’affirme comme un levier de diplomatie aux répercussions géopolitiques considérables. L’imposition de droits de douane de 50 % à l’Inde, alliée stratégique des États-Unis au sein du Quad, menace non seulement les échanges bilatéraux, mais risque aussi de rapprocher New Delhi de la Russie et de la Chine, de renforcer la cohésion des BRICS et de fragiliser la primauté du dollar sur la scène mondiale.

La politique tarifaire de Donald Trump semble être devenue autant un outil de politique étrangère qu’une stratégie économique. Mais la décision de l’administration d’imposer des droits de douane de 50 % à l’Inde, un allié clé des États-Unis dans le cadre du Quad (dialogue quadrilatéral pour la sécurité) — le groupe de coopération militaire et diplomatique informelle entre les États-Unis, l’Inde, le Japon et l’Australie — pourrait avoir des répercussions importantes, non seulement sur le commerce international, mais aussi sur la géopolitique mondiale.

La justification américaine de cette hausse des droits de douane est avant tout politique. La Maison Blanche affirme que l’Inde a tiré profit de l’achat et de la revente de pétrole russe, au mépris des sanctions imposées après l’invasion de l’Ukraine en 2022. Cela a aidé la Russie à surmonter les effets des sanctions et à continuer de financer sa guerre en Ukraine.

Il est évident que la politique tarifaire et les déclarations récentes de Washington et de New Delhi ont gravement détérioré une relation bilatérale encore naissante. À tel point que le premier ministre indien, Narendra Modi, a refusé de répondre aux appels téléphoniques de Trump. De son côté, Trump ne prévoit plus de se rendre en Inde pour le sommet du Quad prévu plus tard dans l’année.

Le premier ministre indien, Narendra Modi, a participé au sommet de l’Organisation de coopération de Shanghai (OCS) à Tianjin, en Chine, du 31 août au 1^er septembre, en compagnie du président russe Vladimir Poutine. Les trois dirigeants ont été photographiés ensemble en pleine discussion cordiale et M. Modi a rencontré séparément MM. Xi et Poutine en marge du sommet, présenté comme une alternative à l’ordre hégémonique dominé par les États-Unis.

Il apparaît désormais évident que la hausse des droits de douane américains ne détournera pas l’Inde de ses achats de pétrole russe. Bien au contraire, Modi a confirmé la volonté de son pays non seulement de maintenir ces importations, mais aussi de les accroître.

Rien d’étonnant à cela : la posture de l’Inde à l’égard de la Russie, en tant qu’importateur net de pétrole brut, relève moins d’une ambition géopolitique d’envergure que d’une nécessité économique concrète, celle de maîtriser l’inflation.

Sur le plan énergétique, l’Inde reste

très dépendante des importations, et sa population — majoritairement pauvre et vulnérable — a besoin de prix stables et abordables. Aucune pression venue des États-Unis ou de leurs alliés du G7 ne saurait modifier cette réalité économique fondamentale.

Le revers américain fait le jeu de Moscou

L’instauration des droits de douane américains risque de réduire les exportations indiennes de vêtements et de chaussures vers les États-Unis, les grandes marques occidentales se tournant vers des fournisseurs moins coûteux dans d’autres pays. Une telle dynamique se traduirait par une augmentation des prix pour les consommateurs américains.

Cependant, l’impact sur les fournisseurs indiens devrait rester limité, la demande mondiale en vêtements et chaussures demeurant très élevée. Ils pourraient aisément se tourner vers d’autres marchés.

Les pierres précieuses représentent un autre pilier des exportations indiennes, où le pays détient une position dominante à l’échelle mondiale. Les droits de douane américains ne devraient pas modifier sensiblement cette situation, l’Inde disposant de nombreux débouchés à l’exportation, bien que les États-Unis figurent parmi ses principaux clients.

Le renforcement des échanges commerciaux entre l’Inde et la Russie devrait favoriser de nouvelles opportunités d’investissements réciproques. Pour la Russie, la conjoncture économique pourrait globalement s’améliorer à la suite de ces droits de douane. L’Inde a d’ailleurs laissé entendre qu’elle augmenterait probablement ses importations de pétrole, tandis que la Russie profiterait d’achats de vêtements et de chaussures à prix compétitifs en provenance d’Inde, les fournisseurs indiens cherchant à rediriger leurs exportations vers de nouveaux débouchés.

Le renforcement des relations économiques avec l’Inde, qui ambitionne de porter les échanges bilatéraux à

100 milliards de dollars américains

(92 milliards d’euros) d’ici 2030, offrira à la Russie un important marché alternatif à la Chine pour écouler ses produits. Elle y gagnera également un fournisseur majeur de biens de consommation, habituellement importés, contribuant ainsi à maintenir des prix abordables pour les ménages russes.

La fin de la primauté du dollar américain ?

L’Occident court le risque que, si les tensions tarifaires se traduisent par des sanctions financières plus strictes, les investissements indiens se détournent des États-Unis et des pays du G7 au profit de la Russie et de la Chine. Les investisseurs indiens sont actuellement [très présents]

(https://qz.com/half-of-40-billion-indian-fdi-in-us-in-2-sectors-1850407567) dans les secteurs de l’automobile, de la pharmacie, des technologies de l’information et des télécommunications en Occident, mais ces flux pourraient être redirigés vers d’autres marchés.

On observe de plus en plus de signes d’une cohésion renforcée, non seulement au sein de l’OCS, mais également au sein du groupe des BRICS, qui regroupe un nombre croissant de nations commerçantes. Initialement composé des membres fondateurs — le Brésil, la Russie, l’Inde, la Chine et l’Afrique du Sud — le groupe s’est récemment élargi pour inclure l’Égypte, l’Éthiopie, l’Iran, l’Indonésie et les Émirats arabes unis.

Ces économies en pleine croissance s’efforcent déjà de mettre en place des mécanismes techniques pour les investissements mutuels et les règlements commerciaux dans leurs monnaies locales plutôt qu’en dollars américains.

Les chocs commerciaux mondiaux provoqués par l’imposition de droits de douane par les États-Unis ont entraîné une baisse à court terme de la valeur du dollar américain. Si cette dépréciation reste modeste d’un point de vue historique, elle masque néanmoins un risque plus important à long terme.

Le problème ne concerne pas les transactions commerciales, qui ne constituent qu’une part marginale des opérations en dollars. Les risques à long terme résident plutôt dans une possible diminution du rôle du dollar dans la gestion d’actifs, l’investissement, les activités financières et les réserves internationales.

En particulier, le rôle quasi exclusif du dollar comme monnaie de réserve pour les pays du BRICS et du Sud est aujourd’hui menacé.

Toute politique susceptible de remettre en cause ce statut mettrait en danger la prospérité et la sécurité des États-Unis. Le problème, c’est que toute orientation financière ou commerciale rapprochant les principaux partenaires commerciaux américains de la Russie et de la Chine aurait
précisément cet effet.

Sambit Bhattacharyya bénéficie d’un financement de UK Research and Innovation, du Conseil de recherche économique et sociale, du Conseil australien de la recherche et du Conseil européen de la recherche.

– ref. Suprématie du dollar : les tarifs douaniers de Trump sur l’Inde pourrait la fragiliser – https://theconversation.com/suprematie-du-dollar-les-tarifs-douaniers-de-trump-sur-linde-pourrait-la-fragiliser-265338

September 16, 2025

Le colonialisme et les risques climatiques sont liés : preuves issues du Ghana et du Sénégal

Source: The Conversation – in French – By Nick Bernards, Associate Professor of Global Sustainable Development, University of Warwick

L’expérience coloniale a profondément transformé les économies et les sociétés, avec des conséquences profondes.

En tant que chercheur intéressé par l’histoire coloniale et son impact sur le développement actuel, j’ai récemment étudié certains aspects de cet héritage à travers une analyse comparative du Sénégal et du Ghana, basée sur des recherches archivistiques antérieures.

Dans cet article, j’explore les liens entre les principales cultures d’exportation coloniales et les formes quotidiennes de vulnérabilité climatique rencontrées dans ces deux pays. Je montre comment les formes d’exploitation qui ont émergé dans le contexte du capitalisme colonial sont liées à la forme et à la répartition inégale des risques climatiques actuels. Ces histoires ont profondément influencé la manière dont les populations sont exposées à des températures record et à des régimes pluviométriques imprévisibles.

Il est de plus en plus reconnu que la dégradation du climat mondial et la vulnérabilité à ses effets sont profondément enracinées dans l’histoire du colonialisme. Cette reconnaissance s’est même frayé un chemin dans les cercles politiques officiels. Le sixième rapport d’évaluation du GIEC de 2022 (Groupe d’experts intergouvernemental sur l’évolution du climat, l’organe scientifique des Nations unies chargé du climat), par exemple, reconnaît que la vulnérabilité au changement climatique est « souvent rendue plus complexe par des événements passés, tels que l’histoire du colonialisme ».

Mes recherches aident à compléter ce tableau en montrant à quel point ces impacts sont complexes et profondément ancrés.

Répartition inégale

Les personnes les plus exposées à la crise climatique sont souvent celles qui ont le moins contribué à la créer. En tant que région, l’Afrique contribue à environ 4 % des émissions mondiales de CO₂. En effet, certaines estimations montrent que ce n’est qu’au cours de la dernière décennie que l’Afrique a collectivement émis plus de carbone qu’elle n’en stocke dans divers écosystèmes.

Selon l’Organisation météorologique mondiale, les températures en Afrique augmentent plus rapidement que la moyenne mondiale. Selon des estimations récentes, les pertes économiques dues à la chaleur seule ont atteint 8 % du PIB dans une grande partie de l’Afrique entre 1992 et 2013.

Les puissances coloniales ont extrait des richesses se chiffrant en milliers de milliards des peuples et des territoires colonisés. Elles ont continué à le faire après la fin officielle de la domination coloniale. Les pays riches ont brûlé bien plus que leur juste part de combustibles fossiles au cours de ce processus.

Cela signifie que les pays colonisés, dotés d’infrastructures sous-développées et dont les citoyens sont appauvris, ont moins de capacités pour résister et réagir à des conditions météorologiques de plus en plus sévères.

Mais les liens entre le colonialisme et la vulnérabilité climatique ne se réduisent pas à ces indicateurs économiques ou aux seules émissions de carbone.

Les dégâts causés par les modèles économiques de l’époque coloniale

Dans mon article, je montre comment les modes de vie quotidiens spécifiques des populations exposées aux risques climatiques dans les anciens pays colonisés sont également étroitement liés à l’organisation des économies coloniales.

Les économies coloniales du Sénégal et du Ghana étaient dominées par des sociétés commerciales françaises et anglaises. Ces marchands ont profondément remodelé les structures économiques, en particulier au cours des dernières décennies du XIXe siècle et des premières décennies du XXe siècle.

L’une des stratégies utilisées par les marchands britanniques et français consistait à prendre le contrôle du commerce des matières premières (cacahuètes au Sénégal, cacao au Ghana) par le biais de chaînes de dettes. Grâce à des réseaux complexes de courtiers et de négociants, les marchands coloniaux fournissaient aux agriculteurs des intrants agricoles et des biens de première nécessité en échange des récoltes attendues.

Ce système protégeait largement les entreprises européennes contre les risques inhérents à l’agriculture, tels que les intempéries et les parasites.

Ce système a également entraîné un endettement de plus en plus important des agriculteurs locaux. Lorsque les gens devaient emprunter de l’argent ou des biens pour planter leurs cultures et survivre jusqu’à la récolte, cela avait tendance à contraindre les agriculteurs à produire les mêmes cultures pour l’exportation année après année.

Dans les deux pays, cela signifiait que la productivité des agriculteurs avait tendance à baisser au fil du temps en raison des problèmes liés aux parasites et à l’appauvrissement des sols. Souvent, la seule solution pour les agriculteurs, qui dans de nombreux cas avaient déjà vendu leurs récoltes à l’avance, était de cultiver de manière plus intensive.

Cela a eu pour effet d’aggraver à la fois l’endettement et la vulnérabilité aux risques écologiques. Les agriculteurs endettés étaient plus exposés aux mauvaises récoltes et les rendements agricoles étaient souvent réduits, ce qui les obligeait à dépenser de plus en plus pour les intrants. L’intensification des cultures a également accéléré l’érosion des sols et la propagation des parasites.

Le système colonial a également limité les investissements qui auraient pu améliorer la productivité ou offrir une meilleure protection contre les risques climatiques. Au Sénégal, par exemple, la culture coloniale de l’arachide dépendait principalement des eaux de pluie pour son approvisionnement en eau. Les responsables du gouvernement colonial ont rejeté les propositions de construction de systèmes d’irrigation, et les entreprises commerciales qui n’étaient pas directement impliquées dans la culture n’avaient guère d’intérêt à investir.

Les économies postcoloniales ont considérablement changé, mais des éléments importants du système commercial de l’époque coloniale sont néanmoins restés en place. Les principales cultures d’exportation dans les deux pays continuent d’être cultivées par de nombreux petits producteurs, et les moyens de subsistance de nombreuses personnes restent fortement dépendants des cultures commerciales.

Plus important encore, la forme de vulnérabilité climatique reflète étroitement les risques qui sont apparus à l’époque coloniale. La disponibilité imprévisible de l’eau, par exemple, reste l’une des formes les plus pressantes de vulnérabilité climatique dans les régions productrices d’arachides. C’est particulièrement le cas au Sénégal, où la culture de l’arachide reste largement dépendante de la pluie pour son approvisionnement en eau. Il en résulte, comme l’a montré une étude, que les niveaux de pauvreté dans les régions productrices d’arachides restent étroitement liés aux niveaux de précipitations.

Prochaines étapes

La situation n’est pas la même partout. L’un des héritages du colonialisme est qu’il a créé de nouveaux modèles de développement inégal et inéquitable au sein des colonies et entre elles. Dans des pays comme le Kenya et l’Afrique du Sud, la colonisation a entraîné l’installation de populations européennes. Les populations et les communautés africaines ont été déplacées pour faire place à des plantations et des mines. Les luttes pour l’accès à l’eau, pour ne citer qu’un exemple, restent fortement marquées par ces histoires.

Le fait est que l’empreinte du colonialisme sur la crise climatique est profonde et complexe. Le colonialisme ne s’est pas contenté d’extraire des richesses et des ressources. Il a profondément transformé les sociétés, les économies et les relations des populations avec le monde naturel.

Cela signifie que la dette climatique des pays riches envers le reste du monde dépasse la simple valeur des richesses extraites ou le volume de carbone émis. Elle est probablement incalculable et impossible à rembourser.

Nick Bernards a reçu un financement du Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines du Canada et de la British International Studies Association.

– ref. Le colonialisme et les risques climatiques sont liés : preuves issues du Ghana et du Sénégal – https://theconversation.com/le-colonialisme-et-les-risques-climatiques-sont-lies-preuves-issues-du-ghana-et-du-senegal-264910

September 16, 2025

What babies’ cries really tell us – and why maternal instinct is a myth

Source: The Conversation – France in French (2) – By Nicolas Mathevon, Professeur (Neurosciences & bioacoustique – Université de Saint-Etienne, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes – PSL & Institut universitaire de France), Université Jean Monnet, Saint-Étienne

The sound slices through the quiet of the night: a muffled sob, then a hiccup, quickly escalating into a high-pitched, frantic wail. For any parent or caregiver, this is a familiar, urgent call to action. But what is it a call for? Is the baby hungry? In pain? Lonely? Or simply uncomfortable? For generations, we’ve been told that understanding this primal language is a matter of intuition, a “maternal instinct” that allows a mother to divine her child’s needs. Society often reinforces this idea, creating an elite class of quasi-psychic super-parents who seem to know everything, and leaving many others feeling inadequate and guilty when they can’t immediately decipher the message.

As a bioacoustics researcher, I have spent years studying the communication of animals – from the soft calls of crocodile nestlings synchronizing their hatching and pushing the parent to dig the nest, to the calls of zebra finches allowing mate recognition. I was surprised to discover, upon turning my attention to our own species, that the cries of human babies hold as much, if not more, mystery. My colleagues and I have spent over a decade applying the tools of acoustic analysis, psycho-acoustic experiments and neuro-imagery to this intimate world. Our findings, detailed in my book, The intimate world of babies’ cries, challenge many of our most cherished beliefs and offer a new, evidence-based framework for understanding this fundamental form of human communication.

The first and perhaps most important thing to know is this: you cannot tell why your baby is crying just from the sound of the cry alone.

Busting the ‘language of cries’ myth

Many parents feel immense pressure to become “cry experts”, and an entire industry has sprung up to capitalise on this anxiety. There are apps, devices, and expensive training programmes all promising to translate cries into specific needs: “I’m hungry,” “change my diaper,” “I’m tired.” Our research, however, shows these claims are baseless.

To test this scientifically, we undertook a large-scale study. We placed automatic recorders in the rooms of 24 babies, recording them continuously for two days at a time at several ages during their first four months of life. This resulted in an enormous dataset of 3,600 hours of recordings containing nearly 40,000 cry “syllables”. The dedicated parents carefully logged the action that successfully soothed the baby, giving us a “cause” for each cry: hunger (soothed by a bottle), discomfort (soothed by a diaper change), or isolation (soothed by being held). We then used machine learning algorithms, training an artificial intelligence on the acoustic properties of these thousands of cries to see if it could learn to identify the cause. If there was a distinct “hunger cry” or “discomfort cry”, the AI should have been able to detect it.

The result was a resounding failure. The AI’s success rate was only 36% – barely above the 33% it would get by pure chance. To ensure this wasn’t just a limitation of technology, we repeated the experiment with human listeners. We had parents and nonparents first “train” on the cries of a specific baby, just as a parent would in real life, and then asked them to identify the cause of new cries from that same baby. They fared no better, scoring just 35%. The acoustic signature of a cry for food is not reliably different from a cry of discomfort.

This doesn’t mean parents can’t figure out what their baby needs. It simply means the cry itself is not an entry in a dictionary. The cry is the alarm bell. It is your knowledge of the essential context that allows you to decode it. “It’s been three hours since the last feeding, so they are probably hungry.” “That diaper felt full.” “They’ve been alone in the crib for a while.” You are the detective; the cry is simply the initial, undifferentiated alert.

What cries actually tell us

If cries don’t signal their cause, what information do they reliably convey? Our research shows they transmit two crucial pieces of information.

The first is static information: the baby’s unique vocal identity. Just as every adult has a distinct voice, every baby has a unique cry signature, primarily determined by the fundamental frequency (pitch) of their cry. This is a product of their individual anatomy – the size of their larynx and vocal cords. It’s why you can recognise your baby’s cry in a nursery. Interestingly, while babies have an individual signature, they do not have a sex signature. The larynxes of baby boys and girls are the same size. Yet, adults consistently attribute high-pitched cries to girls and low-pitched cries to boys, projecting their knowledge of adult voices onto infants.

The second, and more urgent, piece of information is dynamic: the baby’s level of distress. This is the most important message encoded in a cry, and it is conveyed not so much by pitch or loudness, but by a quality we call “acoustic roughness”. A cry of simple discomfort, from being a little cold after a bath, for instance, is relatively harmonious and melodic. The vocal cords vibrate in a regular, stable way. But a cry of real pain, as we recorded during routine vaccinations, is dramatically different. It becomes chaotic, rough, and grating. This is because the stress of pain causes the baby to force more air through their vocal cords, making the cords vibrate in a disorganised, non-linear way. Think of the difference between a clean note from a flute and the harsh, chaotic sound it makes when you blow too hard. This roughness, a collection of acoustic phenomena including chaos and sudden frequency jumps, is a universal and unmistakable signal of high distress. A melodious “wah-wah” means “I’m a bit unhappy,” while a rough, harsh “IIiiRRRRhh” means “This is serious!”.

It’s learning, not instinct

So, who is best at decoding these complex signals? The pervasive myth of “maternal instinct” suggests that mothers are biologically hard-wired for the task. Our work comprehensively debunks this. An instinct, like a goose’s fixed behaviour of rolling an egg back to its nest, is innate and automatic. Understanding cries is not like this at all.

In one of our key studies we tested mothers and fathers on their ability to identify their own baby’s cry from a selection of others. We found absolutely no difference in performance between the two. The single most important factor was the amount of time spent with the baby. Fathers who spent as much time with their infants were just as adept as mothers. The ability to decode cries is not innate; it is learned through exposure. We confirmed this in studies with non-parents. We found that childless adults could learn to recognise a specific baby’s voice after hearing it for less than 60 seconds. And those with prior childcare experience, like babysitting or raising younger siblings, were significantly better at identifying a baby’s pain cries than those with no experience.

This all makes perfect evolutionary sense. Humans are “cooperative breeders”. Unlike in many primates where the mother has a near-exclusive relationship with her infant, human babies have historically been cared for by a network of individuals: fathers, grandparents, siblings, and other members of the community. In some hunter-gatherer societies like the!Kung, a baby may have up to 14 different caregivers. A hard-wired, mother-only “instinct” would be a profound disadvantage for a species that relies on a team.

The brain on cries: experience rewires everything

Our neuroscientific research reveals how this learning process works. When we hear a baby cry, a whole network of brain regions, called the “baby-cry brain connectome”, springs into action. Using MRI scans, we’ve observed that cries activate auditory centres, the empathy network (allowing us to feel another’s emotion), the mirror network (helping us put ourselves in another’s shoes), and areas involved in emotion regulation and decision-making.

Crucially, this response is not the same for everyone. When we compared the brain activity of parents and nonparents, we found that while everyone’s brain responds, the “parental brain” is different. Experience with a baby strengthens and specialises these neural networks. For example, parents’ brains show greater activation in regions associated with planning and executing a response, while nonparents show a more raw, untempered emotional and empathetic reaction. Parents shift from simply feeling the distress to actively problem-solving. Furthermore, we found that individual levels of empathy – not gender – were the strongest predictor of how intensely the brain’s “parental vigilance” network activated. Caring is a skill that is honed through practice, and it physically reshapes the brain of any dedicated caregiver, male or female.

Why this matters: from coping to cooperation

Understanding the science of crying is not just an academic exercise; it has profound real-world implications. Incessant crying, especially from colic (which affects up to a quarter of infants), is a primary source of parental stress, sleep deprivation, and exhaustion. This exhaustion can lead to feelings of failure and, in the worst cases, can be a trigger for shaken baby syndrome, a tragic and preventable form of abuse.

The knowledge that you are not supposed to “just know” what a cry means can be incredibly liberating. It removes the burden of guilt and allows you to focus on the practical task: check the context, assess the level of distress (is the cry rough or melodic?), and try solutions. Most importantly, the science points to our species’ greatest strength: cooperation. The fact that any human can become an expert caregiver through experience means you are not meant to do this alone. The unbearable cries become bearable when they can be passed to a partner, a grandparent, or a friend for a much-needed break.

So, the next time you hear that piercing cry in the night, remember what it truly is: not a test of your innate abilities or a judgement on your parenting skills, but a simple, powerful alarm. It’s a signal designed to be answered not by a mystical instinct, but by a caring, attentive and experienced human brain. And if you’re feeling overwhelmed, the most scientifically sound and evolutionarily appropriate response is to ask for help.

Nicolas Mathevon is the author of The intimate world of babies’ cries: The best ways to understand and calm your baby.

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Nicolas Mathevon has received funding from the ANR, IUF, and Fondation des Mutuelles AXA.

– ref. What babies’ cries really tell us – and why maternal instinct is a myth – https://theconversation.com/what-babies-cries-really-tell-us-and-why-maternal-instinct-is-a-myth-264525

September 16, 2025

Molecular ‘fossils’ offer microscopic clues to the origins of life – but they take care to interpret

Source: The Conversation – USA – By Caroline Lynn Kamerlin, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology

ATP synthase is an enzyme that has been using phosphate to generate life’s energy for millions of years. Nanoclustering/Science Photo Library via Getty Images

The questions of how humankind came to be, and whether we are alone in the universe, have captured imaginations for millennia. But to answer these questions, scientists must first understand life itself and how it could have arisen.

In our work as evolutionary biochemists and protein historians, these core questions form the foundation of our research programs. To study life’s history billions of years ago, we often use clues called molecular “fossils” – ancient structures shared by all living organisms.

Recently, we discovered that an important molecular fossil found in an ancient protein family may not be what it seems. The dilemma centers, in part, on a simple question: What does it mean if a simple molecular structure – the fossil – is found in every single organism on Earth? Do molecular fossils point to the seeds that gave rise to modern biological complexity, or are they simply the stubborn pieces that have resisted erosion over time? The answers have far-reaching implications for how scientists understand the origins of biology.

Follow the phosphorus to follow life

Life is made of many different building blocks, one of the most important of which is the chemical element phosphorus. Phosphorus makes up part of your genetic material, powers complex metabolic reactions and acts as a molecular switch to control enzymes.

Phosphorus compounds – specifically a charged form called phosphate – have a number of unique chemical properties that other biological compounds cannot match. In the words of the pioneering organic chemist F.H. Westheimer, they are chemically able to “do almost everything.”

Their unique combination of stability, versatility and adaptability is why many researchers argue that following phosphorus is key to finding life. The presence of phosphorus both close to home – in the ocean or on one of Saturn’s moons – and in the farthest reaches of our galaxy is strong evidence for the potential for life beyond Earth.

Chemical structure of a nucleotide, made of a phosphate, ribose sugar and base — Phosphate is part of many essential biological molecules, including the building blocks of DNA.
Charles Molnar and Jane Gair, CC BY-SA

If phosphorus is so critical to life, how did early biology predating cells first use it?

Today, biological organisms are able to make use of phosphates through proteins – molecular machines that regulate all aspects of life. By binding to proteins, phosphates regulate metabolism and cellular communication, and they serve as a source of cellular energy.

Further, the process of phosphorylation, or adding a phosphate group to a protein, is ubiquitous in biology and allows proteins to perform functions their individual building blocks cannot. Without proteins, the existence of organisms such as bacteria and humans may not be possible.

Given how essential phosphorus is to life, scientists hypothesize that phosphate binding was among the first biological functions to emerge on Earth. In fact, current evidence suggests that the first phosphate-binding proteins are truly ancient – even older than the last universal common ancestor, the hypothetical mother cell to all life on Earth that existed around 4 billion years ago.

A mysterious phosphate-binding fossil

One family of phosphate-binding proteins, called P-loop NTPases, regulates everything from the communication between cells to the storage of energy and are found across the tree of life. Because P-loop NTPases are among the most ancient protein families, analyzing their properties can provide key insights into both the emergence of proteins and how primitive life used phosphates.

Although P-loop NTPases are diverse in structure, they share a common motif called a P-loop. This component binds to phosphate by wrapping a nest of amino acids – the building blocks that make up proteins – around the molecule. Every known organism has multiple families of P-loop NTPase, which makes the P-loop an excellent example of a molecular fossil that can provide clues about the evolution of life. Our crude analysis of the human genome estimates that humans have about 5,000 copies of P-loops.

When part of a larger protein structure, the P-loop folds like origami into a shape that is ideal for hugging a phosphate molecule. These nests are extremely similar to each other, even when the surrounding proteins are only distantly related in function. A landmark study in 2012 argued that even if the P-loop nest is extracted from a protein, it can still bind to phosphate. In other words, the ability of a P-loop to form a nest is determined by its interactions with phosphate, not its protein scaffold.

This study provided the first evidence that some forms of the P-loop sequence could have functioned billions of years ago, even before the emergence of large, complex proteins. If true, this implies that P-loop nests may have seeded the emergence and evolution of many of the phosphate-binding proteins seen today.

Interrogating the history of the P-loop

The pioneer of bioinformatics, Margaret Oakley Dayhoff, hypothesized in 1966 that the large collection of big proteins seen today arose from small peptides that were duplicated and fused over long periods of time. Although P-loops may have evolved in a different way, Dayhoff’s realization was the first to clarify how complex forms could have arisen from much simpler ones.

Inspired by Dayhoff’s hypothesis, we sought to interrogate the role that simple P-loops may have played in the evolution of the complex proteins key to life. Our findings challenge what’s currently known about these molecular fossils.

Diagram showing the evolution of amino acids to oligopeptides to complex proteins — The Dayhoff hypothesis proposed that large, complex proteins arose from the duplication and merging of smaller, simpler peptides over time.
Merski et al./Biomolecules, CC BY-SA

Using computer models, we compared a range of P-loops from the P-loop NTPase family to a control group made of the same amino acids but in a different order. While these control loops are also found in proteins, they do not form nests.

Although the P-loops and the control loops are very different in their nest-forming ability, we found that they both are able to form transient nests when embedded in proteins. This meant that, contrary to popular belief, the amino acid sequence of P-loops aren’t special in their ability to form nests – as would be expected if they alone were the seeds for many modern proteins.

A fossil eroded over time

Our work strongly suggests that while the P-loop is a molecular fossil, the true nature of its form billions of years ago may have been eroded by the sands of time.

For example, when we repeated our simulations in a different solvent – specifically methanol – we found that P-loops situated in their parent proteins were able to regain some of their ability to form nests. This doesn’t mean that being in methanol drove the first proteins with P-loops to form the nests critical for life. But it does emphasize the importance of considering the surrounding environment when studying peptides and proteins.

Just as archaeologists know to be careful in how they interpret physical fossils, historians of protein evolution could take similar care in their interpretation of molecular fossils. Our results complicate the current understanding of early protein evolution and, consequently, some aspects of the origins of life.

In resetting the field’s broader understanding of how these crucial proteins emerged, scientists are poised to start rewriting our own evolutionary history on this planet.

Caroline Lynn Kamerlin receives funding from the NASA Exobiology program.

Liam Longo receives funding from the NASA Exobiology program.

– ref. Molecular ‘fossils’ offer microscopic clues to the origins of life – but they take care to interpret – https://theconversation.com/molecular-fossils-offer-microscopic-clues-to-the-origins-of-life-but-they-take-care-to-interpret-259271