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March 20, 2026

If rivers had legal rights, sewage scandals would be much harder to ignore

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Philippe Cullet, Professor of International and Environmental Law, SOAS, University of London

World Water Day on March 22 is intended to be a celebration. Yet, for many in the UK, it brings up images of rivers and beaches contaminated with raw sewage, with 450,000 discharges recorded in England in 2024. It’s become a major political scandal, and is now the subject of a bleak Channel 4 docudrama.

But what if rivers themselves could take legal action against this pollution?

A growing movement of campaigners and researchers say rivers should be granted their own rights, independent of their value to humans. In this framework, rivers are not just resources to be used, but entities with the legal right to flow and to remain unpolluted. Crucially, those rights could be enforced in court by designated human guardians. Advocates of these “rights of nature” say it could give rivers a powerful new way to challenge pollution.

The problem of raw sewage dumping is directly linked to the privatisation of water companies in 1989. In theory, an independent regulator would protect rivers and the environment and ensure that monopoly companies, such as Thames Water, would not abuse their powers. But in practice, the system has struggled to prevent widespread pollution or hold companies to account – leaving rivers with no direct legal voice of their own.

The push for privatisation came alongside the relatively new idea that water should be treated as an economic good. For water companies, water is a commodity like oil or coal. They make money by charging for it, while pollution control is a cost they seek to minimise. When oversight is weak, dumping sewage in rivers becomes a cost-cutting or profit-making part of their business model.

Failings like these are why, since the beginning of the century, many people have started thinking about legal rights as an alternative to privatisation and ineffective protection.

There are valid questions about how it would work in practice. The guardian, for instance, is still a human voice but their mandate would be specifically to protect the rights of the river, including the ability to take cases to court.

This would change how sewage dumping is handled. At present, discharges are treated as a regulatory breach and are managed through permits and fines. If rivers had legal rights, repeated pollution could instead be challenged as a violation of those rights – and of the river’s “personhood”. A rights-based framework mandates that the person (in this case, the river) must be restored to their previous position, before their rights were violated. This could mean polluters being forced to restore the river and its ecosystems to their previous state, or to pay compensation to the river itself (rather than a fine that disappears into an overall government budget).

This sounded like wishful thinking only a few years ago, but in some places it is already becoming a reality. In 2025, Lewes District Council in East Sussex, England, backed the Rights of River Ouse Charter, which acknowledges the right of the river to exist, its right to flow and to be free from pollution – the equivalent of the right to life for human beings.

However, a single local council cannot create rights that would replicate the rights you or I might have. That would require major national legal changes. For now, the charter is a statement of intent and a guide for local policy, and the River Ouse has some way to go before its new status can be enforced.

A case from the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia shows how hard it is to enshrine such changes. After the Loyalty Islands Province adopted a legislative amendment to recognise the rights of sharks and marine turtles, the measure was challenged and the Conseil d’Etat – France’s highest court of appeal – determined that the province lacked the power to grant legal personhood to natural entities.

River viewed from a canoe — In Colombia, the River Atrato has been awarded legal personhood to recognise its importance to local communities and the damage caused by illegal mining.
oscar garces / shutterstock

But in New Zealand, the Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River) really does have full “legal personhood”. In 2017, national legislation – the Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement) Act – gave the river full legal rights and duties, to recognise the local Māori tribe’s spiritual connection to what some describe as a living ancestor.

Back in the UK, the recognition of river rights may help avoid a repeat of the catastrophic regulatory failures that the Channel 4 docudrama illustrates. As long as rivers are treated as assets to be managed, pollution remains negotiable – and ultimately acceptable. Recognising their rights would shift the priority from managing pollution to preventing it, and would make environmental protection a legal obligation, not a policy or business choice.

Philippe Cullet receives funding from UKRI.

The WATCON project (watcon.org) was assessed by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. It has received funding from UKRI under the UKRI Frontier Research grants scheme.

– ref. If rivers had legal rights, sewage scandals would be much harder to ignore – https://theconversation.com/if-rivers-had-legal-rights-sewage-scandals-would-be-much-harder-to-ignore-278819

March 20, 2026

Why does chronic pain often lead to depression? Our research shows the answer is in the brain

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Barbara Jacquelyn Sahakian, Professor of Clinical Neuropsychology, University of Cambridge

Researchers have long wondered why some people with chronic pain develop depression. yourphotopie/ Shutterstock

Chronic pain has long been known to be associated with depression.

Among adults with chronic pain, around 40% exhibit clinical symptoms of depression. But why is it that only some people with chronic pain develop depression?

Researchers have long been wondering why this happens – and what goes on in the brain. If we can answer this question, we may be able to prevent depression from developing.

Our recent article, published in Science, suggests the answer to this question does indeed lie in the brain.

To conduct our study, we analysed neuroimaging brain scans from 14,462 participants from the UK Biobank cohort. We compared the following groups of participants: people with chronic pain for at least seven years who did not have symptoms of depression, and people with chronic pain who also developed depressive symptoms.

For the latter, the depressive symptoms were present either for the entire seven-year period, or they developed after two years or four years. This enabled an analysis of the development of depression associated with chronic pain, using brain imaging.

These neuroimaging analyses revealed something surprising was taking place in the brain – specifically in a structure called the hippocampus. The hippocampus has important functions in learning and memory.

In the participants who reported chronic pain without depressive symptoms, they showed modest increases in hippocampal volume and improved memory performance. This is consistent with the brain attempting to cope with the stress of the pain.

In contrast, people experiencing both chronic pain and depression exhibited reduced hippocampal volume and impaired cognitive performance. Further analyses of these scans suggested these changes developed progressively over time. This indicates that the hippocampus may initially adapt to persistent pain, but it gradually becomes vulnerable when pain continues over long periods.

Importantly, similar patterns were observed across multiple categories of chronic pain – including back, stomach, knee and hip pain, as well as headaches. This suggests that the findings were not specific to a single type of chronic pain condition.

We then studied how these brain changes unfolded in people with chronic pain by using rodent animal models. This research found that in animals there was a similar sequence of changes in the volume of the hippocampus, accompanied by increased neural activity. Moderate improvements in cognitive functioning occurred initially, but this was then followed by anxiety-like behaviour, which later transitioned to depressive-like symptoms and poorer memory.

The hippocampus has long been known to be involved in emotional memories and is highly susceptible to chronic stress. The hippocampus’s plasticity (the ability to form new nerve cells) is known to be involved in coping with chronic stress.

A digital drawing depicting the hippocampus, which is illuminated in orange. — The hippocampus was shown to be the key area involved in the link between chronic pain and depression.
MattL_Images/ Shutterstock

Chronic stress has also been implicated in exacerbating apoptosis (nerve cell death) and suppressing adult neurogenesis – the process of producing new nerve cells in the hippocampus.

We found that a region of the hippocampus known as the dentate gyrus – one of the few areas where new brain cells continue to form in adulthood – emerged as the critical regulatory hub and the pivot for the transition from chronic pain to depression.

Early in the pain process, newly generated neurons in the dentate gyrus showed increased activity – suggesting the brain initially mounts a protective response to persistent pain. Over time, however, immune cells, known as microglia, became abnormally activated and disrupted normal neural signalling in the hippocampus.

This abnormal microglial activation appeared to mark the tipping point at which the brain’s initially protective response to pain began to fail.

Importantly, an antibiotic treatment, minocycline, suppressed abnormal microglial activation and reduced depression-like behaviour in the animal models. This treatment also preserved the structure of the hippocampus and cognitive function.

Treating pain and depression

Our findings suggest that a treatment such as minocycline could help prevent depression in people living with persistent pain — particularly if treatment is introduced early.

Of course, other psychosocial, socio-economic and genetic factors play a role in the perception of pain. Therefore, it’s likely that in some people these factors will exacerbate chronic stress and the experience of pain.

However, there are other evidence-based ways to reduce the risk of depression. In another collaborative study between Fudan University and the University of Cambridge, it was shown that seven healthy lifestyle factors, including good sleep, exercise and diet, could reduce the risk of depression by 57%. Importantly, these lifestyle factors were also associated with increased hippocampal volume, consistent with our new study.

Mindfulness training may be another strategy. This focuses on being present in the moment and minimising distraction from competing thoughts and memories. The practice is shown to improve working memory and increase hippocampal density.

A recent review showed that mindfulness meditation experts have increased brain grey matter, including the hippocampus. Mindfulness meditation training was also shown to lead to increased hippocampal volume.

Mindfulness practice has also been found to be beneficial for improving quality of life – not only when coping with chronic pain – and for reducing symptoms of stress and depression.

Our discovery has answered an important question that has long puzzled researchers. We showed the key role the brain’s hippocampus plays in why some chronic pain sufferers develop depression. This discovery also points to potential treatments that may prevent depression in people with chronic pain.

The brain’s coping mechanisms that we discovered may also apply more generally to other conditions where the brain has to cope with chronic stress – such as in psychological trauma.

Barbara Jacquelyn Sahakian receives funding from the Wellcome Trust and the Lundbeck Foundation. Her research work is conducted within the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) Mental Health and Neurodegeneration Themes. She receives Royalties from Cambridge University Press for Brain Boost: Healthy Habits for a Happier Life.

Jianfeng Feng receives funding from nsfc

Trevor Robbins he is a consultant for Cambridge Cognition, and Blandaris.

Xiao Xiao receives funding from 2030 China Brain Project.

– ref. Why does chronic pain often lead to depression? Our research shows the answer is in the brain – https://theconversation.com/why-does-chronic-pain-often-lead-to-depression-our-research-shows-the-answer-is-in-the-brain-278697

March 20, 2026

One in three Scottish people dies with unmet palliative care needs – what that means for assisted dying

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Philip Broadbent, Wellcome Multimorbidity PhD Fellow & Public Health Registrar, University of Glasgow

By twelve votes, the Scottish parliament rejected the assisted dying for terminally ill adults bill on March 17.

The debate that preceded it was emotionally charged and, at moments, genuinely moving. MSPs spoke of parents, partners, faith and fear. Much of it turned on the contents of the bill – safeguards, eligibility criteria and conscience clauses. The structural conditions in which terminally ill people in Scotland actually make decisions received less attention, and what attention they did receive struggled to translate into demands that any future legislation must meet.

Scotland is an unequal place to live. In its most deprived communities, life expectancy has been falling since 2013; a gap of more than 13 years now separates the richest and the poorest. And the people at the bottom of that gap do not simply die younger.

A 2012 study of 1.72 million Scottish patients found that having multiple long-term conditions begins ten to 15 years earlier in the poorest communities than in the wealthiest. Among the most disadvantaged of our society, the diseases that lead to terminal illness arrive sooner, in greater number and are compounded by poverty.

Scotland is also, by the measures that matter most, a deeply unequal place to die. Around 6,400 terminally ill Scots spend their final months below the poverty line. One in five die in fuel poverty. The additional costs of dying (equipment, housing adaptations, heating, transport, care) amount to between £12,000 and £16,000 in the final year of life for many households at precisely the moment income collapses.

Simultaneously, new research finds that almost one in three people in Scotland die with unmet palliative care needs. Around 18,500 people a year. A separate 2024 Scottish government service mapping survey found that three NHS boards have no specialist palliative medicine doctor at all, that out-of-hours advice is unavailable in around half of Scotland’s health and social care partnerships and that over half of specialist palliative services depend on charitable rather than public funding.

Following the vote, former prime minister Gordon Brown described a “moral obligation” to make urgently needed improvements to end-of-life care, warning that the “postcode lottery” means high levels of hospice and community care are available in some areas but not others.

These are not footnotes to the assisted dying debate. They are its foundation.

When safeguards aren’t enough

The standard case for assisted dying rests on autonomy: people should be free to choose, provided they have mental capacity and are not being coerced. The Scottish bill included extensive safeguards: two independent doctors, reflection periods, requirements to discuss alternatives and enquiries into social conditions.

Safeguards are designed to detect individual coercion: the controlling relative, the financial pressure applied by a family member. What they cannot detect is a different kind of pressure. That of a person who requests an assisted death, not because dying is what they want, but because the system has left them nothing else they can bear.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission, which submitted evidence at every stage of the bill’s passage, put the problem precisely: “coercion or pressure is not always something applied directly by other individuals. People with disabilities may feel subtle coercion to end their lives prematurely due to attitudinal barriers as well as the lack of appropriate services and support.”

It is instructive to look at Canada, which has had legalised assisted dying since 2016. Consider Sean Tagert, a Canadian man with motor neurone disease, who chose medical assistance in dying after his local health authority refused to fund the full hours of home care his doctors said he needed. The shortfall cost £200 a day, which he could not afford. He said, explicitly, that his decision was shaped by the failure of care funding.

A female veteran with military service related mental health conditions reported being offered assisted dying when she asked for a wheelchair lift.

A woman in Ontario died after years of failing to find housing that didn’t worsen her chronic illness, four doctors wrote to the government describing their response as “unconscionable”.

In none of these cases did safeguards fail. The issue is that the safeguards were not designed to ask whether people were choosing death because every other option had been removed removed by systemic failure.

In the US, Oregon has had assisted dying since 1997. Its 27-year dataset (the longest-running of any jurisdiction) provides a further, troubling signal. The proportion of patients on government insurance – a strong proxy for lower income – has grown steadily over the law’s lifetime, reaching 77% in 2024. This is nearly double the state average.

Financial concerns stated as a reason for requesting assisted dying reached a record high that same year. Psychiatric evaluation, required in 27% of cases in 1998, now occurs in less than 1%. Oregon does not collect income data; it destroys case records annually. Patterns of inequality are difficult to find when nobody is looking for them.

I do see Scotland returning to this question (the bill failed by only twelve votes). When it does, the inequality argument must do more than determine how people vote. It must shape what is proposed.

Any future bill deserves scrutiny not just of its safeguards, but of the conditions those safeguards operate in: whether palliative care is genuinely available, whether dying people are financially supported, and whether the data exists to know, in real time, whether structural disadvantage is shaping who requests an assisted death and why.

A choice made because there is no other bearable option is not a free choice. In Scotland today, for thousands of people at the end of their lives, that is precisely the situation. The assisted dying debate has the wrong question at its centre. The right one is: what kind of dying does Scotland currently provide, and for whom?

Philip Broadbent receives funding from the Wellcome Trust Multimorbidity Doctoral Training Programme 223499/Z/21/Z

– ref. One in three Scottish people dies with unmet palliative care needs – what that means for assisted dying – https://theconversation.com/one-in-three-scottish-people-dies-with-unmet-palliative-care-needs-what-that-means-for-assisted-dying-278700

March 20, 2026

Senegal stripped of title: Afcon ruling is lawful, but it puts Caf’s reputation at risk

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Fabrice Lollia, Docteur en sciences de l’information et de la communication, chercheur associé laboratoire DICEN Ile de France, Université Gustave Eiffel

The appeals board of African football’s ruling body, the Confederation of African Football (Caf), on 17 March overturned the outcome of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) final. Afcon is the continent’s biggest tournament.

On 18 January Senegal had won 1-0 in extra time against Morocco in Rabat. But two months down the road Caf declared a 3-0 score in favour of Morocco, citing violations of Articles 82 and 84 of its regulations. (Three points are the mandatory legal penalty.) Senegal has announced it will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

As a scholar of information and communication sciences, I have studied how social trust and symbolic mechanisms shape and influence organisational dynamics. In my view Caf’s decision to reassign the title to Morocco is not merely a matter of sports law. It also demonstrates how a regulatory decision can clash with the public narrative of an event and undermine a tournament’s image.

A final is not just a result. It is also a narrative, a memory, and a shared collective moment. When an institution later changes that, it destabilises an already established symbolic order.

A final isn’t just played on the field

Research in Information and Communication Sciences shows that an event never exists just as a raw fact. It exists through the channels that make it visible, tellable and shareable. A continental final involves images, commentary, ceremonial gestures, national emotions, digital reactions, and journalistic narratives.

The winner of a final is not merely determined by a rule or a scoreboard. They are also constructed through a chain of communication that publicly sets the event’s meaning. In this sense, victory is not just athletic; it is also narrative.

For the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, the story had already settled. Senegal won on the field. The images, commentary and immediate memory of the event had begun to embed this outcome in the public consciousness. When Caf stepped in two months later to legally overturn the outcome, it did more than apply rules. It was altering a story that the public had already embraced.

Was it legal?

Let’s be clear. Caf acted within its laws. Its statement is clear that Senegal’s temporary withdrawal from the field (the players walked off for about 15 minutes to protest a penalty decision) justifies the forfeit.

A sports body cannot claim to uphold the integrity of its competition if it fails to enforce its own rules.

But the legitimacy of this kind of decision also depends on how clearly it can be read and understood by the public.

Caf’s reputation under strain

This is where an information communication perspective can help make sense of things. The crisis is about a mismatch between several competing forms of legitimacy, or “truth” – the law, the field outcome, the images of it and how people receive it.

Any sports governing body has to make its rules credible in the eyes of the public. When a decision comes after the symbolic end of the event, it creates confusion in meaning.

The question shifts to whether it can still align its message with what the public understands of the competition.

Research shows this matters deeply. An institution depends on its ability to make its decisions seem coherent and acceptable.

The Senegalese Football Federation’s announcement of an appeal adds fuel to the fire. The final no longer exists as a stable end point. It continues to exist as a controversy, an unresolved matter.

Afcon is not just a football tournament. It is a continental sports brand. Its value does not rest solely on the quality of the play or its audience reach. It is also about story. A major competition produces heroes, images, emotions, memories. It also promises a form of symbolic clarity: in the end, a winner should emerge in a way that is understood and shared.

Its symbolic certainty is a valuable resource in the attention economy.

The controversy does not erase Afcon’s value, but it reshapes it. It shifts the event from a celebration to a dispute. And this shift is never neutral for a sports brand that also thrives on prestige, collective memory and trust.

Business risk

The issue extends beyond sport. It speaks directly to business. Sponsors, broadcasters, investors and tourism stakeholders do not only seek visibility. They also look for a stable, trustworthy and predictable environment.

The Afcon drama sends mixed signals. It demonstrates Caf’s commitment to enforcing the rules. But it also shows that a major event can remain symbolically unstable after it seemed over. This doesn’t always scare business partners away. But it adds reputation risks. It undermines the trust needed to attract investors.

For host nation Morocco, the event brought good economic gains. Hosting such a major tournament is not just about logistics. It also projects the image of a reliable country, able to manage a complex international event.

On the technical side, the tournament strengthened this image, especially ahead of the country co-hosting the 2030 men’s Fifa World Cup.

But the controversy serves as a reminder that a country can host well technically, yet lose some reputation gains due a crisis of meaning.

Bad for communication

In the age of viral images, instant controversies and reputation economies, legitimacy is not built by rules alone. It is also built on the public interpretations that arise.

A disconnect does not just affect a confederation or two national teams. It is an entire ecosystem of trust that is shaken. That includes the competition, its partners, and, indirectly, the host country as a credible organiser of major events.

Fabrice Lollia 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. Senegal stripped of title: Afcon ruling is lawful, but it puts Caf’s reputation at risk – https://theconversation.com/senegal-stripped-of-title-afcon-ruling-is-lawful-but-it-puts-cafs-reputation-at-risk-278855

March 20, 2026

Fink Haysom fought tirelessly for justice and reconciliation – in South Africa and on the global stage

Source: The Conversation – Africa (2) – By Hugh Corder, Professor Emeritus of Public Law, University of Cape Town

The preamble of the South African constitution of 1996 starts as follows:

We, the people of South Africa,

Recognise the injustices of our past,

Honour those who suffered for justice and freedom in our land,

Respect those who have worked to build and develop our country, and

Believe that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity.

It is fitting to start with this reminder, given the extent to which these phrases sum up and embody the life and work of Nicholas (Fink) Haysom, who died in New York City on Wednesday 18 March 2026, a month short of his 74th birthday.

Tributes have poured forth from a wide range of people and quarters, appropriately given the geographical reach and indefatigable energy which characterised Haysom’s life’s work.

This tribute is more limited in scope: given my own friendship and shared experiences with him, it focuses overwhelmingly on the first half of his working life, during the last two decades of apartheid South Africa and the transitional phase to the progressive and robust constitutional democracy that came with liberation.

Notwithstanding the significant impact of his work for the United Nations from the year 2000, the qualities forged in Haysom by his intense involvement in the struggle for democratic practices both in the workplace and wider society under the extreme hostility of the apartheid capitalist order shaped his approach to conflict and strife, wherever it occurred.

It would be remiss, however, not to note the main spheres to which he devoted so much of his life.

For the record, his full names were Nicholas Roland Leybourne Haysom. But he was universally known as Fink, to all comers, and most of us who knew him cannot think of calling him otherwise.

His early life

Haysom was educated at a privileged Anglican college in South Africa’s Natal province during the 1960s. He went on to study at the University of Natal in Durban, where he completed an honours degree in politics.

Durban in the early 1970s was the setting for the nurturing and development of a number of students who became significant activists in the anti-apartheid cause. Many were inspired by the views and mentoring of academics like Rick Turner, an academic activist who was shot and killed at his home by the apartheid regime in 1978.

Among them was a future partner in their law firm, Halton Cheadle. These students were involved in supporting the strike action by dock workers in Durban port in 1972/3, which signalled the revival of independent trade unionism among black workers.

Haysom then moved to the University of Cape Town to complete his LLB (law) degree in 1978. It was in these years that he rose in prominence among the ranks of anti-apartheid activists. The National Union of South African Students (Nusas) had long been a thorn in the side of the regime. But it was rocked to its foundations in 1972 following Steve Biko’s establishment of the South African Students Organisation, founded on black consciousness.

The apartheid regime simultaneously convened the Schlebusch Commission of Inquiry into four “radical” opposition movements, among them Nusas. By 1976, only two campuses remained affiliated to Nusas: the University of Cape Town and the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits).

At the annual congress, held at Wits in December 1976, Haysom was elected president, with the task of galvanising support for Nusas on campuses as well as in broader society, in the aftermath of the 1976 Soweto uprising (when protesting black school students were killed by police).

His leadership and energy, as well as his ability to engage meaningfully with people from very diverse backgrounds and ideologies, revived Nusas. The organisation was also able to forge links more broadly across other anti-apartheid organisations within the country.

Haysom was harassed and detained without trial – then and in the ensuing years.

After graduation, he entered the attorneys’ profession. In 1982 he became a founding partner, with Halton Cheadle and Clive Thompson, of the firm Cheadle Thompson & Haysom – still very much thriving today. During the 1980s it was one of the very few firms of “struggle” attorneys.

The firm worked closely with the emergent independent trade union movement among black workers, as well as other civil movements resisting the consolidation of apartheid in urban and rural areas.

Daily life was extremely tough, and it took its toll on him and those with whom he worked. He simultaneously held an appointment as an associate professor at Wits.

The creation of a democratic state

Haysom was a member of the constitutional committee of the African National Congress and played a critical role in the negotiations which led to the constitutional settlement of 1994.

Again, his human qualities of being able to relate patiently and empathetically to so many diverse groups of people, both among the oppressors and the oppressed, and his great capacity to enjoy good social occasions served him – and the cause of freedom and justice – very well.

Many today unjustifiably downplay the dire risks inherent in the negotiations process, and the possibility of a resort to scorched earth tactics by the apartheid regime. If it was not for a few key participants on all sides in the mould of Fink Haysom, such disastrous consequences would have been realised.

President Nelson Mandela’s assessment of the value of Haysom’s qualities and contributions was realised by his appointment as constitutional and legal counsel in the Office of the Presidency, until 1999. Others have written about the myriad ways in which Mandela relied on Haysom in the heady but often tortuous years of his presidency, during which the constitution was drafted and adopted.

The international stage

Haysom was not retained by President Thabo Mbeki. His professional skills and experience were then devoted to mediating conflict and endeavouring to bring peace to many areas in Asia and Africa, in the service of the office of the secretary general of the United Nations.

The list of his areas of engagement reads like a collection of the sites of major conflicts over the past 25 years: Burundi, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan, southern Africa, South Sudan.

He served under three secretary generals of the UN, the formal title given to his last and incomplete engagement being the Special Representative and Head of UN Mission in South Sudan (from 2021 till his death).

In recognition of such exemplary service in the cause of human rights, constitutionalism and conflict resolution, both in South Africa and internationally, Haysom was awarded an honorary doctorate in law by his alma mater, the University of Cape Town, in 2012, matched in 2019 by the New York Law School.

Haysom was a gregarious, ebullient person, who enjoyed good food and drink and good company. Born to a privileged lifestyle, he responded not by accepting his status and its material rewards, but by devoting his life’s work to addressing conflict and improving the lives of the poorest sectors of humanity.

The burdens occasioned by the blocking of his efforts and the obstinate clinging to brutal power and the unjustifiable resort to brutality and greed by so many with whom he had to engage wore him down: anyone who looks at a photograph of him, even in middle age, and compares it with one taken in the past ten years will be shocked by the changes.

His responsibilities also took their toll on family life and other non-work pursuits. Most people would have been tempted to quit, faced by these odds.
Yet he remained in office, as a warrior for justice and reconciliation, until his death.

Especially now, humankind needs many more like him in positions of influence.

Hugh Corder has in the past received funding from the National Research Foundation of South Africa. He is a director of Freedom under Law (not for profit company) and a member of the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (CASAC).

– ref. Fink Haysom fought tirelessly for justice and reconciliation – in South Africa and on the global stage – https://theconversation.com/fink-haysom-fought-tirelessly-for-justice-and-reconciliation-in-south-africa-and-on-the-global-stage-278922

March 20, 2026

Syrian ex-colonel faces crimes against humanity charges in landmark case for UK – expert explains

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Rossella Pulvirenti, Senior Lecturer, School of Law, Manchester Metropolitan University

A former colonel in Syria’s Air Force Intelligence Directorate appeared in court this month in a landmark crimes against humanity case.

Salem Michel Al-Salem, 58, faces multiple charges, including murder as a crime against humanity and torture. The charges relate to his alleged participation in violent crackdowns on anti-government protests in Damascus in 2011. Al-Salem appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court in London earlier this month, where his case was sent to the Old Bailey. He has yet to enter pleas to the charges.

The court heard that Al-Salem had reportedly sought indefinite leave to remain in England.

This case is significant, not just because of the global effects of the Syrian conflict, which caused the deaths of more than 400,000 people and displaced 13 million. It is also the first case of prosecution in the UK for crimes against humanity allegedly committed by the defendant abroad.

For 25 years, the UK has had the power to prosecute individuals for crimes against humanity under the International Criminal Court Act 2001. It does not matter where in the world the alleged crimes took place, as long as the accused is a UK national or resident.

In recent years, there has been a wave of related prosecutions in Europe and beyond. In 2022, Germany sentenced a former Syrian intelligence colonel, Anwar Raslan, to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity. Similarly,France successfully convicted three Syrian senior officials to life imprisonment. Sweden held accountable a Swedish national who joined Islamic State in Syria, sentencing her to 12 years in prison for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Many other countries have carried out similar investigations.

These have all been under the principle of “universal jurisdiction”. This principle is recognised in customary international law – unwritten rules that arise from established practice. It gives criminal courts in any state the power to prosecute for serious crimes under international law, regardless of where they were committed.

Universal jurisdiction applies only to the most heinous crimes recognised as such by the international community: crimes against humanity, war crimes, genocide and torture, for example. It reflects the idea that such crimes harm the international community as a whole and cannot go unpunished.

The UK’s legal framework falls slightly short of universal jurisdiction, which is why it has – until now – been absent from the list of countries prosecuting for alleged crimes against humanity in Syria. The reason for this lies in the UK’s legal framework under the International Criminal Court Act 2001.

A limited legal approach

The 2001 Act was introduced by the Tony Blair government to enable the UK to ratify the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court. It made it an offence in England and Wales for any person to commit genocide, a crime against humanity or a war crime. It applies to offences committed after 2001, in England and Wales or abroad. However, for crimes committed outside the UK, prosecution is only possible if the alleged offender is a UK national or resident.

Before 2001, these crimes were not absent from UK law. Genocide and war crimes were prohibited under the 1969 Genocide Act and the Geneva Conventions Act 1957.

However, these did not allow for prosecution if the crime was committed abroad. Additionally, no UK law specifically criminalised crimes against humanity. Even if someone had committed an act identifiable as a crime against humanity, the UK courts had no power to charge them with that specific offence.

After 2001, the UK courts could finally prosecute crimes against humanity, but only if the alleged offender is a UK national or resident. This rule does not apply if the person is travelling through the UK or staying in the UK for a short period of time. The UK chose a minimalist approach for genocide and crimes against humanity.

In the UK, full universal jurisdiction is reserved only for crimes recognised by certain international treaties, like grave breaches of the Geneva Convention, or the UN Convention against Torture. For these crimes, it does not matter where the alleged perpetrator lives.

There is a reason for this limited approach. At the time it introduced the 2001 Act, the government did not want UK courts to assume a broad role as global enforcer. From a practical perspective, prosecuting foreign nationals for offences committed abroad requires costly investigations across multiple jurisdictions.

However, it does create loopholes for potential perpetrators. First, a suspect of these crimes can freely visit the UK without fear of prosecution, as they need to be either a resident or a citizen to be prosecuted. Second, the UK has no jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed before 2001.

Before the Al-Salem case, the International Criminal Court Act 2001 had only been used once. In 2006, seven British soldiers were charged with war crimes following the death of Iraqi civilian Baha Mousa. Corporal Donald Payne, pleaded guilty to inhumane treatment, while the other six soldiers were acquitted.

The Al-Salem trial is a landmark moment, but it appears to be an exception, rather than a turning point. A single prosecution for crimes against humanity in 25 years reflects the UK’s limited commitment to accountability for mass atrocity crimes. Survivors from Syria, Ukraine, Darfur, Myanmar and Palestine have been directly affected by the UK’s inertia.

The UK legal framework needs structural reform. The International Criminal Court Act 2001 should be amended to allow prosecution regardless of the nationality, residence status or location of the alleged perpetrator – committing to true universal jurisdiction like so many other countries.

Rossella Pulvirenti 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. Syrian ex-colonel faces crimes against humanity charges in landmark case for UK – expert explains – https://theconversation.com/syrian-ex-colonel-faces-crimes-against-humanity-charges-in-landmark-case-for-uk-expert-explains-278699

March 20, 2026

Comment transformer des déchets plastiques en vinaigre grâce à l’énergie solaire

Source: The Conversation – in French – By Yimin Wu, Associate Professor, Tang Family Chair in New Energy Materials and Sustainability, University of Waterloo

Chaque année, des centaines de millions de tonnes de plastique sont produites dans le monde. Des recherches montrent comment on peut transformer ces déchets en quelque chose d’utile. (Unsplash/Nick Fewings)

Le plastique est un des matériaux les plus durables jamais créés. Sa durabilité l’a rendu indispensable dans les domaines de la médecine, de l’emballage alimentaire et des transports. Cependant, elle est également à l’origine d’un des problèmes environnementaux les plus graves auxquels nous sommes confrontés.

Chaque année, des centaines de millions de tonnes de plastique sont produites dans le monde. Une grande partie de ces déchets finit dans des sites d’enfouissement, des incinérateurs ou dans la nature, où ils peuvent mettre des siècles à se décomposer.

Les méthodes dont nous disposons pour lutter contre la pollution plastique présentent des inconvénients. Leur dépôt dans des sites d’enfouissements entraîne une fuite de produits chimiques et de microplastiques dans l’environnement.

L’incinération libère des fumées nocives et des toxines. Le recyclage mécanique dégrade souvent les plastiques en produits de moindre valeur, tandis que le recyclage chimique requiert des températures et des pressions élevées, ainsi que d’importantes quantités d’énergie.

Mes collègues et moi-même avons récemment publié une étude qui explore une nouvelle possibilité. Nous avons utilisé la lumière du soleil et un catalyseur à base de fer pour transformer des déchets plastiques en acide acétique, qui est le composant principal du vinaigre, mais aussi un produit chimique industriel important.

Nous avons pu démontrer que, plutôt que de considérer le plastique comme un simple déchet, nous pouvons le convertir en un produit utile dans des conditions modérées.

Tirer des enseignements d’un champignon

C’est la nature qui a inspiré nos recherches. Le champignon de la pourriture blanche du bois, Phanerochaete chrysosporium, est réputé pour sa capacité à décomposer la lignine, l’un des polymères les plus résistants que l’on trouve dans le bois. Il y parvient grâce à des enzymes qui produisent des espèces chimiques hautement réactives pouvant décomposer des structures carbonées complexes.

Nous nous sommes demandé si un matériau synthétique pouvait reproduire cette stratégie.

Le catalyseur que nous avons conçu est du nitrure de carbone dopé au fer, un semi-conducteur qui absorbe la lumière visible. Nous avons ensuite ancré des atomes de fer individuels, de manière à créer ce qu’on appelle un catalyseur à atome unique.

Au lieu de former des nanoparticules, chaque atome de fer est isolé et intégré à la structure du nitrure de carbone. Cette précision atomique est cruciale. Chaque atome de fer se comporte comme un site actif dans une enzyme naturelle, ce qui optimise l’efficacité tout en garantissant la stabilité.

Une réaction en deux étapes activée par la lumière

Le système fonctionne grâce à une cascade de réactions activées par la lumière.

Sous l’effet de la lumière du soleil et en présence de peroxyde d’hydrogène, les sites ferriques activent le peroxyde afin de générer des radicaux hydroxyles hautement réactifs. Un radical est un atome, une molécule ou un ion possédant au moins un électron non apparié, ce qui le rend très réactif sur le plan chimique.

Ces radicaux attaquent les longues chaînes de carbone qui composent les plastiques, comme le polyéthylène (qu’on trouve dans les sacs en plastique), le polypropylène (récipients alimentaires), le PET (bouteilles de boissons) et même le PVC (tuyaux et emballages).

Les polymères s’oxydent progressivement et se décomposent en molécules plus petites, jusqu’à devenir du dioxyde de carbone (CO₂).

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Au lieu de laisser s’échapper le CO₂, ce catalyseur remplit alors une deuxième fonction : il utilise la lumière du soleil pour réduire le CO₂ en acide acétique. Autrement dit, le carbone contenu dans les déchets plastiques est d’abord oxydé, puis réassemblé pour former une nouvelle molécule utile.

Concrètement, cette approche permet de décomposer le plastique et de convertir le carbone ainsi obtenu en un produit chimique de base au sein d’un même système. C’est ce qui la distingue de la plupart des technologies de recyclage existantes.

Pourquoi de l’acide acétique ?

L’acide acétique est connu comme étant l’ingrédient acide du vinaigre, mais c’est aussi une matière première industrielle importante. On s’en sert pour fabriquer des adhésifs, des revêtements, des solvants, des fibres synthétiques et des produits pharmaceutiques.

La demande mondiale en acide acétique s’élève à plusieurs millions de tonnes chaque année, ce qui représente un marché de plusieurs milliards de dollars.

Actuellement, la majeure partie de l’acide acétique est produite par un procédé très énergivore appelé « carbonylation du méthanol », dans lequel le méthanol réagit avec du monoxyde de carbone à haute température.

La transformation des rebuts plastiques en acide acétique permet d’adopter une approche circulaire : au lieu d’extraire du carbone neuf, nous réutilisons celui qui est déjà présent dans les déchets.

Dans le cadre de nos expériences, le système a produit de l’acide acétique à des taux comparables à ceux d’autres méthodes de conversion des plastiques par la lumière. Lorsque nous avons optimisé l’utilisation de la lumière à l’intérieur du réacteur, le taux de production a considérablement augmenté.

Il est important de noter que la réaction s’est déroulée à température ambiante et à pression atmosphérique normale. Cela contraste avec de nombreuses méthodes de recyclage chimique qui nécessitent de chauffer les plastiques à plusieurs centaines de degrés Celsius.

Des plastiques courants

Les études en laboratoire portent souvent sur des plastiques purs et isolés. Or, les déchets réels sont mélangés et contaminés. Nous avons donc testé différents plastiques courants séparément, ainsi que sous forme de mélanges.

Notre catalyseur a permis de transformer plusieurs matières plastiques du commerce. Nous avons remarqué que le PVC affichait des performances particulièrement élevées. Nous pensons que le chlore libéré lors de sa dégradation pourrait générer des radicaux supplémentaires, accélérant ainsi le processus de dégradation.

Les atomes de fer restaient dispersés à l’échelle atomique après plusieurs utilisations, ce qui témoigne d’une bonne stabilité. Cet aspect est important, car la dégradation du catalyseur ou la lixiviation des métaux peuvent nuire aux performances et à la sécurité environnementale.

Le système repose sur l’ajout de peroxyde d’hydrogène, qui est consommé au cours de la réaction. Bien que le peroxyde d’hydrogène se décompose en eau et en oxygène, ce qui le rend relativement inoffensif, il faudra se pencher sur une manière durable de le fournir à grande échelle dans le cadre de travaux futurs.

De la conception à la mise en pratique

Reproduire à grande échelle un nouveau procédé chimique est toujours un défi. La pénétration de la lumière, la conception des réacteurs et la variabilité des matières premières issues des déchets plastiques ont une incidence sur l’efficacité de la réaction. Les additifs présents dans les plastiques commerciaux, tels que les stabilisants, les pigments et les plastifiants, peuvent également influencer les résultats.

Afin d’étudier la faisabilité de notre méthode, nous avons effectué une évaluation technico-économique préliminaire. Cette démarche sert à analyser les avantages économiques d’un procédé industriel ou d’un produit.

Bien qu’une optimisation supplémentaire soit nécessaire, l’évaluation suggère que le fait de combiner le traitement des déchets avec la fabrication d’un produit chimique de valeur pourrait permettre de compenser les coûts, notamment grâce aux avantages environnementaux.

Ces travaux mettent également en évidence le potentiel des catalyseurs à atome unique et de la conception bio-inspirée. En reproduisant la manière dont les enzymes contrôlent la réactivité à des sites métalliques précis, nous parvenons à effectuer des transformations chimiques complexes dans des conditions modérées, en utilisant la lumière du soleil comme source d’énergie.

Revoir le cycle de vie du plastique

Le problème de la pollution plastique ne pourra pas être résolu par une seule technologie. Il est essentiel de réduire l’utilisation de ce matériau, d’améliorer la conception des produits et de perfectionner les systèmes de recyclage.

La transformation des déchets plastiques en produits utiles constitue une stratégie complémentaire. Elle permet de considérer le plastique comme une source de carbone et non seulement comme un fardeau pour l’environnement.

Si nous réussissons à exploiter l’énergie solaire pour effectuer ces transformations de manière efficace et à grande échelle, les emballages d’hier pourraient devenir la matière première industrielle de demain.

Le défi consiste désormais à transposer nos avancées au laboratoire en systèmes robustes et adaptables. Si nous y parvenons, nous franchirons une étape importante vers une économie plus circulaire, dans laquelle les déchets ne marquent pas la fin d’une histoire, mais le début d’une nouvelle.

Yimin Wu bénéficie d’un financement de la Chaire Tang en matériaux énergétiques nouveaux et en développement durable, du Conseil de recherches en sciences naturelles et en génie du Canada, ainsi que d’un financement de démarrage de l’Institut de l’eau (WI) et de l’Institut de nanotechnologie de Waterloo (WIN) de l’Université de Waterloo.

– ref. Comment transformer des déchets plastiques en vinaigre grâce à l’énergie solaire – https://theconversation.com/comment-transformer-des-dechets-plastiques-en-vinaigre-grace-a-lenergie-solaire-278928

March 20, 2026

Des centaines d’insectes affamés, un étudiant et une combinaison en mesh… Comment une série d’expériences aide à comprendre le vol des moustiques

Source: The Conversation – in French – By David Hu, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Biology, Adjunct Professor of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology

En modélisant les trajectoires de moustiques volant autour d’une cible humaine, les scientifiques ont appris à prédire et caractériser leurs déplacements. David L. Hu, Georgia Tech

Derrière chaque piqûre se cache une mécanique précise : en suivant des moustiques à la trace, une équipe de chercheurs a mis au jour les lois qui gouvernent leur comportement.

« Quatre minutes, c’est trop long ».

Voici le message que m’a envoyé Chris Zuo, étudiant de premier cycle, accompagné de photos montrant d’innombrables piqûres de moustiques sur sa peau nue. Ce massacre sur l’ensemble du corps n’était pas le résultat d’un camping qui aurait mal tourné. Il avait passé ce laps de temps limité dans une pièce contenant 100 moustiques affamés, vêtu uniquement d’une combinaison en mesh que nous pensions capable de le protéger.

C’est ainsi qu’a débuté notre enquête de trois ans pour comprendre le comportement d’un insecte d’une simplicité trompeuse : le moustique. Cela peut ressembler au plan sadique d’un professeur, mais en réalité, nous avons respecté toutes les procédures. Le comité d’éthique de notre université a approuvé le protocole, en s’assurant que Chris était en sécurité et qu’il n’était soumis à aucune pression. Les moustiques étaient exempts de maladies et provenaient de notre État, la Géorgie. Et cette séance a donné lieu aux premières — et dernières — piqûres reçues par qui que ce soit dans le cadre de l’étude.

En plus de mon rôle de tortionnaire pour étudiants, je suis auteur et professeur à Georgia Tech, avec plus de 20 ans d’expérience dans l’étude des déplacements des animaux.

Les moustiques sont l’animal le plus dangereux au monde. Les maladies qu’ils transmettent, du paludisme à la dengue, provoquent plus de 700 000 décès par an. Les moustiques ont causé plus de morts que les guerres.

Le monde dépense 19 milliards d’euros par an en milliards de litres d’insecticides, en millions de kilos de larvicides et en millions de moustiquaires imprégnées d’insecticide – le tout pour lutter contre un insecte minuscule qui pèse dix fois moins qu’un grain de riz et ne possède que 200 000 neurones.

Et pourtant, les humains sont en train de perdre la guerre contre les moustiques. Ces insectes évoluent pour prospérer en milieu urbain et propagent les maladies plus rapidement avec le changement climatique. Comment des animaux aussi simples peuvent-ils nous repérer avec une telle facilité ?

Les scientifiques savent que les moustiques ont une très mauvaise vue et qu’ils dépendent de signaux chimiques pour compenser. Mais savoir ce qui attire un moustique ne suffit pas à prédire son comportement. On peut savoir qu’un missile à guidage thermique est attiré par la chaleur sans pour autant comprendre comment il fonctionne.

C’est là qu’intervient Chris et son sacrifice dans la pièce infestée de moustiques. En suivant les trajectoires de nombreux moustiques autour de lui, nous espérions déterminer comment ils adaptent leurs décisions à sa présence. Comprendre la manière dont les moustiques réagissent aux humains constitue une première étape pour mieux les contrôler.

Comment les moustiques repèrent leur repas

Sur les 3 500 espèces de moustiques, plus de 100 sont dites anthropophiles, c’est-à-dire qu’elles préfèrent les humains comme source de nourriture. Certaines espèces sont capables de repérer une seule personne au milieu d’un troupeau entier de bovins pour aller lui sucer le sang.

C’est une prouesse, étant donné que les moustiques ne volent pas bien. Ils cessent de voler dès qu’il y a une légère brise de 3 à 5 km/h, soit une vitesse d’air comparable à celle générée par le balancement de la queue d’un cheval. Dans des conditions plus calmes, les moustiques utilisent leur cerveau minuscule pour suivre la chaleur, l’humidité et les odeurs humaines transportées par le vent.

Le dioxyde de carbone, sous-produit de la respiration de tous les êtres vivants, est particulièrement attractif. Les moustiques le détectent aussi facilement que vous percevez l’odeur d’une benne à ordures pleine, jusqu’à environ 9 mètres de leur hôte, là où les concentrations chutent à quelques parties par million, soit l’équivalent de quelques tasses de colorant dans une piscine olympique.

Contour noir des lettres G et T dans le panneau de gauche ; dans le panneau de droite, des lignes sinueuses noires représentant les trajectoires de vol des moustiques autour des lettres. — Le contour sombre du logo de Georgia Tech plaît beaucoup aux moustiques.
David L. Hu, Georgia Tech

La vision des moustiques ne leur est pas très utile pour partir à la recherche de leur prochain repas. Leurs deux yeux comptent plusieurs centaines de petites lentilles individuelles appelées ommatidies, chacune large comme un cheveu humain. Elles produisent une image en mosaïque, légèrement floue, comme pixelisée. En raison des lois de l’optique, les moustiques ne peuvent distinguer un humain adulte qu’à quelques mètres de distance. Avec la seule vue, ils sont incapables de différencier un humain d’un petit arbre. Ils examinent donc chaque objet sombre.

Collecter des données sur les trajectoires de vol

La difficulté lorsqu’on étudie le vol des moustiques, c’est que, comme des enfants surexcités, la plupart de leurs mouvements n’ont pas vraiment de sens. Dans une pièce vide, les moustiques modifient très souvent leur vitesse et leur direction de façon complètement aléatoire. Il nous fallait donc de nombreuses trajectoires de vol pour faire émerger un signal au milieu de ce bruit.

Un homme allongé au sol, visible sur deux images affichées sur l’écran d’un ordinateur portable au premier plan. — Vêtu d’une combinaison en maille, Chris Zuo attend les moustiques, un peu perplexe.
David L. Hu, Georgia Tech

L’un de nos collaborateurs, le biologiste de l’université de Californie à Riverside Ring Cardé, nous a expliqué que dans les années 1980, les scientifiques menaient des « études de piqûres » en se mettant en sous-vêtements et en écrasant les moustiques qui se posaient sur leur peau nue. Selon lui, la nudité permettait d’éviter des variables parasites, comme la couleur du tissu d’une chemise.

Chris et moi nous sommes regardés. S’asseoir nu et attendre de servir de proie aux moustiques ? Non… Nous avons plutôt conçu la combinaison en mesh que Chris portait initialement dans la pièce infestée. Mais après avoir vu ses piqûres, il nous fallait une meilleure solution.

À la place, Chris a choisi des vêtements à manches longues, qu’il a lavés avec une lessive sans parfum, et a enfilé gants et masque. Entièrement protégé, il n’avait plus qu’à rester debout et attendre, tandis qu’un nuage de moustiques tourbillonnait autour de lui.

Les Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) des États-Unis nous ont fait découvrir le Photonic Sentry, une caméra capable de suivre simultanément des centaines d’insectes en vol dans une pièce. Elle enregistre 100 images par seconde avec une résolution de 5 mm, dans un espace de la taille d’un grand studio. En seulement quelques heures, Chris et un autre doctorant, Soohwan Kim, ont produit plus de données sur le vol des moustiques que tout ce qui avait été mesuré auparavant dans l’histoire humaine.

100 moustiques volant autour de Chris Zuo pendant 10 minutes. Seule une partie des trajectoires observées est restituée.

Pour les mathématiciens, comme nos collaborateurs Jörn Dunkel, Chenyi Fei et Alex Cohen du MIT, la géométrie du corps de Chris reste trop complexe pour étudier les réactions des moustiques. Les mathématiciens excellent dans l’art de ramener les problèmes complexes à leur essence. Chenyi a donc suggéré d’épargner Chris : pourquoi ne pas le remplacer par un simple mannequin, une boule noire en polystyrène fixée sur un support, associée à une source de dioxyde de carbone ?

Au cours des deux années suivantes, Chris a filmé sans relâche les moustiques tournoyant autour de ces mannequins en polystyrène. Puis il les aspirait à l’aide d’un aspirateur, en essayant de ne pas se faire piquer.

Décrypter les trajectoires

Un moustique vole comme on pilote un avion : il tourne à gauche ou à droite, accélère ou freine. Nous avons d’abord caractérisé son comportement de vol en fonction de sa vitesse, de sa position et de sa direction par rapport à la cible, première étape pour construire notre modèle.

Notre confiance dans ces règles de comportement s’est renforcée à mesure que nous analysions davantage de trajectoires, jusqu’à exploiter 20 millions de données concernant les positions et les vitesses des moustiques. Cette idée consistant à intégrer des observations pour étayer une hypothèse mathématique remonte à 200 ans et porte le nom d’inférence bayésienne. Nous avons ensuite illustré le comportement des moustiques observé à l’aide d’une application web.

Quatre panneaux montrant la trajectoire d’un moustique en l’absence de cible, en présence d’une cible visuelle, d’une source de CO₂, ou des deux combinées. — Le moustique adapte son vol à la cible qu’on lui présente.
David L. Hu

Grâce à notre modèle, nous avons montré que différents types de cibles modifient le vol des moustiques. Les cibles visuelles provoquent des survols, où les moustiques passent à proximité avant de continuer leur route. Le dioxyde de carbone entraîne des hésitations, les moustiques ralentissant à proximité de la cible. La combinaison d’un signal visuel et de dioxyde de carbone génère des trajectoires orbitales à grande vitesse.

Jusqu’à présent, nous avions uniquement utilisé des expériences avec des sphères en polystyrène pour entraîner notre modèle. Le véritable test consistait à voir s’il pouvait prédire le vol des moustiques autour d’un humain. Chris est retourné dans la chambre, cette fois vêtu de blanc et coiffé d’un chapeau noir, se transformant en véritable cible. Notre modèle a correctement prédit la répartition des moustiques autour de lui. Nous avons ainsi identifié des zones à risque, où la probabilité de voir des moustiques tournoyer autour de lui était élevée.

Prédire le comportement des moustiques constitue une première étape pour les déjouer. Dans les zones infestées, on conçoit par exemple des maisons dotées de dispositifs empêchant les moustiques de suivre les signaux humains et d’entrer. De même, les pièges à moustiques aspirent les insectes lorsqu’ils s’approchent trop près, mais laissent encore s’échapper entre 50 % et 90 % d’entre eux. Beaucoup de ces dispositifs reposent encore sur des essais empiriques. Nous espérons que notre étude fournira un outil plus précis pour concevoir des méthodes de capture ou de dissuasion.

Lorsque la mère de Chris a assisté à sa soutenance de master, je lui ai demandé ce qu’elle pensait du fait que son fils se soit proposé comme appât pour les moustiques. Elle m’a répondu qu’elle en était très fière. Moi aussi — et pas seulement parce que je suis soulagé que Chris ne m’ait jamais demandé de prendre sa place dans la chambre infestée de moustiques.

David Hu 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. Des centaines d’insectes affamés, un étudiant et une combinaison en mesh… Comment une série d’expériences aide à comprendre le vol des moustiques – https://theconversation.com/des-centaines-dinsectes-affames-un-etudiant-et-une-combinaison-en-mesh-comment-une-serie-dexperiences-aide-a-comprendre-le-vol-des-moustiques-278902

March 20, 2026

A man used AI to help make a cancer vaccine for his dog – an oncologist urges caution

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Justin Stebbing, Professor of Biomedical Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University

An Australian tech entrepreneur has helped create what appears to be a made-to-measure cancer vaccine for his dog, Rosie, using artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT as part of the process.

The science behind this sounds intimidating – DNA sequencing, mRNA vaccines, “neoantigens” – but at its core, it is about reading the instructions inside a tumour and then writing a new set of instructions to help the immune system see it.

Rosie is an eight-year-old rescue Staffordshire bull terrier cross that developed aggressive mast cell cancer, a common skin cancer in dogs. She had surgery and chemotherapy, but the disease kept coming back and she ended up with large, ugly tumours on her leg.

Vets told her owner, Paul Conyngham, that she probably had only months to live. Instead of accepting that, he decided to use the tools he knew from his day job in tech – data analysis, AI and coding – and apply them to his dog’s cancer.

Decoding the tumour

The first step was to understand what made Rosie’s tumour different from her healthy cells.

Every cell in the body carries DNA – a long, chemical molecule that acts like a biological instruction manual. You can think of DNA as a very long string of letters written in a four-letter alphabet. Cancer happens when enough of those letters change, by chance or through damage, so that some cells start to grow and divide out of control.

Sequencing a tumour’s or normal cell’s DNA is essentially reading through that long string of letters and comparing it to the “normal” version to see where it has gone wrong. A lot of my own research has focused on this. Conyngham paid a university lab to sequence the DNA from Rosie’s tumour. That produced a huge file listing the mutations – the spelling mistakes in the cancer’s instruction manual – that set her tumour apart from her healthy tissues.

On their own, those files are just data. The question is what to do with them. This is where he turned to an AI chatbot. He asked it how scientists design personalised cancer vaccines and how he might go from a list of mutations to specific targets for a vaccine for Rosie.

A cancer vaccine in this context is different from the childhood vaccines we are used to. Traditional vaccines prevent infections: you give someone a harmless version or fragment of a virus or bacterium so their immune system can “learn” to recognise it in advance. A cancer vaccine, by contrast, is usually therapeutic rather than preventive. It is given to someone who already has cancer, with the aim of training their immune system to spot markers on the cancer cells that it has previously ignored and then attack them.

This is where mRNA comes in. If DNA is the master instruction book, mRNA (messenger RNA) is more like a photocopied page that gets sent to the cell’s protein-making machinery – think of it as a short piece of code that carries a single command: “make this protein”.

Some of the COVID vaccines use mRNA: they deliver a strand of mRNA that tells our cells to make the spike protein from the coronavirus, so the immune system can practise on it. The body then breaks down the mRNA; it does not change your DNA.

For a personalised cancer vaccine, scientists choose small parts of proteins that are unique to a particular tumour – so-called neoantigens – and encode them in an mRNA sequence.

When this mRNA is injected, cells take it up and briefly make those tumour-linked protein fragments. The immune system can then see these fragments and, ideally, begins to treat any cell displaying them as abnormal and dangerous. In effect, it is using mRNA to give the immune system a “most wanted” poster for that individual cancer.

With help from AI tools, Conyngham sifted through Rosie’s tumour mutations to pick out candidates that might make good neoantigens. He also used protein structure prediction software to model how some of these mutated proteins would look, trying to guess which ones would be visible to her immune system.

Crucially, he did not manufacture a vaccine in his garage. Once he had a shortlist of targets, he approached researchers at the University of New South Wales, including experts in RNA technology, who reviewed the data and designed an mRNA construct based on it. Their team turned this digital design into a physical mRNA vaccine in the lab.

It was a one-off product, made just for Rosie, encoding several of the mutations in her tumour. She then received this experimental vaccine at a veterinary research centre, with booster doses over the following months.

Reports from her vets and owner suggest that several tumours shrank markedly, her overall tumour burden fell, and her energy and behaviour improved. One resistant tumour has prompted a second round of analysis and a follow-on vaccine targeting a different set of mutations.

Promising, but not a cure

It should be noted that this is a single dog, not a controlled study, and mast cell tumours can behave unpredictably. We cannot be sure how much of Rosie’s improvement is due to the vaccine, how long it will last, or whether the same approach would help other dogs, let alone humans.

The AI did not “cure cancer” by itself. It acted as an always-available guide and assistant, but qualified scientists still had to check its work and do the hard parts in the lab.

Even so, this case is a vivid example of several ideas coming together. DNA sequencing allows you to read the specific mutations in an individual cancer. mRNA technology lets you quickly write a custom set of instructions to show those mutations to the immune system.

AI systems make the complex biology more navigable for non-experts, suggesting possible targets and explaining concepts – though their outputs still require expert scrutiny. Put those together, and something that would once have required a major pharmaceutical programme – a bespoke cancer vaccine – can now be attempted, at least experimentally, for a single animal.

For the informed public, perhaps the most important point is not that AI has magically solved cancer, but that the basic ingredients of high-end personalised medicine are becoming more accessible. A motivated dog owner can now order tumour DNA sequencing, ask an AI to help interpret it, and partner with an academic lab to turn that interpretation into an mRNA vaccine.

A significant scientific and ethical challenge ahead is to develop methods for testing such approaches properly, protect patients and animals from false hope and unsafe experiments, and determine who should have access if they prove to be effective.

Justin Stebbing 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. A man used AI to help make a cancer vaccine for his dog – an oncologist urges caution – https://theconversation.com/a-man-used-ai-to-help-make-a-cancer-vaccine-for-his-dog-an-oncologist-urges-caution-278735

March 20, 2026

How active have Iran’s proxy groups been since the start of the war?

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Vincent Durac, Associate Professor, School Of Politics & International Relations, University College Dublin

One of the most notable aspects of the war in Iran so far has been the extent of Tehran’s isolation in the region. This has been exemplified not only by the widening divide between Iran and its Gulf Arab neighbours, but also by the highly variable responses to the conflict by Iran’s proxy groups.

Iran has relied on a network of proxies to protect and bolster its position in the region since the earliest days of the Islamic Republic in 1979. The most important elements in this network have been Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, Syria under the rule of the Assad family, Iran-aligned militias in Iraq and the Houthis in Yemen.

However, this network is in serious disarray as a result of various conflicts in the region since late 2023. Hamas has been devastated by the Israeli onslaught that followed the October 7 terrorist attacks in southern Israel, with a succession of its leadership killed during the conflict. This has left the group unable to play a part in the Iran war.

Hezbollah, on the other hand, entered the conflict early on. The group has launched rockets, missiles and drones at Israel since March 2 in response to the killing of the Iranian supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, in an Israeli airstrike days earlier. But Hezbollah finds itself damaged to the point it constitutes a far greater threat to Lebanese stability than it does to Israel.

Hezbollah was subjected to an Israeli military campaign after attacking Israel following the start of the war in Gaza. Its political and military leadership were targeted, culminating in the assassination of the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in 2024. Hezbollah’s capacity to launch missiles into Israel was also degraded.

The resumption of Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel now poses a very significant threat to Lebanon on political and humanitarian levels, while being largely ineffective in Israel to date. Lebanon’s health ministry says Israeli attacks have killed 968 people since March 2. No deaths have been reported in Israel, though two Israeli soldiers were killed in a Hezbollah ambush in southern Lebanon.

The Lebanese president, Joseph Aoun, announced on March 2 that Hezbollah’s actions were unlawful. He also demanded that the group hand over its weapons, and spoke of Lebanon’s willingness to engage in formal negotiations with Israel to avoid the Israeli military imposing new security arrangements on the country.

But the current conflict has exposed the Lebanese state’s limited capacity to control events in its own territory. Meanwhile, Israel has announced plans for an expanded ground campaign in southern Lebanon, fuelling fears of an extended occupation and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people.

Like Hezbollah, Iran-aligned militias in Iraq joined the conflict soon after the US and Israeli assault on Iran began. They have targeted Israel, as well as US military bases in Jordan and Iraq, with drones and missiles. Iranian Kurdish groups in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq have also been attacked following reports that the US might arm them to fight the regime in Tehran.

In response, Iraqi militias have been targeted by US and Israeli airstrikes. As in Lebanon, a weak central government in Iraq is struggling to maintain a balance between domestic and external forces. Elections in November 2025 saw a coalition of Shia parties emerge as the largest bloc in the Iraqi parliament.

However, their nominee for prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has been rejected by the US. This is due to the widely-held perception that he stoked sectarian tensions when he was last in office from 2006 to 2014 and is too close to the regime in Tehran.

In the meantime, the caretaker government is struggling to contain the influence of pro-Iran militias while the war devastates Iraq’s oil sector. The Iraqi economy is heavily dependent on the sale of hydrocarbons, with oil revenues accounting for roughly 90% of government revenue. Oil production has reduced sharply since the start of the conflict.

Houthis in Yemen

The final Iranian ally of substance in the region, the Houthis, have been conspicuous by their absence from the fray. When the war in Gaza broke out in October 2023, the Houthis mounted a series of attacks on shipping in the Red Sea. The group also targeted Israel with long-range missile strikes, which were largely ineffective.

The outbreak of the current war with Iran has led to protests and declarations of condemnation in Yemen, with Houthi leadership warning on March 5 that their “fingers are on the trigger”. But, so far, this has not been followed with concrete action. There are a number of possible explanations for this apparent reluctance to offer support to the regime in Tehran.

Analysts such as Nadwa al-Dawsari of the US-based Middle East Institute have suggested that Iran may be holding any intervention by the Houthis in reserve. She argues that Tehran may be doing so on the basis that longer-range missile and drone attacks against the Gulf states and Israel will prove more effective later in the conflict.

But it is also possible that Houthi leadership are fearful of the impact of US and Israeli retaliation should they become directly involved in the conflict. Previously, in August 2025, Israeli attacks killed at least 12 senior members of the Houthi leadership ranks. This included Ahmed al-Rahawi, the prime minister of the Houthi-controlled government in the Yemeni capital of Sana’a.

However, whether the Houthi leadership has the capacity to withstand Iranian pressure to enter the conflict is doubtful. So they may ultimately be dragged in, if somewhat reluctantly.

Vincent Durac 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 active have Iran’s proxy groups been since the start of the war? – https://theconversation.com/how-active-have-irans-proxy-groups-been-since-the-start-of-the-war-278355