Source: The Conversation – UK – By Katie Edwards, Commissioning Editor, Health + Medicine and Host of Strange Health podcast, The Conversation
Close-up of a demodex folliculorum mite: your skin is alive with companyKalcutta/Shutterstock
You are not alone in your own skin. Millions of microscopic creatures live there too.
Our skin is home to entire ecosystems of microscopic life. Bacteria and fungi get most of the attention, but mites are there too. Among the most common are demodex mites, tiny eight-legged relatives of spiders that live inside hair follicles and pores, especially on the face. Almost all adults carry them.
Despite their reputation, they are not invaders. Scientists often describe them as symbionts, organisms that live alongside us as part of a shared biological system. They feed on skin oils and dead cells, spend most of their lives tucked inside pores and come out at night to move across the skin and mate before laying eggs.
Most people never notice them at all.
In the latest episode of the Strange Health podcast, we explore what these microscopic housemates are actually doing on our bodies and why the idea of them can feel so unsettling. If mites are normal, when do they become a problem?
To find out, we spoke to Alejandra Perotti, professor of invertebrate biology at the University of Reading, who studies the relationship between mites and humans.
As Perotti explains, the presence of mites is not a sign that something has gone wrong. Human skin is not a sterile barrier. It is a habitat. That balance can shift, though. In some people, demodex populations increase dramatically, particularly if the immune system is compromised or the skin barrier is disrupted. This has been linked to conditions such as rosacea and blepharitis, which can cause redness, irritation and inflamed eyelids. Even then, the mites themselves may not be the main driver. The immune response to them, or to the microbes associated with them, may be what produces symptoms.
Other mites live alongside us in different ways. Dust mites, for example, inhabit bedding, clothing and carpets, feeding on fungi that grow on shed skin. They do not bite, but their waste products can trigger allergic reactions in some people, contributing to asthma, eczema and hay fever symptoms.
Then there are mites that cause disease. Scabies is caused by a species that burrows into the skin to lay eggs, triggering intense itching and inflammation. Cases have been rising in parts of the UK and Europe, particularly in places where people live in close contact such as care homes, schools and student accommodation.
Despite its reputation, scabies has nothing to do with cleanliness. It spreads through prolonged skin-to-skin contact and is treatable with prescribed creams and coordinated treatment of close contacts. The stigma attached to it often causes more distress than the condition itself.
Head lice are often grouped into the same conversation, but they are not mites at all. They are insects that spread through head-to-head contact and are common among children, regardless of hygiene.
So why does the idea of mites provoke such a visceral reaction? Partly because they trigger our disgust response, which evolved to help us avoid disease. But that instinct can blur the line between normal biology and genuine medical problems.
The reality is less dramatic. Humans are not solitary organisms but ecosystems. Most of the microscopic life on our skin is either harmless or beneficial. Only a small number of species cause disease, and when they do, the issue is medical rather than moral.
Listen to Strange Health to find out which mites are simply part of everyday biology, which ones cause real problems – and why understanding them matters more than fearing them.
Strange Health is hosted by Katie Edwards and Dan Baumgardt. The executive producer is Gemma Ware, with video and sound editing for this episode by Sikander Khan. Artwork by Alice Mason.
In this episode, Dan and Katie talk about a social media clip via TikTok from prettyspatricia.
Listen to Strange Health via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our RSS feed or find out how else to listen here. A transcript is available via the Apple Podcasts or Spotify apps.
Katie Edwards is commissioning editor of health and medicine at The Conversation in the UK. Alejandra Perotti has received funding from BBSRC.
Dan Baumgardt 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.
Il s’appelle Khabane Lame, mais le monde entier le connaît sous le nom de Khaby Lame. Natif de Dakar, il est aujourd’hui le créateur de contenus le plus suivi sur TikTok avec plus de 160 millions d’abonnés : un record mondial obtenu sans prononcer un seul mot. Depuis janvier 2026, il est aussi le premier homme qui a autorisé la cession commerciale de son image numérique pour près d’un milliard de dollars. Or, Khaby Lame est également exceptionnel sur un point que les médias occidentaux mentionnent rarement : il est musulman pratiquant et hafiz, c’est-à-dire qu’il a mémorisé l’intégralité du Coran, après avoir été envoyé à l’âge de 14 ans dans une école coranique près de Dakar.
La tension entre le corps sacré du hafiz et la marchandisation des attributs corporels numérisés de l’influenceur fait de son parcours un cas d’une richesse exceptionnelle pour interroger les enjeux de la numérisation des données personnelles de l’humanité.
Mes recherches portent sur l’identité numérique, les mythes sociotechnologiques et les identités numériques post-mortem. J’explique ici comment Khaby Lame, à partir de sa précarité, a construit une identité comique universelle sur TikTok.
De la banlieue de Turin au sommet mondial
L’histoire de Khaby Lame est structurée comme un mythe contemporain au sens plein du terme, non pas parce qu’elle serait invraisemblable, mais parce qu’elle rejoue les structures narratives fondatrices de la modernité numérique : la précarité comme point de départ, la solitude créatrice comme épreuve initiatique, et la reconnaissance mondiale comme horizon. Ce que le penseur français Roland Barthes appelait la « parole mythique », ce récit qui se donne comme naturel alors qu’il est profondément construit est ici pleinement opérant.
En 2020, au début de la pandémie de Covid-19, Khaby Lame se retrouve sans emploi, confiné dans un logement social de la banlieue de Turin, en Italie, après avoir perdu son poste d’ouvrier. De ce dénuement naît une décision simple : filmer. En dix-sept mois seulement, il dépasse les 100 millions d’abonnés, devenant le premier créateur résidant en Europe à atteindre ce cap.
Ce que ce récit met en scène, c’est la promesse que TikTok vend avec constance : la plateforme comme ascenseur social, le téléphone portable comme outil de connexion immédiate entre le talent et la reconnaissance. Ce mythe de l’émergence spontanée mérite d’être examiné plutôt que simplement célébré. Il occulte la part de travail, de calcul, et surtout de contingence algorithmique qui préside à toute trajectoire virale.
La grammaire du corps universel
Ce qui distingue fondamentalement Khaby Lame de la quasi-totalité des créateurs qui l’ont précédé, c’est le régime sémiotique qu’il a inventé, ou plutôt réactivé, car il s’inscrit dans une généalogie comique très ancienne. Certains le comparent à Charlie Chaplin, d’autres à Buster Keaton, tous deux acteurs et réalisateurs du cinéma muet burlesque hollywoodien.
Charlie Chaplin dans “The Kid – Fight Scene”.
En effet, Khaby Lame renoue avec les codes du cinéma comique muet hollywoodien des années 1930 initié par Charlie Chaplin : du mime, des regards appuyés, pas de textes, et de saynètes (courtes scènes théâtrales) burlesques porteuses de messages. Mais la filiation chaplinesque s’arrête là, car les deux hommes habitent leur corps de façons radicalement différentes. Les films de Chaplin intègrent des moments émouvants marqués par des thèmes sociaux et politiques.
Charlot est le vagabond précaire qui résiste au monde industriel, un corps politiquement engagé. Son corps de scène prend parti pour les opprimés, pour les persécutés, pour les précaires du monde.
La mécanique comique de Khaby Lame est, elle, davantage keatonienne. Il utilise uniquement son visage souvent exaspéré pour mettre en lumière l’absurdité des vidéos qui prétendent simplifier les tâches quotidiennes mais ne font que les compliquer. Une impassibilité absolue face à l’absurde, que Buster Keaton avait porté à son point de perfection avec son célèbre « Great Stone Face ».
Buster Keaton ‘The Art of the Gag’.
Mais là où la structure comique est keatonienne, le rapport au corps ne l’est pas du tout : toute sa vie, Keaton est resté complètement indifférent à la religion ou à la métaphysique sous quelque forme que ce soit. Dans un sens pratique, la seule religion de Keaton semble avoir été le théâtre et le cinéma. Keaton incarnait un corps sans ciel au-dessus de lui, un corps radicalement laïque, disponible à l’absurde sans recours à aucune transcendance.
Khaby Lame est l’exact inverse sur ce point. Son corps n’est pas sans ciel : c’est le corps d’un hafiz. Et c’est cette irréductible différence qui rend la dissociation de l’identité numérique en 2026 si troublante. Cet humour sans paroles lui permet de construire un public mondial car il n’y a aucune barrière linguistique, de la même façon que les stars du cinéma muet telles que Charlie Chaplin sont devenues des icônes mondiales il y a un siècle.
TikTok a d’ailleurs optimisé ses mécanismes de recommandation pour favoriser ce type de contenu lisible par tous. Là où Chaplin avait besoin de la salle obscure, Khaby Lame n’a besoin que d’un téléphone et d’un algorithme. La grammaire est la même ; le dispositif de diffusion a muté radicalement.
Khaby Lame.
La dissociation de l’identité numérique
En janvier 2026, ce corps expressif si soigneusement construit devient officiellement un actif financier. Khaby Lame cède sa société Step Distinctive Limited pour 975 millions de dollars à Rich Sparkle, une société cotée en bourse basée à Hong Kong. L’accord inclut la cession des droits d’utilisation de son image, de sa voix et de ses modèles comportementaux, destinés au développement d’un jumeau numérique alimenté par l’intelligence artificielle.
Ce jumeau numérique sera utilisé pour des contenus multilingues, notamment publicitaires et promotionnels, permettant à des entreprises de lancer des campagnes dans plusieurs pays sans que Khaby soit physiquement présent. Selon Rich Sparkle, l’exploitation de ce jumeau numérique pourrait générer plus de 4 milliards de dollars de ventes annuelles, via son double qui créera du contenu commercial multilingue (livestream e-commerce, un format déjà dominant en Asie), pouvant être diffusé simultanément dans le monde entier.
Cette transaction signe un passage de seuil : celui où l’identité numérique cesse d’être une représentation de soi pour devenir un actif dissociable de la personne qui lui a donné naissance. Pour la première fois, un créateur serait considéré non pas comme un ambassadeur de marque, mais comme une marque à part entière, note le journal italienCorriere della Sera. Ce que ce journal formule en termes commerciaux peut se reformuler en termes théoriques : les attributs numériques de Khaby Lame sont désormais légalement séparables de Khaby Lame lui-même.
Le jumeau numérique est, en ce sens, le corps keatonien rêvé par le capitalisme de plateforme : impassible, reproductible, sans intériorité, disponible sur tous les fuseaux horaires. Il prend la structure comique de Keaton et en fait un actif industriel.
Un corps infiniment reproductible et polysémique
Le geste signature de Khaby Lame (les deux paumes ouvertes tournées vers le ciel) semble universellement lisible comme expression de stupéfaction bienveillante. Mais il est profondément polysémique : dans la tradition islamique comme dans de nombreuses cultures africaines, ce même geste est celui du dua, la supplique adressée à Dieu les mains tendues vers le ciel. Ce que des millions de spectateurs lisent comme une signature comique porte, superposée à elle, la mémoire gestuelle d’une tradition spirituelle. Le corps du hafiz ne parle pas d’une seule voix.
Mais le double numérique de Khaby Lame n’est pas une simple image : c’est une entité qui agit en son nom, qui parle avec sa voix, qui produit avec ses gestes caractéristiques. Ce n’est plus de la représentation, c’est de la délégation de sa manière d’être et d’agir.
Un miroir tendu au continent africain
Les mêmes mains ouvertes, le même regard expressif, la même voix qui portèrent jadis les sourates du Coran dans une école de Dakar sont aujourd’hui les attributs d’une transaction commerciale évaluée à près d’un milliard de dollars. Khaby Lame n’a jamais instrumentalisé sa foi pour son audience, et c’est précisément cette discrétion qui rend la tension analytiquement précieuse. Néanmoins, on peut pressentir une tension éthique dans cette cession de son identité agissante aux marchés financiers.
D’un côté, pour la jeunesse africaine, et sénégalaise en particulier, Khaby Lame incarne la possibilité que les espaces numériques constituent des territoires où les hiérarchies héritées de l’histoire coloniale peuvent, au moins symboliquement, être renversées. D’un autre côté, dans cette transaction éminemment capitaliste, un fils de la diaspora sénégalaise autorise la reproduction à l’infini de ses attributs numériques, livrant son corps à l’exploitation médiatique.
Que signifie la cession de ses attributs numériques dans un monde où l’image des corps africains a si longuement été appropriée sans consentement ni compensation ? S’agit-il d’une victoire ou d’une nouvelle forme d’exploitation ? Les bénéfices financiers peuvent-ils compenser la cession de son identité ?
Le continent africain, qui produit de plus en plus de créateurs numériques à audience mondiale, aura collectivement à construire des réponses juridiques, éthiques et culturelles à ces questions. Qui contrôle le double numérique d’un créateur ? Dans quel cadre normatif, occidental, asiatique, islamique ou africain, son exploitation est-elle jugée ?
Khaby Lame n’est pas seulement un phénomène de plateforme. Il est un révélateur, et peut-être, involontairement, un précédent.
Fanny Georges 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.
A team of Romanian scientists drilled a 25-metre ice core from the Scǎrișoara Cave in search of clues for developing new medicines. The 5,000-year-old ice yielded samples of ancient bacteria.
Laboratory analysis revealed something remarkable. These bacteria, undisturbed for thousands of years, were able to grow in a variety of harsh environments. They thrived in extreme cold and high salt levels; settings that would normally prevent bacterial growth.
The scientists also discovered that the ancient bacteria were resistant to ten modern antibiotics, including powerful broad-spectrum treatments such as ciprofloxacin – drugs designed to kill many types of bacteria. In other words, the antibiotics that would normally kill bacteria or halt their growth were largely ineffective against this strain.
How can bacteria evolve resistance to antibiotics long before scientists have created them or doctors have prescribed them?
The answer to this apparent conundrum lies in the fact that all modern antibiotics trace their origins back to nature. For billions of years, bacteria have been engaged in an evolutionary struggle with each other. They have produced formidable chemical attack-and-defence mechanisms as a result.
A deeper understanding of these mechanisms has the potential to help scientists discover new antibiotics to treat dangerous infections. The natural environment is densely packed with bacteria and other microbes. There is strong competition for the limited space and nutrients it provides.
Many species produce chemical compounds that kill or suppress nearby rivals. This gives them an advantage in the struggle for these resources. But the defensive chemicals they generate drive adaptation. Bacteria must protect themselves from their own toxins. Meanwhile, competitors evolve ways to withstand them.
Over billions of years, this arms race has generated an enormous reservoir of resistance genes and antimicrobial compounds.
The number of biological processes inside bacteria that antibiotics can target is limited. Yet the diversity of this natural resistance is so great that some scientists argue genes capable of resisting all future antibiotics may already exist in the environment.
The samples recovered from the Romanian ice cave offer a powerful example of this idea. The bacteria had been sealed off from the outside world for 5,000 years. Yet they were still able to demonstrate resistance to several important modern medicines. This included those used to treat severe and potentially fatal infections like tuberculosis.
Scarisoara Ice Cave in Romania. Paun V.I.
There is no evidence that the microbes from the cave are harmful to humans. But bacteria do not exist in isolation. They have a remarkable ability to share useful traits with one another by exchanging small pieces of DNA, even between unrelated bacterial species. This means that resistance genes preserved in environmental bacteria do not necessarily stay there. There is a risk that if these genes pass to disease-causing bacteria, existing drugs could become less effective.
Rising temperatures are accelerating the melting of global land ice. There is a danger that long-dormant microorganisms and their genetic material could be released into the soil and water systems.
If resistance genes that have been preserved for thousands of years re-enter modern microbial communities, they could contribute to the spread of global antibiotic resistance. This would make the treatment of both common and serious bacterial infections much more difficult.
Nature’s hidden pharmacy
However, the same evolutionary pressures that drive resistance also lead microbes to produce molecules capable of killing rival bacteria.
In laboratory tests, chemicals produced by the ice cave samples were able to kill or inhibit 14 different types of bacteria known to cause human disease. This included several that are on the World Health Organization list of high-priority pathogens.
These compounds could provide starting points for the development of new antibiotics. They could help overcome existing drug resistance in harmful bacteria.
Many of today’s antibiotics were originally discovered by studying natural microbes. Penicillin is one example.
Most bacteria preserved in ancient environments remain unstudied. They may represent an important and largely untapped source of new antimicrobial compounds.
The ice cave bacteria’s DNA also contains numerous genes with no clearly identified role. These unknown sequences may represent biochemical capabilities that have never been characterised.
They offer potential not only in medicines discovery, but also in areas as diverse as industrial biotechnology. For example, enzymes that enable the bacteria to function in extreme cold could be adapted for use in industrial processes that run at lower temperatures. This could improve energy efficiency and reduce costs.
The bacteria preserved in Romanian ice illustrate how deeply rooted antibiotic resistance is within the natural world. They also demonstrate how much of nature’s chemical diversity remains unexplored.
Ancient microbes may contain potentially harmful antibiotic resistance genes that warrant careful global monitoring. But they also contain a vast store of biochemical tools that could provide us with new medicines.
As antimicrobial resistance continues to rise worldwide, understanding these ancient microbial systems may prove increasingly important.
Matthew Holland receives funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Ineos Oxford Institute.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and her ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) got a historic landslide victory in last week’s parliamentary elections.
This marks the first time since its founding in 1955 that the conservative LDP controls a two-thirds supermajority in the lower house. If necessary, Takaichi’s cabinet could also overrule any opposition in the upper house of the Diet (Japan’s parliament), where her coalition still lacks a majority.
Given this, Takaichi now has a massive mandate to push her agenda. This includes boosting defence spending, strengthening the military and even potentially revising Japan’s pacifist constitution, which constrains the role of the Self-Defence Forces and forbids going to war.
So, does this mean Japan could become a more militarised state under Takaichi? And if so, what are the implications for regional security?
Countering China’s rise
Takaichi has portrayed herself as Japan’s Margaret Thatcher and the standard-bearer of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s legacy.
Abe, who led the LDP back to power in 2012, had pledged to “restore a strong Japan”. During his eight-year rule, Japan adopted a so-called “proactive pacifism”. Under this new security strategy, Japan began to depart from its
postwar pacifism through a number of ways:
strengthening the military
lifting bans on arms exports
building new security partnerships (including with NATO, the European Union and the Quad)
consolidating its alliance with the United States.
In 2014, a new interpretation of the constitution also permitted Japan to engage in “collective self defence”, or aid an ally under attack.
Takaichi now sees her job as continuing Abe’s work. And her direction is clear.
Shortly after becoming prime minister last year, Takaichi triggered a spat with Beijing when she suggested Japan would come to Taiwan’s defence if it was attacked by China. Beijing retaliated with economic pressure and coercive rhetoric, but Takaichi refused to back down.
Takaichi, meanwhile, is hoping an assertive China will help her overcome domestic opposition to her security agenda. So far, the public supports her government, too. In a poll after the election, 69% approved of her cabinet’s performance.
How Takaichi wants to transform Japan’s military
Takaichi’s government will soon begin work on a revision of its National Security Strategy from 2022. It is likely to adopt her declared “crisis management” approach, combining security and economic objectives with industrial policy.
Despite mounting public debt, Takaichi has already increased defence spending to 2% of Japan’s GDP ahead of schedule, and has pledged to spend more.
Her government is also considering acquiring nuclear submarines and has announced plans to further deregulate arms exports, ultimately allowing the transfer of lethal weapons.
In addition, Japan is participating in a NATO-led initiative to supply Ukraine with military equipment. While Japan’s involvement is limited to non-lethal arms, this could lead to more defence cooperation with NATO overall.
On the domestic intelligence front, Takaichi has pledged to pass a new anti-spy law, establish a National Intelligence Bureau modelled on the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and issue a national intelligence strategy.
These initiatives are intended to bolster the country’s intelligence capabilities, which have often been hindered by bureaucratic infighting. The long-term aim is eventually joining the “Five Eyes” network.
Stronger ties with the Trump administration
Faced with threats from China, North Korea and Russia, Japan has little choice but to maintain its security alliance with the US.
At the top of Takaichi’s agenda, therefore, is managing the US–Japan alliance in the era of the so-called “Donroe doctrine”. This is Trump’s new security strategy that shifts the focus of US security towards the Western hemisphere, potentially distracting from the Indo-Pacific.
Trump endorsed Takaichi during her election campaign. And when she goes to Washington on March 19, she will likely attempt to influence the White House’s China agenda before Trump visits Beijing in April.
In order to offset the potential impact of a trade deal between the US and China, Takaichi could also use her new political capital to accelerate the implementation of Japan’s own US$550 billion (A$777 billion) investment pledge in the US.
How she uses her new-found power to manoeuvre in a world of great-power rivalry and uncertain alliances will define her legacy and shape the region for years to come.
Sebastian Maslow 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.
Even before the film’s release, the costumes for Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights caused controversy.
Wuthering Heights was first published in 1847 and the story switches back and forth in time between 1801 and the 1770s. But Cathy’s wedding dress references an entirely different era, inspired by a 1951 Charles Jameshaute couture gown. Cathy also appears to be wrapped in cellophane – a material first invented in 1908 – on her wedding night.
These costumes were designed by Jacqueline Durran, who previously won Oscars and BAFTAs for costume design for Anna Karenina (2012) and Little Women (2019), and a third BAFTA for Vera Drake (2005).
Some costume experts have panned Durran’s costumes as anachronistic and visually incoherent. But Vogue described them as “wild and wonderful”. So who’s right?
Designing for film
Costume design is a collaboration; the designer works closely with the director and other production creatives to make a world and bring a story to life.
Costumes must make narrative sense within the world a director is building and communicate the character’s personality and story in each scene.
Often, costumes can seem so natural to a character and their world that you don’t even notice them, like Kathleen Detoro’s designs on Breaking Bad (2008–13).
Costumes can also be scene-stealers because displays of fashion and dress are part of the plot, like Durran’s costumes for Barbie (2023), or Patricia Field’s costumes for Sex and the City (1998–2004).
In Wuthering Heights, Cathy (Margot Robbie) has 50 different costumes, many featuring vintage Chanel jewellery. Other times, she is in ultra shiny, synthetic, plasticised contemporary fabric – such as a black gown that resembles an oil slick.
Cathy’s wedding dress would be more at home in the 20th century than the 18th. Photo Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures
Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi) has fewer changes, more in keeping with Georgian dress, with his costuming riffing on the cinematic trope of the bad-boy Byronic hero.
With every character, the costumes have a life of their own.
This is not unusual for cinematic adaptations of classic literature, which have featured glamorous, luxurious costumes to attract audiences since the beginning of film history, like Georges Méliès’s Cinderella (1899) and Cecil B. DeMille’s Male or Female (1919).
Designing Wuthering Heights
Fennell’s world of Wuthering Heights is built on a collection of images and cinematic references that span time and space to show the love story is universal.
Fennell also wanted to “make something really disturbing and sexy and nightmarish” rather than faithfully recreating the book.
To do this, she accumulated a huge number of visual references and collaborated with Durran to see how and where these could fit into the film.
The film draws on 500 years of art and fashion influences. Photo Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures
Instead of historically accurate costuming, Durran and Fennell created a world of stylised costumes inspired by 500 years of historical dress, contemporary fashions, images from fairy tales and popular culture, and old Hollywood technicolor films from the 1930s to the 1960s, particularly Gone With the Wind (1939) and The Wizard of Oz (1939).
This is part of a broader costuming trend rejecting complete historical accuracy when re-imagining historical eras on screen, such as the alternative Regency world of Bridgerton (2020–) and Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein (2025).
‘A collection of memoranda’
After Cathy dies in the book Heathcliff says, “The entire world is a dreadful collection of memoranda that she did exist, and that I have lost her”.
Motifs of hair, skin, bone and teeth are found throughout the film and speak to the physical, visceral nature of Heathcliff and Cathy’s passion. This echoes historical trends for mourning jewellery that featured hair, bones and teeth of deceased loved ones, and foreshadows the film’s ending.
Cathy’s jewellery is her armour. After she marries Edgar Linton (Shazad Latif), her jewellery signals her newfound wealth and security. The majority of Cathy’s costumes are black, white and red, echoing the interiors of her old and new homes, Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange.
Cathy demands Nelly (Hong Chau) tighten her bridal corset, echoing the scars on Heathcliff’s back from a beating he sustained as a child when defending her. But this tightening also signals she is trapped in a loveless cage.
Heathcliff’s costuming riffs off the cinematic trope of the bad-boy Byronic hero. Photo Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures
Edgar, the nouveau-riche textile merchant, wears suits with a period silhouette but made in contemporary, shiny fabrics; his spoilt, unhinged sister Isabella (Alison Oliver) wears tacky, frilly beribboned gowns and accessories; Heathcliff transforms from rough brute in farming clothes to rakish, Regency-style dandy with a gold tooth.
Not all of the costuming choices work. Cathy’s dirndl-style gowns are more Oktoberfest than “moorcore”. Unlike Cathy’s other costumes which aren’t historically accurate, but are still based on a bygone time, I found the dirndl gowns too similar to a style of traditional dress still worn in Bavaria, Austria and Switzerland, taking us away from the historical fantasy world of Wuthering Heights.
Let it sweep you away
While some will criticise the bold costuming choices, the beauty and skill of Durran’s work on Wuthering Heights are undeniable.
We should embrace Durran’s costumes and their blend of romantic, historical silhouettes and imagery with glossy, gauzy fabrics and sexy, contemporary, high fashion looks.
The costumes aren’t quite historically accurate – but they’re sumptuous. Photo Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures
Don’t look for historical accuracy in Fennell’s Wuthering Heights. That will lead to disappointment. Instead, let the sensual, opulent costumes, the brash, bold scenography and the chemistry between Robbie and Elordi sweep you away to a sumptuous, imaginary world.
Emily Brayshaw 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.
Thailand’s prime minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, will almost certainly stay in the job after a surprise result in last week’s elections saw his conservative Bhumjaithai Party win the most seats in the lower house.
The outcome was another significant setback for the progressive People’s Party – and Thailand’s pro-democracy movement more broadly.
While the People’s Party made some missteps in the campaign, the election demonstrates, yet again, the immense hurdles faced by progressive, democratic parties in a country where pro-military and pro-monarchy forces have outsized influence in politics.
The People’s Party finished second after leading in most pre-election polls. It will now be the primary opposition party in the country.
The formerly powerful Pheu Thai party came a distant third, and agreed to join the Bhumjaithai-led ruling coalition.
So, what does the election mean for the direction of a country? And what’s next for the pro-democracy movement that has attempted for years to bring reforms to the country?
Who is Anutin Charnvirakul?
Anutin took over the Bhumjaithai Party from his father, a former acting premier, in 2014. He had already followed his father into the family construction business, one of Thailand’s biggest.
Anutin rose to the premiership last year after the previous prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, was removed from office for purportedly being too conciliatory towards Cambodia over an ongoing border dispute.
Anutin was elected prime minister in the parliament with the surprise backing of the People’s Party, in exchange for the promise of constitutional reform.
This elevated Anutin’s previously provincial Bhumjaithai Party to be a national-level player. It also allowed him to attract influential defectors from other parties to consolidate his position.
Support for his government dropped in early December due to the mishandling of floods in southern Thailand and alleged connections of his government to transnational scam criminals.
Soon after, Anutin launched preemptive airstrikes against Cambodia over their border dispute. This boosted nationalist sentiment among the public and providing a welcome distraction from domestic pressures.
With the People’s Party looking ready to withdraw support from the ruling coalition, Anutin then dissolved parliament and called early elections.
The airstrikes, drone attacks and ground clashes continued for the next few weeks along the border, ensuring national security would be a key election theme. This worked in favour of the conservatives, but provided challenges for the People’s Party.
Do progressive stand a chance in Thailand?
Many of the People’s Party’s problems are rooted in the struggles of predecessor parties to gain a toehold in Thai politics.
In the last election in 2023, the Move Forward Party won the most seats. But its popular leader was prevented from becoming prime minister by conservative forces in Thai society.
Thailand’s Constitutional Court then dissolved the party. This followed a pattern: its predecessor, the Future Forward party, was dissolved after its strong showing in the 2019 election.
Within 24 hours of the polls closing last week, the National Anti-Corruption Commission unanimously ruled that 44 former lawmakers from the Move Forward party committed gross ethical misconduct by proposing amendments to the Criminal Code’s Section 112. This is the lèse majesté law that carries stiff penalties for insulting or defaming Thailand’s monarchy.
The lawmakers, which include the People’s Party leader, Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut, and 14 other newly elected party MPs, could face lifetime bans from politics.
Did support collapse for the People’s Party?
Although Bhumjaithai handily won the election, capturing nearly 200 seats out of 500 in the lower house, the voting data suggest the People’s Party did not haemorrhage support to Bhumjaithai, as various news headlines made it seem.
Under the military-authored 2017 constitution, Thailand’s lower house elections include 400 individual constituency seats elected by first-past-the-post and 100 party list seats elected by proportional representation.
Bhumjaithai did very well in rural and regional constituency seats, where alleged vote-buying and patronage networks are more prevalent.
Some groups across the country have demanded national recounts following reports of electoral irregularities, in addition to the release of vote counts from polling stations and the re-running of some races.
The party’s support in constituency seats was mostly concentrated in cosmopolitan centres with more educated urban voters, such as Bangkok, where it swept all 33 seats. However, it struggled to win seats in rural and regional areas.
In the national party list vote, though, the progressive party emerged clear winners. It earned around 30% of the national vote, compared with only 18% for Bhumjaithai in second place.
This suggests some people split their votes, supporting a Bhumjaithai candidate for their local seat and the People’s Party in the party list. Unfortunately for the People’s Party, the party list MPs only comprise one-fifth of the lower house.
In a small silver lining for progressive forces, a referendum on amending the constitution (held at the same time as the election) passed easily.
But Anutin and the conservatives are now in control of the drafting and approval process, which they could draw out for years. And in their hands, it may not deliver the changes sought by progressives anyway.
Adam Simpson 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.
As a career counterintelligence officer for the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Defense Intelligence Agency, I worked inside a fully integrated intelligence system.
Signals intelligence from the National Security Agency guided investigations. Satellite imagery from the National Reconnaissance Office provided visibility into hostile environments. Human intelligence came through Defense Intelligence Agency channels.
These streams were strengthened by reporting from domestic and foreign partners. It was a closed, tightly controlled system.
But things have changed. Now private companies are supplying “intelligence as a service” to government entities and others – and as the Amazon-owned Ring doorbell camera company found out when it advertised a new feature last week, the change is not without controversy.
The rise of private intelligence
For most of the 20th century, intelligence remained the exclusive domain of nation states. Collection systems were expensive and specialised. They were protected by strict classification rules designed to safeguard sources and methods.
Intelligence agencies controlled the entire life cycle: human spying, signals interception, satellite surveillance, analysis, and dissemination to decision-makers. This created a closed command economy, where states maintained their own capabilities with legal oversight and institutional tradecraft.
Marine One flying over Defense Intelligence Agency headquarters in Washington DC. Dennis Desmond, CC BY
Today, that monopoly is eroding. It’s being replaced by a commercial intelligence marketplace operating alongside – and increasingly inside – government security structures.
The shift began in the late 20th century as open-source intelligence became more valuable. This happened with the rise of online forums, social media platforms and commercial satellite imagery.
Companies entered this market, scraping images from the web and content from social media sites. Clearview AI, perhaps the most well known, entered this market in 2017 – offering to identify people based on photos from social media.
Businesses quickly recognised the opportunity. Intelligence could be produced commercially, packaged, and sold.
The surveillance economy
At the same time, a broader surveillance economy emerged. It was driven by private companies, not governments.
Acoustic gunshot detection systems illustrate this convergence. Originally designed for military force protection, these sensors are now deployed across cities, providing real-time alerts to police. In Australia, this has manifested itself with hardware store chain Bunnings incorporating facial recognition technology from Hitachi.
Uncrewed aerial vehicles – better known as drones – have followed a similar pattern. Once limited to military reconnaissance, sensor-equipped drones are now widely available commercially. Parts of the battlefield surveillance grid have migrated into civilian life.
Perhaps the most significant shift comes from everyday consumer technology. Internet-connected door cameras, home security systems, and other “Internet of Things” devices now form a vast, privately owned sensor network. This is likely to grow, as products such as Meta’s planned facial-recognition smart glasses hit the market.
Real intelligence value but real privacy concerns
These systems were never intended as intelligence tools. Yet their intelligence value is undeniable.
In the recent case of the kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie in Arizona, for example, Nest door camera footage helped reconstruct movements and identify a possible kidnapper. The data was captured passively, through daily digital life.
This is intelligence collection by proxy. It is constant, ambient, and privately owned.
Amazon Ring’s attempt to launch its “Search Party” program demonstrates the tension.
Framed as a community safety feature, the program proposed using AI to scan neighbourhood camera footage to locate missing pets.
Concern escalated when Ring explored partnering with Flock Safety, whose automated license plate reader networks are widely used by law enforcement. Linking home surveillance cameras with other tracking systems signalled the emergence of a fully integrated commercial intelligence network.
Public backlash was swift – especially after the capability was advertised during the Super Bowl. Critics argued the pet-recovery narrative masked the normalisation of mass surveillance.
Commercial surveillance partnerships continue to expand. Networked cameras and license plate readers equipped with AI-powered object recognition enable vehicle tracking across jurisdictions.
Data brokers feed into this ecosystem too. They sell credit histories, utility records, and behavioural data to government clients.
Taken together, these developments represent “intelligence as a service”. Governments now buy cyber threat reporting, commercial sensor data, facial recognition, and behavioural analytics through subscriptions and data-sharing agreements. Intelligence production has become scalable, modular and market-driven.
This transformation raises serious governance questions. Commercial intelligence providers often operate under far looser legal restrictions. They allow agencies to circumvent data privacy laws.
Consumer-generated data, door cameras, vehicle telemetry and biometric identifiers can often be used by investigators without the need for a warrant. This complicates privacy protections and civil liberties safeguards.
None of this makes state intelligence services obsolete. Governments still retain unique authorities: human espionage, covert action, offensive cyber operations, and classified technical collection.
However, these capabilities now operate within a broader intelligence supply chain. Also in the mix are satellite firms, data brokers, AI analytics companies, and cyber intelligence vendors.
Questions for the future
The integration of commercial surveillance and artificial intelligence is likely to deepen.
Technology leaders envision a near future where cameras on homes, vehicles and public infrastructure feed constant video into AI systems. Citizens and police alike would operate under continuous algorithmic observation. Automated reporting would aim to shape behaviour.
The privatisation of intelligence is neither temporary nor accidental. It is the outcome of technological diffusion, data proliferation, and commercial innovation meeting demand from national security and law enforcement.
The question is not whether intelligence as a service will expand. It will.
The real question is different. What happens to national sovereignty, democratic oversight, and personal privacy when the power to collect and analyse intelligence no longer belongs solely to the state? What happens when it belongs to private actors willing to sell it?
Dennis B. Desmond receives funding from Australian Research Council, Australian Army. As a former intelligence officer, he used various data aggregators, Palantir, and Analyst Notebook for data analysis and intelligence production.
I’m still processing the devastating mass school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C. Like many people across the country, I’m thinking about the families and communities directly impacted while trying to anticipate next steps.
As an academic who researches surveillance technology in Canadian schools,
I am also watching the media landscape for developments in coverage and shifts in discourse.
When violence and tragedy erupt, governments and school leaders face intense pressure to act quickly, and urgency can produce policy responses that signal control without a plan to evaluate their impact.
Focus on securing schools
Market research from the United States estimates that billions of dollars a year are invested in “securing” schools, often in response to school shootings.
These measures can feel reassuring in the short term, but decades of U.S. experience following the 1999 Columbine shooting suggest that expanding visible security measures shows limited or mixed evidence of reducing serious violent incidents, and does not provide causal support for the claim that these measures prevent rare violent incidents.
Premier Danielle Smith suggested the Alberta Ministry of Education may expand school resource officers after upcoming safety audits.
Expanded police presence to address violence
This recent event follows a growing movement in Canadian jurisdictions to expand police presence to address violence in schools.
The British Columbia Ministry of Education fired the Victoria School Board for banning police in schools. In Ontario, Bill 33 is set to expand policing in schools and erode democratic oversight of school boards.
Scholarly evidence on school policing depends on how studies are designed and findings interpreted. A 2018 evaluation of Ontario’s Peel Region estimated school policing had positive social value based on surveys and stakeholder reports. However, it did not compare schools with and without officers or test whether police presence reduces serious violent incidents.
In contrast, a 2020 U.S.-wide study comparing similar schools before and after increases in police funding did find reductions in non-weapon physical fights. However, it found no reduction in gun-related incidents. It also documented increases in suspensions, expulsions and police referrals for Black students and students with disabilities.
Human rights commissions from both Ontario and British Columbia have cautioned that police programs in schools must meet a high legal threshold and have raised concerns about disproportionate impacts on Black, Indigenous, racialized, disabled and 2SLGBTQ+ students. They highlight that any policy that risks discrimination must be necessary, proportionate and supported by evidence.
This raises an important question: if police integration in schools increases the likelihood that already marginalized students will be criminalized through suspensions, expulsions and arrests — all of which fortify the school-to-prison pipeline — what kind of safety are we building and for whom?
Another common way schools are expanding security measures is through threat assessment models that embed digital monitoring tools and law enforcement deeper into schooling. This raises important questions about proportionality and democratic oversight, especially when students and their families may not understand how their information is being collected, used or retained.
These models are presented as preventative rather than disciplinary, focused on identifying suspicious behaviour early and intervening before harm takes place.
Expanded digital threat assessment, in particular, is connected to the development of artificial intelligence tools that are marketed to schools as preventative solutions. These solutions include scanning social media, flagging keywords, mapping digital networks and generating “risk scores” based on behavioural data.
In practice, this means that a student’s online activity can be captured and shared across school and law enforcement systems in ways that were not possible a decade ago.
These early intervention tools subject students to continuous monitoring, with private actors mediating the flow of information from students through schools to police.
While visible security measures may signal action, they do not address the social disconnection and relational breakdowns that often precipitate youth violence in cases where youth are current students at a targeted school, or where they are not (as in the case of Tumbler Ridge).
Students who are marginalized are most likely to experience negative school climates. In schools, these vulnerabilities call for support and trust-building, while in policing contexts, these vulnerabilities are a risk to surveil and detect relative to behavioural baselines.
When police presence expands in schools, the students most in need of care may also be the most likely to be watched. Students who feel watched are less likely to feel trusting of their school community.
Protective social connections
Decades of research on youth violence consistently identify protective social connections not only between students, but also among families, staff and the broader community. Early identification and intervention through multidisciplinary teams that include educators, administrators and mental health professionals are central to prevention efforts.
This does not require engaging in surveillance activities that risk the human rights of students or subject them to criminalization. It does require that we put resources toward educating and supporting youth rather than policing them.
In times of collective grief, the choices leaders make can shape school policy for years. If safety is the goal, relational infrastructure matters.
In this way, prevention depends not only on identifying threats, but on making environments in schools where students and youth feel supported, comfortable seeking help and willing to speak up when a peer needs support.
Beyhan Farhadi receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Warmer winters in normally snowy places can interfere with the important activities of microbes in the soil.Seogi/500px via Getty Images
When you look out across a snowy winter landscape, it might seem like nature is fast asleep. Yet, under the surface, tiny organisms are hard at work, consuming the previous year’s dead plant material and other organic matter.
These soil microorganisms – Earth’s recyclers – liberate nutrients that will act as fertilizer once grasses and other plants wake up with the spring snowmelt.
Key among them are arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, found in over 75% of plant species around the planet. These threadlike fungi grow like webs inside plant roots, where they provide up to 50% of the plant’s nutrient and water supply in exchange for plant carbon, which the fungi use to grow and reproduce.
A magnified view shows filaments and vesicles of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi weaving through the outer cells of a plant root. Outside the root, the filaments of hyphae gather nutrients from the soil. Edouard Evangelisti, et al., New Phytologist, 2021, CC BY
In winter, the snowpack insulates mycorrhizal fungi and other microorganisms like a blanket, allowing them to continue to decompose soil organic matter, even when air temperatures above the snow are well below freezing. However, when rain washes out the snowpack or a healthy snowpack doesn’t form, water in the soil can later freeze – as can mycorrhizal fungi.
In a new study in the Rocky Mountain grasslands, we dug into plots of land that for three decades scientists led by ecologist John Harte had warmed by 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) using suspended heaters that mimicked the air temperature the area is likely to see by the end of this century.
Above ground, the plots shifted over that time from predominantly grassland to more desertlike shrublands. Under the surface, we found something else: There were noticeably fewer beneficial mycorrhizal fungi, which left plants less able to acquire nutrients or buffer themselves from environmental stressors like freezing temperatures and drought.
These changes represent a major shift in the ecosystem, one that, on a wide scale, could reverberate through the food web as the grasses and forbs, such as wildflowers, that cattle and wildlife rely on decline and are replaced by a more desertlike environment.
When plants and fungi get out of sync
Warmer winters and a changing snowpack can affect the growth of plants and fungi in a few important ways.
One of the first signs of changing winters is when the timing of plant, fungal and animal activities that rely on one another get out of sync. For example, a mountain of evidence from around the world has documented how early snowmelt can lead to flowers blooming before pollinators arrive.
Timing also matters for plants that rely on mycorrhizal fungi – their growth must overlap.
Since plants are cued to light in addition to temperature, whereas underground microorganisms are cued to temperature and nutrient availability, warmer winters may cause microorganisms to be active well before their plant counterparts.
A view across the subalpine grasslands outside the experimental plots. Stephanie Kivlin
At our research site, in a subalpine meadow in Colorado, we also initiated an early snowmelt experiment in April 2023 that advanced snowmelt in five large plots by about two weeks.
We found that the early snowmelt advanced mycorrhizal fungal growth by one week, but we didn’t find a corresponding change in the growth of plant roots. When mycorrhizal fungi are active before plants, the plants don’t benefit from the nutrients that mycorrhizal fungi are taking up from the soil.
Disappearing nutrients
Early snowmelt can also lead to a loss of nutrients from the soil.
When microorganisms decompose organic matter in warmer soils, nutrients accumulate in the air and water pockets between soil particles. These nutrients are then available for mycorrhizal fungi to transfer to plants. While mycorrhizal fungi transfer nutrients to the plant, other fungi are primarily decomposers that keep the nutrients for themselves.
However, if rain falls on the snow or the snow melts early, before plants are active, the nutrients can leach from the soil into lakes and streams. The effect is similar to fertilizer runoff from farm fields – the nutrients fuel algae growth, which can create low-oxygen dead zones. At the same time, plants in the field have fewer nutrients available.
Without a thick snowpack, soils can also freeze for longer periods in the winter, leading to lower microbial activity and scarce resources at the onset of spring.
The future of changing winters
Under all of these scenarios – a timing mismatch, more rain causing nutrients to leach out or frozen soil – warmer winters are leading to less spring growth.
Ecosystems are often resilient, however. Organisms could acclimate to lower nutrient concentrations or shift their ranges to more favorable conditions. How plants and mycorrhizal fungi both adapt will determine how this hidden world adjusts to changing winters.
So, the next time rain on snow or a snow drought delays your outdoor winter plans, remember that it’s more than a hassle for humans – it’s affecting that hidden world below, with potentially long-term effects.
Stephanie Kivlin received funding from NSF Award #2338421, #1936195 and DOE Award #DE-FOA-0002392. She is an associate professor in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology department at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory.
Aimee Classen receives funding from the US Department of Energy and the US National Science Foundation. She is a professor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Michigan and the director of the University of Michigan Biological Station.
Lara A. Souza received funding from National Science Foundation and The United States Department of Agriculture. She is affiliated with The University of Oklahoma, Norman and the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory.
Au-delà de la performance sportive, les Jeux olympiques d’hiver de Milano-Cortina se déroulent dans un contexte marqué par l’urgence climatique et des attentes croissantes envers la responsabilité environnementale des méga-évènements sportifs. Conscient de l’empreinte carbone liée à la présence des spectateurs, le Comité organisateur a mis en place des mesures pour les inciter à adopter des comportements plus écoresponsables durant ces JO, qui se terminent le 22 février avant de reprendre en mars pour les Jeux paralympiques.
Quelles sont ces mesures et que valent-elles réellement ?
Doctorante en science politique à l’Université de Montréal, mes travaux portent à la fois sur la communication climatique et l’élaboration de politiques environnementales, y compris dans le secteur du sport.
Après avoir assisté aux Jeux olympiques de Paris 2024, souvent présentés comme plus verts, j’ai eu l’occasion d’être présente à ceux de Milano-Cortina, lors du weekend d’ouverture, sur les sites de Bormio et Livigno. Le texte qui suit s’appuie sur mon expertise et les observations que j’ai pu faire sur place, en tant que spectatrice.
Les déplacements des spectateurs pour assister aux Jeux constituent généralement la principale source d’émissions de gaz à effet de serre associée à l’événement. À titre d’exemple, lors des Jeux de Paris 2024, ils représentaient à eux seuls près de la moitié de l’empreinte carbone totale, soit 49 %.
Par ailleurs, l’affluence attendue soulève d’autres défis, notamment en matière de gestion des déchets. Les services de restauration offerts aux spectateurs sur les sites de Milano-Cortina, de même que le traitement des déchets, devraient ainsi représenter plus de 15 000 tonnes de CO₂ équivalent.
De ce fait, plusieurs initiatives sont mises en place pour limiter l’impact des spectateurs.
Mieux se déplacer pour moins polluer
Les organisateurs disposent de peu de leviers pour influencer les voyages aériens des spectateurs se rendant en Italie, mais ils peuvent agir sur les modes de transport utilisés une fois sur le territoire nord-italien.
Ils ont notamment restreint la circulation routière à proximité des sites olympiques, pour des raisons à la fois sécuritaires et environnementales. Les résidents et spectateurs souhaitant s’y rendre en voiture doivent ainsi se munir d’un laissez-passer, à demander plusieurs semaines à l’avance et à apposer sur le pare-brise, contrôlé aux principaux points d’accès. Sans interdire explicitement la voiture, ce dispositif en réduit fortement l’attractivité.
Pour encourager des alternatives, des stationnements relais gratuits ont été aménagés en périphérie, avec des navettes payantes vers les sites. En dehors de Milan, la plupart des sites ne sont pas directement accessibles par métro ou train, de sorte que des navettes gratuites ont été déployées depuis certaines gares.
Enfin, pour les spectateurs logeant plus en altitude dans les vallées, comme ce fut mon cas, les transports en commun locaux constituent une autre option. Ces bus publics, bien que payants et ponctués de nombreux arrêts, permettent ici aussi de rejoindre les sites sans recourir à un véhicule individuel, au prix d’un temps de trajet plus long.
L’or, l’argent… et le plastique
Vous souvenez-vous des Phryges, les mascottes de Paris 2024 devenues virales sur les réseaux sociaux ? À Milano-Cortina, vous avez probablement entendu parler de leurs héritiers, Tina et Milo, dont les noms font écho aux villes de CorTINA et MILanO.
Mais connaissez-vous les Flo ? Contrairement aux mascottes officielles chargées d’animer les foules, ces six petites fleurs perce-neige remplissent une mission bien particulière : promouvoir le recyclage.
Leur nom fait écho à la campagne anti-gaspillage « Follow the Flo », construite sur un jeu de mots avec l’expression anglophone « follow the flow », qui signifie « suivre le mouvement ».
Panneau expliquant le tri sélectif sur le site olympique de Livigno. (Alizée Pillod)
Elles figurent sur les panneaux expliquant le tri sélectif installés à proximité des points de collecte sur les sites olympiques, contribuant à sensibiliser les spectateurs à leurs actions de manière ludique. Plus encore, des peluches à leur effigie sont proposées à la vente, prolongeant cette initiative au-delà des espaces de tri eux-mêmes.
Une performance en demi-teinte
Aucune donnée définitive n’est encore disponible sur le recyclage ou la fréquentation des navettes et transports en commun, mais il est déjà possible de partager quelques constats.
D’abord, les modes de transport mis à disposition semblent victimes de leur succès. Du côté des bus locaux, les organisateurs ont même sous-estimé l’engouement des spectateurs pour ce service.
À Livigno, site olympique situé en haute altitude, un seul bus circule par heure. À la sortie des compétitions, ce qui devait arriver arriva : files d’attente interminables, spectateurs contraints de patienter dans le froid et sentiment général d’improvisation.
Il faut toutefois reconnaître que l’accès au site constitue en soi un défi logistique. Une fois à Bormio, autre site olympique déjà situé en altitude, l’accès à Livigno nécessite d’emprunter une route sinueuse pendant encore près d’une heure et de franchir un col à plus de 2 000 mètres. Cela limite de facto le flux de véhicules et la fréquence des navettes.
Les autres sites n’échappent pas non plus à ce casse-tête logistique. Ici, la géographie impose ses contraintes, et la patience devient une condition implicite de l’expérience olympique.
La stratégie des stationnements relais soulève également des questionnements. Leur nombre reste limité, et certains sont eux-mêmes situés en altitude, comme celui d’Aquilone. Un tel choix interroge : en positionnant ces stationnements plus bas dans la vallée, les organisateurs auraient-ils davantage dissuadé l’usage de la voiture et favorisé celui des transports collectifs ?
Risque d’éco-blanchiment
En outre, si les Flo encouragent le tri sélectif, celui-ci ne peut constituer la seule solution pour diminuer le nombre de déchets.
À ce sujet, il est surprenant qu’aucune vaisselle réutilisable ne soit proposée aux spectateurs et que les services de restauration privilégient des emballages en carton recyclé ou en plastique pour la vente de leurs produits. L’absence de fontaines permettant de remplir des gourdes entraîne également un recours systématique aux bouteilles d’eau en plastique.
De plus, si les Flo partent d’une bonne intention, la vente de peluches contribue malgré elles à la consommation de masse, laquelle va à l’encontre des principes de l’économie durable.
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L’argent récolté par ces ventes de peluches ne semble pas être réinvesti dans des actions vertes. Cela constitue une occasion manquée de prolonger l’impact des gestes individuels et expose l’initiative à un risque significatif d’éco-blanchiment.
Si ces initiatives en 2026 représentent un premier pas encourageant comparé aux éditions précédentes des Jeux d’hiver, elles restent encore insuffisantes en termes de nombre et d’ambition.
Il faut dire que le point de comparaison n’était guère exigeant : les Jeux olympiques d’hiver de Pékin 2022, à l’instar de plusieurs éditions récentes, ont largement été décriés comme une aberration écologique.
Finalement, cela nous invite aussi à réfléchir à la taille de ces méga-évènements sportifs, lesquels ont considérablement grandi au fil du temps. Si le nombre de spectateurs n’est pas davantage limité, l’empreinte carbone restera nécessairement élevée.
Alizée Pillod est affiliée au Centre d’Études et de Recherches Internationales de l’UdeM (CERIUM), au Centre de recherche sur les Politiques et le Développement Social (CPDS) et au Centre pour l’Étude de la Citoyenneté Démocratique (CECD). Ses recherches sont subventionnées par les Fonds de Recherche du Québec (FRQ). Alizée a aussi obtenu la Bourse départementale de recrutement en politiques publiques (2021), la Bourse d’excellence en études environnementales Rosdev (2023), ainsi que la Bourse d’excellence en politiques publiques de la Maison des Affaires Publiques et Internationales (2025). Elle a collaboré par le passé avec le consortium Ouranos, le ministère de l’Environnement du Québec et l’INSPQ. Elle est actuellement chercheuse invitée au Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Sport de l’Université de Lausanne.
