Category: Analysis

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Karolina Pawlik, Assistant Professor, AFCT Faculty, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

Many of us would struggle to recall the last time we wrote anything substantial by hand. Digital devices often feel more convenient and efficient. But research shows that the intricate motor skills and visual processing required for handwriting encourages more extensive brain activity than typing.

The tools we use and our daily writing habits can influence our thinking and creativity. Because of this, I think we should reconsider the importance of hands-on ways of expressing ourselves and generating new ideas.

One of the oldest handwriting practices still in use today is Chinese calligraphy, which enables self-expression through skilful use of brushstrokes and composition. Chinese calligraphy gives equal value to the parts of the scroll that are blackened with the ink, and to those parts left unfilled.

For centuries, calligraphy was shaped by cultural, philosophical and artistic concepts. It established itself as one of the most significant forms of traditional and modern art in China. Perhaps more importantly, it served as a prominent medium for daily cultivation of the human mind and character.

Its basic tools are a soft brush, Xuan paper (traditionally made from tree bark and rice straw) and ink. But true artists would argue that a good piece of calligraphy cannot be accomplished without a clear mind, sincerity, humility and self-restraint.

As generative AI takes on more writing tasks, humans are turning from writers into prompting masters and editors of machine-generated content. This brings the risk of us becoming disconnected from our own creative ideas.

While the quality of AI-generated text may often be sufficient, the writing process is significantly different. As American historian Timothy Snyder argued in the “ninth lesson” from his book On Tyranny, poor use of words make us more susceptible to manipulation and suppression.

The multi-sensory experience of handwritten calligraphy fosters a deeper connection with the writer’s insights, emotions and surroundings. Writing with a brush requires slowing down and patient introspection. Because it demands attentiveness to posture and movements, a calligrapher’s body is grounded in the physical world – and such moments can have lasting benefits for our sometimes overwhelmed, restless minds.

Writers like Nicholas Carr and Aden Evens bring attention to the ongoing rewiring of our minds and reshaping of our abilities, caused by the excessive amount of time we spend online. They claim that while technology can enhance certain skills, it may also alter fundamental aspects of our thinking, behaviour and relationships.

For instance, constant engagement with technology can diminish our attention spans and deep-reading abilities, leading to superficial information processing.

And according to artist and author James Bridle, our tech-dependency and over-reliance on automated systems easily blinds us to bias, simplification and bad data generated by machines.

Reinvention of the brush

Through deep concentration and focus on the transient present moment, calligraphy allows practitioners to let go of distractions and cultivate a sense of inner peace.

Ink artist Pan Jianfeng, born in Rui’an, China and now living in Porvoo, Finland, embraced handwriting with a brush as a modern pursuit of self-cultivation, creative freedom and intimate human communication. For the past decade, he has committed to rediscovering the soft brush as a tool that knows no boundaries in culture, language or time.

Pan’s unique strategies of letting artworks grow through experimental use of paper and brush invite us to reconsider meaning of the “content generation”, “human creativity” and “communication”.

By generating largely unpredictable images using only traditional organic materials (water, ink, brush and paper) and his body, he shows us possibilities to engage with concepts beyond our expectations and imagination – without adding to the burden on the environment, as generative AI does.

And by creating playful artworks that value ambiguity and understatement, and – contrary to the mindset fostered by computational thinking – reject any single, inviolable answer, Pan seeks to open spaces of conversation, creative confusion and shared negotiation of meaning.

Both in his art and the “One Breath Workshops” he occasionally holds, Pan advocates for mindful handwriting which does not generate more content in an age already saturated with information and misinformation – but rather, removes the superfluity and brings a sense of stillness and peace.

Machines would struggle with text or image recognition in Pan’s ink scrolls such as Northern Ocean (2023) or Unregistered Calligraphy (2024). But human audiences enjoy the game of imagination and discovery.

In the ongoing exhibition Ink Roamings, curated by Shao-Lan Hertel in the Museum of East Asian Art in Cologne, visitors take time to discuss and guess the possible meanings together. Or they quietly contemplate Pan’s artworks in search of own truth.

“People have little trust in themselves and believe too much in technology, so they easily get lost,” Pan told me in an interview for my upcoming book on his work. “I don’t think we need more content – we need a better understanding of the world with all its challenges, and of each other. Through my writing, I try to craft more time and space for this understanding – not less.”

This article features references to books that have been included for editorial reasons, and may contain links to bookshop.org. If you click on one of the links and go on to buy something from bookshop.org The Conversation UK may earn a commission.

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Karolina Pawlik received research funding from Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University for her project “Soft Brush, Creativity and Cross-Cultural Communication” (2023-2025).

– ref. How the art of Chinese calligraphy can bring creative freedom in the age of AI – https://theconversation.com/how-the-art-of-chinese-calligraphy-can-bring-creative-freedom-in-the-age-of-ai-262466

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Kevin O’Malley, Clinical Tutor, School of Medicine, University of Limerick

The UK has just introduced the world’s first national programme offering a vaccine to help protect against gonorrhoea. This coincides with increasing rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including antibiotic-resistant strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, particularly among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men.

The vaccine being offered was not originally designed for gonorrhoea. It is the meningococcal B (MenB) vaccine, developed to protect against Neisseria meningitidis – the bacteria which cause meningitis.

These two bacteria are closely related and share several similar surface proteins. As a result, the immune response generated by the MenB vaccine also offers provides partial protection against gonorrhoea.

While the vaccine is not 100% effective, studies suggest it can reduce the risk of infection by a third. Given the emergence of antibiotic-resistant “super gonorrhoea” this is a valuable addition to our sexual health toolkit.

Condoms are the mainstay of STI prevention, and have been for decades. They are inexpensive, easy to use and remain the only single method that protects against both HIV and most other STIs.

Despite their effectiveness, many people do not use condoms every time they have sex. Some find they reduce sensation or pleasure; others see condomless sex as a sign of trust in a relationship. Condoms might not be on hand when sex is spontaneous, while alcohol and drug use may lower inhibitions and increase impulsivity.

Since the introduction of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) attitudes have also shifted. Some people now perceive other STIs as inconvenient but easily treated, particularly younger generations whose school-based sex education may have focused more on pregnancy prevention than on STI transmission.

But “condomless sex” need not mean “entirely unprotected” sex. In addition to condoms, biomedical advances are giving us more ways to prevent infection – many of which rely on acting before particular bacteria or viruses take hold. In public health, two of the most effective examples of this are vaccination and prophylaxis (treatment given or action taken to prevent disease).

Vaccination

Vaccines work by training the immune system to recognise and fight specific infections. They do this by introducing harmless fragments of a virus or bacterium, which prompt the body to produce antibodies and memory cells. If the body later encounters the real pathogen, the immune system can react rapidly and in a much more targeted way, preventing illness entirely or at least reducing its severity.

Vaccination already plays an important role in sexual health. Alongside the newly introduced gonorrhoea vaccine, the HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine protects against genital warts and reduces the risk of several cancers, including cervical and anal cancer. Hepatitis A and B vaccines defend against viruses that can cause serious, and sometimes life-threatening, liver disease. The mpox vaccine is also available for people considered at higher risk.

These vaccines represent a useful preventative tool in the modern sexual health toolkit – complementing condoms, antiviral prophylaxis and other preventive strategies to give people another layer of protection.

Prophylaxis

In sexual health, one of the clearest examples of prevention in action is HIV prophylaxis. Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) involves taking antiviral medication so that, if exposure to the HIV virus occurs, it cannot establish an infection. Some people take PrEP daily, while others use an “on demand” regimen around the time they have sex. Under the guidance of a sexual health professional, PrEP is a safe and highly effective option for preventing HIV infection.

Post-Exposure Porphylaxis (PEP) works in a similar way but is taken after a possible exposure. It’s an emergency option: a month-long course of antiviral medication that should be started as soon as possible (and no later than 72 hours after sex) to be effective.

Researchers are now exploring similar approaches for bacterial STIs. One promising example is DoxyPEP, where a single dose of the antibiotic doxycycline is taken after condomless sex. Early evidence shows it can significantly reduce the risk of syphilis and chlamydia, and to a lesser extent, gonorrhoea.

Why condoms still matter

These biomedical tools are changing the sexual health landscape. While there is no substitute for the comprehensive protection that condoms offer, more options mean greater control.

As threats continue to evolve, so too must our strategies to address them. The introduction of the gonorrhoea vaccination programme – the first of its kind – is a powerful example of innovation in practice. It demonstrates how progress can be achieved not only through new discoveries, but in finding new uses for existing tools.

Kevin O’Malley 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. Condoms, PrEP and vaccines: how the UK is expanding STI prevention – https://theconversation.com/condoms-prep-and-vaccines-how-the-uk-is-expanding-sti-prevention-262770

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Rüdiger Riesch, Senior Lecturer in Evolutionary Biology, Royal Holloway University of London

Animals may not have musical instruments, but the way that some species form complex patterns of vocal sequences is remarkable. A recent study has found that Antarctic leopard seal. mating call sequences seem to be similar in predictability to human nursery rhymes.

In some cases, the vocal sequences an animal makes has all the elements of song. A song is made up of repeating sounds that follow a set pattern. These sounds can be combined into notes or syllables, which are then grouped into phrases or motifs.

The most prominent example of animal song is found in songbirds, which include some of our common garden birds, like the robin, the blackbird, or the wren. However, songs can also be found in other animals, ranging from small animals like fruit flies, to mice and various bats, to gibbons and even to humpback whales.

Human music and song appear to primarily facilitate group cohesion and coordination. They can also function in our courtship, as exemplified by the serenade, which in its original form was a night-time song used to honour and court a potential partner.

In animals, song serves multiple purposes and is often tied to mate attraction (male fruit flies “sing” with wing vibrations to court females) and mate stimulation (male ultrasonic song in mice has been linked to ovary development in females). Is is also linked to competition, because male songbirds also use song to proclaim and defend their territories against potential rival males.

Although some of the characteristics of animal songs have a lot in common with human songs, they are not made of series of words that each have a specific meaning. Research on vocal sequences and song in animals is therefore mostly focused on identifying patterns in animal vocal communication and studying what function a song or vocal sequence might serve.

Within this context, the new study on Antarctic leopard seals made some interesting discoveries. The study, which was published in the journal Scientific Reports, analysed underwater recordings of 26 male leopard seals from eastern Antarctica.

The researchers used a single hydrophone (a microphone that allows sound recordings in aquatic environments) in the Davis Sea, Antarctica, to record leopard seal vocalisations over the span of six years. Leopard seals are the second-most important predator in Antarctica, almost at the top of the food chain. The orca is the only predator that is known to hunt these seals.

Antarctic leopard seals are usually solitary, except during the breeding season, and each need extensive hunting grounds. However, this means that communication between seals needs to carry over long distances.

Male leopard seals emit loud underwater sounds during the breeding season from November to January. This type of call is called a stereotyped sound, because they can be put into distinct categories.

Scientists believe these calls serve multiple purposes. First, they are thought to be used to attract the attention of females and second, they are thought to be a deterrent for other males. Females seem to also make broadcast calls but only during a short time window when they are sexually receptive.

The males recorded in this study used five different stereotyped calls and strung them together into elaborate series. Although they shared the same repertoire of stereotyped calls, the order in which they strung them together into sequences varied between seals.

The researchers also explored whether these leopard seal vocal sequences follow a predictable sequence pattern and if so, how this compared to sequence structure in other mammals (including humans). Even though the authors labelled the sequences “songs”, they did not mention whether or not they meet all the criteria needed to qualify for song (as described above). I will therefore refer to them here as vocal sequences.

Using several different statistical approaches that aim to assess entropy (randomness) in these sequences, they found that these seal vocal sequences appear to follow predictable patterns. Nonetheless, predictability for leopard seal sequences was lower than for songs of humpback whales and whistle sequences of bottlenose dolphins.

When compared to humans, the authors found that leopard seal sequences were less random than music by classical and romantic composers or the Beatles, and that they were similar to the randomness found in nursery rhymes.

The authors further found that particular sequences were used by the same males
over several consecutive days and speculate that these sequences might
be used as a kind of acoustic signature. This has been found for series of clicks, called codas, in sperm whales, and has been suggested for the songs of some songbirds, like the chiffchaff.

However, in most other species, identity seems to more commonly be encoded in single vocalisations, such as the signature whistles of bottlenose dolphins or the vocal signature calls of parrots.

The study on leopard seals provides some fascinating insights into commonalities and differences between human music and the sequential vocalisation patterns of certain animals.

But it also demonstrates the difficulties scientists face in trying to identify the rules that govern animal vocal sequences and to decipher the messages encoded within them. For example, we usually require a huge number of recordings from a species. Obtaining these recordings can be relatively easy for species that are common where lots of people live. But it can be difficult for animals that live in remote areas.

This study used mathematical equations to analyse the recordings that seals made. However, many animal researchers are beginning to use AI to help find patterns in large databases. I can only imagine what new and exciting discoveries in research on animal communication patterns might be just over the horizon.

Rüdiger Riesch 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. Antarctic leopard seal ‘songs’ are surprisingly similar to nursery rhymes – https://theconversation.com/antarctic-leopard-seal-songs-are-surprisingly-similar-to-nursery-rhymes-262822

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Nicky Hudson, Professor of Medical Sociology, De Montfort University

A baby born in the US has made headlines for a surprising reason: they came from an embryo that had been frozen for more than 30 years — setting a new world record.

The embryo was created and stored in 1994, back when Bill Clinton was US president and the internet, email and mobile phones were still in their infancy. Now, decades later, that embryo has become a living child. But how is this possible – and what does it mean for the future of fertility treatment?

Freezing embryos is a common and effective part of in vitro fertilisation (IVF). During IVF, multiple eggs are fertilised, and any unused embryos can be frozen and stored for future use. Globally, thousands of embryos are placed in long-term storage each year – and as the demand for fertility treatment grows, so too does the number of embryos in storage.

But once a person or couple finishes treatment, the question of what to do with unused embryos can become complicated. As this case in the US illustrates, families and circumstances change.

Relationships may end. People may change their minds. And yet, many feel conflicted about allowing embryos to “perish” (the term used when frozen embryos are removed from storage, thawed and not used), especially after investing significant emotional, physical and financial resources in their creation. As a result, many continue to pay storage fees for years – sometimes decades – after their treatment has ended.

Embryo donation

One option for those with unused embryos is to donate them. Typically, this is coordinated through the fertility clinic. But in this record-breaking case, the embryos were donated through a US Christian organisation called Snowflakes, which allows donors to choose the recipients.

The donor – now a woman in her 60s – wanted a say in where the embryos went because any resulting children would be full genetic siblings to her 30-year-old daughter. In many countries, donor-conceived people are now entitled to information about their donors.

But rarely does this involve embryos frozen for decades – raising the possibility of a future connection between the child, their parents and the donor family, including a half-sibling born 30 years earlier.

In the US, there’s no legal limit on how long embryos (or sperm and eggs) can be stored. In the UK, the maximum storage limit was recently extended to 55 years, enabling a similar situation: someone could be conceived from an embryo stored for decades, and the donor may be elderly – or even deceased – by the time contact is made.

Read more:
Eggs and sperm can now be stored for up to 55 years – here’s what that means for donors and people seeking fertility treatment

What remains unclear is how these wide age gaps between donor and child – or between donor-conceived siblings – might affect how people relate to one another. It’s an area that remains largely unexplored.

Finding genetic relatives

As direct-to-consumer DNA testing becomes increasingly common, more donor-conceived people are turning to services like 23andMe and Ancestry.com to find genetic relatives outside of regulated routes. These commercial tests allow users to upload a sample and receive a list of people they may be related to, including potential donors or donor siblings.

With longer embryo storage periods possible, it’s likely that people will use these platforms to make contact with genetic relatives across many years, bypassing formal donor registries and regulated systems.

In this US case, the embryo donation took place within the same country. But that’s not always the case. With the globalisation of fertility treatment, including international travel and the cross-border shipment of frozen sperm, eggs and embryos, it’s increasingly common for people who are genetically related to live in different countries.

A 2024 Netflix documentary about sperm donation highlighted this issue, showing how a single donor fathered children in multiple countries, prompting calls for better regulation of international donor limits.

One of the most intriguing – and underexplored – questions is how people born from decades-old embryos will come to understand their origins. While research on donor-conceived families suggests that they typically function well, the idea of being “frozen in time” for 30 years is unique. It introduces a temporal disconnect between conception and birth that may feel uncanny or dislocating.

Donor-conceived people are often curious about their genetic background – but being born from an embryo created before the internet or mobile phones adds another layer to this. It could influence how people make sense of their identity, family connections, and even their place in history, especially if their genetic siblings or donors are decades older, or deceased. The long gap between fertilisation and birth raises profound questions not just about biology, but about belonging, narrative, and what it means to be from a particular time.

With rapid advances in reproductive technology, it’s likely this won’t be the last record-breaking case. As techniques improve and cultural boundaries around family and parenthood continue to evolve, we’ll see more questions arise: about identity, genetics and what it really means to be part of a family.

Nicky Hudson receives funding from the UK Economic and Social Research Council. She is a member of the UK NICE Guideline Committee on fertility treatment, a working group member for the Nuffield Council on Bioethics’ project on Reviewing the 14-day rule, a member of the British Fertility Society’s Law, Policy and Ethics group and an advisory board member for the Fertility Alliance.

– ref. World’s ‘oldest baby’: what a 30-year-old embryo tells us about the future of fertility – https://theconversation.com/worlds-oldest-baby-what-a-30-year-old-embryo-tells-us-about-the-future-of-fertility-262754