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Violence is a normal part of life for many young children: study traces the mental health impacts

Source: The Conversation – Africa (2) – By Kirsten A Donald, Professor of Paediatric Neurology and Development, University of Cape Town

By Teresa – Scan on Xerox DocuColor 2240, CC BY-SA 3.0, CC BY

Children in many countries are growing up surrounded by violence. It may happen at home, in their neighbourhoods, or both. Some children are directly harmed, while others witness violence between caregivers or in their communities. Either way, the impact can be profound.

Evidence shows that the relationship between violence exposure and poor mental health can be seen even before a child is old enough to go to school. Researchers are learning that early adversities can have lifelong consequences.

We are researchers in paediatric neuroscience and psychology who set out to understand how early experiences of violence are shaping young children’s cognitive and emotional health in low- and middle-income countries. Here we discuss our findings from a review of studies from 20 countries and new data from a large cohort of children in South Africa.

We found that violence exposure is extremely common in all the countries we looked at and that its effects on mental health are already visible in childhood.

The response will require action at all levels – families, communities, health systems and governments.

Gaps in the research

Early childhood (birth to 8 years) is a critical period for emotional, social and cognitive development. Mental health or cognitive difficulties that begin in the preschool years can shape children’s relationships, learning and wellbeing well into adolescence and adulthood. Yet, little is known about how violence affects children in the early years in low – and middle-income countries, where violence rates can be high. Most research focuses on school-age children or adolescents, missing the window when prevention may be most effective, in early childhood.

We aimed to fill that gap by collating existing knowledge and generating new evidence from South African children. This formed the basis of co-author Lucinda’s PhD thesis.

First, we reviewed 17 published studies from 20 low- and middle-income countries, examining how violence exposure affects children’s cognitive functioning. Second, we used data from almost 1,000 children in the Drakenstein Child Health Study, a long-running birth cohort in a peri-urban community outside Cape Town. We examined these children’s exposure to different types of violence by age four-and-a-half and assessed their mental health at age five.

What we found

Sadly, our findings revealed that violence exposure is extremely common.

The review found that over 70% of the studies drawing from 27,643 children from 20 countries, aged up to 11, across four continents, reported poor cognitive outcomes associated with experiencing maltreatment, intimate partner violence and war.

In our South African cohort, by age 4.5 years, 83% of children were exposed to some form of violence. This included witnessing community violence (74%), witnessing domestic violence (32%), and being direct victims in the community (13%) or at home (31%). Nearly half (45%) experienced more than one type of violence.



Read more:
Why South Africa’s children are vulnerable to violence and injuries

In many countries, early exposure to violence is not exceptional. It is a normal part of growing up for many children.

Regarding how violence affects mental health in early childhood, the South African data showed that preschool children exposed to more violence displayed more internalising symptoms, such as anxiety, fear, or sadness, and externalising symptoms, such as aggression, hyperactivity, and rule-breaking. Experiencing violence at home and witnessing violence in the community were particularly linked with these difficulties.

One of the clearest findings was that multiple exposures compounded the risk. Children who experienced both domestic and community violence were at particularly high risk of mental health difficulties, especially experiencing externalising symptoms.

Public health challenge

These results highlight a major public health challenge, which starts early. These patterns appear before school entry, suggesting that violence exposure can alter developmental pathways well before formal education begins.

Since the risks from mental health difficulties linked to violence were visible by age five, waiting to intervene until school-age misses a crucial opportunity.

Impacts to wellbeing in early childhood can cause some children to internalise distress and others to act out, but both can disrupt learning, relationships and future mental health.

It is a stark reality that in some communities, most children are affected by violence. Individual therapy alone cannot fix a problem this widespread. It is a population-level issue. Broader community and policy responses are needed, such as the INSPIRE strategies developed by the World Health Organization.

Where to from here

The reality is grim and calls for quick and informed action at all levels: families, communities, health systems, and governments. A successful response will include:

  1. Early identification: Health and community services should routinely ask about violence exposure, including witnessing violence, during early childhood visits.

  2. Support for families: Interventions that reduce domestic violence, strengthen parenting skills, and provide mental health and social support can protect both children and adults.

  3. Addressing community violence: Safer neighbourhoods, violence prevention efforts and policing reforms should be implemented and also clearly linked with child mental health strategies in policy wording.

  4. Policy that prioritises early childhood: Governments and NGOs should embed early violence prevention and child mental health promotion into national health and education strategies.

  5. Monitoring and revising strategies: Improving data collection and data quality will help track progress and inform improvements to further interventions.



Read more:
Violence against children carries a huge cost for Africa: governments need to act urgently

Violence exposure in early childhood is widespread in low- and middle-income countries and has clear impacts on young children’s mental health. These effects emerge early, grow with multiple exposures, and require early intervention at every level. Protection and support are essential to build healthier and safer communities for the future.

There is hope as some organisations in South Africa are working to prevent violence against women and children, and intervening for those affected.

The Conversation

Lucinda Tsunga received funding from the University of Bristol’s (i) Pro Vice-Chancellor (PVC)-Research and Enterprise Strategic Research Fund and (ii) The Quality-related Research Global Challenges Research Fund (QRGCRF) Strategy funded by Research England during the course of her Dctoral studies.

Kirsten A Donald 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. Violence is a normal part of life for many young children: study traces the mental health impacts – https://theconversation.com/violence-is-a-normal-part-of-life-for-many-young-children-study-traces-the-mental-health-impacts-268512

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US drops tariffs on $2b of NZ exports

Source: Radio New Zealand

Minister for Trade and Investment Todd McClay

Trade Minister Todd McClay. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

Tariffs have been removed from more than $2 billion worth of New Zealand’s exports to the United States, Trade Minister Todd McClay says.

US president Donald Trump on Friday (US time) signed an executive order cancelling tariffs on a wide range of food imports, including New Zealand beef and kiwifruit.

The new exemptions marked a sharp reversal, as Trump had long insisted his import duties were not fueling inflation for Americans.

But McClay said climbing prices and declining supply may have prompted the president to change tack.

“If you’re not getting as much beef coming in because of the tariff rate, there are shortages and prices will go up.”

The US buys New Zealand beef because it is high quality and the country does not produce enough of its own, said McClay.

The minister expected beef exports would return to the volume from before the tariffs were introduced.

He said about a quarter of New Zealand’s trade to the US had tariffs removed, but he wanted more products stripped of the taxes.

“I and the prime minister have consistently made the case that we don’t think it’s justified, that our trade is complementary and well-balanced.

“But in the case of the change, particularly for kiwifruit worth about $250 million a year and meat or beef exports about $2b a year for New Zealand, this is welcome news and we would hope there could be more over time.”

Meat Industry Association chief executive Nathan Guy said it was surprising but exciting news for farmers and processors.

“We’ve always thought these tariffs could indeed be inflationary for US consumers,” he said.

“This is a very important market for us, indeed it is our number one, despite the 15 percent tariffs, because the demand has been so strong in the US.”

Guy said it seemed beef would revert back to a 1 percent tariff which was “business as usual” – but lamb was still subject to 15 percent.

“We’ll keep raising that issue, we’ll work with the New Zealand Government and indeed ministers and officials and even the prime minister.”

He was pleased to see prime minister Christopher Luxon recently met with Donald Trump, and believed New Zealand’s relationship with the US was “in good heart”.

“This is a positive step forward.”

The change would restore a level playing field with key competitors like Australia, which had avoided the extra tariffs, Guy said.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

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Can you really talk to the dead using AI?

Source: Radio New Zealand

From text-based chatbots that mimic loved ones to voice avatars that let you “speak” with the deceased, artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly being used to preserve the voices and stories of the dead.

In our research, recently published in Memory, Mind & Media, we explored what happens when remembering the dead is left to an algorithm.

We even tried talking to digital versions of ourselves to find out.

A senior man looks out the window as he talks on the phone.

AI memorial platforms encourage users to “capture their loved one’s story forever”, but they also harvest their data to keep engagement high.

Getty Images / Unsplash +

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

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Why the chemtrail conspiracy theory lingers and grows – and why Tucker Carlson is talking about it

Source: The Conversation – USA – By Calum Lister Matheson, Associate Professor of Communication, University of Pittsburgh

Contrails have a simple explanation, but not everyone wants to believe it. AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

Everyone has looked up at the clouds and seen faces, animals, objects. Human brains are hardwired for this kind of whimsy. But some people – perhaps a surprising number – look to the sky and see government plots and wicked deeds written there. Conspiracy theorists say that contrails – long streaks of condensation left by aircraft – are actually chemtrails, clouds of chemical or biological agents dumped on the unsuspecting public for nefarious purposes. Different motives are ascribed, from weather control to mass poisoning.

The chemtrails theory has circulated since 1996, when conspiracy theorists misinterpreted a U.S. Air Force research paper about weather modification, a valid topic of research. Social media and conservative news outlets have since magnified the conspiracy theory. One recent study notes that X, formerly Twitter, is a particularly active node of this “broad online community of conspiracy.”

I’m a communications researcher who studies conspiracy theories. The thoroughly debunked chemtrails theory provides a textbook example of how conspiracy theories work.

Boosted into the stratosphere

Conservative pundit Tucker Carlson, whose podcast averages over a million viewers per episode, recently interviewed Dane Wigington, a longtime opponent of what he calls “geoengineering.” While the interview has been extensively discredited and mocked in other media coverage, it is only one example of the spike in chemtrail belief.

Although chemtrail belief spans the political spectrum, it is particularly evident in Republican circles. U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has professed his support for the theory. U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia has written legislation to ban chemical weather control, and many state legislatures have done the same.

Online influencers with millions of followers have promoted what was once a fringe theory to a large audience. It finds a ready audience among climate change deniers and anti-deep state agitators who fear government mind control.

Heads I win, tails you lose

Although research on weather modification is real, the overwhelming majority of qualified experts deny that the chemtrail theory has any solid basis in fact. For example, geoengineering researcher David Keith’s lab posted a blunt statement on its website. A wealth of other resources exist online, and many of their conclusions are posted at contrailscience.com.

But even without a deep dive into the science, the chemtrail theory has glaring logical problems. Two of them are falsifiability and parsimony.

The philosopher Karl Popper explains that unless your conjecture can be proved false, it lies outside the realm of science.

According to psychologist Rob Brotherton, conspiracy theories have a classic “heads I win, tails you lose” structure. Conspiracy theorists say that chemtrails are part of a nefarious government plot, but its existence has been covered up by the same villains. If there was any evidence that weather modification was actually happening, that would support the theory, but any evidence denying chemtrails also supports the theory – specifically, the part that alleges a cover-up.

People who subscribe to the conspiracy theory consider anyone who confirms it to be a brave whistleblower and anyone who denies it to be foolish, evil or paid off. Therefore, no amount of information could even hypothetically disprove it for true believers. This denial makes the theory nonfalsifiable, meaning it’s impossible to disprove. By contrast, good theories are not false, but they must also be constructed in such a way that if they were false, evidence could show that.

Nonfalsifiable theories are inherently suspect because they exist in a closed loop of self-confirmation. In practice, theories are not usually declared “false” based on a single test but are taken more or less seriously based on the preponderance of good evidence and scientific consensus. This approach is important because conspiracy theories and disinformation often claim to falsify mainstream theories, or at least exploit a poor understanding of what certainty means in scientific methods.

Like most conspiracy theories, the chemtrail story tends not to meet the criteria of parsimony, also known as Occam’s razor, which suggests that the more suppositions a theory requires to be true, the less likely it actually is. While not perfect, this concept can be an important way to think about probability when it comes to conspiracy theories. Is it more likely that the government is covering up a massive weather program, mind-control program or both that involve thousands or millions of silent, complicit agents, from the local weather reporter to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, or that we’re seeing ice crystals from plane engines?

Of course, calling something a “conspiracy theory” does not automatically invalidate it. After all, real conspiracies do exist. But it’s important to remember scientist and science communicator Carl Sagan’s adage that “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” In the case of chemtrails, the evidence just isn’t there.

Scientists explain how humans are susceptible to believing conspiracy theories.

Psychology of conspiracy theory belief

If the evidence against it is so powerful and the logic is so weak, why do people believe the chemtrail conspiracy theory? As I have argued in my new book, “Post-Weird: Fragmentation, Community, and the Decline of the Mainstream,” conspiracy theorists create bonds with each other through shared practices of interpreting the world, seeing every detail and scrap of evidence as unshakable signs of a larger, hidden meaning.

Uncertainty, ambiguity and chaos can be overwhelming. Conspiracy theories are symptoms, ad hoc attempts to deal with the anxiety caused by feelings of powerlessness in a chaotic and complicated world where awful things like tornadoes, hurricanes and wildfires can happen seemingly at random for reasons that even well-informed people struggle to understand. When people feel overwhelmed and helpless, they create fantasies that give an illusion of mastery and control.

Although there are liberal chemtrail believers, aversion to uncertainty might explain why the theory has become so popular with Carlson’s audience: Researchers have long argued that authoritarian, right-wing beliefs have a similar underlying structure.

On some level, chemtrail theorists would rather be targets of an evil conspiracy than face the limits of their knowledge and power, even though conspiracy beliefs are not completely satisfying. Sigmund Freud described a fort-da (“gone-here”) game played by his grandson where he threw away a toy and dragged it back on a string, something Freud interpreted as a simulation of control when the child had none. Conspiracy theories may serve a similar purpose, allowing their believers to feel that the world isn’t really random and that they, the ones who see through the charade, really have some control over it. The grander the conspiracy, the more brilliant and heroic the conspiracy theorists must be.

Conspiracies are dramatic and exciting, with clear lines of good and evil, whereas real life is boring and sometimes scary. The chemtrail theory is ultimately prideful. It’s a way for theorists to feel powerful and smart when they face things beyond their comprehension and control. Conspiracy theories come and go, but responding to them in the long term means finding better ways to embrace uncertainty, ambiguity and our own limits alongside a new embrace of the tools we do have: logic, evidence and even humility.

The Conversation

Calum Lister Matheson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Why the chemtrail conspiracy theory lingers and grows – and why Tucker Carlson is talking about it – https://theconversation.com/why-the-chemtrail-conspiracy-theory-lingers-and-grows-and-why-tucker-carlson-is-talking-about-it-269770

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Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket landed its booster on a barge at sea – an achievement that will broaden the commercial spaceflight market

Source: The Conversation – USA – By Wendy Whitman Cobb, Professor of Strategy and Security Studies, Air University

Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket lifted off for its second orbital flight on Nov. 13, 2025. AP Photo/John Raoux

Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket successfully made its way to orbit for the second time on Nov. 13, 2025. Although the second launch is never as flashy as the first, this mission is still significant in several ways.

For one, it launched a pair of NASA spacecraft named ESCAPADE, which are headed to Mars orbit to study that planet’s magnetic environment and atmosphere. The twin spacecraft will first travel to a Lagrange point, a place where the gravity between Earth, the Moon and the Sun balances. The ESCAPADE spacecraft will remain there until Mars is in better alignment to travel to.

And two, importantly for Blue Origin, New Glenn’s first stage booster successfully returned to Earth and landed on a barge at sea. This landing allows the booster to be reused, substantially reducing the cost to get to space.

Blue Origin launched its New Glenn rocket and landed the booster on a barge at sea on Nov. 13, 2025.

As a space policy expert, I see this launch as a positive development for the commercial space industry. Even though SpaceX has pioneered this form of launch and reuse, New Glenn’s capabilities are just as important.

New Glenn in context

Although Blue Origin would seem to be following in SpaceX’s footsteps with New Glenn, there are significant differences between the two companies and their rockets.

For most launches today, the rocket consists of several parts. The first stage helps propel the rocket and its spacecraft toward space and then drops away when its fuel is used up. A second stage then takes over, propelling the payload all the way to orbit.

While both New Glenn and Falcon Heavy, SpaceX’s most powerful rocket currently available, are partially reusable, New Glenn is taller, more powerful and can carry a greater amount of payload to orbit.

Blue Origin plans to use New Glenn for a variety of missions for customers such as NASA, Amazon and others. These will include missions to Earth’s orbit and eventually to the Moon to support Blue Origin’s own lunar and space exploration goals, as well as NASA’s.

NASA’s Artemis program, which endeavors to return humans to the Moon, is where New Glenn may become important. In the past several months, several space policy leaders, as well as NASA officials, have expressed concern that Artemis is progressing too slowly. If Artemis stagnates, China may have the opportunity to leap ahead and beat NASA and its partners to the lunar south pole.

These concerns stem from problems with two rockets that could potentially bring Americans back to the Moon: the space launch system and SpaceX’s Starship. NASA’s space launch system, which will launch astronauts on its Orion crew vehicle, has been criticized as too complex and costly. SpaceX’s Starship is important because NASA plans to use it to land humans on the Moon during the Artemis III mission. But its development has been much slower than anticipated.

In response, Blue Origin has detailed some of its lunar exploration plans. They will begin with the launch of its uncrewed lunar lander, Blue Moon, early next year. The company is also developing a crewed version of Blue Moon that it will use on the Artemis V mission, the planned third lunar landing of humans.

Blue Origin officials have said they are in discussions with NASA over how they might help accelerate the Artemis program.

New Glenn’s significance

New Glenn’s booster landing makes this most recent launch quite significant for the company. While it took SpaceX several tries to land its first booster, Blue Origin has achieved this feat on only the second try. Landing the boosters – and, more importantly, reusing them – has been key to reducing the cost to get to space for SpaceX, as well as others such as Rocket Lab.

That two commercial space companies now have orbital rockets that can be partially reused shows that SpaceX’s success was no fluke.

With this accomplishment, Blue Origin has been able to build on its previous experience and success with its suborbital rocket, New Shepard. Launching from Blue Origin facilities in Texas since 2015, New Shepard has taken people and cargo to the edge of space, before returning to its launch site under its own power.

A short, wide rocket lifts off from a launchpad.
Blue Origin’s suborbital rocket, New Shepard.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

New Glenn is also significant for the larger commercial space industry and U.S. space capabilities. It represents real competition for SpaceX, especially its Starship rocket. It also provides more launch options for NASA, the U.S. government and other commercial customers, reducing reliance on SpaceX or any other launch company.

In the meantime, Blue Origin is looking to build on the success of New Glenn’s launch and its booster landing. New Glenn will next launch Blue Origin’s Blue Moon uncrewed lander in early 2026.

This second successful New Glenn launch will also contribute to the rocket’s certification for national security space launches. This accomplishment will allow the company to compete for contracts to launch sensitive reconnaissance and defense satellites for the U.S. government.

Blue Origin will also need to increase its number of launches and reduce the time between them to compete with SpaceX. SpaceX is on pace for between 165 and 170 launches in 2025 alone. While Blue Origin may not be able to achieve that remarkable cadence, to truly build on New Glenn’s success it will need to show it can scale up its launch operations.

The Conversation

Wendy Whitman Cobb is affiliated with the US School of Advanced Air and Space Studies. Her views are her own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Defense or any of its components. Mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations do not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government, and the appearance of external hyperlinks does not constitute DoD endorsement of the linked websites, or the information, products or services therein.

– ref. Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket landed its booster on a barge at sea – an achievement that will broaden the commercial spaceflight market – https://theconversation.com/blue-origins-new-glenn-rocket-landed-its-booster-on-a-barge-at-sea-an-achievement-that-will-broaden-the-commercial-spaceflight-market-269786

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Different ‘breeds’ of dog started emerging more than 10,000 years ago

Source: Radio New Zealand

Dogs — in their many shapes and sizes — are considered one of the most diverse species of animals on the planet.

Most of these breeds are thought to have emerged during the 19th-century Victorian era.

But a new paper, published this week in the journal Science, suggests that about half of the vast diversity in dogs we see today was evident by the middle of the Stone Age.

A young woman hugs a brown dog with its tongue out.

Dog breeding by humans has created one of the most diverse species of animal on the planet. (

Wade Austin Ellis

Your dog can read your mind – sort of

A team of researchers across Europe analysed hundreds of dog and wolf skulls spanning the past 50,000 years to track how the animals first emerged.

This evolution might be tied to the animal’s domestication, says Carly Ameen, the study’s co-lead researcher and a bioarchaeologist at the University of Exeter.

“We found that dogs were already remarkably diverse in their skull shapes and sizes more than 11,000 years ago,” Dr Ameen said.

“This means much of the physical diversity we associate with modern breeds actually has very deep roots, emerging soon after domestication.”

Evolving from wolves to dogs

While dogs have been human companions for thousands of years, untangling exactly when our furry friends went from wolves to domestic animals is difficult to do.

Timelines using different scientific techniques to determine when this evolutionary transition occurred don’t match up.

Genetic evidence shows dogs diverged from wolves about 11,000 years ago, but much older fossils suggest the first dogs roamed around as early as 35,000 years ago.

A computer drawing of four skulls.

Modern dogs (pink) and modern wolves (green), have subtle changes in their morphology.

C Brassard / VetAgro Sup / Mecadev

To examine their evolution in a different way, the researchers took 643 skulls of ancient wolves and dogs, and made 3D scans of them to analyse how their shapes changed over time and place.

These subtle shape changes provide clearer evidence of when wolves became dogs, but also of how dogs diversified into the modern era, the researchers said.

Using these 3D models, they found a distinctive dog-like skull shape emerged around 11,000 years ago, which lines up with genetic evidence.

But the models also showed a surprising amount of diversity among ancient dogs across Europe.

“While we don’t see some of the most extreme forms of skull shape that we see today — like pugs or bull terriers — the variation we see by the [middle of the Stone Age] is already half the total amount of variation we see in modern breeds,” Dr Ameen said.

“But for those features to develop, domestication must have started much earlier.”

While the research suggests a large amount of diversity existed as early as the Stone Age, many of the dogs we keep as pets today emerged during the 19th century, when intensive breeding produced speciality animals for fights and shows.

Early humans moved with dogs

Melanie Fillios, an anthropological archaeologist at the University of New England, said the study’s findings — including that almost half the variation in dogs occurred long before the Victorian era — suggested humans weren’t the sole cause of breed diversity.

“There’s all this variability 11,000 years ago, but we’re not sure why,” Professor Fillios, who was not involved in the paper, said.

“Humans have had a hand in it … but there’s also part of the story that may not have been humans.”

A long pale skull sits on a round surface.

A modern dog skull used in a study to track changes in early dogs.

C Ameen / University of Exeter

According to Dr Ameen, the environment may also have shaped the earliest varieties of dogs.

“Some [dogs] lived with mobile hunter-gatherers in cold northern environments, others with groups in temperate forests or early farming communities,” she said.

“Each context brought different demands — for hunting, guarding, or companionship — and that variation likely shaped dogs’ morphology and evolution from the very beginning.”

A brown skull with yellow teeth sits on a round surface.

An archaeological canid skull used in a study to track changes in early dogs.

C Ameen / University of Exeter

A second study, also published today in Science, pushes this idea further, suggesting that dogs likely moved with humans as they began migrating around the globe about 11,000 years ago after the last glacial period ended.

The study’s authors noted that dogs were occasionally traded among populations, which might mean they were important for culture and potentially even trading between groups.

“There’s all of these factors coming together around this time period… You’re getting this giant melting pot,” Professor Fillios said.

Dingoes don’t fit the mould

While Professor Fillios said the study brought together “a lot of information for the first time”, it left plenty of questions still unanswered.

“It’s another piece of the puzzle… but it doesn’t solve the question of dog domestication or human intervention in that process.”

She also noted that studies like this struggled to explain the emergence of species such as dingoes, which occur on an evolutionary “side branch”.

A young dingo looks at the camera.

Dingos have been in Australia for an estimated 3,500 to 8,000 years.

Alex Gisby

It’s unknown how long dingoes have been in Australia, but estimates suggest somewhere between 3,500 and 8,000 years ago.

“It would be a really nice story if all this [dog] diversity … corresponds with genetic evidence, and people moving around the world,” she said.

But when it comes to dingoes, this timeline didn’t work, she said.

“There is no relationship between dingoes and these other branches that came to be the domestic village dogs and Asian and European dogs that we see today.”

For both Dr Ameen and Professor Fillios, more research is needed to understand how dogs first became our companions.

“Dogs were the first species we ever domesticated, and they’ve been evolving with us ever since,” Dr Ameen said.

“While dogs are among the most studied domestic species… a lot remains to be discovered.”

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

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How I found an unexpected connection to science in the works of Iris Murdoch – by a molecular biophysicist

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Rivka Isaacson, Professor of Molecular Biophysics, King’s College London

When I first began appropriating the plots of British-Irish novelist Iris Murdoch’s novels to explain scientific concepts, I never stopped to think about whether Murdoch herself would have approved of such an endeavour.

As a professor of molecular biophysics, I find that in both scientific research and all aspects of life, there can be great advantage in thinking differently. I’ve recently given some sessions on this at the Physics of Life summer school, and the fun, ideas and feedback were beyond my wildest dreams – especially as I’d been encouraged to conceal this side of myself as a young scientist.

Back in the 1990s, I did my PhD on protein folding – a conundrum underpinning all biology which has challenged scientists for decades. I wrote about it for The Conversation when a breakthrough won the Nobel prize in chemistry in 2024.

At its heart is a question of competing energies: entropic forces, which motivate a protein and its surrounding medium to move as freely as possible, versus enthalpic, in which positive charges gravitate towards negative charges and things with oily properties congregate. Protein folding is driven by finding the best balance in a three-dimensional shape to satisfy as many of these forces as possible.

An early book by the Booker-winning author A.S. Byatt, Degrees of Freedom, examines the power structures and layers of control that drive Murdoch novels. It’s a comparable scenario to protein folding: the compromise between many clashing forces.

When Degrees of Freedom first came out in 1965, Murdoch had published nine novels. The book was reissued in 1994 with additional material, when only Murdoch’s final novel, Jackson’s Dilemma – written when Alzheimer’s disease was just beginning to invade her beautiful mind – had yet to emerge.

Reading Murdoch’s 1975 novel A Word Child in 2003, I was struck by the helix-shaped nature of the plot, with London Underground’s Circle Line platform pubs at Sloane Square and Liverpool Street acting as points of vulnerability. I immediately turned to Byatt’s book to see whether her analysis matched my own.

In finding there was no chapter on A Word Child, I trawled the internet and discovered the Iris Murdoch Society, which one could join for the princely sum of £5. Signing up at that time required emailing Anne Rowe at Kingston University, and I couldn’t resist explaining my thoughts on A Word Child and the molecular mechanisms underpinning Alzheimer’s disease. She invited me to submit an abstract to a conference – and from then on, I was hooked.

So far, I’ve used ten out of Murdoch’s 26 novels to illustrate topics as broad as alcoholism and its effect on the liver, sex hormone signalling, evolution, molecular crowding and electron microscopy. While I’m not in any immediate danger of running out of Murdoch material, the recent publication of Poems from an Attic, a collection assembled from material found in her Oxford home many years after her death, adds a glorious new angle to my exploits.

While Murdoch is obsessed with nature – wild swimming, the changing seasons, flora, fauna and the meditative effects of being outdoors – she often speculates in her poems as to why things are as they are, which is an undeniably scientific way of thinking. There are examples of this in many of the poems, whatever their topic.

The word science occurs three times in the new volume – the first in the poem To B, who brought me two candles as a present (B was Murdoch’s lover, Brigid Brophy):

What you require of me no science gives –

To make these fires constant but not consumed.

What blazes every moment when it lives

Has eaten its own substance as it bloomed.

Yet though they burn not all the evening through,

While they are burning each to each is true.

This provides a satisfying analogy to justify sustaining Murdoch’s simultaneous passions. It invokes the same fuel-based resignation as American poet Edna St Vincent Millay’s First Fig:

My candle burns at both ends;

It will not last the night;

But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends

It gives a lovely light!

The other two mentions of science in the new collection appear in You by Telephone – in which Murdoch muses over the changes, both positive and negative, that the invention of the phone had on the practicalities of relationships:

For I cannot close with kisses the lips that may speak me daggers,

Nor give you a gentle answer just by taking your hand.

The poem also includes this delightful digression:

In spite of the case of Odysseus, who might have got home much sooner

If at the start he could have dialled Ithaca one.

But he might have offended Hermes, that rival tele-communer,

And science would have precluded a lot of Homer’s fun.

I am relieved Murdoch didn’t have to grapple with smart phones, social media and today’s attention spans. Years ago, I scoured her archive for thoughts on science, which were mostly touched upon in correspondence, and her entertaining annotations of The Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays by Martin Heidegger, and The Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra.

Murdoch was certainly interested in science, albeit with a healthy dose of scepticism, while being alarmed at its pace of development. I like to fantasise that I could have talked her down.

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This article features references to books 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, The Conversation UK may earn a commission.

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Rivka Isaacson receives funding from the UK Research and Innovation Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.

– ref. How I found an unexpected connection to science in the works of Iris Murdoch – by a molecular biophysicist – https://theconversation.com/how-i-found-an-unexpected-connection-to-science-in-the-works-of-iris-murdoch-by-a-molecular-biophysicist-269580

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The truth about Vikings and mead might disappoint modern enthusiasts

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Simon Trafford, Lecturer in Medieval History, School of Advanced Study, University of London

Brambilla Simone/Shutterstock

A group of friends sit around a table sharing stories and sipping mead. The men sport beards and the women sip from drinking horns – but these aren’t Vikings, they’re modern-day hipsters.

The 21st century has seen a revival of mead, a fermented alcoholic drink made from water and honey. In the past 20 years or so, hundreds of new meaderies have sprung up around the world.

These meaderies often draw on Viking imagery in their branding. Their wares are called things like Odin’s Mead or Viking Blod and their logos include longships, axes, ravens and drinking horns. A few even have their own themed Viking drinking halls. This is part of what might be called the “Viking turn”, the renewed pop culture vogue for the Vikings in the past 20 years, which has made them the stars of a rash of films, TV shows, video games and memes.

Since the rowdy banquet scene in the 1958 film The Vikings, wild, boozy feasting has been a staple of the hyper-masculine pop culture Viking. This theme continues in the 21st century, from the History Channel’s Vikings TV series (2013-present) to games like Skyrim (2011) and Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla (2020).

But while modern media suggest that Vikings drank mead as often as water, history tells a slightly different story.

The banquet scene from The Vikings (1958).

Three stories are foundational for the Viking association with mead. The first is the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf, which survives in a single manuscript written in Old English and now in the British Library.

The story it tells is set in southern Sweden and Denmark in the early 6th century, so the warrior culture and lifestyle that Beowulf idealises are actually of a period considerably earlier than the Viking age (usually dated from the later 8th century onward). It does share a great deal of its substance with later Viking notions of the good life and so, for good or ill, they have tended to be conflated.

Most of Beowulf’s action plays out around mead-halls – the power centres of lords such as the Danish king Hrothgar, where the leader would entertain his followers with feasts and drinking in return for their support and military service. This relationship, based upon the consumption of food and drink, but inextricably bound up with honour and loyalty, is the basis of the heroic warrior society that is celebrated by the poet. Not surprisingly, therefore, episodes in which mead is drunk are frequent and clearly emotionally loaded.

A second high-profile appearance of mead comes in Norse mythology. At the god Odin’s great hall, Valhöll, the Einherjar – the most heroic and honoured warriors slain in battle – feast and drink. They consume the unending mead that flows from the udders of a goat named Heiðrún who lives on the roof. Norse myth, it should be noted, is sometimes quite odd.

illustration of a bird excreting mead
Odin excreting mead in the form of an eagle, from an Icelandic 18th century manuscript.
Det Kongelige Bibliotek

Lastly, another important myth tells of Odin’s theft of the “mead of poetry”. This substance was created by two dwarves from honey and the blood of a being named Kvasir, whom they had murdered. The mead bestows gifts of wisdom and poetic skill upon those who drink it.

The whole myth is long and complicated, but it culminates with Odin swallowing the mead and escaping in the form of an eagle, only to excrete some of it backwards when he is especially hotly pursued.

These are striking and impressive episodes that clearly demonstrate the symbolic and cultural significance of mead in mythology and stories about heroes of the Viking age. But that is far from proof that it was actually consumed on a significant scale in England or Scandinavia.

As far back as the 1970s, the philologist Christine Fell noted that Old English medu, (mead), and compound words derived from it appear far more frequently in strongly emotive and poetic contexts such as Beowulf than in practical ones such as laws or charters.

This contrasts strongly with the pattern of usage of other words for alcohol such as ealu (ale), beor (counter intuitively probably “cider”) or win (wine), which are far more frequently used in a functional and practical way. This led Fell to believe that the concentration on mead in the likes of Beowulf was a “nostalgic fiction”. Mead, she concluded, was a fundamental part of an idealised and backwards-looking imagined heroic world rather than something customarily drunk in the course of everyday life.

In 2007, a PhD candidate at the University of York demonstrated the same point in the Scandinavian sources: mjǫðr (“mead”) is far more common in the corpus of Eddic and skaldic poetry than it is in the saga stories of everyday life. Equally, both the word mjǫðr and compound words derived from it are used far less frequently in the sort of practical and purposeful contexts in which ǫl and mungát (the Old Norse words for ale) are plentiful.

Drinking horns on display at a Viking-themed pub in York.
Drinking horns on display at a Viking-themed pub in York.
Author provided, CC BY

The strong impression in both England and Scandinavia is that, by the time sources like Beowulf were written from the 10th century onward, the plentiful drinking of mead by a lord’s retinue was largely symbolic. It represented the contractual bonds of honour in an idealised warrior society.

This was more a poetic image than a reflection of frequent real-life practice. The standard drink at feasts, let alone at normal everyday household meals, was far more likely to be ale.

Mead was once a highly prized drink – probably the most desirable beverage well before the Viking age, as its honoured place in Valhöll and Hrothgar’s hall suggests. However, honey’s scarcity made mead expensive and hard to source in northern Europe. By the Viking age, exotic Mediterranean wine, mentioned as Odin’s drink in the Grímnismál, may have begun to replace mead as the elite’s preferred choice.

So what, then, for modern mead-drinking Viking enthusiasts? The point is not, of course, that Vikings or any other early medieval people never drank mead – some clearly did, if not perhaps quite so often as is sometimes alleged – but rather that it served more as a symbol of a story-filled heroic neverland. But that is arguably exactly how many of today’s mead-drinkers also use it.

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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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Simon Trafford 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. The truth about Vikings and mead might disappoint modern enthusiasts – https://theconversation.com/the-truth-about-vikings-and-mead-might-disappoint-modern-enthusiasts-267902

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How climate cooperation turned into a global race for green power

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Rahmat Poudineh, Honorary Research Associate, Oxford Sustainable Finance Group, University of Oxford

shutterstock Piyaset / shutterstock

Nearly a decade after the Paris agreement, the world is emitting more greenhouse gases than ever. Global emissions reached a record 53 billion tonnes in 2024 – about 10% higher than in 2015, when the deal was signed. Despite near-universal participation, the international effort to cut emissions is failing.

The Paris system, built on voluntary pledges, has turned into more of a reporting exercise than a coordination mechanism.

Even if all countries’ pledges were fully implemented, global emissions would be only 2.6% lower than 2019 levels by 2030 (versus 43% required).

Paris succeeded in creating a shared language of ambition and reporting, but not in enforcing collective compliance. It now functions less as a steering mechanism and more as a global scoreboard, showing who is ahead or behind. The absence of binding rules made universal participation possible – but also removed incentives to stay on course.

Emissions within acceptable limits

The world is entering the age of “managed emissions” – an era of containment, not cure. Instead of eliminating greenhouse gases, governments are learning to live with them, keeping pollution within politically acceptable limits.

Deep decarbonisation is being pushed further into the future, perhaps the 2060s or 2070s. Each revision of global scenarios quietly redefines delay as progress.

Car traffic from above
To be managed – not eliminated.
JKVisuals / shutterstock

Climate policy as industrial strategy

The erosion of cooperation hasn’t led to inaction. Instead, it has sparked a new kind of race: competitive decarbonisation.

Major economies are cutting emissions mainly to strengthen energy security, secure industrial advantage, and expand geopolitical influence. Clean-energy investment reached around US$2.2 trillion in 2024, mostly concentrated in China, the EU, and North America. Climate action is now shaped more by a desire to promote key industries than by multilateral coordination.

A new industrial climate regime has emerged where success is measured by national market share in clean technologies, not by collective progress toward global goals.

This shift is also geopolitical. The rivalry between the US and China has spilled into climate policy, with each using green leadership to project influence and set global standards. Competition over clean technologies has encouraged export restrictions and trade disputes, stifling open collaboration.

The race for critical minerals adds another layer. These resources are essential for renewable technologies, and nations are moving from cooperation to resource nationalism, securing supplies by forming strategic partnerships and investing heavily in domestic mining.

At home, governments are tailoring climate policies to domestic interests. Action on climate is now tied to industrial jobs, competitiveness, and voter expectations.

Protecting economies, not the planet

To prevent “carbon leakage” – where companies relocate to countries with weaker rules – rich nations are introducing trade measures such as carbon border adjustments. These policies aim to protect national industries while maintaining environmental standards, but they also risk deepening global divides.

Developing countries argue that wealthy nations have failed to deliver on climate finance and technology transfer, promises central to the Paris deal. The result is an erosion of trust: poorer countries see a system that benefits the industrialised world while restricting their own growth.

These trends reveal something deeper than a shortfall in ambition. They expose an illusion of control. Despite record investment, global emissions continue to rise because today’s governance tools no longer match the scale and complexity of the energy system. The world is not defying Paris by choice, but by design – through a framework relying on voluntary pledges in a fiercely competitive global economy.

This is not necessarily a story of failure. The shift from cooperation to competition has unleashed investment, innovation and the deployment of clean technologies. Yet without global alignment, progress is uneven at best.

The challenge ahead is not only technological but moral: can global governance resist the comfort of incremental progress? Can it reclaim a sense of shared direction?

If “managed emissions” become the accepted destination, humanity may master adaptation yet forfeit transformation. At the UN’s Cop30 climate summit, the task is not merely to promise more – but to recover belief in collective action before it quietly disappears.

The Conversation

Rahmat Poudineh is head of electricity research at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES). OIES is an independent and autonomous energy research institute based at Oxford.

– ref. How climate cooperation turned into a global race for green power – https://theconversation.com/how-climate-cooperation-turned-into-a-global-race-for-green-power-268768

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The hidden environmental cost of anti-wrinkle injections

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Bridget Storrie, Teaching Fellow, Institute for Global Prosperity, UCL

marevgenna/Shutterstock

The increasing number of injectable cosmetic treatments and fillers carried out around the world is driven by a seemingly universal need to look younger than we are. Most are administered to women, but a growing number of men are having them too.

This beauty-is-youth belief has a geological cost. Over 14 million stainless steel hypodermic needles are used and discarded annually for cosmetic treatments around the world. The metals used to create them are considered critical.

Stainless steel is an iron and chromium alloy with nickel added to most of it. The iron in a needle might have come from the Pilbara in Western Australia. It was born over a billion years ago when oxygen from the photosynthesis of early bacteria combined with iron in the ancient oceans and settled on the sea floor.

The chromium could have come from the Bushveld Complex in South Africa, an igneous intrusion created when magma found its way to the Earth’s crust through vertical cracks, then cooled, allowing the chromite to differentiate itself, crystallising in distinct layers.



Read more:
The importance of critical minerals should not condone their extraction at all costs

And then there’s the nickel. Like chromite, it began its life in the upwelling and cooling of magma associated with the formation of the continents as we know them now, and through the weathering of igneous rocks. It’s likely to have come from Indonesia, where deposits of nickel are close to the surface and economical to extract.

A critical mineral is one that is considered essential for a state’s economy, national security and clean energy technologies, and has a supply chain vulnerable to disruption by war, tariffs and scarcity. Critical minerals cannot easily be replaced by something else.

woman's face, injection near lips with gloved hand of medical professional
The needles used to perform injectable cosmetic surgey are made using various critical minerals.
fast-stock/Shutterstock

The critical list

What is on a particular country’s critical minerals list says something about the geopolitics of the places where commodities are mined, the characteristics of the commodity itself and the priorities of the country compiling the list.

Chromium is considered critical by the US, Canada and Australia because it is essential for stainless steel production and other high-performance alloys. Demand for chromium is expected to grow by 75 times between 2020 and 2040 due, in part, to the clean energy transition. Reserves are concentrated, with South Africa producing over 40% of supply in 2023, followed by Kazakhstan, Turkey, India and Finland.

Nickel was added to the UK’s critical mineral list in 2024. Described as the “Swiss army knife” of energy transition minerals, it is used to increase energy density in lithium batteries, allowing for their miniaturisation and increasing the range in electric cars. Indonesia holds 42% of the world’s reserves.



Read more:
The global race is on to secure critical minerals. Why do they matter so much?

Even iron ore is on the list. High-quality iron ore was put on Canada’s critical minerals list in 2024 because of its importance for “green steel” production and decarbonisation goals.

The rapidly increasing demand for stainless steel for cosmetic purposes is tangled up with urgent demands from other sectors. It is essential for construction, transportation, food production and storage, medicine and the manufacture of consumer goods.

It is vital for defence. Stainless steel is used in aircraft and vehicle components, naval vessels, missile parts and ballistics.

Needles used in cosmetic procedures are also entangled with other resource-related issues that have no easy answer: mining-related conflict, concerns about the environmental and social impact of mining and controversy over new mining frontiers, like the deep seabed and the Moon.

Then there is the carbon footprint of the multiple processes required to turn rocks into needles and disposing of them safely. Each one has to be mined, shipped, smelted, manufactured, trucked, used, put in a sharps bin and then incinerated.

Do we have to choose between cosmetic procedures or the green transition? Cosmetic procedures or defence? No. Our increasing demand for injectable cosmetic procedures isn’t responsible for making chromium, nickel and iron ore critical. But it’s part of that story and it comes with a cost.

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Bridget Storrie is a director of Storrie Consulting, a mining and minerals consultancy

– ref. The hidden environmental cost of anti-wrinkle injections – https://theconversation.com/the-hidden-environmental-cost-of-anti-wrinkle-injections-266926