English – Page 611 – MIL Submissions Engine

October 5, 2025

Many autistic students are denied a full education — here’s what we need for inclusive schools

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Vanessa Fong, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of British Columbia

As students settle into the school year, the reality is that many will not experience full inclusion in the classroom.

Every child has the right to an education under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Yet, for many autistic students in Canada, this promise falls short.

Our recent study published in Autism Research uncovers why so many autistic students are denied their right to a full education and highlights what must change to make schools truly inclusive.

What exclusion looks like

Exclusion takes many forms. Sometimes, it’s overt, with students being told they cannot attend school for a period of time.

More often, it is informal or partial, where students are told to come on modified hours or days or sent home early because there aren’t enough staff to support their needs, or they aren’t permitted to participate in certain activities, like field trips.

In our online survey of 412 primary caregivers of autistic children in Ontario, primarily recruited through Autism Ontario, 42.3 per cent reported that their autistic children had experienced some form of school exclusion.

These exclusions have cascading effects on families, forcing parents to miss work and jeopardize their employment. They also drive some households closer to poverty.

Previous research from our team has indicated that many parents of autistic children, particularly mothers, struggle to maintain full-time employment as they need to be available to care for their children during school hours.

Powerful predictors of exclusion

Our survey also identified several important factors related to school exclusion.

Something that predicted lower rates of school exclusion was greater parental satisfaction with the child’s Individual Education Plan (IEP) — a legally mandated document meant to outline supports and accommodations for students with disabilities.

Analysis of parent responses to the open-ended survey questions revealed two critical factors contributing to exclusion:

Bullying, where autistic children are victimized by peers, leaving them isolated, afraid for their safety and more likely to avoid school;
A lack of specialized training and resources for school staff. This lack of training and resources leaves autistic students without the support they need to participate and engage fully in school life.

These findings echo international patterns. Autistic students face increased risk of exclusion because of sensory overload, lack of staff training and the absence of genuinely supportive environments.

The illusion of inclusion

The assumption that simply integrating autistic students into mainstream settings guarantees inclusion is not only misleading, but harmful. As many advocates warn, true inclusion demands a fundamental shift in attitudes, environments and policies.

Current failures are seen in the use of physical restraint and seclusion practices as well as insufficient funding and under-staffing that leave children’s needs unmet and their safety at risk.

Parents’ responses also indicated concerns about IEPs that are written but not followed, and lack of effectiveness or practical application of existing anti-bullying policies that leave students vulnerable.

What must change?

If we are serious about inclusion, several steps are critical.

Schools must develop robust anti-bullying initiatives that foster a culture of acceptance, empathy and understanding of neurodivergence. In Ontario, the Ministry of Education requires all school boards to have bullying prevention and intervention policies.

While previous research has examined the effectiveness of school bullying policies more broadly, research is needed to assess their impact within Ontario schools, particularly in relation to neurodivergent students.

Staff training must be comprehensive, mandatory and ongoing, centred on understanding the needs and strengths of autistic and neurodivergent students. Indeed, previous research has shown that targeted professional development can strengthen teachers’ confidence and preparedness to support autistic students.

Greater collaboration is needed, with families and autistic youth being real partners in IEP planning and schools held accountable for following through. Classrooms must be tailored to be sensory-friendly and flexible, providing predictable routines and spaces for self-regulation.

Importantly, increased funding is also necessary. School staff, such as education assistants, are often required to support far too many students, with a lack of replacements when they are absent.

These issues ripple out to affect the entire classroom. A stable workforce of skilled staff with specialized training who are compensated competitively is essential if inclusion is to be a reality and not just a slogan.

A call to rethink inclusion

The latest estimates from the Public Health Agency of Canada indicate that about one in 50 children and youth aged one to 17 are diagnosed with autism.

In other words, just about every classroom will likely have at least one autistic student, among other neurodivergences.

Integrating these students fully and meaningfully is important not just for their education, but also for the betterment of the broader classroom culture, as well as families’ employment security and economic well-being.

In addition to exclusions, our previous research found that many families elect to keep their autistic children home, or enrol them in alternative programming, because they are unable to find an appropriate placement within a public school.

The current system is not working for too many; systematic improvements are needed to ensure that all children and their families are supported to reach their full potential.

We must start by listening to educators, parents and autistic students to understand these students’ diverse needs, and then put the resources in place to make these accommodations a reality. Until then, many children and youth will remain either partially or fully excluded from a safe, meaningful and reliable education.

Vanessa Fong receives funding as a Postdoctoral Fellow from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Michael Smith Health Research BC, and from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council through her Research Associate position at Wilfrid Laurier University.

Janet McLaughlin receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Margaret Schneider receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

– ref. Many autistic students are denied a full education — here’s what we need for inclusive schools – https://theconversation.com/many-autistic-students-are-denied-a-full-education-heres-what-we-need-for-inclusive-schools-265147

October 5, 2025

Politically aggressive social media users are creating most of the anti-immigrant content

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Nicholas A. R. Fraser, Senior Research Associate , Toronto Metropolitan University

Most of us, whether we admit it or not, engage in a great deal of passive scrolling through social media daily.

And while the platforms have proliferated for years, experts are only now beginning to demonstrate their full impact on our attention, mental health, spending habits and politics.

Despite the benefits, social media is also creating new problems. A pressing concern is the dissemination of misinformation by political extremists, a trend amplified by the unprecedented reach of platforms like Facebook and X (formerly Twitter). When it comes to issues like immigration, many activists, experts and pundits point to social media as a vehicle for the spread of prejudice, conspiracy theories and false claims targeting immigrant and minority populations.

Even before launching his 2016 presidential bid, for example, Donald Trump used Twitter to share messages attacking immigrants and ethnic minorities with millions of people, giving him the power to dominate news cycles and shape public policy.

Does social media make people more xenophobic?

Polarizing platforms

For decades, scholars studying how people consume information about immigration have argued that print and TV news stories often portray the economic and social impact of immigration negatively.

Studies on major American newspapers and news stations show that traditional media coverage has encouraged prejudice toward Latin American immigrants and Muslims.

Does social media follow this trend? Social scientists are beginning to disagree.

Scholars point to racist and anti-immigration messages on social media as evidence that platforms like Facebook, X and Reddit encourage users to speak freely without the constraints of social norms to a broad and diverse audience.

Other studies argue that social media creates uniquely polarizing environments where users organize themselves into political tribes that fight one another using aggressive dialogue. Even in Canada — a country often touted as pro-immigration — social media has allowed users to attack immigrants and minorities.

Users’ attitudes, however, may matter more than the specific platform.

Politically aggressive users

Recent studies from the United States and Western Europe show that social media attracts politically aggressive users who often do most of the talking in heated online conversations.

Based on my recent research on Canadian X users, I found similar results. I analyzed roughly 13,000 English-language posts discussing immigration and Canada’s housing crisis in 2023. Unsurprisingly, I discovered that many users blamed immigrants for a lack of affordable housing, including influencers with tens of thousands of followers.

In August 2023, discussions about housing on X peaked, with 3,638 posts mentioning both immigration and housing. This significant increase in online conversation coincided with federal government’s public comments linking international students to the housing crisis. The data supports the idea that Canadians were actively discussing the housing crisis in relation to immigration during this time.

Does this mean that Canadian X users are now seething with hatred for immigrants? While some are, a closer look reveals the partisan nature of these posts.

When I examined users’ identities and networks, it became clear that their anti-immigration messages were often a means of criticizing Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government. In other words, right-wing users (with large and small followings) were chiefly responsible for creating and sharing these posts, including People’s Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier.

For instance, Fringe Albertan (about 2,500 followers in August 2023) posted in response to a post by Rebel News:

“@RebelNewsOnline Its a lie! Typical Liberal. Hes lying bc Canada is a UN member, and as a member, has signed onto an immigration pact to flood Canada with migrants, destroying our economy, social network, housing, and culture. #EndUNMembership @UCPCaucus @CPC_HQ @Buffalo_AB @BuffaloPartySK”_

Similarly, lloyd (about 50 followers at the time) posted in response to a post by CTV News:

“@CTVNews Thanks CTV News it’s no wonder why they are leaving as Canada is so poorly governed ! Housing shortage when Immigration brings millions of Migrants and never checked to see how many homes they had and shortage worst ever for Canada! Worst blunder in Canadian History! HELP.”

Right-wing social media users significantly contributed to public discourse blaming immigrants for Canada’s problems.

Some might argue polarizing content is simply a reflection of free speech.

This is true to some degree, but recent studies suggest online polarization can also threaten free societies. Algorithms designed to focus users’ attention on threats and conflict can reliably make users engage with content; this is what makes social media platforms potentially dangerous. Fortunately, users are far from powerless.

Reducing online polarization

While figures like Trump show that social media can be used to spread prejudice to mass audiences, it also matters that users often self-select into networks they like.

New studies make clear that users’ socio-political context, partisanship and behaviour seem to matter as much as the platform itself.

It turns out both platforms and users are responsible for online polarization.

What can we do about social media platforms?

Ultimately, we need socially responsible online platforms that focus less on producing outrage and division to attract users. This means including researchers, governments and civil society in designing social media interfaces and algorithms to establish reasonable community standards for sharing information and regulating users’ behaviour.

But we cannot wait for politicians to solve this problem. Even if we get platforms that focus less on outrage, trolls will still exist.

Social media’s rapid pace and the lack of consensus over online behaviour create ethical dilemmas for users everywhere. For example, many people passively scroll and react to content they skimmed, but if conflict arises later in the thread, many users are unsure how to respond or whether they should respond at all.

To see less polarizing social media content, we need to both consciously choose what platforms we wish to join (and why), and we need to cultivate better ways to handle online conflict.

Nicholas A. R. Fraser 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. Politically aggressive social media users are creating most of the anti-immigrant content – https://theconversation.com/politically-aggressive-social-media-users-are-creating-most-of-the-anti-immigrant-content-264750

October 5, 2025

YouTube shapes young people’s political education, but the site simplifies complex issues

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Emine Fidan Elcioglu, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Toronto

There is a widely held misconception that young people are politically disengaged. This is based on narrow measures like voter turnout. But this overlooks the fact that many young people are deeply curious, especially when politics is understood more broadly: as a way to make sense of society, power and everyday life.

In my research with youth in the Greater Toronto Area, I explored how their views on inequality, identity and government form over time.

My findings build on my earlier research, conducted with second-generation Chinese and South Asian Canadians, where I found that many of them turned to conservative ideas to access feelings of dignity and belonging. For them, embracing meritocracy wasn’t about denying racism — it was a way to prove they’d succeeded by Canada’s rules.

In this new study, I wanted to understand what shapes that gap — what makes some students more likely to see power as structural, and others more likely to see it as personal or cultural.

I found that young people now form political beliefs through two competing knowledge systems: a hollowed-out university, and YouTube’s attention economy. In the university classroom, students learn to connect experience to systems like racism or class inequality. On YouTube, other students encounter simplified stories or common-sense clichés.

The result is a generation pulled between critique and clarity, where YouTube offers answers that feel true.

Changes to postsecondary education

Post-secondary institutions in Canada have historically played a central role in public life. They offered young people a place to explore political ideas, learn history and develop critical thinking skills. That mission has since eroded.

In Ontario, former premier Mike Harris’s so-called “Common Sense Revolution” marked a turning point in government approaches to education. Post-secondary education was rebranded as an individual investment rather than a public good. The cost of tuition increased, public funding stagnated and student debt rose.

As a result, academic paths became stratified. Lower-income students pursued vocational degrees, while their wealthier peers could afford less lucrative paths, like the social sciences and humanities.

The ability to encounter transformative ideas narrowed along class lines.

Market priorities

At the same time, disciplines like sociology and history began to lose institutional standing as universities became increasingly reliant on tuition fees, corporate partnerships and research tied to economic outcomes. Funding shifted toward programs seen to deliver market returns — like business and technology — while fields focused on critique or public interest were sidelined.

This reorientation entrenched the idea that higher education exists to serve the market. So it was no surprise when Ontario announced $750 million in new post-secondary funding; none for the social sciences and far below the $2.5 billion recommended by a government-appointed group tasked with reviewing the financial sustainability of Ontario’s post-secondary system.

Universities are now judged by job outcomes for graduates, with less support for courses that analyze, critique or challenge inequality or power.

YouTube steps in

As universities retreat, platforms like YouTube have increasingly stepped in as a political educator. This is accelerating a shift that may have happened anyway, but has now taken on a new urgency in this hollowed-out educational landscape.

In 2015, YouTube’s algorithm shifted to maximize watch time, pushing content independent of its quality.

I found that for students in technical or vocational programs — where inequality is rarely addressed — YouTube often becomes their main source of political learning.

Conservative influencers offer simplified narratives: inequality reflects natural differences, tradition ensures order, progressivism is elitist.

These messages land because progressive ideas remain concentrated in universities, out of reach for many working-class youth. This dynamic has also expanded across platforms like TikTok and Instagram, where short-form content delivers similar emotionally charged explanations.

When critical education is confined to elite spaces, structural thinking becomes a privilege and not a public tool. This matters because it shapes who feels entitled to analyze power and imagine alternatives — and who is left to make sense of inequality through personal experience and YouTube algorithms.

Some young people are pushing back: BreadTube creators, civic tech projects and public sociology podcasts translate progressive ideas for digital audiences.

But these efforts remain small compared to the reach and resources of right-wing media. Without broader infrastructure — from education funding to algorithmic transparency — even the most compelling content struggles to shift how people understand the world.

The decline of progressive institutions

Universities were never the only sites of political education. In earlier generations, unions, political parties and community groups shaped public consciousness.

They established adult education programs, published newspapers and linked political ideas to everyday life. Feminist and anti-racist traditions added their own spaces, from women’s consciousness-raising circles to Black political study groups.

Civic initiatives like Company of Young Canadians, supported youth in under-served communities with political engagement and collective action. These institutions helped working people identify shared interests and organize for change.

That world has largely disappeared, especially with the decline of unions in Canada, driven by decades of neoliberal restructuring that weakened collective bargaining and eroded political education.

In Canada, the New Democratic Party has increasingly prioritized electoral success over grassroots organizing. This isn’t unique to the NDP. Across the North America, left-leaning organizations often function as symbolic communities, struggling to build collective power.

Their abstract language feels out of step with people navigating material problems like rent hikes and job precarity.

In contrast, the political right speaks plainly. And, its messages may be simple, but they are easy to find.

Cultivating critical thought

When universities retreat and progressive organizations lose influence, new forces shape how people come to understand the world.

My research found that the way Canadian youth explained inequality differed depending on their access to education. Students with post-secondary social science education connected personal experience to systemic inequality. Those outside these spaces — especially those relying on YouTube — were more likely to see inequality as natural, rooted in individual effort or cultural values.

This divergence reflects a deeper shift: the pipeline for developing structural literacy has broken down. Where critical thinking was once nurtured through unions, political parties and public education systems, those institutions have thinned out.

With unions weakened and parties consumed with electoral success, the university remains one of the few institutions still cultivating critical thought — and conservative leaders know it.

Ahead of the 2025 election, the Conservative Party pledged to end the “imposition of woke ideology” in university research funding and steer university hiring “away from ideology.”

For from neutral, these efforts turn universities into places where challenging ideas are no longer welcome. In their place, young people are left to navigate politics through platforms shaped by algorithms, where nuance is rare.

A different future

If we want a different future, where more people feel equipped to understand and change the world, we need institutions that foster imagination, inclusion and collective purpose. That means rebuilding unions, community-based groups and civic networks.

It also means rethinking what political parties and universities are for.

Political parties must organize, not just campaign. Universities must educate for democratic participation, not just employability. These institutions must do the slow, relational work of building solidarity: helping people understand the systems they live in and feel part of something larger than themselves.

Without that kind of infrastructure, progressive ideas stay abstract: visible to some, but disconnected from the everyday lives of most.

Emine Fidan Elcioglu 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. YouTube shapes young people’s political education, but the site simplifies complex issues – https://theconversation.com/youtube-shapes-young-peoples-political-education-but-the-site-simplifies-complex-issues-260758

October 5, 2025

Universities can turn AI from a threat to an opportunity by teaching critical thinking

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Anitia Lubbe, Associate Professor, North-West University

Students must learn not just how to use AI, but how to question it. Oscar Omondi via Unsplash

Across universities worldwide, a quiet revolution is underway. Generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT, Copilot, DeepSeek and Gemini are being used to produce essays, summarise readings, and even conduct complex assignments.

Generative artificial intelligence is a kind of AI that can handle a variety of creative tasks in diverse domains, such as arts, music and education.

For many university teachers, this raises alarm bells about plagiarism and integrity. While some institutions have rushed to restrict or support AI use, others are still unsure how to respond.

But focusing only on policing misses a bigger issue: whether students are really learning. As an education researcher, I’m interested in the topic of how students learn. My colleagues and I recently explored the role AI could play in learning – if universities tried a new way of assessing students.

We found that many traditional forms of assessment in universities remain focused on memorisation and rote learning. These are exactly the tasks that AI performs best.

We argue that it’s time to reconsider what students should be learning. This should include the ability to evaluate and analyse AI-created text. That’s a skill which is essential for critical thinking.

If that ability is what universities teach and look for in a student, AI will be an opportunity and not a threat.

We’ve suggested some ways that universities can use AI to teach and assess what students really need to know.

Reviewing studies of AI

Universities are under pressure to prepare graduates who are more than just knowledgeable. They need to be self-directed, lifelong learners who are independent, critical thinkers and can solve complex problems. Employers and societies demand graduates who can evaluate information and make sound judgements in a rapidly changing world.

Yet assessment (testing what students know and can do) tends to focus on more basic thinking skills.

Our research took the form of a conceptual literature review, analysing peer-reviewed studies published since the release of the AI tool ChatGPT in late 2022. We examined how generative AI is already being used in higher education, its impact on assessment, and how these practices align (or fail to align) with Bloom’s taxonomy.

Bloom’s taxonomy is a framework widely used in education. It organises cognitive (thinking) skills into levels, from basic (remembering and understanding), to advanced (creating and evaluating).

Several key patterns emerged from our analysis:

Firstly, AI excels at lower-level tasks. Studies show that AI is strong in remembering and understanding. It can generate multiple-choice questions, definitions, or surface explanations quickly and often with high accuracy.

Secondly, AI struggles with higher-order thinking. At the levels of evaluating and creating, its effectiveness drops. For instance, while AI can draft a business plan or a healthcare policy outline, it often lacks contextual nuance, critical judgement and originality.

Thirdly, the role of university teachers is changing. Instead of spending hours designing and grading lower-level assessments, they can now focus on scaffolding tasks that AI cannot master alone, thus promoting analysis, creativity and self-directed learning skills. Self-directed learning is defined as “a process where individuals take initiative to diagnose their learning needs, set learning goals, find resources, choose and implement strategies, and evaluate their outcomes, with or without assistance from others.”

Lastly, the opportunities AI presents seem to outweigh the threats. While concerns about cheating remain real, many studies highlight AI’s potential to become a learning partner. Used well, it can help generate practice questions, provide feedback, and stimulate dialogue (if students are guided to critically engage with its outputs).

All these challenges prompt universities to move beyond “knowledge checks” and invest in assessments that not only measure deeper learning, but promote it as well.

How to promote critical thinking

So how can universities move forward? Our study points to several clear actions:

Redesign assessments for higher-order thinking skills: Instead of relying on tasks that AI can complete, university teachers should design authentic, context-rich assessments. For example, using case studies, portfolios, debates, and projects grounded in local realities.
Use AI as a partner, not a threat: Students can be asked to critique AI-generated responses, identify gaps, or adapt them for real-world use. This transforms AI into a tool for practising the ability to analyse and evaluate.
Build assessment literacy among university teachers: University teachers need support and training to create AI-integrated assessments.
Promote AI fluency and ethical use: Students must learn not just how to use AI, but how to question it. They must understand its limitations, biases and potential pitfalls. Students should be made aware that transparency in disclosing AI use can support academic integrity.
Encourage the development of self-directed learning skills: AI should not replace the student’s effort, but rather support their learning journey. Hence, designing assessment tasks that foster goal-setting, reflection and peer dialogue is crucial for developing lifelong learning habits.

By fostering critical thinking and embracing AI as a tool, universities can turn disruption into opportunity. The goal is not to produce graduates who compete with machines, but to cultivate independent thinkers who can do what machines cannot: reflect, judge, and create meaning. Assessment in the age of AI could become a powerful force for cultivating the kind of graduates our world needs.

Anitia Lubbe is affiliated with the Research Unit Self-Directed Learning.

– ref. Universities can turn AI from a threat to an opportunity by teaching critical thinking – https://theconversation.com/universities-can-turn-ai-from-a-threat-to-an-opportunity-by-teaching-critical-thinking-266187

October 5, 2025

World’s first known butt-drag fossil trace was left by a rock hyrax in South Africa 126,000 years ago

Source: The Conversation – Africa (2) – By Charles Helm, Research Associate, African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, Nelson Mandela University

Rock hyraxes, known in southern Africa more often as “dassies”, are furry, thickset creatures with short legs and no discernible tails. They spend much of their time sunning themselves on rocky outcrops.

Another thing they sometimes do is drag their butts along the ground. Dog owners know that this behaviour can be a sign of parasitic infections; in hyraxes the reason seems to be less clear, but this action leaves distinctive traces in sandy areas.

Traces and tracks – ancient, fossilised ones – are what we study at the African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience through the Cape south coast ichnology project. Over the past few decades, we have found almost 400 vertebrate tracksites on this coast, some as old as 400,000 years, in cemented dunes known as aeolianites from the Pleistocene epoch. This epoch lasted from about 2.58 million years ago to about 11,700 years ago.

We’re building up a picture of the environment during that period and how the animals and plants of that time lived.

Among our latest finds are two fossilised traces that appear to have been made by rock hyraxes long ago. One is a tracksite and the other is a butt-drag impression with what may be a fossilised dropping in it.

The probable tracksite was brought to our attention from a site near Walker Bay on the Cape south coast by an ardent tracker, Mike Fabricius. It is around 76,000 years old. We found the probable butt-drag impression east of Still Bay on the same coast, and it is most likely around 126,000 years old.

The butt-drag impression is the first fossil of its kind to be described from anywhere in the world. In addition, these are the only possible fossilised hyrax tracks ever to be identified. In the world of palaeontology, anything this unusual is important and we feel privileged to be able to interpret them.

Interpreting the drag mark

Dating on our sites has been done through a technique known as optically stimulated luminescence, which works by analysing when materials like sand were last exposed to light.

The butt-drag impression is 95cm long and 13cm wide. It contains five parallel striations. Its outer margins are slightly raised, and within it there is a 2cm-high raised feature, 10cm by 9cm. Clearly something was dragged across the surface when it consisted of loose sand.

We considered possible causes other than hyrax buttocks. These included a leopard or an ancestral human dragging prey, or perhaps an elephant dragging its trunk. Firstly, however, these would be expected to leave tracks, and secondly in such interpretations the raised feature could not be explained.

But if it was a hyrax, it would make sense, because the buttock trace would have come after the tracks and wiped them out. And the raised feature might be a coprolite: a fused fossilised mass of hyrax droppings.

Rock hyrax dragging its buttocks. Video courtesy Mathilde Stuart.

Old dung and urine

Rock hyraxes leave much more than just tracks and butt-drag traces. Because they prefer rocky areas, their tracks are not often found, but they polish rock surfaces to a shiny finish. This is similar to what buffalo on the North American prairie do, creating “buffalo rubbing stones”.

Hyraxes also leave deposits of urine and dung. Urea and electrolytes are concentrated in their urine, and they excrete large amounts of calcium carbonate. This becomes cemented and forms extensive whitish deposits on rock surfaces. Due to their communal habits, hyraxes often urinate in the same preferred localities over multiple generations.

Their urine and dung often mix to form a substance known as hyraceum – a rock-like mass that can accumulate into extensive, dark, tarry deposits. Hyraceum has been used as a traditional medication to treat a variety of ailments, including epilepsy, and for gynaecological purposes.

Hyraceum may be tens of thousands of years old, and can be regarded as a threatened, non-renewable resource. The middens, being sensitive to environmental changes and containing fossil pollen and other evidence of ancient life, form valuable natural archives for interpreting past climates, vegetation and ecology.

Thinking of hyraceum as a trace fossil, something which apparently has not been done before, can help in the protection of this underappreciated resource.

Although fossilised urine is globally uncommon, there is a word to describe it: “urolite”, to distinguish it from “coprolite” (fossilised poop). It seems that hyraxes contribute the lion’s share of the world’s urolite. At palaeontology conferences, students can be seen sporting T-shirts that brazenly state: “coprolite happens”. In southern Africa, a more appropriate term might be “urolite happens”.

Through appreciating the importance of butt-drag impressions, urolites, coprolites and hyraceum, and learning about the environment of rock hyraxes and other animals during the Pleistocene, we will never view these endearing creatures in the same light again.

Mathilde Stuart contributed to this research.

Lynne Quick receives funding from the National Research Foundation of South Africa African Origins Platform (grant no: 136507)

Charles Helm 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. World’s first known butt-drag fossil trace was left by a rock hyrax in South Africa 126,000 years ago – https://theconversation.com/worlds-first-known-butt-drag-fossil-trace-was-left-by-a-rock-hyrax-in-south-africa-126-000-years-ago-264633

October 5, 2025

Hamas has run out of options – survival now rests on accepting Trump’s plan and political reform

Source: The Conversation – USA – By Mkhaimar Abusada, Visiting Scholar of Global Affairs, Northwestern University

Smoke billows following an Israeli strike in Gaza City on Oct. 2, 2025. Omar al-Qattaa/AFP via Getty Images

Weakened militarily and facing declining Palestinian support, particularly among Gazans, Hamas was already a shadow of the militant group it once was. And then came President Donald Trump’s peace plan.

On Oct. 3, 2025, Hamas said that it accepted some aspects of the 20-point proposal, including handing over administration of the Gaza Strip to a body of independent Palestinian technocrats and releasing all remaining Israeli hostages.

Those hostage are the last of the 252 taken during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack – an event that two years on looks to represent a high point, so to speak, of Hamas’ power. As an expert on Palestinian political attitudes, I believe the group now has few options to survive.

Like former resistance groups in past peace processes, it could renounce arms and transform itself into a purely political party. But to do so, it needs to overcome a series of hurdles: confronting other parts of Trump’s plan, its unpopularity at home and its rigid ideology being the three most prominent.

Campaign of assassination

It is worth taking stock of just how degraded Hamas has become as the result of two years of onslaught by Israel’s vastly superior military.

According to many intelligence reports, Hamas has lost most of its senior command in the Al-Qassam Brigades, its military wing. Izz al-Din al-Haddad, its current commander, survives, having presumably taken over from Mohammed Sinwar – the brother of Yahya Sinwar, mastermind of Oct. 7 attack – who was killed in May 2025. But he presides over a dwindling army.

President Trump may not have been exaggerating when he indicated on Truth Social on Oct. 3 that Hamas had lost 25,000 fighters. Estimates regarding the group’s losses vary, but it could represent more than half of the fighting force it had at the beginning of the war.

Hamas has succeeded in recruiting new fighters during that time. But many of these new recruits lack the competence and the experience of the dead ones. And the only motivations the new recruits have are hate and anger toward Israel.

Hamas’ political leadership has also been decimated. Chief political leaders, including Ismail Haniyeh, Saleh al-Arouri and Yahya Sinwar, have all been killed.

people walk on street past large billboard depicting slain anti-israel leaders — Iranians walk past a billboard of the slain leaders of anti-Israeli groups, including former Hamas political chief Yahya Sinwar.
Mohammadali Najib/Middle East Images via AFP

And it could have been worse. Had the Israeli attack on Hamas’ political leadership in Doha, Qatar, succeeded in September 2025, it could have been a devastating loss for the movement. But the operation missed its primary targets there.

Falling support in Gaza

Palestinian public pressure on Hamas has risen as the miseries of war have mounted.

According to local heath officials, more than 67,000 have been killed, and more than 169,000 have been injured. Most of the Gaza Strip has been reduced to rubble, and more than 90% of the population has been displaced multiple times – with most Gazans now living in tents. International organizations have reported famine and starvation in some parts of the Gaza Strip.

Hamas has lost its power and influence over many areas now under Israeli control. Israeli military and intelligence have encouraged some members of the local Palestinian clans and militia to offer services in militia-controlled areas.

In such areas, Hamas fighters have often clashed with other Palestinian groups, resulting in many deaths and growing resentment toward Hamas.

Hamas’ execution and torture of Palestinians suspected of collaboration with Israel has only worsened the situation, leading to chaos and lawlessness in many parts of Gaza.

It is little wonder, then, that half of Gazans in the latest poll of attitudes – taken in May 2025 – say they supported anti-Hamas demonstrations. Indeed support for the group in both Gaza and the West Bank have continued to decline as the war has progressed.

The push for peace

The ongoing war and the inhumane daily conditions that local Palestinians in Gaza are dealing with have led to exhaustion and fatigue among the public.

On social media, many Palestinians are asking Hamas publicly to endorse the Trump plan and put an end to their misery.

In deciding whether to accept all of the plan’s 20-points, Hamas will, from its perspective, have to weigh whether agreeing to a very bad outcome is better than the alternative. Trump has warned that a failure to get on board will cause Hamas to face “all hell.”

Hamas has already agreed to release all of the remaining Israeli hostages and to relinquish power in Gaza to a technocratic Palestinian committee. If endorsed in full, this would put an end to the war and see the gradual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and no expulsion of the Palestinians out of Gaza.

Egypt, Qatar and Turkey have been facilitating Hamas’ response to the plan. And there is huge regional and international pressure to get the deal over the line.

However it would force Hamas to disarm itself and allow the entry of an international and regional force into Gaza to oversee the destruction of military infrastructure, including tunnels, weapon manufacturing and the remaining rockets – points of the latest plan that Hamas appears more unwilling to accept.

What happens to the remaining Hamas fighters is a sticking point that might lead to the collapse of the whole plan.

And any rejection of the plan that can be blamed on Hamas will no doubt be welcomed by members of the Israeli extreme right. Hardline factions of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition have an alternative plan: to fully occupy Gaza, expel the Palestinians and reestablish Israeli settlements in Gaza.

Two men in suits stand with thumbs up gestures — President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unveiled peace plan at the White House on Sept. 29, 2025.
Win McNamee/Getty Images

Where next for Hamas?

Perhaps the most viable option for Hamas is to transform itself into a political party. But to do so, the group will need to reform not only its structures but also its ideology.

Political momentum is swinging back to a two-state solution. France and Saudi Arabia recently spearheaded a fresh push to that end at the United Nations, and a host of Western nations recognized Palestinian statehood for the first time. Hamas may feel the pressure to finally accept a two-state solution, something it has long resisted. For its part, Trump’s plan only makes vague assertions noting the Palestinian “aspiration” for a state.

If transforming into a purely political party is to be the fate of Hamas, it will need to play its cards shrewdly and swiftly. The Palestine Liberation Organization went through this process after their departure from Beirut in 1982, eventually putting politics and diplomacy over armed resistance. And Qatar, Turkey and Egypt can help Hamas moderate its stances, too.

The rigid ideology of Hamas remains a hurdle. Since it was formed in 1987, Hamas has tethered itself to a hardline Islamist ideology that does not allow fundamental compromises on issues such as recognition of Israel and the development of Palestine as a secular state.

But there is the recent example of Syria, where following the ouster of long-term dictator Bashar al-Assad, the main Islamist fighting group pivoted to politics, and was lauded in the international community for doing so.

Whether Hamas can succeed in such a transformation – should it attempt to – remains to be seen. And there is one final snag: Even if Hamas does accept the latest peace proposal, other Palestinian militant groups in Gaza might not – and could attempt to sabotage the whole process.

Mkhaimar Abusada is affiliated with, Member of the Board of Commissioners of the Independent Commission for Human Rights, Palestine

– ref. Hamas has run out of options – survival now rests on accepting Trump’s plan and political reform – https://theconversation.com/hamas-has-run-out-of-options-survival-now-rests-on-accepting-trumps-plan-and-political-reform-266515

October 3, 2025

How the government shutdown is hitting the health care system – and what the battle over ACA subsidies means

Source: The Conversation – USA (3) – By Simon F. Haeder, Associate Professor of Public Health, The Ohio State University

Democrats demanded that Republicans negotiate with them on ACA subsidies and Medicaid cuts. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images News

Major rifts over key health care issues are at the heart of the federal government shutdown that began at the stroke of midnight on Oct. 1, 2025.

This is not the first time political arguments over health care policy have instigated a government shutdown. In 2013, for example, the government shut down due to disputes over the Affordable Care Act.

This time around, the ACA continues to play a central role, with Democrats demanding, among other things, an extension of subsidies for ACA plan insurance premiums that are set to expire at the end of 2025. Democrats are also holding out to roll back cuts to the Medicaid program that President Donald Trump signed into law on July 4, as part of what he called his “One Big Beautiful Bill.”

Without a budget agreement in place, Trump ordered most federal agencies to wind down their nonessential activities. The shutdown will continue until Congress passes either a short-term or long-term funding bill and Trump signs it.

Government shutdowns are nothing new, but as a health policy expert, I worry this time around the impasse may have far-reaching effects on health care.

Even as Democrats stage their battle over access to health care, the shutdown itself could also make it harder for Americans to get the care they need. Meanwhile, Trump has threatened to use the crisis to permanently cut federal jobs on a mass scale, including ones in the health care sector, which could substantially reshape federal health agencies and their ability to protect Americans’ health.

The partisan health care divide

Historically, questions about how the government should support access to health care have long been a source of conflict between the two main political parties. The passage of the ACA in 2010 and its implementation have only intensified this friction.

In the lead-up to the current shutdown, Republicans needed Democratic votes in the Senate to pass a bill that would keep funding the government at existing levels at least until November.

In return for their support, Democrats sought several concessions. A major one was to extend subsidies for ACA insurance policy premiums, which were established during the COVID-19 pandemic. These subsidies addressed a shortcoming in the ACA by decreasing premiums for millions of Americans – and they played a crucial role in more than doubling enrollment in the ACA marketplaces.

Without this extension, ACA premiums are set to rise by more than 75% in 2026, and the Congressional Budget Office estimated that 4.2 million Americans would lose insurance. At least some Republicans seemed open to considering the ACA subsidies, particularly those from districts that were more moderate and that had large numbers of people enrolled in ACA plans. But many have objected to doing that as part of the budget process.

Democrats are also pushing to renegotiate some of the changes made to Medicaid in the budget bill. These include new work requirements that are a cornerstone of Republican demands, under which certain adults would have to work or engage in qualifying activities to maintain Medicaid benefits. Work requirements are set to take effect in 2027, but implementing them would lead to an estimated 5 million people losing their health insurance coverage.

ACA subsidies are a major bone of contention in the standoff between Democrats and Republicans.

Most contentiously, these rollbacks to Medicaid cuts would reverse restrictions that made immigrants who are generally present in the country legally, such as refugees and asylum-seekers, ineligible for Medicaid and ACA coverage. These restrictions, which were included in the budget bill, could lead to the loss of insurance for about 1.4 million lawfully present immigrants, the Congressional Budget Office has estimated.

Republicans have balked at these demands, taking particular issue with the prospect of restoring Medicaid benefits to immigrants. Some Republicans – and Trump himself – have misconstrued the Democrats’ position, saying they are seeking free health care for immigrants in the country illegally.

What kinds of health services might be affected?

Most obviously, large-scale staff reductions would interfere with a wide range of health-related services not considered essential during the shutdown. This includes everything from surveying and certifying nursing homes to assisting Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries and overseeing contracts or extra payments to rural ambulance providers.

Protesters on September 30, 2025, at a rally against cuts to health care — If the shutdown becomes protracted, health care services may be affected.
Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images Entertainment

Some seniors may face an immediate impact as two programs have now lost funding without a new budget in place. One expanded access for seniors to telehealth services. The other allowed people to receive services at home that are generally provided in a hospital.

Crucially, most seniors will continue to receive Social Security payments. However, providers might be hesitant to schedule patients covered by Medicare if the shutdown drags on over a long period of time. This is because payments to medical providers would likely be delayed.

What health services will continue to function?

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has indicated that there is enough funding for Medicaid, the government program that primarily provides health services to low-income Americans, to support the program through the end of the calendar year. If the shutdown lasts beyond that, states may have to decide whether to temporarily fund the program on their own or whether to reduce or delay provider payments. However, no previous shutdown has ever lasted more than 34 days.

Community health centers are generally expected to receive some funding, at least for now. These providers offer nonemergency medical services for about 34 million Americans each year. Many also provide important services across the nation’s schools. However, if the standoff continues for more than a few days, those centers may struggle to keep their doors open.

Health and Human Services has also indicated that it will use all available funding to maintain “minimal readiness for all hazards” and will maintain certain medical services, such as the Indian Health Service. The Veterans Health Administration will also stay open. One of the agencies most affected by previous layoffs, the Food and Drug Administration, has indicated that it would be exempt from further cuts.

A longer-term view

Ultimately, the severity of the shutdown’s effects on health care will depend on how long it lasts.

It will also depend on whether Trump makes good on his stated intention to use the shutdown as “an unprecedented opportunity” to reshape the federal bureaucracy. The White House announced plans for potential mass firings of workers, particularly those at “Democrat Agencies.”

Whether this threat is simply a bargaining tactic remains to be seen, and it’s unclear whether health-related workers and agencies are in the crosshairs. But given that previous layoffs specifically targeted health programs, more permanent reductions in programs that affect health care may be on the way.

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

– ref. How the government shutdown is hitting the health care system – and what the battle over ACA subsidies means – https://theconversation.com/how-the-government-shutdown-is-hitting-the-health-care-system-and-what-the-battle-over-aca-subsidies-means-266565

October 3, 2025

European countries are now turning to landmines to create new deadly defensive barriers from Russia

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Rod Thornton, Senior Lecturer in International Studies, Defence and Security., King’s College London

Five Nato countries neighbouring Russia or its ally, Belarus, have announced that they are to opt out of the Ottawa treaty of 1997.

This treaty bans the use by signatories of anti-personnel (AP) landmines. These states – Poland, Finland, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia – now have plans to create a 2,000-mile stretch of mined areas as part of a defensive effort against any possible attack from Russia.

The move to create such minefields comes as the result of both a recognition of the perceived growing threat from Russia and of the important defensive effect – as proved during the current Ukraine war – that both AP and anti-tank (AT) landmines can generate.

AT mines are not covered by the Ottawa treaty and all countries are free to use them. AT mines target only vehicles (the weight of a human cannot set them off). The main issue with AP mines, which target humans, is that they can be set off by civilians as well as soldiers.

As such, they are deemed to be not only indiscriminate weapons but also those whose “persistence” means that they can remain a danger long after any conflict is over. Their banning is seen by many as an “ethical imperative”.

In the current era of military development dominated by the introduction of high-tech weapons systems, it appears that the low-tech, unsophisticated and relatively cheap landmine – which can be laid in their millions – can have a significant role to play in modern warfare.

Minefields have proved very effective as a defensive tool in the current Ukraine war because of their ability to disrupt enemy assaults. This recognition has, for these five Nato states, meant that their adherence to the Ottawa treaty had to end, despite its grounding in humanitarian concerns.

An overhead shot of the Narva bridge in Estonia with the national flag in the foreground. — The Narva bridge forms the border between Estonia and Russia. Estonia is one of the countries planning to add more fortifications along its border.
Alexandre.ROSA/Shutterstock

These five states have been criticised by human rights organisations for withdrawing from the treaty. The UK was also a signatory in 1997 and still remains bound by its stipulations. The US, Russia and China didn’t sign in the first place.

The role of landmines

Landmines have proved a significant defensive tool in the Ukraine war. In the initial days of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, the Ukrainian side was very quick to deploy some of its stockpile of Soviet-era AT mines.

These were very effective in restricting the early advance of Russian armoured columns (the term “armour” covering both tanks and other armoured vehicles) on Kyiv. These mines created disruption as Russian forces were either stopped or had to find other routes around the minefields.

The delays allowed time for Ukrainian forces to set up firm defensive positions that eventually halted the Russian columns and led to their being turned back before reaching Kyiv.

Ukrainian forces then launched their own armoured offensive in the summer of 2023. These forces, by now trained and equipped by Nato states and using trademark Nato combined arms manoeuvre warfare techniques, were also held up in dense Russian minefields. Their advance ground to a halt.

The presence of vast fields of both AP and AT mines meant that the supposedly war-winning principal of “manoeuvre warfare”, which relies on movement, initiative and surprise, and which the Ukrainians had been taught by Nato instructors, became impossible to conduct. The Russians call their defensive minefields “insurmountable”.

Given the power of minefields, both sides came ultimately to understand that their presence had to mean a rethink of how the war should be conducted. Mines led to a change in tactics.

Both sides had to adopt much more attritional approaches. Outcomes would now largely be dictated by the weight of artillery fire and not by manoeuvre. It is minefields that form the basis for the Ukrainian forces’ “fortress belt” across much of the Donbas region.

Russian use of landmines slowed down a Ukrainian counter attack.

Despite Kyiv having itself signed the Ottawa treaty in 2005, it was clear that its forces were making considerable use of banned AP mines along with the “legal” AT mines.

Ukraine only officially withdrew from Ottawa in June this year. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky justified the withdrawal on the basis that “antipersonnel mines … very often have no alternative as a tool for defence”.

The Russian defensive arrangements like those of Ukrainian forces make considerable use of mines. The Russian side is able to draw on what is perceived to be the world’s largest stockpile of, in particular, AP mines (said to be amount to some 26.5 million). Zelensky has accused Russia of using AP mines “with extreme cynicism”, (referring to the alleged booby trapping of dead Russian soldiers with AP mines).

Old tech with big impact

What is interesting here is that the very old technology of landmines is being combined with the far newer one of drones. Minefields can now be laid far more efficiently by using drones to plant them rather than, as has been the norm, by hand. The drones have changed how mine warfare is carried out.

Given what is happening in Ukraine, it is now well understood that mines can do more than help decide the course of mere tactical military engagements; they can create strategic outcomes. They can, in essence, decide the outcome of wars.

It is with this understanding in mind that these five Nato states have withdrawn from the Ottawa treaty. AP mines are patently needed on today’s battlefields. They are seen as an essential addition to the AT mines. Each type has their defensive role to play.

As such, these five states are now seeking to both procure their own AP mines domestically and to source them from the US. Somewhat controversially, the administration of former US president, Joe Biden, had already taken a decision, just before Donald Trump became president, to supply Ukraine with considerable numbers of “non-persistent” AP mines. At the time, Kyiv was still a signatory to Ottawa.

AP and AT mines have both proved themselves to be essential tools of modern warfare. Today, the war in Ukraine is characterised and dominated, due to the presence of mines, by defence and not offence. Frontlines are largely static. Humble, cheap and simple they may be, but landmines do, it seems, have a crucial role to play in modern warfare.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. European countries are now turning to landmines to create new deadly defensive barriers from Russia – https://theconversation.com/european-countries-are-now-turning-to-landmines-to-create-new-deadly-defensive-barriers-from-russia-266181

October 3, 2025

Could life exist on Mars today? Here’s what the latest evidence says

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Seán Jordan, Associate Professor in Chemistry, Dublin City University

Part of the ancient lake delta in Jezero Crater on Mars. JPL-Caltech

Recently, Nasa revealed exciting details of new findings from Mars. Scientists have
discovered tiny patterns of unusual minerals in the clay-rich rocks on the edge of
Jezero Crater – an ancient lake once fed by Martian river systems, and the
exploration site of the Nasa Perseverance Rover.

These “leopard spot” patterns have been hailed as a potential sign of past microbial life due to their similarity with traces left behind by microorganisms on Earth.

The jury is still out on whether these are actually signs of life, but this discovery has reignited the discussion about the previous existence of life on Mars, and the possibility that it could still survive there today.

We’ll need many different lines of evidence to answer this question, but there is precedence for considering certain Martian environments as currently habitable.

Early Earth and early Mars were relatively similar, but this similarity didn’t last long. Both had atmospheres and magnetic fields that offered some protection from harmful radiation originating from the Sun, along with bodies of liquid water on their surface. We know that these conditions led to the origin of life on Earth, so it is possible that the same could have happened on Mars.

While life on Earth was beginning to thrive, Mars lost its magnetic field as its core cooled. This exposed the planet to harmful solar rays which began to erode the
atmosphere. As the atmosphere disappeared, the Martian surface became colder
and drier, eventually becoming the freezing desert we know today.

This is why many scientists don’t expect to find living organisms on the surface of
Mars – it is simply too inhospitable for life as we know it. Instead, the hope lies in uncovering microbial life hidden in protected underground or icy regions.

Where could life survive on Mars?

Possible locations for Martian microbial life include caves, inside or underneath ice sheets at the poles, or deep underground. All of these environments have analogues (environments with certain similarities) on Earth that host microorganisms. So it is not much of a stretch to consider that if life began on Mars, it could still be holding on in these extreme niches.

Perhaps the most plausible of these is underground – the Martian subsurface. Extending from a few metres to several kilometres deep, it is thought to be the planet’s most stable and long-lived potential habitat.

While the surface has been cold, dry, and generally inhospitable for much of Martian history, the deep subsurface may have offered more favourable conditions. On Earth, the deep biosphere – the life that survives beneath the surface – provides a useful comparison.

A substantial amount of Earth’s microbial life exists underground, surviving in cracks within rocks. These ecosystems are dominated by lithoautotrophs – microbes that get energy by feeding on those rocks. Methane, a potential byproduct of some
lithoautroph feeding habits, has even been detected on Mars. But there are many
ways to generate methane underground without life, so right now this doesn’t tell us much.

The potential for a deep biosphere hinges on factors including the availability of
liquid water, a source of energy, space to live in, and tolerable temperatures. There is possible evidence for the existence of liquid water below the surface of Mars, but this is still under debate.

This would facilitate chemical reactions known as water-rock reactions which generate energy for microbes to live on. Because of its weaker gravity, rocks on Mars may be less compressed than those on Earth and remain more porous at depth, providing space for microbes to live in.

At the same time, Mars produces less heat from its interior, which means temperatures suitable for life could extend nearly twice as deep underground as they do on Earth.

Scientists spend a lot of time analysing places on Earth – Mars analogues – to try to understand the possibilities for past and present life on Mars. These environments are not identical to Mars, but they share at least one important feature such as extreme dryness, high salt levels, or high UV exposure.

Earth’s deep subsurface is one example, and others include the Atacama Desert in South America, sediments at Lake Salda in Turkey, and salts found in Utah’s Pilot Valley. Researchers around the world are investigating these sites on Earth to better understand how Martian conditions might affect life and its preservation. As no one location on Earth could possibly match all Martian conditions, scientists also run controlled laboratory experiments.

An example of this is the use of specialised “Mars chambers” to reproduce Martian environmental conditions such as its atmosphere, radiation exposure, and temperature. All of these investigations combined help us to better understand the potential for life to exist on Mars.

The Mars chamber at Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Signs of life today?

Right now there is no conclusive evidence of life on Mars past or present. Nasa’s
“leopard spots” are the most promising signs we have, but these are still
inconclusive. If life exists on Mars today, it is almost certainly not widespread like on Earth – our probes and rovers would have seen it.

However, important opportunities lie ahead. The upcoming European Space Agency (Esa) ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover will be able to drill up to two metres below the Martian surface. This will give us a chance to study the shallow subsurface of Mars which may contain living microorganisms. But this is only the start—most scientists agree that we will need to go deeper.

Drilling deep on Earth is still a huge challenge and there is so much we don’t know about our own subsurface life. Probing the deep subsurface of Mars will be a major scientific and engineering challenge, but one that may hold the key to finding existing Martian life.

Seán Jordan receives funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 1101114969) and from Research Ireland (Pathway award 22/PATH-S/10692). He is affiliated with the Research Ireland Centre for Applied Geosciences (iCRAG).

Devyani Jambhule receives funding from the Research Ireland Pathway Award ((22/PATH-S/10692). She is affiliated with the Origin of Life Early-career Network (OoLEN).

– ref. Could life exist on Mars today? Here’s what the latest evidence says – https://theconversation.com/could-life-exist-on-mars-today-heres-what-the-latest-evidence-says-265735

October 3, 2025

Fifteen books to help children learn about women’s place in history

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Rachael Attwood, Programme Leader for History, Department of Humanities, University of Westminster

Research by charity End Sexism in Schools has found that over half of history lessons delivered to children aged 11 to 14 in England feature no women at all. With the government set to allocate funding to boost the provision of school libraries, here are some books – for a range of ages – to open young eyes to women’s lives, experiences and marginalisation in our past.

Books that strike a balance between being age appropriate, featuring rich, well-researched context and capturing the attention are top of my list. If they focus on lesser-known women in history, all the better.

For primary school children, biographical collections dominate the field. Take Kate Pankhurst’s Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World. This book introduces young historians to a host of inspiring women from different ethnicities and backgrounds, while carefully setting out the circumstances and barriers that each woman faced in her time and place. The cartoon illustrations and accessible format of the text are a sure-fire classroom pleaser.

Kay Woodward’s What Would She Do? Advice from Iconic Women in History does a similar job for children aged around nine upwards, but with an added participatory element. It presents readers with the real-life dilemmas that the iconic women faced and encourages empathetic problem solving – what would she do? It also underscores the importance of resilience.

Vashti Harrison’s Little Leaders. Bold Women in Black History is an excellent choice. Meanwhile Rachel Ignotofsky’s Women in Science introduces young readers to women of diverse backgrounds, from antiquity to the 20th century, who have made their mark in maths, science and technology.

Children and father reading together — Biography anthologies introduce children to a wide range of historical figures.
Twinsterphoto/Shutterstock

Along with the books compiling sketches of notable women’s lives, there are growing numbers of detailed biographies for primary school children that illuminate women’s place in the past. In the mainstream, there’s the Little People, Big Dreams series. My favourites feature architect Zaha Hadid, singer Aretha Franklin and artist Louise Bourgeois.

Particularly engaging historical biographies for children include Counting on Katherine, the story of Katherine Johnson, an African-American mathematician whose orbital calculations were instrumental in early US space missions. Kathleen Krull’s inspirational story of American lawyer and Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg also deserves a mention, along with Haydn Kaye’s book on the British suffragist pioneer Emmeline Pankhurst.

Women’s rights

My own research includes a focus on early 20th-century feminist activism. I’ve read Kay Barnham’s Women’s Rights and Suffrage with my six year old. It examines women’s historical legal status and political resistance from a global perspective. Then there’s David Roberts’ beautifully illustrated Suffragette: The Battle for Equality and Susan Campbell Bartoletti’s How Women Won the Vote. These books document the key ideologies and objectives of Edwardian British suffragism.

But what about the ordinary women of history, those of us who did not crusade or trailblaze – or at least not in public? Sadly, few books aimed at primary school children address this question head on. However, there is hope on the horizon for teens.

My 13-year-old daughter’s current favourite book is the teen edition of Philippa Gregory’s Normal Women. Making History for 900 Years. Gregory gives a detailed account of the lives of a diverse array of women over this broad time period in English history, highlighting the role of patriarchy and women’s subjugation in everyday life. With accessible language, relatable stories and illustrations, Normal Women is a surefire hit with older children trying to make sense of their place in the world.

Kate Mosse’s Feminist History for Every Day of the Year is also a captivating read, supplementing the multi-biography of notable women format with relative unknowns, for an older audience.

This kind of work, which goes beyond celebrating the famous few and sets out to write women back into the past, represents real progress in historical works for the next generation.

Rachael Attwood 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. Fifteen books to help children learn about women’s place in history – https://theconversation.com/fifteen-books-to-help-children-learn-about-womens-place-in-history-266084