Category: MIL-OSI

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Renee Gardner, Principal Researcher, Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet

United States President Donald Trump recently claimed that using the common painkiller acetaminophen (also known as paracetamol and by the brand name Tylenol in the US) during pregnancy is fuelling the rise in autism diagnoses. He then went on to suggest pregnant women should “tough it out” rather than use the common painkiller if they experience fever or pain.

This announcement has caused alarm and confusion worldwide. But despite Trump’s claim, there is no strong scientific evidence to back it up. Our study of nearly 2.5 million births in Sweden published in 2024 shows no evidence that acetaminophen use during pregnancy increases a child’s risk of autism. This is the largest study conducted on the subject to date.

To understand whether acetaminophen really poses a risk in pregnancy, we turned to Sweden’s national health registers, which are among the most comprehensive in the world. Our study followed nearly 2.5 million children born between 1995 and 2019, tracking them for up to 26 years.

Using prescription records and interviews that midwives conducted during prenatal visits, we could see which mothers reported using acetaminophen (about 7.5% of pregnancies) and which did not.

We also made sure to account for any variables that may have affected the results of our statistical analysis – including controlling for health factors, such as fever or pain, which would have influenced whether or not a mother used acetaminophen during her pregnancy. This was to ensure a more fair comparison between the two groups.

We then looked at the children’s neurodevelopmental outcomes – specifically whether they were diagnosed with autism, ADHD or an intellectual disability.

The real strength of our study came from being able to compare siblings. This allowed us to compare children born to the same mother, where acetaminophen had been used during one child’s pregnancy but not the other. We compared over 45,000 sibling pairs, where at least one sibling had an autism diagnosis.

This sibling design is powerful because siblings share much of their genetics and family environment. This allows us to tease apart whether the drug itself – rather than underlying family traits or health conditions – is responsible for any apparent risks for neurodevelopmental outcomes.

Acetaminophen use

When we first looked at the entire population, we saw a pattern that echoed earlier studies: children whose mothers reported using acetaminophen during pregnancy were slightly more likely to be diagnosed with autism, ADHD or an intellectual disability.

But once we ran the sibling comparisons, that association completely disappeared. In other words, when we compared sets of siblings where one was exposed in the womb to acetaminophen and one was not, there was no difference in their likelihood of later being diagnosed with autism, ADHD or an intellectual disability.

Our study is not the only one to put this question to the test. Researchers in Japan recently published a study using a similar sibling-comparison design, and their results closely matched ours.

Importantly, they replicated our findings in a population with a different genetic background and where patterns of acetaminophen use during pregnancy are quite different. Nearly 40% of mothers in Japan reported using the drug during pregnancy. In comparison, less than 10% of Swedish mothers had used it.

Despite these differences, the conclusion was the same. When siblings are compared, there is no evidence that acetaminophen use during pregnancy increases the risk of autism or ADHD.

These findings mark an important shift from earlier studies, which relied on more limited data, used smaller cohorts and didn’t account for genetic differences. They also did not fully account for why some mothers used pain relief during pregnancy while others didn’t.

For example, mothers who take acetaminophen are more likely to also have migraines, chronic pain, fever or serious infections. These are conditions that are themselves genetically linked to autism or ADHD, as well as a child’s likelihood of later being diagnosed with one of these conditions.

These types of “confounding factors” can create associations that look convincing on the surface, but may not reflect a true cause-and-effect relationship.

That brings us to the real question on many people’s minds: what does this mean if you’re pregnant and dealing with pain or fever?

It’s important to recognise that untreated illness during pregnancy can be dangerous. A high fever in pregnancy, for example, is known to increase the risk of complications for both mother and baby. “Toughing it out,” as the president suggested, is not a risk-free option.

That’s why professional medical organisations such as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency continue to recommend acetaminophen (paracetamol) as the safest fever reducer and pain reliever during pregnancy when used at the lowest effective dose and only when necessary. This has been the guidance for decades.

Read more:
Paracetamol, pregnancy and autism: what the science really shows

Of course, if someone finds themselves needing to take acetaminophen regularly over a longer period of time, that’s a decision best made in consultation with their doctor or midwife. But the idea that acetaminophen use during pregnancy causes autism simply isn’t supported by the best available science.

The greater danger is that alarmist messaging will discourage pregnant women from treating pain or fever – putting both themselves and their babies at risk.

Renee Gardner receives funding from the Swedish Research Council; the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life, and Welfare; and the US NIH.

Brian Lee received funding from the NIH, Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, Department of Defense and Pennsylvania Department of Health CURE SAP, as well as personal fees from Beasley Allen Law Firm, Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP and AlphaSights.

Viktor H. Ahlqvist receives funding from the Swedish Society for Medical Research

– ref. Paracetamol use during pregnancy not linked to autism, our study of 2.5 million children shows – https://theconversation.com/paracetamol-use-during-pregnancy-not-linked-to-autism-our-study-of-2-5-million-children-shows-265919

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Annayah Prosser, Assistant Professor in Marketing, Business and Society, University of Bath

There are lots of good reasons not to eat meat or dairy products. It might be for your health or for the sake of the environment. Or you might have moral concerns about consuming animals.

Yet many of us continue to eat meat, especially men, who eat more of it than women, and are less likely to opt for a vegetarian or vegan diet.

So is there a link between meat consumption and perceptions of masculinity? Does the mindset of the prehistoric caveman hunter live on in today’s restaurants and weekend barbecues?

To explore this idea, my colleagues and I conducted a survey of more than 1,000 men in the UK, which revealed that social ideas involving “avoidance of femininity” and status were indeed linked to higher levels of meat-eating and a notion that meat is masculine.

The survey showed that those sympathetic to traditional masculine norms consumed more red meat and poultry, and were less keen to part from the meat and dairy in their diet. We then followed up with some of the men who had high levels of “meat attachment” to join an online discussion, and used remotely moderated focus groups to listen in on their conversations about their diets.

So what did they talk about?

More often than not, men were reluctant to talk about the role of gender in meat consumption, or completely rejected the notion that there was any link, with one participant in his thirties saying: “I don’t think gender influences what I eat at all. If there’s something I want [to eat] I’ll just have it.”

He went on: “There’s no such thing as a manly or womanly dish if you ask me. It’s just food, so it’s literally got zero influence on whether I’d eat something or not.”

For others, the relationship between meat and masculinity was more complex. Some men noted for example that the women in their lives were more likely to reduce their meat consumption.

One man in his forties, said: “I live with five women and most of them would happily not eat meat at all. Also [the female] partners of quite a lot of my friends don’t eat a lot of meat. They would happily eat no meat at all. Whereas all of us [men], you know, we like our meat.”

For others, the link between meat and masculinity was explicit, with meat consumption linked to status within social groups. John, in his forties, commented on the obligation he sometimes feels when dining with what he called “alpha males” to “always go for a meat dish or a steak or something like that”.

He added: “Maybe I feel a slight obligation to go down [the meat] route sort of subconsciously. I’ve probably felt I need to have a steak here or need to have something that [perhaps] shows my masculinity.

“I feel sort of safer behind choosing something like that rather than, say, a pasta or a salad-based dish.”

What’s at stake?

We also found mention of an idea revealed in other research which describes meat being commonly understood in terms of “four Ns”: “natural”, “normal”, “necessary” and “nice”. These kinds of values came up in our groups’ discussions, but rarely applied to discussions of plant-based meat and dairy alternatives, which men seemed to consider “unnatural”, “insufficient” and “not nice”.

One participant in his twenties commented: “Chicken will just say ‘chicken’ on the back, whereas a plant-based [alternative to chicken] would have something like glycolic acid or something. I have no idea what that is.”

Another man commented: “I think if you switched maybe most of the time or full time to plant based diets, would you be missing out on certain nutrients?”

A fellow meat eater added: “The meat alternative options never taste very nice.

“I’ve always found that they just taste really bland [and] it’s an unusual texture.”

It was difficult for many of the men in our groups to imagine consuming a fully plant-based diet. They often spoke of extreme or specific situations as the only situations in which they would consider doing so.

“I’d need the doctor to tell me you’ve got six months [to live],” said one man in his fifties.

Another in his forties explained: “It would only really be health-related stuff. If someone said to me you’re gonna have to [cut down on meat] or it’s going to knock years off your life.”

One participant in the 18-29 age bracket said a meat diet was heavily linked to his social life where his friends relied on meat for protein because of their fitness regimes.

He said: “I would have to change my friends [if I stopped eating meat]. Basically, I have friends who are gym rats, who love to go to the gym together, who love to do strength training. So I would have to change my friends to people who are probably agriculturists – and have more interest in plants.”

These and many other contributions led us to conclude that men can have a mixed –and often contradictory – understanding of the role of gender in their food choices. And while our survey data reveals a strong link between masculinity and diet, our focus group data casts doubt on whether men are generally aware of this connection.

The research study reported here was funded by ProVeg International, a food awareness organisation working to transform the global food system. ProVeg had no role in the study in terms of design, analysis, and reporting. Annayah Prosser’s contributions to the project were not funded by ProVeg and she reports no conflicting interests.

– ref. Is meat masculine? How men really talk about being carnivores – https://theconversation.com/is-meat-masculine-how-men-really-talk-about-being-carnivores-265236

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Florian Neukart, Assistant professor of Physics, Leiden University

For more than a century, physics has been built on two great theories. Einstein’s general relativity explains gravity as the bending of space and time.

Quantum mechanics governs the world of particles and fields. Both work brilliantly in their own domains. But put them together and contradictions appear – especially when it comes to black holes, dark matter, dark energy and the origins of the cosmos.

My colleagues and I have been exploring a new way to bridge that divide. The idea is to treat information – not matter, not energy, not even spacetime itself – as the most fundamental ingredient of reality. We call this framework the quantum memory matrix (QMM).

At its core is a simple but powerful claim: spacetime is not smooth, but discrete – made of tiny “cells”, which is what quantum mechanics suggests. Each cell can store a quantum imprint of every interaction, like the passage of a particle or even the influence of a force such as electromagnetism or nuclear interactions, that passes through. Each event leaves behind a tiny change in the local quantum state of the spacetime cell.

In other words, the universe does not just evolve. It remembers.

The story begins with the black hole information paradox. According to relativity, anything that falls into a black hole is gone forever. According to quantum theory, that is impossible. Information cannot be ever destroyed.

QMM offers a way out. As matter falls in, the surrounding spacetime cells record its imprint. When the black hole eventually evaporates, the information is not lost. It has already been written into spacetime’s memory.

This mechanism is captured mathematically by what we call the imprint operator, a reversible rule that makes information conservation work out. At first, we applied this to gravity. But then we asked: what about the other forces of nature? It turns out they fit the same picture.

In our models assuming that spacetime cells exist, the strong and weak nuclear forces, which hold atomic nuclei together, also leave traces in spacetime. Later, we extended the framework to electromagnetism (although this paper is currently being peer reviewed). Even a simple electric field changes the memory state of spacetime cells.

Explaining dark matter and dark energy

That led us to a broader principle that we call the geometry-information duality. In this view, the shape of spacetime is influenced not just by mass and energy, as Einstein taught us, but also by how quantum information is distributed, especially through entanglement. Entanglement is a quantum feature in which two particles, for example, can be spookily connected, meaning that if you change the state of one, you automatically and immediately also change the other – even if it’s light years away.

This shift in perspective has dramatic consequences. In one study, currently under peer review, we found that clumps of imprints behave just like dark matter, an unknown substance that makes up most of the matter in the universe. They cluster under gravity and explain the motion of galaxies – which appear to orbit at unexpectedly high speeds – without needing any exotic new particles.

In another, we showed how dark energy might emerge too. When spacetime cells are saturated, they cannot record new, independent information. Instead, they contribute to a residual energy of spacetime. Interestingly, this leftover contribution has the same mathematical form as the “cosmological constant”, or dark energy, which is making the universe expand at an accelerated rate.

Its size matches the observed dark energy that drives cosmic acceleration. Together, these results suggest that dark matter and dark energy may be two sides of the same informational coin.

A cyclic universe?

But if spacetime has finite memory, what happens when it fills up? Our latest cosmological paper, accepted for publication in The Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, points to a cyclic universe – being born and dying over and over. Each cycle of expansion and contraction deposits more entropy – a measure of disorder – into the ledger. When the bound is reached, the universe “bounces” into a new cycle.

Reaching the bound means spacetime’s information capacity (entropy) is maxed out. At that point, contraction cannot continue smoothly. The equations show that instead of collapsing to a singularity, the stored entropy drives a reversal, leading to a new phase of expansion. This is what we describe as a “bounce”.

By comparing the model to observational data, we estimate that the universe has already gone through three or four cycles of expansion and contraction, with fewer than ten remaining. After the remaining cycles are completed, the informational capacity of spacetime would be fully saturated. At that point, no further bounces occur. Instead, the universe would enter a final phase of slowing expansion.

That makes the true “informational age” of the cosmos about 62 billion years, not just the 13.8 billion years of our current expansion.

So far, this might sound purely theoretical. But we have already tested parts of QMM on today’s quantum computers. We treated qubits, the basic units of quantum computers, as tiny spacetime cells. Using imprint and retrieval protocols based on the QMM equations, we recovered the original quantum states with over 90% accuracy.

This showed us two things. First, that the imprint operator works on real quantum systems. Second, it has practical benefits. By combining imprinting with conventional error-correction codes, we significantly reduced logical errors. That means QMM might not only explain the cosmos, but also help us build better quantum computers.

QMM reframes the universe as both a cosmic memory bank and a quantum computer. Every event, every force, every particle leaves an imprint that shapes the evolution of the cosmos. It ties together some of the deepest puzzles in physics, from the information paradox to dark matter and dark energy, from cosmic cycles to the arrow of time.

And it does so in a way that can already be simulated and tested in the lab. Whether QMM proves to be the final word or a stepping stone, it opens a startling possibility: the universe may not only be geometry and energy. It is also memory. And in that memory, every moment of cosmic history may still be written.

Florian Neukart 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. Information could be a fundamental part of the universe – and may explain dark energy and dark matter – https://theconversation.com/information-could-be-a-fundamental-part-of-the-universe-and-may-explain-dark-energy-and-dark-matter-265415

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Jennifer Mathers, Senior Lecturer in International Politics, Aberystwyth University

US president Donald Trump has said Ukraine could win back all of the territory it has lost in the ongoing war, but Russia’s president Vladimir Putin shows no signs of wanting a peace deal, or reducing the military offensive.

Instead, night after night Russia continues to launch hundreds of drones and missiles at Ukraine, killing civilians and destroying homes, public buildings and infrastructure.

Russia can only continue this war if it has enough workers. It has one of the world’s largest armed forces (composed of 1.32 million active military personnel), but its military recruiters face a challenging job in outpacing the enormous losses of soldiers who are killed or seriously injured in Ukraine.

However, the staffing needs of Russia’s military are tiny compared with its defence industry. Russian factories that produce weapons and equipment for the war employ approximately 4 million workers – and they have been suffering from a serious labour shortage.

According to a statement made in the Russian parliament in 2024, the country’s defence industry needs approximately 400,000 more workers than it currently employs.

But how can Russia, with a population of 143 million people have a labour shortage in a sector of the economy that is so crucial for the war?

There are a variety of reasons. An estimated 1 million Russian citizens fled Russia in 2022 – either because they opposed the war in principle or because they wanted to avoid being forced to join the military and fight – or both. Although as many as 45% of those who fled are believed to have returned to Russia over the past three years, that would mean Russia lost approximately 650,000 people from its workforce, at least for the duration of the war and perhaps permanently.

Russia’s defence industry is also in direct competition with the army for workers. The Russian state has substantially increased the salaries and various benefits that it offers to new military recruits. Salaries of 200,000 roubles – more than US$2,000 (£1,481) – a month are typical, putting combat soldiers in the top 10% of Russia’s earners.

The defence industry has had to raise the wages it offers during the war, increasing average salaries by 65% between 2022 and 2024, up to about 89,700 roubles per month. New recruits to the military, however, can expect a one-off signing bonus of as much as 4 million roubles in addition to their monthly salary.

Declining birth rate

Demographic patterns also play a part. There was a sharp drop in the birth rate in Russia in the 1990s, which means there are fewer people in their 20s and 30s seeking employment.

The defence industry has introduced a number of initiatives since the start of Russia’s mass invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 to cope with the increased demand for the production of new weapons and equipment along with the need to repair damaged and broken military hardware.

Many facilities are working around the clock: introducing compulsory 12-hour shifts and work weeks of six days on, one day off. Other parts of the defence industry are reportedly using inmates from local prisons to fill staffing gaps, including Uralvagonzavod, which is Russia’s largest manufacturer of tanks.

Russia has turned to ally North Korea to fill some of its military and labour shortages. Thousands of Koreans have been sent to Russia to work in factories and in construction, as part of a deal between Putin and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un. There have been reports of “slave labour” conditions and 18-hour days. North Koreans have also been sent to bolster the Russian military.

Attitudes to women

Despite all the shortages, the military industry is not recruiting Russia’s women to work in most roles. Although some Russian women do work in defence industry, labour regulations introduced in the 1970s exclude women from many roles that are important to defence production, such as working with hazardous chemicals or heavy metals.

These restrictions are designed to protect pregnant women and the fertility of future mothers. Considering Putin’s emphasis on increasing the birth rate and on presenting Russia as a bastion of traditional gender roles, this is unlikely to change.

Read more:
Putin forced to send wounded back to fight and offer huge military salaries as Russia suffers a million casualties

However, the reluctance to recruit Russian women into jobs in the defence industry does not extend to women from other countries. Around 200 women, mainly from central and west Africa, have been hired to work in defence industry factories located in the Alabuga special economic zone in Tatarstan, a Russian republic located east of Moscow. Many of these factories build drones assembled from components imported from Iran – weapons that have been used extensively by Russia in its attacks on civilians in Ukraine.

The African women employed to build drones in Tatarstan were recruited through a programme called Alabuga Start, which targets young female migrant workers.

It is advertised extensively on social media, including through paid influencers on TikTok. The salaries offered are high in relation to the wages that these women could earn in their own countries. However, Alabuga Start recruits earn around 40,000 roubles a month – less than half the amount that Russian defence industry workers receive.

The programme is focused on recruiting foreign women for a mix of practical, financial reasons and gender stereotypes. African women will work for less money than Russians. They are also believed to be easier to control than foreign men, while women are perceived to be better than men at tasks that require patience and precision.

The Alabuga Start website appears to offer an attractive package of work experience, on-the-job training, accommodation, Russian language lessons and free flights to Russia. The sectors for employment identified include catering, hospitality and service jobs with no mention of drone assembly.

However, once they arrive, the young women can find themselves living very different lives to those they had anticipated. There are reports of working long hours and exposure to dangerous chemicals, with passports being withheld to prevent women from leaving. For instance, Kenya has launched an investigation into Alabuga Start, which may see the programme shut down in that country.

The difficulties of recruiting and retaining labour for Russia’s defence industry, including bringing in foreign migrant workers and their treatment, reveal some serious weaknesses in Moscow’s military planning. While those are probably not enough to stop Russia’s war effort, they do indicate some of the strains that the war is placing on the country’s economy.

Jennifer Mathers 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. Russia is turning to African women and conscripted North Koreans to tackle its defence worker shortage – https://theconversation.com/russia-is-turning-to-african-women-and-conscripted-north-koreans-to-tackle-its-defence-worker-shortage-264731