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March 31, 2026

Benefits of mindfulness meditation go far beyond relaxation – here’s what it is and how to practice it

Source: The Conversation – USA (3) – By Yuval Hadash, Postdoctoral Fellow in Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University

Mindfulness meditation is a process of noticing difficult thoughts and feelings rather than shutting them out. Marco VDM/E+ via Getty Images

Imagine being asked to sit alone in a quiet room for 15 minutes with nothing to do – no phone, no music, no external distraction. In a well-known 2014 study, many participants found that task so challenging that they chose to press a button to give themselves an unpleasant electric shock instead of continuing to sit with their thoughts and sensations.

Because being with their own thoughts, emotions and bodily sensations can be so difficult, people often turn away from them. Smartphones offer constant distraction from boredom or stress, allowing users to disengage from their present-moment sensations and thoughts with a quick swipe or tap.

But avoiding unpleasant internal experience can backfire. Studies show that doing so is associated with a range of mental health problems, including anxiety and depression.

We are psychological scientists who study mindfulness and how it affects stress, health and well-being.

Mindfulness is a mental state that people can learn to cultivate through training. When people are mindful, they direct their attention toward their moment-to-moment bodily sensations, emotions and thoughts, and they meet those experiences with an attitude of curiosity and open acceptance.

Mindfulness can be cultivated through “mindful moments” in daily life, moments in which people intentionally stay present with what they do, hear, see or feel. However, formal mindfulness meditation involves sustained practice that systematically trains attention and acceptance. Our research shows that training acceptance during mindfulness meditation can substantially improve your emotional well-being.

Research shows that practicing mindfulness meditation can ease the symptoms of health conditions such as pain, insomnia, anxiety and depression.

Tuning into experience can be hard – and helpful

Popular culture often portrays mindfulness as a way of relaxing. But we’ve found that mindfulness practice can often feel surprisingly difficult. In one of our studies, participants who directed their attention to their thoughts and feelings during a 20-minute mindfulness meditation noticed six times more unpleasant experiences than pleasant ones.

This doesn’t mean they were doing it wrong. Turning your attention inward can feel challenging. Often, it brings you into contact with experiences that you normally try to push away, such as feeling bored, uncomfortable or agitated. However, we’ve also found that facing difficult experiences during mindfulness training can have positive effects.

In particular, adopting an accepting attitude toward your experiences seems to drive many of the positive effects of mindfulness. Our research shows that developing the capacity for acceptance through mindfulness meditation can reduce feelings of loneliness and increase positive emotions, such as happiness. It also reduces stress hormones and helps people notice more positive experiences during stressful situations.

In these studies, we have found that acceptance is the critical driver. When acceptance is removed from mindfulness training, these benefits largely disappear.

The power of learning to accept experience

A key part of mindfulness practice involves turning toward difficult experiences, such as like stress, boredom and pain, rather than seeking distractions or pushing those experiences away. It means noticing feelings and thoughts as they arise, sensing how they show up in the body, and approaching them with an attitude of acceptance rather than judgment or resistance.

A helpful way to think about this comes from the “two arrows” metaphor, which is rooted in East Asian Buddhist traditions. It teaches that there are two types of suffering, which can be likened to being struck by two arrows.

The first arrow is the unavoidable unpleasant experience that comes with being human – for example, feeling exhausted after a poor night’s sleep. The second arrow is how we react to that unpleasantness: tensing up, resisting it, replaying it in our mind, criticizing ourselves or trying to escape it. Often this second arrow adds more suffering than the original unpleasant experience.

In mindfulness practice, the goal is not to stop having unpleasant sensations and feelings. Instead, mindfulness helps people accept the unavoidable difficulties of that first arrow and to soften the second arrow by letting go of struggle with those experiences and reactions that make them worse.

For example, let yourself feel bored without immediately reaching for distraction. Acknowledge anxiety, sadness or grief with openness, instead of trying to suppress those feelings or fueling them with harsh self-criticism.

Practicing mindfulness in everyday life

One way to cultivate this attitude is to treat thoughts, emotions and sensations as guests in your inner landscape. Instead of fighting them or clinging to them, notice when they arise. Acknowledge and welcome them, and when they naturally change, let them go. Some people find it helpful to imagine holding a difficult feeling as they would a crying baby, with a touch that’s steady, supportive and kind.

If you want to try this in daily life, the next time you feel a challenging experience, pause and open to the experience for a moment. Notice what you are feeling. Where does it show up in your body – a tightness in the chest or heaviness in the stomach? Can you allow it to be there, even briefly, without trying to fix it or distract yourself from it?

A driver's hand tightly grips a steering wheel with traffic visible ahead. — Mindfulness means acknowledging and accepting challenging feelings, such as stress and frustration from unexpected delays.
LB Studios/Connect Images via Getty Images

Then observe what happens. Does the challenging experience change over time in any way? Do your reactions shift or soften with repeated practice? Remember that a brief practice is unlikely to produce instant relief, and expecting quick results can actually make it harder to stay open to your experience as it is.

Rather, our findings suggest that meaningful change comes through consistent, ongoing practice. Every small step matters. Over time, brief moments of responding to stress or discomfort with mindfulness can reshape how you relate to challenges and provide greater resilience and ease.

In the study where people chose electric shocks over sitting alone with their thoughts, being with their inner experience felt almost intolerable. Mindfulness offers a different path: not escaping that experience but learning to stay with it. In doing so, what once felt unbearable can become something you can meet with greater emotional balance and well-being.

Yuval Hadash received funding for his mindfulness meditation research from Yad Hanadiv Foundation and Mind & Life Institute.

J. David Creswell receives funding for his mindfulness meditation research from the National Institutes of Health. He is also the Chief of Science at Equa Health, Inc.

– ref. Benefits of mindfulness meditation go far beyond relaxation – here’s what it is and how to practice it – https://theconversation.com/benefits-of-mindfulness-meditation-go-far-beyond-relaxation-heres-what-it-is-and-how-to-practice-it-273700

March 31, 2026

Ticks are the backyard threat southwestern Pennsylvania homeowners keep ignoring

Source: The Conversation – USA (3) – By Danielle Tufts, Assistant Professor of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology and Immunology, University of Pittsburgh

Pennsylvania consistently ranks among the top three states in the country for reported Lyme disease cases each year. Ladislav Kubeš/istock via Getty Images Plus

As spring unfolds, new research highlights an issue for southwestern Pennsylvania residents: Most people know ticks are in their backyard, but few believe they’re actually at risk of contracting tick-borne illnesses.

Every year in the United States, an estimated 500,000 people are diagnosed with Lyme disease. The illness, caused by a bacterium called Borrelia burgdorferi, is transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected black-legged tick. A common early sign of Lyme disease is a distinctive “bull’s-eye” rash, occurring in 70% to 80% of infected people.

If not treated early, the infection can progress to more serious symptoms, such as joint swelling and arthritis, nerve pain, tingling or numbness, facial muscle weakness, heart inflammation and difficulties with memory or concentration.

Behind these infections is a complex ecological cycle that unfolds largely unnoticed in forests, parks and even backyards. Ticks acquire the bacterium when they take a blood meal from an infected animal. One of the most important hosts in this cycle is the white-footed mouse which are reservoirs for several tick-borne pathogens. Young ticks frequently feed on these mice and become infected. This allows them to transmit the bacteria later in life when they bite other animals or humans.

We are a disease ecologist and Ph.D. student at the University of Pittsburgh, where we study the ecology of ticks, wildlife hosts and tick-borne pathogens in western Pennsylvania. Our research examines how Lyme disease circulates in local environments and how communities interact with tick habitats in their everyday lives.

Understanding the biology of ticks is only part of the story. Effectively reducing disease risk also requires understanding how people perceive ticks and the pathogens they transmit, and what prevention strategies they are willing to use.

The cycle behind tick bites

Both black-legged ticks and white-footed mice are widespread across Pennsylvania. This creates conditions for Lyme disease bacteria transmission. As a result, Pennsylvania consistently ranks among the top three states in the country for reported Lyme disease cases each year.

A woman wearing a tank top and shorts is hiking in a very green forest. — Spring and summer in Pennsylvania come with a hidden health hazard: The state is one of the worst in the country for Lyme disease.
Alex Potemkin/iStock via Getty Images Plus

During the summer of 2024, our team conducted a community survey in neighborhoods across Allegheny, Washington and Westmoreland counties. These areas were selected because they border parks and forested habitats where ticks are commonly found. Homeowners were invited to participate in a short questionnaire that explored their experiences with ticks and tick-borne diseases.

Fifty-two residents completed the 12-question survey. We asked participants whether they had observed ticks on their property, whether they believed tick-borne diseases posed a health risk and what personal or property-level precautions they used to prevent tick bites.

The results revealed a striking contrast between awareness of ticks and perception of risk.

Most people don’t fear ticks

Over 80% of respondents reported seeing ticks on their property at some point. Despite this widespread exposure, far fewer homeowners believed tick-borne diseases posed a major health threat. Only 32% considered diseases such as Lyme disease to be a significant health risk to themselves or their family. More than half of respondents believe tick-borne diseases represent only a minor health concern, and 14% said they posed no health risk at all.

The survey also revealed clear patterns in how people protect themselves from ticks. Nearly all participants reported taking at least some precautionary measures when spending time outdoors. The most common strategy was performing tick checks, a simple but effective method for reducing infection risk, as ticks typically need to be attached for 24 to 48 hours to transmit the bacteria. Other reported precautions include wearing protective clothing, showering after outdoor activities, or changing clothes once returning indoors.

Here’s how you can check yourself, your children and your pets for ticks.

Interestingly, most homeowners reported they did not use pest control treatments to reduce tick populations in their yards. When asked how they might respond if ticks were discovered on their property, most participants said they would simply increase their use of personal protective behaviors over treating their property or consulting a pest management company.

Prevention starts with people

These findings highlight an important challenge in tick-borne disease prevention. While many residents recognize that ticks are present in their nearby environment, they may underestimate the health risks associated with them. Some may also prefer prevention strategies that focus on individual behavior rather than environmental control.

From a public health perspective, understanding these attitudes is essential. Strategies designed to reduce tick populations, such as yard treatments or rodent-targeted tick control devices, which kill ticks on mice or other wildlife carriers, are effective if homeowners are willing to adopt them. Research that examines community perceptions can help scientists and public health officials design prevention programs that are both practical and acceptable to the people who live in tick-endemic areas. These are the regions where specific tick populations are permanently established, constantly present and actively transmitting diseases.

A red, bullseye-shaped rash on the back of a human leg. — A common early sign of Lyme disease is a ‘bull’s-eye’ rash occurring in 70% to 80% of infected people.
anakopa/iStock via Getty Images Plus

The study also represents one of the first efforts to examine tick-related perceptions specifically in western Pennsylvania. As climate change, expanding wildlife populations and changes in land use continue to influence tick distributions, understanding how communities experience and respond to ticks is increasingly important. Our team will continue exploring ways to reduce tick exposure that will benefit homeowners and affected communities. This includes field evaluations of rodent-targeted tick control strategies and studies of how ticks and pathogens circulate among wildlife hosts.

For homeowners living near wooded areas, the message remains simple but important: Ticks are common, and taking precautions – performing tick checks, using repellents and managing yard habitats – can help reduce the risk of tick-borne diseases.

As research continues, combining ecological science with community perspectives may prove to be one of the most effective ways to combat Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses.

Danielle Tufts receives funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Emily Bache 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. Ticks are the backyard threat southwestern Pennsylvania homeowners keep ignoring – https://theconversation.com/ticks-are-the-backyard-threat-southwestern-pennsylvania-homeowners-keep-ignoring-277594

March 31, 2026

Holocaust survivors in France came home to stolen apartments, looted furniture and bureaucratic hurdles

Source: The Conversation – USA (3) – By Shannon Fogg, Professor of History, Missouri University of Science and Technology

Furniture confiscated from Jewish homes is delivered to other people in Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris in April 1942, after an Allied bombing. Art Media/Print Collector/Getty Images

In 1945, an angry mob confronted Aba Mizreh and four of his sons outside their former home in Paris. The Jewish family had hidden in Lyon during World War II, only to learn that their apartment had been looted and rented in their absence. Despite an eviction notice, the new tenants refused to leave, leading to a street fight.

Following the violent confrontation, Mizreh wrote to the French government. “Don’t I have the right, after having suffered so much, to get my property back?” he asked. “Haven’t I really paid enough for this war?”

Mizreh, then 68, was just one of the 160,000 Holocaust survivors from Paris who struggled to rebuild their lives after the devastation of the Nazi occupation. Of his 11 children, five sons had fought for France and six of his children had been deported; at least two were murdered at Auschwitz. Now he simply wanted to return to the two-bedroom apartment that served as his home and furrier workshop in order to support his wife and orphaned grandchildren.

In my research on the looting and restitution of Jewish homes in Paris, I have discovered that property issues are often overlooked in Holocaust studies. But for ordinary Jews in France, attempts to reclaim their homes and furnishings were key to rebuilding their lives. What’s more, they are important for understanding the Holocaust’s lasting financial and emotional impact.

They also reveal the limits of the government’s attempts to repair the past. French laws related to recovering apartments, looted furniture and war damages promised equality to all war victims. Instead, they created bureaucratic barriers and favored non-Jewish war victims. For many who tried to reclaim their property, the answer to Mizreh’s question was “no.” They would continue to “pay” for the war for years to come.

Looting and return

Paris was the largest city under German occupation and home to the largest Jewish population in Western Europe. Tragically, around 75,000 Jews living in France were murdered during the Holocaust. For the 75% of the French Jewish population that survived, rebuilding their lives was a difficult and extended process.

A black-and-white photo of a crowd, including many uniformed officers, standing outside by a trolley. — French police in Paris round up Jewish residents on Aug. 20, 1941. Over the next few years, tens of thousands were sent to the Drancy internment camp, then to Auschwitz.
Keystone-France/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

With the aid of French citizens, the Nazis looted more than 38,000 private apartments in the capital, and as many as 25,000 empty apartments that had been home to Jewish families were rented to non-Jewish tenants. Social workers estimated that nearly 100,000 Parisian Jews had been evicted from their apartments during the war. For many surviving Jews, returning home was their first priority.

Memoirs and oral histories recount these first moments of return. As a girl, Rachel Jedinak survived the war by hiding under a false identity after her parents’ arrest. She remembered returning to her family home: “We tore the seals from the door and went in. There was nothing left – nothing. This empty apartment – without furniture, without belongings, without photos that would have allowed us to remember those who were gone, to reconnect us to our parents – made us cry. The loss of our memorabilia was even more painful than the loss of our material goods.”

Survivors like Rachel Jedinak, who was a child during the Holocaust, struggled to rebuild their lives after returning.

Reclaiming and then furnishing these apartments was both practical and emotional. Their homes provided a bed to sleep on, as well as the last links to family members lost in the Holocaust. The scale of loss meant that rebuilding would require a coordinated governmental effort.

Restitution and reparations

Two orders issued on Nov. 14, 1944, addressed renters’ rights to return to their prewar homes. Another ordinance, published on April 11, 1945, was meant to help return recovered furniture to its original owners.

These measures largely failed to meet Jewish survivors’ needs, however. The housing laws included exceptions that favored the new, non-Jewish tenants, such as Allied bombing victims and former prisoners of war. Additionally, only about 2,000 pieces of furniture were returned to survivors or heirs.

As a result, many survivors would rely on financial compensation for their losses. Jews whose apartments had been looted could file a claim under the War Damages Law of Oct. 28, 1946. But this long-awaited law proved to be a further disappointment.

A grand building of about five stories with large windows and arches. — Site of the Lévitan department store in Paris, where Nazi officials stored goods stolen from Jewish homes before reselling them.
Chabe01/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

Enacted two years after the liberation of Paris, the War Damages Law provided only limited funds for personal items. Eligible victims could receive 90,000 francs – less than US$10,300 or 9,000 Euros today – per household for the total loss of furnishings, or half the insured value of their stolen goods.

Claimants had to file a four-page form and submit documents proving their nationality, family status, legal standing and property rights, as well as witness statements to verify the losses.

If the government approved a survivor’s claim, payment was not immediate. A sample of the 2,750 files held in the Paris Archives reveals that more than 85% of claimants wrote to the government asking for faster payments.

One survivor writing to officials in 1948 summarized the feelings of many looting victims: “I think that we have all paid our dues and suffered enough for you to compensate us for at least a part of what the Germans stole from us almost six years ago.”

But for many, the payment process associated with the War Damages Law dragged on into the 1960s, underlining the long-term economic impact of wartime looting.

Continued exclusion

Only French citizens or foreigners who had fought for France were eligible for payments under the War Damages Law. More than half the Jews living there during the Holocaust, however, were foreigners – including nearly 100,000 refugees who had recently fled Nazi violence.

Arthur Deutsch was born in Vienna to Polish parents and moved to Paris in 1922, where he married and had five children. In 1938, he filed a request for naturalization, but it was not finalized before war broke out. He tried to volunteer for military service but was not called up.

The family fled Paris ahead of the Nazi invasion, ending up in the central city of Limoges, where they were arrested in December 1940. They were eventually transferred to the Rivesaltes internment camp, where Deutsch was assigned to forced labor. When the family returned to Paris after its liberation, they found their apartment completely empty.

A black-and-white photo of two brunette women in long coats walking through a street arm-in-arm, looking somber. — Under the German occupation, Jews in France were forced to wear the yellow star.
German Federal Archive via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

Deutsch filed a claim for war damages, which was rejected in 1952 due to his citizenship status. He contested his exclusion, writing: “If I am not French on paper, I am in my thoughts because one does not spend thirty years in Paris without being assimilated, and it is not four years of internment or the rejection of my furniture indemnity claim that will make me change my mind.”

As anthropologist Damiana Oţoiu notes, “the psychological damage caused by forced resettlement, seizure of property, and the loss of social and cultural capital cannot be compensated by the mere restitution of property years or decades after the crimes were perpetrated.”

But for Parisian Holocaust survivors, recovering or replacing stolen goods represented their ability to live with dignity and security. The struggle for compensation and for recognition of the persecution they faced continued for decades after the war’s end – and in some cases, continues today.

Funding for this research was provided through Seed Grant Funding for the Humanities, Social, and Behavioral Sciences by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation at Missouri University of Science & Technology.

– ref. Holocaust survivors in France came home to stolen apartments, looted furniture and bureaucratic hurdles – https://theconversation.com/holocaust-survivors-in-france-came-home-to-stolen-apartments-looted-furniture-and-bureaucratic-hurdles-276312

March 31, 2026

Why has it taken so long to return to the Moon?

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Domenico Vicinanza, Associate Professor of Intelligent Systems and Data Science, Anglia Ruskin University

At 13:24:59 Central Standard Time on December 19 1972, the Apollo 17 command module splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, about 350 nautical miles south-east of Samoa, concluding the last mission to the Moon.

During his career, Apollo 17’s commander, Eugene A. Cernan, logged 566 hours and 15 minutes in space, of which more than 73 hours were spent on the surface of the Moon. Cernan was the second American to have walked in space, and the last person to leave his footprints on the surface of the Moon.

The conclusion of the Apollo 17 journey marked not only the end of a mission, but the close of an era. Between 1969 and 1972, 12 astronauts walked on the Moon over the course of six separate landings.

Half a century later, Nasa is preparing to return under its Artemis programme. For the Artemis II mission, set to launch on April 1 2026, four astronauts will travel in a loop around the Moon in Nasa’s next-generation Orion crew capsule.

More than 50 years is a long gap, and it is only natural to ask if Americans could reach the Moon routinely in the early 1970s, why did it take so long for them to try to go back?

The Apollo 17 mission in 1972 marks the last time humans set foot on the Moon.
Nasa

The answer is not simple. It has little to do with technology and much more with how politics, money and global support work. The place to start is with Apollo itself: its model of exploration was not built to last, and was clearly not sustainable.

On May 25 1961, before a joint session of Congress, President John F. Kennedy committed the US to the goal, before the decade was out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.

After Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson ensured that this Moon landing goal was met. But rising costs from the Vietnam war and domestic reforms reduced his appetite for further space investment.

John F Kennedy’s speech at Rice University in 1962 reaffirmed America’s commitment to landing on the Moon.
JFK Library

In fact, Nasa’s budget peaked in 1966 and began falling even before Apollo’s success, undermining prospects for sustained exploration. Further funding was declined, planned missions were cancelled, and Apollo ended in 1972 – not because it failed, but because it had accomplished its task.

Sustainable exploration (in space as on Earth) requires stable political commitment, predictable funding, and a clear long-term purpose. After Apollo, the US struggled to maintain all three at once.

Policymakers began to ask what direction Nasa should take next. In 1972, President Richard Nixon directed the space agency to begin building the space shuttle. It would lead Nasa to shift its focus away from deep space exploration towards operations in low-Earth orbit.

‘Space truck’: the shuttle was marketed as providing affordable access to low-Earth orbit. The reality was somewhat different.
Nasa

Marketed as a reusable “space truck”, the space shuttle was intended to make orbital access routine and affordable. However, it would turn out to be a vehicle of incredible complexity, marred by technical failures and human tragedies – the Challenger and Columbia accidents in which 14 astronauts’ lives were lost.

Eight years into the shuttle programme, some in the space community believed it was time for the US to once again set its sights on the Moon – and the tantalising prospect of a landing on Mars. On July 20 1989, the 20th anniversary of Apollo 11’s first Moon landing, President George H.W. Bush announced the Space Exploration Initiative (SEI).

The plan aimed for a long-term commitment to construct Space Station Freedom, return astronauts to the Moon “to stay”, and finally send humans to the red planet.

However, the high estimated costs of SEI, reaching hundreds of billions of dollars, led to its downfall. Weak support in Congress along with other factors led to its cancellation under Bill Clinton’s presidential administration.

During the 1990s, the International Space Station (ISS) project cemented low-Earth orbit as the priority for human exploration. The space shuttle was the US’s means of building the station and transporting crews to and from the orbiting outpost.

The ISS became a symbol of scientific cooperation and technical prowess. Experiments carried out on the station generated valuable insights into everything from medical research to materials science. However, it also soaked up resources that might otherwise have supported deep-space exploration.

The Columbia disaster in 2003 – in which a space shuttle broke up over Texas with the loss of its crew – led to another rethink of America’s direction in space. As a result, President George W. Bush announced the Vision for Space Exploration.

The aim of this proposal, which would give rise to what was known as the Constellation programme, was to rebuild Nasa’s capability for reaching the Moon, with Mars as its longer-term goal. But independent reviews warned that costs and schedules were unrealistic. Congress never really gave full financial support to Constellation, leading to its cancellation in 2010 during Barack Obama’s presidency.

This repeated cycle of cancelled space projects exposes some inherent limitations to the system for funding lunar exploration. A sustainable Moon programme needs strong multi-sector commitment, and mechanisms in place for guaranteed multi-decade funding.

Constellation would have sent astronauts to the lunar surface on a lander called Altair.
Nasa

But such large programmes must compete each year with defence, healthcare and social spending. Electoral turnover and shifting committee leadership in the US further weaken the prospect of continuity.

Lunar exploration has also suffered from an unresolved strategic question: why go back at all? Apollo’s purpose was largely geopolitical, and after the cold war no equally compelling justification really emerged.

Scientific returns from human space missions are limited compared with robotic exploration. Commercial prospects remain uncertain, and prestige alone rarely sustains or secures large budgets.

Maybe a more fitting question is: why does Artemis appear to have escaped the pattern? Well, Nasa argues that sending astronauts back to the lunar surface – and in particular, establishing a sustained presence there – will help researchers learn “how to live and work on another world as we prepare for human missions to Mars”. That is true, up to a point.

Nasa also emphasises that Artemis will be built through commercial partnerships and international cooperation, creating the first long-term human foothold on the Moon.

With Artemis, has Nasa finally found a rationale to maintain a more enduring presence on the Moon?
Nasa

The programme seems to sit at a carefully crafted intersection of US government leadership, commercial launch capabilities, and a broad coalition of international partners brought together under the Artemis Accords. The accords are a set of common principles regarding the use of the Moon and other targets in outer space, agreed between the US and other countries.

The main difference from previous promises to return to the Moon is that this, at least in theory, spreads risk and widens the base of political support. In practice, though, Artemis remains costly and exposed to shifting budgets and priorities.

There is also a cultural dimension to this question. Apollo created a powerful – albeit fragile – myth of swift, heroic technological advance. Artemis is building its large technological base in societies and democratic contexts where investments and commitments tend to evolve slowly, shaped by negotiation, compromise and
competing interests.

If Artemis succeeds, it will be because all the political, economic, societal and scientific incentives have finally aligned in a durable way. But until that alignment is proven, the 50-year gap between Apollo and Artemis is less an engineering puzzle than a reminder of how difficult sustained exploration is for modern democracies.

Domenico Vicinanza 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. Why has it taken so long to return to the Moon? – https://theconversation.com/why-has-it-taken-so-long-to-return-to-the-moon-274640

March 31, 2026

Cinquante ans d’Apple : huit moments clés qui ont changé notre monde

Source: The Conversation – France in French (2) – By Nick Dalton, Associate Professor in the School of Computer Science, Northumbria University, Newcastle

Une réplique de l’Apple I et son boîtier en bois de koa (exposée à Varsovie), l’ordinateur qui a lancé l’odyssée de la marque. Andrew Sozinov/Shutterstock

De la démocratisation de l’ordinateur personnel à l’invention de l’écosystème des applications, Apple a souvent imposé de nouvelles manières d’utiliser la technologie. Voici quelques-unes des innovations les plus marquantes de l’entreprise depuis un demi-siècle.

Au début des années 1970, l’idée qu’une personne ordinaire puisse posséder un ordinateur semblait absurde. À l’époque, les ordinateurs ressemblaient davantage à des porte-avions ou à des centrales nucléaires qu’à des appareils domestiques : d’immenses machines installées dans des centres de données, exploitées par des équipes de spécialistes au service de gouvernements, d’universités et de grandes entreprises.

Puis vint Apple.

Fondée le 1^er avril 1976 par deux « décrocheurs universitaires », les fameux « college dropouts » Steve Jobs et Steve Wozniak, la start-up de la Silicon Valley n’a pas inventé l’informatique. Mais elle a sans doute accompli quelque chose de plus important : contribuer à transformer l’informatique en technologie personnelle.

Avant Apple, les ordinateurs étaient le plus souvent vendus sous forme de kits à assembler. Jobs a compris que les gens préféraient des machines déjà montées, prêtes à fonctionner. Les tout premiers Apple I, dotés de boîtiers en bois de koa fabriqués à la main, se vendent aujourd’hui aux enchères pour plusieurs centaines de milliers de dollars.

En tant qu’utilisateur précoce d’Apple et développeur d’applications, voici ma sélection personnelle des réalisations technologiques les plus marquantes de l’entreprise – et de Steve Jobs – au cours des 50 dernières années.

Apple II – beige et unique en son genre

Les premiers ordinateurs personnels relevaient davantage de la curiosité que de l’outil réellement utile. L’Apple II, lancé en juin 1977, introduisit quelque chose de nouveau : le style. Même sa couleur – beige ! – était originale, contrastant avec les boîtiers métalliques noirs courants à l’époque.

L’affichage en couleurs était nouveau et enthousiasmant, et le clavier offrait une sensation agréable à l’usage. Un simple haut-parleur, doté d’une sortie d’un seul bit, était ingénieusement exploité pour produire des tonalités et même des sons ressemblant à la parole. Le design était révolutionné jusqu’à l’emballage : Jerry Manock, premier designer salarié d’Apple, installa la machine dans un boîtier en plastique moulé à l’allure élégante et professionnelle.

La souris – une nouvelle manière d’interagir

En 1979, Steve Jobs, alors âgé de 24 ans et convaincu que le géant technologique IBM était en train de rattraper Apple, se mit en quête de la prochaine grande innovation. L’entreprise de photocopieurs Xerox, qui souhaitait obtenir des actions Apple avant même son entrée en bourse, lui proposa en échange une visite de ses laboratoires de recherche voisins. Jobs comprit alors que des chercheurs du centre de recherche de Xerox à Palo Alto, comme Alan Kay, étaient en train d’inventer la prochaine génération d’interfaces informatiques.

Au cœur de cette révolution se trouvait un dispositif mis au point au milieu des années 1960 par le mentor d’Alan Kay, Douglas Engelbart, à l’université Stanford, et surnommé « la souris ». La vision de Douglas Engelbart, qui voyait l’ordinateur comme une machine destinée à augmenter les capacités de l’esprit humain, inspira Alan Kay et ses collègues, qui conçurent des interfaces graphiques dans lesquelles les utilisateurs interagissaient avec des barres de défilement, des boutons, des menus et des fenêtres.

Macintosh – la naissance du lancement de produit moderne

Steve Jobs pensait que n’importe qui devait pouvoir utiliser un ordinateur. En janvier 1984, le premier Apple Mac poussa cette idée à un niveau inédit. Fini les commandes informatiques sibyllines et les manuels qui les accompagnaient. Les premiers utilisateurs, dont je faisais partie, avaient l’impression de savoir instinctivement comment tout faire.

Mais le lancement du Mac ne se résume pas à ce saut technologique. Il inspira aussi ce qui est devenu un moment culturel désormais ancré dans nos vies : le lancement de produit. Après une publicité aguicheuse diffusée lors du Super Bowl et réalisée par Ridley Scott, Steve Jobs mit en scène dans un théâtre de 1 500 places un lancement de produit centré sur un présentateur charismatique et seul en scène. Il sortit d’un sac un petit ordinateur carré – encore beige – alors appelé Macintosh, qui se mit à parler de lui-même sous les applaudissements enthousiastes de la salle.

Vidéo : MacEssentials.

Pixar – le projet parallèle de Jobs

Au cours de sa première décennie, Apple connut une croissance exceptionnelle – mais frôla aussi la faillite à plusieurs reprises. Des difficultés qui conduisirent l’entreprise à l’un des épisodes les plus spectaculaires de son histoire lorsque, en mai 1985, Apple força Jobs à quitter la société.

Un an plus tard, alors qu’il dirige la start-up NeXT Inc, Steve Jobs rachète une division de la société de production de George Lucas, qu’il rebaptise rapidement Pixar. Son logiciel RenderMan permettait de générer des images en répartissant les calculs entre plusieurs machines travaillant simultanément.

Pixar, souvent décrit avec humour comme le « projet parallèle » de Jobs, deviendra l’un des studios d’animation les plus influents – et les plus rentables – au monde, en produisant notamment le premier long métrage entièrement animé par ordinateur, Toy Story (1995).

La bande-annonce de Toy Story (1995)

IMac – la rencontre de deux visions

Après une tentative infructueuse de développer un nouveau système d’exploitation avec IBM, Apple finit par racheter la société NeXT de Steve Jobs. En septembre 1997, celui-ci revient alors comme PDG par intérim alors que l’entreprise se trouve, selon ses propres mots, à « deux mois de la faillite ». Si ce retour est salué par de nombreux utilisateurs d’Apple, il inquiète une partie des salariés. Jobs commence en effet rapidement à licencier du personnel et à fermer les produits jugés défaillants.

Au cours de cette restructuration, il visite le studio de design d’Apple et s’entend immédiatement avec un jeune designer britannique, Jony Ive. De cette rencontre naît en 1998 l’iMac translucide aux couleurs acidulées. Essentiellement des machines NeXT plus petites et moins chères, les iMac (le « i » signifiant Internet) inaugurent aussi une autre innovation d’Apple, aujourd’hui devenue une habitude : abandonner les technologies vieillissantes. Le lecteur de disquettes est supprimé au profit d’un lecteur de CD – un choix très critiqué à l’époque, mais largement imité par la suite.

Vidéo : TheAppleFanBoy – Archives Apple & Computer

IPod – 1 000 chansons dans votre poche

Pour Apple, l’informatique n’a jamais consisté uniquement à faire de l’informatique. En 2001, l’entreprise commence à s’intéresser au traitement du son et de la vidéo, et plus seulement du texte et des images. En novembre de la même année, elle lance l’iPod – un baladeur capable de stocker « 1 000 chansons dans votre poche », contre au maximum 20 à 30 par cassette sur un Walkman de Sony.

L’iPod se pilote grâce à une élégante « click wheel » permettant de naviguer à l’écran. La musique est synchronisée via une nouvelle application appelée iTunes. Dès 2005, les utilisateurs s’en servent aussi pour gérer des fichiers audio téléchargés automatiquement depuis Internet grâce à un système appelé RSS. C’est ce qui donnera le « pod » de podcast.

Vidéo : xaviertic.

IPhone – un ordinateur dans toutes les mains

En 2007, de nombreux fabricants de téléphones mobiles avaient approché Apple pour fusionner l’iPod avec leurs appareils. Steve Jobs choisit une autre voie. Le 9 janvier, il dévoile le produit le plus ambitieux jamais lancé par Apple : un appareil combinant téléphone, lecteur de musique et ordinateur Mac – le tout au format d’un simple combiné, sans clavier physique et doté d’un large écran.

La plupart des « experts » des médias, de TechCrunch au Guardian, prédisaient un échec. Steve Ballmer, alors PDG de Microsoft, se moquait du prix de 500 dollars, affirmant que personne n’achèterait un tel appareil. En réalité, 1,4 million d’iPhone furent vendus avant même la fin de l’année – et plus de 3 milliards depuis. Pour la première fois, un véritable ordinateur se retrouvait dans toutes les mains – ouvrant la voie aux réseaux sociaux tels que nous les connaissons aujourd’hui.

Vidéo : Histoire du Mac.

La révolution logicielle de l’App Store

À la mi-2008, l’iPhone offre à tous les développeurs la possibilité de créer une multitude vertigineuse de nouvelles applications. Dans le même temps, l’App Store – lancé le 10 juillet 2008 – résout l’un des problèmes les plus complexes : la distribution et la commercialisation de ces « apps ». Historiquement, les logiciels étaient souvent copiés et diffusés librement. L’App Store change la donne en utilisant un chiffrement robuste pour garantir que la copie achetée ne puisse être utilisée que par l’utilisateur concerné, réduisant ainsi le piratage.

En lançant le premier App Store au sens moderne du terme, Apple a transformé la manière dont les utilisateurs découvrent et achètent des logiciels. Cela déclenche une explosion du nombre d’applications et impose une idée simple mais puissante : quoi que vous souhaitiez faire, quelqu’un, quelque part, a déjà créé l’application pour le faire. Apple résume cette évolution dans un slogan devenu célèbre : « There’s an app for that » (« Il y a une application pour ça »).

À maintes reprises, cette entreprise hors norme a anticipé l’intérêt d’ouvrir l’informatique au plus grand nombre. Joyeux anniversaire, Apple !

Nick Dalton ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d’une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n’a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.

– ref. Cinquante ans d’Apple : huit moments clés qui ont changé notre monde – https://theconversation.com/cinquante-ans-dapple-huit-moments-cles-qui-ont-change-notre-monde-279675

March 31, 2026

South Africa’s MeerKAT telescope is mapping previously invisible spaces between galaxies – and it’s found 60 new cosmic structures

Source: The Conversation – Africa (2) – By Konstantinos Kolokythas, Postdoctoral research fellow, Rhodes University

Diffuse radio emissions captured by the MeerKAT telescope spanning millions of light-years. Visualisation by Konstantinos Kolokythas, CC BY

Astronomers are uncovering previously hidden structures within some of the universe’s largest objects, known as galaxy clusters. Using the powerful MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa, researchers have mapped faint, diffuse radio emissions, an imprint that reveals energy processes taking place in the vast spaces between galaxies when galaxy clusters collide or merge.

Konstantinos Kolokythas, a radio astronomer and postdoctoral research fellow at Rhodes University and the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO), has led research into what these radio emissions reveal about our cosmic history. His findings provide a glimpse of what powerful instruments like MeerKAT and the upcoming Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will discover as they explore the “invisible” radio universe.

What has MeerKAT found, thanks to its sensitivity?

Think of a galaxy cluster not as a collection of thousands of galaxies, but as a bustling city. While telescopes usually see the “bright lights” of individual galaxies, MeerKAT has enabled us to detect the faint “smog” or “mist” filling the streets between them. Our search has been for this extremely faint “diffuse radio emission”. It is spread over millions of light-years, like a thin, glowing fog.

In the vast spaces between galaxies lies the Intracluster Medium – an incredibly hot, thin gas that fills the cluster. While the gas itself is usually seen by X-ray telescopes, it also contains magnetic fields and electrons travelling at nearly the speed of light.

When galaxy clusters merge, it is like a cosmic dance: the electrons encountering a magnetic field are compelled to spiral along the magnetic field lines, emitting energy as radio waves. This is the radio emission we see at 1.28 GHz with MeerKAT. It reveals the places of shock accelerations (the aftermath of cosmic collisions).

Our research within the MeerKAT Galaxy Cluster Legacy Survey (MGCLS), a programme led by the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory, used this capability to map 115 of these “cosmic cities”. We identified 103 diffuse sources, including 60 structures that were completely invisible to previous generations of telescopes. The legacy survey also produced its own overview.

We have essentially moved from having a blurry map of the neighbourhood to a high-definition atlas, revealing that the “empty” space between galaxies is actually teeming with energy. By combining this radio data with X-ray and optical observations, we can calculate the “energy budget” – essentially a full accounting of all the power, heat and magnetic energy moving through these massive structures.

How does this clarify or add to what was known before?

Before this work, we mainly observed only the brightest, most violent merger events. With our new catalogue, we can see the broader picture of cosmic evolution, detecting the faintest structures arising from galaxy cluster collisions. By identifying these features in over half (54%) of the surveyed clusters, we can study how energy is processed on a cosmic scale.

These radio signatures are the “scars” left by cluster mergers – colossal, slow-motion collisions where gravity draws two massive collections of galaxies together. This process generates turbulence and shockwaves that “kick” particles to extreme speeds.

Our findings demonstrate that these high-energy events
are a fundamental part of a cluster’s life cycle and the universe’s evolution. Clusters that appear “quiet” or “relaxed” in X-ray light often conceal a history of radio activity. We are mapping the
secret structures of magnetic fields over billions of years. In radio astronomy, the universe is never truly silent.

What direction does this point to for future research?

This catalogue serves as a high-resolution “baseline” for the coming decade. With MeerKAT, we have pushed the limits further, allowing us to observe more “ultra-steep spectrum” sources – faint emissions from the oldest, most “tired” particles in the universe. These are vital for understanding the long-term lifecycle of cosmic energy.

Looking forward, this research paves the way for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) observatory, the world’s largest and
most sensitive radio telescope, which is expected to be fully operational by 2030. If MeerKAT can detect 60 new structures in a small patch of the sky, the SKA will likely find thousands.

Why does this matter?

Because these structures forming in clusters are the largest “natural laboratories” in the universe. By studying them, we aren’t just looking at pretty pictures; we are learning how gravity, magnetism and matter behave on a scale that is otherwise impossible to recreate and the human mind can barely conceive.

This research proves that South Africa is at the forefront of this discovery, using homegrown technology to answer the deepest questions about the fabric of our universe, where our universe came from and how it evolves.

Dr Konstantinos Kolokythas receives funding from the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) and the National Research Foundation (grant UID: 97930), an agency of the Department of Science
and Innovation. He works for Rhodes University / SARAO. He is also affiliated with the Istituto di Radioastronomia (INAF) in Bologna, Italy.

– ref. South Africa’s MeerKAT telescope is mapping previously invisible spaces between galaxies – and it’s found 60 new cosmic structures – https://theconversation.com/south-africas-meerkat-telescope-is-mapping-previously-invisible-spaces-between-galaxies-and-its-found-60-new-cosmic-structures-279002

March 31, 2026

Red flags in the workplace: why whistleblowers are still few and far between

Source: The Conversation – France – By Wim Vandekerckhove, Professeur en éthique des affaires, EDHEC Business School

Whether it’s the Mediator pharmaceutic scandal in France or the outcry over the Dieselgate emissions case that rocked Europe’s largest carmaker, when a scandal breaks, we often hear about one or two whistleblowers, but we are also left wondering why all those who knew said nothing as the disaster unfolded.

Why do most people remain silent when they see wrongdoing?

A recent study in corporate whistleblowing practices by Transparency International reveals that 15% of employees believe wrongdoing is taking place in their workplace. Two thirds of them say they share their concern with others. Most of the time with their direct manager.

During a team meeting they might ask whether they understood the process correctly, or they might ask a colleague whether what they are supposed to do is in line with company policy. At that point, they express a concern, but that doesn’t necessarily make them a whistleblower or at least they do not see themselves as a whistleblower.

Previous research indicates the most common response to this low level of sharing a concern is that the employee is ignored.

Being ignored is for most of us also why we don’t take a concern further. At this stage, we then tend to remain silent. Very few employees will raise their concern with higher management or through a dedicated whistleblowing channel.

Why the ‘silent majority’?

According to Navex], one of Europe’s market leaders in operating internal whistleblowing systems and software within firms, on average the number of employees reporting wrongdoing through an internal whistleblowing channel sits at 1.57 in 100 employees.

Now let’s appreciate how little this is with actual figures. Imagine a company of 200 employees, according to the study by Transparency International, among 30 employees who witness wrongdoing, 19 will express some doubt.

The Navex study suggests that when ignored, only 3 will report their concern through an internal whistleblowing channel.

Summing this up, if you have 200 employees and 30 of them see wrongdoing, 27 remain silent and only 3 speak up.

Speaking up largely depends on the type of wrongdoing: we are most likely to report wrongdoing that poses a threat to someone’s health or safety, and least likely to report wrongdoing that concerns a breach in company policy. But here is the catch: before someone’s life is in danger, we have already spent much time remaining silent on the slippery slope of company policy breaches. Our silence on “lesser wrongdoings” provides behavioural training that actually encourages silence on bigger misconduct we might witness.

A lack of trust in ‘the process’

What seems to hold us back is a perception that speaking up is risky. In the TI study, only 17% of employees said they felt confident that reporting wrongdoing to their employer would be acted upon and they would not suffer as a result of reporting their concern. This stands in contrast to the over-confidence observed among top management: 68% of employers in the survey believed that if someone reported wrongdoing through the organization’s whistleblowing channel, it would be acted upon by the organization and the whistleblower would remain unharmed. In other words, employees remain silent because they do not trust reporting channels.

What are the big truth-telling demotivators?

The TI study also gives insight into the barriers employees see. Fear of retaliation is the biggest barrier, with 32% of employees saying they feared losing their job if they reported a wrongdoing. The second highest barrier is also important, with 24% indicating they remained silent because they did not believe their report would make any difference.

Hence, employee silence is driven by fear and futility.

Since 2019, the EU whistleblowing directive requires that all organizations of more than 50 employees have an internal whistleblowing channel, and that they have the capacity to carry out a diligent follow up of reports that come through those channels.

Transpositions into national legislation across the European Union’s 27 Member States have been in place for a while. With enhanced protection measures and channel requirements, the aim of the EU Whistleblowing Directive was to create an environment for employees to raise their concerns safely and effectively.

A new tool for testing whistleblowing monitoring in the EU

The fact remains that among organizations there is a lot of room for improvement.

As part of the EDHEC Business school’s European Commission backed BRIGHT project – Building Resilience through Integrity, Good Governance, and Honesty Training, a free online Speak-Up Self Assessment tool (SUSA) was developed for integrity professionals across Europe to self-assess the speak-up culture and whistleblowing systems in their organizations.

The tool is designed to provide feedback on how firms such as France’s EDF group for example, align with the EU
requirements, the ISO37002:2021 standard, and the guidelines from the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

What is the future of speak up culture?

SUSA data indicates that whistleblowing channels exist but are too often of poor quality. Whilst most organizations seem to hope for a quick fix, what is really needed is a continuous management effort to build and strengthen speak-up cultures.

We should not rest on our laurels in the hope that the silence of the old generation is on its way out, making way for the voice of the new generation. On the contrary, a study by Protect, the UK’s leading charity that supports and advises whistleblowers, shows that Gen Z is even more silent that the Baby Boomers.

Their recent study found that young workers (18-24 years old) are less likely to speak up than any other age group, regardless of the type of wrongdoing. The silent majority facing barriers of fear and futility seems to be growing, and that should be a cause for concern.

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Wim Vandekerckhove was the coordinator for EDHEC Business School of the BRIGHT project, funded by the European Commission.

– ref. Red flags in the workplace: why whistleblowers are still few and far between – https://theconversation.com/red-flags-in-the-workplace-why-whistleblowers-are-still-few-and-far-between-278239

March 31, 2026

Dormir une heure de moins : les effets du changement d’heure sur la vigilance, l’humeur et le bien-être psychologique

Source: The Conversation – France in French (3) – By Oliver Serrano León, Director y profesor del Máster de Psicología General Sanitaria, Universidad Europea

Le week-end dernier, nous sommes passés à l’heure d’été. Des données scientifiques montrent pourtant que le fait d’avancer l’heure peut avoir des répercussions sur le sommeil, la concentration, l’humeur et le bien-être psychologique pendant plusieurs jours. Mais, dans la plupart des cas et en l’absence de troubles liés à la santé mentale, ces désagréments sont temporaires et ne sont pas des signaux alarmants.

Ce dimanche 29 mars, une scène familière s’est répétée : le calendrier officiel a marqué le début de l’heure légale d’été. En Espagne, concrètement, l’heure est avancée d’une heure simultanément sur tout le territoire, bien que l’heure officielle diffère entre la péninsule et les Canaries, comme le prévoit le décret royal régissant le changement d’heure.

(Le changement d’heure a été instauré en France à la suite du choc pétrolier de 1973-1974. Les dates de passage à l’heure d’été puis d’hiver sont désormais harmonisées dans tous les pays membres de l’Union européenne, ndlr).

Sur le papier, cela semble être un ajustement mineur. Mais pour le cerveau, ce n’est pas toujours le cas.

Ce n’est pas seulement une mauvaise soirée à passer

Du point de vue de la psychologie, ce qui importe, ce n’est pas tant l’heure « perdue » que le décalage qui se produit entre le temps social et le temps biologique. Notre organisme fonctionne selon des rythmes circadiens, c’est-à-dire des oscillations internes qui régulent le sommeil, l’éveil, la température corporelle, l’appétit et une grande partie de la régulation émotionnelle. Quand l’heure officielle est avancée d’un coup, le corps n’accompagne pas toujours ce changement selon le même rythme. C’est la raison pour laquelle de nombreuses personnes ressentent pendant quelques jours une sensation semblable à un petit [« jet lag social »] : elles rencontrent des difficultés pour s’endormir, se lever et être performantes comme si rien ne s’était passé.

Une des erreurs les plus courantes consiste à penser que le changement se résume à dormir une heure de moins le dimanche matin. Les données disponibles indiquent que la réalité est plus complexe. Une analyse récente de 27 études conclut que le passage à l’heure d’été est associé à des effets négatifs sur la durée et la qualité du sommeil, ainsi qu’à une somnolence diurne accrue.

Cet effet semble d’ailleurs plus marqué chez les personnes dites de chronotype vespéral, c’est-à-dire celles qui ont tendance à se coucher et à se lever plus tard. Il ne s’agit pas seulement de passer une mauvaise nuit : dans certains cas, l’adaptation peut prendre plusieurs jours.

Ce léger manque de sommeil a des conséquences psychologiques perceptibles. Le plus souvent, cela ne se manifeste pas comme un problème clinique majeur, mais plutôt comme une accumulation de « microdégradations » quotidiennes : davantage de moments d’inattention, une moindre concentration, plus de lenteur dans les processus mentaux, une tolérance réduite à la frustration et de l’irritabilité.

La littérature scientifique sur le sommeil, les rythmes circadiens et la santé mentale montre que les perturbations du repos et de la synchronisation circadienne affectent non seulement notre sommeil, mais aussi notre attention, nos fonctions cognitives et notre humeur. En d’autres termes : lorsque l’horloge biologique est déréglée, une partie de nos ressources psychologiques l’est également.

Attention, erreurs et fatigue : les effets les plus immédiats

Au printemps, le changement de saison a également été associé à une augmentation de la fatigue et à une baisse des performances dans les tâches qui exigent une vigilance soutenue. Ce n’est pas un hasard si dans certaines recherches, des effets ont été observés dans des contextes où une légère baisse de vigilance a des conséquences importantes.

Une étude publiée dans Current Biology a révélé que le passage à l’heure d’été était associé à une augmentation de 6 % du risque d’accidents de la route mortels aux États-Unis. Ce chiffre ne signifie pas que toutes les personnes vont moins bien conduire de manière notable. Mais cela renforce une idée fondamentale : même une perturbation apparemment modeste du sommeil peut avoir des effets réels sur l’attention et le temps de réaction.

Tout le monde n’est pas affecté de la même manière

Et le constat est le même que pour presque tous les phénomènes psychologiques : toute la population n’est pas affectée de la même manière. Les personnes qui ont l’habitude de se coucher tard, celles qui souffrent déjà d’un déficit de sommeil ou qui ont des horaires matinaux rigides ressentent généralement davantage ce décalage.

Les adolescents et adolescentes constituent également un groupe particulièrement sensible. Une étude sur le sommeil à cet âge après le passage à l’heure d’été a montré que cette adaptation peut nuire au repos et être associée à une baisse des capacités cognitives. Ces résultats ne sont pas surprenants. L’adolescence s’accompagne déjà d’une tendance biologique à repousser l’heure du coucher. Or le changement d’heure va exactement dans le sens contraire.

Le changement d’heure peut-il avoir une incidence sur l’humeur ?

Le changement d’heure peut-il également affecter l’humeur ? Oui, mais il convient de faire preuve de prudence. Il serait exagéré d’affirmer que le fait d’avancer l’horaire d’une heure « provoque » à lui seul des troubles psychologiques. Les données sont plus nuancées. Une étude bien connue menée au Danemark a par exemple observé une augmentation de 11 % des épisodes dépressifs unipolaires à l’automne après le changement d’heure, mais pas celui qui a lieu au printemps, (c’est-à-dire après le passage à l’heure d’été, ndlr). Plus récemment, une étude démographique menée en Angleterre n’a trouvé que peu de preuves d’un effet aigu du passage à l’heure d’été sur les événements liés à la santé mentale enregistrés dans les services de santé.

Une interprétation raisonnable amène à ne pas être alarmiste : pour la plupart des gens, le changement d’heure ne posera pas de problème clinique, mais il peut temporairement affecter l’humeur, le niveau d’énergie et la régulation émotionnelle, surtout si une vulnérabilité préexistante était déjà présente.

Cette prudence s’accorde bien à ce que l’on sait sur le lien entre rythmes biologiques et santé mentale. Des études récentes indiquent que, chez les personnes souffrant de troubles de l’humeur, les perturbations de la phase circadienne peuvent précéder les symptômes liés à des troubles de l’humeur. Cela ne signifie pas que le changement d’heure soit la seule cause, mais cela aide à comprendre pourquoi un ajustement apparemment insignifiant peut être plus perceptible chez certaines personnes que chez d’autres.

Comment amortir l’impact

La meilleure façon d’aborder le changement d’heure réside dans le fait de ne pas en faire tout un drame, sans pour autant l’ignorer. Les recherches sur l’adaptation circadienne rappellent que la lumière du matin est l’un des signaux les plus puissants pour avancer l’horloge biologique et que la lumière du soir a tendance à la retarder.

C’est pourquoi il est utile de s’exposer à la lumière naturelle le matin, d’éviter toute stimulation lumineuse intense le soir et de veiller tout particulièrement à bien se reposer les jours précédents et suivants le changement d’heure. Il peut également être utile d’avancer progressivement l’heure du coucher de 15 à 20 minutes les jours précédents, plutôt que d’attendre que le corps se réadapte tout seul d’un jour à l’autre.

In fine, le changement d’heure sert de rappel, certes gênant mais utile : l’esprit ne fonctionne pas indépendamment du sommeil, de la lumière ou des rythmes biologiques. Une heure peut sembler insignifiante, mais lorsque ces soixante minutes se traduisent par un sommeil de moins bonne qualité, davantage de fatigue, une baisse de la concentration et une irritabilité accrue, cela dépasse le simple réglage de l’horloge et devient également une question de bien-être psychologique.

Oliver Serrano León ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d’une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n’a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.

– ref. Dormir une heure de moins : les effets du changement d’heure sur la vigilance, l’humeur et le bien-être psychologique – https://theconversation.com/dormir-une-heure-de-moins-les-effets-du-changement-dheure-sur-la-vigilance-lhumeur-et-le-bien-etre-psychologique-279606

March 31, 2026

How ‘ocean peacebuilding’ can help calm global conflicts

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Robert Blasiak, Associate Professor in Ocean Stewardship, Stockholm University

Conflict and turmoil are seemingly rife in the ocean. Choked shipping lanes. Sabotaged seabed cables and pipelines. Migrants risking dangerous sea passages. Collapsed fish populations. Coastlines washed away by a changing climate.

But if we only consider the ocean in terms of conflict, our policymakers start to focus just on threats, borders, extraction and defence. And we miss a key opportunity. Despite the friction, powerful solutions already exist and can be scaled up.

Research shows that the ocean can be a catalyst for proactive peacebuilding. Ocean peacebuilding is the use of marine scientific cooperation, sustainable resource management and conservation efforts to anticipate and prevent conflict while fostering trust among nations.

Ocean peacebuilding is already underway, even in the most unexpected places and those shaped by the sharpest geopolitical tensions. It happens in three key ways.

Building bridges

By embracing diversity of thought when tackling problems, stereotypes and biases can be challenged, simplistic assumptions crumble and common humanity can emerge. This “contact hypothesis” has been key to ocean peacebuilding in the Gulf of Mexico. One hundred miles of water separates the Florida Keys from Cuba – plus several decades of geopolitical tensions.

Beneath the water’s surface, marine ecosystems know no such boundaries. Coral larvae, endangered sharks, turtles and fish travel the currents of the gulf. Remove a key nesting site or a stop along a migratory corridor, and those species could disappear for everyone.

Marine biologists from Cuba, Mexico and the US began quietly meeting in the 2000s to discuss conservation of marine wildlife and share data, despite the diplomatic standoff between the US and Cuba. When relations thawed in 2014, the then US president Barack Obama and former Cuban president Raul Castro re-established diplomatic relations between their countries.

map of Cuba — Several decades of geopolitical tensions separate Cuba from Florida Keys, but marine life knows no such boundaries.
M-Production/Shutterstock

Together they established the “Redgolfo” network of marine protected areas across the Gulf of Mexico. Marine protected areas or MPAs are parts of the ocean or coastline where human activity is restricted to protect natural resources, biodiversity or cultural heritage.

Scientific cooperation became a trusted foundation for heads of state to sign agreements and shake hands. Things improved.

Building standards

But the world never stands still. Politicians come and go, priorities shift, norms evolve. The second mechanism of ocean peacebuilding is the spreading of norms that empower civil society.

Designating marine protected areas without consultation and excluding local or Indigenous communities can end in failure and even spark conflict.

So when 14 serving heads of state came together in 2018 to establish the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, their flagship commitment was to ensure 100% sustainable management within their respective jurisdictions by 2025 through designing sustainable ocean plans.

They not only all agreed to this – they also agreed that these plans must be developed in an inclusive way and be underpinned by the best available science and Indigenous knowledge.

A group of countries that collectively accounts for 50% of the Earth’s coastlines had agreed on shared standards of how to plan ocean conservation and use. It relied on inclusion, consultation and empowerment of civil society.

Building trust

In 2004, the armed conflict in Indonesia’s Aceh province entered its 29th year. And then another disaster struck: an earthquake triggered a devastating tsunami that swept across the region. More than 230,000 people died. The shock was profound.

One former combatant said: “My family was gone; the people were gone; the enemy was gone. What is there to fight for?” Within months, a peace deal was signed.

In the following months, efforts to establish an Indian Ocean tsunami early warning system began. Over time, the system was expanded and improved. Ocean scientists and seismologists in the region began working together. In Aceh, the government started multiple initiatives to install tsunami buoys and improve its early warning system.

The government was taking steps to improve the wellbeing of its people. This leads to collaboration that re-establishes and builds trust in public institutions – a critical priority in a post-conflict setting.

Can ocean peacebuilding stop a war?

Today, US-Cuba relations seem to be spiralling towards conflict. What difference could ocean peacebuilding make? History shows that even amid acute tension, ocean science is a vital diplomatic back channel. It keeps dialogue alive and gives a sense of shared prosperity and that ecological loss is a cost born by all.

At the height of the cold war and nuclear arms race, the US and USSR entered into a détente programme of ocean science collaboration. Known as the Polymode program, this focused on studying the structure of currents and eddies in the Atlantic Ocean. For years, hundreds of scientists from the two countries worked together, sharing data, vessels, ports and equipment. Science advanced. Yet when the USSR invaded Afghanistan in 1979, everything stopped.

So while we need new narratives, we cannot afford to be naïve.

Ocean peacebuilding won’t stop all wars. But it may help prevent some from starting and others from returning. In Northern Ireland, an environmental organisation called the Loughs Agency shows how cross-border institutions can sustain peace while stewarding shared marine ecosystems.

The more deeply peace is built into institutions, processes and standards, the stronger the prospects for avoiding future conflict.

Robert Blasiak is a member of the Advisory Board of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021-2030. This is a voluntary and unpaid position.

Paul Conville 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. How ‘ocean peacebuilding’ can help calm global conflicts – https://theconversation.com/how-ocean-peacebuilding-can-help-calm-global-conflicts-278903

March 31, 2026

Why business students should spend time connecting with nature

Source: The Conversation – UK – By George Ferns, Senior Lecturer in Business and Society, University of Bath

In business, nature often gets reduced to numbers: emissions targets, sustainability metrics, biodiversity data. But when professionals rely too heavily on what’s measurable, they can risk missing what’s meaningful. One of the most effective ways to tackle this is through outdoor education.

For business students and professionals, this approach offers something conventional leadership programs often miss. Outdoors, environmental issues become tangible. Ecosystems, soil, and water are no longer abstract case material, but living systems to notice and learn from.

My own work with students studying for a Masters in business administration (MBA) shows how outdoor learning can support business professionals. It helps them rethink leadership, sustainability and their relationship with the living world in ways that classroom teaching rarely achieves.

My students and I have headed out of seminar rooms at the University of Bath and into nearby fields and woodland to experience, instead of just think and talk about, sustainability. Some were hesitant at first. As they slowed down and tuned in, though, the conversations shifted.

One told me they had not felt so clear-headed in years. Others described sudden “ah-ha” moments – experiencing interdependence (a cornerstone of both ecology and sustainability) not as theory, but as an experienced reality.

These moments highlight what philosophers describe as the shift from “shallow” to “deep” connection with nature. As I have argued in research, shallow approaches treat nature as a backdrop for reports, strategies, or symbolic gestures. Deep connection arises when leaders feel their place within living systems through direct, embodied experience.

Other studies have found similar results. A research study that reviewed a wide range of outdoor learning programs found consistent outcomes. Participants reported stronger motivation, improved wellbeing and more positive environmental attitudes.

Recent research in has found that direct engagement with nature is one of the strongest predictors of a lifelong commitment to helping the environment. Experiential education can support this. It involves hands-on, immersive experiences in nature, where people engage emotionally with ecosystems and reflect on their place within them, rather than learning in abstract ways.

Photo of hands planting tree — Learning outdoors can shift perspectives.
Larek/Shutterstock

This matters for business because leadership decisions are not purely analytical. They are influenced by perception, emotions and values. Research shows that awe-inspiring encounters in nature can reduce stress and enhance empathy. In one study, participants who spent meaningful time outdoors later drew themselves smaller, reflecting a humbler, interconnected sense of self.

For business leaders, humility and empathy are not soft extras. They are essential for navigating crises, building trust and making effective long-term decisions. Outdoor learning creates the conditions for these qualities to develop.

This is why nature-based leadership retreats and wilderness programs are on the rise.

Business practice

A growing number of companies are taking their teams outdoors to connect employees more deeply with their sustainability strategies. Rather than discussing sustainability in meeting rooms, participants encounter nature directly through the living systems they depend on. The intention is to make organisational values tangible and emotionally resonant.

Clothing company Patagonia’s founder, Yvon Chouinard, has long credited time outdoors as foundational to his company’s environmental values. Footwear company Vivobarefoot’s leadership team has held nature immersions on remote beaches and in woodlands to guide a shift toward “regenerative thinking”.

These initiatives are not fringe experiments – they signal how business culture itself is beginning to shift.

Of course, there is a risk that outdoor learning initiatives become either a form of greenwashing or simply another obligatory corporate away day. Simply taking employees outdoors does not guarantee meaningful engagement with sustainability. Without careful design and integration into organisational practice and culture, such experiences may remain superficial – inspiring individuals without leading to real change.

Additionally, peer-reviewed research on the effectiveness of nature-based retreats for corporate sustainability is still limited. Many organisations that adopt them already hold strong pro-environmental values.

Evidence does, however, suggests outdoor education can influence how people think and lead. Reviews of outdoor leadership initiatives show strong “learning transfer”. Follow-up studies on outdoor education programmes indicate that leadership capacities developed in nature – such as independence, confidence and decision-making – persist after outdoor education retreats.

Business leaders must do more than analyse. They must feel their connection to the living world in order to lead with compassion and courage. Nurturing that connection may be one of the most strategic decisions any (future) business leader can make, both for the planet and for themselves.

George Ferns 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. Why business students should spend time connecting with nature – https://theconversation.com/why-business-students-should-spend-time-connecting-with-nature-259228