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March 23, 2026

Immigrant kids can attend school regardless of citizenship – some states are challenging this standard

Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By William McCorkle, Associate Professor of Education, College of Charleston

An undocumented mother walks her 6-year-old daughter to school in Danbury, Conn., in October 2025, shortly before the family self-deported. John Moore/Getty Images

All immigrants, regardless of their citizenship status, have the right to attend a public K-12 school in the United States. Schools cannot collect students’ immigration status when they enroll. This has been the case since 1982, when the Supreme Court ruled against Texas in the case of Plyler v. Doe.

Republican legislators in several states, including Tennessee, Oklahoma and Ohio, are trying to pass legislation that challenges the Plyler decision. These bills would make it harder, if not impossible, for immigrant children to attend public school.

In the U.S., there are approximately 1.5 million children under the age of 18 who are undocumented immigrants, meaning that they live in the country without legal authorization.

There are likely 600,000 to 850,000 undocumented students enrolled in K-12 schools.

Two young girls stand near a fence outside of a brick building. They're wearing jackets and hoods and hats that cover their faces as they look away from the camera and toward the building. — Two undocumented children pause outside a school in Lynn, Mass., in February 2025.
Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Opposition to Plyler

In 1975, Texas passed legislation that allowed school districts to either charge undocumented students to attend public school or not let them enroll at all.

Seven years later, the Supreme Court ruled that Texas’ law violated the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause. The court determined that someone’s immigration status “does not establish a sufficient rational basis for denying them benefits that the State affords other residents.”

For the past 44 years, this ruling has ensured that no state can ban undocumented students from attending a public K-12 school, charge them extra fees or discriminate against them in any other way because of their immigration status.

A few times over the past few decades, some states have unsuccessfully tried to make it harder for immigrant children to attend school.

In 1994, California voters passed Proposition 187, a ballot initiative that denied undocumented people the right to receive public services, including a public education. The proposition also required schools to document students’ immigration status.

A federal judge ruled in 1998 that the controversial proposition was unconstitutional.

In 2011, Alabama passed legislation that required K-12 public schools to collect students’ immigration status.

The Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that Alabama’s legislation was illegal. Alabama schools, like all other schools, are not allowed to ask students about their immigration status, as it could be a means of discrimination or intimidation.

A new wave of legislation

The conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation issued a policy document in February 2026 that encouraged all states to challenge the Plyler v. Doe ruling.

Heritage argued that “illegal aliens should not be eligible for federal, state, or local government benefits, including through their children.” It wrote that giving undocumented immigrants these benefits “takes resources from American citizens and lawful immigrants.”

Heritage also published sample legislation that challenges the Plyler ruling and which state legislators could follow when drafting a new bill.

In 2025, at least five states considered legislation that would make it harder for undocumented students to attend K-12 school. None of those measures have become official policy, though some are still being debated in legislatures.

The Tennessee Senate passed a bill in 2025 that allowed school districts to ban undocumented students. In March 2026, the state’s House of Representatives passed a similar, watered-down version of the legislation. This bill would require schools to check students’ immigration status. The two government chambers are now working to determine next steps on the measure.

In 2025, Ohio legislators introduced a bill that wouldn’t ban immigrants from attending school, but it would require schools to report students’ immigration status to the state. The state’s House Government Oversight Committee is considering the measure.

In January 2025, the Oklahoma Board of Education passed a resolution that would require parents to show their child’s citizenship status before enrolling in school. Oklahoma’s House of Representatives blocked the resolution four months later.

Similarly, Republican legislators in Idaho introduced a bill in February 2026 that would require public K-12 schools to check students’ immigration status. The state’s House Education Committee is currently considering the bill.

A bill was also introduced in New Jersey in January 2025 that would charge undocumented students to study at a K-12 school, but the bill did not gain traction.

In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott has talked about challenging the Plyler ruling, as far back as 2022. The state is not currently considering any specific legislation on the issue.

But in March 2026, Mandy Drogin, a campaign director with the conservative think tank Texas Public Policy Foundation, spoke out against Plyler in a U.S. Congressional hearing.

“If states are required to educate illegal immigrant students, they must be allowed to identify the student population’s status to fully understand and address the adverse effects of Plyler v. Doe,” Drogin said.

A patchwork higher education landscape

The Plyler decision focused on K-12 schools, not colleges and universities. Undocumented students in some states already face college enrollment and tuition restrictions, particularly when it comes to state schools.

Twenty-five states, including Florida and Texas, require undocumented students to pay higher out-of-state tuition fees for state schools, even if they are Florida residents.

Alabama and South Carolina ban undocumented students from attending state colleges and universities. Undocumented students in Georgia cannot attend certain top public universities, including the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech.

These policies all make it harder for undocumented students to receive a college degree. But the stakes of state legislation that would create new hurdles for immigrant children to attend elementary and secondary school would arguably be much higher.

A red sign on a metal pole says, 'This classroom is a safe space for immigrants.' — A teachers union sign in support of immigrant students is posted at Sepulveda Middle School in Los Angeles in August 2025.
Sarah Reingewirtz/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images

A fragile right

If undocumented students are not offered a free public education, then students who are applying for asylum, or students whose parents are undocumented, could find that this standard is no longer a guarantee for them as well.

This issue has not received a great deal of media attention, perhaps because states have not yet succeeded in passing any of this legislation.

As an education professor, I believe that any of these state measures, if turned into law, would have significant effects on immigrant families – and on American education more broadly.

It would mean that many young people, including the many who are rapidly losing their legal immigration status under the Trump administration, would no longer be able to receive an education in this country and try to reach their full potential. They also would have less opportunities to contribute to our society.

The universal right to public education in the U.S. has long been taken for granted – but this right, like others, might be more fragile than it seems.

William McCorkle 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. Immigrant kids can attend school regardless of citizenship – some states are challenging this standard – https://theconversation.com/immigrant-kids-can-attend-school-regardless-of-citizenship-some-states-are-challenging-this-standard-278766

March 23, 2026

For the nearly 1 in 4 US adults with chronic pain, employers’ expectations of a healthy body can lead to shame

Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Beth Schinoff, Assistant Professor of Management, University of Delaware

Chronic pain afflicts white-collar and blue-collar workers alike. ilkercelik/E+ via Getty Images

Your back pain gets worse as you sit through a long meeting. Your wrist pain flares when you’re typing furiously to meet a tight deadline. During a busy shift at the grocery store, you feel a migraine coming on.

If that sounds familiar, you’ve got plenty of company. About 1 in 4 U.S. adults suffer from chronic pain. The share who say they are in chronic pain either on most days or every day in the past three months is growing: It jumped by nearly 4 percentage points to 23% of U.S. adults in 2023, up from 19% in 2019.

Chronic pain is not only hard on workers trying to do their jobs, but it also takes a toll on employers and the economy as a whole by costing an estimated US$722 billion in lost productivity each year.

As management scholars who study how people feel at work, we wanted to understand why chronic pain so often makes it impossible for employees to do their work – and even to keep their jobs.

Bad for your health

With this in mind, we teamed up with two other management researchers, Kimberly Rocheville of Creighton University and Njoke Thomas of Boston College, to conduct a study that Academy of Management Journal published online in January 2026 and will include in an upcoming print edition.

We interviewed 66 people between 2019 and 2021. All of them said that they were in chronic pain – meaning pain that lasts for at least three months. They were all U.S. workers and at least 18 years old. They lived all over the country, in relatively more urban than rural areas. Our sample was 78% women because women tend to experience more chronic pain than men and tend to be more open to talking about their pain.

This professionally diverse group included lawyers, grocery store workers, teachers, police officers and health care professionals. They experienced many different kinds of pain, such as back pain, migraines, arthritis and fibromyalgia.

We found that this wide array of workers and white-collar professionals pushed through their pain because they felt pressure to have what we call an “ideal worker body”: a body that is healthy and strong enough to do anything their job requires.

Regardless of what job they had, people described a surprisingly similar pressure to perform despite their pain. From warehouse workers to lawyers, people felt they had no choice but to walk without a limp, lift heavy things and sit still during meetings.

Many of these people felt compelled to be ideal workers who put work before everything else in their lives. Previous research has found that these expectations can harm their mental health. We found that it can harm your physical health too.

Trapped in a cycle of pain and shame

Because they were in chronic pain, all of the participants in our study said their body wasn’t healthy and strong enough to do everything their job required when it required them to do it.

Even though they were more than intellectually capable of doing their work, they felt ashamed that their bodies fell short. This led them to hide their pain. They took the stairs, instead of the elevator, to seem more like their co-workers who felt fine. They avoided managing their pain in ways their colleagues could see, such as by applying ice to areas of their body that were in pain.

Ironically, trying to make it seem like their bodies were ideal worsened pain for all 66 of the people we interviewed. Most of them eventually reached a point where their pain became so intolerable that they could not function at or outside of work.

Some of them ultimately had to leave their jobs and found other ones that were more compatible with their chronic pain symptoms. In a few cases, they exited the workforce entirely.

This is not unusual. Chronic pain is the leading reason for workers becoming eligible for long-term disability benefits.

Breaking free of the cycle of shame and pain

A few of the people we interviewed told us that they managed to escape the damaging cycle of shame and pain.

Why were they able to break free?

First, they found doctors who told them their pain was real. Getting a clear diagnosis and having a medical professional recognize their physical limitations helped them understand that they could never look healthy and strong as expected, no matter how hard they tried.

This released them from the pressure of trying to do so.

Second, most of these people had employers who cared more about what they did – the work itself – and less about how their body looked and moved, even if this meant finding a new job or even changing their profession. As a result, they felt free to ask colleagues for help, stretch during meetings, use dictation software instead of typing, or keep the camera off during Zoom calls so they could lie down when their backs were aching.

They also came up with creative ways of working that were more efficient and better for their bodies. For example, an ultrasound technician told us that she learned to scan patients using both her arms instead of constantly using the same arm. A deli worker said she started using a cart to move heavy meats around the store.

Although we focused on how pressure to be strong and healthy can hurt workers with chronic pain, we believe our findings could matter to everyone – no matter their size, strength, age or employment status.

After all, it’s possible to feel social pressure to conceal aches and pain when you’re in public settings of any kind. And failing to move around when needed or take care of your body in other ways can make you vulnerable to more pain.

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

– ref. For the nearly 1 in 4 US adults with chronic pain, employers’ expectations of a healthy body can lead to shame – https://theconversation.com/for-the-nearly-1-in-4-us-adults-with-chronic-pain-employers-expectations-of-a-healthy-body-can-lead-to-shame-278140

March 23, 2026

Why many older adults skip hard candy – how aging can change chewing and swallowing

Source: The Conversation – USA (3) – By Sundeep Venkatesan, Assistant Professor of Speech and Language Pathology, Binghamton University, State University of New York

Holidays bring people together around food. FG Trade/E+ via Getty Images

Last Easter while my children were sorting through their baskets of chocolate eggs and jelly beans, my son looked up from the table and asked a simple question:

“Why don’t Grandma and Grandpa eat candy like we do?”

It was the kind of question children ask without really thinking. To him, it seemed obvious: Candy is delicious, so why wouldn’t everyone want it?

From a child’s perspective, it can look like older adults simply lose their taste for sweets. But as a speech-language pathologist who studies swallowing disorders, I know the explanation is often more complicated. In many cases, the issue has less to do with liking candy and more to do with something most people rarely have to think about: swallowing.

Swallowing is more complex than most people realize

You hardly notice the act of swallowing. It happens automatically every time we eat or drink. But swallowing is actually a remarkably complex process. More than 30 muscles and several nerves coordinate to move food from the mouth through the throat and into the esophagus while briefly protecting the airway.

One way to think about swallowing is like a carefully timed relay race. Each group of muscles passes food along to the next step at exactly the right moment, while the airway briefly closes to keep food from entering the lungs.

When everything works smoothly, it takes only a second or two.

Three different phases make up swallowing.

As people age, some parts of this process can change. Chewing muscles may lose a bit of strength. Saliva production can decrease, which makes dry or sticky foods harder to manage. Taste can also shift over time, and the timing of swallowing movements may become slightly slower.

Dental changes or missing teeth can make certain foods harder to chew. These shifts don’t necessarily mean something is wrong, but they can make certain textures more difficult to manage.

Candy is a good example. Many Easter treats – caramels, gummies and sticky chocolate – require strong chewing and precise coordination to swallow comfortably.

For someone whose swallowing has become slightly less efficient, those foods can suddenly feel like more effort than they used to.

When swallowing changes become a disorder

Sometimes, swallowing changes go beyond normal aging. The medical term for difficulty swallowing is dysphagia, and it is a condition that can occur for many reasons. Researchers estimate that about 1 in 25 adults experience dysphagia, making it a relatively common but often overlooked health condition.

A diagram showing a person's head from the side, with their digestive and nasal passages highlighted. — This diagram shows the digestive and nasal passages used in swallowing and breathing. Multiple muscles must work in tandem to successfully swallow.
medicalstocks/iStock via Getty Images

Stroke, Parkinson’s disease, dementia and other neurological conditions can affect the muscles and nerves that control swallowing. In health care settings, speech-language pathologists frequently see swallowing problems among older adults recovering from illness or managing chronic conditions.

When swallowing becomes difficult, eating can feel tiring or uncomfortable. Some people cough while eating. Others feel like food is getting stuck in their throat or notice that meals take longer than they used to.

To avoid discomfort, many people quietly begin adjusting what they eat. They may choose softer foods, take smaller bites or skip foods that feel harder to swallow.
Sometimes that includes sticky or chewy candies.

To others at the table, it may appear that Grandma or Grandpa no longer enjoys sweets. But these changes are often subtle adaptations that make eating safer and more manageable.

Food is about more than nutrition

Eating is not just about getting calories or nutrients. Food is tied to memory, tradition and connection.

Think about how many family traditions revolve around meals. Holiday dinners, birthday cakes and seasonal treats bring people together. Sharing food is one of the most universal ways in which families celebrate and connect across generations.

When swallowing becomes difficult, the effects go beyond the physical challenge of eating. People may start avoiding certain foods or feel self-conscious eating around others. Over time, they may even withdraw from shared meals.

That’s one reason many clinicians now emphasize quality of life alongside safety when treating swallowing disorders.

Speech-language pathologists are the health care professionals who evaluate and treat swallowing disorders. Through specialized assessments and therapy, they help people find strategies that make eating safer and more comfortable. Sometimes the changes needed are surprisingly small.

Helping older adults continue to enjoy food

Family members are often the first to notice when someone’s eating habits begin to change. Signs that may suggest swallowing difficulty include coughing or throat clearing during meals, needing extra time to chew food, or avoiding certain textures — especially dry or sticky foods.

If these patterns appear regularly, a medical evaluation can help identify whether swallowing changes are involved.

The goal is rarely to eliminate someone’s favorite foods entirely. Instead, clinicians often help people find ways to continue enjoying meals safely – whether that means modifying food textures, adjusting eating strategies or addressing the underlying condition affecting swallowing.

In many cases, these adjustments allow older adults to keep participating in the meals and traditions that matter most to them.

An array of different types of candy — Candy is one example of a food that can become tricker to eat and swallow with age.
MixitIstock/iStock via Getty Images

A different way to see that moment at the table

The next time candy appears at a holiday gathering, a grandparent’s decision to pass might raise a question from a curious child.

Sometimes the explanation really is simple preference. But other times, the answer lies in the quiet changes that can occur in chewing and swallowing as people age. Understanding those changes can help families respond with a little more awareness and patience.

After all, the joy of sharing food together doesn’t disappear with age. It just might require a little more understanding of how the body works.

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

– ref. Why many older adults skip hard candy – how aging can change chewing and swallowing – https://theconversation.com/why-many-older-adults-skip-hard-candy-how-aging-can-change-chewing-and-swallowing-278372

March 23, 2026

La selección: la ciencia con buenas historias entra

Source: The Conversation – (in Spanish) – By Laura G. de Rivera, Ciencia + Tecnología, The Conversation

Nos gusta que nos cuenten historias, lo llevamos en los genes. Son adaptativas, porque gracias a ellas el ser humano podía aprender en pescuezo ajeno a prevenir riesgos, a aspirar a éxitos, a soñar. Por eso, cuando ciencia y narrativa se dan la mano, nuestra imaginación alza el vuelo y conectamos con el corazón de esos investigadores, exploradores, aventureros que saben llevarnos bajo el ala.

Por eso, nos entusiasman relatos con tintes míticos como el del Paleodyction, un misterioso organismo que dibuja patrones en el mar profundo desde hace millones de años y del que, por el momento, solo tenemos sus huellas y sus fósiles. Leyendo sobre esta misteriosa criatura que persiguen los biólogos casi podemos sentir que vamos en esa expedición a la zona Clarion Clippertone, perdida en medio del océano Pacífico, de la que volvían los autores de este artículo justo cuando este se publicaba.

Lo mismo nos pasa cuando nos hablan de las posibilidades de encontrar vida extraterrestre: durante los minutos que dura la lectura, podemos fantasear con que atravesamos la zona habitable de la galaxia Andrómeda siguiendo señales enviadas a la Tierra por una civilización desconocida. O quizá nos guste más imaginar que trabajamos con esos grandes telescopios que ven cómo el Sol engulle un cometa viajero cuya órbita se originó en la Nube de Oort –que existe, aunque parezca un nombre de ciencia ficción–, descubren la posible primera luna fuera del sistema solar o sorprenden in fraganti una estrella masiva que desaparece de golpe.

Como hay gustos para todo, otros querrán intuir la sensación de triunfo que experimentó ese científico consagrado a su laboratorio con olor a plátano fermentado cuando por primera vez dio con una mosca mutante, gracias a la cual se lograron explicar las bases de la herencia genética ligada al sexo.

De los mutantes podemos pasar a un drama psicológico, sumergirnos en el océano profundo de las redes sociales y ver con una lupa cómo la biometría de la conducta nos delata solo con un puñado de “me gusta”. O, por qué no, meternos en una película de intriga y espías, aprendiendo las raíces profundas del conflicto entre Anthropic y el Pentágono de EE. UU. y visualizando cómo Elon Musk planea convertir el espacio cercano en una red de computación satelital gigante.

Así somos. Nos encanta que nos cuenten buenas historias. Lo necesitamos casi tanto como aprender, respirar, vivir.

– ref. La selección: la ciencia con buenas historias entra – https://theconversation.com/la-seleccion-la-ciencia-con-buenas-historias-entra-278854

March 23, 2026

Couples share 30% of their gut bacteria. Here’s how that may affect health

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Conor Meehan, Associate Professor of Microbial Bioinformatics, Nottingham Trent University

Living with your partner can influence the microbiome. PeopleImages/ Shutterstock

When living with a partner, you might be sharing more than just the same home, lifestyle and interests. You might also share various microscopic organisms residing on and in you.

This community of microorganisms, which consists of mainly bacteria, viruses and fungi, is known collectively as the human microbiome. The various microbiomes found throughout the body all play an important role in health.

From birth, the human microbiome is shaped by our interactions with our mother, who introduces diverse microorganisms that build our immune and digestive systems. As we get older, social interactions with our close community continue influencing this delicate ecosystem.

The people we live with have huge influence on what microbes we have in our microbiome. In fact, it’s thought that partners share around 30% of their resident microbes in the gut alone.

But it isn’t just the microbes in your gut that may be similar to your partner. The microbes in many other parts of the body may also be shared with your loved one – and this could potentially affect your health.

Gut microbiome

Diet and lifestyle are thought to have the greatest influence on the gut microbiome’s make-up. But studies on couples have found that living with your partner can also influence the microbiome.

Couples living together may share 13% to 30% of their gut bacteria. This was true even when diet (which many couples share) was factored out.
Research also shows that couples who live together have greater microbial diversity compared to people who live alone.

This is good news for couples who co-habitate, as a more diverse gut microbiome is correlated with lower risk of irritable bowel syndrome, cardiovascular diseases and potentially high blood sugar.

But it might not all be good news. Research shows that some of the bacterial species couples share can have varying effects on health.

Take the bacteria from the Ruminococcus family. While some species of Ruminoccocus benefit health, others have been linked to negative health outcomes, including diabetes and irritable bowel syndrome.

So these bacteria may not always offer the same benefits in different demographics. This highlights the complexity of resident gut bacteria and their health impacts.

Oral microbiome

Sharing an oral microbiome with our partners might seem obvious considering we regularly exchange saliva when we kiss. A ten-second kiss alone can exchange up to 80 million bacteria. The more kisses a couple shares, the more shared salivary bacteria they will have.

Although most of these bacteria will quickly pass through our mouth and into our gut when we swallow saliva, research show that couples actually share many of the same longer-term tongue microbes that form the foundation of the oral microbiome. Research even suggests that 38% of the oral microbiome is shared in couples living together – compared to only 3% in couples who don’t live together.

Sharing this proportion of your oral microbiome could have many potential health effects.

A healthy oral microbiome is important for protecting against tooth decay and it has anti-inflammatory properties. Some researchers also suggest the oral microbiome’s health effects may extend as far as the gut and nervous system.

But some of the bacteria that couples tend to share may also have potentially harmful health effects.

Couples are more likely to have similar numbers of the bacteria Neisseria in their gut compared to single people. Neisseria can reside in the mouth for long periods of without causing disease.

A digital rendering of the Neisseria bacteria. — Some types of *Neisseria* can be harmful, while others are helpful.
Tatiana Shepeleva/ Shutterstock

Some Neisseria bacteria can be harmful and may cause meningitis. Yet some Neisseria bacteria actually fight against these meningitis-causing species, stopping them from overgrowing and causing harm.

So while you may want to avoid kissing someone when they’re poorly for obvious reasons, it turns out that a kiss even when you’re healthy can transfer all sorts of bacteria between the two of you.

More research is needed to really understand what overall effect sharing these bacteria with your partner has on health.

Skin microbiome

The skin microbiome is the most unique and personalised microbiome, tailored to each person. It’s even sometimes referred to as our microbial fingerprint.

Being the most exposed microbiome, the skin microbiome has evolved to be adaptable to external factors such as the climate and cosmetic products. No matter what, these bacteria work hard to remain at an equilibrium.

Close contact with our partners – and even pets – has a huge influence on what bacteria live on our skin. After comparing the gut and oral microbiome, researchers found the skin microbiome to be the most similar among couples.

It isn’t just the bacteria on your arms or hands that are shared, either. Research shows that couples shared 35% of the bacteria living on their feet, and around 17.5% of the bacteria on their eyelids.

You may not even need to touch your partner to have the same skin bacteria as them. Factors such as sleeping in the same bed and walking on similar surfaces are thought to explain why such a large proportion of our skin microbiome is similar.

This is because humans naturally shed bacteria in a similar way as dogs shed fur. We leave traces of our bacteria on everything we touch – and we also easily pick up bacteria from our environments.

The shared effect of living together on the skin microbiome is so great that researchers were able to use computer models to accurately predict 86% of cohabiting couples based off of their individual bacterial samples alone.

But while it’s clear that couples share much of the same skin microbiome, the health effect that this has is not currently known.

While sharing bacteria with your partner may sound alarming, there’s often no cause for concern. Bacteria teach our bodies how to fight infections, they help us digest foods and even produce key nutrients. The bacteria we share with our partners are often harmless and sometimes benefit our health rather than hindering it.

Janelle Mwerinde is doing a PhD in skin microbiology sponsored by and affiliated with the Walgreens Boots Alliance.

Conor Meehan 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. Couples share 30% of their gut bacteria. Here’s how that may affect health – https://theconversation.com/couples-share-30-of-their-gut-bacteria-heres-how-that-may-affect-health-276342

March 23, 2026

Lead Children: new Netflix series reminds us that lead poisoning is still a global health problem

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Jane Entwistle, Professor of Environmental Geochemistry, Northumbria University, Newcastle

The new Netflix series Lead Children has put a spotlight on the issue of lead poisoning in 1970s Poland. The series follows a young doctor who discovers that children living near a smelting plant have been poisoned with lead.

According to the latest Global Burden of Disease study, exposure to lead remains one of the leading environmental risk factors for early death and poor health globally. Unicef estimates that one in three children worldwide have an elevated blood lead level, highlighting this modern global health failure.

Historically, lead has been used in paint, gasoline, water supply pipes and industry. This has contaminated air, water, soil, dust and foods, which is why lead is a persistent and toxic environmental problem.

While the global elimination of lead from gasoline has been hugely successful in reducing lead in air, leading to a fall in population-wide blood lead concentrations in many countries, decline is not eradication.

We still live with the consequences from leaded paint being widely used until the 1960s on domestic and workplace skirting boards, bannisters, windowsills, doorframes and radiators. Lead is also still found in uPVC and leaded windows, roof flashings, glazed kitchenware, as well as some traditional medicines and cosmetics.

This may explain why ingestion, rather than inhalation from leaded gasoline, is now the dominant source of lead exposure in high-income countries.

Health effects of lead

Lead is a cumulative toxin so there is no safe blood lead concentration. Children under the age of six are particularly vulnerable to its effects. Even low-level exposure impacts neurodevelopment – resulting in lower IQ, reduced attention span, antisocial behaviour, ADHD and hearing loss.

Lead exposure at all ages can cause cardiovascular disease, kidney impairment, infertility, increased risk of spontaneous abortion, preterm birth, depression and panic disorder. It causes permanent structural brain changes in adults (particularly males) who were exposed to lead during childhood. These include a loss of brain volume in areas responsible for executive function, behavioural regulation and fine motor control.

It’s estimated that the global cost of childhood lead exposure may be around US$3.4 trillion (£2.5 trillion) per year. These losses are estimated by accounting for the lower lifetime earnings and lower economic productivity that children exposed to lead experience due to reduced intelligence and lower educational attainment. Since it doesn’t include healthcare costs, it may even be an underestimate.

Preventing harm

Unlike several other counties (such as France, Germany and the USA) there is currently no large-scale childhood blood lead monitoring programme in the UK. This is significant, as estimates from 2020 suggest that 180,000 to 280,000 children in the UK have elevated blood lead concentrations.

In 2014 the UK established the Lead Exposure in Children Surveillance System (LEICSS) so that NHS laboratories could notify the UK Health Security Agency of children with raised blood lead concentrations, but testing is only initiated if there’s a high clinical suspicion of lead poisoning. Since low and moderate blood concentrations tend not to produce symptoms, many UK children with elevated blood lead levels are likely to go undetected. Indeed in 2024, only 247 cases were reported to LEICSS.

There are also shortcomings with current techniques used to detect lead exposure in the UK. At the moment, blood taken directly from a vein (a venous sample) remains the gold standard for determining exposure to lead.

This technique requires a nurse or other healthcare professional to collect the sample, which makes it hard to test lots of people. It also means that families must take time out of their day and travel to a clinic to be tested.
Alternative testing methods using urine, hair and saliva have been used, but are typically subject to large biological variations and less accurate than venous blood samples.

This is why my colleagues and I launched the ECLIPS study in November 2025. This is the UK’s first citizen-led childhood lead exposure study, which is being conducted in Leeds, northern England.

We chose Leeds because not only is it a typical post-industrial city, it has had the highest reporting rates of lead poisoning to LEICSS for the past ten consecutive years. It’s also the only part of the country with a targeted alert system designed to support healthcare professionals in identifying lead poisoning in children: when a healthcare worker requests a test for iron deficiency, the electronic system includes a prompt suggesting the staff member also have the sample tested for lead levels.

Our study uses finger-prick blood sampling kits that are mailed to families in Leeds. Participants are asked to collect a few drops of blood from their child’s finger onto a sampling device, which is then mailed to a central laboratory for analysis. This overcomes the main limitations of current sampling techniques. Participants are also provided with advice on ways to reduce lead exposure at home.

The results of this study are currently ongoing, but we believe it could be an opportunity to develop a large-scale programme for testing childhood blood lead in the UK. It would also pave the way to wider testing nationally and internationally.

This latest Netflix series highlights the human cost of lead contamination. It also drives home the importance of taking action early to protect children from the damaging, often lifelong, health effects of lead. Early detection can change lives and save billions in lost opportunity costs.

Jane Entwistle receives funding for ECLIPS from the Medical Research Council (MR/Z505717/1).

– ref. Lead Children: new Netflix series reminds us that lead poisoning is still a global health problem – https://theconversation.com/lead-children-new-netflix-series-reminds-us-that-lead-poisoning-is-still-a-global-health-problem-276557

March 23, 2026

Why scientists are exploring brain cooling as a defence against altitude sickness

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Adnan Haq, Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Science, University of South Wales

In the 2021 Netflix documentary 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible, elite mountaineer Nirmal Purja races up the world’s highest summits at extraordinary speed. But even he isn’t immune to altitude.

During one ascent, Purja develops symptoms of high-altitude cerebral oedema (brain swelling), a dangerous form of altitude sickness that can strike with little warning. It’s a stark reminder that when oxygen levels fall, no amount of fitness or experience guarantees protection.

Research from my colleagues and I suggests that much of the damage caused by altitude sickness begins with stress inside the brain itself. If we can reduce that stress early, we may be able to interrupt the chain reaction that leads to more serious symptoms.

Each year, thousands of trekkers and climbers develop some form of altitude illness after ascending above about 2,500 metres. The mild form, acute mountain sickness, is common and unpleasant: headaches, nausea, dizziness and fatigue. More severe conditions, including high-altitude cerebral oedema and high-altitude pulmonary oedema, (swelling in the lungs) can be fatal if not treated quickly.

Different medications can help but are far from perfect. A diuretic medicine known as acetazolamide encourages breathing to improve oxygen levels. A steroid drug called dexamethasone can be lifesaving in high-altitude cerebral oedema, while nifedipine (a blood pressure drug) or sildenafil (better known as Viagra) can ease high altitude pulmonary oedema by reducing pressure in the lungs.

But these medications come with side-effects, some of which mimic altitude sickness itself. And the only guaranteed treatment – descending to a lower altitude – is not always possible in bad weather or on crowded mountain routes.

Supplemental oxygen works well once illness develops, but it is heavy, expensive and can interfere with natural acclimatisation. It’s an effective rescue tool, not a practical preventive one for most mountaineers.

So what if we could be proactive rather than reactive?

Why cooling the brain might help

Targeted brain cooling (or therapeutic hypothermia) has long been used in hospitals for cardiac arrest, newborn babies who need oxygen, as well as treating traumatic brain injury. The principle is simple – a cooler brain requires less oxygen and generates fewer metabolic byproducts.

The byproducts being referred to here are called “free radicals”. These highly reactive molecules increase when the body is stressed, as it is at altitude where oxygen is scarce. In excess, they cause what scientists call “oxidative stress”, damaging brain cells, weakening the blood–brain barrier and triggering inflammation.

They also interfere with nitric oxide, a chemical that helps blood vessels open properly. Together, these effects disrupt blood flow and allow fluid to leak into brain tissue, which are processes thought to underpin acute mountain sickness and high-altitude cerebral oedema.

Think of it like this: at high altitude, free radicals act like rust in your brain’s plumbing. They eat away at the seals and allow fluid to seep where it shouldn’t.

Research suggests that lowering brain temperature by just 1°C can reduce its metabolic rate – and therefore oxygen demand – by roughly 5% to 9%. With less demand comes fewer free radicals and potentially less swelling. Individually, these changes are modest. Combined, they could offer meaningful protection.

14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible | Official Trailer.

How do you cool a brain on a mountain?

Whole-body hypothermia is dangerous and impractical outdoors. So, the goal is selective brain cooling. In other words, lowering brain temperature while keeping the rest of the body warm. Several types of technology make this possible.

Cooling helmets, already used in neurocritical care, can reduce brain temperature by nearly 2°C within an hour while leaving core temperature stable. Cervical cooling collars are devices designed to be worn around the neck and upper shoulder area, and can target the major blood vessels supplying the brain. They have shown promising improvements in cerebral blood flow. Intranasal cooling systems exist too, but they are too invasive for healthy mountaineers.

So, helmets and collars are the most realistic options for expedition use. They are portable, non-invasive and are becoming lighter. But they are still far from being standard trekking gear.

There is another complication. At altitude, the brain naturally increases blood flow in an effort to deliver more oxygen. That warm blood acts like a radiator, potentially cancelling out cooling if devices are used too late. Early application, before this response kicks in, may be crucial.

Right now, we simply don’t know whether this could help prevent altitude sickness. The theory is strong, however, and evidence from other neurological conditions is encouraging. But selective brain cooling has not yet been tested in real (or simulated) high-altitude environments. We don’t know whether field-based cooling could meaningfully reduce oxidative stress, or whether mountaineers could even tolerate wearing cooling gear during long ascents.

Still, given the shortcomings of current treatments, and the growing popularity of high-altitude travel, the idea deserves serious investigation. Laboratory studies using simulated hypoxia (when there is less oxygen in the air), wearable biosensors and eventually field trials on trekking routes could help determine whether “brain chill” offers genuine protection.

For now, selective brain cooling remains an intriguing, speculative strategy. At best, it would complement rather than replace the basics of altitude safety – gradual ascent, early symptom recognition and timely descent.

Purja’s near miss in 14 Peaks shows that the mountains do not discriminate. If a simple, non-drug intervention could buy climbers more time or reduce risk, it could become a valuable addition to the mountaineer’s toolkit.

Whether cooling your head could help you keep your cool at altitude remains an open question. But it’s one worth exploring.

Adnan Haq 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 scientists are exploring brain cooling as a defence against altitude sickness – https://theconversation.com/why-scientists-are-exploring-brain-cooling-as-a-defence-against-altitude-sickness-275119

March 23, 2026

The Iran war has lessons to teach us about nuclear weapons – but we risk learning the wrong ones

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Tom Vaughan, Lecturer in International Security, University of Leeds; Sciences Po

Nuclear “non-proliferation” – preventing the spread of nuclear weapons beyond states that already have them – has been held up as the rationale for the US-Israeli war on Iran.

In his statement announcing the start of the operation on February 28, Donald Trump said: “we will ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon. It’s a very simple message. They will never have a nuclear weapon.”

This highlights two lessons about the problems with non-proliferation logic as an approach to dealing with nuclear weapons. First, non-proliferation can be exploited to provide political cover for otherwise unpopular military aggression. And second, non-proliferation logic risks undermining itself by driving target states to acquire nuclear weapons.

Non-proliferation is globally popular. Currently, 190 states – including Iran – are party to the 1968 non-proliferation treaty (NPT). This enshrines into international law a regime to stop the spread of nuclear weapons.

All non-nuclear armed member states agree to take part in the treaty’s monitoring and verification regime. This aims to ensure they do not divert civilian nuclear technology and activity, like the production of fuel for power plants or isotopes for medical settings, to military ends.

The problem is that nuclear technology is, as US-based researcher Itty Abraham shows in his work, “ambivalent”. There is no physical boundary between civil and military uses. If a state can enrich uranium for nuclear fuel, it can do so for nuclear warheads.

Non-proliferation logic also assumes that any state with the ability to produce nuclear weapons will do so. This belief is known as “capacity determinism” and is debunked by the historical record.

If it was true, we could expect the Netherlands, Japan, Germany, Argentina and Brazil to have directed their enrichment capabilities into weapons. Taiwan, Libya, Sweden and Switzerland also would not have reversed their nuclear weapons programmes, and South Africa would not have voluntarily disarmed.

Exploiting non-proliferation

This brings us to the first lesson from the Iran war. Through a non-proliferation lens, it is possible to see any state with its own nuclear programme as a threat. This is particularly true for countries already seen as badly behaved by the international community.

Non-proliferation is widely seen as an “indisputable public good” that benefits every state in the world. It is therefore easy for the US to dress up its war of aggression against Iran, which is illegal under international law, as an act of global protection. It did the same in Iraq in 2003.

There is no reason for this to be limited to the US, either. Any of China, France, Russia or the UK – the other permanent members of the UN security council who are permitted to have nuclear weapons under the NPT – could do the same.

The second lesson is that non-proliferation logic tends to undermine itself. Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, was killed by airstrikes early in the war. While he had pursued other bloodthirsty policies, Khamenei refused to authorise Iranian scientists and the military from restarting the country’s nuclear weapons programme that had stopped in 2003.

Iran was enriching uranium to somewhere around 60% purity. This is far above the 3% to 5% required to fuel nuclear power reactors, but below the 90% ideally required for a nuclear warhead – though it is close. It is also technically possible, albeit not optimal, to build a nuclear warhead with this level of enrichment.

In this way, Iran appears to have been deliberately playing with nuclear ambivalence. According to nuclear analyst Ludovica Castelli, Iran was demonstrating a range of values including “recognition, autonomy, sovereignty and political dignity” by touting its proximity to building a nuclear weapon without actually doing so.

Khamenei seems to have made a bet that achieving “nuclear threshold” status, where a state has the potential to develop nuclear weapons at short notice, would be enough to do this and to deter US or Israeli attacks. However, non-proliferation logic forces us to assume the worst.

So Iran has been punished as if it was pursuing nuclear weapons when, according to experts including Rafael Grossi, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, this does not appear to have been the case. Iran has borne all the costs of being a “proliferator”, while reaping none of the perceived security benefits of nuclear weapons.

Once the smoke clears, we should not be surprised when the regime – provided it survives – concludes that it has nothing left to lose from pursuing nuclear weapons in earnest. This war of non-proliferation risks achieving the exact opposite outcome, though this is not a foregone conclusion.

Nuclear deterrence

It is also possible that a third, dangerous lesson will be learned from this war: that nuclear weapons are valuable or even indispensable to the national security of non-superpower states. Ukraine, Venezuela and Iran have all now recently been attacked by nuclear-armed superpowers.

Other vulnerable states may well, not unreasonably, conclude that they too should obtain nuclear weapons to deter such threats. Similarly, the war has amplified calls for the UK and Europe more widely to expand their own nuclear arsenals to guarantee strategic independence from the US.

This is the wrong lesson for two reasons. First, any state embarking on a new nuclear weapons programme will make itself vulnerable to future wars of non-proliferation by adventurous superpowers before they have enough operational nuclear weapons to deter an attack.

And second, while nuclear weapons may provide a short- or medium-term mirage of “national security”, in the long-term they all but guarantee global disaster. Nuclear weapons cannot be controlled. One accident or error can spell armageddon.

The war in Iran should awaken us to this danger. It should not scare us into thinking that we must always live under the nuclear shadow. We urgently need to think about alternative security policies that do not entrench global nuclear danger and harm.

If this seems unrealistic, remember that some of the steepest historic reductions in nuclear stockpiles have been achieved straight after periods of extreme tension. The 1987 intermediate range nuclear forces treaty, signed between the US and Soviet Union towards the end of the cold war, is a good example.

Under its terms, the two states destroyed over 2,600 nuclear weapons. We have the capability to repeat and surpass these achievements: nuclear fatalism is an indefensible response.

Tom Vaughan receives funding from The Network of European Institutes of Advanced Study, under the Constructive Advanced Thinking scheme, for the project “Theories of Change and Nuclear Disarmament”. He is a Senior Research Associate of the Nuclear Knowledges research centre at CERI, Sciences Po Paris.

– ref. The Iran war has lessons to teach us about nuclear weapons – but we risk learning the wrong ones – https://theconversation.com/the-iran-war-has-lessons-to-teach-us-about-nuclear-weapons-but-we-risk-learning-the-wrong-ones-278455

March 23, 2026

La guerre au Moyen-Orient pourrait accroitre les risques d’impasse financière pour l’ Afrique : voici comment

Source: The Conversation – in French – By Francois Giovalucchi, Conseil Scientifique, Faculté des Sciences Sociales, Université Catholique de Madagascar (UCM)

Le financement d’un pays repose sur des sources externes (investissements directs étrangers, transferts de migrants, aide, prêts bancaires ou marchés financiers internationaux) et internes (prêts bancaires ou marchés financiers domestiques).

Depuis plusieurs années, pour les États d’Afrique subsaharienne, ces sources de financement sont menacées, chacune à des degrés divers selon les pays. Cette menace s’accroît avec la guerre au Moyen-Orient.

Certes, l’approche en termes de financement ne vaut qu’en première analyse : chacune de ces ressources se traduit par un apport de capitaux qui a un impact différent sur l’économie, un investissement dans une mine ne pouvant être comparé à un transfert de migrants finançant des écolages ou à un prêt pour la construction d’un barrage.

Mes recherches portent, entre autres, sur la manière dont l’aide internationale façonne les politiques publiques, les rapports de pouvoir et l’économie politique du continent africain.

Selon moi, l’urgence et l’importance des enjeux justifient une analyse à chaud, afin de tenter de cerner les évolutions envisageables, leur gravité dépendant bien évidemment de la durée et des modalités du conflit.

Evolution des sources de financement

L’aide publique au développement (APD) s’inscrit désormais dans une tendance baissière : le démantèlement de l’USAID par la seconde administration Trump a marqué les esprits, mais la réduction concerne les principaux donateurs. Elle s’annonce durable car elle participe de la reconfiguration de l’ordre international. L’APD en faveur de l’Afrique subsaharienne a atteint 66,5 milliards de dollars US en 2024.

Les transferts de migrants sont en hausse forte et quasi-continue depuis 2004 et ont atteint 64,9 milliards de dollars en 2024. Ils pourraient toutefois à terme être érodés par les politiques de restriction des migrations qui se diffusent.

Les investissements directs étrangers (IDE), souvent d’un montant unitaire élevé, sont concentrés sur les matières premières, l’énergie et la construction et dans un nombre limité de pays. Ils sont irréguliers et ont atteint 43,7 milliards de dollars en 2024.

L’endettement de l’Afrique a connu une forte croissance après les mesures de désendettement des années 2000. Le nombre de pays d’Afrique subsaharienne en surendettement ou en [risque élevé de surendettement](https://www.afd.fr/fr/actualites/dette-afrique-economie-africaine] est important (19 en 2022, 2023, et 2024). Les prêts chinois, en grande partie à l’origine de ce réendettement, se sont réduits à 2,1 milliards de dollars en 2024, confirmant la réduction drastique des engagements financiers de la Chine sur le continent depuis le pic historique de 28,8 milliards de dollars de 2016.

L’endettement sur les marchés financiers internationaux par émission d’eurobonds (obligations libellées en dollars ou euros) est réservé à quelques pays et demeure coûteux malgré une détente récente. Les émissions de l’ensemble de l’Afrique ont atteint 15,7 milliards de dollars en 2025. La situation demeure toutefois tendue. Les défauts de paiement du Ghana et de la Zambie ont marqué les esprits.

Face aux limites des sources de financement internationales, les États africains ont de plus en plus sollicité les marchés financiers domestiques sur lesquels les émissions ont doublé entre 2019 et 2024 pour atteindre 177,8 milliards de dollars. Ceci a conduit à une très forte exposition des banques aux risques publics.

Comment ces sources peuvent-elles être affectées par le conflit au Moyen-Orient ?

La hausse du prix des hydrocarbures augmentera le besoin de financement des pays africains, hormis quelques exportateurs nets, en accroissant leur déficit du commerce extérieur et leur déficit budgétaire.

Le déficit accru du commerce extérieur entraînera alors une dépréciation monétaire contre laquelle certaines banques centrales pourront difficilement lutter : un pays africain sur deux avait des réserves correspondant à moins de 3,4 mois d’importations en 2025. La dépréciation alourdira le service de la dette en devises.

Le déficit budgétaire se creusera sous l’effet du ralentissement de l’activité impactant les recettes, de la hausse du service de la dette, de l’augmentation des frais de fonctionnement et sans doute surtout sous l’effet des transferts nécessaires pour ne pas répercuter totalement la hausse du prix du pétrole sur le prix à la pompe et le prix de l’électricité, socialement très sensibles. La hausse du prix de l’or, valeur refuge, devrait en revanche bénéficier aux recettes des pays producteurs.

Dans un scénario de stagflation – une situation économique où la croissance est faible, le chômage élevé et l’inflation forte – déjà observée lors des premiers chocs pétroliers, les comptes publics des pays donateurs devraient se dégrader selon un schéma proche de celui des pays africains. Une accélération de la croissance des dépenses militaires devrait ajouter ses effets. Tout ceci est de nature à accélérer la baisse engagée de l’aide au développement.

Les Émirats arabes unis et l’Arabie saoudite étaient, avec chacun plus de 10 milliards de dollars US de transferts de migrants vers l’Afrique en 2021, les troisième et quatrième sources des dits transferts vers l’ Afrique, derrière les États-Unis et la France. La guerre suscite des rapatriements de pays du Golfe et les transferts en seront affectés.

Les IDE en Afrique devraient pour leur part subir des effets contradictoires. Les IDE du Golfe en Afrique sont minimes et leur évolution éventuelle n’aura pas d’impact majeur. Par ailleurs, des investissements prévus dans les pays du Golfe pourraient être réalloués en Afrique.

Le renchérissement du pétrole et de l’or est aussi de nature à rendre rentable des investissements nouveaux dans l’extraction dans quelques pays. Mais, les incertitudes internationales sont globalement défavorables aux IDE.

De leur côté, les marchés financiers internationaux pourraient être affectés par une hausse des taux si la FED (Banque centrale américaine) et la Banque centrale européenne (BCE) réagissent à l’inflation par des mesures restrictives. L’évolution des liquidités mondiales alimentant les marchés de capitaux sera impactée par deux phénomènes eux aussi contradictoires : hausse des revenus des pays pétroliers hors Moyen-Orient, baisse des revenus pétroliers des pays du Moyen-Orient conduits à réduire leur production suite à la fermeture du détroit d’Ormuz, par où transitent 20 % du commerce mondial de gaz naturel liquéfié près de 20 % du commerce mondial de gaz naturel liquéfié.

Les Émirats arabes unis, perçus comme une source de financement prometteuse par les États africains, devraient réduire leur apport. L’engouement pour les Sukuks (obligations conformes aux principes de la finance islamique) pourrait être déçu.

La capacité des marchés financiers domestiques à répondre à une demande croissante dépendra de la capitalisation des banques, et du maintien d’un refinancement aisé de celles-ci par les banques centrales, mais ces dernières pourraient conduire des politiques restrictives pour lutter contre l’inflation et la dépréciation monétaire.

Des solutions lentes ou peu aisées

Les efforts de la Banque africaine de Développement en vue d’une réorientation de l’épargne africaine vers l’Afrique sont justifiés, mais on imagine mal qu’ils puissent compenser à court terme les tendances en question.

L’accélération de la mise en œuvre du cadre commun de traitement de la dette du G20 est impérative. À ce jour, seuls le Tchad, la Zambie, l’Éthiopie et le Ghana sont entrés dans le processus. Mais la situation internationale est-elle vraiment favorable à de telles avancées ?

Francois Giovalucchi 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. La guerre au Moyen-Orient pourrait accroitre les risques d’impasse financière pour l’ Afrique : voici comment – https://theconversation.com/la-guerre-au-moyen-orient-pourrait-accroitre-les-risques-dimpasse-financiere-pour-l-afrique-voici-comment-278343

March 23, 2026

Du ritsuryō (律令) de l’Antiquité au kanban (鞄) du toyotisme, histoire japonaise du management

Source: The Conversation – in French – By François-Xavier de Vaujany, Professeur en management & théories des organisations, Université Paris Dauphine – PSL

Cercles de qualité, toyotisme, « kanban », Single Minute Exchange of Dies ou Poka Yoke, avec ces concepts, les Japonais ont fait bien plus qu’adapter le taylorisme. Ils en ont fait le point de départ d’une refonte majeure de leur doctrine organisationnelle et administrative. Retour sur l’histoire du management du « ritsuryō » (律令) au shogunat (幕府) puis à l’ère Meiji (明治時代).

En repensant à mes études, j’ai souvenir que chaque semaine un de mes professeurs évoquait la révolution en cours avec un nouveau « management japonais ». Lors d’un de mes cours d’économie, puis dans un enseignement dédié à la gestion de production, le « Poka Yoke » de Shigeo Shingo était à l’honneur. On décortiquait son ouvrage intitulé Maîtrise de la production et méthode Kanban : le cas Toyota.

L’organisation industrielle du monde devenait plus continue, plus tendue, plus créative, plus processuelle, plus collective et bien plus consultative. Dans ce moment de basculement, Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915) renvoyait à un vieux monde déjà dépassé, décrié, ringardisé. Le Japon n’installait pas seulement une nouvelle source aux rythmes et innovations de notre planète. Il posait les bases d’une nouvelle géopolitique par le management.

Exactement comme l’avaient fait les États-Unis plusieurs décennies auparavant. Dans les parallèles possibles avec le présent de la Chine ou de l’Inde, cela reste une différence très importante.

Aujourd’hui, j’aimerais repenser ce basculement sur un temps plus long que celui des années 1980 et 1990. Un temps pouvant nous amener à décentrer l’histoire de son point de vue occidental. Un temps permettant de resituer le phénomène dans son intériorité et d’éviter la tentation de l’exotisme.

Du « ritsuryō » (律令) au shogunat (幕府)

Bien avant le management, le Japon a une histoire bureaucratique et administrative.

Le *ritsuryō* (律令) est un système de lois du Japon basé sur le confucianisme. Ici, le prince Shōtoku (574-622) donnant une conférence.
Wikimedia

Entre le VII^e et le IX^e siècle, les Japonais importent le modèle administratif chinois des Tang. Dès l’époque dite Asuka-Nara, ils adoptent le code ritsuryō. Celui-ci suppose la hiérarchie de fonctions, la structuration sous forme de ministères, le recensement, la fiscalité et surtout le recours aux règles écrites. Très tôt, le Japon se dote d’un État bureaucratique centralisé. Bien avant l’Europe. Mais à la différence de l’Empire chinois, les Japonais ne mettent pas en place d’examens et de méritocratie généralisée. Le cœur de la bureaucratie reste aristocratique.

Par la suite, cette bureaucratie féodale du « shogunat » du XII^e au XIX^e siècle installe de nouveaux changements. Sous les Tokugawa (1603–1868), l’administration de l’État est extrêmement structurée. Les registres de population, le contrôle des déplacements, les nouvelles normes et une forme de hiérarchie territoriale plus poussée voient le jour. Les samouraïs deviennent à la fois des comptables, des gestionnaires et des administrateurs. Ils cessent d’être seulement des guerriers pour devenir des fonctionnaires-administrateurs. Cette bureaucratie japonaise est fondée sur la stabilité, des interactions très codifiées et ritualisées, le respect du rang et l’obéissance, la mobilisation d’un droit peu abstrait.

Ère Meiji (明治時代)

La troisième reconfiguration a lieu à l’ère Meiji (de 1868 à 1912). Une bureaucratie moderne est mise en place, avec des hybridations, mais sans rupture. Après 1868, l’empire du Japon s’inspire de plus en plus du droit allemand. Les administrateurs recourent progressivement à des procédures écrites. Les ministères suivent eux aussi une logique plus « moderne ». L’accès se fait par des concours administratifs, et les carrières sont structurées et hiérarchisées autour de corps.

Promulgation de la Constitution de l’Empire du Japon par Toyohara Chikanobu en 1889.
Wikimédia

Cependant, les loyautés restent très personnelles. Les élites sont assez homogènes et issues des mêmes réseaux et milieux sociaux. L’État reste surtout une entité d’ordre moral. Il n’y a pas de neutralité axiologique de la règle, mais plutôt un souci d’harmonie et de maintien de l’harmonie.

Du « kōkūtai » (航空隊) à l’après-Seconde Guerre mondiale

Au-delà de la bureaucratie, le Japon est également à l’origine d’une doctrine administrative originale, très largement remodelée avec et après la Seconde Guerre mondiale.

Le kokutai est de fait le fondement idéologique central de la doctrine japonaise d’avant-guerre. L’État est une entité organique. L’empereur est absolument sacré et source de légitimité pour toutes les autres autorités possibles. In fine, le peuple fait corps autour du souverain. Le confucianisme reste prégnant dans cette vision administrative centrée sur la loyauté, la hiérarchie et l’obéissance.

La militarisation administrative des années 1930 va radicaliser cette doctrine. On assiste à une fusion entre administration, industrie et armée. Une planification étatique systématique est mise en œuvre, au service d’un autoritarisme radical.

Le 2ᵉ kōkūtai (第二航空隊) est un groupe d’aviation du service aérien de la marine impériale japonaise pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Il symbolise la vision administrative centrée sur la loyauté, la hiérarchie et l’obéissance.
Wikimedia

L’occupation états-unienne de 1945 à 1952 impose une refonte totale de l’administration et de sa doctrine. La société japonaise se reconstruit autour d’un état de droit avec la Constitution de 1947, élaborée par les États-Unis. En dépit de la démocratisation, l’administration reste centrale et prend un pouvoir plus technique. De nouveaux ministères très puissants (le ministère de l’économie, du commerce et de l’industrie [MITI/METI], le ministère des finances) sont créés. L’État joue le rôle d’un planificateur plus indirect, le développement de coopération État-entreprises (Japan Inc.) et la régulation par incitation plutôt que coercition.

Importation du taylorisme par Ueno Yōichi

C’est dans ce contexte que le « management scientifique » trouve sa place au début du XX^e siècle.

Il est transmis par les élites intellectuelles essentiellement de 1900 à 1930. Un acteur clé de ce travail d’importation et d’adaptation est Ueno Yōichi, fondateur du Sanno Institute au management en 1925. Pour lui, Taylor n’est pas seulement un technicien de l’organisation et de l’industrie. L’ingénieur américain propose une science morale de l’ordre social et technique.

Yoichi Ueno (上野陽) (1883–1957) est un universitaire japonais considéré comme le « père des sciences administratives japonaises ».
Sanno University

Ce management japonais, justification morale profonde, s’inscrit dans la continuité de l’histoire du pays. Il est indissociable d’une discipline, d’une loyauté et d’une forme d’harmonie sociale incarnée par les gestes de chacun et chacun. La doctrine de Taylor est détachée de l’individualisme dont elle est empreinte en occident.

Le salarié au cœur des « zaibatsu » (財閥)

Le management scientifique japonais est étatisé et indissociable de l’étatisation de l’économie industrielle. Des années 1920 aux années de guerre, on le retrouve surtout dans les industries du chemin de fer, les arsenaux militaires, les grandes entreprises publiques ou semi-publiques. De grands conglomérats portent cette nouvelle doctrine : les zaibatsu (財閥), comme Mitsubishi.

De nombreuses entreprises, comme Mitsubishi, dont on voit ici le siège, incarnent les *zaibatsus*, ces groupes d’entreprises japonais.
Wikimedia

Afin d’améliorer les pratiques et les processus industriels, les Japonais y pratiquent le chronométrage, la standardisation des gestes et des processus, la séparation entre conception et exécution ou encore le contrôle des temps et des postes. À la différence de l’exemple des États-Unis, ils le font dans un contexte d’emploi à vie (pas encore systématique), de paternalisme industriel et de très faible mobilité externe des ouvriers.

Le salarié japonais est efficace non pas pour maximiser le profit, mais pour servir l’intérêt collectif exacerbé par l’effort de guerre.

Le « kanban » (鞄) de Toyota

Les pratiques du management scientifique japonais poursuivent leur mutation dans ce qui va s’incarner avec le toyotisme expérimenté par Taiichi Ōno.

Le contrôle devient qualité totale, animé par des ingénieurs de méthodes impulsant des cercles de qualité. La rationalité générale est celle du « lean », encore largement prégnante aujourd’hui. Ce « toyotisme » n’est pas un « anti-taylorisme ». Il est une version plus systémique, ouverte, socialisée et processualisée du taylorisme, permise par des changements à la fois numériques (réseaux informatiques, EDI, Internet, IA) et sociaux (démocratisation et recherche de nouvelles formes d’horizontalité).

Ces mutations sont reliées à des transformations plus générales de la société japonaise avec notamment une métamorphose de son système de formation comme les écoles de management. Parmi les grands réseaux institutionnels, on peut faire mention de la Japan Academy of Business Administration (JABA). Fondée le 10 juillet 1926, elle est l’un des plus anciens réseaux scientifiques au monde sur les questions de management et d’organisation managériale.

Du réseau patronal Keidanren (経団連) aux business schools

En complément à ces ensembles purement académiques, de multiples autres réseaux plus professionnels ou politiques contribuent aux évolutions doctrinales du management. On peut mentionner Keidanren, la principale organisation patronale et les zaikai, associant les dirigeants des grands conglomérats.

On assiste à la naissance tardive de « business schools » stricto sensu, dans les années 1990 et 2000. La crise économique et l’éclatement de la bulle en sont un des déclencheurs. L’emploi à vie est remis en cause. La mondialisation accentue cette nécessité de développer des compétences en management, finance, marketing, stratégie, etc. Dans ce mouvement, le Japon crée ses propres business schools, comme la Hitotsubashi ICS, la Keio Business School ou la Waseda Business School.

L’entreprise japonaise reste centrale dans l’espace de formation. Mais les digues ont en partie cédé. Le modèle ancien supposait une entreprise quasi exclusivement au cœur du processus d’éducation industrielle, le primat du collectif sur l’individu, la suprématie de l’État et surtout un marché externe des managers hypertrophiés au profit de mécanismes internes à chaque grande entreprise. C’est dans les fissures de ce modèle que les « business schools » ont d’une certaine façon trouvé leur place.

Comme toujours, tout est profondément sociétal et politique dans l’histoire du management. Au Japon comme ailleurs.

François-Xavier de Vaujany 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. Du ritsuryō (律令) de l’Antiquité au kanban (鞄) du toyotisme, histoire japonaise du management – https://theconversation.com/du-ritsuryo-de-lantiquite-au-kanban-du-toyotisme-histoire-japonaise-du-management-276649