Category: The Conversation – UK

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Emily-Rose Baker, Research Fellow, Department of English, University of Southampton

At this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum announced the launch of a new digital replica of the concentration camp for filmmakers. Titled Picture from Auschwitz, the virtual film location is designed to facilitate a range of productions set on the grounds, where preservation regulations currently restrict filming to documentaries.

Established in the town of Oświęcim in German-occupied Poland, Auschwitz consisted of three main camps where over 1.1 million European Jews were murdered: the Auschwitz I concentration camp, the Auschwitz II (Birkenau) killing centre and the Auschwitz III (Monowitz) labour camp.

With this new technology, the museum hopes to support the “true story” of the camp, “without compromising the memorial’s historical integrity”. It intends to do so not only by digitally preserving the Holocaust site, which receives over two million visitors annually, but by submitting the scripts for all new feature film projects involving the replica to a team of historians for review.

A glimpse of the digitised location shows a virtual model of Auschwitz I which, as its name suggests, provides a clear snapshot of the camp’s barracks, grounds and infamous wrought iron gates. The two-minute trailer claims that the certified 1:1 digital representation is the “biggest and most detailed documentation of the camp”. It will eventually include the interior as well as exterior environment of Auschwitz I and II.

The project’s use of digital technology to safeguard Holocaust memories for future generations is symptomatic of a global shift towards digitising the Holocaust as the survivor generation passes on and heritage sites decay over time – a process accelerated by extreme weathering associated with the climate crisis.

As the Holocaust recedes from living memory, cultural institutions are increasingly reliant on digital tools to remember the past. While some have used virtual reality to digitally reconstruct and maintain key Holocaust sites, others have turned to AI to generate interactive survivor holograms.

These technologies are becoming popular educational tools designed for use in classrooms as well as museums and memorial sites.

Ethical implications

Digital memory projects protect and make Holocaust sites globally accessible. Yet these same technologies risk distorting the historical record.

In the UK, public debates concerning the ethics of digital Holocaust technologies including AI and VR have involved high profile politicians as well as scholars. Meanwhile, international bodies including Unesco and the World Jewish Congress have reported that generative AI in particular may fuel Holocaust distortion.

Picture from Auschwitz aims to address these issues and its creators purport to enable “ethical storytelling”. The director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, Wojciech Soczewica, referred to the project on the Memorial’s website as a “powerful example of how culture and technology can unite to protect our shared human history from distortion and denial”. The replica will “preserve the relevance of the history of Auschwitz”, he added, ensuring it won’t “fade with time”.

While the virtual site digitally preserves and encourages historically rooted depictions of the camp, it cannot ensure ethical engagement with the Holocaust. In fact, its creation only raises further issues about the extent to which the Holocaust’s digitisation goes hand-in-hand with ethical modes of remembrance and representation.

A glimpse of the Picture from Auschwitz project

A wholly “authentic” depiction of any Holocaust site or experience is something that digital and filmic interventions can only gesture towards.

Even if such a depiction were possible, ethical portrayals of the Holocaust are not contingent on the accurate representation of sites themselves. They are equally concerned with the kinds of stories being told as well as formal and stylistic factors. As film researcher Archie Wolfman argues, filmmakers’ choices “about camera movements, angles, lighting and editing have as much ethical significance as what is in front of the camera”.

The implication that Auschwitz must be digitised for its legacy to be protected suggests that the wealth of material that already exists on the camp – including its extant remains, the personal belongings of victims and survivor testimonies – are no longer sufficient memorial tools. It also problematically suggests that Holocaust history must somehow keep up with digital culture to remain relevant.

The digitisation of Auschwitz perpetuates the privileging of some Holocaust sites and stories above others, such as the rural landscapes across central and eastern Europe where no human structures or visible traces of the past remain. Even within this, Picture from Auschwitz plans to offer only a selective representation of the camp complex. It excludes Auschwitz III, its network of sub-camps and the surrounding environment.

At the same time, the proposed script review process demonstrates the memorial’s involvement in presiding over cultural narratives of the event. The only artistic representations that are of value, the project implies, are those favouring realism, disregarding Holocaust films that diverge from this aesthetic. This includes stylised films like Jojo Rabbit (2019), The Cremator (1969) and Distant Journey (1949), the latter of which was shot on location in Terezín in the Czech Republic. It showed that films using Holocaust sites need not possess an indexical link to reality to meaningfully represent the event.

The replica ultimately reveals a tension between growing public demand for cultural Holocaust production and the difficulty in cultivating ethical representations of the event. Navigating the ethical dimensions of Holocaust narratives has always been a challenge. But this challenge is rendered ever more complex by digital innovations, which are evolving and difficult to police.

Picture from Auschwitz shows the extent to which the digital is changing how knowledge of the event is understood and disseminated – not always for the better.

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Emily-Rose Baker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. The problem with Auschwitz-Birkenau’s new digital camp replica – https://theconversation.com/the-problem-with-auschwitz-birkenaus-new-digital-camp-replica-263469

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Steph Rennick, Philosopher & Lecturer in Interactive Media, University of Stirling

While playing video games has traditionally been thought of as a male-dominated pastime, 51% of women now game in some capacity compared to 53% of men. However, although the number of women playing video games continues to increase, their representation varies across different genres, platforms and games.

We surveyed 1,000 women of all ages across the UK who play mobile games (the most popular way for women to play).Our analysis, published in the journal Sex Roles, found that despite being an important part of their lives, many female gamers experience negative emotions in relation to games.

Twenty-nine per cent felt guilty for taking time to play video games, and 16% keep gaming a secret for fear of judgment.

More than 41% of the women we surveyed agreed that playing games is one of the things they most look forward to each day. However, almost 60% felt that they do not play enough games to consider themselves a “gamer” and more than 30% said they would be embarrassed to call themselves one. Women who look forward to playing were more likely to feel guilty than those who do not.

While 75% of participants classified themselves as “casual gamers”, nearly 25% of them were not only playing mobile games, but also spending more than an hour a day playing games on PC or console. Strikingly, even among women who spent more than five hours a day playing games, only 16% identified as a “hardcore gamer”.

Our results suggest that many women feel excluded from video game culture. But while we expected that feelings like guilt would reduce the amount of time women spent playing games, we didn’t find such a connection. Those who feel guilty or keep their gaming a secret don’t play less – but they feel worse. This surprised us, and led us to dig further into the data.

We found that younger players are particularly guilt prone. Women aged 16-24 were three times more likely to feel guilt than those older than 54. While many people feel guilty about indulging in hobbies, women often get less leisure time than men and feel pressure to spend their leisure time doing productive tasks.

But that’s not the only barrier. Women were twice as likely to feel guilty if they didn’t know which games to try or if they thought games were too violent. This finding aligns with previous research that found that one of the main barriers to gaming for women is a lack of awareness of the diversity of available games available – not least because there is a limited range marketed to women.

Finally, guilt seemed to be related to whether women felt they fit into gaming culture. Women were twice as likely to feel guilty if they also thought that gaming was mainly a male pastime, or if they said they would be embarrassed to call themselves a gamer. In contrast, women who felt that occasionally playing any game made you a gamer were 42% less likely to feel guilty.

We found that 16% of participants keep their gaming a secret for fear of judgment. Women who reported feeling anxious or depressed when scrolling social media were more than twice as likely to do so compared to women who did not.

Feeling and expressing pride in gaming as a woman is a difficult balancing act. Women who felt very proud of their achievements in games were slightly more likely to keep it a secret than those who did not feel as proud. In contrast, women who were motivated to play games to challenge themselves were half as likely to keep it a secret.

Removing barriers to play

Our findings suggest that many women feel games and gaming culture are not intended for or open to them. Women spend less time playing if they believe that gaming is a male pastime, or that they don’t play enough games to be a gamer, are embarrassed to call themselves a gamer, or think video games are too violent.

We think that guilt and keeping secrets are just symptoms. While they are clearly negatively affecting female gamers, they don’t seem to be the root of the problem.

There’s more work to do. This study focused on participants who identify as women, and there are probably other barriers to play facing people of other gender identities. Understanding these barriers and how they interrelate is important for overcoming them, to increase the quantity and quality of gaming experiences in general.

Removing barriers to play will require deeper structural changes, such as reducing leisure inequality. But people in the games industry and gaming culture can also help by broadening the perception of who plays video games, who games are for, and what types of games are available. Given that pride is associated with more time playing, it would also benefit both the games industry and players to normalise the celebration of gaming achievements for women. You can help too. If you play games, why not recommend one to a friend?

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Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here.

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Stephanie Rennick conducted this research in collaboration with Unity consulting and Undone Games.

Seán Roberts conducted this research in collaboration with Unity consulting and Undone Games.

– ref. Nearly a third of female gamers feel guilty about their hobby – new study – https://theconversation.com/nearly-a-third-of-female-gamers-feel-guilty-about-their-hobby-new-study-263752

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Adam R. North, Early Career Researcher, Religions and Theology Department, University of Manchester

Humour has become one of the most potent weapons in the populist politician’s playbook. Comedic populists like Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage and Argentinian president Javier Milei use ridicule, absurdity and sarcasm not just to entertain, but to deflect criticism, confuse opponents and present themselves as relatable outsiders. Their tomfoolery and comedic stunts often dominate headlines and capture attention online.

These uses of humour have been widely discussed in this context. But one key function of populist humour still receives too little attention: its power to mobilise disaffected voters.

My own research has examined how humour functions as a means of speaking truth to power. But I now believe that comedy, long mobilised as a subversive tool, is being appropriated by populists as a strategy for building political loyalty.

Beyond softening rhetoric or mocking political opponents, humour helps politicians create emotional bonds, build group identity and energise voters who feel let down by traditional politics and politicians. It isn’t just comic relief – it’s a call to action.

The appeal of comedic populists is often invisible to their critics. Dislike and distaste can blind people to the way these figures connect with large audiences – especially disaffected voters. This blind spot prevents understanding how humour fuels political support.

Take this New York Times guest essay from August 2024, titled Trump is losing the humor war. While it concedes that “Donald Trump is funny”, it argues his humour had lost its edge. That assessment was premature.

Throughout the 2024 campaign, Trump remained humorous – from working in a McDonald’s drive-through, to driving around as a bin man at a rally to mock Joe Biden, he deployed several humorous stunts to amplify his message and entertain supporters.

These stunts gained widespread coverage and went viral on platforms like TikTok – where, according to Pew Research, nearly half of US users under 30 now follow political news. Humour, in this context, becomes both strategy and spectacle.

Trump recognises this. On one Joe Rogan podcast – viewed over 60 million times – Rogan praises Trump’s comedic instincts. Trump replies: “You need at least the attitude of a comedian when you’re doing this business”. Considering Trump and other comedic populists’ success in the previous decade, it’s hard to disagree.

Who is mobilised by humour?

Populist humour resonates most strongly with disaffected voters – people who feel ignored or betrayed by traditional politics – and research shows that disenfranchised voters often vote for radically different candidates. In an era of declining trust in political institutions in many western nations, it’s unsurprising that voters should turn to political alternatives who break the conventional mould.

Some of these figures were comedians before they were politicians. Others cultivated humorous personas over time. Many have successfully capitalised on this situation. The best known is Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy a former comedian who once played a fictional president on Ukrainian TV.

Other former comedians who have gone on to win national or regional office include Guatemala’s Jimmy Morales, Slovenia’s Marjan Šarec, and Iceland’s Jón Gnarr. Italy’s Beppe Grillo, a stand-up comic, co-founded the Five Star Movement which went on to enter government, though Grillo himself never held elected office.

Boris Johnson, Donald Trump, and Javier Milei all cultivated entertaining personalities through TV appearances and a variety of stunts. A consistent pattern emerges: these leaders tend to rise in contexts of low political trust, where their humour grabs attention and appeals to disaffected voters.

But another trend is equally clear: the sustainability of support for comedic populism often diminishes once in office. The performative and oppositional strengths that fuel electoral success often translate poorly into the demands of serious governance.

Zelenskyy appears to be an exception, although recent legislation threatens his approval ratings. Nevertheless, he remains popular due to the Russian invasion, and his shift from comic performer to a serious leader of resolve and emotional authenticity.

Populist humour in the media

Populist humour thrives on public attention. Social media rewards wit over substance; jokes, memes and soundbites travel fast. In a media environment driven by anger, disinformation and tribalism, comedy is a perfect vehicle of delivery. Humour creates sharable content, frames opponents as humourless and signals in-group identity.

A striking example came during Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign when he claimed that Haitian migrants were eating pets in a town in Ohio. The statement, though baseless and inflammatory, went viral. Critics expressed outrage, supporters laughed, and Kamala Harris scoffed at the absurdity. Yet, the allegation provided an effective means of communicating anti-migrant, racist rhetoric across news outlets and social media platforms.

It even inspired a parody song called Eating the Cats ft. Donald Trump, by the South African musician The Kiffness, which has racked up millions of views across social media.

This is the paradox of populist humour: it doesn’t need to be factual, tasteful or substantive. It just needs to resonate with its intended audience and spread across media platforms.

If we want to understand modern populism, we need to take its humour seriously. It’s not a distraction from politics; it’s a vital tool in the populist toolkit. Humour builds community, projects authenticity and drives participation and feelings of inclusion. For disaffected voters, it offers something traditional politics often doesn’t: a reason to laugh, and a reason to listen.

Adam R. North 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. Being funny helps populist politicians create bonds and get voters on board – https://theconversation.com/being-funny-helps-populist-politicians-create-bonds-and-get-voters-on-board-260343

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Gráinne Tyrrell, Doctoral Researcher in Biomedical Device Design, School of Architecture and Product Design, University of Limerick

“If you can’t handle this, you’ll never keep up with your peers.”

That’s what a young vascular surgeon in training reported hearing from a senior colleague during interviews for our study, after she needed two hands to hold a medical device her male peers could operate with one.

Another cardiologist, more than ten years into her career, must regularly hand over part of a procedure because she doesn’t have the grip strength for a particular surgical task. The problem isn’t her skill, focus, or stamina – it’s that the tools were never built for her hands.

Stories like these are sometimes misused to reinforce outdated stereotypes: that women aren’t physically capable of performing certain high-skill roles like heart surgery.

In reality, female surgeons are often working harder – and sometimes risking their own health – to achieve the same results as their male colleagues. The barrier isn’t ability. It’s the long shadow of gender bias in both medicine and design.

Our research team is working to change that. We’ve developed a test rig equipped with sensors and 3D scanning technology to capture precise measurements of grip strength and hand size across a variety of simulated surgical scenarios. So far, we’ve gathered data from 42 cardiologists and vascular surgeons worldwide.

The study involved 24 female vascular surgeons from across the globe, the response was overwhelmingly positive. Many participants shared personal accounts of the strain they endure, describing aching wrists and fear of long-term joint issues – all exacerbated by tools that demand more strength than their bodies can comfortably deliver. For some, the motivation to take part was personal: they want the next generation of surgeons to face fewer barriers.

This data is already being used to inform the design of new cardiovascular devices. Handles are being resized to fit a wider range of hand shapes, and the grip strength required to operate them is being lowered. The aim is simple but critical: reduce injury risk, improve surgeon wellbeing and extend careers.

Built for men, used by everyone

The operating theatre is full of devices designed to fit the “average” surgeon and, for decades, that average has been male. Handle diameters tend to be optimised for larger hands, while buttons and sliders are calibrated to force ranges comfortable for male grip strength.

In vascular and cardiac surgery, precision and power go hand in hand. These procedures require surgeons to maintain awkward positions for extended periods, often in high-pressure situations. Even without design flaws, the risk of muscle and joint strain is significant. But when a handle is too big to grip securely, or a control requires more force than a surgeon can comfortably exert, that risk increases sharply and disproportionately for women.

The impact isn’t only on the surgeon. Fatigue, strain and discomfort can affect concentration and precision, which in turn can influence patient outcomes. In a profession where the margin for error is vanishingly small, ergonomics aren’t a luxury — they’re a safety requirement.

When engineers develop new biomedical devices, they rely on design guidance: technical data on ideal handle sizes, optimal button placement and the comfortable grip force a surgeon should be able to apply.

But these guidelines are built on incomplete data. Historically, women were excluded from research studies, meaning their measurements never made it into the datasets that shape design.

Even when designers look for female-specific data, there either are no data or the sample sizes in studies are very small. One common shortcut is to scale down men’s measurements by 30-40% to “estimate” women’s — a crude approach that doesn’t reflect real-world variation in hand anatomy or grip strength.

The problem isn’t just gender. Ethnicity and age matter too. People of colour have long been underrepresented in health research, compounding the challenges faced by women of colour. The differences can be striking: the average grip strength of a European man is about 49kg, while for an Asian woman it’s around 24kg — yet both may be expected to perform identical surgical tasks with identical tools.

A changing profession needs changing tools

In 2025, women made up the majority of doctors in the UK for the first time — a milestone that signals a profession in transition. But the tools they will use are still rooted in outdated assumptions. The lack of inclusive design isn’t just an equity problem. It’s a practical one, affecting career longevity, workplace safety and ultimately patient care.

Calls to improve ergonomics for women in surgery have been growing louder. Professional organisations, research groups and individual surgeons have all pushed for better-fitting, more adaptable tools. Yet progress has been slow, partly because gathering detailed ergonomic data has traditionally been time-consuming and expensive.

New technologies are changing that. With 3D scanning, advanced sensors, and more sophisticated modelling, it’s now possible to collect accurate, relevant data far more efficiently. This opens the door to design that accounts for the diversity of the surgical workforce — not just in gender and ethnicity, but in body size, strength and working style.

By integrating grip strength and hand size data from a truly representative group of surgeons, designers can move away from the “one-size-fits-all” mindset that has dominated for decades. Lowering the physical demands of surgical tools won’t just help women – it will improve comfort for all surgeons, from smaller men to older practitioners whose grip strength changes over time.

Heart surgery techniques have advanced rapidly in recent years, driving remarkable innovation and design. However, while technological progress has surged ahead, the data guiding these designs remains outdated and exclusionary, oftentimes leaving women in surgery an afterthought.

As today’s operating rooms evolve in diversity, we’re advocating for surgical instrument design to evolve with it – ensuring inclusivity is built into every medical device.

Gráinne Tyrrell’s PhD research is funded by Research Ireland and Medtronic under the Enterprise Partnership Scheme. The authors acknowledge Donna Curley for her contributions to the research as an industry mentor.

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

– ref. When surgical tools don’t fit: how gender bias in design puts female surgeons at risk – https://theconversation.com/when-surgical-tools-dont-fit-how-gender-bias-in-design-puts-female-surgeons-at-risk-262743

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Mikael Palner, Associate Professor, Neurobiology, University of Southern Denmark

How can we live longer? The eternal question, and one that scientists have long been trying to answer.

We know that diet, exercise, and genes play a big role in the ageing process and how long each of us might be alive for. We also know that certain drugs or medicines have the potential to increase our lifespan. Though there’s still a lot we don’t know about what makes one person live to 102 and another only make it to 72.

But one new study seems to suggest that psilocybin, found in so-called “magic mushrooms”, could have potential as a longevity drug. In a new study, researchers found that psilocin – the compound your body makes after ingesting psilocybin – helped human cells live longer in the lab and that psilocybin boosted survival rates in older mice.

The study has led to numerous headlines claiming that magic mushrooms could be the secret to living longer. But as someone who’s been studying psychedelic compounds like psilocybin, for the past 20 years – with a specific focus on human and rodent psychedelic dosing – I think the claims have been massively overhyped and that applying the findings to humans is deeply problematic.

A closer look

The research took place in two stages. The first part was a simple experiment, where researchers treated human lung cells with psilocin. They found that over time, these cells grew slightly faster than the cells that didn’t receive psilocin and survived longer – on average, the psilocybin treated cells lived 28.5% longer.

They also examined markers of cellular health, specifically looking at how many cells showed signs of ageing, and found fewer age-related markers in the psilocin-treated cells.

Next, the researchers carried out a study using older mice that received either a placebo or psilocybin. The mice receiving the psilocybin were first given a dose of five milligrams for every kilogram they weighed to help them acclimatise to the drug, then for the following nine months, they received a higher dose of 15 milligrams (for every kilogram) once a month. The mice were then monitored until they died.

Psilocybin was found to extend the lifespan in mice, with treated animals beginning to die around 25 months of age compared with 21 months for those who didn’t receive it.

After ten months of treatment, 80% of the psilocybin group was still alive, while only half of the untreated mice had survived. The treated mice also appeared younger, with healthier fur showing less greying and more new growth, suggesting the drug may have slowed some aspects of ageing.

High doses, high risk

So why is this happening? Well, scientists already know that psilocin activates many serotonin receptors in the brain and acts as an antioxidant (a substance that can prevent or slow down cell damage), both of which promote cell survival and growth. So this could be playing a part.

Another thing to consider is that one of these brain receptors – the 2C receptor – which isn’t linked to psychedelic effects, controls appetite and metabolism.

And here’s the thing: we already know that eating less can reliably extend lifespan. So, at the very least, the study should have told us how much the mice were eating and how their weight changed throughout the study – just to make sure their longer lives weren’t simply because they were eating less.

But here’s the real issue, a dose of 15 milligrams per kilogram in mice reflects an extremely high psychedelic dose. Administering this dose monthly for up to nine months has never been done in human studies. In fact, rodents exposed to repeated high doses of psychedelics have, in previous studies, displayed signs of schizophrenia.

It´s worth adding that in terms of animal to human dosage, it’s not quite as straightforward as adjusting for weight, as smaller animals have a faster heart rate and metabolise drugs faster. But even taking these things into account, the amount of psilocybin given to the mice would be equal to a human taking more than seven grams of mushrooms. For context, that’s more than double what’s considered a strong or “heroic” dose for most people – a typical dose is between one and three grams.

Psychedelic boom

So where does this leave us? Well, psilocybin and other psychedelics have received a lot of attention over the past few years, particularly so in the world of mental health research, with numerous studies (and individuals) reporting positive effects.

Some US states, like Oregon and Colorado have eased access to recreational psilocybin and other countries like Germany, the Czech Republic and Australia have bypassed regulatory systems altogether to provide psilocybin in cases of severe depression.

This is concerning though, because when misused or taken in very high doses, magic mushrooms, or psilocybin, can sometimes lead to long-term psychological issues, such as persistent anxiety and paranoia and in rare cases, visual disturbances can continue long after the drug has worn off. Indeed, during the 1960s and 1970s, some studies were carried out on patients in dubious settings and with high doses that led to bad experiences.

These effects are more common in those with underlying mental health vulnerabilities or people who use psychedelics irresponsibly, and are less likely to occur when used within the safety of a therapeutic or clinical setting. But still, we need to be very careful about how we have such conversations and report psychedelic research, given that there is the potential for misuse and dangerous side effects.

This article was commissioned by Videnskab.dk as part of a partnership collaboration with The Conversation. You can read the Danish version of this article, here.

Mikael Palner consults to BrandarisTx and owns shares in Compass Pathways. He receives funding from The Danish Free Research Foundation / Lundbeck Foundation / Novo Nordisk Foundation.

– ref. Why the magic mushroom anti-ageing claims are overblown – https://theconversation.com/why-the-magic-mushroom-anti-ageing-claims-are-overblown-263928

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Sam Whewall, Research Fellow, Centre for Global Youth, UCL Institute of Education, UCL

When you think of the English seaside, what probably springs to mind are childhood summer holidays, donkey rides on the beach and scenic clifftop walks. The reality for young people growing up on the coast tells a different story.

Today, some of England’s most deprived communities are coastal. Recent research suggests economic stagnation, climate change, housing, and transport connectivity are among the core challenges facing coastal areas. In 2021, Chris Whitty – England’s chief medical officer – published a report drawing attention to the poor health and low life expectancy of those in many coastal areas.

Unemployment is also high in some coastal towns. And a recent study found that young adults on the English coast are three times more likely to have an undiagnosed mental health condition than those inland.

Young people are often an afterthought in these reports, but in our ongoing research on young people’s experiences of growing up on the coast, we have learned that scarce leisure opportunities and crippled youth services are key challenges facing coastal youth.

We spoke with 50 professionals from around the coastline about the range of issues facing 15- to 20-year-olds on the coast, and their suggestions for what can be done to address them.

Young people are bored

It was pointed out by many of those we spoke to that, when the season ends and tourists go home, there’s next to nothing to do in their towns. In some areas, from October through April, cafes close, theme park rides grind to a halt and work opportunities dry up. Worse still, many towns have virtually no indoor spaces where young people can spend time.

Like the rest of the country, youth services in these towns have been decimated by cuts. As our recent report points out, services that remain are overstretched and rely on patchwork, competitive, short-term funding.

As many we spoke to suggested, because of this lack of resources, young people are, at best, bored. As a youth practitioner from Great Yarmouth put it: “You get a lot of young people congregating at the pier, just standing around looking for something to do.”

Even the beach is not necessarily an appealing space to spend time – especially in winter. We heard reports of beaches that are considered unsafe or strewn with litter. In some towns, including Bridlington and Paignton, some young people have never visited their local beach. Unsurprisingly, many we spoke to were concerned that young people in their towns would leave when they were old enough and simply not return.

At worst, young people are engaging in high-risk activities and entering unsafe environments. The lack of leisure activities means anti-social behaviour – including vandalism and violence – is widespread in some towns. And over half of those we spoke to raised concerns about the prevalence and risks posed to local youth by county lines activity. This is the supply and dealing of drugs between large cities and smaller centres, often involving vulnerable young people, and is a particular problem in coastal areas.

Shoring up support

Despite widespread funding constraints, efforts are being made across statutory and voluntary services to support young people. What coastal towns need, though, is sustained, ring-fenced support for long-term projects. Our professionals made two key suggestions for improving the lives of the young people they work with.

The first is to invest in safe spaces and leisure activities that are available outside of the short summer season. This could include skate parks, music venues and sports facilities. The intention is not just to keep young people out of trouble, but to provide spaces where they can socialise and enjoy themselves, and opportunities to build a sense of pride in where they live.

The second suggestion is to invest in and rebuild youth services. The youth workers we spoke with are working hard to fill gaps left by public service cuts, but without the resources they need to do so.

Funding is desperately needed to support, train and retain quality youth workers and other professionals, to create facilities and programmes embedded in local communities that respond to local need. They also call for improved youth mental health services to address limited availability and long waiting lists, a problem disproportionately affecting coastal areas.

There are reasons for hope. Cross-party support for a UK government minister for coastal communities has grown, and the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Coastal Communities relaunched earlier this year, with young people at the heart of their agenda. Meanwhile, however, those working on the ground in coastal communities require fast action – during the process of writing our report, one of the youth centres we worked with closed down due to lack of funding.

The cost of doing nothing – for coastal towns and the young people who live there – are severe. Young people’s mental health is at risk, particularly in the most deprived coastal communities, driven in part by economic and social challenges and geographic isolation.

Failing to invest in the young people who live in these towns year-round risks a continued cycle of deprivation, poor health and wellbeing, and outward migration.

Sam Whewall is the Postdoctoral Research Fellow for the Coastal Youth Life Chances project, which receives funding from the UKRI Economic and Social Research Council, Grant/Award Number: ES/X001202/1

Avril Keating is Project Leader for the Coastal Youth Life Chances project and receives funding from UKRI-Economic and Social Research Council, Grant/Award Number: ES/X001202/1

Emily Clark is a Research Assisant for the Coastal Youth Life Chances project, which is funded by UKRI-Economic and Social Research Council, Grant/Award Number: ES/X001202/1

– ref. Young people in coastal towns are getting left behind – here’s what could help – https://theconversation.com/young-people-in-coastal-towns-are-getting-left-behind-heres-what-could-help-262771

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Dan Baumgardt, Senior Lecturer, School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Bristol

In my youth, I spent an unreasonable amount of time questioning why A-level chemistry was a prerequisite for medical school. Why was it as essential as biology? Why did I need to learn about electrons and entropy? The penny finally dropped when my rather brilliant teachers turned my attention towards the periodic table.

Every single atom in our bodies can be found in the periodic table – from chlorine to chromium, magnesium to manganese. In fact, just six elements make up about 98.5% of our body mass: 65% oxygen, 18% carbon, 10% hydrogen, 3% nitrogen, 1.5% calcium, and just over 1% phosphorus. The remaining 1.5% is made up of trace elements – potassium, sulphur, iron, zinc, copper, and many others – all of which play crucial roles in keeping us alive.

It might be more accurate to describe ourselves as oxygen-based life forms, rather than carbon-based.

The final 1% consists of trace elements. Though they’re present in smaller amounts, they’re no less essential. Many of them come from our diet, which is why we’re advised to balance our meals with sufficient vitamins and minerals.

But what exactly should we be eating to fulfil these requirements – and can you have too much of a good thing?

Calcium

Crucial for healthy bones and teeth, calcium is abundant in dairy products, nuts and leafy greens. It also plays a vital role in nerve and muscle function. When the body is deficient in calcium, numbness, muscle twitching and even seizures may ensue. Dietary supplementation with calcium or vitamin D, which aids calcium absorption, becomes necessary.

However, too much calcium can be just as harmful. In people with cancer, tuberculosis or an overactive parathyroid gland, levels can rise too high, causing kidney stones, depression and abnormal heart rhythms.

Phosphorus

Phosphorus – the same element used in the striking surface of matchboxes – is fundamental to life. It’s a key component of DNA, the blueprint of our being, and of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the molecule that stores and delivers energy in cells.

Most of us get more than enough phosphorus through our diet – in meat, fish, dairy, grains and nuts. It’s also added as phosphate to many processed foods and fizzy drinks.

Magnesium

From the same periodic group as calcium, magnesium plays a role in muscle and nerve function, and contributes to bone health. You’ll find it in plant-based foods like beans and grains.

Magnesium supplements are widely available, but most people don’t need them. Some people are at a greater risk of magnesium deficiency, including those with chronic alcoholism or malabsorption disorders.

While toxicity from dietary sources is rare, excessive magnesium from supplements can lead to diarrhoea, nausea and, in severe cases, cardiac complications.

Sodium, potassium and chloride

Sodium and potassium share a role in electrical activity within neurons and muscle cells, including those in the heart. Sodium also regulates fluid balance within the body.

The body maintains these minerals within a tight range to ensure optimal function. Too much sodium or potassium can be extremely dangerous. In fact, the traditional lethal injection protocol in the US involved an intravenous dose of potassium to stop the heart.

Deficiencies of sodium and potassium can cause multiple symptoms, including muscle weakness, confusion and other neurological symptoms.

Dietary sources of potassium include bananas and potatoes. For sodium and chloride (the latter also being involved in fluid regulation and stomach acid production), the most familiar source is table salt. We do need some, but no more than 6g a day. High salt intake is linked to high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease.

Sulphur

The smell of sulphur (or more precisely, sulphur-containing compounds) will be familiar to anyone who remembers the acrid odour of school chemistry labs: think rotten eggs, overcooked cabbage and bad breath. Unsurprisingly, cabbage, garlic and onions are rich in sulphur.

Sulphur is found in certain amino acids (protein building blocks) and is essential for growth and development. A diet with lean protein and vegetables usually provides everything you need.

Trace minerals

So far, we’ve looked at macrominerals, those needed in larger quantities. But the trace minerals, needed in smaller amounts, are no less vital.

Take iron, crucial for the production of red blood cells, which carry oxygen throughout the body. Iron deficiency (common in children, menstruating women and people with restrictive diets) can cause anaemia, plus symptoms like fatigue, dizziness and shortness of breath. Iron is plentiful in red meat, legumes and green vegetables.

Other essential trace elements include zinc, which supports immune function, wound healing and cell growth and iodine, needed for the production of thyroid hormones, which both regulate metabolism. Selenium, rich in Brazil nuts, acts as an antioxidant and supports reproductive and thyroid health, while fluoride helps strengthen tooth enamel and prevent decay.

You’ll also find manganese, chromium and copper in the body, all playing key physiological roles. Manganese supports bone development and helps the body metabolise amino acids and carbohydrates. Chromium is involved in glucose regulation through enhancing insulin action. Copper has many varied roles, including iron metabolism, and the maintenance of healthy connective and nervous tissue.

You might even find trace amounts of arsenic, lead or gold in the body – and not just in dental work. These elements are not beneficial. They are toxic rather than therapeutic. Lead can accumulate in bones and organs, interfering with nervous system function. Arsenic, depending on the form, can be carcinogenic and disrupt cellular respiration – the process cells use to convert oxygen and nutrients into energy – essentially poisoning the cell’s energy supply.

So, the periodic table is not just a baffling grid of letters and numbers. It’s a map of you, and the body’s delicate balance between minerals that can be both essential in the right doses, and dangerous in the wrong amounts.

Dan Baumgardt 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. From sulphur to selenium, calcium to copper, here’s what your body’s made of – and why it matters – https://theconversation.com/from-sulphur-to-selenium-calcium-to-copper-heres-what-your-bodys-made-of-and-why-it-matters-262772

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Manudeo Singh, Newton International Fellow at the Department of Geography and Earth Science, Aberystwyth University

On August 5, a cloudburst near the Kheer Ganga river triggered a flash flood that tore through Dharali, a village in the Indian Himalayas. Within minutes, the river swelled with water, mud and debris, sweeping away homes, roads and lives.

Every monsoon season, the Himalayas see similar tragedies – flash floods caused by cloudbursts or glacial lake outbursts. The first explanation we often hear is climate change. Extreme rainfall and melting glaciers are part of our warming world, but that is only half the story. The other half lies in where and how we build.

A cloudburst is an extreme, sudden downpour – often more than 100mm of rain in just an hour, falling over a small area. It’s like the sky suddenly emptying a huge bucket of water over the mountainside.

A glacial lake outburst flood happens when a lake formed by melting glaciers bursts through its natural dam of ice or loose rock, releasing a sudden torrent downstream.

Both cloudbursts and glacial lake outbursts send huge volumes of water rushing down steep valleys. On their way, they pick up mud, rocks and trees, turning into debris-laden flash floods that sweep away whatever lies in their path.

These are natural events in higher mountainous regions, such as the Himalayas. They cannot be stopped. What makes them disasters is when towns, hotels and roads are built directly where these floods predictably flow.

Where we build matters

To understand why the damage is so severe, we need to look at the land itself. Geomorphology is the study of how Earth’s surface is shaped. It shows us how rivers, slopes and valleys have been formed and modified over time by floods, landslides and debris flows.

In the Himalayas, many safe-looking places are anything but. Take the alluvial fan, which is a cone-shaped pile of sand, gravel and silt that forms where a steep stream slows and drops the debris it carries. Over time, repeated floods build up this fan. It looks flat and inviting – perfect for a settlement, hotel, or car park – but when the next flash flood happens, the water and debris flow straight back down, burying whatever is built there.

This is not theory but history repeating itself. Dharali, which is built around the ancient Kalp Kedar Hindu temple, has faced flash floods before. Records show the temple has been buried multiple times, most recently in 2013. This also highlights our short memory span.

Climate change and poor planning

Rising temperatures can lead to more intense and erratic rainfall, and this does raise the likelihood of cloudbursts and glacial lake outbursts. But focusing only on climate change makes disasters sound unavoidable.

In reality, much of the destruction is preventable. Poor planning and reckless construction have put people in harm’s way. Roads, hotels, even entire towns, are expanding into zones geomorphology tells us are flood prone.

When disaster follows, we blame the climate. But the harder truth is that our own decisions magnify the risks.

Ignoring geomorphology has serious consequences. For governments, it means billions spent on disaster relief and rebuilding after every monsoon. For developers, it means investments washed away in a single night. For tourists, it means the risk of being caught in floods during what should be a holiday. And for mountain communities, it means living in constant danger.

What is needed is geomorphic literacy. Planners, policymakers, developers and citizens need to read the land and respect its signals. The land itself tells us where floods have happened before, and where they will happen again. Listening to it can save lives.

Flash floods due to cloudbursts and glacial lake outbursts are a natural part of the Himalayan monsoon. They cannot be prevented, and climate change may make them more frequent. But the devastation they cause is not inevitable – it is shaped by where and how we build.

Geomorphology is nature’s diary, showing where water and debris have flowed for centuries. Learning to read it can keep people safe.

The Dharali disaster is a painful reminder that the real danger is not only in the sky, but in our failure to understand and respect the land beneath our feet. Unless we take that lesson seriously and build geomorphic awareness into planning, policy making and public understanding, tragedies like Dharali will keep happening, year after year.

Manudeo Singh 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. Himalayan flash floods: climate change worsens them, but poor planning makes them deadly – https://theconversation.com/himalayan-flash-floods-climate-change-worsens-them-but-poor-planning-makes-them-deadly-263561

Source: The Conversation – UK – By James Sweeney, Professor, Lancaster Law School, Lancaster University

There has been widespread international outrage at Israel’s attack on Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, northern Gaza, on August 25. The attack took the form of a “double tap” strike. The first attack killed at least one person, then – as medics, journalists and other responders rushed to the scene – a second attack on the same location killed another 20 people. This included five journalists and several medical staff treating people injured in the first attack.

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has called the incident a “tragic mishap”. But whether or not the attacks on the hospital were intentionally directed, the double tap tactic almost certainly falls under those acts of war prohibited by the law of armed conflict and could constitute a war crime on that basis alone.

Whether or not charges specifically relating to the attacks on Nasser Hospital are ever brought, it’s an opportunity to examine how international law operates in situations like this.

Who is fighting who, and why it matters

That the hostilities in Gaza constitute, in international law, an “armed conflict” is beyond doubt. That means that there are grounds for the application of the law of armed conflict (LOAC) – or as it is also known, international humanitarian law.

If we see today’s conflict as being between Israel and Hamas, then it would be a non-international conflict because it would not be between two or more states. But if it is between Israel and Palestine then, whether or not Israel recognises Palestine as a valid state, it would be international. In May 2024, International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan caused some controversy when he said that it was both, running in parallel.

This issue is important because the rules covering international and non-international armed conflict are not the same. The rules on international armed conflict are older and more detailed. This also means that there are separate lists of international and non-international war crimes in the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC. But the LOAC rules relevant to a double-tap attack are similar enough in both types of conflict that we can postpone coming to a conclusion on this until such as time as war crime charges are actually brought.

Law of armed conflict

The first essential feature of LOAC is that it is all based on the idea that the means (weapons) and methods (tactics) used in an armed conflict are “not unlimited”. That is why some weapons are banned – chemical weapons, for example. When it comes to tactics it is, for example, unlawful to order to “take no prisoners”.

There are other even more fundamental rules on methods that govern the conduct of hostilities.

The main rules on hostilities are often said to be humanity, necessity, distinction and proportionality. Humanity is about not inflicting unnecessary suffering. Necessity requires that in applying the other rules a commander should be able to do what they need to “win”, but no more than that. Distinction requires that only lawful objectives should be targeted for attack. Proportionality requires that when a lawful objective is attacked, the expected “collateral damage” should not be excessive to the expected military advantage of the attack.

It’s important to note that a judgement on proportionality must be made before a military action is launched and during an attack “constant care” should be taken that the situation really is what the military commander thought it was when they ordered the attack. That rule is meant to minimise accidents.

Double-tap attacks

Distinction and proportionality are the key principles for looking at a “double-tap attack” such as the one on August 25. First, applying the rule on distinction, there are only very limited circumstances in which a hospital could ever be a lawful target. Hospitals are marked out for special protection under the Geneva Conventions. The same goes for journalists, who are protected alongside all other civilians, as long as they do not become engaged in fighting.

Further to this, it would be reasonable to expect that after a lethal attack medics would attend the site, and journalists might want to cover it. Launching the second attack could therefore be said to be either intentionally directed against the medics and journalists or, at the very least, uncaring as to whether both lawful and unlawful targets might be killed. That is known as an “indiscriminate” attack. So it also violates the rule on distinction. It is also difficult to see how the second attack could have been accidental.

And even if it were argued that the hospital was a lawful target, for example due to being used by Hamas fighters to stage attacks on the Israeli forces, the collateral damage was almost certainly going to be vast. So, for that reason, it would violate the rule on proportionality.

Israel is a state party to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, which require that “grave breaches” of their rules are investigated and prosecuted. Alternatively, and whether or not the conflict is found to be international or non-international, the Rome Statute provides a solid basis for the above violations of LOAC to be prosecuted as war crimes at the International Criminal Court.

James Sweeney 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. Was the ‘double tap’ attack on Gaza’s Nasser hospital a war crime? Here’s what the laws of war say – https://theconversation.com/was-the-double-tap-attack-on-gazas-nasser-hospital-a-war-crime-heres-what-the-laws-of-war-say-263955

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Helen Hall, Professor, Nottingham Law School, Nottingham Trent University

Nuns loom large in the European imagination. They are often caricatured to the point of dehumanisation. Either as a grotesque comic creation, like the chocolate-obsessed sister in Father Ted (1995-1998), or a monstrous aberration, like the demon Valak from the Conjuring (2013-2025) films.

Either way, by rendering the nun unreal, and stripping her of personhood, these portrayals allow viewers to avoid confronting the uncomfortable questions that a flesh and blood nun raises. In contrast, nuns who are not safely contained in the realm of fiction, but live and breathe in our world, force us to consider whether the aspirations and desires that society expects women, and indeed human beings, to feel, are in fact cultural rather than innate.

If we take the dangerous step of acknowledging that nuns are no different from anybody else, we face the unsettling question of whether we too could reshape our experience of sexuality, fulfilment, interpersonal connection and community. Watching the new documentary film Mother Vera pushes viewers forcefully to take that step.

Following a conversation with a family member, Mother Vera, the protagonist nun of the film, is compelled to reclaim buried memories and face the events that led her to choose life in a convent. This leads her on a journey of renewal and transformation, with all of the losses and gains bound up with change. However, the visual storytelling weaves a complex tapestry of emotions and ideas as this unfolds.

Mother Vera is an immersive work of art and the beauty of the cinematography is almost hypnotic. Countryside, animals and people move across the screen and pull observers into a different time and place. On occasion it is so vivid that it is almost possible to catch the scent of the candles in a darkened church, or the smell of cattle in the yard.

Yet while it is highly evocative, Mother Vera is a demanding watch. The audience is permitted to enter into the life of the nun and her order, and given an infinitesimal, but powerful, taste of the silence and stillness of that domain.

Engaging with it is radically different from seeing a film propelled forward by constant dialogue, or framed in a way that leads viewers inexorably towards a prescribed moral conclusion or emotional response. Mother Vera not only gives those watching space to react and reflect individually, it almost compels them to do so.

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Nuns are a staple on the Hollywood screen – even as they disappear from real life. What’s behind our timeless obsession?

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This is not to suggest that the film ever pretends naivety or neutrality – it is far too carefully constructed for that. It also plays with some very well-worn tropes in respect of nuns and indeed religion. The story arc centred on a slow burn of inner and outer liberation is a familiar one.

Equally, the central character is depicted in a way that sets her apart from the audience. The clothes that she wears and the physical setting through which she moves call to mind not just another era, but another period in history. There are moments when she seems almost medieval, as she is shown from a distance riding on horseback, long garments flowing, or when the camera pans to a close up of her face, framed by stark black cloth.

Playing with archetypes

At times, Mother Vera teeters on the verge of being overdone. It comes close to the cliché of presenting nuns as distinct from other members of society, and needing to shed something of their otherworldly nature if they are to reintegrate, or even authentically interact, with those outside of the cloister walls.

However, the sophistication of the film as a whole means that we are not expected to unquestioningly consume these cardboard cut-out ideas. Instead, we are invited to play with the archetypes on screen and interrogate the extent to which we really believe in them.

These archetypes are complicated because they are not entirely without grounding in reality. Members of religious orders are indeed secluded and set apart from the wider population, and live their lives according to an alternative set of parameters. When entering an order, there are formal rites of passage, as a person moves from one context into another. The question of what it might mean to walk in the opposite direction, creating more personal symbolism, is a recurring theme.

Significantly, within the protagonist’s journey there are threads of continuity: most obviously, but not uniquely, her bond with horses. These points of continuity demonstrate that in some respects, both the distinct periods of an individual’s life, and the sacred and secular realms of society, are part of an integrated whole.

We are captivated by the crossroads at which this particular nun has found herself, because her dilemmas and decisions resonate with our own, regardless of belief, gender, language or other characteristics. Not only does Mother Vera vividly evoke its specific setting, in doing so, it lays bare universal struggles.

Mother Vera is beautifully constructed and manages to be both lavish and minimalist at the same time. The existential nature of the material that it explores, combined with its appeal to the senses, mean that it lingers in the mind long after the film has ended.

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Helen Hall is a priest in the Church of England

– ref. Mother Vera: beautiful documentary film about a nun’s dilemma – reviewed by a priest – https://theconversation.com/mother-vera-beautiful-documentary-film-about-a-nuns-dilemma-reviewed-by-a-priest-263746