Category: The Conversation – UK

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Elizabeth Rosser, Associate Professor of Aging, Rheumatology and Regenerative Medicine, UCL

Actress, singer and makeup mogul Selena Gomez has been candid about her experience of living with lupus. Since 2015, Gomez has documented on social media and in interviews the effect the condition has had on her health.

In 2017, the actress shared that she’d undergone a kidney transplant due to lupus-related organ damage. Then, earlier this month, Gomez said on a podcast that she’s developed arthritis related to her lupus symptoms.

Selena Gomez’s story has raised important awareness of the wide-ranging health impacts associated with lupus. But even still, many people may not know exactly what lupus is – nor how it can have such widespread affects on the body.

What is lupus?

Lupus is an autoimmune condition. This means the immune cells malfunction and attack parts of the body instead of potential pathogens – causing inflammation and damage.

There are two common forms of lupus. Discoid lupus affects the skin, causing painful rashes. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is more severe and can affect multiple organs. It’s estimated around 3.4 million people worldwide are living with SLE.

In SLE, the immune cells target our DNA, as well as the proteins that help to package our DNA within a cell’s nucleus (information hub). This improper immune response allows the disease to affect nearly every major organ system in the body. This includes the skin (causing a butterfly-shaped rash over the nose and cheeks), kidneys, brain, heart, lungs and the joints.

Up to 95% of people living with systemic lupus will experience arthritis or joint pain. Fatigue and pain can also have a significant affect quality of life for people living with lupus.

Other lesser-known complications from SLE include an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease and cancers – most commonly lymphoma.

Who is most at risk?

What causes lupus and why the immune system malfunctions remains unknown. However, we do know that women are much more likely to develop systemic lupus. It’s estimated that 90% of those diagnosed with lupus are women. It’s also more common in women of reproductive age.

According to research my colleagues and I have recently published, these gender differences may partly be due to the influence of different sex hormones on immune cell function.

People who are Hispanic, Asian, Black or Indigenous are also more likely to develop SLE than white people. Black people have a five- to nine-fold greater risk of SLE compared to white people.

It has also been shown that Black people living with SLE are more likely to die early compared to white people living with SLE. This is probably due to the complex interplay between socioeconomic factors (such as access to healthcare) and differences in how the immune system functions.

How is lupus treated?

Lupus remains an incurable disease, but can be managed through treatment.

Lupus is characterised by periods where the disease flares up and periods where it’s in remission (where there are few symptoms). The aim with treatment is to keep the disease in remission. However, this can be a complex journey – and may take time to find the right drug that works for a patient.

During flare-ups, symptoms are typically managed with steroids. These quickly dampen immune system function to prevent damage to the body. But long-term steroid use can have multiple side-effects – including changes to bone health and eye health (leading to cataracts and glaucoma). As such, doctors try to limit steroid usage as much as possible.

Alongside steroids, disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs are used to stop flare-ups and keep lupus-triggered inflammation at bay. These drugs modulate the immune system and suppress it.

Biologics, which are a type of anti-rheumatic drug, selectively target the parts of the immune system that cause lupus inflammation. But while these drugs are effective at dampening inflammation, many patients report that they do not always help with fatigue and pain.

Crucially, certain lupus treatments (and especially one called cyclophosphamide) can also cause fertility problems, such as menstrual irregularities and a reduced number of eggs in the ovaries. They do this by affecting the health of the ovarian follicles (structures which house eggs in the ovary).

Although new therapies introduced over the last 20 years have drastically reduced mortality associated with systemic lupus, current research estimates that it can still take up to five years to be correctly diagnosed. This can lead to more organ damage – and eventually worse disease outcomes.

It’s clear we still desperately need more research into the causes of the condition so we can improve treatments and quality of life for people living with the condition.

What’s next for lupus treatments?

Despite these challenges, there are some exciting innovations happening in the field of lupus research.

This includes repurposing a form of cancer therapy that uses a patient’s own immune cells (T cells) and engineers them to destroy cancer cells. These cells, called CAR-T cells, are now being engineered to recognise malfunctioning parts of the immune system to help some people living with lupus achieve long-term disease remission.

Researchers are also looking to identify predictive lupus “biomarkers” (signs of the disease that can be detected in a blood sample). This will help identify how different people will respond to certain lupus treatments, which would be an important first step in being able to personalise treatments to each patient.

Our understanding of the biological processes causing lupus continues to grow each year. With continued awareness of the disease and the many ways it can affect daily life, we’re getting closer to identifying treatment targets that may someday help cure the condition.

Elizabeth Rosser receives funding from the Medical Research Foundation, the Lister Institute for Preventive Medicine and the Kennedy Trust for Rheumatology Research.

– ref. What is lupus, the condition Selena Gomez is diagnosed with? – https://theconversation.com/what-is-lupus-the-condition-selena-gomez-is-diagnosed-with-266273

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Maria Ahmad, PhD Candidate, Cognitive Neuroscience, Psychology and Language Sciences, UCL

One of the biggest navigation challenges is knowing where you are in the open ocean without tools or devices. This remarkable skill is exemplified by the ancient techniques once used by expert navigators of the Marshall Islands, a chain of
low-lying coral islands and atolls situated between Hawaii and the Philippines.

Together with a cognitive neuroscientist, philosopher, Marshallese anthropologist and two Indigenous sailors, I was part of a sailing expedition that aimed to explore how Marshallese sailors use their environment to find their way at sea. Aboard Stravaig, a 42ft (12m) trimaran (a boat with three hulls), the winds and waves carried us 60 miles from Majuro atoll to Aur atoll.

In the six years I lived in the Marshall Islands, I had never travelled past Eneko, a small islet within the lagoon of Majuro. I was always drawn to the reef where the lagoon meets the ocean, watching the white surf appear as the waves broke against the barrier that protected the atoll.

It was the knowledge of those waves that the ri meto (the person of the sea, a title given to a navigator by the chief), would dedicate their lives to mastering. By sensing subtle changes in ocean swells, the ri meto could detect the direction and distance to islands that lay thousands of miles beyond the horizon.

With this ancient knowledge, the ri meto mastered one of the most extraordinary skills known to humans: navigating the Pacific. But the devastating history of the Marshall Islands has extinguished the practice and currently, there is no officially appointed ri meto.

Alson Kelen is the apprentice of the last-known ri meto. His parents were displaced from the northern Bikini atoll during the US lead nuclear programme that detonated 67 atomic and thermonuclear bombs in the Marshall Islands during the 1940s and 50s.

Beyond the catastrophic destruction and suffering, it disrupted the inter-generational transfer of traditional knowledge, including navigation. As part of revival efforts by professor of anthropology Joseph Genz, Kelen captained the jitdaam kapeel, a traditional Marshallese canoe, from Majuro to Aur in 2015, relying solely on the traditional navigational skills he had learned as an apprentice.

Inspired by this, I was curious about the role that neuroscience played in understanding wayfinding at sea. Research in spatial navigation has revealed how the brain’s neural and cognitive processes help us find our way. Most of this research focuses on land-based navigation, either in lab settings or controlled environments using video games or virtual reality headsets. But the cognitive demands at sea are considerably greater with constantly changing factors, such as swells, winds, clouds and stars.

Neuroscience of navigation

As the director of Waan Aelon in Majel, a local canoe building and sailing school, Kelen chose two highly skilled traditional sailors to join us on our research expedition.

As we approached the channel, the steady waves of the lagoon gave way to the heavier ocean swells hitting the hull. The crew tightened the ropes and the sails were hoisted. All of a sudden, I felt the dominant eastern swell lift the boat. We had left the calm of the lagoon and were bound for Aur Atoll.

For the next two days, Stravaig was our lab on the ocean. For more than 40 hours we were collecting cognitive and physiological data from nine crew members, along with constant environmental data from our ever-changing surroundings.

We asked everyone to keep track of their estimated location throughout the voyage. Only two crew members (the captain and first mate) had access to GPS at intervals; others relied solely on the environment and memory. At hourly intervals, each crew member would mark their estimated position on a map, along with their predictions of how much time and distance remained till the first signs of land and eventually landfall itself. They also noted any environmental stimuli, such as the waves, winds or the position of the sun they were using.

The crew also rated four key emotions throughout the journey: happiness, tiredness, worry and seasickness. Each crew member wore an Empatica smartwatch, which recorded changes in their heart rate.

An accelerometer was mounted onto the top deck to record the movement of the boat as the wave patterns changed. A separate mounted 360° GoPro camera captured changes in the sails, clouds, sun, moon and movement of crew on deck.

Just before the last piece of land dipped under the horizon, each crew member pointed to five atolls: Jabwot, Ebeye, Erikub, Aur Tabal, Arno and Majuro. A covered compass was used to record the bearings. This was repeated across the journey to test orientation skills without reference to land.

By the end of this voyage, we had a rich collection of data that mixes subjective experiences with objective measurements of the environment. Every estimation plotted on a map, every emotion, every changing heart rate was recorded in conjunction with changes in wave patterns, the wind, the sky and the GPS beneath it all. This new data forms the foundation for a model that could begin to explain the cognitive process of wayfinding at sea, whilst also offering a glimpse into this ancient human ability, one that the ri meto mastered long ago.

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This research project is lead by Prof. Hugo Spiers Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London. The research team includes: Alson Kelen Director of Waan Aelon in Majel, Prof. Joseph Genz Anthropologist at the University of Hawai’i at Hilo, Prof. John Huth Donner Professor of Science Harvard University Physics Department, Prof. Gad Marshall Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Prof. Shahar Arzy Professor of Neurology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Dr. Pablo Fernandez Velasco, British Academy postdoctoral fellow, University of Stirling, Jerolynn Neikeke Myazoe Graduate Student, University of Hawai’i at Hilo, Clansey Takia Indigenous Sailing and Canoe building instructor WAM, Binton Daniel Indigenous Sailing and Canoe building instructor WAM, Chewy C. Lin Documentary film-maker and Dishad Hussain Director at Imotion Films.

This project has been supported by the Royal Institute of Navigation, University College London and the Centre for the Sciences of Place and Memory at the University of Stirling (funded by the Leverhulme Trust), Royal Veterinary College, Glitchers, Neuroscience & Design, Empatica, Imotion and Brunton.

– ref. My voyage to explore how Pacific island sailors find their way at sea without technology – https://theconversation.com/my-voyage-to-explore-how-pacific-island-sailors-find-their-way-at-sea-without-technology-261032

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Gemma Ware, Host, The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The Conversation

When Donald Trump gave a press conference in late September urging pregnant women to avoid taking paracetamol unless medically necessary because of a possible link to autism, the reaction from the scientific community was swift and loud.

There is no scientific evidence that paracetamol – commonly sold as Tylenol in the US – causes autism. Instead, decades of research points to a complex interplay of genetic and environmental factors that may increase the risk for autism, although no one gene for autism has been identified.

Trump’s finger-pointing at paracetamol was part of a push by his health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr to explain a sharp rise in the number of autism cases in recent decades that he’s labelled an “epidemic”.

Yet, as American politicians give oxygen to unproven theories about what might be behind the rise, experts repeatedly point to the changing nature of how autism is diagnosed and viewed.

A key moment in the history of autism diagnosis was the publication in 1994 of a new version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV (DSM). The DSM, published by the American Psychiatric Association, is a reference book of psychiatric conditions and how to diagnose them. It’s based on the latest science and is used by psychiatrists and psychologists around the world.

In this episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast, we speak to Andrew Whitehouse, a professor of autism research at the University of Western Australia, about why this shift in autism diagnosis happened in the 1990s, what impact it had, and what it’s meant for the support autistic people get.

 When I started in the field in 1998-9, we diagnosed about one in every 2,000 children. That was pretty much the same in every anglo-western country … Nowadays, in Australia we’re seeing diagnosis of one in every 40 children. That’s an extraordinary increase.

Listen to the conversation with Andrew Whitehouse on The Conversation Weekly podcast.

This episode of The Conversation Weekly was written and produced by Katie Flood, Mend Mariwany and Gemma Ware. Mixing and sound design by Michelle Macklem and theme music by Neeta Sarl.

Newsclips in this episode from NBC News, NBC Montana and Rain Man.

Listen to The Conversation Weekly via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our RSS feed or find out how else to listen here. A transcript of this episode is available on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Andrew is a Director on the Board of Autism Awareness Australia.

– ref. How changes in autism diagnosis help explain the rise in cases – podcast – https://theconversation.com/how-changes-in-autism-diagnosis-help-explain-the-rise-in-cases-podcast-266430

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Dipa Kamdar, Senior Lecturer in Pharmacy Practice, Kingston University

Digestive discomfort – whether it’s bloating after a heavy meal or the occasional bout of indigestion – can make anyone miserable.

While modern medicine offers effective treatments, there’s renewed interest in natural ways to support gut health. For centuries, herbs and spices have been used in traditional medicine for their digestive benefits, and modern science is beginning to back up some of these age-old remedies.

These five herbs and spices have been linked to better digestion. Here’s what the evidence shows

1. Peppermint

Peppermint (Mentha piperita) is one of the best-known herbs for easing digestive distress. Its active compound, menthol, relaxes the muscles of the gut, helping to reduce bloating, gas and abdominal pain. It may also reduce sensitivity to pain, fight harmful bacteria and calm inflammation.

Clinical trials show that peppermint oil capsules can relieve irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) symptoms. Peppermint oil may not suit people with acid reflux, because it can relax the lower oesophageal sphincter – the muscle that stops stomach acid flowing back into the throat – potentially triggering heartburn, particularly on an empty stomach. Peppermint tea is gentler and may offer similar benefits.

2. Chamomile

Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) is famous for its calming effects and may also soothe the digestive system. Chamomile tea is one of the world’s most popular herbal drinks – about a million cups are consumed each day – and has long been used to ease indigestion, gas, stomach upset and gut irritation.

Evidence is mostly traditional, but animal studies show chamomile extract can reduce stomach ulcers thanks to its antioxidant properties. Chamomile may also help children: in one study, 57% of infants given a chamomile-based tea had relief from colic within a week, compared with 26% in the placebo group. Another trial found that children with mild diarrhoea recovered more quickly when treated with a chamomile mixture. (These studies combined chamomile with other herbs.)

Chamomile is generally safe, but a few people may be allergic to it.

3. Carom Seeds (Ajwain)

Carom seeds (Trachyspermum ammi), or ajwain, are staples in Indian cooking and Ayurvedic medicine. They’ve been used for centuries to relieve gas and bloating, probably because of thymol, a compound that stimulates the stomach to produce more acid — sometimes up to four times more.

In animal studies, carom seeds increased the speed at which food moved through the digestive tract, boosted digestive enzyme activity and increased bile secretion, which helps break down fats. Research also shows antispasmodic effects, relaxing gut muscles by blocking receptors that normally trigger contractions. Human data is limited, but culinary use is considered safe.

Pregnant or breastfeeding women should avoid large doses, as high intakes have been linked to miscarriages.

4. Fennel

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) is traditionally chewed after meals in many cultures to freshen breath and aid digestion. Its seeds are high in insoluble fibre, which helps prevent gas build-up and bloating. The NHS recommends about 30g of fibre a day.

Anethole, fennel’s main active compound, is chemically similar to dopamine and relaxes gut muscles – a mechanism confirmed in lab studies. In a small trial in people with IBS, fennel reduced cramp-like abdominal pain, probably due to this muscle-relaxing effect. Fennel water, mixed with sodium bicarbonate and syrup to make gripe water, has long been used to ease infant gas and bloating. Human trials are limited, but fennel’s long history of safe use supports its traditional role in digestive care.

5. Cumin

Cumin (Cuminum cyminum) has an equally long track record for easing digestive problems. Modern studies suggest it boosts digestive enzyme activity, speeding the breakdown of food. It also encourages the release of bile from the liver, which helps digest fats and absorb nutrients.

One study conducted using rats found cumin shortened the time food spent in the digestive tract by about 25%, likely due to these enzyme and bile effects. In a clinical trial of 57 people with IBS, concentrated cumin significantly eased symptoms within two weeks.

Herbs and spices are not a replacement for medical treatment, but they can complement a balanced diet and offer gentle support for everyday digestive issues. In normal amounts they are generally safe to cook with, but anyone with underlying conditions or on medication should consult a healthcare professional first. For many, though, a cup of chamomile tea or a sprinkle of cumin may be a simple – and tasty – step toward better digestive health.

Dipa Kamdar 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. Five herbs and spices that could help improve your digestion – https://theconversation.com/five-herbs-and-spices-that-could-help-improve-your-digestion-262768

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Andrew Nickson, Honorary Reader in the Department of International Development, University of Birmingham

Paraguay hosted the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), a gathering of the global right, for the first time in mid-September. In attendance were members of US president Donald Trump’s inner circle, including his long-term foreign policy advisor Richard Grenell, and President Javier Milei of Argentina.

The Paraguayan president, Santiago Peña, gave a keynote address confirming the growing identification of his Colorado party administration with the global ultra-conservative movement. He emphasised that he would defend before the world his opposition to “free abortion”, “alternative ideas of the family” and “radical social experiments”.

Paraguay is the Latin American country most strongly aligned with the foreign policy of the Trump administration. It is one of only 12 countries in the world, and the only one in South America, to maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan. And in December 2024 it moved its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, which Trump officially recognised as the Israeli capital in 2017 to much international criticism.

In UN General Assembly votes in June and September respectively, Paraguay joined just ten countries in voting with the US and Israel against a ceasefire in Gaza. It also voted against a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Then, alongside the US, Israel, Nauru and Palau, it voted against the decision to allow Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas, to address the recent 80th session of the General Assembly by video link after the Trump administration refused visas for Palestinian officials to enter the US.

The US has also signed an agreement with Paraguay to outsource some of its asylum claims. The Safe Third Country Agreement will allow asylum seekers already in the US to have their claims processed in Paraguay. The details remain vague. It is unclear who will cover the costs and whether Paraguay will be obliged to host immigrants indefinitely if a visa application is refused.

And the US has announced a new joint anti-terrorism base in the Paraguayan capital, Asunción, with an operational arm in Ciudad del Este, a city on the Brazilian border. The aim is to combat international terrorism, organised crime and money laundering.

This identification with Trump’s foreign policy has been accompanied by growing links to extreme right-wing political movements in the Americas and Europe. In June, Paraguay hosted the fourth annual meeting of the Foro de Madrid, an international grouping linked to Vox, the hardline right-wing political party in Spain. Vox leader, Santiago Abascal, attended the meeting and called the Paraguayan government “a great ally”.

The Paraguayan government’s posture is spearheaded by two key figures in the Colorado party – Raúl Latorre, president of the lower house of Congress, and Gustavo Leite, the recently appointed Paraguayan ambassador to the US. Both men are possible candidates to replace Peña in the presidency in 2028.

Vehemently opposed to feminism, abortion and gay marriage, they repeatedly stress that Paraguay is an “island of conservatism”. They are also opposed to what they see as subversive foreign NGOs that enter the country under the cover of development cooperation.

In January, Latorre attended a Brussels meeting of Patriots for Europe, an extreme right grouping of European Parliament members. The following month, he spoke at a CPAC in Washington attended by Trump. And at a CPAC in Budapest several months later, Latorre and Leite condemned the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the EU and “globalists” such as Bill Gates and George Soros.

In his formal credentials ceremony in the White House on September 5, Leite posed with Trump wearing a “Make America Great Again” cap. In an effort to curry favour with the US president, he expressed his determination to halt what he called illegal efforts by China to reverse the current diplomatic recognition of Taiwan by funding opposition politicians in Paraguay.

Conservative political tradition

Paraguay’s longstanding right-wing political tradition has facilitated this political alignment. In 1887, German colonists established a colony at Nueva Germania in the north of Paraguay. The colony was inspired by the ideals of an Aryan master race.

The first Latin American branch of the German National Socialist party, known as the Nazi party, was also founded in Paraguay in 1929. And by 1939 Nazi swastikas and portraits of Adolf Hitler were prominently displayed in German schools and businesses in Asunción and the Mennonite colonies of western Paraguay’s remote Chaco region.

During the second world war, the Frente de Guerra faction of pro-fascist military and police officers exercised a strong influence over the Paraguayan government in alliance with the extreme conservative Tiempista lay movement inside the Catholic Church.

This extremist tradition was strengthened during the brutal rule of Alfredo Stroessner, son of a German immigrant, from 1954 to 1989. His regime was a staunch ally of apartheid South Africa and also became a haven for Nazis fleeing Europe. They were attracted by Stroessner’s virulent anti-communism and protected by a long-established tradition of German immigration.

These people included Josef Mengele, the infamous Nazi doctor at the Auschwitz concentration camp, who was granted Paraguayan citizenship in 1959 in his own name. Several thousand lesser known figures in the SS paramilitary organisation and Gestapo secret police migrated to Paraguay’s Mennonite colonies and German communities.

The Colorado party, through which Stroessner ruled the country, continues to dominate the political arena and pays lip service to his memory.

There is also a more prosaic reason for Paraguay’s alignment with Trump. In July 2022, during the presidency of Joe Biden, the US State Department declared former Paraguayan president Horacio Cartes (2013-2018) “a significantly corrupt person”. It cited his alleged ties to international crime, money laundering and links to international terrorism.

Cartes is the richest person in Paraguay. He bankrolls the Colorado party and handpicked Peña to do his bidding in the presidency. The US tightened sanctions against his sprawling business empire in August 2024, forcing him to divest ownership of Tabacalera del Este. Known as Tabesa, the company has routinely been accused of smuggling cigarettes throughout the Americas.

Since Trump returned to power in January 2025, Cartes has been doing everything to curry favour with the US administration in order to get the sanctions removed. So far, he has been unsuccessful.

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

– ref. How Paraguay became a bastion of conservatism in Latin America – https://theconversation.com/how-paraguay-became-a-bastion-of-conservatism-in-latin-america-266027

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Tony Milligan, Teaching Associate, University of Sheffield

Beyond the race for scientific, commercial and military purposes, there is another space race of a more curious sort. A race to be the first to send various objects up there. But why?

In December 2024, Buddhist monks from Japan attempted unsuccessfully to send a small temple on board a satellite into orbit. The rocket did make it more than 110km from Earth, making it the first time the Dainichi Nyorai (the Buddha of the Cosmos) and the mandala were transported into outer space. The monks hope to try again in the future.

The space temple is only about the size of a medium Amazon delivery box, and covered in protective gold tinted foil. Buddha sits in a special compartment on top. The idea is that, with a growing number of Japanese people living outside of Japan, prayers for departed loved ones could be beamed up to the Buddha as he passes overhead.

Being the first matters. Humans appear to have an innate preference for being first, even being more likely to pick the first options in a list. It is tempting to explain this by appeal to what the Austrian medical doctor Alfred Adler called the “inferiority complex” – a need to keep proving ourselves.

Yet it may simply be an evolutionary trait of a sort which was genuinely useful in the past but has spilled over into more curious modern preferences, such as expecting more of a first born child or voting for the first candidate on the list.

What’s more, through what the biologist Ernst Mayr called the “founder effect”, first movers exercise a disproportionate influence on what happens later on.

Mayr’s original idea was about population genetics and how founders of a population of organisms can restrict later diversity. But the idea has since been applied more broadly to explain why those who arrive or act first tend to have a disproportionate influence on later agents.

Seen in that light, it makes perfect sense that people want to be the first to send something into space. But the choice of objects sent is not always so obvious. Or rather, there is a sliding scale that runs from understandable to downright odd.

Immortality, nostalgia and aliens

At the understandable end of the scale, we have the remains of humans, pets and even dinosaurs. Not large pieces, just bits of hair or ashes.

A company called Celestis has been sending ashes and DNA into space since 1994. In 1997, it sent the fragmentary cremated remains of 24 people, including Star Trek creator Gene Roddenbery, on what was called the “Founders Flight”. It was the first memorial flight into space.

Five years later, the remains unintentionally de-orbited. Yet even with this accidental burn-up, relatives may feel that their loved ones have achieved an immortality of sorts. After all, they were the first.

Something similar applies to pets. A failed launch in January 2024 included more of Gene Roddenberry and partial remains of a dog called Indica-Noodle Fabiano.

Memorialising the dead in space is particularly popular. Even the Apollo 15 mission left a fallen astronauts memorial plaque at Hadley Rille on the Moon in 1971.

Similarly, we have, on several occasions, sent dinosaur bones temporarily into orbit. Inclusion of a T.rex fragment on a 2014 NASA Orion flight was justified “as a reminder of how much life Earth had seen during its existence”.

This reveals a deeper, more emotional reason for why we want to send stuff to space. Coupled with the quest of being first, such items can be proxies for immortality.

They can also be born out of nostalgia. Why else would we want past life on Earth to leave a continuing trace?

Other items are harder to understand. In December, a company called beingAI is planning on having a nickel disk delivered to the Moon. The disk will be imprinted with a digital image of a trainee AI Buddhist priest called Emi Jido.

There aren’t just Buddhist messages in space. For example, the Russian segment of the International Space Station contains all manner of Orthodox religious iconography

But what’s the point of having religious messages in space when there’s no-one there to read them? This reveals yet another intention: we hope that eventually a message will travel far enough to reach another life form.

Making a mark

Similarly, there is little obvious sense in the transmission of Poetica Vaginal, a weak signal of converted vaginal contractions transmitted in the direction of the Eridanis constellation by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1986. The US Air Force, which was in control of the ground facility, quickly intervened before a stronger transmission could be sent.

And it is frankly odd that an invitation to a performance of Klingon opera was sent to Arcturus in the Boötes constellation in 2010, with the invitation written in Klingon (a fictional language from Star Trek). Rather than a representative message from our culture, this came close to cosmic misinformation.

In the best-known case of strange objects sent to space, Elon Musk launched his cherry-red Tesla Roadster sports car in 2018, complete with a mannequin in the driver’s seat, and David Bowie’s Space Oddity blaring on the car radio. Currently, it is around 248 million km from Earth.

These things may reveal yet another reason for why we send stuff to space that is less about immortality, nostalgia, communicating with aliens, or being first. Objects which appear pointless in their own right are still a statement of intent. It is like someone putting a towel on a deckchair that you are not ready to use, but will return to later.

Space infrastructure will ultimately depend on mining the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. And the orbit of Musk’s Roadster crosses and recrosses the orbit of Mars as it travels around the Sun.

Indeed, we know that the Moon, Mars and some little distance beyond could be important parts of humanity’s near future. Not just for science, commerce and military applications, but also for our civilisation as a whole.

We haven’t quite figured out what we are going to do with all of this space, and how we will eventually fill it with our humanity. The curious objects that we send can also be seen as a statement of intent to use the locations where they end up, even if the use remains unspecified.

Tony Milligan received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant agreement No. 856543).

– ref. The other space race: why the world is obsessed with sending objects into orbit – https://theconversation.com/the-other-space-race-why-the-world-is-obsessed-with-sending-objects-into-orbit-265264

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Josh Bullock, Senior Lecturer Criminology and Social Sciences, Kingston University

At a Bristol social club, a psychic medium scans the room, inviting the spirit world into a space more often used for drinking and darts. The medium is talking to a small audience, mostly women.

She says she is giving them messages from their loved ones who have died. She says she is mentally communicating with a very young child in the spirit world. A teenager raises her hand – “Could it be my baby? I lost a baby last year” – and begins to sob.

A hush falls. Strangers cry. The medium comforts her and tells her that her lost baby is well, growing up in the spirit world and looked after. The girl, though still sobbing quietly, seems relieved and grateful.

Through 16 interviews, a survey of 84 people and formal observations at psychic nights, we found that for attendees, these events blur boundaries between sacred and secular, grief and humour, scepticism and belief.

Measuring the popularity of pub psychic nights is difficult. Many are advertised locally, with little digital trace. There is no central record of how many take place, and few appear on national ticketing platforms. But proxies such as Google search data suggest these events are increasing in popularity: the past eight years have seen a +600% increase in Google searches for “psychic night near me” in the UK.

These nights, which often take place on weekday evenings in working men’s clubs, pubs and local function rooms, hold spiritual, social and emotional meaning. This is particularly the case for working-class and otherwise marginalised women.

In all the psychic nights we researched, audiences were at least 95% female, with people attending with friends or family, and ranging from teenagers to retirement age. A large number of those we interviewed identified as working-class. They told us that the pub was an accessible, welcoming, and safe venue. Many were repeat attendees – our survey data showed that the median number of events attended was ten.

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Read more:
How paranormal beliefs help people cope in uncertain times

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What happens at a psychic night

A typical psychic night begins with the audience getting a drink and finding a seat (usually in small groups around pub tables), and the medium introducing themselves and their work.

Long gone are the days when physical mediumship (such as moving tables or glasses to communicate with spirit) dominated the scene, as in the Victorian era. Today, mental mediumship (mental communication between the medium and the spirit world) is most common.

There are usually one or two mediums working at each event, relaying poignant, and sometimes funny, messages from spirit to audience. A medium will ask an audience member, “Do you recognise someone in spirit who died of a heart complaint, could be a grandparent, they loved eating mints”, for example, in an attempt to connect the spirit to the living.

What follows is usually a message of hope, such as: “You’ve been through a difficult time, but brighter days are coming.” Often, messages are ended with the phrase, “I’ll leave their love with you”, before the medium moves to another audience member. Not everyone gets a reading at each event, but many will.

Psychic nights offer participants the chance to engage in spiritual experimentation without committing to institutional religion. There is no requirement to believe in a specific doctrine, to know ritual practices or to attend regularly. You buy a ticket (usually between £5 and £25), order a drink and listen.

Most people we surveyed were not affiliated with any institutional religion. Most actively distanced themselves from organised religion altogether, with 57% stating that religion was not so or not at all important in their lives.

Why people turn to psychic nights

While psychic nights can be entertaining, they are rarely “just entertainment”.
Many who attend pub psychic nights are dealing with loss and grief. Others have questions about what happens when you die, and whether communication with the dead is possible. Some are just along for the laugh.

Many of our participants had longstanding interests in spirit communication and the paranormal (on the rise in Britain and globally), often dating back to childhood stories, family traditions or exposure to ghosts and spirits in popular culture. Some were introduced to psychic nights by friends or family and attended with them; others saw events advertised on social media or in their local pub and were curious. Most described the experience as meaningful, some described it as life-changing.

Mediums, often (although not exclusively) women, encourage audience members to take time for themselves, assert boundaries with partners or children or trust their instincts. In some cases, these messages provide a sense of agency, helping people make difficult life decisions or come to terms with loss. For working-class women especially, these nights offer a space where emotional labour is validated, grief is acknowledged and hope is offered.

Yet, there are risks. Psychic nights operate outside formal institutional frameworks. There is no standard safeguarding, no required aftercare for anyone who might be upset by a message, and limited regulation. Mediums and psychics that are connected to Spiritualist Churches are trained and accredited. They are not allowed to offer health advice or make predictions for the future, though in our observation, not all who operate in pubs or clubs follow this.

We witnessed distressing moments, such as the teenage girl crying over her lost baby, a sister informed that her brother who had violently taken his own life had a message for her, a male medium telling a woman she was being followed by a sex demon. The emotional intensity of these events can be profound, and the lack of support structures raises ethical questions about vulnerability and responsibility.

Still, many participants described feeling “hooked”, because the nights helped them manage grief and the uncertainty of modern life. Our findings suggest that pub psychic nights are becoming a meaningful feature of contemporary British spirituality.

At a time when established forms of Christian affiliation are in decline, these events create opportunities to ask existential questions – about life, death, love and the hereafter – outside the boundaries of formal religious institutions and long-term commitment.

Josh Bullock received funding from The International Research Network for the Study of Science and Belief in Society (INSBS) based at the University Of Birmingham to fund the study, “Weekday Worldviews: The Patrons, Promise and Payoff of Psychic Nights in England”.

Caroline Starkey received funding from The International Research Network for the Study of Science and Belief in Society (INSBS) based at the University Of Birmingham to fund the study, “Weekday Worldviews: The Patrons, Promise and Payoff of Psychic Nights in England”.

– ref. The spiritual and emotional world of pub psychic nights – https://theconversation.com/the-spiritual-and-emotional-world-of-pub-psychic-nights-264086

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Will de Freitas, Environment + Energy Editor, The Conversation

This roundup of The Conversation’s climate coverage was first published in our award-winning weekly climate action newsletter, Imagine.

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You could tell me that China still gets most of its electricity from coal and is building more new coal power plants than anywhere else in the world. And you’d be right.

You could also tell me that China (with a sixth of the world’s population) is installing about half of the world’s new renewable energy. And you’d be right too.

In fact, you could read academic experts making all of the above points on The Conversation. It’s OK to feel confused: China really is a key driver of both emissions and solutions.

The world’s largest emitter is also the single most important country in determining how much the climate will breakdown and whether the world will do enough to stop it.

So what should we make of China and its role in global climate policy?

Imagine a negotiating hall in Belem, Brazil, six weeks from now: it’s the Cop30 climate summit. Officials are murmuring to each other, translators are whispering into their headsets, and people are crowding around one delegation in particular. It isn’t the US or the EU drawing the crowd: it’s China.

Until relatively recently, this would have seemed an outlandish suggestion. But over the past few years many academics from around the world have made the same point: China is increasingly becoming a world leader in climate diplomacy.

For decades, many assumed such leadership would come from the US or Europe. But as US commitment has wavered, and Europe seems preoccupied by other matters, expectations are shifting eastward.

Yixian Sun, an associate professor of international development at the University of Bath, says it’s time for China to step up. He says that: “As an emerging superpower with advantages in clean technologies and a leadership that recently reaffirmed their commitment to climate action, the country is well positioned.”

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Read more:
The world needs climate change leadership – it’s time for China to step up

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Shannon Gibson, who researches the dynamics of UN climate negotiations at the University of Southern California, says that China already is stepping up. In her analysis, the country “seems to be happily filling the climate power vacuum created by the US exit [from the Paris agreement]”.

Beijing, she writes, is using leadership on climate change as part of a “broader strategy of gaining influence and economic power by supporting economic growth and cooperation in developing countries”.

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Read more:
US government may be abandoning the global climate fight, but new leaders are filling the void – including China

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Whether China is engaging in climate diplomacy reluctantly, enthusiastically or strategically, something is clearly shifting. There was a nice illustration of this at the last UN climate summit, Cop29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, last year.

At the time, Lucia Green-Weiskel of Trinity College in the US reported on a spat over whether China should provide funds to help poorer countries adapt to climate change at a level comparable to other big emitters. The dispute, she noted, “almost shut down the entire conference”.

Previously, only UN-listed “developed countries” were expected to pay. However, the draft agreement called on “all actors” to scale up financing. This would have included China, which is a major emitter today but only industrialised recently (so has little historical responsibility for climate change) and remains poorer per capita than other big emitters.

In the end, a compromise was reached. Green-Weiskel says the final agreement “excluded China from the heavier expectations placed on richer nations”.

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Read more:
China’s influence grows at COP29 climate talks as US leadership fades

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Why China’s promises matter

China recently pledged to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 7%–10% by 2035, as part of its commitments under the Paris agreement.

Most analysts were underwhelmed, arguing that Beijing should be more ambitious. But Myles Allen and Kai Jiang of the University of Oxford say it’s worth taking pledges like this seriously as “Beijing has form in only promising what it plans to deliver”. They note that, for instance, China looks set to deliver on a promise to peak its emissions this decade “barely 50 years after it began to industrialise in earnest”.

For them: “China’s targets aren’t just slogans or aspirations – they are statements of intent, grounded in what the country believes it can deliver. And where China goes, others will follow.” That’s because even fairly modest revisions to China’s targets can shift expectations and put pressure on other big emitters to do more.

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Read more:
When China makes a climate pledge, the world should listen

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We can’t simply assert that China is a goodie or a baddie when it comes to global climate change policy. This is complex stuff with lots of moving parts, and you can easily change perceptions simply by emphasising coal power over new solar, or vice versa.

Some will say any leadership is better than a vacuum. And China does seem more serious about addressing climate change than many western governments. But others might feel uneasy: are we ready for a global climate order in which it’s Beijing calling the shots, not Washington or Brussels?

Post-carbon

Welcome back to post-carbon after a couple weeks off. It can be hard to explain to the layperson how a decision made at Cop30 will actually affect them. So this week, we want to know if you’ve directly noticed any big global climate policy affecting your day to day life, for better or for worse. Please share any examples that spring to mind.

– ref. Is China a climate goodie or baddie – or both? – https://theconversation.com/is-china-a-climate-goodie-or-baddie-or-both-266502

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Christina Faraday, Research Fellow in History of Art, University of Cambridge

It can sometimes seem like the Tudors are everywhere, at least in Britain: on television, in bookshops and in historic houses and galleries across the country. Yet within the discipline of art history, appreciation for pictures and objects produced in England between 1485 and 1603 has been slow to take hold.

For a long time, narratives about the popular impetus behind the Reformation led some historians to believe art was unwelcome in Protestant England, for fear it would inspire people to commit idolatry.

Meanwhile, long-held scholarly prejudices towards easel paintings and sculptures (which, excepting portraits, are few and far between in Tudor England) and against “decorative” arts and household objects, reinforced the notion that the country was practically barren of visual art in the 16th century.

Happily, times are now changing. In the last few years, the period’s beautiful and intriguing artworks have been receiving more attention in mainstream art history, not least in the New York Metropolitan Museum’s 2022 exhibition The Tudors: Art and Majesty in Renaissance England.

Still, to date there has never been a comprehensive introduction to Tudor art aimed at the general public. My new book, The Story of Tudor Art will be the first to unite artworks and contexts across the whole of the “long Tudor century”, looking at the works of famous names like Hans Holbein the Younger and Nicholas Hilliard, but also beyond them, to interior furnishings, fashion and objects by unknown makers.

The book considers art made for the royal court, but also for increasing numbers of “middling” professionals, who embraced art and material objects to mark their new-found status in society.

Rather than appreciating art on purely aesthetic terms, Tudor viewers had practical expectations for the objects they owned and commissioned. Art was primarily a mode of communication, akin to speeches or the written word. Images had an advantage, however, as vision was considered the highest of the senses, exerting the greatest power over the mind.

Images could shape the viewer morally – for example, through exposure to long galleries full of portraits of the great and the good, where viewers could learn about them and emulate their virtues. But this shaping was also physical, as with stories of pregnant women who, viewing certain images, were thought to unconsciously shape the foetus in their womb, a phenomenon known as “maternal impression”.

Most casual observers probably recognise Holbein’s magnificent portraits of Henry VIII, and some of Elizabeth I’s many painted personae. But even for aficionados, artworks produced under Henry VII, Edward VI and Mary I remain relatively obscure. One of the book’s aims is to draw attention to these overlooked periods, showing that even during the so-called mid-Tudor crisis (when England had four different rulers in just 11 years), art and architecture remained a priority for shaping narratives about individuals and institutions such as the Church.

Henry VII emerges as a canny patron of visual arts, using various means to promote himself in his new role as king of England. Artists looked to legendary characters, ancient and recent, to bolster his tentative claim to the throne.

Popular legends originating in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s (largely fabricated) “British history”, resurface in a genealogical manuscript in the British Library showing Henry VII’s descent from Brutus, the legendary Trojan founder of Britain. This positions Henry as the Welsh messiah destined to rescue Britain from its Saxon invaders.

Architectural patronage at Westminster Abbey in London and King’s College Chapel in Cambridge aligned him with his half-uncle and Lancastrian predecessor, Henry VI. Rumours of miracles had been swirling about him since his probable murder in 1471. Meanwhile, reforms to the coinage included the first accurate royal likeness on English coins, changing the generic face used by his predecessors into a recognisable portrait of Henry VII himself.

The Protestant monarch Edward VI and his regime passed the first official laws against religious images, resulting in the tearing down of religious images and icons in cathedrals and parish churches. But Edward VI’s reign was not only a time of destruction. Under the influence of the two successive leaders of his council, elite patrons began to embrace classical architecture, a development that may relate to Protestant ideas about restoring the church to the time of Christ’s apostles.

Edward’s successor, Mary I, a staunch Catholic, made many attempts to undo the work of her Protestant-minded predecessor, including legislation to restore some church images. Perhaps more significantly, her marriage to Philip II of Spain brought England into closer artistic alignment with continental Europe. This saw a flood of artworks and artists associated with the Habsburg empire enter the country, including the first Titian portrait ever seen in England.

Due to the long neglect of Tudor art in mainstream art history, a vast amount of research remains to be done. Even within the better-studied reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, discoveries are waiting, and whole avenues of cultural and intellectual interpretation are yet to be explored.

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This article features references to a book that has been included for editorial reasons, and may contain links to bookshop.org. If you click on one of the links and go on to buy something from bookshop.org The Conversation UK may earn a commission.

Christina Faraday has previously received funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council. She is a Trustee of the Walpole Society for British art history.

– ref. Often overlooked, Tudor art richly reflected a turbulent century of growth and change – https://theconversation.com/often-overlooked-tudor-art-richly-reflected-a-turbulent-century-of-growth-and-change-265421

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Yael Benn, Senior Lecturer, Manchester Metropolitan University

Numbers are all around us. In the morning, we wake up to an alarm that tells us it’s time to get out of bed. When deciding what to wear, we often check the temperature outside. We count out the vitamins or prescription pills we need to take while eating our breakfast, we estimate how long it will take to get to the station and then check what platform we need to be on catch the train to work.

Every single one of these examples involves using and understanding numbers. Being able to carry out such small calculations and estimations makes our life possible.

This is why acalculia, a neurological condition that impairs the ability to process and understand numbers, can have a devastating effect on a person’s life. The condition commonly afflicts people who have had a stroke or suffered a brain injury. It’s estimated that it affects between 30%-60% of stroke survivors.

The brain is a complex organ that controls both our movements and senses. It enables us to receive signals from the environment, process information and execute motor actions.

But a stroke or brain injury interrupts blood supply to the brain. If this stroke or injury happens on the left side of the brain, it can cause problems with language processing and other cognitive functions, such as memory. It can also affect movement on the right side of the body.

If it happens on the right side of the brain, movement on the left side of the body will be affected. There may also be cognitive deficits – typically those involved with processing visual information.

But acalculia can occur regardless of which area of the brain has been damaged. This is because processing numbers and performing calculations are done using many different areas of the brain.

This includes the left hemisphere, which helps us process language; the right hemisphere, which is involved in visuo-spatial processing; the posterior part of the brain, which is involved in comprehending magnitude (which of two numbers is smaller or bigger); and the front of the brain, which control executive function.

Lesions or damage to any of these areas can cause problems in how a person processes numbers.

For people with acalculia, sometimes the processing problem can just be surface level. They may feel that they know a number but can’t say it out loud. Or, a person may mean to say or write one number and instead another comes out.

In severe cases, a patient can altogether lose the meaning of numbers. So they may know a number has been mentioned or is written down, but they just can’t figure out what it actually means or how to make sense of it.

Effect on daily life

To understand the impacts of acalculia, my colleagues and I interviewed people with the condition alongside some of their carers to learn how it affected their lives and what support they received.

Stroke and brain injury survivors with acalculia reported being unable to manage their money. Some interviewees spoke of needing to depend on their carer to handle their money or having trouble accessing their internet banking because they struggled with common login questions such as “enter the third character of your pin”.

Worryingly, many participants reported difficulties managing their medications – with several totally relying on their pharmacist.

Simply managing their everyday lives was also made more difficult by the condition. Telling the time was difficult because of the digits. Even using the microwave was difficult because cooking times “are a jumble with numbers,” as one participant put it.

Importantly, acalculia had a detrimental effect on independence and wellbeing. As one participant said: “I feel dumb, embarrassed and frustrated.”

Overall, our findings highlighted just how substantial an effect acalculia had on stroke and brain injury survivors’ independence and quality of life. Acalculia left some unable to return to work, and many unable to live independently or manage their everyday lives, leaving them vulnerable. Our research also pointed out important gaps in how the condition is currently assessed and treated.

Acalculia awareness

One in four adults over the age of 25 are at risk of experiencing a stroke in their lifetime. Although we’re getting better equipped to help people recover from a stroke, acalculia remains overlooked in stroke rehabilitation guidelines. It’s not routinely tested for after a stroke (despite several dedicated assessments available) and there are currently no clinically-tested treatments for the condition.

The condition doesn’t appear to be taught in clinical training at present. One patient we interviewed in our study recalled asking their therapists for help with acalculia, saying: “What can you do to help me with my maths? Every therapist I’ve met says ‘I can’t help you’. Why? Because it’s not part of their training.”

This means healthcare workers aren’t able to recognise the problem – let alone be able to support patients who have it.

People with acalculia are currently left to support themselves. Many may not even know there’s a name for their condition. It’s clear more needs to be done to raise awareness so that it can be better assessed – and so patients can receive the help and support they need in overcoming acalculia.

Yael Benn 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. Acalculia: why many stroke survivors struggle with numbers – https://theconversation.com/acalculia-why-many-stroke-survivors-struggle-with-numbers-265643