Category: The Conversation – UK

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 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 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 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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Read more:
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

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Kumbirai Mabwe, Senior Lecturer in Banking and Finance, Cardiff Metropolitan University

Skilled migrants play an important role in the UK economy. But while the UK celebrates the skills they bring, it doesn’t always make it easy for them to thrive financially.

Migrants tend to arrive with a good work ethic, qualifications, professional experience and a drive to succeed. But unlike UK natives who grow up with the country’s financial system, they have to navigate unfamiliar banks and financial products. They might also come up against unwritten rules, such as needing a good credit score to access mortgages, loans and even mobile phone contracts.

The UK has relatively high levels of financial literacy compared to other countries. However, financial literacy and financial behaviour tend to vary between natives and migrants. Additionally, migrants may face other disadvantages such as unrecognised qualifications or pay gaps.

The UK government has made banking easier in recent years, but opening an account can be a challenge for newly arrived migrants. They may not be able to meet stringent identity document requirements, for example.

Most skilled migrants arrive with no knowledge of the credit score system. Those who do are sometimes still surprised that they cannot bring their overseas credit score and need to start again from scratch.

A lack of UK credit history isn’t a reflection of migrants’ financial irresponsibility. Rather, it is a consequence of coming from a different financial system. But without a UK credit record, lenders cannot assess reliability, often restricting migrants’ access to credit. This has short and long-term financial consequences. Migrants are not “poor”, but they are financially invisible and may end up paying more for credit.

Migrants also often face distinct challenges in terms of their financial priorities (things like cost of visas, supporting family or investing in their home country, for example). These may delay or limit their engagement with the UK financial system.

These differing priorities are shaped by cultural norms, attitudes towards debt and risk, and varying levels of trust in financial institutions. Skilled migrants often arrive with debt from their move and may take on more while settling in the UK.

But unfamiliarity with the UK financial system can then make it hard to distinguish between good and bad debt –in other words, the kind of debt that might ultimately make them wealthier like a mortgage or loan to pay for education, as opposed to high-interest borrowing, for example.

Day-to-day money

Though skilled migrants may have budgeting and saving skills, their struggle to find appropriate financial products can mean resorting to risky and unregulated ways of accessing credit such as rotating credit and saving associations. These schemes are typical in developing countries and involve a group pooling their money, with one member periodically receiving a lump sum.

Skilled migrants can also face restrictions when it comes to accessing public funds such as welfare benefits. This underscores the importance of maintaining emergency funds, perhaps covering three to six months of living expenses but which migrants tend not to have.

This financial preparedness becomes even more important given the tightening in the job market, changing immigration rules and rising visa costs. These bring uncertainty, which can affect long-term financial planning for things like retirement and pensions.

Our research has also uncovered gender-based differences in skilled migrants’ financial behaviour. Unfortunately, female migrants seem to be more financially vulnerable than their male counterparts – often because of lower levels of education as well as remaining reliant on male partners, who may have arrived in the UK before they did.

Ultimately, though, the longer someone has stayed in the UK the better from a financial point of view. They tend to become familiar with the system, and their financial literacy improves.

Services like the Money and Pensions Service offer financial guidance, including debt advice. Citizens Advice and MoneyHelper also play an important role in supporting migrants to improve their understanding of budgeting, debt and access to financial services.

But these services may still lack understanding of the cultural diversity and dual lives of migrants. Tailored financial advice is essential to help these people make informed decisions and achieve long-term stability. This advice could come from ethnic-minority financial wellness coaches who take into account migrants’ diverse values, lifestyles and opportunities.

The journey of a skilled migrant to the UK is a testament to their ambition. It is vital that banks and policymakers invest in education, products and services that are tailored to migrants’ specific financial needs.

The authors 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. Why personal finance is harder when you’re a migrant – https://theconversation.com/why-personal-finance-is-harder-when-youre-a-migrant-262976

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Neta Crawford, Montague Burton Chair in International Relations, University of Oxford

Hamas killed about 1,200 people in Israel, mostly unarmed civilians, in its surprise attack on southern Israel on October 7 2023. Using Gaza health ministry statistics, the UN says more than 62,000 people have subsequently been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its military campaign against Hamas. An additional 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank.

The statistics do not distinguish between combatants and civilians. But Israeli government officials have consistently said their military works hard to keep civilian harm to a minimum. As Ophir Falk, a foreign policy adviser to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said in 2024: “Any civilian casualty is a tragedy for sure. Israel seeks to minimise the civilian casualties, while Hamas seeks to maximise them.”

Falk added: “We seek to minimise them for two main reasons … one, it’s the right thing to do. We’re the only Jewish country on Earth, and that is our policy to minimise civilian casualties. And the other reason is because it’s effective.” By effective, he means that hurting civilians can backfire. It can lead to a loss of domestic and international support for the war, as well as increased Palestinian resistance.

Israeli media outlets have also detailed the “extensive measures” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it takes to keep civilians in Gaza safe. And they have repeated claims such as: “What the IDF has been doing in Gaza in this war is unprecedented in urban warfare, both in pace and caution.”

Israeli officials dispute the numbers of Palestinian civilians reported to have been killed in Gaza. Some have even claimed that the Gaza health ministry and UN have “lied” about the number of Palestinian civilians killed in the war.

But figures from a classified Israeli military intelligence database, reported recently by the Guardian, indicate that 83% of the Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza as of May have been civilians.

Preventing civilian harm

The protection of civilians in war has not always been taken for granted. The US only began to emphasise the minimisation of inadvertent harm to civilians, or “collateral damage”, after the Vietnam war ended in 1975.

The inadvertent killing of civilians and massacres such as My Lai, where as many as 500 unarmed Vietnamese villagers were killed by US soldiers in 1968, were widely condemned. Precautions to avoid civilian harm, known as civilian casualty or civilian harm mitigation, have been gradually integrated into US military operations since then.

The US developed a practice of making pre-strike estimates of possible civilian harm – collateral damage estimates – in the 1990s. This was refined during the post-9/11 wars.

If civilian harm is estimated to be above a certain threshold, and disproportionate to the expected military advantage of an operation, the US military might change how it engages or not strike at all. US methods to minimise civilian casualties have been consistently updated, as recently as August 2022 and July 2024.

These precautions have not always been adhered to. They have also sometimes been relaxed when the US believes doing so is justified. But when they have been followed, the rate of civilian killing has been reduced.

The impetus for the US military to develop these programmes was not only to minimise harm to its own reputation and a desire to follow the laws of war. The point was also to avoid creating more militants by killing civilians.

The 2007 US Counterinsurgency Field Manual underscores the importance of avoiding civilian harm. It states: “an operation that kills five insurgents is counterproductive if collateral damage leads to the recruitment of 50 more insurgents.”

It was equally important to convince observers that every effort was being made to ensure civilians were protected. As a 2006 study by US-based thinktank RAND corporation, paid for by the US air force, said:

By emphasizing the efforts that are being made to reduce civilian casualties (such as increased precision, smaller blast effects, improved target verification and so on), the Air Force and Department of Defense can help ensure that the US Congress and public have continued reason to trust that the US military is seeking new ways to reduce the prospects of civilian deaths in future military operations.

A demonstrated commitment to a philosophy of continuous improvement may be what is needed to ensure this trust in the future, and in the case of foreign audiences, to build trust in the first place.

Israel also began to use some of these methods. And it developed its own, context-specific practices in its wars with the Palestinians and other neighbours. In fact, Israel was a pioneer in the use of targeted drone strikes that it said were aimed at killing Palestinian militant leaders while avoiding civilian harm.

However, investigations have shown that Israel loosened its rules of engagement after the October 7 attacks. The New York Times reported that an order by military leadership authorised officers to risk killing up to 20 people in each airstrike targeting Hamas. In one extreme example from July 2024, a strike on Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif killed at least 90 civilians and injured around 300 more.

Israel’s own military data also now shows that Israeli officials have both overstated the number of militants they say have been killed and, by implication, the ratio of civilian to militant deaths.

Prior to the Guardian’s report, Israeli officials said the military had killed 17,000 to 18,000 Hamas combatants and other “terrorists”. They also implied that 50% of the total deaths in Gaza were Hamas or other combatants. Netanyahu simultaneously decried what he called “outrageous” claims of civilian casualty rates of up to 70%.

But Israel’s own numbers show the actual civilian casualty rate in Gaza is much higher than the figure Netanuyahu calls outrageous. It is also high compared to other conflicts. Research by the Costs of War project, which I co-founded, show that the rate of civilian casualties in American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were 68% and 26% respectively.

Civilians never deserve to be harmed through carelessness, inadvertence or deliberate targeting. Yet given the kind of war Israel is fighting – using large, indiscriminate weapons to destroy buildings and failing to distinguish between combatant and noncombatant – it has unsurprisingly produced high civilian casualty rates.

Neta Crawford 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. Gaza: civilian death toll outpaces other modern wars – https://theconversation.com/gaza-civilian-death-toll-outpaces-other-modern-wars-263685

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Stefan Wolff, Professor of International Security, University of Birmingham

The upcoming summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Tianjin, China, from August 31 to September 1, will be the organisation’s largest gathering of heads of state to date. It comes at a time when the existing liberal international order is rapidly disintegrating. But rather than offering a concrete new order, the SCO demonstrates the persistent difficulties that anti-liberal powers such as China and Russia have in agreeing and implementing a credible alternative.

Founded in Shanghai in 2001 with just six members – Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan – the SCO has grown rapidly over the past decade. India and Pakistan joined in 2017, Iran in 2023, and Belarus in 2024. Beyond these ten member states, the SCO also has two observers – Afghanistan and Mongolia – and 14 dialogue partners, including Turkey, Egypt, Armenia and Azerbaijan, several of the Gulf states, and a number of other Asian states. If measured by population of its core member states, it is the world’s largest regional organisation.

Size clearly matters, but in the case of the SCO it creates problems rather than contributing to their resolution. The organisation did little in response to escalating tensions between India and Pakistan in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Kashmir that eventually brought the two long-standing rivals to the brink of nuclear confrontation. It took US mediation to de-escalate the violence. The SCO’s subsequent failure to condemn cross-border terrorism explicitly in a joint statement of the meeting of defence ministers at the end of June led India to refuse to sign it.

When Israel attacked Iran, the SCO issued a strongly worded condemnation of the attacks. But India distanced itself officially from the SCO statement.

These and other simmering tensions, such as between India and China over a new dam project in Tibet, are likely to be papered over at the SCO summit in Tianjin. China’s president, Xi Jinping, will be keen to demonstrate his country’s leadership of a large coalition of like-minded nations who oppose the hitherto US-led liberal international order.

However, the theme of this year’s summit is “Upholding the Shanghai Spirit: SCO on the Move”. This sounds more like an aspirational plea to member states, observers and dialogue partners rather than a concrete plan for action.

The so-called Shanghai spirit – a hazy mixture of standard Chinese talking points about mutual respect, peaceful co-existence and win-win cooperation – is little more than empty rhetoric. It is also very fragile.

Two member states – India and Pakistan – have recently gone to war with each other. Two SCO dialogue partners – Armenia and Azerbaijan – have been involved in several full-scale violent confrontations since they became dialogue partners almost a decade ago. And if they have now embraced the Shanghai spirit, they did so, ironically, in Washington and after their relations with Russia significantly soured.

Nor does the SCO have much of a track record of constructive involvement in internal conflicts in its member states and dialogue partners, such as Kyrgyzstan and Myanmar. This is even more obvious in the case of Afghanistan where Russia’s recent official recognition of the Taliban government poses yet another challenge to the SCO.

China has cautiously welcomed Russia’s recognition but not followed suit, while several Central Asian member states of the SCO already have a wide range of economic ties with Afghanistan. But Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf states remain deeply ambivalent about the Taliban regime.

It’s also worth noting that the SCO’s very selective commitment to the Shanghai spirit does not extend to relations between the organisation and non-member states. That much is evident from the SCO’s lack of condemnation of Russian aggression against Ukraine. So it’s difficult to see where the SCO will move. Previous summits in 2022, 2023 and 2024 produced lengthy declarations of intent – but little follow-through.

Elephant in the room

The marked difference to these previous summits is, of course, Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

On the one hand, Trump has demonstrated the near-irrelevance of the SCO as a security player compared to the indispensability of the US when it comes to managing crises, such as those between India and Pakistan, Armenia and Azerbaijan and Cambodia and Thailand.

On the other hand, Trump’s weaponisation of trade has created a new dynamic within the SCO. The US president’s imposition of punitive tariffs might see the organisation’s most powerful countries – China, Russia and India – align more closely against the US.

Sanctions against Russia, however unlikely they may be to be fully implemented by Trump, are still on the table. Heavy tariffs have now been imposed on India for continuing to buy Russian oil. And the trade war with China is only paused but not settled.

For their own sake, and even more so for the sake of their actual and potential partners in the global south, China, Russia and India must demonstrate a unity of purpose at the SCO summit. They will condemn the US and the liberal international order, which Trump himself is actively eroding. But their unity of purpose will be limited and performative.

Meanwhile, the differences that remain between them and their conflicting individual aspirations of leadership in a post-American international order will prevent them from offering a credible alternative.

Undoubtedly, there will be carefully choreographed displays of solidarity and aspirational statements of how the spirit of Shanghai will shape a new international order. But these rest on the false premise that a post-American international order will be a non-American order.

Trump may try to make a deal with Russia and China on a new world order, but a president who publicly muses about renaming the US department of defence to the department of war is unlikely to cede global leadership – at least not without a fight.

Stefan Wolff is a past recipient of grant funding from the Natural Environment Research Council of the UK, the United States Institute of Peace, the Economic and Social Research Council of the UK, the British Academy, the NATO Science for Peace Programme, the EU Framework Programmes 6 and 7 and Horizon 2020, as well as the EU’s Jean Monnet Programme. He is a Trustee and Honorary Treasurer of the Political Studies Association of the UK and a Senior Research Fellow at the Foreign Policy Centre in London.

– ref. Xi, Putin and Modi to meet in China – but don’t expect their Eurasian bloc summit to agree on anything important – https://theconversation.com/xi-putin-and-modi-to-meet-in-china-but-dont-expect-their-eurasian-bloc-summit-to-agree-on-anything-important-262243

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, women 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 women 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 women surgeons at risk – https://theconversation.com/when-surgical-tools-dont-fit-how-gender-bias-in-design-puts-women-surgeons-at-risk-262743