Category: The Conversation – UK

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Christopher R. Hill, Professor of History, Faculty of Business and Creative Industries, University of South Wales

“The Ministry of Defence has always maintained that it never rained,” said Ken McGinley, founder of the British Nuclear Test Veterans Association (BNTVA). “I’m sorry, you’re liars … I was there!”

McGinley, who was a royal engineer, gave this interview in January 2024, shortly before his death, as part of our Oral History of British Nuclear Test Veterans project.

McGinley was present during the Grapple nuclear weapons test series, conducted by the UK on the central Pacific island of Kiritimati (also known as Christmas Island) in the late 1950s. At the time, this remote atoll was inhabited by 250 villagers as well as thousands of British servicemen.

For decades, many of those present during this and other above-ground British nuclear weapons tests have argued they were harmed by radioactive fallout. McGinley founded the BNTVA in 1983 to “gain recognition and restitution” for the veterans who took part in British and American nuclear tests and clean-ups between 1952 and 1965.

Rain became a key symbol in their argument as one of the only tangible signs of fallout taking place. The nuclear physicist Sir Joseph Rotblat described these alleged post-blast showers as “rainout”, a phenomenon whereby rain and mushroom clouds interact, leading to the contamination of rain droplets by harmful radionuclides.

In almost all cases, any link to subsequent health issues has been denied by the UK government because of lack of evidence of widespread radioactive contamination. However, a review of the evidence – written in 2014 by anonymous government scientists in response to freedom of information requests – was recently leaked by whistleblowers.

It reveals that post-blast radiation readings increased by a factor of up to seven on the island, compared with the normal background level. In our view, this would be more than enough to satisfy the “reasonable doubt” that tribunals require for veterans to receive a war pension due to illness or injury related to their service, as stated in the Naval, Military and Air Forces (Disablement and Death) Services Pension Order.

The top secret review, first revealed publicly by the Mirror newspaper on March 14 2026, also contains new evidence of radioactive contamination of fish in the island’s waters.

The repeated dismissal of veterans’ testimony in court cases and pension appeals caused stress and trauma for many. The majority died insisting they were not deceitful or forgetful – and that it did indeed rain while they were living on Kiritimati.

‘Factually inaccurate’

Kiritimati was monitored for fallout by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) after each detonation over the island – the largest of which, Grapple Y, was 200 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

In 1993, environmental monitoring data was collated into a report by a team at the MoD’s Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE). Known as the Clare report, this informed the UK’s official position on fallout: namely, that none occurred over populated areas and that veterans would need to prove otherwise to secure redress.

However, the 2014 review of fallout data concluded the Clare report was “incomplete and, in some cases, factually inaccurate”.

Despite this review being passed on to the MoD, however, it was kept secret for more than a decade. Following its release, the legal implications could be gamechanging. According to the 2014 review: “The instrument readings could potentially be used to challenge the validity of statements made by MoD and UK government regarding … fallout on Christmas Island.”

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Read more:
‘Our nuclear childhood’: the sisters who witnessed H-bomb tests on their Pacific island and are still coming to terms with the fallout

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In a recent House of Commons debate on the issue, the UK minister for veterans and people, Louise Sandher-Jones, confirmed her commitment “to the nuclear test veterans and their fight for transparency … They have had a very long fight, and I really recognise how difficult it has been for them, and I want them to understand that I am committed to them.”

What Merlin reveals

Behind the scenes, the release of newly declassified archival material in the publicly accessible Merlin database has added to calls for government accountability about the nuclear tests.

Compiled by the treasury solicitor during a class action against the MoD between 2009 and 2012, the database was stored at AWE until the journalist and author Susie Boniface discovered it held information about the medical monitoring of servicemen and Indigenous people. Her work led to its release in 2025.

Holding over 28,000 files, Merlin was commissioned by the MoD in response to the compensation claims made by almost 1,000 veterans from 2009. Its contents include official reports and communications, photographs, maps, safety guidelines and health monitoring information. Video footage includes the Grapple X test in November 1957.

A University of Liverpool team based in The Centre for People’s Justice and the Department of History is working with Boniface and campaign group Labrats International to catalogue and analyse the contents of Merlin – combining it with other sources, including personal testimony. Recently released files indicate nuclear fallout in the island’s ground sediment and rainwater, and heightened radioactivity in its clams.

Evidence has also emerged of radioactive waste being dropped from aeroplanes into the sea off Queensland in 1958 and 1959. Although dumping radioactive waste was surprisingly common during the cold war, this revelation raises questions about how risk and danger was understood and managed during Britain’s nuclear test programme.

The files also show workers without protective clothing around a plutonium pit at Maralinga in South Australia, site of seven British atmospheric nuclear tests in 1956-57.

The Merlin releases have galvanised claims that not so long ago may have been interpreted as conjecture. The recent releases suggest that servicemen and islanders were exposed to radioactive fallout – not just from rain showers, but from the fish they ate and the water they drank.

While a causal link with subsequent health conditions would be hard to prove, we believe it is time for the UK government to get behind a public inquiry into the full impact of Britain’s nuclear weapons testing programme.

Christopher Hill was Principal Investigator of ‘An Oral History of British Nuclear Test Veterans’, a two-year project funded by the UK Office for Veterans’ Affairs.

Jonathan Hogg receives funding from Research England’s Policy Support Fund to support research into the Merlin database. He was Co-Investigator on ‘An Oral History of British Nuclear Test Veterans’, a two-year project funded by the UK Office for Veterans’ Affairs. The final report can be viewed here: https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/humanities-and-social-sciences/research/projects/nuclear-test-veterans/

– ref. What secret report reveals about impact of UK nuclear programme on veterans who claimed they were harmed by the fallout – https://theconversation.com/what-secret-report-reveals-about-impact-of-uk-nuclear-programme-on-veterans-who-claimed-they-were-harmed-by-the-fallout-280189

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Manal Mohammed, Senior Lecturer, Medical Microbiology, University of Westminster

Antibiotic resistance is often associated with hospitals and the overuse of antibiotics in agriculture. Both are genuine problems, but new research suggests another potential culprit that many people haven’t considered – droughts caused by climate change.

A recent study published in the journal Nature Microbiology found that when soil dries out, it can speed up the natural processes that create and spread antibiotic resistance. This doesn’t mean drought directly creates superbugs in hospitals, but it suggests climate change could make the problem worse.

This matters a lot for the UK. The Met Office predicts that summers will get hotter and drier, with longer droughts if emissions stay high. Meanwhile, the NHS is already struggling with antibiotic-resistant infections, which are harder to treat and keep patients in hospital longer. When standard antibiotics stop working, doctors are sometimes forced to use powerful alternatives that are kept in reserve precisely because overusing them risks making those resistant too. These are known as “drugs of last resort”.

So what’s actually happening in the soil? Soil is teeming with bacteria, and many of them naturally produce antibiotics to kill off rivals. Other bacteria carry genes that make them resistant to those attacks.

An arms race in the soil

In normal, moist soil, bacteria live in a relatively stable environment. But when soil dries out, water gets squeezed into tiny, isolated pockets. Bacteria get crowded together, nutrients become scarce and competition turns brutal. In these conditions, bacteria produce more antibiotics to attack each other, and more resistance genes emerge to help them survive. It’s an arms race fuelled by drought.

Here’s why that’s relevant to human health: bacteria can swap genes with each other through a process called horizontal gene transfer – think of it like sharing a video game cheat code. This means resistance genes from soil bacteria can be picked up by bacteria that infect humans. In fact, some resistance genes found in soil bacteria have already been spotted in bacteria that infect people, hinting at a long evolutionary connection between the two.

Some large studies have found that drier regions of the world tend to report higher levels of antibiotic-resistant infections in hospitals, even when taking differences in wealth and healthcare quality into account. However, these studies show correlation, not direct cause and effect. Other factors like how infections are tracked or how easy it is to access healthcare could also explain this pattern.

Some of the soil bacteria linked to this problem are close relatives of hospital pathogens like Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which belong to a group called Eskape, responsible for many of the world’s hardest-to-treat infections. Again, this doesn’t mean these bugs come from soil, but it does show how connected environmental and clinical bacteria really are.

Antibiotic resistance already causes millions of infections every year worldwide. Most efforts to tackle it have focused on cutting unnecessary antibiotic use in medicine and farming, which is still vital. But this research suggests the environment itself, and how climate change is reshaping it, also plays a role we can’t afford to ignore.

This is where the idea of One Health comes in. One Health is the idea that human, animal and environmental health are all closely linked. Antibiotic resistance, seen through this lens, isn’t just a medical problem, it’s an ecological one too.

As droughts become more common in the UK and around the world, scientists will need to keep a much closer eye on what’s happening beneath our feet.

Manal Mohammed 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. Drought could be making antibiotic resistance worse, scientists say – https://theconversation.com/drought-could-be-making-antibiotic-resistance-worse-scientists-say-280393

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Jacqueline Boyd, Senior Lecturer in Animal Science, Nottingham Trent University

If you live with a pet, you might feel like you can almost read each other’s minds.

You might even have experienced your pet responding to your emotional state. Animals seem to have impressive skills at detecting our state of health too.

However, new research suggests that many dog owners are not skilled in recognising pain in their pets as they might like to think. This could have significant consequences for the behaviour, health and welfare of our pets.

As a migraineur, I am amazed at how my dogs cope with me when a migraine hits. They seem to recognise the pain, distress and incapcacity that comes along with a migraine and respond with more gentle interactions than usual. I hope that when the situation is reversed and they are unwell or in pain, that I too can recognise it.

So, how can you recognise if your pet is in pain and what should you do if you think they are?

Signs of pain

It is easy to assume that an animal in pain will make some noise about it and show obvious physical signs. This might be the case if they are in acute pain as the result of severe injury for example. However, animals often disguise pain as a survival mechanism, and many signs of pain show only as subtle changes in behaviour.

Humans do seem to be able to recognise basic animal emotional states such as anger, fear or joy, through facial and body expressions. But we are less good at linking these cues to more complex emotional states including pain, anxiety and frustration.

The recently published study assessed how good people are at recognising signs of pain in dogs. This was carried out via an online questionnaire completed by 530 dog-owners and 117 non-owners. Participants were given a list of 17 types of dog behaviour. The study participants were asked to rank how likely they thought these behaviour types were to indicate pain, based on their prior knowledge and experience. In reality, all 17 types of behaviour listed suggest a dog is in pain.

The signs of pain provided included obvious behavioural changes such as hesitant paw lifting, reduced play behaviour and changes in personality. Participants were good at recognising these prominent behaviour changes were linked with pain. However, they didn’t realise more subtle indicators such as yawning, lip and nose licking and changes in facial expressions including looking away and increased blinking. These are all warnings that a dog may be suffering.

Notably, participants without dogs were actually more likely to recognise that freezing or turning the head or body away are associated with pain than dog owners. This suggests that dog owners may become complacent in their observations of their dog’s behaviour.

The link between pain and behaviour

The study participants were also asked to assess the potential relevance of pain in three written canine behaviour cases. The participants were not told this, but two were suffering from painful conditions, one outwardly obvious, and one more subtle. The third case was not linked to a painful condition.

Dog owners noted that pain was likely in the case with obvious signs of movement problems – hopping and lifting of legs. This was higher for dog owners than non-owners. In the case where pain signs were more subtle (night restlessness and “shadowing” family members), there was no difference in the ability of dog-owners and non-owners to identify the behaviour as signs of pain.

However, the dog owners with previous experience of pets with a painful condition seemed to be better at recognising signs of suffering. This applied to overt changes in movement as well as body language. This suggests that prior experience can be valuable in developing skills when its comes to pet behaviour.

What is interesting from this study is that there were some discrete differences between dog-owners and non-owners in recognising signs of pain. However, owning a dog was no guarantee that someone would be better able to identify subtle pain indicators.

Previous studies have shown animal species may show pain in different ways. For example rabbits often freeze, which might be considered a fearful response. Facial grimace scales are also increasingly being used to assess pain for a range of species including cats and horses. These assessment tools track minute muscular movements in the face such as tightening eyes.

What should you do if you think your pet is in pain?

Recognising signs of pain in your pet is critical so you can respond quickly. This may also help reduce the risk of dog bites which are often linked to the dog struggling with chronic pain.

Pain can lead to increased noise reactivity too, where dogs flinch or bark loudly in response to sudden, unusual or loud noises.

If you suspect your pet might be in pain because of a sudden change in their behaviour or movement, seek veterinary advice. Soreness can manifest outwardly such as lameness, lethargy or a lack of desire to exercise or play, but it can be easy to miss more subtle signs such as altered blinking, momentary pauses or freezing.

Research indicates that dog owners should be alert to altered sleep patterns, restlessness, clinginess and unusual licking or chewing their body. Even changes in a dog’s ear position, coat quality, texture, or how their coat lies on their skin can indicate underlying discomfort. Reluctance to being touched in specific areas of a dog’s body might also be a sign of discomfort that needs veterinary investigation.

So if you think your dog needs training or a session with a behaviourist because of a gradual or sudden alternation in their behaviour, it’s worth ruling out whether your pooch is acting strangely because they’re in pain first.

In addition to her academic affiliation at Nottingham Trent University (NTU) and support from the Institute for Knowledge Exchange Practice (IKEP) at NTU, Jacqueline Boyd is affiliated with The Royal Kennel Club (UK) through membership, as advisor to the Health Advisory Group and member of the Activities Committee. Jacqueline is a full member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT #01583). She also writes, consults and coaches on canine matters on an independent basis.

– ref. How to tell if your dog is in pain (and what to do if they are) – https://theconversation.com/how-to-tell-if-your-dog-is-in-pain-and-what-to-do-if-they-are-279864

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Andrew Mycock, Chief Policy Fellow, University of Leeds

Surnames shape our identity. They can be a point of reflection, especially if the surname is rare, has a unique meaning, or holds special sentimental value. They often spark curiosity about family history or the need to carry on a legacy.

I have what many might think is an unfortunate or embarrassing surname – Mycock. It has powerfully shaped my personal and professional life. Having my surname is a daily trial, eliciting a range of responses from suppressed to open laughter and unsolicited comments. But I am also aware of the joy my surname brings and how it can break down barriers when meeting people. This has opened up space for me to consider the potential of comedy as a form of research communication.

The Mycock surname originates from the rural communities around the market town of Buxton in Derbyshire. There, it is relatively common and stimulates little comment. When I left this refuge to go to university in Salford during the mid-1990s, my life changed. The daily tribulations of having this unfortunate surname led me to avoid using it in public whenever possible.

Gaining a doctorate opened a new strand of jokes – being Dr Mycock has not been easy. I rarely wear conference badges and avoid using my name on PowerPoint title slides. My students have taken delight in being lectured by Mycock, and shown great creativity in citing my research in their essays.

About two years ago I began doing comedy shows about living with my surname, largely in response to suggestions from friends and work colleagues. These shows have proven far more successful than I ever could have envisaged. I have sold out gigs across the north-west of England and Scotland over the past couple of years.

I deliver my shows like a lecture (in the style of comedian Dave Gorman), using my teaching experience to mix comedy with educational content in an engaging way.

Comedy as research communication

My experience as an academic researcher has allowed me to explore not only the origins and importance of surnames, but also why people laugh at my surname. This includes a consideration of how the phallus has grown as an increasingly resonant symbol of protest in democratic politics, particularly at the ballot box. Research in the US also indicates that anxieties about penis length and perceptions of masculinity appear to correlate with voter choice.

I’ve also drawn on research to explore the effect of having an unfortunate surname including on self-esteem, anxiety, job interview and career chances, meeting a partner and even a greater likelihood to commit crime.

In the show, I also discuss the travails of having an unfortunate surname in the digital world. I explore research on the so-called Scunthorpe problem, whereby automated internet content filters mistakenly block innocent words, emails, or usernames because they contain a sequence of letters that match a prohibited profanity.

To my surprise, I have also been commissioned to make a programme for the BBC Radio 4 Illuminated series called Andy Mycock: Named, Unashamed. It explores my journey to coming to love my surname and engagement with the broader community of the unfortunately named. This has been a deeply rewarding experience. I worked closely with my producer Olivia Swift to develop the script and content for a non-academic audience. It has drawn strongly on my experience of engagement with different forms of broadcast media over the past two decades and also encouraged me to adapt my often too-academic style of presentation.

I am by no means the first to recognise the potential of comedy to help researchers build novel connections with the public. The Bright Club, established by UCL, has run comedy nights since 2009 where staff and students perform short sets about aspects of their research or teaching.

The Science Showoff brings together researchers and comedians to host comedy nights in London and is staging the UK Science Comedy Festival in July this year. In Scotland, The Provocateurs are a group of academics and university public engagement professionals who host comedy shows at the Edinburgh Fringe festival and elsewhere to promote research through comedy.

Humour – when appropriate – has the potential to enrich the educational experience for students and reach public audiences in novel and engaging ways. Gaining experience of using comedy to engage with the public has encouraged me to reflect on the utility of the academic skills and experiences I have accrued as an educator and a researcher over the past 25 years of my career. They have provided a solid basis to further develop my approach to public engagement as an academic and open up new avenues which connect my personal and professional life.

Comedy has also allowed me to come to like my surname; it brings some light-relief in an increasingly dark world. I no longer see it as unfortunate but now realise that it has allowed me to build unique connections with students and colleagues across academia and beyond. No one forgets when they met Dr Mycock.

Andrew Mycock 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. My surname makes people laugh – so I turned it into a research communication tool – https://theconversation.com/my-surname-makes-people-laugh-so-i-turned-it-into-a-research-communication-tool-280495

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Salma Al Arefi, Senior Lecturer in Renewable Energy, University of Leeds

Energy bills in the UK are still expected to rise in the coming months, putting more pressure on household budgets despite the shaky ceasefire in the Gulf.

Meanwhile, use of solar power is growing across the UK, achieving 22 gigawatts (GW) of solar capacity from nearly 2 million installations, by February 2026.

In March, solar panel sales in the UK rose sharply, with one renewable energy firm reporting a 54% increase in sales. While rooftop solar is often seen as the most effective way to reduce electricity costs , it is not an option for all households, especially those living in flats or rented homes.

The UK government has plans to expand the use of solar as part of a wider focus on energy security. And it has now said plug-in solar will soon by available in the UK.

These are small systems, typically around 800W, that can be installed on balconies or external walls and connected directly to a household socket, without needing an electrician. They could offer a more accessible option for households that cannot install on rooftops.

Although standards and safety guidance is yet to be set in the UK, these plug-in systems are already widely used in other parts of Europe. Some sources suggest there were around 4 million units being used in Germany in 2025.

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Read more:
Why windfarms and electricity pylons have become a major issue in the Welsh election

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How about plug-in solar?

The amount of electricity a plug-in solar system generates is relatively small.Performance can also vary
depending on where it is installed. Factors such as the direction a balcony faces, shading from nearby buildings and how the panels are positioned can all reduce how much electricity is produced.

A typical UK household uses around 2,700-3,000 kilowatt hours (kWH) of electricity each year. Using a basic online calculator, a small 800W plug-in solar system, when vertically mounted on a balcony, is likely to generate around 150-350kWh, depending on orientation and shading. This means the system can provide about 5-12% of the electricity a home uses over a year. This could help a bit with bills, but not hugely.

What makes more of a difference is the time you use your energy. Solar generates electricity during the day, but most households need more in the evening. So much of this energy may go unused if the home is unoccupied during the day.

Benefits of batteries

To benefit the most from solar, households need to consider how they use electricity.

One simple way to make better use of solar is to shift electricity use into the daytime when possible, such as running appliances or charging devices when solar power is available.

Another option is to use battery storage. Smaller plug-in batteries, typically around 1–2kWh and costing £500–£1,500, can store extra electricity for later use. However, because the amount of energy generated is quite small, the financial return on the battery is often limited, with payback periods of seven to ten years.

Daily savings can be estimated based on the difference between off-peak and peak electricity prices. In the UK, standard electricity prices are around 24–30p/kWh, according to Ofgem. This price difference means a small battery shifting around 1–2kWh per day could save roughly 25p–45p per day, equivalent to around £90–£160 per year. However, actual savings depend on usage patterns and seasonal variation.

Smart tariffs

A different approach is to combine battery storage with smart time-of-use tariffs. This technology, already established in the UK, allows batteries to be charged with cheaper off-peak electricity overnight from the grid and discharged during expensive peak periods.

One example already available is the EcoFlow Stream Ultra battery. A single unit can supply 250W–300W for appliances including fridges, routers and standby devices. It can discharge the power for approximately six to eight hours. In the future, a battery like this could potentially be charged from a solar panel.

To understand how this works in practice, consider a small battery of around 1.9kWh, costing approximately £1,500. If it is used only to store surplus solar energy from a balcony system, the financial return is relatively modest and will vary by season, with strong summer performance and lower winter output.

However, the savings change when the same system is used along with a smart time-of-use tariff. Instead of relying only on solar power, the battery can be charged overnight using cheaper electricity from the grid (typically 7–9p/kWh) and then used during the day when electricity is more expensive (often 30–35p/kWh). Typically, off-peak charges apply between midnight and 5am-6am.

This can lead to daily savings, usually around 25p–45p (up to around £1-£1.50 per day for larger batteries of around 5kWh), depending on usage and price differences. When these steady savings are combined with seasonal solar generation, total savings could reach £200-£300 per year.

This means the overall system could pay for itself in around five to six years. And for the larger battery systems, savings could be higher, reaching around £500–£650 per year.

Overall, solar will work best as part of a wider shift in households rethinking when and how to use energy.

Salma Al Arefi 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. Solar panels won’t slash energy bills on their own – an expert explains how to maximise savings – https://theconversation.com/solar-panels-wont-slash-energy-bills-on-their-own-an-expert-explains-how-to-maximise-savings-279781

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Juan Diego Rodriguez-Blanco, Ussher Associate Professor in Nanomineralogy, Trinity College Dublin

On many coastlines around the world, piles of discarded oyster and mussel shells are a common sight — the leftovers of a global seafood industry that produces millions of tonnes of waste each year. At the same time, hidden in rocky deposits far from the coast, a very different sort of resource — rare earth elements — is plentiful. These metals are in soaring demand as they are essential for technologies such as wind turbines, electric vehicles, and most modern electronics.

My team’s new research explores an interesting connection between this waste and the critically needed rare earth elements. We found that common seashells, particularly oyster shells, can capture and trap rare earth elements from water. In doing so, the seashells transform from waste into a potential tool for cleaning up pollution linked to the green energy transition.

People in Japan often describe rare earth elements as the “vitamins of modern industry” because, like vitamins in the body, they are essential for many modern technologies but only small amounts are needed. Extracting and processing rare earth minerals them can generate contaminated wastewater, where these elements may leak into the environment.

In our labs at Trinity College Dublin, we have been investigating whether seashell waste could help address this problem. We collected oyster, mussel and cockle shells from Irish beaches, cleaned them and crushed them into small grains. These fragments were then placed in water containing rare earth elements — specifically lanthanum, neodymium and dysprosium — at concentrations similar to those found in severe industrial contamination.

What happens next is not immediately visible to the naked eye, but under the microscope it is striking – and beautiful. At the surface of each shell grain, a chemical reaction begins. The calcium carbonate that makes up the shell starts to dissolve, while new minerals containing rare earth elements begin to crystallise in its place. Over time, a thin layer forms, like a kind of mineral “skin” that coats the grain.

Using a high-resolution microscope, we observed this process in detail. Tiny crystals first appear as needle-like structures, then grow and merge into a continuous crust. In some cases, this crust eventually blocks further reaction, effectively shutting down the process.

But not all shells behave the same way: oyster shells, it turns out, have a unique internal structure. They are made of thin layers and porous, chalky regions that allow water and dissolved elements to circulate more freely. This means the reaction does not stop at the surface. Instead, it continues inward, gradually replacing the entire shell.

Under the right conditions, 1g of oyster shells can capture and lock away up to around 1.5g of the rare earth elements present in the solution. Rather than simply sticking to the surface, these elements become part of a new, stable carbonate mineral.

From pollution control to resource recovery

Many materials used in water treatment rely on adsorption, the process whereby contaminants bind or “adsorb” to a surface. But in this case, it’s a process called full mineral transformation that incorporates the rare earth elements into solid crystals. This makes them far less likely to be released back into the environment.

Once captured, these elements could follow different paths. The material could be potentially processed further to recover the metals. Because they are concentrated in a solid phase, established chemical extraction methods could, in principle, be used to recycle them. Potentially, those waste shells could be used not only to clean up pollution, but also to recover valuable resources that would otherwise be lost.

There is no shortage of seashells. Nature makes them for free. Global shellfish aquaculture produces vast quantities of shell waste each year, much of which ends up in landfill or stockpiled near coastlines. Crushed shells could be used in filtration systems, treatment beds or permeable barriers, where contaminated water flows through reactive material. These approaches are already commonly used in water treatment, for example for the removal of heavy metals from seawater.

The challenge lies in maintaining efficiency. Some shell types quickly develop impermeable coatings that limit their effectiveness. Our results suggest that oyster shells, thanks to their structure, are particularly well suited to overcoming this limitation.

Making this technology work on a larger scale will depend less on finding new materials and more on designing systems that let as much water as possible come into contact with the active surfaces, while preventing those surfaces from becoming blocked or less effective over time.

This approach alone will not reduce the need for mining rare earth elements. Global demand for these materials is vast and growing very rapidly. However, that does not make this solution insignificant. It can help support a less wasteful and more “circular” approach to critical materials by offering a way to capture rare earth elements from waste streams, reduce environmental contamination and potentially recover part of what is currently lost during processing.

Scaling this approach from the lab to real-world applications requires testing under more complex conditions, as industrial wastewaters contain mixtures of metals, variable chemistry and flowing systems. Pilot-scale studies are needed to assess performance, durability and how quickly shell fragments develop a rare earth-rich mineral coating, like an armour, that blocks further reaction with the water.

Practical questions also matter: how much processing (cleaning, crushing) is truly necessary, and can it be done cost-effectively at scale? If rare earth recovery is the goal, efficient methods must be developed to extract them from the newly formed minerals. Addressing these challenges will determine whether this becomes a viable large-scale solution.

Juan Diego Rodriguez-Blanco receives funding from Science Foundation Ireland (Research Ireland), Geological Survey Ireland and the Environmental Protection Agency (Ireland).

– ref. The surprising power of seashells: how oyster waste can recapture rare earth elements – https://theconversation.com/the-surprising-power-of-seashells-how-oyster-waste-can-recapture-rare-earth-elements-279494

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Jonathan Conlin, Professor of Modern History, University of Southampton

“When should painters become old masters?” Former National Gallery director Philip Hendy put that question to then Tate director John Rothenstein almost 70 years ago. Founded in 1897 as the National Gallery’s annexe for British Art, by the 1950s Tate had developed into a gallery of modern as well as British art. Rothenstein wanted it to emerge from its parent’s shadow. Any move towards independence, however, required agreement between the National Gallery and Tate on how to divide the collection they shared.

Now that same question, of where one collection ends and the other begins, is getting another airing. The National Gallery has announced the winner of a competition to design “Project Domani”, a £750 million expansion. A new building by architect firm Kengo Kuma and Associates will replace the 1960s office block that currently stands on Orange Street, behind the gallery’s Sainsbury Wing. According to the National Gallery, the annexe will allow Trafalgar Square to show the “continuum” of “the history of painting in the western tradition”.

That phrase, “the western tradition”, is itself something of a land grab. Until fairly recently the National Gallery was understood to be a collection of western European painting. In 2014, however, it paid £18.6 million for Men of the Docks, a painting by American artist George Bellows. Unlike his fellow countrymen John Singer Sargent and James McNeill Whistler, Bellows had never travelled to Europe and could not be considered an honorary Englishman.

According to the gallery, the purchase represented “a new direction in its acquisition policy”. They now sought to “represent paintings in the western European tradition, rather than solely those made by artists working in western Europe”. Men of the Docks dated to 1912, close to the chronological border between the National Gallery and Tate collections. For those fond of viewing London’s museums as a turf war, it was a shot across Tate’s bows.

Rather than fighting over this or that patch of art history, surely London’s museums can agree that all art is a “continuum”?

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This article is part of our State of the Arts series. These articles tackle the challenges of the arts and heritage industry – and celebrate the wins, too.

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“To me there will always be only one national collection,” noted Hendy in 1953, “and I don’t believe that carving it up in this rigid way is in anybody’s interest.”

Despite the gallery’s rhetoric of give-and-take, over the years Tate was repeatedly left feeling bruised, after being obliged to let the National Gallery take back British paintings that the Tate had come to consider its own. This included one of the highlights from the National Gallery’s Joseph Wright of Derby show: An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump was given to the National Gallery by the politician Edward Tyrrell in in 1863. The National Gallery later passed it to Tate, only to take it back in 1986.

The history of the gallery turf war

Under an influential model developed in late 19th-century Paris, the Musée du Luxembourg served as purgatory for modern French painters. After a decent interval, after any initial controversy as well as the artist had died, works that passed the test of time were promoted to the heaven of the Louvre.

For much of Tate’s history, it has been viewed as the Luxembourg to Trafalgar Square’s Louvre. In 1935, National Gallery director Kenneth Clark opposed the idea that Tate might achieve complete independence from his institution. It “would deprive us of the purgatorial function of the Tate”. It would also force Tate to decide whether it was a “National Gallery of British Art” or a “modern art gallery”.

Worse of all, Clark noted, if Tate did decide it was a modern art gallery, the two institutions would have to agree a historical date at which modern painters became old masters. In 1954, the National Gallery and Tate Act appeared to grant Tate the independence it craved, while ordaining that the two galleries should periodically consult each other about loans and transfers, in order to ensure that all paintings were “on view in the best context”.

In 1957 Hendy suggested that all paintings “graduate” to Trafalgar Square when they reached their 100th birthday. Rothenstein refused such a rigid rule. The history of art was not “a regular and predictable process”, he insisted. As the “founding fathers of the modern movement”, Van Gogh, Cézanne and Seurat would have to remain at Tate, regardless of how much time had passed.

Under Nicholas Serota’s directorship Tate blossomed into a constellation of galleries in the 1990s. Tate Liverpool demonstrated how a contemporary art space could regenerate post-industrial cities. In 2016 Tate Modern opened its own, £220 million annexe. Meanwhile it seemed that the National Gallery was happy (Sainsbury Wing aside) to expand within its existing footprint.

If Project Domani treads on Tate toes, there will be repercussions. When New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art announced the gift of Leonard Lauder’s collection of Cubist paintings in 2013 and later opened the Met Breuer as a temporary annexe for contemporary art, New York’s Whitney and Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) were concerned. Fearing that relationships with “their” funders, collectors and critics were under threat, the Metropolitan Museum of Art was told to keep their hands off their patch.

Compared to the Met Breuer’s Madison Avenue site, that of the National Gallery’s proposed new wing is low-profile. Architects Kengo Kuma and Associates say that their building will create a new pedestrian artery between Leicester and Trafalgar Squares. But similar assurances were made about the Sainsbury Wing, which opened over 30 years ago, so this might be equally impossible to deliver.

A new building will create space for temporary exhibitions and artist residencies, replacing the poky and unloved Sainsbury Wing basement and Sunley Room. Knitting three gallery buildings into a continuum, however, will be as difficult as finding a new answer to an old question, one that has always set the National Gallery and Tate at odds. When should painters become old masters?

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

– ref. The National Gallery’s £750m new wing has reignited London’s art turf war – https://theconversation.com/the-national-gallerys-750m-new-wing-has-reignited-londons-art-turf-war-280481

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Gerhard Schnyder, Professor of International Management & Political Economy, Loughborough University

The mood was jubilant among liberals and pro-Europeans in Hungary and beyond on April 13 as Péter Magyar led the Tisza party to a landslide election victory. His win ended the 16-year administration of Viktor Orbán’s pro-Russian Fidesz party. Given the high turnout and margin of victory, giving Tisza a two-thirds constitutional majority in parliament, the jubilant mood seems justified.

However, defeating Orbán will be a long-term project. While several centrist politicians around the world have successfully unseated governing far-right populists in recent years, fewer have been successful in keeping them at bay long term. Poland’s Donald Tusk and Joe Biden in the US are probably the most obvious examples of this struggle.

A major challenge for Magyar will be to undo the system Orbán has put in place over the past 16 years to exercise control over the country. A key component of that system is Fidesz’s extensive control over the media.

Research I have carried out alongside colleagues shows that, despite a semblance of pluralism, most Hungarian media outlets are now controlled by people close to Fidesz. The pro-Fidesz Central European Press and Media Foundation (Kesma) plays a particularly central role, controlling more than 500 national and local media outlets.

Here, the experience of Poland is informative. When Tusk’s centre-right Civic Coalition replaced the populist, right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party as Poland’s governing coalition in December 2023, one of the first actions of the new government was to try and depoliticise public media.

In eight years of PiS government, Polish state media was accused of promoting the party’s policies and launched personal attacks on opposition figures, including Tusk. During a campaign rally months ahead of the election, Tusk said: “We will need exactly 24 hours to turn the PiS TV back into public TV. Take my word for it.”

And when in power, his government acted swiftly. It fired the supervisory boards of all three of Poland’s public media institutions – Polish Television, Polish Radio and the Polish Press Agency.

The PiS and its supporters quickly pushed back. PiS organised street protests and a sit-in at the public broadcaster, prompting the government to send in the police. This created an opportunity for PiS to denounce the new government’s action as an anti-democratic attack on the free press.

Mishandling the depoliticisation of the media was part of the Tusk government’s bad start to the post-populist era. At least partly as a result of this, PiS was able to regroup. In June 2025 it secured a big electoral win when PiS-backed Karol Nawrocki beat the governing party’s candidate, Rafał Trzaskowski, to the presidency.

Post-Orbánomics

Beyond the depoliticisation of captured public institutions – which include not only the media but also courts and parliament – the economic performance of Hungary’s post-populist government will be important. It is one thing to promise a brighter future; it is another to deliver it.

Here, the Biden administration provides a cautionary tale. According to American political scientist Paul Pierson, Biden’s economic programme was arguably the most ambitious democratic economic programme of investment and stimulus since the 1960s.

As a result, unemployment fell more quickly in the US than elsewhere after the COVID pandemic and, for the first time since the 1970s, wage inequality in the US decreased. Yet, during the 2024 presidential election campaign, the democrats were not able to take advantage of this success.

Instead, inflation largely caused by external factors such as post-pandemic supply chain disruptions and increasing energy prices became the key economic talking point. The usual authoritarian populist “culture wars” campaign did the rest to see US voters elect Donald Trump for a second term.

Magyar will face an equally daunting task when it comes to reforming the Hungarian economy. Since the end of socialism in the late 1980s, Hungary’s economic model has been strongly dependent on foreign direct investment (FDI).

It initially depended on inward investment from western Europe, in particular from Germany. Now it depends increasingly on investment from east Asia. The strong reliance on FDI has created what researchers have called a dependent market economy model of capitalism.

Orbán has sought to attract investment from China and South Korea into EV battery manufacturing. Due to, among other things, the massive water usage of EV battery plants, this part of “Orbánomics” is ecologically disastrous and highly unpopular among the Hungarian population. This led some observers to consider foreign EV battery investments as an electoral liability for Orbán.

In this context, Hungary’s post-socialist strategy of relying on FDI may have run its course. But developing an alternative economic strategy will be no easy task. Over the past decade or so, the EU has relaxed its traditionally hostile approach to industrial policy, giving member states more leeway to pursue industrial change.

So far, governments in eastern and central Europe have used this leeway to try and take back control over their domestic economies by reducing FDI dependence and driving out foreign companies from some industries. But this strategy has not helped to provide the economic growth and uplift in living standards that these countries need.

Magyar will need to surround himself with the right economic advisers to figure out what an alternative model that delivers on the promise of a more prosperous future for Hungarians could look like. If that fails, Orbán – with the help of his backers in Russia and the US – will try and regroup in opposition and possibly return in 2030 portraying Fidesz as the saviour of the Hungarian people.

Gerhard Schnyder receives funding from NORFACE under the “Democratic Governance in a Turbulent Age” programme for the project “Populist Backlash, Democratic Backsliding, and the Crisis of the Rule of Law in the European Union” (POPBACK project – popback.org)

– ref. Could Viktor Orbán be back in 2030? Why Péter Magyar has a fight on his hands after landslide win – https://theconversation.com/could-viktor-orban-be-back-in-2030-why-peter-magyar-has-a-fight-on-his-hands-after-landslide-win-280604

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Hannah Rumball-Croft, Lecturer in Cultural Studies and Fashion Design, School of Arts, University of Westminster

As Britain’s longest‑reigning monarch, and one rarely out of the public eye since childhood, Queen Elizabeth II left behind a wardrobe so extensive and meticulously archived that the curators at Historic Royal Palaces have had an embarrassment of riches to draw upon for a new exhibition at the King’s Gallery in Buckingham Palace.

Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style bills itself as the largest exhibition of the late monarch’s wardrobe ever mounted, and the scale alone is arresting. More than 300 items, many on public display for the first time, attempt a sartorial biography spanning every decade of a life that lasted almost a century.

The result is a masterclass in what the Royal Palaces do best: celebrations of the British monarchy – their pomp, pageantry and performativity – delivered through the medium of clothes. It also underscores why Her Life in Style, rather than in fashion, is such an apt title.

Queen Elizabeth II valued constancy, a deliberate contrast to the restless churn of high fashion. As a figure who embodied Britishness while standing on a global stage, her appearance had to resonate widely, and what read as high style in Britain could easily have seemed out of place in parts of the Commonwealth. In such a negotiation subtlety trumped bravura.

The Queen’s wardrobe reads like a roll call of British heritage makers: Molyneaux, Burberry, Hawes and Curtis, Kinloch Anderson, Bernard Weatherill Ltd, Philip Somerville, and Gieves Ltd. Norman Hartnell and Hardy Amies appear with predictable regularity, which will come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the Queen’s sartorial loyalties. But the exhibition also highlights the quieter and long-enduring relationships with tailors, dressmakers and milliners who helped craft her public image.

For example, her dresser Angela Kelly created a style for the Queen which she favoured in her later years. As an assistant dresser, then dresser and finally called designer, Kelly was intimately familiar with the Queen as a woman long before her sartorial interventions. But the exhibition seems to reveal more about the designers, who saw the dress as the main event, than about someone like Kelly, for whom the Queen herself was always the focus.

What emerges most strongly is the centrality of collaboration in the crafting of her style. The Queen was not a mannequin at the mercy of designers, but a woman who presided over her wardrobe with clear autonomy and a keen understanding of the symbolism her clothes carried.

Public service, personal style

The exhibition opens with a brisk chronological sweep from infancy to early adulthood. The transition from baby clothes to the military ensembles worn during her late teenage years make plain how abruptly she was thrust into public service.

Here, however, as is the case throughout, the curators favour the makers over the meaning. The garments are beautifully displayed, but the interpretive text often stops short of probing the “why” behind stylistic shifts and choices. For instance, the Queen’s later‑life preference for a straighter silhouette is asserted but not explored, a missed opportunity given the exhibition’s ambition to chart a life through her style.

The exhibition curation borrows liberally from recent V&A fashion blockbusters to great success. Most notably the double‑decker display technique used to kaleidoscopic effect in Gabrielle Chanel: Fashion Manifesto and the circular and tiered arrangements of Dior: Designer of Dreams. In Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style a double-stacked rainbow wall of colour‑blocked coats and suits is visually striking but also underscores the sameness that defined the Queen’s wardrobe.

That said, individual garments indicate occasional moments when she embraced stylistic choices that felt markedly more daring, such as a First Nations jacket that she wore with an evening dress in 1970. The exhibition makes clear, however, that once her style was set in the 1950s, evolution was subtle and nuanced rather than flamboyant or bold.

Her sartorial consistency seems to have become a kind of representation of national reassurance: a stability of taste, of choice of makers, and silhouette across a near century of life defined by political and social change.

The contributions by Erdem Moralıoğlu, Richard Quinn and Christopher Kane, who have produced contemporary reimaginings of the Queen’s style, are well executed but ultimately redundant. Her fashionable legacy speaks loudly enough without reinterpretation.

Meanwhile navigation through the exhibition can be challenging. The King’s Gallery becomes a rabbit warren of narrow corridors and bottlenecks, exacerbated by the otherwise informative audio guide that slows foot traffic to a crawl. Still, the text panels are excellent – clear, concise, and often illuminating – and the overall display is both attractive and thoughtfully arranged.

The final room is a crescendo of encrusted and bejewelled gowns, which almost, but not quite, overwhelm the coronation dress. It is a fittingly theatrical conclusion, a reminder of the Queen’s ceremonial presence and the role fashion played in projecting it.

Even in death, she seems to transcend mortality here. Despite the diminutive stature of the mannequins proxying the royal body, her physical and ceremonial presence evoked through her luxurious couture gowns feels mighty.

The exhibition has arrived at a moment when an evocation of her popularity and a celebration of the British royals is needed for their brand now more than ever. Public appetite to celebrate the woman who represented an untarnished royalty – which now seems more remote than ever – is clearly voracious judging by the queue outside the exhibition. In this setting, even as the nation moves on, her reputation has settled into a rich and celebratory one.

Ultimately, the exhibition succeeds not simply because it dazzles, but because it reveals Queen Elizabeth’s harnessing of the soft power of clothing in shaping a public life. Through tweeds and tiaras, coats and coronation gowns, the exhibition charts a life defined by duty, diplomacy, and an unwavering sense of self, expressed always through fashion.

Hannah Rumball-Croft 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. Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style – an unwavering sense of self expressed through fashion – https://theconversation.com/queen-elizabeth-ii-her-life-in-style-an-unwavering-sense-of-self-expressed-through-fashion-280541

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Michael A. Lewis, Professor of Operations Management, University of Bristol; University of Bath

Around the world, countries are seeking to build greener, more circular economies. Steel is central to that ambition. It is still one of the most widely used materials – but producing it is one of the largest industrial sources of carbon emissions worldwide.

The UK domestic steel industry is the smallest it has been since the 1930s. Production fell to 4 million tonnes in 2024 and 70% of the country’s steel is imported. Despite this, the government’s new steel strategy is hugely important for the country’s future prosperity.

The UK is decisively moving from blast furnaces to electric arc furnaces (EAF), producing “circular steel” from scrap. On the face of it, the plan is compelling. It should align with UK strategies for its economy, national security and progress towards net zero.

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The strategy requires the state to take an active role – buying more domestic steel, reducing import quotas and subsidising the UK’s high electricity costs. Perhaps above all, it rests on the assumption that scrap steel, most of which is exported, can be redirected to feed this new generation of EAFs.

Making this shift will require significant changes to pricing and processing systems. The UK generates around 10-11 million tonnes of steel scrap each year and exports roughly 80% of it. Per capita, it is the world’s largest scrap exporter. Only about 2.6 million tonnes is consumed by domestic steelmakers.

The new strategy relies on far more of this scrap staying in the country. But this would mean disrupting a business model that generates an estimated £9 billion a year in gross value added. A 2025 EU analysis noted that China’s plans to increase scrap-based production could require an additional 45 million tonnes of scrap globally. Rising international demand will push scrap prices up, making export even more attractive.

Ultimately, it is this scrap flow (where scrap is stored and treated) that will determine whether the economic and environmental potential of the strategy can be realised.

The power problem

A 2025 industry report uncovered a perplexing challenge: it is cheaper to export steel scrap and re-import finished steel products than to process and manufacture in the UK. The report called for investment in UK processing infrastructure: advanced scrap sorting, shredding, and refining to remove contaminants, as well as updated rules and oversight across the recycling supply chain.

European steelmakers such as Voestalpine and recyclers like TSR have already invested in the scrap sorting and processing infrastructure to meet the requirements of electric arc furnaces.

Using scrap steel might appear to be an obviously sustainable option, but there are complications. EAF steelmaking produces around 75% fewer direct carbon emissions than via a blast furnace but it uses vast amounts of electricity.

The sector’s electricity consumption is expected to double – and UK industrial electricity prices are 27%-38% higher than in France or Germany. Environmental and economic performance depends on the whole scrap chain – sorting, processing, removal of contaminants – not just the furnace technology.

For example, in separating different types of scrap, workers are potentially exposed to hazards from mixed materials such as batteries. Not only that, but poorly sorted scrap can result in lower-quality steel and generate hazardous residues in the slag.

Intriguingly, many of the assumptions of the new steel strategy can be tested against history. In 1972, the Sheerness steelworks in Kent became Britain’s first scrap-fed EAF mini-mill. By early 1980, the Financial Times reported this private steelmaker had productivity four times that of the publicly owned British Steel Corporation (BSC). More than half of its output was exported.

Then came the 1980 steel strike and other industrial relations challenges, market liberalisation and globalisation. Ownership at Sheerness passed from Co-Steel International of Canada to Allied Steel & Wire (ASW) in 1998, a company that was already in debt.

By 2002, ASW was in administration and Sheerness closed. A Saudi-backed company, Thamesteel, reopened the site in 2003 and installed a high-capacity EAF. But by 2012, Thamesteel was also in administration. The EAF was dismantled and shipped to Newport in south Wales.

But despite this conclusion, the fact remains that the technology worked. The plant was productive and profitable for many years. What kept shifting was the system beyond the furnace – electricity costs, scrap supply, government policies, UK market structures and global competition. Today the site is a car park for imported vehicles.

Whether the UK steel strategy succeeds will be determined by the unglamorous work of closing this scrap gap – better sorting, processing infrastructure and logistics. Meanwhile, the UK is competing in a global market where scrap prices are set by forces well beyond its control. Facing that fact, and not just the shiny furnaces, is where the strategy will be won or lost.

Michael A. Lewis currently receives funding from the AHRC.

Annika Skoglund received funding from the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research.

– ref. The UK wants a cleaner steel industry – but its plan rests on a supply chain that doesn’t exist yet – https://theconversation.com/the-uk-wants-a-cleaner-steel-industry-but-its-plan-rests-on-a-supply-chain-that-doesnt-exist-yet-280308