Category: The Conversation – UK

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Will Shüler, Vice-Dean of Education and Senior Lecturer, School of Performing and Digital Arts, Royal Holloway University of London

Warning: this article contains spoilers.

Indhu Rubasingham has begun her tenure as the director of the National Theatre with her production of Bacchae, playwright Nima Taleghani’s new version of Euripides’ ancient Greek tragedy. A play about the Greek god of theatre, it’s a bold choice that makes a clear statement about Rubasingham’s thoughts on the power of the theatre and what audiences might expect under her leadership at the National.

Dionysus and his celebrants, the Bacchae, are travelling west from Asia to Thebes, where the god’s cousin Pentheus rules as king. When Pentheus refuses to acknowledge Dionysus’ divinity, the god exacts revenge by driving the women of Thebes – including Pentheus’ mother, Agave – into divine madness.

The women join the Bacchae on the mountains outside of Thebes to celebrate his rites by drinking wine, hunting and participating in orgies. In disguise as a human, Dionysus leads Pentheus – dressed as a woman to blend in with the Bacchae – to retrieve his mother. In the grip of this divine madness Agave mistakes her son for a lion, and tears off Pentheus’ head.

She triumphantly returns to Thebes to show off her prowess, only to discover in a moment of devastating clarity what she has done. Meanwhile, a rift within the Bacchae themselves has emerged from internal disagreements about the needs of their group and how far Dionysus is taking things.

Tragedy and contemporary concerns

The production employs a range of different performance styles. The opening scene of Bacchae is a powerful, rhythmically chanted choral ode performed as rap. The introduction of Dionysus is done as a showy musical theatre number, and for the first half of the play Pentheus is performed in the style and costume of a panto villain. Perhaps these different styles are intended to show the versatility of drama, as a nod to doing a play about the god of theatre. In practice, they jar with each other, falling a bit flat.

Starting an artistic directorship with a Greek tragedy could be criticised for contributing to the idea that theatre began in 6th-century BC Athens. While the performance traditions of ancient Greece have been very influential in the course of theatre history, there are several theatrical traditions which predate this, such as those in China and Africa.

That said, Taleghani’s adaptation takes the story in a direction that is clearly tapping into contemporary concerns such as decolonising culture, feminism, race and LGBTQ issues. At times, however, these interventions are overly didactic or treated superficially.

For example, towards the end of the play, some of the Bacchae decide that they would like to make a home in Thebes, rather than continue to travel and spread the word of Dionysus. Dionysus advocates for this to Pentheus and does not settle for the king’s offer of a sanctuary on the outskirts of Thebes – he wants the Bacchae to be integrated within the city.

But because this scene happens just five minutes before Pentheus’ beheading, this dialogue feels like an underdeveloped thread, shoe-horned into the plot to make an overt political statement about migration and asylum.

Had this been a nuanced and developed thread throughout, like the Young Vic production of Aeschylus’s Suppliants (2017) in which thoughtful connections between the suppliant women and contemporary asylum seekers are developed from the beginning, it might not have come across as virtue-signalling.

Greek tragedy was intended to educate its audience. But rather than specifically making a political point, it presented challenging scenes intended to provoke reflection on social and cultural issues of the time.

This happens in the National Theatre’s Bacchae when it is most subtle in its politics. Kera, leader of the zealous Bacchae breakaway faction, claims Thebes, Dionysus’ motherland, as a religious promised land. And she is willing to resort to extreme violence in order to take it.

Perhaps because of the sensitivity around the war in Gaza, the topic of religion and violence is folded into Bacchae in a subtle, more nuanced way. This choice entrusts the audience to draw their own connections between the world of the play and world we live in, rather than having a particular stance clearly outlined for us.

One overt critique that lands well comes at the end of the play, when the leader of the Bacchae, Vida (brilliantly performed by Clare Perkins), comments: “Perhaps there was always a flaw in our plan; the liberation of women … being led by a man”. This allows the audience to reflect on Dionysus as leader of the Bacchae’s drive for freedom since the start of the play. Indeed, it calls into question the flaw in the narrative dating back to Euripides’ original in BC405 and many other versions staged since.

In many ways Bacchae is meta-theatrical, meaning it draws attention to the fact that it is a piece of theatre. Several times Vida tells the audience what theatre can and should do. This rings clearest at the end of the play, when her words read as Rubasingham’s stance as new director: “After the god of drama steps in, ur Royal National Theatre shit’ll never be the same”.

But the play shines most when instead of telling us what theatre can do, it just actually does it.

Bacchae is at the National Theatre until November 1

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Will Shüler 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. Bacchae is bold first choice for National Theatre’s new director – https://theconversation.com/bacchae-is-bold-first-choice-for-national-theatres-new-director-266410

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Helena Gillespie, Associate Pro Vice Chancellor for Student Inclusion and Professor of Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, University of East Anglia

Keir Starmer’s recent speech at the Labour conference placed the UK at a “fork in the road”, telling the audience that there is a choice between “renewal or decline”.

Schools, colleges and higher education providers might be pleased to hear that the prime minister sees that education has an important role to play in this renewal. However, the details of the plans contain some challenges – as well as opportunities – for universities, colleges and young people.

Starmer’s vision for a changed education sector in England attempts to use the same measures to tackle two separate problems. On the one hand, proposed reforms attempt to remedy gaps in skills in the workforce. On the other, they address the need to promote social mobility. This is a precarious path to walk.

A key announcement that preceded Starmer’s speech was the limited return of student maintenance grants. At present, students from disadvantaged backgrounds are able to access a maintenance loan to support their study.

This must be paid back once the recipient starts to earn above the threshold of £25,000 for students starting their degree since 2023. The threshold is higher for those who began their studies earlier. The proposed grants will not need to be repaid, lowering student debt for those who are eligible.

However, these grants will only be available to students from lower-income backgrounds studying “priority” courses. These include computing, engineering, the mathematical sciences and health and social care.

This announcement has received a cautious welcome from some quarters. A spokesperson for the Access Project, an organisation focused on improving access to higher education, said: “While we welcome the decision to reintroduce maintenance grants for priority subjects, we hope future funding extends grant eligibility to all higher education courses.”

But some responses have been distinctly negative. These grants seem to be based on taking funding directly from universities in the form of a levy on international student fees. This has resulted in much concern in the already cash-strapped higher education sector.

This is now accompanied by the scrapping of Labour’s long-standing target of half of all young people entering university – now a reality. This will perhaps not be unexpected for those in higher education, who have seen the sector and its students struggle with decreasing resources in the last decade.

Instead, Starmer announced that the aim is now for two-thirds of young people to enter either higher education or an apprenticeship by the age of 25. Starmer spoke directly about attempting to change perceptions about further education, which he described as “the Cinderella service, ignored because politicians’ kids don’t do it”.

This is a valuable and welcome initiative. A more integrated approach to funding and regulation for further and higher education also provides opportunities for the education sector to undergo meaningful renewal.

But again, there is a focus on skills: 14 new technical excellence colleges will concentrate on “high-growth sectors such as advanced manufacturing, clean energy, and digital”.

A social shift that would raise the status of further education to equal that of university will take significant time to achieve – especially when so many careers now require a degree. It is likely to be well into the next parliament and beyond before the target of two-thirds of young people in apprenticeships or higher education can be realised.

What’s more, widespread concerns about the value of university and especially of the worth of “rip-off” degrees can be misplaced. Higher education remains an incredibly powerful tool for social mobility for young people from poor backgrounds.

I believe that many parts of the higher education sector are ready to adapt to become part of the “renewal” the government seeks. Extra funding and opportunities for further education are also to be welcomed.

However, the funding problems colleges and universities face remain serious, despite the government’s investment. And a focus on specific skills means that education in the arts, for instance, remains far more accessible for wealthier young people.

While I appreciate the ambition of trying to address the thorny problem of a skills gap alongside social mobility, there is a risk that in trying to do both, the government achieves neither.

Helena Gillespie receives funding from TASO.

– ref. Labour to revive maintenance grants and further education – but can it improve skills and social mobility at the same time? – https://theconversation.com/labour-to-revive-maintenance-grants-and-further-education-but-can-it-improve-skills-and-social-mobility-at-the-same-time-266409

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Neuroscience of navigation

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Tom Birkett, Professor of Old English and Old Norse, University College Cork

At a press conference announcing that the suspect in the shooting of Charlie Kirk had been detained, FBI director Kash Patel ended his speech with a personal message to his “brother”, saying: “We have the watch, and I’ll see you in Valhalla.”

Many people commenting on the press conference reacted to this confusing reference to Valhalla with a mixture of amusement and disdain, with some pointing out the contradiction of eulogising a Christian nationalist with reference to the pagan afterlife.

For scholars of the Vikings, Patel’s reference to Valhalla looked like something far more sinister. To understand why, we need to know both what Valhalla meant to the Vikings, and what it means in political discourse today.

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Read more:
US Capitol riot: the myths behind the tattoos worn by ‘QAnon shaman’ Jake Angeli

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The Norse peoples had a developed concept of the afterlife. The desirable destination for Norse warriors was Valhalla, the hall of the slain, where Odin watched over his band of chosen warriors as they prepared for Ragnarök, the world-destroying battle against the giants. Only those who died a heroic death in combat were brought to Valhalla by the Valkyries.

Those who died by sickness, old age or accident – or who had committed murder and other dishonourable crimes – seem to have been excluded from this martial afterlife. Some believed that you could cheat the Norse gods by arranging to be buried with deliberately worn and damaged weapons as if you had seen heavy combat. There’s a lot we don’t know.

What we do know is that in the 1930s the concept of Valhalla, along with the image of the heroic Viking and many of the symbols of Norse mythology, had a profound appeal to Nazi thought leaders. They looked to Norse mythology as a survival of a wider “Germanic” culture that had been erased by Judeo-Christian dominance.

The Nordic “race” was held up as the Aryan ideal. Norse cultural remnants were used to add legitimacy to the idea of a glorious German past. Heinrich Himmler in particular repurposed Norse symbols for use by the SS.

Today, many white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups continue to brand themselves using a widening range of symbols taken from Norse mythology. One aspect of Norse culture that has gained increasing prominence in the past few decades is the specific co-opting of Valhalla by those who are prepared to kill, and die, in the cause of “protecting” an endangered white supremacy.

Valhalla in terrorist manifestos

The most chilling example of the co-option of the phrase “see you in Valhalla” is found in the manifestos published by far-right terrorists in the wake of their atrocities.

In 2019, Brenton Tarrant carried out mass shootings at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in which 51 people were killed. He published a rambling manifesto in which he attempted to justify his actions, and touted the “great replacement” conspiracy theory which holds that Jewish elites are deliberately engineering the replacement of white populations through immigration.

This has since become a far-right talking point and was pushed by Charlie Kirk on his show. Tarrant signed off his diatribe against multiculturalism and “white genocide” by saying “Goodbye, god bless you all and I will see you in Valhalla.”

Tarrant in turn influenced other far-right terrorists. One such terrorist, Peyton Gendron, was convicted of the Buffalo mass shooting in 2022 in which ten black Americans were murdered. Gendron plagiarised much of his 180-page manifesto, and similarly ends his screed with the statement: “I hope to see you in Valhalla.”

By invoking Valhalla, these terrorists are attempting to cast themselves as warriors in the Viking tradition. There is, of course, nothing remotely heroic about gunning down unarmed civilians.

But the point is that this reference doesn’t require any understanding of the Norse tradition. In this context it comes directly from the Nazi’s fetishisation of violent death to secure the racial purity of Germany.

From terrorists to the FBI

Rather than borrowing from extremist discourse, Patel may have been influenced by the use of “til Valhalla” by the US marines to honour fallen comrades – including those who died by suicide. This is a use which has been traced back to the influence of Norwegian Nato forces in Afghanistan, who may have used “til Valhalla” as a kind of battle cry. Of course, the optics of using a military honorific to commemorate the assassination of a civilian is problematic in itself.

Patel’s “see you in Valhalla” was much closer in its wording to the sign off used by far-right terrorists – but even this phrasing was unlikely to have been lifted directly from extremists. It is more likely an example of a phenomenon often observed in the study of the far-right online ecosystem, which is the seepage of extreme right discourse into more mainstream spaces.

Neo-Nazi groups use memes, shitposting and humour as a deliberate strategy to seed increasingly extreme ideas into groups amenable to their message.

It isn’t hard to find references to Valhalla commercialised, repackaged as inspirational Viking quotes for Maga consumption, referencing cancel culture, or even using Norse video games as a gateway to white supremacy. In this way, the more mainstream right often ends up sharing and amplifying extremist messaging.

Patel’s reference to Valhalla was at the very least a huge misstep by a government official trying to appeal to the Maga base and elevate Kirk’s tragic killing into a heroic warrior’s death.

While he may not have made his reference to Valhalla in knowledge of its association with far-right terrorism, it nevertheless served as a signal to white supremacists. As reported elsewhere, there was a lot of engagement from the extreme right on social media, but their posts tended to ridicule Patel.

His words prompted memes on social media playing on the apparent absurdity of someone of Patel’s ethnicity cosplaying as a Viking. And among this racially tinged mockery, there was also some revelling in the fact that a stock phrase of violent white supremacy had found its way into the mouth of the director of the FBI.

Tom Birkett receives funding from the European Union (ERC, NorseMap, Project Number 101169706). Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Council. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.”

– ref. ‘See you in Valhalla’: how the FBI director waded into the far-right’s obsession with the Vikings – https://theconversation.com/see-you-in-valhalla-how-the-fbi-director-waded-into-the-far-rights-obsession-with-the-vikings-266281

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Abigail Dove, Postdoctoral Researcher, Neuroepidemiology, Karolinska Institutet

We spend nearly a third of our lives asleep, yet sleep is anything but wasted time. Far from being passive downtime, it is an active and essential process that helps restore the body and protect the brain. When sleep is disrupted, the brain feels the consequences – sometimes in subtle ways that accumulate over years.

In a new study, my colleagues and I examined sleep behaviour and detailed brain MRI scan data in more than 27,000 UK adults between the ages of 40 and 70. We found that people with poor sleep had brains that appeared significantly older than expected based on their actual age.

What does it mean for the brain to “look older”? While we all grow chronologically older at the same pace, some people’s biological clocks can tick faster or slower than others. New advances in brain imaging and artificial intelligence allow researchers to estimate a person’s brain age based on patterns in brain MRI scans, such as loss of brain tissue, thinning of the cortex and damage to blood vessels.

In our study, brain age was estimated using over 1,000 different imaging markers from MRI scans. We first trained a machine learning model on the scans of the healthiest participants – people with no major diseases, whose brains should closely match their chronological age. Once the model “learned” what normal ageing looks like, we applied it to the full study population.

Having a brain age higher than your actual age can be a signal of departure from healthy ageing. Previous research has linked an older-appearing brain to faster cognitive decline, greater dementia risk and even higher risk of early death.

Sleep is complex, and no single measure can tell the whole story of a person’s sleep health. Our study, therefore, focused on five aspects of sleep self-reported by the study participants: their chronotype (“morning” or “evening” person), how many hours they typically sleep (seven to eight hours is considered optimal), whether they experience insomnia, whether they snore and whether they feel excessively sleepy during the day.

These characteristics can interact in synergistic ways. For example, someone with frequent insomnia may also feel more daytime sleepiness, and having a late chronotype may lead to shorter sleep duration. By integrating all five characteristics into a “healthy sleep score”, we captured a fuller picture of overall sleep health.

People with four or five healthy traits had a “healthy” sleep profile, while those with two to three had an “intermediate” profile, and those with zero or one had a “poor” profile.

When we compared brain age across different sleep profiles, the differences were clear. The gap between brain age and chronological age widened by about six months for every one point decrease in healthy sleep score. On average, people with a poor sleep profile had brains that appeared nearly one year older than expected based on their chronological age, while those with a healthy sleep profile showed no such gap.

We also considered the five sleep characteristics individually: late chronotype and abnormal sleep duration stood out as the biggest contributors to faster brain ageing.

A year may not sound like much, but in terms of brain health, it matters. Even small accelerations in brain ageing can compound over time, potentially increasing the risk of cognitive impairment, dementia and other neurological conditions.

The good news is that sleep habits are modifiable. While not all sleep problems are easily fixed, simple strategies: keeping a regular sleep schedule; limiting caffeine, alcohol and screen use before bedtime; and creating a dark and quiet sleep environment can improve sleep health and may protect brain health.

How exactly does the quality of a person’s sleep affect their brain health?

One explanation may be inflammation. Increasing evidence suggests that sleep disturbances raise the level of inflammation in the body. In turn, inflammation can harm the brain in several ways: damaging blood vessels, triggering the buildup of toxic proteins and speeding up brain cell death.

We were able to investigate the role of inflammation thanks to blood samples collected from participants at the beginning of the study. These samples contain a wealth of information about different inflammatory biomarkers circulating in the body. When we factored this into our analysis, we found that inflammation levels accounted for about 10% of the connection between sleep and brain ageing.

Other processes may also play a role

Another explanation centres on the glymphatic system – the brain’s built-in waste clearance network, which is mainly active during sleep. When sleep is disrupted or insufficient, this system may not function properly, allowing harmful substances to build up in the brain.

Yet another possibility is that poor sleep increases the risk of other health conditions that are themselves damaging for brain health, including type 2 diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease.

Our study is one of the largest and most comprehensive of its kind, benefiting from a very large study population, a multidimensional measure of sleep health, and a detailed estimation of brain age through thousands of brain MRI features. Though previous research connected poor sleep to cognitive decline and dementia, our study further demonstrated that poor sleep is tied to a measurably older-looking brain, and inflammation might explain this link.

Brain ageing cannot be avoided, but our behaviour and lifestyle choices can shape how it unfolds. The implications of our research are clear: to keep the brain healthier for longer, it is important to make sleep a priority.

Abigail Dove receives funding from Alzheimerfonden, Demensfonden, and the Loo and Hans Osterman Foundation for Medical Research.

– ref. Poor sleep may make your brain age faster – new study – https://theconversation.com/poor-sleep-may-make-your-brain-age-faster-new-study-265309

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Miguel de Lucas, Associate Professor in Biosciences, Durham University

At first glance, plants may seem passive – but beneath their stillness lies a world of complexity and constant activity. Plants are highly sensitive to their surroundings, continuously monitoring environmental signals to adapt and survive. Think of them as nature’s nosy neighbours, always alert to what’s happening around them.

From subtle shifts in light and temperature to the presence of pollinators, microbes, or changes in soil salinity, plants can detect a range of cues. In response, they can alter growth direction, delay flowering or produce protective chemicals.

My colleagues and I have created a cell-by-cell map of how plants respond to signals from the soil. The map offers insight into plant behaviour in an unprecedented level of detail. It could change our understanding of how living things adapt to their environment and help plants survive climate change.

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Many people think of plants as nice-looking greens. Essential for clean air, yes, but simple organisms. A step change in research is shaking up the way scientists think about plants: they are far more complex and more like us than you might imagine. This blossoming field of science is too delightful to do it justice in one or two stories.

This article is part of a series, Plant Curious, exploring scientific studies that challenge the way you view plantlife.

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First it’s important to understand how genes work within an organism.

The human genome contains roughly 20,000 genes. But, like other animals and plants, not all these genes are active at the same time or in every cell. It’s called selective gene expression. For years, scientists believed that selective gene expression was the main explanation for why our skin cells differ from muscle cells even though they carry the same genetic blueprint. Each cell type activates a unique set of genes, producing proteins that define its structure and function.

But scientific discoveries over the last decade or so have been revealing that there’s more to the story. It is becoming clearer that the function of a cell is also determined by what happens to those proteins afterwards.

Once a protein is made, it can undergo chemical modifications that alter its behaviour. Think of it like using a tool. If you need to see far away, you might pick up a telescope. You’re still the same person, but now with enhanced vision. Similarly, a protein can be “upgraded” with a tag that boosts its activity. On the flip side, imagine being fitted with a ball and chain – your movement is restricted. Cells do something similar to proteins they produce, attaching molecules that either activate or suppress their function.

This process, known as post-translational modification (PTM), adds a new layer of complexity to biology. The first PTM identified was phosphorylation in 1906. Scientists have since identified over 500 types of these modifications. For example, ubiquitination, a tag that often marks proteins for destruction. It’s the cell’s way of cleaning house, disposing of proteins that are no longer needed, much like washing and storing your coffee mug after use (though some of us are better at that than others!).

These tiny molecular tweaks help cells respond to changing conditions, regulate their internal machinery and maintain the organism’s health.

Most PTMs involve complex processes that take place in different parts of the cell, making them difficult for scientists to track and understand. But sumoylation, a type of PTM, relies on a simpler set of enzymes. And researchers believe this streamlined system is closely tied to its role in helping cells respond to their environment.

This is especially important in plants, where environmental cues like light,
temperature, humidity and drought influence developmental stages such
as germination, flowering and leaf shedding. These cues also affect structure, like root complexity and stem branching. Understanding how plants use sumoylation to interpret and respond to these signals could pave the way for smarter, more sustainable agricultural practices.

To unravel how sumoylation operates in plants, a group of scientists in the
UK – supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council – formed a research consortium. This initiative brought together experts (including me) from four universities: Durham, Nottingham, Cambridge and Liverpool.

The consortium’s first hurdle was to build a system that could track the
activity of every enzyme involved in SUMO production within the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Many people also know this plant as thale cress and it is common to find it in the edge of roads and walking paths. This plant was chosen for its simple structure, well-studied genetic makeup, and predictable responses to environmental changes – making it ideal for studying complex biological processes.

This system allowed my colleagues and I to monitor when and where each component of the SUMO machinery was active, alongside the proteins it modifies. The platform also enabled deeper molecular analysis, such as identifying previously unknown molecular partners.

The next challenge was to explore how each component of the SUMO system
behaves when plants face environmental stress. The team focused on drought, saltiness of soil or water and pathogen attack. Since roots are often the first part of the plant to sense and respond to these threats, we zoomed in on this organ to understand its role in stress adaptation.

Our findings revealed that drought stress triggers SUMO signalling deep within the root’s inner tissues, while salt stress is sensed at the outer layers. And pathogen attacks activate responses in the root’s dividing cells. Dividing cells are those that have just been made and have not reached maturity. All these stress signals appear to converge on a single protein, SCE1. This protein helps attach SUMO to molecular hubs that guide cellular changes.

This makes SCE1 a promising candidate for developing new strategies to boost plant resilience. If we enhance SCE1’s function, it may be possible to help plants respond more swiftly to drought and initiate protective mechanisms to conserve water before damage becomes irreversible.

Understanding how PTMs shape cell adaptation and protein function opens new avenues for tackling stress in plants. But the implications go far beyond agriculture. The same principles apply to animal and human health, where PTMs play critical roles in immunity, development and disease resistance. Unlocking their secrets could change how we approach everything from crop resilience to medical therapies.

Miguel de Lucas receives funding from BBSRC

– ref. Plants are incredibly sensitive – what we learned about their response system could help protect humans – https://theconversation.com/plants-are-incredibly-sensitive-what-we-learned-about-their-response-system-could-help-protect-humans-264937

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

A new caffeine craze is brewing on social media – no kettle required. Caffeine pouches promise a fast, discreet hit of energy without the faff of brewing coffee or cracking open an energy drink. But while they may look like a harmless pick-me-up, experts warn they carry real risks, especially for teenagers and people with underlying health conditions.

Caffeine pouches look and work a lot like nicotine pouches or snus. Each small, pillow-shaped packet contains micro-ground caffeine, flavourings and sometimes herbs or vitamins. Slip one under your lip and the caffeine goes straight into the bloodstream through your gums – bypassing the digestive system. The result? A jolt of energy that lands far quicker than a cup of coffee or tea.

Caffeine perks us up by blocking adenosine, a brain chemical that makes us feel sleepy. People have long used coffee, tea and energy drinks to stay awake, sharpen focus and boost performance. Pouches simply offer a hands-free, no-spill shortcut. Some gym-goers and shift workers like the convenience, while athletes value caffeine’s ability to increase endurance by making the brain register less fatigue and pain.

Their discreet design is also a selling point for teenagers, who may use them to stay alert in class or during exams. That worries experts: some fear caffeine pouches could be a gateway to nicotine or other stimulants, and some young users are even pairing them with nicotine pouches, doubling the stimulant load. TikTok has super-charged their popularity, with influencers showing them off in classrooms, gyms and gaming sessions.

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Why nicotine pouches may not be the best choice to help you to stop smoking

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Potent little packets

Depending on the brand, each pouch delivers 25mg to more than 200mg of caffeine. For comparison, a typical mug of instant coffee contains about 100mg, a mug of tea 75mg and a can of cola around 40mg. Some pouches therefore pack the caffeine punch of two cups of coffee in one hit.

How much is too much? For healthy adults, the recommended daily limit is around 400mg. Pregnant women are advised to stay below 200mg per day because higher intakes can increase the risk of complications such as low birth weight or pregnancy loss.

There’s little data on safe levels for children, but the European Food Safety Authority recommends a lower limit of 3mg of caffeine per kilogram of body weight – roughly 45–150mg per day depending on age and size. Children’s smaller bodies and developing systems make them more sensitive to caffeine’s effects.

A single pouch with 200mg of caffeine can easily push a teenager well beyond that limit. And because the drug is absorbed so quickly, side-effects, such as jitteriness, anxiety, insomnia and heart palpitations, can hit harder. Caffeine may give a short-term buzz, but it can also disturb sleep, create a cycle of fatigue and lead to dependence.

Who’s most at risk

Moderate caffeine is generally safe for most adults, but certain groups are more vulnerable. People with mental health conditions may be especially sensitive.

By blocking adenosine and boosting dopamine activity, caffeine can worsen anxiety or psychosis and even increase the risk of relapse in conditions such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. It can also make other addictive substances feel more rewarding, potentially nudging people toward substance use disorders. The science isn’t yet clear enough to set a safe limit for these groups.

Those with heart problems also need to be cautious. Caffeine temporarily raises heart rate and blood pressure, adding stress to the heart. Some people experience palpitations, and athletes who mix high doses of caffeine with intense exercise may face an elevated risk of heart issues.

Extreme cases are rare, but there have been documented caffeine-related deaths, usually involving supplements or highly concentrated products: reminders of how potent this commonplace stimulant can be.

A regulatory blind spot

In the UK, caffeine pouches occupy a legal grey zone. They’re neither food nor medicine, so they escape the usual safety checks and labelling rules. Shoppers can’t always be sure how much caffeine they’re getting – or what other ingredients might be mixed in. Health experts are calling for clearer warnings and age restrictions, particularly as many brands use fruity flavours and bright packaging designed to catch the eye of younger consumers.

Caffeine pouches may be fashionable and convenient, but their rapid absorption and high potency make it easy to overshoot safe limits, especially for teens. An occasional pouch might not be harmful for most adults, but they’re no risk-free substitute for coffee or tea. As with any stimulant, moderation isn’t just sensible, it’s essential.

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

– ref. Caffeine pouches deliver a fast hit – and hidden risks – https://theconversation.com/caffeine-pouches-deliver-a-fast-hit-and-hidden-risks-263933

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Myles Allen, Head of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics, University of Oxford

A few years ago, one of us (Myles Allen) asked a Chinese delegate at a climate conference why Beijing had gone for “carbon neutrality” for its 2060 target rather than “climate neutrality” or “net zero”, both of which were more fashionable terms at the time.

Her response: “Because we know what it means.”

It was a revealing answer: China, unlike many other countries, tends not to make climate commitments that it doesn’t understand or intend to keep. And that’s why its latest pledge – cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 7%–10% by 2035, as part of its commitments under the Paris agreement – matters more than the underwhelmed response might suggest.

To be fair on those other countries, lofty goals have played a role in driving the climate conversation about what is possible: there is always the argument that it is better to aim for the moon and miss than aim for the gutter and hit it.

But the climate crisis needs more than aspirations. It needs concrete, plausible plans.

That’s what makes China’s pledge so significant: Beijing has form in only promising what it plans to deliver. Having promised to peak emissions this decade, barely 50 years after it began to industrialise in earnest, it looks set to achieve that. And in the process, become a world leader in wind power, solar energy and electric vehicles.

Meanwhile, in the scientific literature…

A paper appeared in the journal Nature Communications at the end of August that provides some context for China’s announcement and ought to have received much more attention.

In it, climate scientists Junting Zhong and co-authors describe what they call a “reality-aligned scenario”. This means a pathway for emissions over the coming century that is consistent with emissions to date and countries’ near-term commitments.

The paper is provocatively titled “Plausible global emissions scenario for 2°C aligned with China’s net-zero pathway” (provocative because of the implication that some other scenarios out there are, well, less plausible).

In their scenario, global carbon dioxide emissions peak this decade and reach net zero around 2070, accompanied by immediate, sustained but not particularly dramatic reductions in emissions of methane and other greenhouse gases. In response, global warming is expected to peak at just over 2°C towards the end of this century before declining below 2°C early in the next.

Crucially, Zhong and his colleagues break out China’s contribution. In their scenario, the country’s carbon dioxide emissions would peak in the next few years before a steady decline brings them close to zero by 2060. Methane emissions would begin to decline immediately.

There is much to discuss in the relationship between this scenario and China’s latest emission pledge. How much of that 7%-10% reduction in all greenhouse gases by 2035 will be delivered by (very welcome) cuts in methane emissions? Breaking out separate contributions of long-lived (CO₂) and short-lived (like methane) greenhouse gases would be helpful to understand the implications of China’s pledges for global temperature.

Zhong and colleagues see land use changes (such as reforestation) playing only a minimal role in China’s long-term climate plan. So why does Beijing’s new pledge put so much emphasis on planting trees? Is this just a stopgap, or the start of a bigger reliance on land-based carbon dioxide removal?

And while renewables are central to China’s strategy, the country will also need to store captured carbon (from power plants or factories) on a massive scale. The real question may be around how China is going to deliver all this.

That’s why the phrase “while striving to do better” in President Xi’s announcement is so important. The world has a keen interest in China over-delivering.

Why the silence?

But perhaps the most remarkable aspect of all this is how little discussion there has been of the work by Zhong and his colleagues. It was clearly relevant: it came out just as China was preparing its pledge, it was published in one of the world’s top scientific journals, and one co-author has a prominent role in the IPCC. Yet despite all that, it received almost no online attention.

Perhaps most climate commentators were too preoccupied with responding to a very different document: a “critical review” commissioned by the US Department of Energy of greenhouse gas impacts on the US climate.

Whether or not you agreed with their conclusions, Zhong and his team’s paper was rigorous, transparent and peer-reviewed. The US review was none of those things, and already widely criticised as flawed. Yet it dominated headlines and commentary for weeks.

While the world’s second-largest emitter was debating a dodgy dossier, a carefully presented and comprehensive scenario, directly relevant to the climate policies of the world’s largest emitter, passed largely unnoticed.

That’s a missed opportunity. China’s targets aren’t just slogans or aspirations – they are statements of intent, grounded in what the country believes it can deliver. And where China goes, others will follow. Paying attention to analyses like the one from Zhong and his colleagues help us understand both China’s role and the world’s chances of keeping warming below 2°C.

That’s why President Xi’s call to “do better” applies not just to countries, but to scientists, commentators and climate policy-watchers too. Don’t be distracted by the usual suspects flooding the zone.

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Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 45,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.

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Myles Allen’s research receives funding from UKRI, the Oxford Martin School, Horizon Europe and VietJet Air. He chairs the scientific advisory board of Puro.Earth.

Kai Jiang 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. When China makes a climate pledge, the world should listen – https://theconversation.com/when-china-makes-a-climate-pledge-the-world-should-listen-266346

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Jamie Hinch, PhD Candidate in Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford

The woman’s eyes blazed as I scanned the feedback form she was showing me. “UN-BELIEVE-ABLE”, read her last word in the form’s final section. It was underlined. An incensed crescendo stabbed and dragged across the page. “Flatty and Pointy are part of us. How could they think about destroying them?” she said, shaking her head in disbelief.

She, like me, had received the form at Cornish Lithium’s recent community consultation. This consultation provided updated details of the mineral exploration company’s plans to reopen Trelavour Pit, a former China clay mine at the top of the Cornish village of St Dennis.

Once mined for kaolin, this time, a new “white gold” is being extracted. Lithium is a critical mineral for the green transition, with demand expected to triple over the next decade due to the increasing electrification of the energy system and the electric vehicles sector.

In west Cornwall, Cornish Lithium are pioneering the mining of lithium from geothermal waters. Pumped from deep in the granite below, the company plans to use a technique known as direct lithium extraction to extract the lithium dissolved in the water, while also capturing the heat for geothermal energy.

Meanwhile, in mid-Cornwall’s Clay Country, Cornish Lithium is proposing more conventional hard rock mining in an existing open pit. However, in revealing the size of the expanded Trelavour Pit, the consultation confirmed the fears of many people in St Dennis: “To enable the proposed development of the site and deliver the economic benefits for Cornwall, these sky tips will need to be removed.”

Sky tips are the sandy waste mounds formed by the China clay industry. But they are heritage as much as waste. Part of the “Cornish Alps”, the sky tips affectionately known as “Flatty” and “Pointy” are emblems for St Dennis, having loomed above the village since the 19th century.

These sky tips have also loomed over my PhD research, which looks at how local communities are experiencing the UK’s new dawn of mining. As the woman’s reaction exemplifies, strong sentiments attached to Flatty and Pointy mean their future is at the core of local responses to the Trelavour Lithium Project. They had been a source of speculation and contention throughout the eight months I lived in St Dennis in 2024.

Outside of the village, critical minerals are the subject of long overdue excitement. As the UK government prepares to release its new critical minerals strategy, there’s renewed enthusiasm for domestic exploration projects for critical minerals such as lithium, tin and tungsten.

Domestic extraction is increasingly considered by western nations as essential for the security and sustainability of mineral supply chains. The return or reshoring of mining to the UK also promises jobs in regions experiencing the decline of employment opportunities through the loss of industry, including Cornwall’s clay country.

As Cornish Lithium highlights, 300 jobs will be created over the Trelavour Lithium Project’s 20-year operation, plus 800 during the construction phase.

Job creation is appreciated in St Dennis, as is Cornish Lithium’s community fund which provides financial support for the vibrant community groups and initiatives in the area. While I lived in the village, locals often lamented the decline of the clay industry, once the primary employer and centre of the community.

This is one of Cornwall’s most deprived areas. Among some, I found a tempered optimism that lithium could rejuvenate the village.

Yet, it is Flatty and Pointy tempering this optimism. While the Clay Country has long been a shifting landscape of pits and tips, blasting and collapsing hills, and villages coming and going, Flatty and Pointy have seemingly transcended this dynamism. In St Dennis residents’ living memory, they have always been there.

For some, the sky tips are dangerous, unsolicited waste. For others, they are gatekeepers to a valuable lithium resource. But in St Dennis, Flatty and Pointy represent unprotected heritage, iconic monuments, access to nature, and a wild, unruly playground. They may not be natural, but they’ve become naturalised within this clayscape as a much-loved landmark.

Yet, not removing the sky tips would present an “ongoing safety risk and make the project unviable”, Cornish Lithium explain. This justification makes sense.

But so too does the injustice felt by many in this village where “all the shit gets dumped in St Dennis” is an oft-repeated, ironic slogan. Lithium mining certainly presents opportunities, but with the loss of Flatty and Pointy, locals worry that it might contribute to this area’s demise too.

The hype for reshoring critical minerals extraction cannot wash over it’s very real consequences for local communities and landscapes. These need not be negative by default. If the mourning period for Flatty and Pointy can be sensitively navigated, a new, more sustainable, mining industry can be reinvigorated in tandem with local communities.

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Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?

Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 45,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.

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Jamie Hinch receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council’s Grand Union Doctoral Training Partnership.

– ref. As mining returns to Cornwall, lithium ambitions tussle with local heritage – https://theconversation.com/as-mining-returns-to-cornwall-lithium-ambitions-tussle-with-local-heritage-260525

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Jessica Douthwaite, Historian and curator, University of Oxford

To what do we owe our conscience? John le Carré once stated that all his fictional characters were, one way or another, navigating a world where duty to self is not necessarily duty to society.

A new exhibition at the Bodleian Library in Oxford explores John le Carré’s conscience – his personal, political and professional visions. Taking a global angle, the exhibition draws on an abundance of archival material bequeathed to the Bodleian Library special collections and made available to researchers, of whom I am one of the first.

The exhibition, which I curated with Professor of Criminology Federico Varese, takes le Carré’s methodology as a starting point, exploring how he built fictions from real events, people and places. Of the nine novels chosen for this exhibition, each sits within a broader global context and each – whether implicitly or explicitly – pursues a political or social debate.

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Read more:
John Le Carré: authentic spy fiction that wrote the wrongs of post-war British intelligence

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Reading le Carré towards the end of his career it’s hard to believe that he was once viewed as a mouthpiece of the British establishment: the upper class, Oxbridge-educated, writerly former spy. And yet, many fondly remember him in nostalgic sepia tones that hark back to an era of plummy post-war accents, tweed suits and quintessentially British (poorly-executed) spy manoeuvres.

However, as he aged, he was increasingly criticised for being too leftwing and outspoken. This was especially the case with Donald Trump’s first presidency and the Brexit referendum.

Le Carré’s privileged position as one of the UK’s best-known, most profitable spy authors made him a ripe target for criticism. Also, with increased publicising of his real past as a spy, working for both MI5 and MI6, came accusations of hypocrisy.

Despite his misdemeanours, le Carré has always questioned how global systems and structures facilitate immorality, profit the richest, exploit the poorest, promote self-interest, and destroy the liberties that are supposed to constitute a “free” society.

This exhibition showcases items and ephemera that have never been on public display. Visitors can see doodles and notes that reveal the inception of his characters and plots, and last minute amendments that chime with the designs of his book covers. Through photography, field notes, handwritten drafts, correspondence, sketches and illustrations it charts le Carré’s life and times through his practices.

Many have speculated on how his own experiences of betrayal, deceit and secrecy fuelled the imagined worlds of his novels. Yet, beyond those interpretations, while curating this exhibition, I realised that le Carré’s method embodied the political points he wanted to make. His worldview is borne out in the idiosyncrasies of his factual research, acute observations, obsession with accuracy, compulsion to travel and interest in the humans behind the news events.

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Read more:
John le Carré’s archivist: papers reveal a painstaking literary craftsman

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Le Carré embraced ambiguity: tension caused by ideological, political and romantic conflict was at the heart of the interactions between his characters. This blurring of moral lines was produced in part from the research that he did with expert collaborators. These experts were people who may not have agreed with each other, but through whom le Carré chose to accumulate and amalgamate knowledge in the lead up to drafting his novels.

His network comprised diverse informants, from corporate whistleblowers to humanitarian aid workers. Such breadth of intelligence, gave le Carré an unrivalled insight into the contentions and discord produced by topics like healthcare in the or war developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Weaving real life events with fantasy, le Carré gave equal weight to academic expertise and ordinary experience. Such an approach suggests that to an extent the realities of everyday life mattered more than theory.

His emphasis on interviewing people who knew more than him allowed their stories to reach a much larger audience. He made field trips to experience events and cultures himself. Travel was an exercise in humility, exposing gaps in his knowledge. The act of sharing his work with people for their thoughts and criticism was similarly humbling. Le Carré was glad to be told a description was wrong, a detail inaccurate or a dialogue phoney. He strove for credibility because it underscored the realities of his themes.

The integrity of le Carré’s writing approach was always consistent with his eye for immorality, injustice and lawlessness. Does it matter, then, that with age le Carré became progressively more passionate about the issues he deemed most threatening to global stability: health inequalities, financial transparency, or ethical resource mining, for example?

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Read more:
John le Carré, MI6 and the fact and fiction of British secret intelligence

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In 2003, le Carré marched with thousands of protestors against the British government’s decision to support the invasion of Iraq and wrote a polemical article in The Times decrying a new era of paranoid American warfare. For some time after the invasion of Afghanistan in 2004, le Carré even refused to visit the United States.

In a memo written around the same time, le Carré jotted down his thoughts on the purpose of a “political novel”, conversely, he wrote, a “non-political novel accepts the status quo”. Though he was thinking specifically of the contemporary moment of America’s foreign affairs, the status quo has always been under attack in his novels; so, in a sense they have all been political.

John le Carré: Tradecraft is open at The Bodleian Library in Oxford from October 1 2025 to April 6 2026

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Jessica Douthwaite received funding from the AHRC from 2014-2017 and 2021-2024.

– ref. A new exhibition explores John le Carré’s writing process and what it says about his political conscience – https://theconversation.com/a-new-exhibition-explores-john-le-carres-writing-process-and-what-it-says-about-his-political-conscience-264927