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March 25, 2026

Cómo evitar que el talento deportivo se convierta en una carga para los menores

Source: The Conversation – (in Spanish) – By Maite Aurrekoetxea Casaus, Profesora Doctora en Sociología en la Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y Humanas, Universidad de Deusto

¿Qué significa destacar en un deporte? En edades infantiles y preadolescentes esto puede reflejar muchas cosas, además de un talento innato. Por ejemplo, una maduración biológica temprana, la calidad y cantidad del entrenamiento e incluso el rol dentro del equipo.

Para los padres y profesores puede ser difícil detectar y gestionar las altas capacidades deportivas de los más jóvenes. Para esto último, el entorno del menor es un factor clave.

Para empezar, en vez de fijarse en quien gana, conviene fijarse en indicadores menos visibles. Por ejemplo, poniendo el foco en el desarrollo de las habilidades motrices, la comprensión de diferentes situaciones motrices, la autorregulación del error, la transferencia entre deportes y la sensibilidad al feedback.

Cuidado con las expectativas familiares

La implicación parental puede ser un arma de doble filo. Por un lado, el apoyo protege el bienestar y la adherencia. Por otro, la presión afecta al disfrute y la motivación. Si esta última se impone, el deporte puede pasar de ser un espacio de exploración y disfrute a convertirse en una obligación que hay que repetir cada fin de semana.

El entorno familiar debe entender algo muy importante: evitar la imposición de expectativas no significa desentenderse, sino acompañar de otra manera.

El primer cambio pasa por transformar el lenguaje verbal y aumentar las experiencias de lenguaje motriz. Si la conversación gira exclusivamente en torno a resultados (cuántos goles, quién ha marcado, si ha ganado), el mensaje es que el valor depende del marcador. Es mejor preguntar si ha aprendido o cómo resolvió un error, porque así se desplaza el foco hacia el proceso.

Acompañar no es decidir por el menor, sino permitirle participar en elecciones razonables. Por ejemplo, qué frecuencia de entrenamientos asumir, qué metas plantearse de cara a la temporada o cómo afrontar las posibles renuncias. El razonamiento hipotético-deductivo no se alcanza hasta alrededor de los 12 años. Hasta ese momento, no hay un estado madurativo de elección propia.

Menos etiquetas y más variedad

También conviene vigilar las etiquetas, que parecen positivas pero pueden volverse pesadas. Convertir el talento en identidad (“eres un crack”,“así vas llegar lejos”) puede estrechar el margen de error y aumentar el miedo a fallar.

En la variedad está el gusto. Si siempre se practica el mismo deporte y no prueba otras actividades, su desarrollo motor se vuelve más limitado. Cuando la experiencia se reduce a una sola modalidad también se reducen las oportunidades de moverse y de resolver situaciones variadas.

La variedad no es una distracción del talento. Al contrario, es lo que permite desarrollarlo con una visión más rica, flexible y preparada para el futuro.

La especialización favorece el ‘burnout’

En este contexto se corre un riesgo. Muchas familias no dicen explícitamente “especialízate”, pero las expectativas se traducen en una presión de lógica externa que afecta a las situaciones y sus conductas. Más entrenamientos, más inversión en entrenadores privados, más torneos y menos espacios para la diversificación y libertad de elección y toma de decisiones.

Una vez la familia entra en la lógica de “hay que aprovecharlo ya”, el joven deportista puede percibir más conductas directivas y de presión que coartan su libertad de elección y decisión. Hay datos claros de que esas conductas se relacionan con más burnout y menos motivación autónoma.

Este burnout es un predictor en la devaluación del deporte y el riesgo de abandono. Si no hay decisiones propias, ni un entorno saludable, convertimos el clima en el idóneo para que se erosionen el disfrute y la continuidad en el deporte.

El peligro de las lesiones

En paralelo, y a veces de forma acumulativa con lo psicológico, la especialización y el volumen de entrenamientos elevan el riesgo de lesiones. Desde organismos y entidades se está denunciado dicha sobrecarga, que se traduce tanto en lesiones agudas como en patologías que derivan de un exceso de repetición a edades tempranas, y que conllevan incluso enfermedades.

Entre las lesiones identificadas se incluyen cuadros frecuentes como distensiones musculares, la llamada “rodilla de corredor” y lesiones de rótula. También otras más graves como fracturas de vértebra, la osteocondritis disecante, las lesiones ligamentarias del codo y las fracturas por estrés.

Por el contrario, realizar menos de dos horas por semana de entrenamiento reduce el riesgo de lesiones deportivas agudas. También hay que tener presente que aquellos deportistas especializados en deportes individuales tienen un mayor riesgo de sobrecarga, mientras que los atletas de deportes de equipo pueden ser más propensos a sufrir lesiones traumáticas agudas.

El papel de los profesionales del deporte

Organizaciones como la estadounidense NATA (Asociación Nacional de Entrenadores Atléticos) plantean una serie de recomendaciones que ayuden a generar entornos seguros para los menores deportistas con talento.

Estas recomendaciones dejan claro que los profesionales no son espectadores pasivos. Educadores físico deportivos, entrenadores y clubes tienen una capacidad real para modular el entorno en el que se desarrollan estas personas con talento.

El objetivo debe ser tratar de generar situaciones donde prime el placer de compartir. Mientras, se desarrollan las habilidades motrices básicas y las capacidades técnicas, perceptivas, físicas y psicológicas a largo plazo. Evaluar el progreso implica mirar cómo aprende el menor.

En este sentido, la clave es que el profesional sea un puente con la familia y el club, pero, sobre todo, un guía del maravilloso mundo del deporte en edad escolar. Reducir tensiones invisibles es una responsabilidad compartida. Cuando se acuerdan expectativas realistas sobre carga, descanso y estudios, el menor deja de sentir que debe acelerar para no quedarse atrás. La formación y los protocolos ayudan, pero los mensajes coherentes en casa son igual de decisivos.

Las personas firmantes no son asalariadas, ni consultoras, ni poseen acciones, ni reciben financiación de ninguna compañía u organización que pueda obtener beneficio de este artículo, y han declarado carecer de vínculos relevantes más allá del cargo académico citado anteriormente.

– ref. Cómo evitar que el talento deportivo se convierta en una carga para los menores – https://theconversation.com/como-evitar-que-el-talento-deportivo-se-convierta-en-una-carga-para-los-menores-276426

March 25, 2026

Más allá de mensajes inspiradores y estadísticas, la brecha de género no desaparece

Source: The Conversation – (in Spanish) – By Deniz Torcu, Adjunct Professor of Globalization, Business and Media, IE University

shutterstock Studio Romantic/Shutterstock

Cada mes de marzo, las redes sociales se llenan de mensajes inspiradores, campañas corporativas y declaraciones institucionales que celebran el liderazgo femenino. Durante unos días, el espacio público parece alineado: la igualdad avanza, el talento femenino florece, las empresas se comprometen.

Pero cuando el ruido digital se apaga y observamos los datos comparados, el optimismo se enfría.

Según el Global Gender Gap Report 2025 del World Economic Forum, el mundo ha cerrado aproximadamente el 68,8 % de la brecha global de género, y, al ritmo actual, se necesitarán alrededor de 123 años para alcanzar la paridad completa.

Más de un siglo

A ese ritmo, ninguna persona que hoy participe en el debate público verá alcanzada la paridad económica global.

Y esta estimación no se limita a ingresos: el índice mide participación económica, educación, salud y empoderamiento político en 148 economías. Mientras educación y salud están relativamente cerca de la paridad en muchas regiones, la participación económica y el poder político siguen siendo las dimensiones más rezagadas.

La conclusión es clara: la visibilidad pública de la igualdad avanza más rápido que su arquitectura económica.

Igualdad como ingreso vs. igualdad como capacidad

La economía convencional ha tendido a identificar igualdad con convergencia de ingresos. Si así fuese, al disminuir la brecha salarial el problema estaría en vías de solución. Sin embargo, el enfoque de Amartya Sen obliga a ampliar la mirada. La igualdad no es solo ingreso, sino expansión de capacidades reales: la libertad efectiva para elegir trayectorias vitales. Desde este enfoque, la desigualdad salarial no es solo una diferencia de ingresos, sino una restricción estructural de capacidades.

Una mujer puede tener acceso formal al mercado laboral y, sin embargo, enfrentar restricciones estructurales que limitan su agencia: interrupciones de carrera, penalización por maternidad, menor acceso a redes informales de poder o sesgos en promoción. La cuestión no es solo cuánto gana, sino cuánto puede decidir.

Desde esta perspectiva, las estadísticas laborales no son simplemente indicadores distributivos: son indicadores de libertad real.

La penalización por ser mamá: una lógica acumulativa

Uno de los mecanismos más persistentes de desigualdad es la penalización por ser mamá motherhood penalty. La evidencia muestra que los salarios de las mujeres tienden a estancarse o disminuir tras la maternidad, mientras que los hombres no enfrentan una penalización equivalente.

Esta brecha no responde solo a discriminación directa, sino a un diseño del mercado laboral que premia la continuidad y disponibilidad total. Las interrupciones asociadas al cuidado afectan la acumulación de capital humano y la progresión salarial, generando efectos que se amplifican con el tiempo.

En la Unión Europea, las mujeres ganan el 77 % del ingreso anual de los hombres y acumulan una brecha de pensiones del 25 % en la vejez.

La penalización no es puntual: es acumulativa.

El Global Wage Report 2024–25 de la OIT confirma que los hombres ganan más que las mujeres a lo largo de toda la distribución salarial, tanto en economías de ingresos bajos como altos, y que la desigualdad aumenta cuando se consideran formas de empleo no asalariado. La brecha de ingresos no es episódica: es estructural.

La desigualdad salarial de hoy es la desigualdad patrimonial de mañana.

Claudia Goldin y los ‘trabajos codiciosos’

La premio Nobel Claudia Goldin ha mostrado que buena parte de la brecha salarial en economías avanzadas no se explica solo por discriminación directa, sino por la estructura de ciertas ocupaciones altamente remuneradas. Los ‘trabajos codiciosos’ (greedy jobs), que exigen disponibilidad continua, jornadas extensas y total flexibilidad penalizan cualquier interrupción. Cuando el cuidado infantil recae desproporcionadamente sobre las mujeres, estas dinámicas amplifican la desigualdad.

El problema no es solo quién accede al mercado laboral, sino cómo está diseñado. A escala global, la participación laboral femenina ronda el 47 %, frente al 72 % de participación masculina, según el Banco Mundial. Pero, incluso cuando la participación aumenta, los incentivos internos del mercado siguen generando divergencias salariales a lo largo del ciclo vital.

Economía del cuidado, bienes públicos y reproducción social

La economía feminista, con autoras como Nancy Folbre, ha subrayado que el trabajo de cuidados genera capital humano y cohesión social, pero sus beneficios no se reflejan plenamente en quienes lo realizan. En términos económicos, se trata de una actividad con externalidades positivas mal internalizadas.

Datos de UN Women indican que las mujeres realizan al menos 2,5 veces más trabajo de cuidados no remunerado que los hombres, lo que limita su participación laboral y afecta sus trayectorias salariales. El informe Care Work and Care Jobs de la OIT advierte además que el aumento de la demanda de cuidados, impulsado por los cambios demográficos, puede profundizar estas brechas si no se adoptan políticas públicas transformadoras.

La desigualdad no es abstracta: en la UE, el 92 % de los hombres en pareja con hijos trabajan a tiempo completo, frente al 67 % de las mujeres. Más que una elección individual, esta diferencia refleja cómo la estructura del cuidado condiciona la trayectoria profesional femenina y distorsiona la asignación de tiempo y recursos en la economía.

Esa asimetría no es solo laboral; es fiscal, contributiva y patrimonial.

Estado del bienestar y redistribución del riesgo

El Estado del bienestar surge precisamente para corregir fallos de mercado y redistribuir riesgos sociales.

Políticas como permisos parentales, educación infantil pública o subsidios de cuidado no son meras concesiones simbólicas: son instrumentos de corrección económica.

En la Unión Europea, el Gender Equality Index 2025 sitúa el nivel agregado de igualdad en 63,4 puntos sobre 100, lo que confirma que la paridad sigue estando, como mínimo, a medio siglo de distancia al ritmo actual de progreso.

Hay fuertes contrastes estructurales. Mientras que en el ámbito de salud la igualdad de género alcanza 86,2 puntos y en el el del dinero 73,9, el dominio de poder (que mide la representación en la toma de decisiones políticas, económicas y sociales) apenas llega a 40,5 puntos, el más bajo de todos.

En otras palabras, Europa ha avanzado, pero de forma desigual y a un ritmo que hace inviable hablar de convergencia acelerada. La arquitectura institucional es más robusta que en otras regiones del mundo, pero los datos muestran que las transformaciones profundas siguen siendo graduales.

España, un ejemplo concreto

En 2021, España estableció 16 semanas remuneradas e intransferibles para cada progenitor, en línea con la Directiva europea de conciliación (2019/1158).

Esta medida no es meramente simbólica. Al hacer el permiso intransferible, modifica incentivos y reduce la expectativa de que la interrupción laboral recaiga exclusivamente sobre la madre.

Desde una perspectiva institucional y de capacidades, la medida redistribuye los costes sociales del cuidado y amplía la libertad efectiva de ambos progenitores.

Es un ejemplo de reforma estructural, no de alineamiento discursivo.

Empoderamiento político y arquitectura presupuestaria

En el Global Gender Gap Report 2025 del Foro Económico Mundial, la medición por dimensiones revela que, si bien algunos componentes como educación o salud están mucho más cerca de la paridad, la brecha en empoderamiento político sigue siendo relativamente amplia.

Esto no es un detalle estadístico: sin representación equilibrada en la toma de decisiones, las prioridades presupuestarias y regulatorias tienden a reproducir las mismas estructuras que generan desigualdad.

La arquitectura económica no es neutra. Está vinculada al poder político.

Implicaciones macroeconómicas: eficiencia y crecimiento

La desigualdad de género no es únicamente una cuestión normativa. Es también una cuestión macroeconómica.

El Banco Mundial, a través de su informe Women, Business and the Law, subraya que las restricciones estructurales que limitan la participación femenina reducen el potencial de crecimiento y la acumulación de capital humano.

Desde la teoría del crecimiento y del bienestar, limitar la participación femenina implica una asignación subóptima del talento y una pérdida de productividad agregada. Cuando, además, las mujeres en la UE perciben solo el 77 % del ingreso anual de los hombres y acumulan una brecha de pensiones del 25 %, la desigualdad deja de ser un problema distributivo para convertirse en una ineficiencia estructural.

Narrativa rápida, estructura lenta

El fenómeno del gender washing surge en este contexto: la proliferación de discursos, campañas y compromisos públicos que proyectan alineamiento con la igualdad sin alterar de manera sustantiva las reglas que producen desigualdad.

Adoptar el lenguaje inclusivo o lanzar iniciativas simbólicas es relativamente sencillo. Rediseñar incentivos laborales, redistribuir el trabajo de cuidados o modificar trayectorias profesionales consolidadas exige reformas institucionales profundas y sostenidas.

La diferencia no es menor. Las narrativas se transforman en ciclos mediáticos; las instituciones, en ciclos generacionales. Entre hashtags y estadísticas existe, por tanto, una brecha de velocidad. Y cuando el principal índice global proyecta 123 años para alcanzar la paridad, la cuestión no es si el debate es suficientemente intenso, sino si las reformas son suficientemente estructurales.

La desigualdad no desaparece por acumulación de discursos ni por consenso retórico. Solo se reduce cuando cambian las reglas que distribuyen tiempo, ingresos y poder económico.

Hoy, los datos muestran que ese cambio existe, pero avanza a un ritmo que está lejos de ser transformador.

Deniz Torcu no recibe salario, ni ejerce labores de consultoría, ni posee acciones, ni recibe financiación de ninguna compañía u organización que pueda obtener beneficio de este artículo, y ha declarado carecer de vínculos relevantes más allá del cargo académico citado.

– ref. Más allá de mensajes inspiradores y estadísticas, la brecha de género no desaparece – https://theconversation.com/mas-alla-de-mensajes-inspiradores-y-estadisticas-la-brecha-de-genero-no-desaparece-277868

March 25, 2026

Jury finds Instagram and YouTube addictive in lawsuit poised to reshape social media – platform design meets product liability

Source: The Conversation – USA (3) – By Carolina Rossini, Professor of Practice and Director for Program, Public Interest Technology Initiative, UMass Amherst

Is the social media platform she’s using, rather than the content she’s viewing, a threat to her well-being? Fiordaliso/Moment via Getty Images

The verdict in a Los Angeles courtroom on March 25, 2026, may become one of the most consequential legal challenges that Big Tech has ever faced.

This is an inflection point in the global debate over Big Tech liability: For the first time, an American jury had been asked to decide whether platform design itself can give rise to product liability – not because of what users post on them, but because of how they were built. The jury found that Meta and Google knew the design or operation of Instagram and YouTube was or was likely to be dangerous when used by a minor, and that the platforms failed to adequately warn of that danger.

As a technology policy and law scholar, I believe that the decision will likely generate a powerful domino effect in the United States and across jurisdictions worldwide.

The jury awarded the plaintiff US$3 million in damages and recommended to the court an additional $3 million in punitive damages. The jury split responsibility for the award between the companies: 70% from Meta and 30% from Google. A Meta spokesman stated that the company disagrees with the verdict and is evaluating its legal options.

Separately, a jury in New Mexico on March 24 found that Meta knowingly harmed children’s mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its platforms.

The case

The plaintiff in the Los Angeles case is a 20-year-old California woman identified by her initials, K.G.M. She said she began using YouTube around age 6 and created an Instagram account at age 9. Her lawsuit and testimony alleged that the platforms’ design features, which include likes, algorithmic recommendation engines, infinite scroll, autoplay and deliberately unpredictable rewards, got her addicted. The suit alleges that her addiction fueled depression, anxiety, body dysmorphia – when someone see themselves as ugly or disfigured when they aren’t – and suicidal thoughts.

TikTok and Snapchat settled with K.G.M. before trial for undisclosed sums, leaving Meta and Google as the remaining defendants. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before the jury on Feb. 18.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified in court in a lawsuit alleging that Instagram is addictive by design.

The stakes extend far beyond one plaintiff. K.G.M.’s case is a bellwether trial, meaning the court chose it as a representative test case to help determine verdicts across all connected cases. Those cases involve approximately 1,600 plaintiffs, including more than 350 families and over 250 school districts. Their claims have been consolidated in a California Judicial Council Coordination Proceeding, No. 5255. This means potential awards could run into the billions of dollars.

The California proceeding shares legal teams and evidence pool, including internal Meta documents, with a federal multidistrict litigation that is scheduled to advance in court later this year, bringing together thousands of federal lawsuits.

Legal innovation: Design as defect

For decades, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act shielded technology companies from liability for content that their users post. Whenever people sued over harms linked to social media, companies invoked Section 230, and the cases typically died early.

The K.G.M. litigation used a different legal strategy: negligence-based product liability. The plaintiff argued that the harm arises not from third-party content but from the platforms’ own engineering and design decisions, the “informational architecture” and features that shape users’ experience of content. Infinite scrolling, autoplay, notifications calibrated to heighten anxiety and variable-reward systems operate on the same behavioral principles as slot machines.

These are conscious product design choices. The plaintiff contended – and the jury agreed – that the platforms should be subject to the same safety obligations as any other manufactured product, thereby holding their makers accountable for negligence, strict liability or breach of warranty of fitness.

Judge Carolyn Kuhl of the California Superior Court agreed that these claims warranted a jury trial. In her Nov. 5, 2025, ruling denying Meta’s motion for summary judgment, she distinguished between features related to content publishing, which Section 230 might protect, and features like notification timing, engagement loops and the absence of meaningful parental controls, which it might not.

Here, Kuhl established that the conduct-versus-content distinction – treating algorithmic design choices as the company’s own conduct rather than as the protected publication of third-party speech – was a viable legal theory for a jury to evaluate. This fine-grained approach, evaluating each design feature individually and recognizing the increased complexities of technology products’ design, represents a potential road map for courts nationwide.

What the companies knew

The product liability theory depends partly on what companies knew about the risks of their designs. The 2021 leak of internal Meta documents, widely known as the “Facebook Papers,” revealed that the company’s own researchers had flagged concerns about Instagram’s effects on adolescent body image and mental health.

Internal communications disclosed in the K.G.M. proceedings have included exchanges among Meta employees comparing the platform’s effects to pushing drugs and gambling. Whether this internal awareness constitutes the kind of corporate knowledge that supports liability is a central factual question for the jury to decide.

black-and-white photo of eight men in business suits standing behind a table with their right hands raised — Tobacco companies were eventually held to account because what they knew – and hid – about the addictiveness of their products came to light.
Ray Lustig/The Washington Post via Getty Images

There is a clear analogy to tobacco litigation. In the 1990s, plaintiffs succeeded against tobacco companies by proving they had concealed evidence about the addictive and deadly nature of their products. In K.G.M., the plaintiff here is making the same core argument: Where there is corporate knowledge, deliberate targeting and public denial, liability follows.

K.G.M.’s lead trial attorney, Mark Lanier, is the same lawyer who won multibillion-dollar verdicts in the Johnson & Johnson baby powder litigation, signaling the scale of accountability they are pursuing.

The science: Contested but consequential

The scientific evidence on social media and youth mental health is real but genuinely complex. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) does not classify social media use as an addictive disorder. Researchers like Amy Orben have found that large-scale studies show small average associations between social media use and reduced well-being.

Yet Orben herself has cautioned that these averages might mask severe harms experienced by a subset of vulnerable young users, particularly girls ages 12 to 15. The legal question under the negligence theory is not whether social media harms everyone equally, but whether platform designers had an obligation to account for foreseeable interactions between their design features and the vulnerabilities of developing minds, especially when internal evidence suggested they were aware of the risks.

First, a manufacturer has a duty to exercise reasonable care in designing its product, and that duty extends to harms that are reasonably foreseeable. Second, the plaintiff must show that the type of injury suffered was a foreseeable consequence of the design choice. The manufacturer doesn’t need to have foreseen the exact injury to the exact plaintiff, but the general category of harm must have been within the range of what a reasonable designer would anticipate.

This is why the Facebook Papers and internal Meta research are so legally significant in K.G.M.’s case: They go directly to establishing that the company’s own researchers identified the specific categories of harm – depression, body dysmorphia, compulsive use patterns among adolescent girls – that the plaintiff alleges she suffered. If the company’s own data flagged these risks and leadership continued on the same design trajectory, that would considerably strengthen the foreseeability element.

Why it matters

Even if the science is unsettled, the legal and policy landscape is shifting fast. In 2025 alone, 20 states in the U.S. enacted new laws governing children’s social media use. And this wave is not only in the U.S.; countries such as the U.K., Australia, Denmark, France and Brazil are also moving forward with specific legislation, including mandates banning social media for those under 16.

The K.G.M. trial represents something more fundamental: the proposition that algorithmic design decisions are product decisions, carrying real obligations of safety and accountability. If this verdict causes that framework to take hold, every platform will need to reconsider not just what content appears, but why and how it is delivered.

This is an updated version of an article originally published on March 6, 2026. It was updated to include the jury’s verdict.

I was staff at organizations including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Public Knowledge, and the Harvard Berkman Klein Center, which were funded by various foundations and companies. Refer to their websites for disclosures. I was a staff member in the connectivity policy team at Facebook (2016-2018). I am an advisory board member of non-profits, including Internet Lab (Brazil) and Derechos Digitales (Chile). I am a senior advisor (without any honorarium) at the Datasphere Initiative and Portulans Institute. More details at https://www.carolinarossini.net/bio

– ref. Jury finds Instagram and YouTube addictive in lawsuit poised to reshape social media – platform design meets product liability – https://theconversation.com/jury-finds-instagram-and-youtube-addictive-in-lawsuit-poised-to-reshape-social-media-platform-design-meets-product-liability-277066

March 25, 2026

Le paradoxe du sport moderne : une industrie milliardaire, des disciplines laissées pour compte

Source: The Conversation – in French – By Julien Le Maux, Professeur titulaire, département de sciences comptables, HEC Montréal

Des athlètes de l’équipe canadienne de bobsleigh multiplient les campagnes de sociofinancement pour payer leurs frais de saison sur le circuit international. Pendant ce temps, les Dallas Cowboys de la NFL sont évalués à près de 9 milliards de dollars américains, tandis que les Golden State Warriors en NBA dépassent 7 milliards de dollars : jamais le sport n’a généré autant d’argent, ni de tels écarts entre disciplines.

Cette situation révèle une transformation de l’économie du sport. L’économie mondiale du sport n’a jamais généré autant de richesse, mais elle reste inégalement répartie entre disciplines.

La croissance des droits de diffusion constitue un moteur majeur de cette expansion. La NFL a signé des contrats télévisuels d’environ 110 milliards de dollars sur onze ans, illustrant la valeur du sport en tant que contenu audiovisuel. Dans un paysage médiatique fragmenté, les événements sportifs en direct demeurent parmi les programmes capables de rassembler des audiences élevées.

Cette dynamique attire désormais des investisseurs institutionnels. Des fonds de capital-investissement ont pris des participations dans des ligues, clubs ou infrastructures sportives. Pour ces investisseurs, le sport présente plusieurs caractéristiques intéressantes : des audiences mondiales, des revenus prévisibles et des actifs rares, le nombre d’équipes dans les grandes ligues étant limité.

Mais cette prospérité ne concerne pas l’ensemble du monde sportif. Dans de nombreuses disciplines olympiques, les athlètes dépendent encore de subventions publiques, de commandites ou même de ressources personnelles pour poursuivre leur carrière.

L’essor du sport financiarisé

Au cours des dernières années, plusieurs disciplines sportives ont profondément transformé leur modèle économique. Elles ne fonctionnent plus seulement comme des compétitions, mais comme de véritables produits médiatiques mondialisés, structurés pour générer des revenus réguliers et attirer de nouveaux publics.

La Formule 1 constitue un exemple révélateur. Depuis son rachat en 2017 par Liberty Media, la stratégie vise la croissance des audiences : multiplication de contenus numériques, présence sur les réseaux sociaux et storytelling par la série Drive to Survive sur Netflix. L’effet a été net en Amérique du Nord : la popularité de la F1 y a explosé, entraînant de nouveaux Grands Prix pour répondre à la demande.

Le golf professionnel illustre également cette financiarisation. La création du circuit LIV Golf, soutenu par le Public Investment Fund (PIF), a introduit une logique d’investissement proche de celle des grandes ligues professionnelles : garanties financières, contrats majeurs pour attirer les meilleurs joueurs et formats conçus pour maximiser la visibilité médiatique.

Dans ces disciplines, les compétitions sportives deviennent progressivement des actifs financiers. La valeur d’un championnat dépend désormais de sa capacité à générer des droits médiatiques croissants et des partenariats commerciaux de long terme. Elle repose aussi sur une visibilité numérique permanente et sur une valorisation de marque qui dépasse largement le terrain sportif.

Ce mouvement concentre de plus en plus les ressources dans un nombre restreint de sports capables d’attirer les investisseurs institutionnels et les diffuseurs mondiaux. Les autres disciplines, même structurées et performantes, ne bénéficient pas des mêmes leviers économiques et restent à l’écart de cette dynamique.

Le sport institutionnel : une autre réalité économique

Pour de nombreuses disciplines olympiques, le modèle économique repose largement sur les ressources publiques et les structures sportives nationales. Leur fonctionnement repose principalement sur les fédérations sportives, les programmes olympiques et les subventions gouvernementales.

Au Canada, par exemple, le programme de soutien aux athlètes de Sport Canada verse environ 2 175 dollars par mois aux sportifs de haut niveau selon leur statut. Pour plusieurs disciplines, cette aide ne couvre qu’une partie des coûts liés à l’entraînement, aux déplacements et à l’équipement, ce qui oblige de nombreux athlètes à chercher des sources de financement complémentaires.

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Des sports comme l’escrime, la lutte ou le tir à l’arc illustrent bien cette réalité. Leur importance sportive et symbolique – notamment dans le cadre des Jeux olympiques – n’est pas proportionnelle à leur rentabilité économique. Cette situation a suscité plusieurs débats au Canada après les Jeux olympiques d’hiver de 2026, certains observateurs ayant attribué certaines performances à l’insuffisance des moyens financiers disponibles dans certaines disciplines.

Un système sportif à deux vitesses

L’écart économique entre les disciplines sportives s’explique d’abord par leur capacité à générer des revenus commerciaux. Les sports dotés d’une forte exposition médiatique attirent les diffuseurs, les commanditaires et les investisseurs institutionnels. À l’inverse, les disciplines moins visibles peinent à bâtir un modèle économique autonome et demeurent dépendantes des financements publics ou des structures fédérales.

Cette dynamique a progressivement fait apparaître un système sportif à deux vitesses.

D’un côté, un sport financiarisé, centré sur les grandes ligues professionnelles et les disciplines très médiatisées, dont la valeur économique croît rapidement grâce aux droits médiatiques, aux partenariats et aux investissements privés.
De l’autre, un sport institutionnel, qui regroupe la majorité des disciplines olympiques et du sport amateur, et dont l’équilibre repose encore sur les fédérations sportives et les budgets publics.

La bifurcation économique du sport

Le paradoxe du sport contemporain tient précisément à cette dualité économique. Jamais l’industrie sportive n’a généré autant de richesse : l’économie mondiale du sport est aujourd’hui estimée entre 400 et 600 milliards de dollars par an. Mais jamais les écarts économiques entre disciplines n’ont été aussi marqués.

Cette situation reflète une transformation du système sportif. L’économie du sport semble aujourd’hui connaître une bifurcation. D’un côté, certaines disciplines sont devenues des actifs financiers mondialisés, attirant investisseurs et capitaux privés. De l’autre, une grande partie du sport – notamment olympique – continue de reposer sur des logiques institutionnelles et sur le financement public.

La question dépasse donc le simple cadre sportif. Faut-il laisser les ressources se concentrer dans les disciplines les plus rentables, au risque de fragiliser une partie du système sportif ? Ou faut-il considérer que certaines disciplines, moins médiatisées, mais essentielles à l’équilibre du système sportif, justifient un soutien public durable ?

Julien Le Maux ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d’une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n’a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.

– ref. Le paradoxe du sport moderne : une industrie milliardaire, des disciplines laissées pour compte – https://theconversation.com/le-paradoxe-du-sport-moderne-une-industrie-milliardaire-des-disciplines-laissees-pour-compte-273866

March 25, 2026

Nuestra vida común con los perros comenzó mucho antes de lo que pensábamos

Source: The Conversation – (in Spanish) – By Francisco José Esteban Ruiz, Profesor titular de Biología Celular, Universidad de Jaén

Una cazador con dos perros, representados en las cuevas rupestres de Tadrart Acacus (Libia). Giampaolo Cianella/Shutterstock

Que el perro sea nuestro mejor amigo puede sonar a tópico. Pero no, no lo es, y la relación empezó mucho antes de lo que se pensaba. Hoy se publican en la revista Nature dos estudios que revelan que los perros (Canis lupus familiaris) nos acompañan a los humanos como animales domésticos desde hace más de 15 000 años. O sea, en momentos de la historia de nuestra especie en los que aún no existían ni la agricultura ni las aldeas estables.

Hasta ahora, la evidencia genética situaba la aparición de los perros en un contexto relativamente reciente, entre los 10 000 y los 11 000 años, aunque ya existían algunos indicios basados en la forma de los huesos, principalmente cráneos y dentición, que sugerían fechas anteriores.

Sin embargo, los datos recién publicados apuntan con mucha más seguridad a que la relación entre las dos especies, humanos y perros, comenzó mucho antes, cuando éramos cazadores-recolectores, en plena transición climática al final de la última Edad de Hielo.

El reto de distinguir perros de lobos

Uno de los mayores obstáculos para reconstruir esta historia ha sido, paradójicamente, identificar a sus protagonistas, pues el parecido de los primeros perros con los lobos, sus antepasados, debería de ser tal que sus huesos podían confundirse fácilmente. Y es esta similitud la que, durante décadas, no ha puesto fácil poder establecer con precisión la cronología.

Pero ahora la situación ha cambiado gracias al avance tecnológico en el análisis de ADN antiguo. Se habla de ADN antiguo porque no se trata simplemente de ADN “viejo”, sino de material genético muy fragmentado, dañado y contaminado, que requiere técnicas específicas para poder ser analizado. Esto, sin duda, ha abierto una ventana directa al pasado que va más allá de lo que pueden decir los huesos.

Evidencia genética más antigua

En el primero de los estudios, liderado por William Marsh, del Museo de Historia Natural de Londres, y sus colaboradores, se presenta la evidencia genética relativa a la existencia de perros más antigua confirmada. Los investigadores identificaron restos en Pınarbaşı (actual Turquía) de hace unos 15 800 años, y en la cueva de Gough (Reino Unido) de unos 14 300 años.

Los resultados muestran que estos animales ya estaban distribuidos por distintas regiones europeas y de Anatolia hace más de 14 000 años, lo que implica que encontrarlos en Europa no era una rareza local sino parte de un fenómeno extendido.

Además, los indicios arqueológicos también sugieren una relación estrecha con los humanos.
Por ejemplo, algunos análisis en Pınarbaşı apuntan a que las personas podrían haber alimentado a los perros con pescado. Y hay señales de enterramientos que sugieren una dimensión de relación social o incluso simbólica con nuestras mascotas caninas.

Por otro lado, los análisis genéticos han permitido comparar los ejemplares prehistóricos con los actuales y, curiosamente, aquellos animales son más parecidos a razas europeas y de Oriente Próximo, como el bóxer o el galgo persa, que a razas árticas como los huskies siberianos. Es decir, los perros antiguos se parecen más a los occidentales y de climas templados que a los asociados con regiones árticas.

Una historia de continuidad

El segundo estudio amplía la perspectiva y analiza más de 200 genomas de cánidos europeos de entre 14 000 y 1 000 años de antigüedad para, así, reconstruir la historia genética de los perros en Europa.

Su conclusión principal es que los perros europeos muestran una notable continuidad genética a lo largo del tiempo. Es decir, que muchos canes que vivieron miles de años después, ya en sociedades agrícolas, conservaban una parte importante de la ascendencia de aquellos primeros ejemplares asociados a nuestros antepasados humanos cazadores-recolectores.

Además, durante el Neolítico llegaron nuevos perros desde el suroeste asiático y se mezclaron con los que ya había en Europa, pero sin sustituir a las razas ya existentes. Es lo contrario de lo que ocurrió con los humanos, en los que la expansión de la agricultura sí trajo poblaciones nuevas que cambiaron mucho la composición genética.

¿Para qué servían?

No es fácil saber con certeza qué papel desempeñaban los primeros perros, pues en sociedades con recursos limitados solo tendría sentido mantener animales si aportaban alguna ventaja. Como hipótesis razonable está la de que actuaran como sistema de alarma, ayudaran en la caza o incluso colaboraran en actividades relacionadas con la pesca.

Por hacer un inciso, la película Alpha (2018) ofrece una imagen que puede resultar familiar. Ambientada al final de la última glaciación, cuenta la historia de un joven que establece un vínculo con un lobo (no con un perro todavía) en lo que se presenta como el origen de la domesticación. Aunque es una reconstrucción ficticia y muy simplificada, el fondo no está tan lejos de lo que sugieren estos nuevos datos: una relación de amistad que comienza antes de la agricultura y que se construye poco a poco a partir de la utilidad y de la proximidad.

Un origen más cercano de lo que pensábamos

Aunque durante años se ha situado el origen del perro en Asia oriental, en parte por la alta diversidad genética de los ejemplares actuales en esa región, estos nuevos estudios apuntan a la importancia de la Eurasia occidental en la historia temprana de nuestro amigo fiel.

Todavía no conocemos con exactitud dónde ni cómo se inició ese proceso, ni cuál fue la población concreta de lobos de la que descienden todos los perros actuales. Pero lo que sí sabemos ya es que la relación entre las dos especies, humanos y perros, una de las más duraderas de la historia, no nació en las aldeas ni en los campos cultivados. Empezó antes, en un mundo frío e incierto donde la colaboración podía ser la mejor estrategia para sobrevivir.

Francisco José Esteban Ruiz recibe fondos para investigación del Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, la Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) y el Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) bajo el proyecto PID-156228NB-I00, y de la Consejería de Salud y Consumo, Junta de Andalucía (PIP-0113-2024).

Marco Antonio Bernal Gómez no recibe salario, ni ejerce labores de consultoría, ni posee acciones, ni recibe financiación de ninguna compañía u organización que pueda obtener beneficio de este artículo, y ha declarado carecer de vínculos relevantes más allá del cargo académico citado.

– ref. Nuestra vida común con los perros comenzó mucho antes de lo que pensábamos – https://theconversation.com/nuestra-vida-comun-con-los-perros-comenzo-mucho-antes-de-lo-que-pensabamos-279240

March 25, 2026

Soaring gas prices and disrupted supply chains will ripple out to increase costs in every store and sector of the economy

Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Vidya Mani, Associate Professor of Business Administration, University of Virginia; Cornell University

Americans are already seeing higher gas prices, but that’s just the beginning. AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

The disruptions from the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran spread quickly to commercial aircraft, shipping lanes and the world’s energy supply. Those repercussions have already hit fuel costs, including for motorists, truckers and fishermen, and are set to spread even more widely, to packaging, household goods, appliances, medicines and electronics.

I study global supply chains and how they interconnect and depend on each other around the world. There are several ways in which U.S. consumers will begin to feel the pinch of the war. Some of those effects have to do with domestic commerce, and some are a result of the interwoven nature of global trade, where raw materials from one place are shipped somewhere they are manufactured into specific items that are then transported to consumers.

An aerial view of a highway with several cargo trucks on it. — Many products are shipped by truck in the U.S., and diesel fuel is more expensive now.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Rising costs in the US

There are three main categories in which costs will begin to rise.

Fuel shortages and freight surcharges: From March 2-16, 2026, the average nationwide price of U.S. regular gasoline rose from US$3.01 to $3.96 per gallon, while diesel fuel rose from $3.89 to $5.37. Diesel prices matter to consumer costs because diesel engines power trucks, farm machines, construction equipment, fishing vessels and many of the vehicles that carry domestic freight. When items become more expensive to harvest, build and ship, diesel costs spread quickly into grocery, household and building material prices.

Chemicals, fertilizer and packaging: QatarEnergy has said Iranian attacks on the world’s largest liquefied natural gas export plant at Ras Laffan and another plant in Mesaieed, both in Qatar, forced the company to stop producing LNG and associated products on March 2. Two days later, the company declared that it could not fulfill its contracts due to extreme external pressures that would require many years to recover from. The affected products included urea, polymers and methanol, used to make fertilizer, plastics, detergents, packaging and other consumer goods. Reduced production and closed transit routes are also affecting supplies of aluminum and helium produced in the Gulf countries.

Factory slowdowns abroad: When shipping slows and energy costs rise, factories abroad face higher operating costs. As a result they ration production, diverting energy supplies to producing a narrow range of high-value products that can absorb these costs. Diversions of shipment traffic and fewer transportation routes lead to delivery delays. Economic research shows that shipping-cost increases also raise import prices, producer costs and consumer inflation.

Air cargo and delivery delays: Early in the conflict, several countries, including Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, closed their airspace to all traffic. Later advisories warned of risks to planes over neighboring countries as well, except for limited corridors. Those closures affected 20% of global air cargo capacity, raising the risk of delays for higher-value cargo such as medicines, aircraft components and electronics.

Global disruptions

About 80% of the oil and 90% of the LNG moving through the Strait of Hormuz, between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, is destined for Asian markets. With strait shipments stopped, consumer electronics and manufacturing hubs in China, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea are drawing on their energy reserves and inventories. But those supplies will run out in a few months. Reduced manufacturing capacity can be expected to cause shortages and higher costs for textiles, chemicals, consumer goods, electronics, appliances, auto parts and fertilizer-intensive industries.

Europe is less directly dependent than Asia on Hormuz shipments, but it is still vulnerable to high LNG prices, increased shipping costs and diesel fuel shortages. Europe has also already faced shortages of heating oil and other fuels as a result of Russia’s war on Ukraine. The strait carried about 7% of Europe’s LNG inflows in 2025, and higher costs for energy, ship fuel, freight and insurance can ripple through global trade. For the U.S., that matters because Europe supplies industrial equipment, precision components, medical technology and specialty chemicals sold to businesses and directly to consumers.

African economies are especially exposed to fuel and fertilizer shocks. Large volumes of fertilizer pass through Hormuz, and higher energy and fertilizer prices threaten crop yields and food systems across most of Africa. As a result, U.S. prices can rise for coffee and chocolate – much of which originates in Africa – as well as critical minerals for electric vehicles, energy storage and high-tech equipment.

A person pushes a cart through a grocery store. — Grocery prices are affected by costs of fuel and fertilizer.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Coming home to Americans

This war is not a distant geopolitical shock for U.S. households. It reaches everyday life through fuel, freight, fertilizer, petrochemicals and global supply chains through factories that produce consumer goods.

Some mitigation is possible: 32 nations will be releasing more than 400 million barrels of oil to the global market over the next few months. There are pipelines and alternative ports in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates that, if they remain undamaged and uninterrupted, can handle potentially 40% of the 20 billion barrels per day that was passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Combined with a temporary easing of sanctions on Russian oil, limited shipments to India and China through the Strait of Hormuz and the March 23 announcement of a five-day pause on U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, it is possible to head off the worst-case scenario.

But these measures cannot fully replace the strait’s normal oil and LNG shipment volume. And if oil production, refining and shipment locations continue to be targeted, recovery can be expected to stretch into many months. The likely result is broader inflation, prolonged shortages and longer waits for goods of all sorts, including food and packaging as well as electronics and appliances.

Vidya Mani has received funding from LMI. She is a Senior Research Fellow with the Mexico Program and Inter-American Dialogue and an Expert Advisor on Critical Minerals, Emerging Technologies, and Supply Chain Resilience at the Public Spend Forum.

– ref. Soaring gas prices and disrupted supply chains will ripple out to increase costs in every store and sector of the economy – https://theconversation.com/soaring-gas-prices-and-disrupted-supply-chains-will-ripple-out-to-increase-costs-in-every-store-and-sector-of-the-economy-278349

March 25, 2026

Lady Gaga says she took lithium after a ‘psychotic break’ – here’s what the science says about this drug

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

When Lady Gaga recently spoke in an interview about taking lithium while suffering from a “psychotic break”, it drew attention to a drug that has long been used in psychiatry but is less widely understood outside it.

Lithium has been used in psychiatric care for more than 70 years, most notably to treat bipolar disorder. Alongside this renewed attention, a recent study has explored whether much lower doses of lithium might help protect the ageing brain – raising questions about whether its effects could extend beyond mental health treatment.

But the science tells a more complicated – and more sobering – story.

Lithium is a naturally occurring chemical element, found in soil, rocks and water. Most people consume tiny amounts of it through drinking water and foods such as vegetables and grains.

In medicine, it is prescribed in the form of lithium carbonate or lithium citrate. At the doses used in treatment, it steadies mood by reducing how often and how severely manic and depressive episodes occur.

It is also one of the few psychiatric medicines shown to reduce the risk of suicide. In the UK, lithium is licensed for bipolar disorder, mania, severe depression and some forms of aggressive or self-harming behaviour.

Despite decades of use, scientists still do not fully understand how lithium works. What is clear is that it acts across multiple systems in the body at once – affecting brain chemicals such as serotonin and dopamine, helping the immune system function more evenly, and helping to regulate the body’s internal clock.

It may also slow some of the processes associated with ageing at a cellular level, including protecting the structures at the tips of chromosomes that tend to wear down over time, and supporting the tiny structures inside cells that generate energy. In the brain, these combined effects appear to make nerve cells more resilient to stress and damage.

This has led researchers to explore whether lithium might have a role in diseases where the brain gradually deteriorates, such as Alzheimer’s.

An animal study published earlier this year found that when lithium levels in mice were experimentally reduced, the animals developed more of the protein build-ups – amyloid plaques and tau tangles – that are closely associated with Alzheimer’s disease, along with faster memory decline. When lithium levels were restored, these changes were prevented. The findings are promising, but they have not yet been confirmed in humans.

Human studies have produced more cautious results. One trial found that a dose of just 300 micrograms of lithium – far below the amounts used in psychiatric treatment – was linked to slower memory loss in people with Alzheimer’s disease.

Another two-year trial in older adults in the early stages of memory problems found that low-dose lithium was safe, and that memory fared slightly better in those taking it than in those given a placebo. The difference, however, was too small to be considered reliable by the standards researchers use to judge whether a result is real or down to chance.

A 2023 review also noted that areas with higher levels of lithium in drinking water tend to report lower rates of Alzheimer’s disease, although the results varied considerably across studies.

The same review suggested that low-dose lithium might have broader effects beyond the brain, with possible links to heart health, muscle loss, bone thinning and type 2 diabetes. The researchers were clear, though, that the evidence is not yet strong enough to draw firm conclusions.

Lithium as a supplement

So what about taking lithium as a supplement? This is where the picture becomes less clear, and where the risks become more important to consider.

Lithium has what pharmacologists call a “narrow therapeutic window”. In plain terms, this means the gap between a dose that helps and a dose that harms is unusually small. People prescribed lithium require regular blood tests to check that levels in the body remain safe, and to keep an eye on kidney and thyroid health. Without medical supervision, none of that monitoring is likely to happen.

Lithium is processed by the kidneys and can build up in the body, particularly in people who are dehydrated or eating a low-salt diet. It also interacts with a number of commonly used medicines, including anti-inflammatories such as ibuprofen, blood pressure treatments such as Ace inhibitors like ramipril, and water tablets such as indapamide.

These interactions can push lithium levels higher in unpredictable ways, even when the dose being taken seems small. Too much lithium in the body can cause trembling, confusion, vomiting and, in serious cases, seizures.

Many of the low-dose products sold online contain a form called lithium orotate. This is different from the forms prescribed by doctors and is not held to the same safety and quality standards as prescription medicines. There are no large human trials directly comparing it with lithium carbonate or citrate.

Some doctors prescribe low-dose lithium orotate for mood symptoms that do not meet the criteria for bipolar disorder, but this is not backed by strong clinical evidence. Online, it is often sold with sweeping claims about mood, behaviour and memory that go well beyond what the research currently shows.

It is also worth being clear about what Lady Gaga actually said. She described taking prescription lithium – a regulated medicine used under medical supervision – not an over-the-counter supplement. The two are not the same thing.

Research into low-dose lithium and brain health is ongoing, and the early findings are worth watching. But early findings are not the same as answers.

Until large-scale trials show clearly that low-dose lithium is both safe and effective, taking it without medical guidance carries real risks – risks that are easy to miss when the focus falls on the possible benefits. Lithium is a genuinely important medicine. That is precisely why it should not be treated as a casual addition to a supplement routine.

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. Lady Gaga says she took lithium after a ‘psychotic break’ – here’s what the science says about this drug – https://theconversation.com/lady-gaga-says-she-took-lithium-after-a-psychotic-break-heres-what-the-science-says-about-this-drug-278169

March 25, 2026

Why do some people eat soil? From a prisoner’s lifeline to a modern tasting menu, the history of geophagy

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Zander Simpson, PhD Candidate in Anthropology, Durham University

Soils on display inside the Museum of Edible Earth’s temporary exhibition at Somerset House in London. David Parry/PA Media Assignments, CC BY-SA

Editor’s note: The UK’s Food Standards Authority and Health Security Agency both advise against eating clay, soil or earth. Links to their guidance are included in this article.

When I ask people if they have ever eaten soil before, they tend to give me a strange look. But geophagy – the deliberate ingestion of any kind of soil – is a practice that archaeological evidence from Kalambo Falls in Zambia suggests has been part of human history for at least 2 million years.

British archaeologist John Desmond Clark reported that Homo habilis, a species of human who lived between 2.2 and 1.6 million years ago, was digging into the earth to mine clays from below the topsoil. This led to the inference that the oldest evidence of geophagy by humans was at that prehistoric site on the border of Zambia and Tanzania.

More recently, anecdotal evidence suggests a prisoner condemned to death in 16th-century Hohenlohe (now part of Germany) was allowed a last request of consuming a small clay tablet after receiving his supposedly lethal dose of mercury. The tablet was reputedly a piece of terra sigillata – clay traditionally mined from the Greek island of Lemnos. To the amazement of the court, the convict survived the mercury poisoning and was merely banished instead.

Geophagy is still practised widely around the globe, including by some women experiencing food cravings during pregnancy. But it should not be confused with the eating disorder pica.

In my research on geophagy practices in the UK, clays appear to be the most popular types of soil consumed. But these are only a sliver of the many types of soil people are known to eat.

In Amsterdam’s Museum of Edible Earth, researcher and artist masharu has brought together more than 600 soils used in geophagy. These include melt-in-the-mouth pemba from Surinam and montmorillonite green clay from France, which is claimed to be an anti-ageing treatment.

The museum is now in the UK for the first time. Adult visitors to Somerset House in London are being invited to sample a “tasting menu” of its soils, and even contribute their own tasting notes.

Map of Museum of Edible Earth soil samples. — Map of the Museum of Edible Earth soil samples.
Graphic design by Luuk van Veen with guidance of Olga Ganzha and masharu, CC BY-SA

The symbolism of soil

For many people, eating soil carries deep symbolic meaning. Soil is a common theme in genesis stories that describe how a people originated, including Adam in the Bible’s Old Testament.

Among the Luo people in Kenya, women who practice geophagy during pregnancy prefer eating red clays due to the links between soil, fertility and blood. These clays are understood to replenish the blood lost during pregnancy to the unborn foetus, which is referred to as remo ma ichweyogo nyathi (the blood you form the child of).

In the 20th century, eating soil was sometimes used to determine guilt in Java. If a crime was committed with no witnesses and the cross-examination failed, suspects would ingest a small amount of soil from their ancestors’ graves and call upon them as witnesses to their innocence. If one of the suspects grew ill or died over the next few months, they would be found guilty.

Today, thinly sliced clay from Java is still eaten as a snack known as ampo.

Soil’s growing appeal

The benefits and risks of eating soil have been highlighted amid recent social media interest in geophagy, such as the trend for filming soil taste tests on TikTok.

A collaboration between researchers at the universities of Glasgow, Strathclyde and Crete suggests clays from Lemnos may have wider health benefits, such as preventing the progression of inflammatory diseases (although, so far, only shown in mice).

Bentonite, which is also used in cosmetic face masks, was mentioned as a favourite edible clay by some customers of a London health-food shop I spoke to.

One reason clays such as bentonite appear to be a popular choice is that they can host Streptomyces, a genus of bacteria that, alongside being a useful source of antibiotics, produce geosmin. This chemical emits the pleasant smell associated with dry earth after rainfall – and also contributes to a pleasantly “earthy” taste.

Video: NewsNation.

But any kind of soil should always be consumed with caution. In 2013, Public Health England identified calabash chalk as a particular risk for pregnant women. Its warning was triggered by widespread consumption of this chalk within some Asian and African communities in London, as a nutritional supplement or morning sickness antidote, and the potential threat posed by lead present in some of these soils.

The UK Food Standards Authority has also warned about the presence of lead and other toxic chemicals in commercially available clays.

Some soils may contain hidden dangers such as heavy metals pollutants, parasitic worms and cancer-causing moulds. Additionally, faecal contamination of soils may introduce bacteria such as E coli, which can cause food poisoning.

While these health risks do not apply to all soils, and some of these concerns can be addressed through the way clays are processed, it is advised that anyone interested in practising geophagy should seek careful guidance first.

The exhibition of edible soils by masharu, on show in London until April 26, seeks to challenge the stigma and negative perceptions around eating clay by focusing on the often-overlooked sensations of soil. From environmental science to health research, soil is no longer being treated like dirt.

Zander Simpson receives funding for his research from the Economic and Social Research Council in the form of a PhD Studentship.

– ref. Why do some people eat soil? From a prisoner’s lifeline to a modern tasting menu, the history of geophagy – https://theconversation.com/why-do-some-people-eat-soil-from-a-prisoners-lifeline-to-a-modern-tasting-menu-the-history-of-geophagy-278691

March 25, 2026

Why emotional resilience should be at the heart of climate change education

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Jessica Newberry Le Vay, Senior Researcher in Climate Change and Health, University of Oxford

The mental health effects of climate change are receiving growing attention, including how children and young people are uniquely affected. Supporting young people to build and sustain good mental health and wellbeing, and to feel prepared for life and work in an uncertain world, has never been more urgent. However, action is still lagging behind need – including in education.

My colleagues and I at the Compass Project, coordinated by the Climate Cares Centre at the University of Oxford and Imperial College London, are exploring how combining climate change education with consideration of mental health and wellbeing can better equip young people for their futures.

We wanted to know how students and educators experience climate change education now, and what they want to see change. Through focus groups and a survey, we heard from over 200 students aged 16-29 and their educators in schools, further education and sixth form colleges and universities in England. They told us why and how emotional resilience – the social and emotional skills to build and sustain good mental health and wellbeing in the face of challenges – should be part of climate change education.

Status quo: disconnected and disempowered

For many young people, climate change education is disconnected from solutions, and from what they see as helpful to everyday life and enjoy learning about. Students report lacking agency, meaning they don’t feel they have the ability to make change. These are not only barriers to meaningful climate change education. Our study highlights this is also driving both distress and disengagement, and missing opportunities to protect and promote mental health and wellbeing.

Students described a wide range of emotions associated with climate change, including worry, fear, guilt, anger and powerlessness. We heard that education can exacerbate these feelings. One university student said:

[My education] increases my worry because despite being a biology course, and many of my modules being based around ecosystems, the environment, animal behaviour, climate change is not a central theme or something brought up regularly in my learning.

What surprised me was just how much students spoke of climate denial and disengagement, mental health stigma, and stigma around engaging with climate action. Students highlighted these as barriers to discussion and community building. One said:

There seems to be a passive feeling amongst my age cohort and, despite most accepting the truth of climate change, they feel removed and disempowered. This is obviously quite demoralising.

Educators spoke of feeling unsupported and lacking time and resources when it came to teaching about climate change and navigating diverse emotional responses. “We want to teach about climate change,” one said, “but there’s anxiety for the educator to say, what if I set some sort of chain reaction of concern amongst these children, how do I deal with that?”

Such experiences have been reflected through a film by the Climate Majority Project, highlighting the emotional reality of climate change education through the eyes of a teacher.

The Hardest Lesson, a film by the Climate Majority Project.

Change is possible, and already underway

Students and educators had clear, aligned, views on action to better prepare young people for a climate-changed future. This included strengthening connection with nature and curriculum reform to include psychologically informed climate change education in every subject.

Students wanted support to cope with their emotions, and opportunities to take part in meaningful and collective climate action. More time, funding, training and support for educators underpins these actions. A school student said:

It gets to a point where it’s like, this statistic, this statistic. These animals are dying. This country’s just had a flood. If you give [young people] concrete ways, more opportunities to do things that genuinely would help a lot of people, and it also does help the environment, but it takes away that powerlessness and frustration and fear.

Many initiatives are already putting these actions into practice, alongside a growing bank of resources on how to do so.

I was struck by examples students and educators gave of initiatives that did anecdotally support climate change education and build emotional resilience, but hadn’t been designed this way. Inter-school climate action competitions built community, agency and joy. General peer support systems for university assignments led to discussions about climate emotions.

Insufficient attention on the links between climate change education and mental health and wellbeing may mean wider, perhaps unintended, benefits of what schools, colleges and universities are already doing are missed. Particularly given scarce resources and overburdened educators, learning about and investing in how to enable these positive ripple effects – and consistently embed such practices across the education system – is a crucial opportunity.

The transformational societal changes that the climate crisis demands can only take place by considering the emotions, thoughts and beliefs that shape our actions, including support to minimise burnout. Our actions, in turn, shape our emotions and can influence our health and wellbeing. Recognising and resourcing these connections in education systems is critical to truly equip young people for life and work in a changing climate.

Jessica Newberry Le Vay leads the Compass Project, which is funded by the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Global. She works for the Climate Cares Centre based at the University of Oxford and Imperial College London.

– ref. Why emotional resilience should be at the heart of climate change education – https://theconversation.com/why-emotional-resilience-should-be-at-the-heart-of-climate-change-education-275610

March 25, 2026

Climate change is altering Saharan dust – and Europe is downwind

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Hossein Hashemi, Senior Lecturer, Division of Water Resources Engineering & Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies, Lund University

In recent years, residents of Spain, France and the UK have looked up to see an eerie sight: deep orange sunrises and skies thick with a yellowish haze. These hazy skies often deposit “blood rain”, rust-colored precipitation that leaves a fine grit on cars and windows.

These events are caused by dust plumes from the Sahara desert that travel thousands of kilometres across the Mediterranean. As climate change alters the world’s largest desert, Europe is finding itself increasingly downwind of a shifting environmental crisis.

The Sahara accounts for more than half of the world’s total dust emissions. Under hot, dry and windy conditions, particles are lifted several kilometres into the atmosphere and transported across continents.

While most travels west toward the Americas, some moves north towards Europe, particularly between February and June. Recent plumes – such as the intense “Calima” that sometimes blankets Spain – have reached as far as the North Sea and Scandinavia.

Parthenon in organe dust cloud — Saharan dust blankets Athens, Greece, in April 2024.
Lesley Hellgeth / shutterstock

The relationship between a warming planet and dust is complex.

On one hand, rising temperatures dry out soils and accelerate desertification, making it far easier for wind to dislodge fine particles. Under extreme warming scenarios, the amount of Saharan dust lifted into the atmosphere could rise by 40% to 60% by the end of the century.

However, the “dustiness” of the future also depends on wind patterns. Certain Saharan sand and dust storms have actually become rarer and less intense over the past two decades. Partly, this is due to an increase in vegetation in the Sahel region at the southern border of the Sahara. But it’s also down to a weakening of surface winds in general, and changes in certain large-scale climate patterns.

Health risks and economic consequences

For Europe, the impact is not just aesthetic. Saharan dust can substantially degrade air quality, pushing levels of invisible particulate matter beyond health guidelines. These fine particles, known as PM10, can penetrate deep into the lungs, triggering asthma and cardiovascular issues. In Spain and Italy, modelling studies suggest Saharan dust may account for up to 44% of deaths linked to PM10 pollution.

Dust also carries other costs. When it settles on snow in the Alps it darkens the surface and makes it less able to reflect sunlight, accelerating melting. It can reduce the efficiency of solar panels and disrupt aviation and road traffic by lowering visibility.

snowy mountain valley, with orange dust — Saharan dust-stained snow in the Spanish Pyrenees.
Xavi Lapuente / shutterstock

What to do about dust

Responding to this growing cross-border problem means acting both at the source and in affected areas.

In the Sahara and its margins, preventing the disruption of intact soils is critical. Overgrazing, river damming and land abandonment can all increase dust emissions. To stabilise the ground, measures include restoring vegetation, maintaining river flows and protecting the fragile “biocrust” of bacteria, moss and other organisms that bind the top few millimetres of desert soils and form a natural shield against wind erosion.

In Europe, the focus is on being prepared. Early warning systems now provide predictions up to 15 days in advance, allowing health authorities to issue alerts for vulnerable people to stay indoors. Simple measures, from improved building ventilation to creating more urban green spaces, can also reduce exposure.

In decades to come, the Saharan “dust belt” will remain a visible indicator of our planet’s health. But technology and forecasting alone will not be enough to solve the problem.

Dust does not respect borders, so managing it will require stronger international cooperation – and binding agreements – on everything from managing river basins to stop lake beds from drying out, to public health responses across Europe. Whether orange skies remain a curiosity or become a regular feature of European life, governments throughout Europe and Africa must take this shared risk seriously.

Hossein Hashemi 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. Climate change is altering Saharan dust – and Europe is downwind – https://theconversation.com/climate-change-is-altering-saharan-dust-and-europe-is-downwind-278605