HIV medications must be taken consistently to suppress the virus. Major cuts to HIV funding have threatened people's access to the medicines. We could see up to 10.8 million more HIV cases than anticipated in the next five years if planned cuts to international HIV funding take place. This surge in infections in low- and middle-income countries would contribute up to 2.9 million more HIV-related deaths by 2030. These disturbing figures come from a new modeling study published March 26 in the journal The Lancet HIV . The researchers wanted to analyze the potential impact of cuts to international funding for HIV/AIDS programs, which work to prevent both transmission and deaths related to the infection. As of February 2025, the five top donors of this funding — the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany and the Netherlands — have all announced significant cuts to foreign aid that threaten HIV programs worldwide. The study predicts how these cuts would impact low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), which since 2015 have relied on international sources for 40% of their HIV program funding. "These findings are a sobering reminder that progress in the fight against HIV is not guaranteed — it is the result of sustained political will and investment," said Dr. Ali Zumla , a professor of infectious diseases and international health at University College London who was not involved in the research. But equally, "the projected surge in new infections and deaths is not an inevitability; it is a consequence of choices being made today," Zumla told Live Science in an email. "If these funding cuts move forward, we risk unraveling decades of hard-won progress, leaving millions vulnerable and pushing global HIV goals further out of reach." Related: We could end the AIDS epidemic in less than a decade. Here's how. Sign up for the Live Science daily newsletter now Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors Unprecedented cuts to aid As of 2023 , five donors have supplied more than 90% of the international funding for HIV programs, with the United States providing over 72% of the total. Specific populations at high risk of HIV — including people who inject drugs, men who have sex with men, female sex workers and their clients, and transgender and gender diverse people — particularly rely on these international funding sources for access to HIV prevention and testing. Much of the U.S. funding comes from the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which is largely implemented by the Agency for International Development (USAID). However, PEPFAR and USAID were hit by an unprecedented funding pause and staffing reduction in January, following an executive order from President Donald Trump. PEPFAR later received a temporary waiver to continue some services, including those for antiretroviral therapy (ART), the drugs that keep HIV from progressing to AIDS. These treatments must be taken consistently or the virus will rebound. "The widespread rollout and uptake of antiretroviral therapy funded by international sources has been one of the most important factors reducing AIDS related deaths in lower income settings," said Justin Parkhurst , an associate professor of global health policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science who was not involved in the study. ART also cuts the number of new infections by suppressing the virus in people living with HIV, thus preventing transmission , he told Live Science in an email. "In the worst-case scenario, if PEPFAR funding were ceased entirely and no equivalent mechanism replaced it, surges in HIV incidence could potentially undo nearly all progress achieved since 2000." ten Brink, et al. (2025) However, despite the waiver, PEPFAR's services still haven't resumed as normal, given the waiver didn't trigger immediate funding to eligible programs and many clinics had already shuttered by the time it was issued. Even now, PEPFAR's future after the waiver's expiration remains uncertain . Following the U.S., the next top four donors for international HIV funding are the U.K., France, Germany and the Netherlands. However, as of February 2025, each of these donors has also announced major cuts in foreign aid spending — "and more might follow," the study authors wrote. Based on the projected cuts being made by the top five donors, the researchers used a mathematical model to predict the rates of new HIV cases and deaths. They focused their model on 26 LMICs, which together receive 49% of international HIV aid, overall, and 54% of PEPFAR aid. They then used the data from these 26 countries to extrapolate to all LMICs worldwide. A pharmacist packs HIV self-test kits in the Philippines, where cuts to USAID have hobbled key programs aimed at driving down cases and deaths. (Image credit: Ezra Acayan via Getty Images) Cuts could "undo nearly all progress achieved since 2000" The researchers considered several scenarios in their model. The first — the "status quo" — served as a baseline, projecting the rates of cases and deaths if recent levels of HIV spending were maintained between 2025 and 2030, rather than cut. In this scenario, more than 1.8 million new infections and over 720,000 HIV-related deaths occurred in LMICs. In the worst-case scenario the team considered, all PEPFAR funding was indefinitely stopped on Jan. 20, 2025, and no alternative funding sources emerged to fill that gap. Simultaneously, other, non-PEPFAR sources of international funding were also reduced. That scenario led to an estimated 10.8 million more cases and 2.9 million more deaths than the status quo. Related: Single-shot HIV treatment suppresses virus 10,000-fold for months, animal study finds This suggests that "the number of new infections in 2026 could return to 2010 levels, and by 2030 the number of new infections could surpass historical estimates," the study authors wrote. "In the worst-case scenario, if PEPFAR funding were ceased entirely and no equivalent mechanism replaced it, surges in HIV incidence could potentially undo nearly all progress achieved since 2000." This worst-case scenario would hit sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) particularly hard — out of eight SSA countries included in the analysis, six receive over 40% of their HIV funding through PEPFAR. Children in the region could see a nearly three-fold increase in HIV infections, the authors predicted. And outside of SSA, other vulnerable populations, such as sex workers, would be much harder hit by such cuts than the general population, showing up to a six-fold higher increase in cases than other demographics, the data suggested. The team also looked at a less extreme scenario, modeling what would happen if new funding sources filled the gap left by PEPFAR. In this scenario, they assumed that the gap could be partially filled by 2026 and then fully filled by 2027. If that mitigation were to happen, the number of extra cases drops to 4.4 million and the extra deaths to 770,000 over the course of five years. So while filling the gap left by PEPFAR would help substantially, that sudden loss of funding would still have devastating impacts, the study suggests. "Modelling reveals the potential for severe consequences following abrupt stopping, with no notice, of international support aimed at stopping AIDS as a global public health threat," Dr. Catherine Hankins , a professor of global and public health at McGill University in Canada who was not involved in the study, told Live Science in an email. Cuts could be felt for decades to come According to the study authors, even if the PEPFAR gap could be filled within two years, the ripple effects would be felt for decades to come. They estimated that it would take 20 to 30 extra years of 2024-level funding to end AIDS as a public health threat. Ambitious goals set by UNAIDS have aimed to end the threat by 2030. And historic HIV trends suggested that many of the LMICs featured in the new paper could have hit their targets by about 2036, if funding continued at past levels, the authors wrote. "This study indicates that an abrupt termination of programmes has serious risks to human life," Parkhurst said. "Even for those who believe the US or other governments should reduce foreign aid spending in this area, there can be planning around how to do so without producing serious harm to millions of people around the world who have come to rely on the treatment." The study suggests that, if that abrupt stop could be avoided, many lives could be spared. The researchers looked at what would happen if PEPFAR was reinstated or "equivalently recovered" and estimated that there could be 70,000 to 1.73 million extra cases and 5,000 to 61,000 extra deaths, compared to status quo. Those estimates assume that other international funding will still be reduced, but that countries will be able to make up for some of the lost funds domestically. The new study has some limitations, one being that the HIV fiscal space is "unpredictable," and the trajectory of future funding cuts is unclear. It also doesn't account for potential behavioral changes that could help prevent HIV transmission in the wake of funding cuts, and it included only 26 countries that might not be fully representative of LMICs worldwide, the study authors wrote. But the researchers argue that, if anything, these limitations would likely cause the model to underestimate the potential impacts of the funding cuts, rather than overestimate them. "It is paramount now to track AIDS mortality and HIV incidence while urgently reversing the cuts, mitigating the effects, and creating new funding strategies to prevent further suffering," Hankins said.

An aerial view of Arles next to the Rhône River in France. Scientists may have found the remains of a Roman-era canal south of Arles built by the uncle of Julius Caesar. Scientists in France may be hot on the trail of a long-lost canal that the Romans built over two millennia ago while battling the Celts. The waterway, known as the Marius Canal, was built around 2,100 years ago within the Rhône River delta. It was the first major Roman water hydraulic feature in what was then Gaul, preceding dams, watermills and aqueducts. According to historical accounts, it was built between 104 and 102 B.C. by the troops of Julius Caesar 's uncle, the general Gaius Marius. Its construction was meant to aid efforts in the Cimbrian Wars, a series of conflicts between the Roman Republic and Celtic tribes, the Cimbri and Teutones, that were migrating south from Jutland, present-day Denmark. At that time, the Roman Republic was protecting its new province in Gaul, a region that covered what is now France, Belgium and parts of western Germany. But the encroachment of the Celts put that land, as well as the rest of the Roman Republic, at risk. "The Roman general Marius came to southern Gaul in 104 B.C. to head off the risk that the Cimbri and Teutones ravaging Gaul and Spain would reach Italy," Simon Loseby , an honorary lecturer in medieval history and an expert on southern Gaul at the University of Sheffield in the U.K. who was not involved in the study, told Live Science. "He headed a very large force, and urgently needed to supply it by sea from Rome." So, Marius ordered the canal be built so it could supply his troops. It bypassed the treacherous Rhône River mouths and connected the city of Arles to the Mediterranean, enabling the safe passage of large supply boats. Ultimately, the canal was a success, and the Romans defeated the Cimbri and Teutones in 101 B.C. The canal was subsequently gifted to Rome's ally in the region, the Greek settlement of Massalia, now Marseille, which is said to have gained significant revenue from its commercial use before the canal vanished from the historical record a few centuries later. "Despite all the research carried out in recent centuries, the Marius Canal hasn't been found," study lead author Joé Juncker , a geoarchaeologist at the University of Strasbourg in France, told Live Science in an email. It was last mentioned by the Roman author Pliny the Elder in the first century A.D., but its traces have all but disappeared. Related: 1,700-year-old Roman shipwreck was stuffed to the gills with fish sauce when it sank Sign up for the Live Science daily newsletter now Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors A painting depicting the defeat of the Cimbri by the Roman general Gaius Marius in what is now France. By Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps, circa 1833. (Image credit: Lanmas via Alamy) Finding the canal In 2013, a geophysical survey of a delta in the Vigueirat marshes just south of Arles revealed an underwater feature that scientists hypothesized could be an ancient canal. Subsequent excavations around the site unearthed 69 pieces of Roman ceramics, two ancient wooden stakes and two extensive cobblestone platforms. Radiocarbon dating of the stakes placed them within the first to fourth century A.D., while organic materials within the platforms dated between the first century B.C. and third century A.D. when the Marius Canal would have been used. Since the site's discovery 12 years ago, researchers have been trying to gather evidence to confirm whether this area really hosts the long-lost Marius Canal. In the new study, Juncker and his team drilled sediment cores from the ancient canal and its banks and took physical measurements to compare with the geophysical surveys conducted in 2013. "The canal length, width, orientation, sediment content and the measured radiocarbon dates confirm that it was a navigable canal in Roman times, partially excavated in a former branch of the Rhône and an ancient lagoon," Juncker said. Natural tributaries in river channels are usually around 360 to 590 feet (110 to 180 meters) wide, while the new analysis shows the putative Marius Canal is much narrower at around 98 feet (30 m) wide. This aligns with other Roman canals. This width would have enabled large Roman ships to navigate the area, the authors reported in the study, published in the April issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports . The new research strengthens the case that there was a canal here, Loseby said. "It's yet another indication of the Roman capacity to conceive of and undertake large infrastructural projects at speed, despite relative technological limitations." Both Loseby and Juncker hope future archaeological discoveries will further establish whether the canal is the Marius Canal. Specifically, they hope excavations could lead to the discovery of quays (landing platforms for ships) or towpaths (waterways where draft animals would tow boats), which could help confirm the use of the canal and the duration of its use. "Geoarchaeology is a science full of potential, but we must bear in mind that, without confirmation from archaeological studies, it is not possible to attribute this canal to Marius for the moment," said Juncker. Research there is ongoing. Roman emperor quiz: Test your knowledge on the rulers of the ancient empire

Exploring anywhere on Earth , look closely and you'll find insects . Check your backyard and you may see ants, beetles, crickets, wasps, mosquitoes and more. There are more kinds of insects than there are mammals, birds and plants combined . This fact has fascinated scientists for centuries . One of the things biologists like me do is classify all living things into categories. Insects belong to a phylum called Arthropoda — animals with hard exoskeletons and jointed feet. All insects are arthropods, but not all arthropods are insects. For instance, spiders , lobsters and millipedes are arthropods, but they're not insects. Instead, insects are a subgroup within Arthropoda, a class called " Insecta ," that is characterized by six legs, two antennae and three body segments — head, abdomen and the thorax, which is the part of the body between the head and abdomen. Most insects also have wings, although a few, like fleas, don't. All have compound eyes , which means insects see very differently from the way people see. Instead of one lens per eye, they have many: a fly has 5,000 lenses; a dragonfly has 30,000. These types of eyes, though not great for clarity, are excellent at detecting movement . What is a species? All insects descend from a common ancestor that lived about about 480 million years ago . For context, that's about 100 million years before any of our vertebrate ancestors — animals with a backbone — ever walked on land. A species is the most basic unit that biologists use to classify living things. When people use words like "ant" or "fly" or "butterfly" they are referring not to species, but to categories that may contain hundreds, thousands or tens of thousands of species. For example, about 18,000 species of butterfly exist — think monarch, zebra swallowtail or cabbage white. Sign up for the Live Science daily newsletter now Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors Basically, species are a group that can interbreed with each other, but not with other groups. One obvious example: bees can't interbreed with ants. But brown-belted bumblebees and red-belted bumblebees can't interbreed either, so they are different species of bumblebee. Each species has a unique scientific name — like Bombus griseocollis for the brown-belted bumblebee — so scientists can be sure which species they're talking about. Related: What is a species? This is what a dragonfly looks like up close. (Image credit: Dieter Meyrl/E+ via Getty Images) Quadrillions of ants Counting the exact number of insect species is probably impossible. Every year, some species go extinct , while some evolve anew . Even if we could magically freeze time and survey the entire Earth all at once, experts would disagree on the distinctiveness or identity of some species. So instead of counting, researchers use statistical analysis to make an estimate. One scientist did just that. He published his answer in a 2018 research paper . His calculations showed there are approximately 5.5 million insect species, with the correct number almost certainly between 2.6 and 7.2 million. Beetles alone account for almost one-third of the number, about 1.5 million species. By comparison, there are "only" an estimated 22,000 species of ants . This and other studies have also estimated about 3,500 species of mosquitoes , 120,000 species of flies and 30,000 species of grasshoppers and crickets . The estimate of 5.5 million species of insects is interesting. What's even more remarkable is that because scientists have found only about 1 million species, that means more than 4.5 million species are still waiting for someone to discover them. In other words, over 80% of the Earth's insect biodiversity is still unknown . Add up the total population and biomass of the insects, and the numbers are even more staggering. The 22,000 species of ants comprise about 20,000,000,000,000,000 individuals — that's 20 quadrillion ants . And if a typical ant weighs about 0.0001 ounces (3 milligrams) — or one ten-thousandth of an ounce — that means all the ants on Earth together weigh more than 132 billion pounds (about 60 billion kilograms). That's the equivalent of about 7 million school buses, 600 aircraft carriers or about 20% of the weight of all humans on Earth combined . Insects | Educational Videos for Kids - YouTube Watch On Many insect species are going extinct All of this has potentially huge implications for our own human species. Insects affect us in countless ways. People depend on them for crop pollination, industrial products and medicine . Other insects can harm us by transmitting disease or eating our crops . Most insects have little to no direct impact on people, but they are integral parts of their ecosystems . This is why entomologists — bug scientists — say we should leave insects alone as much as possible. Most of them are harmless to people, and they are critical to the environment. It is sobering to note that although millions of undiscovered insect species may be out there, many will go extinct before people have a chance to discover them . Largely due to human activity, a significant proportion of Earth's biodiversity — including insects — may ultimately be forever lost . Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com .

The latest time crystal innovation may expand the known boundaries of quantum mechanics. Physicists have created a new type of time crystal that may help confirm some fundamental theories about quantum interactions. A standard time crystal is a new phase of matter that features perpetual motion without expending energy. According to Chong Zu, an assistant professor of physics at Washington University in St. Louis and one of the team's lead researchers, a time crystal resembles a traditional crystal. However, unlike a traditional crystal, which repeats a pattern across the physical dimension of space, a time crystal repeats a pattern of motion, rearranging its atoms in the same way over time, Zu said. This causes the time crystal to vibrate at a set frequency. A time crystal is theoretically capable of cycling through the same pattern infinitely without requiring any additional power — like a watch that never needs to be wound. The reality, however, is that time crystals are incredibly fragile and thus succumb to environmental pressures fairly easily. Although time crystals have been around since 2016, a team has achieved something unprecedented: They've created a novel type of time crystal called a time quasicrystal. A quasicrystal is a solid that, like a regular crystal, has atoms arranged in a specific, nonrandom way, but without a repeating pattern. Related: Scientists create weird 'time crystal' from atoms inflated to be hundreds of times bigger than normal This means that, unlike a standard time crystal that repeats the same pattern over and over, a time quasicrystal never repeats the way it arranges its atoms. Because there's no repetition, the crystal vibrates at different frequencies. As the researchers state in their findings, published in the journal Physical Review X , time quasicrystals "are ordered but apparently not periodic." Sign up for the Live Science daily newsletter now Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors How to build a quasicrystal To create these new time quasicrystals, the researchers started with a millimeter-sized piece of diamond. Then, they created spaces inside the diamond's structure by bombarding it with powerful beams of nitrogen. The nitrogen displaced carbon atoms within the diamond's interior, leaving behind empty atomic chambers. Nature abhors a vacuum, so electrons quickly flowed into these empty spaces and immediately began to interact with neighboring particles on a quantum level . Each time quasicrystal represents a network of more than a million of these empty spaces inside the diamond, though each measures just one micrometer (one-millionth of a meter). "We used microwave pulses to start the rhythms in the time quasicrystals," Bingtian Ye , a researcher at MIT and a co-author of the paper, said in a statement . "The microwaves help create order in time." Potential applications One of the most important outcomes of the team's research is that it confirms some basic theories of quantum mechanics, according to Zu. However, time quasicrystals may have practical applications in fields such as precision timekeeping, quantum computing , and quantum sensor technology. For sensors, the crystal's fragility and sensitivity are actually a boon; because they're so sensitive to environmental factors like magnetism, they can be used to create extremely precise sensors. For quantum computing, the material's potential perpetual motion quality is the key. "They could store quantum memory over long periods of time, essentially like a quantum analog of RAM," Zu said. "We're a long way from that sort of technology, but creating a time quasicrystal is a crucial first step."

As Canada moves toward stronger AI regulation with the proposed Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA), its southern neighbour appears to be taking the opposite approach. AIDA, part of Bill C-27, aims to establish a regulatory framework to improve AI transparency, accountability and oversight in Canada, although some experts have argued it doesn’t go far enough. Meanwhile, United States President Donald Trump’s is pushing for AI deregulation. In January, Trump signed an executive order aimed at eliminating any perceived regulatory barriers to “American AI innovation.” The executive order replaced former president Joe Biden’s prior executive order on AI. Read more: How the US threw out any concerns about AI safety within days of Donald Trump coming to office Notably, the U.S. was also one of two countries — along with the U.K. — that didn’t sign a global declaration in February to ensure AI is “open, inclusive, transparent, ethical, safe, secure and trustworthy.” Eliminating AI safeguards leaves financial institutions vulnerable. This vulnerability can increase uncertainty and, in a worst-case scenario, increase the risk of systemic collapse. Read more: The Paris summit marks a tipping point on AI's safety and sustainability The power of AI in financial markets AI’s potential in financial markets is undeniable. It can improve operational efficiency, perform real-time risk assessments, generate higher income and forecast predictive economic change. My research has found that AI-driven machine learning models not only outperform conventional approaches in identifying financial statement fraud, but also in detecting abnormalities quickly and effectively. In other words, AI can catch signs of financial mismanagement before they spiral into a disaster. In another study, my co-researcher and I found that AI models like artificial neural networks and classification and regression trees can predict financial distress with remarkable accuracy. (Sana Ramzan and Mark Eshwar Lokanan) , Author provided (no reuse) Artificial neural networks are brain-inspired algorithms. Similar to how our brain sends messages through neurons to perform actions, these neural networks process information through layers of interconnected “artificial neurons,” learning patterns from data to make predictions. Similarly, classification and regression trees are decision-making models that divide data into branches based on important features to identify outcomes. Our artificial neural networks models predicted financial distress among Toronto Stock Exchange-listed companies with a staggering 98 per cent accuracy. This suggests suggests AI’s immense potential in providing early warning signals that could help avert financial downturns before they start. However, while AI can simplify manual processes and lower financial risks, it can also introduce vulnerabilities that, if left unchecked, could pose significant threats to economic stability. The risks of deregulation Trump’s push for deregulation could result in Wall Street and other major financial institutions gaining significant power over AI-driven decision-making tools with little to no oversight. When profit-driven AI models operate without the appropriate ethical boundaries, the consequences could be severe. Unchecked algorithms, especially in credit evaluation and trading, could worsen economic inequality and generate systematic financial risks that traditional regulatory frameworks cannot detect. Algorithms trained on biased or incomplete data may reinforce discriminatory lending practices. In lending, for instance, biased AI algorithms can deny loans to marginalized groups, widening wealth and inequality gaps. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) In addition, AI-powered trading bots, which are capable of executing rapid transactions, could trigger flash crashes in seconds, disrupting financial markets before regulators have time to respond. The flash crash of 2010 is a prime example where high-frequency trading algorithms aggressively reacted to market signals causing the Dow Jones Industrial Average to drop by 998.5 points in a matter of minutes. Furthermore, unregulated AI-driven risk models might overlook economic warning signals, resulting in substantial errors in monetary control and fiscal policy. Striking a balance between innovation and safety depends on the ability for regulators and policymakers to reduce AI hazards. While considering financial crisis of 2008, many risk models — earlier forms of AI — were wrong to anticipate a national housing market crash, which led regulators and financial institutions astray and exacerbated the crisis. A blueprint for financial stability My research underscores the importance of integrating machine learning methods within strong regulatory systems to improve financial oversight, fraud detection and prevention. Durable and reasonable regulatory frameworks are required to turn AI from a potential disruptor into a stabilizing force. By implementing policies that prioritize transparency and accountability, policymakers can maximize the advantages of AI while lowering the risks associated with it. A federally regulated AI oversight body in the U.S. could serve as an arbitrator, just like Canada’s Digital Charter Implementation Act of 2022 proposes the establishment of an AI and Data Commissioner. Operating with checks and balances inherent to democratic structures would ensure fairness in financial algorithms and stop biased lending policies and concealed market manipulation. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis) Financial institutions would be required to open the “black box” of AI-driven alternatives by mandating transparency through explainable AI standards — guidelines that are aimed at making AI systems’ outputs more understandable and transparent to humans. Machine learning’s predictive capabilities could help regulators identify financial crises in real-time using early warning signs — similar to the model developed by my co-researcher and me in our study. However, this vision doesn’t end at national borders. Globally, the International Monetary Fund and the Financial Stability Board could establish AI ethical standards to curb cross-border financial misconduct. Crisis prevention or catalyst? Will AI still be the key to foresee and stop the next economic crisis, or will the lack of regulatory oversight cause a financial disaster? As financial institutions continue adopt AI-driven models, the absence of strong regulatory guardrails raises pressing concerns. Without proper safeguards in place, AI is not just a tool for economic prediction — it could become an unpredictable force capable of accelerating the next financial crisis. The stakes are high. Policymakers must act swiftly to regulate the increasing impact of AI before deregulation opens the path for an economic disaster. Without decisive action, the rapid adoption of AI in finance could outpace regulatory efforts, leaving economies vulnerable to unforeseen risks and potentially setting the stage for another global financial crisis.

A new study looked at networks within the brains of people of different ages, finding that brain aging appears to speed up at certain ages. The human brain suddenly starts aging much faster around age 44, and that aging reaches a maximum speed at age 67, a new study finds. The research, published March 3 in the journal PNAS , seems to align with the results of a different study that Live Science recently reported on, which looked at aging using blood samples and found that periods of accelerated aging take place around ages 44 and 60 . The new neuroscience study also found that brain aging was linked to insulin resistance , in which cells need more insulin than usual to keep blood sugar in check. Furthermore, it uncovered early hints that ketone supplements may offer some protection against certain measures of brain aging. Ketones are compounds in the body that act as an alternative fuel source, standing in for sugars. So if the brain is aging because it's not getting enough sugars, ketones could help fill the gap, the team theorized. However, much more research is needed to back this idea. Related: 13 proteins tied to brain aging seem to spike at ages 57, 70 and 78 Early warning signs of brain aging The researchers used four existing datasets of brain scans that together included scans from 19,300 people ages 18 to 90. To study how different brain regions are linked in networks, the team looked at two types of brain scans: functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which measures blood flow in the brain, and electroencephalograms (EEGs), which measure electrical firing between neurons in the outermost layer of the brain. Sign up for the Live Science daily newsletter now Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors In these scans, the scientists looked for signs that blood flow and electric firing between brain regions either disappeared or became inconsistent, suggesting there was a breakdown in communication between nodes in the network. They had considered this network disintegration a hallmark of aging in previous research wherein they assessed the impact of diet on the brain. Such disruptions are also seen in age-related neurodegenerative diseases, and the degree of disruption typically reflects the person's overall degree of aging. Through their analysis, the researchers found that the brain starts to age more quickly around age 44 and that the aging accelerates to a maximum rate around age 67. After that, brain aging starts slowing down, until the rate stabilizes around age 90. "What we did not anticipate was that the effects might be occurring as early as the 40s," study senior author Lilianne Mujica-Parodi , a neuroscientist at Stony Brook University, told Live Science. Sugars versus ketones The network disruptions the researchers observed resembled changes previously documented in the brains of people ages 50 to 80 with type 2 diabetes . Mujica-Parodi and her team wondered if the changes arose because neurons were not responding well to insulin, the hormone responsible for shuttling sugar from the blood into cells. This effect wouldn't affect only people with diabetes. About "88% of North Americans have at least one detectable sign of insulin resistance," said Dr. Luis Adrian Soto-Mota , a metabolism researcher at the Monterrey Institute of Technology in Mexico who was not involved with the study but previously worked with the team. Looking at all the brain scans, which included scans from people with and without insulin resistance, the team found that people in their 40s with high blood sugar levels experienced faster brain aging than people of the same age with no signs of insulin resistance. In addition, across all of the scans, certain parts of the brain aged more quickly than others, so the researchers wondered if those brain regions might be more insulin dependent. It's known that a protein named GLUT4 relies on insulin to move sugar into cells. So the team turned to the Allen Brain Atlas , which includes data on the activity of the GLUT4 gene, and found that the fast-aging regions did depend more on GLUT4. The slow-aging brain regions, on the other hand, had higher levels of a protein that moves ketones into cells, suggesting that those regions use ketones as an alternative energy source. Related: Biological aging may not be driven by what we thought Ketone supplements? That raised the question of whether ketone supplements might be able to slow brain aging. To test this idea, the team recruited 53 men and 48 women, ages 20 to 79, who got fMRI scans after fasting overnight to deprive the brain of sugar. Half an hour after the scan, the participants received either a ketone-filled drink or a sugary drink with the same number of calories. The researchers then waited 30 minutes for the energy source to reach the participants' brains, before repeating the fMRI scans. Even over this short time frame, the ketone drink appeared to reduce brain network disruptions tied to aging, while the glucose beverage didn't, the team found. The ketone drink had the greatest effect on people ages 40 to 59, where its impact was over 80% higher than in younger adults ages 20 to 39. The ketone drink had the smallest effect in the 60-to-79 age group. That might hint that, if ketone supplements prove to be effective for slowing brain aging, early intervention could be necessary. This part of the study was limited in that the researchers tested the effects of ketone and glucose drinks only at a single time point; they didn't monitor brain aging over time or conduct any cognitive tests. They also considered only specific fMRI data, which may not reflect all aspects of brain aging, so we don't know if ketone supplements would help across the board. Mujica-Parodi said future studies could track brain aging in people taking these supplements over time and thus provide more insight into its long-term potential. In addition, if the ketone supplements are making up for insulin resistance, the best measure people could take might be to avoid developing insulin resistance in the first place, she suggested, which could be achieved through dietary changes . Soto-Mota added that when glucose levels are low enough, the body can make more ketones on its own than it can obtain from supplements. That's the goal of the "keto diet," although maintaining the diet for a long time comes with downsides . Mujica-Parodi said that ketone supplements could be helpful in people with extreme insulin resistance who are incapable of making their own ketones, due to metabolic changes in the body. Editor's note: Some of the authors on the new paper have patented the ketone supplement tested in the research, and one is the director of a company aimed at developing products based on the science of ketone bodies in human nutrition. Disclaimer This article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to offer medical advice. Brain quiz: Test your knowledge of the most complex organ in the body

When my dog passed away four years ago, coping with the loss was challenging. I know I am not alone. People turn to their pets when they need comfort and a non-judgmental presence. However, pets have a short life span, and losing a companion animal is a common experience. Research shows that losing a pet can be as devastating as losing a family member, yet the grief over a companion animal is often overlooked in society. As a result, losing a pet can be an isolating experience. Perceptions of judgment may exacerbate the pain of loss, affect mental health and lead to social isolation. Some may think: “It’s just an animal.” However, words like these dismiss the pain and make an already difficult experience even lonelier. As a researcher who has studied the human-animal bond for more than a decade, and as someone who has shared her life with pets, I understand that while having a pet is deeply fulfilling, the grieving process can be profoundly difficult. Having support makes a huge difference in these moments. Rituals, comforting words, the space to talk about what happened, and primarily, validation — these things help us process loss. But the reality is that when someone loses a pet, finding that support is harder. Offering non-judgmental support and developing inclusive strategies, such as pet bereavement leave, can be valuable initiatives to help. Raising awareness of ways to provide effective and compassionate support to those grieving a pet can help us challenge the idea that the loss of a companion animal is less significant than losing a beloved human. Navigating pet loss Several studies show that living with a pet can have a positive impact on people’s physical, psychological and social health. These bonds run deep, and 95 per cent of Canadians consider their companion animals family. The journey through pet loss is unique for each individual, but it usually involves complex feelings like relief and guilt, besides physical and intellectual symptoms like aches, headache and rumination. One of the most important barriers to finding support is the lack of social recognition and validation regarding pet grief. People often feel judged when they express their feelings of grief over a pet. These perceptions of judgment exacerbate the pain and increase social isolation. This, in turn, can increase the risk of mental health issues, particularly among those with a history of childhood trauma. Factors shaping pet grief Several factors can shape how people grieve, including the way people lose their pets. Even when a pet dies by natural causes or old age, people may experience intense feelings of loss. Situations involving euthanasia can lead to uncertainty regarding the best moment to do it and self-blame. When a pet dies, people may feel guilty and left with a feeling that they failed to care for the pet. Attachment styles also play a role. This refers to the type of bond between people and their pets and the feelings involved in this relationship. For instance, perceiving pets as good friends leads to less intense grief than seeing them as children. If the person lived alone and the pet was their only company, it may be more challenging, too. At the same time, having social support provides a sense of belonging. Those who have room to voice their feelings and share their pain tend to navigate the stages of grief better. A more compassionate and pet-inclusive approach can be valuable in the pet grief journey. This type of support can help to prevent depression, stress and social isolation. Support in workplaces Regardless of differences in pet attachment and how a person lost their pet, initiatives to increase social support during these difficult experiences can have a significant impact on people’s ability to cope. Take workplaces, for instance. People are often expected to show up and function as if nothing happened, carrying their grief in silence. However, some companies have adjusted their policies to a more pet-inclusive approach, and the result is promising. Companies that offer more pet-inclusive policies, including pet bereavement leave, can help reduce employee stress while also increasing job satisfaction, building a sense of connectedness and leading to higher retention rates. Considering that among younger people, there is a preference for pets over kids, this type of policy can not only offers a concrete demonstration of empathy but could also attract some employees and increase productivity. By providing the necessary time to heal, the company can have more loyal and productive employees. As pets increasingly become integral to our emotional lives, acknowledging the relevance of this relationship is fundamental. This includes providing support for people facing the difficult experience of losing a pet after a life of sharing daily moments with them. Each person’s grief is personal and should be respected, without comparison or judgment. We cannot take away each other’s grief but we can stand beside one another in it. That, in itself, makes all the difference. Validation and emotional support from family and friends and pet-inclusive policies such as pet bereavement leave can also make a real difference. They send a powerful message: We care about your pain. You are not alone.

Every winter, hundreds of thousands of older Canadians spend the winter in the United States. But in recent weeks, we’ve seen many Canadian snowbirds shifting their attention to other matters. First, stories started to emerge from those who said they would no longer participate in this seasonal migration because of political events in the U.S. Another related concern was the weakened Canadian dollar. This trend has prompted some to consider selling their winter properties in the U.S. More recently, attention has shifted to the potential for changed border rules to lessen snowbirds’ access to the U.S. for long stays. Snowbirds are concerned about administrative and procedural requirements that may ultimately make cross-border travel less convenient. During the COVID-19 pandemic, some Canadian snowbirds experienced challenges crossing into the U.S. for the winter or returning to Canada. Closures of borders to non-essential travel did not dissuade some from planning to winter in the U.S. Drawing on research in snowbird communities, we found out that affordability and ease of movement are two important enablers of long-stay seasonal travel. Because of this, it’s not surprising that we’re hearing from snowbirds again in light of recent developments. Economic and political disruptions While COVID-era travel disruptions didn’t stop some snowbirds from going south for the winter, the current economic and political disruptions are another story. Florida is a popular destination for Canadian snowbirds. In fact, a 2023 survey named eight of the 10 best American destination communities as being in Florida. If Canadian snowbirds are talking about cancelling travel plans and selling properties, people in Florida should be paying attention. Instead, in early March, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis downplayed what it would mean for Canadians to avoid travel to the state. Citing a recent tourism industry report, he noted that only 3.3 million of the 142.9 million visitors to Florida in 2024 were from Canada. DeSantis went on to say “that’s not much of a boycott, in my book.” But 91.5 per cent of Florida’s annual visitors were from the U.S. This means that the 2.3 per cent of visitors who were Canadian were actually a substantial portion of the states’s international visitors. DeSantis’s recent comments were also not in line with concerns raised during the COVID-19 pandemic that signalled substantial negative economic impacts for the state if Canadian snowbirds did not arrive for the winter. Community members Aside from these economic impacts, something we’ve learned through our years of research with Canadians who winter in the U.S. is that many become vital members of destination communities. From participating in public health outreach programs to volunteering at local hospitals, our research has shown that many embrace opportunities to be active in the places they reside for the winter. Any drop in the numbers of seasonal travellers going to U.S. destinations will have social costs for communities beyond the quantifiable economic losses. Many popular U.S. destination communities for snowbirds have health systems that are designed to expand and retract with dramatically different seasonal populations. Our research has observed this most closely in Yuma, Ariz., where entire areas of the main local hospital are closed in the summer and staffed seasonally in the winter. Additionally, some of the seasonal nursing staff who arrive for the winter are from Canada. Any retreat from these destinations by Canadian snowbirds may have significant implications for health systems and allied sectors. This can ultimately impact the quality of care they can provide to a more limited local patient base. Intangible impacts While the economic impacts of the seeming loss of long-stay older Canadians in these communities are important to consider, there will be other — less measurable but no less important — impacts. Just as the long friendship between the U.S. and Canada is now being tested, blended snowbird communities of older North Americans are at risk of diminishing. Business owners in U.S. destinations spoke up about losses when fewer Canadian snowbirds went south during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some Canadian business sectors and communities discovered opportunities emerging from these shifts in consumer’ movements. As snowbirds debate whether to navigate new border complexities and return to the U.S. next winter, we must be attentive to the stories behind the numbers to understand the true impacts of their decisions. And as comments made by DeSantis and other politicians have made clear, Canadian snowbirds are now faced with new economic and emotional considerations.

A series of relatively young underwater volcanoes has been discovered under the waves of the Pacific Ocean, some of which may even be active. The volcanoes were found during an expedition to map the seafloor near the Cook Islands in the Central Pacific, about 2,900 miles (4,700 kilometers) south of Hawaii. If these structures are volcanically active, the heat that they generate may have spawned a unique and exciting marine habitat nearby , the researchers said. "So far, we have not seen any clear signs of volcanic activity, but then again, no one has yet had the chance to look carefully at the seabed and sample it," representatives from the Seabed Minerals Authority (SBMA), which co-led the research, said in a statement . "Once fully processed and interpreted, our new seabed map should help any future scientists quickly go directly to the best points for this sampling." The Cook Islands are a group of 15 islands in the South Pacific Ocean, located between French Polynesia and American Samoa. This archipelago was created millions of years ago as the Pacific plate moved over a magma hotspot in the Earth's mantle — similar to the way the Hawaiian Islands were formed. A magma hotspot is a localized area in Earth's mantle where unusually hot rock rises toward the surface, causing volcanic activity. Unlike volcanoes at tectonic plate boundaries, hotspots occur in the middle of tectonic plates and remain stationary, while the plate above moves over time. The new bathymetric map of the volcanic chain south-southeast of Rarotonga. The top map also compares the new information with the very low-resolution satellite bathymetry. (Image credit: SBMA) A hot mantle plume from the hotspot brings heat and magma toward Earth's crust, which can cause magma from the mantle to erupt onto the seafloor and then cool rapidly in the water. Over time, repeated eruptions build up a volcanic structure, forming an underwater volcano. If the eruptions continue, the volcano grows large enough to break the ocean surface, forming a volcanic island. Related: Undersea volcano off Oregon coast could erupt this year, geologists predict Most of the volcanoes in the Cook Islands are ancient, with their rocks dating back tens or even hundreds of millions of years. However, the islands of Rarotonga and Aitutaki are made of a combination of older and younger rocks, because they are among the most recent islands to form over the hotspot — the youngest rock on Rarotonga dates back only around 1.2 million years. Sign up for the Live Science daily newsletter now Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors These newly mapped underwater volcanoes were first theorized in 2024 after researchers discovered that the rocks of one submerged volcano were only 670,000 years old. The rocks were discovered roughly 37 miles (60 km) southeast of Rarotonga, on a volcano called Tama, and they mark the youngest volcanic rocks discovered in the Cook Islands to date. The team also theorized that, going southeast from Rarotonga through Tama, there may be several other underwater volcanoes lurking on the seafloor, which may also be much younger than the other Cook Islands. To investigate these structures further, the ARTEX 2025 expedition was launched to map the ocean floor in the area surrounding Rarotonga. The team discovered that there was indeed a series of smaller structures dotted along the seafloor to the southeast of Rarotonga, including a 0.6-mile-high (1 km) volcano named "Pepe". The team's data is yet to be fully processed, however, and the structures have not yet been confirmed as volcanically active. The researchers hope to return to the area to learn more about the seamounts, or underwater volcanoes, and to collect samples of the rocks to figure out exactly how old they are. US volcano quiz: How many can you name in 10 minutes?

Behold, the human brain: Often compared to a computer, the body's most complex organ operates using a code of electrical and chemical signals. These signals transmit through wires, nodes and networks to process and store information. Through these operations, the brain directs our unconscious bodily functions, such as our appetites and levels of wakefulness , as well as "higher order" cognitive abilities — solving problems, generating ideas, planning for the future. The brain has inherent plasticity, meaning it dynamically responds to novel information and literally restructures itself to accommodate new memories and new interpretations of the world around us. Scientists are still unraveling the brain's inner workings, but over the decades, they've learned quite a lot about what makes the organ tick. Check out the quiz below to test your knowledge of the human brain and its many unique features. Remember to log in to put your name on the leaderboard; hints are available if you click the yellow button, and let us know your score in the comments. More science quizzes — Human evolution quiz: What do you know about Homo sapiens? — What do you know about psychology's most infamous experiments? Test your knowledge in this science quiz.

The White House says Russia and Ukraine have agreed to a ceasefire in the Black Sea, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asserting the truce was effective immediately while also accusing Russia of lying about the deal’s terms. Needless to say, it’s far from clear that United States President Donald Trump’s supposed “Art of the Deal” negotiating skills are enough to broker sustainable peace between Russia and Ukraine given the protagonists’ unwillingness to make concessions and the volatile nature of attempts to broker a peace agreement. The war waged by Russia has reached the stage where both Russian and Ukrainian officials fear losing face if they make concessions. Both view their enemy as an existential threat. Russian President Vladimir Putin has argued Russian defeat would spell “the end of the 1,000-year history of the Russian state,” while Zelenskyy says Russia’s protracted assault is an overt existential threat and the absence of U.S. support threatens the very survival of his country. Both sides have seemed prepared to fight until the bitter end. The involvement of a mediator in the form of the United States, therefore, could potentially change the deadly dynamics of the conflict. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) ‘Love to beat them’ Trump declares being up to this formidable task. He positions himself as a mediator occupying a middle ground between the protagonists, unlike his predecessor in the Oval Office who supported Ukraine. In his ghost-written book The Art of the Deal, Trump claimed to enjoy these sorts of challenges: “In New York real estate… you are dealing with some of the sharpest, toughest, and most vicious people in the world… I happen to love to go up against these guys, and I love to beat them.” But if mediators, including Trump, are to successfully persuade opposing sides to make a deal, they need to properly understand each side’s motives. To what extent is each side malleable so some common ground can be found? Making a deal always requires compromises and concessions. Trump is well aware of this, saying recently of any prospective Russia-Ukraine agreement: “You’re going to have to always make compromises. You can’t do any deals without compromises.” (AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez) Understanding motivations David McClelland’s theory of human motivation may be relevant in terms of attempts to broker peace between Ukraine and Russia. The social psychologist argued that three motives — the need for achievement, the need for affiliation and the need for power — explains most human behaviour: The need for achievement explains the desire to be productive and get results; Concern about establishing, maintaining or restoring a positive relationship with another person or people underpins the need for affiliation; The will to dominate, to have an impact on another person or people, is the essence of the need for power. McClelland predicted that when the need for power significantly exceeds the need for affiliation, conflicts and wars are likely. He viewed a high “power-minus-affiliation” gap as indicative of what he called the “imperial power motive syndrome.” Read more: Too much power can do very odd things to a leader's head The metaphor of an empire lies at its origin. The empire’s declared mission is to enlighten, civilize and bring order to its subjects. Leaders with the imperial power motive syndrome show reformist zeal to save others, whether they like it or not. The social psychologist Robert Hogenraad subsequently adapted McClelland’s theory for computer-assisted content analysis by developing dictionaries of the three needs. If the words associated with the need for power — control, domination, victory, for example — occur more often in a text, speech or news reports than words associated with the need for affiliation — like love, family, friends — then the speaker has the imperial power motive syndrome. Hawks vs. doves My recently published analysis of war-related speeches delivered by Russian, Ukrainian, American, British and French leaders during the three years of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine gives some clues about the motivations of the parties involved. Compared with their western counterparts, Putin and Zelenskyy exhibit the strongest imperial power motive syndrome and are “hawks.” Their need for power, as expressed through their public speeches, significantly exceeds their need for affiliation. Trump, however, appears similar to that of his arch-rival, former president Joe Biden. Both are closer to the “dovish” end of the scale. The preliminary outcomes of talks on a potential ceasefire reveal the challenges faced by mediators. First, the talks being held in Saudi Arabia were bilateral, with American officials meeting separately with Russian and Ukrainian delegations, as opposed to trilteral. Second, no joint statement followed the talks, although it was widely expected. Third, the White House issued two separate statements, one on talks with Ukraine’s representatives and the other on discussions with Russia’s representatives. The Ukraine statement includes the commitment to continue the exchange of prisoners of war, the release of civilian detainees and the return of forcibly transferred Ukrainian children, whereas the statement on the talks with Russia does not mention any of this. This is despite the fact that the International Criminal Court has accused Putin of committing war crimes via the unlawful deportation of children. Trump’s antipathy toward Zelenskyy The prospects of a peace agreement is further complicated by the history of Trump’s attempts to broker deals in Ukraine. The war in Ukraine actually began in 2014 with the annexation of Crimea and a proxy war in Donbas. Trump was elected president two years later. His discourse about Ukraine did not differ significantly from Obama’s and Biden’s until his first impeachment in 2020 for soliciting “the interference of a foreign government, Ukraine, to benefit his re-election.” His call to Zelenskyy in July 2019 triggered the impeachment. He pushed for two investigations aimed at helping his re-election bid — one into Hunter Biden’s business dealings in Ukraine and another into the hack of Democratic National Committee servers in 2016 — in exchange for releasing about $400 million of military assistance already approved by Congress and inviting Zelenskyy to the White House at that time. During and after the first impeachment, Trump’s language on Ukraine significantly diverged from Obama’s and Biden’s. He began using words like “corruption,” “lies” and “hoax” in relation to Ukraine. AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Moving forward All this suggests that Trump’s first impeachment has had a lasting impact on his perception of Ukraine and its leader. And so in addition to dealing with two protagonists who are unwilling to make concessions, Trump as a mediator faces challenges related to his past. One protagonist, Zelenskyy, may remind him of one of the darkest moments in his political career — his first impeachment. This fact should be kept in mind when trying to make sense of the treatment received by Zelenskyy during his most recent visit to the White House and Trump’s references to him as a “dictator.” To truly succeed in mediation, Trump must move forward, leaving biases and prejudices related to Ukraine and its leader in the past. But can he?

Archaeologists are uncovering a mysterious pyramid-shaped structure and way station in the Judaean Desert. The excavation site, just north of the valley of Zohar (Nahal Zohar) along the coast of the Dead Sea, contains a host of exceptionally well-preserved artifacts that are more than 2,000 years old. "The discoveries are exciting and even emotional, and their significance for archaeological and historical research is enormous," Eli Escusido , director of the Israel Antiquities Authority, said in a statement . The pyramid is built from hand-cut stones, each weighing hundreds of pounds. But the structure's purpose is still unknown, according to the site's excavation directors. It may have served as a historical monument, a grave, or a guard tower protecting a commercial route from the Dead Sea to coastal ports. The site dates back 2,200 years to the time of the Ptolemaic dynasty and Seleucid Empire. After Alexander the Great died in 323 B.C., his generals divided his vast empire among themselves. His general Ptolemy took control of Egypt and the surrounding areas, including Israel, while Seleucus ruled the northern part of what is now the Middle East. By 200 B.C., the Seleucid Empire had conquered what is now modern-day Israel. Given that the pyramidal structure dates to the time of this power switch, it's unclear if it was built under the rule of the Ptolemaic dynasty or the Seleucid Empire. The Roman Empire absorbed both empires in the first century B.C. Related: 2,800-year-old structure unearthed in Israel was likely used for cultic practices and sacrifice, archaeologists say The archaeologists also unearthed a number of artifacts at the site. The low-moisture environment of the desert likely helped preserve the artifacts through the millennia. Low humidity deters mold and minimizes warping and cracking in organic materials like wood and fibers. Sign up for the Live Science daily newsletter now Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors A tent covers excavations at the site north of Nahal Zohar. (Image credit: Emil Aladjem/Israel Antiquities Authority) "The extreme dryness has preserved things here in an extraordinary way," archaeologist Ido Zangen , who was involved with the excavation, said in a translated video released by the Israel Antiquities Authority. "We're finding papyrus fragments, all kinds of amazing wooden artifacts, baskets and ropes that you simply don't find anywhere else in the country." Some of the papyrus fragments contain writing in ancient Greek, one of the languages spoken by denizens of both the Ptolemaic and Seleucid empires. Also among the unearthed artifacts are bronze coins and vessels, remnants of ancient furniture, beads, weapons, fabrics and seeds, all preserved by the dry climate. Eva Balbin Brafman, a volunteer at the excavation, described finding part of a papyrus document from the upper part of the site. "You could clearly make out the letters, probably in Greek," Balbin Brafman said in the video. "It's incredibly exciting to find something in such a wonderful state of preservation." A team of professional archaeologists and volunteers will continue to excavate the site through April 8 in hopes of learning more about the structure.

Immigration dominated recent election campaigns in countries that include the United Kingdom, France, Germany and the United States. The subject sparked particularly fierce debates over welfare. While some politicians called for more support for typically economically vulnerable immigrant populations, others argued that welfare systems are already too generous and accommodating to newcomers. Unfortunately, many debates on this subject lack solid evidence. A newly launched data set could change that. The data, which provides systematic information on immigrants’ access to social programs across different countries and different time periods, can help ground some of these discussions in empirical reality. The data set reveals key insights. One striking observation is that the countries where politicians most frequently complain that immigrants are treated too generously are among the most exclusionary from a comparative perspective. It also shows that although most welfare systems were moving towards greater inclusion up until the 2010s, since then social programs in many countries have become more inclusive in some respects but more exclusive in others. A new data set for 22 countries The data set, called the Immigrant Exclusion from Social Programs Index (IESPI), measures how much immigrants’ access to pensions, health care, unemployment benefits, housing benefits, social assistance and active labour market programs compares to that of native-born citizens. The index uses 32 indicators to measure factors like whether immigrants have to have resided in the country for a certain period of time, held a specific type of residence status, or met standards of successful integration before they can access social programs. The data covers the years 1990 to 2023 and includes information for 22 countries. Complaints about inclusion In the United States, President Donald Trump has voiced concerns about immigrants’ welfare access repeatedly, both during his first term and since taking office again this year. In last year’s British election, a staple of Rishi Sunak’s campaign was the insistence that immigrants threaten the sustainability of the welfare state. On the other side of the North Sea, the political party that won the Dutch elections made the argument that immigrants are “pampered” a central feature of its election platform. Ironically, all three of these countries are among the most exclusionary, according to the most recent IESPI data, as the graph below illustrates. (Note that the IESPI is organized such that a value of 0 is maximally inclusionary and 100 is maximally exclusionary.) Inclusionary trends have ended A second observation is that the era of social welfare systems becoming more inclusive for immigrants has ended. From 1990 until the 2010s, most western welfare systems were removing barriers for immigrant access to social programs. But since then, levels of immigrant welfare exclusion have not changed dramatically over time. Closer inspection shows that this picture of stability since the 2010s hides negative trends in different social programs. On the one hand, health-care programs and active labour market policies have gradually become more inclusionary. More and more countries have been making health-care services accessible for vulnerable immigrant populations, and rolling out targeted programs to improve newcomers’ chances on the labour market. On the other hand, social assistance policies have generally become more exclusionary over time. Many countries have intensified restrictions for recent arrivals, migrants without permanent residence status and migrants who cannot demonstrate successful integration. Large differences in historical trajectories When we look beyond aggregate trends, we also note very different trajectories in different countries. In some countries (Austria, Germany, Finland, Iceland, Malta, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain), social programs have become consistently more inclusionary. Other countries (Canada, Luxembourg and Sweden) have also undergone an inclusionary development, although at a more modest pace of change. In a third set of countries (Australia, Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Norway and Switzerland), policies initially became more inclusionary but this trend was halted or reversed around 2010. The social programs of three other countries (the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States), finally, have consistently become more exclusionary over time. These comparisons within the IESPI data set hopefully enable us to make sense of the frequently charged nature of discussions about immigrants’ access to social programs. Most obviously, they show we should be cautious when listening to some of the politicians who are most critical of immigrant welfare access, like Donald Trump, Rishi Sunak and Geert Wilders. If their arguments that exclusionary reforms in their countries are nothing but reasonable adjustments to overly generous approaches ever had any merit, that merit is quickly evaporating.

Place names are more than just labels on a map. They influence how people learn about the world around them and perceive their place in it. Names can send messages and suggest what is and isn’t valued in society. And the way that they are changed over time can signal cultural shifts. The United States is in the midst of a place-renaming moment. From the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, to the return of Forts Bragg and Benning and the newly re-renamed Mount McKinley in Alaska’s Denali National Park, we are witnessing a consequential shift in the politics of place naming. This sudden rewriting of the nation’s map – done to “restore American greatness,” according to President Donald Trump’s executive order that made some of them official – is part of a name game that recognizes place names as powerful brands and political tools. In our research on place naming, we explore how this “name game” is used to assert control over shared symbols and embed subtle and not-so-subtle messages in the landscape. As geography teachers and researchers, we also recognize the educational and emotional impact the name game can have on the public. Place names can have psychological effects Renaming a place is always an act of power. People in power have long used place naming to claim control over the identity of the place, bolster their reputations, retaliate against opponents and achieve political goals. These moves can have strong psychological effects, particularly when the name evokes something threatening. Changing a place name can fundamentally shift how people view, relate to or feel that they belong within that place. In Shenandoah County, Virginia, students at two schools originally named for Confederate generals have been on an emotional roller coaster of name changes in recent years. The schools were renamed Mountain View and Honey Run in 2020 amid the national uproar over the murder of George Floyd, a Black man killed by a police officer in Minneapolis. Four years later, the local school board reinstated the original Confederate names after conservatives took control of the board. One Black eighth grader at Mountain View High School — now re-renamed Stonewall Jackson High School — testified at a board meeting about how the planned change would affect her: “I would have to represent a man that fought for my ancestors to be slaves. If this board decides to restore the names, I would not feel like I was valued and respected,” she said. The board still approved the change, 5-1. Even outside of schools, place names operate as a “hidden curriculum.” They provide narratives to the public about how the community or nation sees itself – as well as whose histories and perspectives it considers important or worthy of public attention. Place names affect how people perceive, experience and emotionally connect to their surroundings in both conscious and subconscious ways. Psychologists, sociologists and geographers have explored how this sense of place manifests itself into the psyche, creating either attachment or aversion to place, whether it’s a school, mountain or park. A tale of two forts Renaming places can rally a leader’s supporters through rebranding. Trump’s orders to restore the names Fort Bragg and Fort Benning, both originally named for Confederate generals, illustrate this effect. The names were changed to Fort Liberty and Fort Moore in 2023 after Congress passed a law banning the use of Confederate names for federal installations. Trump made a campaign promise to his followers to “bring back the name” of Fort Bragg if reelected. To get around the federal ban, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth identified two unrelated decorated Army veterans with the same last names — Bragg and Benning — but without any Confederate connections, to honor instead. Call it a sleight of hand or a stroke of genius if you’d like, this tactic allowed the Department of Defense to revive politically charged names without violating the law. The restoration of the names Bragg and Benning may feel like a symbolic homecoming for those who resisted the original name change or have emotional ties to the names through their memories of living and serving on the base, rather than a connection to the specific namesakes. However, the names are still reminders of the military bases’ original association with defenders of slavery. The place-renaming game A wave of place-name changes during the Obama and Biden administrations focused on removing offensive or derogatory place names and recognizing Indigenous names. For example, Clingmans Dome, the highest peak in the Great Smoky Mountains, was renamed to Kuwohi in September 2024, shifting the name from a Confederate general to a Cherokee word meaning “the mulberry place.” Under the Trump administration, however, place-name changes are being advanced explicitly to push back against reform efforts, part of a broader assault on what Trump calls “woke culture.” Read more: From Confederate general to Cherokee heritage: Why returning the name Kuwohi to the Great Smoky Mountains matters President Barack Obama changed Alaska’s Mount McKinley to Denali in 2015 to acknowledge Indigenous heritage and a long-standing name for the mountain. Officials in Alaska had requested the name change to Denali years earlier and supported the name change in 2015. Trump, on his first day in office in January 2025, moved to rename Denali back to Mount McKinley, over the opposition of Republican politicians in Alaska. The state Legislature passed a resolution a few days later asking Trump to reconsider. Georgia Rep. Earl “Buddy” Carter made a recent legislative proposal to rename Greenland as “Red, White, and Blueland” in support of Trump’s expansionist desire to purchase the island, which is an autonomous territory of Denmark. Danish officials and Greenlanders saw Carter’s absurd proposal as insulting and damaging to diplomatic relations. It is not the first time that place renaming has been used as a form of symbolic insult in international relations. Renaming the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America might have initially seemed improbable, but it is already reflected in common navigation apps. Read more: Can Trump just order new names for Denali and the Gulf of Mexico? A geographer explains who decides what goes on the map A better way to choose place names When leaders rename a place in an abrupt, unilateral fashion — often for ideological reasons — they risk alienating communities that deeply connect with those names as a form of memory, identity and place attachment. A better alternative, in our view, would be to make renaming shared landscapes participatory, with opportunities for meaningful public involvement in the renaming process. This approach does not avoid name changes, but it suggests the changes should respond to the social and psychological needs of communities and the evolving cultural identity of places — and not simply be used to score political points. Instead, encouraging public participation — such as through landscape impact assessments and critical audits that take the needs of affected communities seriously — can cultivate a sense of shared ownership in the decision that may give those names more staying power. The latest place renamings are already affecting the classroom experience. Students are not just memorizing new place labels, but they are also being asked to reevaluate the meaning of those places and their own relationship with the nation and the world. As history has shown around the world, one of the major downsides of leaders imposing name changes is that the names can be easily replaced as soon as the next regime takes power. The result can be a never-ending name game.

If all the tariff drama in the news lately has you reaching for a stiff drink, you’re not alone. Unfortunately, those same tariffs might make it harder to get your hands on your favorite brand of tequila. In early March 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump levied import tariffs of 25% on goods from Canada and Mexico, following through on a promise he made back in November 2024. While he later partially reversed course, suspending tariffs on some goods, tensions remain high. Mexico is largely holding off on retaliation, but Canada quickly fired back with counter-tariffs on billions of dollars’ worth of U.S. products. These trade tensions spell trouble for numerous industries, including the booming spirits market. Canada and Mexico – two of the top U.S. trading partners – accounted for nearly half of the US$12 billion in distilled spirits the U.S. imported in 2024. As an agricultural economist, I’ve analyzed how a 25% tariff could affect tequila, whiskey and other distilled spirits – and the results weren’t pretty. I found that these tariffs would cost distilled spirit importers over $1 billion in lost trade, with tequila alone taking a more than $800 million hit. Americans’ thirst for imported liquor The U.S. imports far more distilled spirits than it exports – five times as much by value, as of 2024. Since 2000, U.S. imports of distilled spirits have surged by more than 300%, driven largely by the explosive rise in tequila consumption. Between 2000 and 2024, tequila imports rose by 1,400%, skyrocketing from $350 million to $5.4 billion. While imports of whiskey, liqueurs, vodka and brandy also grew, none matched tequila’s explosive rise. Tequila now represents 45% of all spirits imported into the U.S., up from 12% in 2000. Not surprisingly, 99% of tequila and mezcal is imported from Mexico, making it the leading foreign supplier of distilled spirits to the United States. Meanwhile, Canada has supplied between 4% and 6% of U.S. spirits imports over the past two decades, primarily whiskey and liqueurs. Since distilled spirits are classified as agricultural products, their rising imports have significantly contributed to the U.S. agricultural trade deficit. However, this isn’t necessarily a problem. Imports help meet demand from U.S. consumers, generate value-added opportunities for U.S. companies, and support economic activity in bars, liquor stores, restaurants and beyond. A 25% tariff on Mexican goods is a 25% tax on tequila In my study, published in February in the peer-reviewed journal Agribusiness and in a follow-up policy brief, I found that 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada could reduce imports of distilled spirits by $1.2 billion. This loss exceeds the total amount of tax revenue those tariffs can expected to bring in. Unsurprisingly, tequila imports would be the hardest hit, falling by $810 million. I found that the tariff revenue from tequila – $910 million – could actually exceed the corresponding fall in imports. That’s because demand for tequila, like most alcoholic beverages, is what economists call “inelastic,” meaning that when prices rise, consumers are unlikely to change their purchasing decisions by very much. However, it would be a mistake to consider tequila in isolation. When I factored in other notable decreases, such as a $100 million drop in whiskey imports, I found that the value of total trade losses, in the form of decreased imports, would outweigh the total tariff revenue. I also found that no product category would come out ahead. In fact, even products like vodka, which are mostly exempt from these tariffs, would be indirectly affected. This is because tariffs can increase the overall cost of importing, leading businesses to reduce all imports, tariffed or otherwise. My research suggests that this “trade destruction” effect, to use an economics term, will be quite significant. A new era of tariffs The Trump administration has argued that tariffs will generate a lot of money for the federal government. But my research suggests those gains may not outweigh the economic costs to businesses and consumers. Contrary to common belief, trade losses don’t just affect exporting countries. Domestic consumers also face higher prices and fewer choices – hurting their overall economic welfare. Reducing imports also affects U.S. businesses involved in marketing, distribution and sales. Trade is more complex than a simple formula of “exports good, imports bad.” Research makes it clear that tariffs have negative consequences, including higher consumer prices, reduced product availability and downstream economic disruption. Policymakers would be wise to take those effects seriously. Otherwise, they might find themselves with a serious economic hangover.

The United States is no longer a democracy. At least, that’s the verdict of one nonprofit, the Center for Systemic Peace, which measures regime qualities of countries worldwide based on the competitiveness and integrity of their elections, limits to executive authority and other factors. “The USA is no longer considered a democracy and lies at the cusp of autocracy,” the group’s 2025 report read. It calls Donald Trump’s second inauguration following a raft of criminal indictments and convictions, combined with the U.S. Supreme Court’s July 2024 granting of sweeping presidential immunity, a “presidential coup.” Generally, only scholars pay attention to this kind of technical index. This year, however, many people are calling out the erosion of U.S. democracy. Political scientists like myself can see that in the guise of government “efficiency,” the Trump administration is sabotaging the rule of law to such an extent that authoritarianism is taking hold in America. How long might this situation last? US no longer a democracy? The term “political regime” refers to either the person or people who hold power, or to a classification of government, including in a democracy. Since the mid-1960s, when the U.S. expanded voting rights to include its Black citizens, historians and political scientists have generally classified the U.S. as having a democratic regime. That means the government holds free and fair elections, embraces universal voting rights, protects civil liberties and obeys the law. All of these areas have significantly degraded in the U.S. over the last few decades due to partisan polarization and political extremism. Now, the rule of law is under attack, too. Trump’s unprecedented use of nearly 100 executive orders in the first two months of his presidency aims to enact a vast policy agenda by decree. For comparison, President Joe Biden issued 162 executive orders over four years. This is not what the founders had in mind: Congress is the constitutional route for policy-making. Skirting it threatens democracy, as do the issues Trump’s orders address. From attempting to deny citizenship through birthright to abolishing the U.S. Department of Education, Trump is attacking both the U.S. Constitution and Congress. His administration has even defied judges who order it to stop. All of this challenges the rule of law – that is, the idea that everyone, including those in power, must follow the same laws. When things get this bad, can a country recover? Autocrats can be beaten Based on my research, the short answer is yes – eventually. When a political party that does not honor democratic institutions or heed critical democratic norms takes power, political scientists expect the government to shift toward autocratic rule. That means restricting civil liberties, quashing dissent and undermining the rule of law. This is happening right now in the U.S. The Trump administration is challenging broadcasters for their election coverage and banning speech that does not conform to its gender ideology. It’s flagrantly violating the Constitution. And it’s eliminating federal funding for universities and research centers that oppose its actions. However, as long as a country has a robust opposition and elections that offer real opportunities for alternative parties to win office, the regime shift is not necessarily permanent. Take Brazil, for example. Its 2022 election ousted President Jair Bolsonaro, leader of an autocratic regime that had attacked the Brazilian media, judiciary and legislature. Bolsonaro claimed his loss to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was fraudulent, and in January 2023 his supporters attacked the nation’s capital. Since then, Bolsonaro has been charged with plotting a coup and barred from seeking office until 2030. Brazilian voters and the courts stemmed the country’s autocratic slide and returned it to a democratic regime. Polarization swings the pendulum Today the American public is deeply divided and dissatisfied with how U.S. democracy works. This polarization translates into presidential elections that are narrowly won. According to the American Presidency Project at the University of California Santa Barbara, which measures presidential margins of victory by subtracting the electoral vote percentage from the popular vote percentage for each election, the average margin of victory in presidential elections between 1932 and 2000 was 25 points. Since 2000, it has been 7.8 points. Moreover, since 1948, every time the White House changed hands after an election, it flipped parties as well, with one exception in 1988. Political scientists refer to this back-and-forth as “thermostatic shifting.” In other words, the electorate regularly sours on the status quo and aims to adjust the thermostat to another temperature – or political party. When a party that more strongly favors democratic principles takes power, the U.S. more firmly adheres to democratic institutions and norms. This was essentially Biden’s winning pitch to voters in 2020. Trump’s return to the White House despite two impeachments and a criminal conviction on 34 felony charges marked another pendulum swing – this time, back in the direction of authoritarianism. The U.S. political pendulum has been singing back and forth like this since at least 2016, with Trump’s first win. I expect the oscillation to continue. A kind of equilibrium The risk, of course, is that a ruling authoritarian-leaning party abuses its power to ensure that the opposition can never again win. This has happened in recent decades in Hungary, Turkey and Venezuela, to name a few. There are good reasons to believe that a permanent slide into autocracy is harder in the U.S. than in those countries. The U.S. has a robust and wealthy network of civil society organizations, which are well versed in exercising their civil liberties. Its decentralized federalist structure is harder for any one person or party to seize. U.S. elections for example, are run by state and local governments, not the federal government. This makes its election systems more resilient than more centralized election systems. At the moment, I see no reason to fear that the U.S. will fail to hold free and fair elections in 2026 or 2028. For the time being, then, the U.S. is in what I call a “pendular equilibrium.” Parties trade majority control as voters react to extremism, shifting the regime from more autocratic to more democratic depending on who is in power. The effect is a stable outcome of sorts – not a static stability but a dynamic stability. Despite the day-to-day chaos, there is balance over time in the predictable shift back and forth. When the pendulum stops swinging Until, that is, some other force comes along to disrupt the pattern. This might be a force more toward fascism that restricts elections to the point of futility, as in Venezuela and Russia. Or the equilibrium could be thrown off by a democratic resurgence, in the model of Brazil or Poland. Even just maintaining the pendular equilibrium to conserve some manner of democratic regime will require those who oppose authoritarianism to boldly insist on political leaders who value democratic principles: fair elections, voting rights, civil liberties and rule of law. Dangerously, many Americans won’t notice the end of democracy as it happens. As the political scientist Tom Pepinksy writes, life in authoritarian states is mostly boring and tolerable. For those who pay attention, the frequency and seriousness of lawless actions can nonetheless make it difficult to sustain an organized opposition. Until and unless the U.S. nurtures and elects political movements and leaders who make lasting democratic changes, I believe the country will continue to lurch back and forth in its pendulum swing.

In a surprising turnaround, Mississippi, once ranked near the bottom of U.S. education standings, has dramatically improved its student literacy rates. As of 2023, the state ranks among the top 20 for fourth grade reading, a significant leap from its 49th-place ranking in 2013. This transformation was driven by evidence-based policy reforms focused on early literacy and teacher development. The rest of the country might want to take note. That’s because Mississippi’s success offers a proven solution to the reading literacy crisis facing many states – a clear road map for closing early literacy gaps and improving reading outcomes nationwide. As an expert on the economics of education, I believe the learning crisis is not just an educational issue. It’s also economic. When students struggle, their academic performance declines. And that leads to lower test scores. Research shows that these declining scores are closely linked to reduced economic growth, as a less educated workforce hampers productivity and innovation. The Mississippi approach In 2013, Mississippi implemented a multifaceted strategy for enhancing kindergarten to third grade literacy. The Literacy-Based Promotion Act focuses on early literacy and teacher development. It includes teacher training in proven reading instruction methods and teacher coaching. Relying on federally supported research from the Institute of Education Science, the state invested in phonics, fluency, vocabulary and reading comprehension. The law provided K-3 teachers with training and support to help students master reading by the end of third grade. It includes provisions for reading coaches, parent communication, individual reading plans and other supportive measures. It also includes targeted support for struggling readers. Students repeat the third grade if they fail to meet reading standards. The state also aligned its test to the NAEP, or National Assessment of Educational Progress, something which not all states do. Often referred to as “The Nation’s Report Card,” the NAEP is a nationwide assessment that measures student performance in various subjects. Mississippi’s reforms have led to significant gains in reading and math, with fourth graders improving on national assessments. I believe this is extremely important. That’s because early reading is a foundational skill that helps develop the ability to read at grade level by the end of third grade. It also leads to general academic success, graduating from high school prepared for college, and becoming productive adults less likely to fall into poverty. Research by Noah Spencer, an economics doctoral student at the University of Toronto, shows that the Mississippi law boosted scores. Students exposed to it from kindergarten to the third grade gained a 0.25 standard deviation improvement in reading scores. That is roughly equivalent to one year of academic progress in reading, according to educational benchmarks. This gain reflects significant strides in students’ literacy development over the course of a school year. Another study has found an even greater impact attributed to grade retention in the third grade – it led to a huge increase in learning in English Language Arts by the sixth grade. But the Mississippi law is not just about retention. Spencer found that grade retention explains only about 22% of the treatment effect. The rest is presumably due to the other components of the measure – namely, teacher training and coaching. Other previous research supports these results across the country. Adopting an early literacy policy improves elementary students’ reading achievement on important student assessments, with third grade retention and instructional support substantially enhancing English learners’ skills. The policy also increases test scores for students’ younger siblings, although it is not clear why. Moreover, third grade retention programs immediately boost English Language Arts and math achievements into middle school without disciplinary incidents or negatively impacting student attendance. These changes were achieved despite Mississippi being one of the lowest spenders per pupil in the U.S., proving that strategic investments in teacher development and early literacy can yield impressive results even with limited resources. The global learning crisis Mississippi’s success is timely. Millions of children globally struggle to read by age 10. It’s a crisis that has worsened after the COVID-19 pandemic. Mississippi’s early literacy interventions show lasting impact and offer a potential solution for other regions facing similar challenges. In 2024, only 31% of U.S. fourth grade students were proficient or above in reading, according to the NAEP, while 40% were below basic. Reading scores for fourth and eighth graders also dropped by five points compared with 2019, with averages lower than any year since 2005. Mississippi’s literacy program provides a learning gain equal to a year of schooling. The program costs US$15 million annually – 0.2% of the state budget in 2023 – and $32 per student. The learning gain associated with the Mississippi program is equal to about an extra quarter of a year. Since each year of schooling raises earnings by about 9%, then a quarter-year gain means that Mississippi students benefiting from the program will increase future earnings by 2.25% a year. Based on typical high school graduate earnings, the average student can expect to earn an extra $1,000 per year for the rest of their life. That is, for every dollar Mississippi spends, the state gains about $32 in additional lifetime earnings, offering substantial long-term economic benefits compared with the initial cost. The Mississippi literacy project focuses on teaching at the right level, which focuses on assessing children’s actual learning levels and then tailoring instruction to meet them, rather than strictly following age- or grade-level curriculum. Teaching at the right level and a scripted lessons plan are among the most effective strategies to address the global learning crisis. After the World Bank reviewed over 150 education programs in 2020, nearly half showed no learning benefit. I believe Mississippi’s progress, despite being the second-poorest state, can serve as a wake-up call.

In 1983, six businessmen got together and opened the first Hooters restaurant in Clearwater, Florida. Hooters of America LLC quickly became a restaurant chain success story. With its scantily clad servers and signature breaded wings, the chain sells sex appeal in addition to food – or as one of the company’s mottos puts it: “You can sell the sizzle, but you have to deliver the steak.” It inspired a niche restaurant genre called “breastaurants,” with eateries such as the Tilted Kilt Pub & Eatery and Twin Peaks replicating Hooters’ busty business model. A decade ago, business was booming for breastaurant chains, with these companies experiencing record sales growth. Today it’s a different story. Declining sales, rising costs and a large debt burden of approximately US$300 million have threatened Hooters’ long-term outlook. In summer 2024, the chain closed over 40 of its restaurants across the U.S. In February 2025, Bloomberg reported that the company was on the verge of filing for bankruptcy. Hooters isn’t necessarily going away for good. But it’s certainly looking like there will be fewer opportunities for women to work as “Hooters Girls” – and for customers to ogle at them. As a psychologist, I was originally interested in studying servers at breastaurants because I could sense an interesting dynamic at play. On the one hand, it can feel good to be complimented for your looks. On the other hand, I also wondered whether constantly being critiqued might eventually wear these servers down. So my research team and I decided to study what it was like to work in places like Hooters. In a series of studies, here’s what we found. Concocting a male fantasyland More so than most restaurants, managers at breastaurants like Hooters seek to strictly regulate how their employees look and act. For one of our studies, we interviewed 11 women who worked in breastaurants. Several of them said that they were told to be “camera ready” at all times. One described being given a booklet with exacting standards outlining her expected appearance, down to “nails, hair, makeup, brushing your teeth, wearing deodorant.” She had to promise to stay the same weight and height, wear makeup every shift and not change her hairstyle. Beyond a carefully constructed physical appearance, the servers relayed that they were also expected to be confident, cheerful, charming, outgoing and emotionally steeled. They were instructed to make male customers feel special, to be their “personal cheerleaders,” as one interviewee put it, and to never challenge them. Suffice it say, these demands can be unrealistic – and many of the servers we interviewed described becoming emotionally drained and eventually souring on the role. ‘The girls are a dime a dozen’ It probably won’t come as a surprise that Hooters servers often encounter lewd remarks, sexual advances and other forms of sexual harassment from customers. But because their managers often tolerate this behavior from customers, it created the added burden of what psychologists call “double-binds” – situations where contradictory messages make it impossible to respond properly. For example, say a regular customer who’s a generous tipper decides to proposition a server. Now she’s in a predicament. She’s been instructed to make customers feel special. And he’s already left a big tip, in addition to being a regular. But she also feels creeped out, and his advances make her feel worthless. Should she push back? You might assume that managers, aware that their scantily clad employees would be more likely to face harassment, would try to set boundaries and throw out customers who treated servers poorly. But we found that waitresses at breastaurants have less support from both management and their co-workers than servers at other restaurants. “Unfortunately, the girls are a dime a dozen, and that’s how they’re treated,” a former server and corporate trainer at a breastaurant explained. The lack of co-worker support might also come as a surprise. Rather than standing in solidarity, the servers tended to compete for favoritism, better shifts and raises from their bosses. Gossiping, name-calling and scapegoating were commonplace. The psychological toll My research team also wanted to learn more about the specific emotional and psychological costs of working in these types of environments. Psychologists Barbara Fredrickson and Tomi-Ann Robert have found that mental health problems that disproportionately affect women often coincide with sexual objectification. So we weren’t surprised to find that servers working in sexually objectifying restaurant environments, such as Hooters and Twin Peaks, reported more symptoms of depression, anxiety and disordered eating than those working in other restaurants. In addition, they wanted to be thinner, were more likely to monitor their weight and appearance, and were more dissatisfied with their bodies. Hooters didn’t reply to a request for comment on this story. Why are women drawn to the job? Given our findings, you might wonder why any women would choose to work in places like Hooters in the first place. The women we interviewed said that they sought work in breastaurants to make more money and have more flexibility. A number of servers in one of our studies noted that they could make more money this way than waitressing at a regular restaurant or in other “real” jobs. For example, one of the servers we interviewed used to work at a more run-of-the-mill restaurant. “It was OK, I made OK money,” she told us. “But working at Hooters … I’ve walked out with hundreds of dollars in one shift.” All the women we interviewed were in college or were mothers. So they enjoyed the high degree of flexibility in their work schedule that breastaurants provided. Finally, several of them had previously experienced objectification while growing up, or they’d participated in activities centered on physical appearance, such as beauty pageants and cheerleading. This likely contributed to their decision to work at a Hooters or one of its competitors: They’d been objectified as adolescents, and so they found themselves drawn to these kinds of setting as adults. Even so, our research suggests that the financial rewards and flexibility of working in breastaurants probably aren’t worth the potential psychological costs.

Philadelphia’s street opioid supply – or “dope” market – is constantly changing. As health care workers and researchers who care for people who use drugs in our community, we have witnessed these shifts firsthand. New adulterants are frequently added to the mix. They bring additional and often uncertain risks for people who use drugs, and new challenges for the health care providers and systems who treat them. The latest adulterant to dominate the supply is medetomidine. What is medetomodine? Medetomidine, pronounced meh-deh-TOH-muh-deen, is a drug used in veterinary medicine for sedation, muscle relaxation and pain relief, often during surgery. It is an alpha-2 adrenergic agonist, which essentially means it works by slowing the release of adrenaline in the brain and body. In May 2024, the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office began testing for medetomidine in people who died from fatal overdoses. By the end of the year, 46 of the deceased had tested positive for the substance, in addition to fentanyl and other known chemicals. In fact, medetomidine is quickly becoming more common in Philadelphia’s street opioid supply than even xylazine, a non-FDA-approved sedative linked to skin ulceration, chronic wounds and amputation. Xylazine was first detected in Philadelphia street drugs in 2006 and became increasingly common starting in 2015. By early 2023, xylazine was detected in 98% of tested dope samples in the city. However, its presence is steadily dropping, according to local drug-checking program data. The Philadelphia Department of Public Health says medetomidine has emerged as a primary adulterant and is now twice as common as xylazine in drug-checked samples. Recent studies show even more unusual substances entering the street fentanyl supply, such as the industrial solvent BTMPS. At the same time, hospital and behavioral health providers are reporting more common presentations of severe withdrawal symptoms among people who use drugs in Philadelphia. Risks of medetomidine While medetomidine’s sedating effects are similar in mechanism to xylazine, it is upward of 10-20 times more potent. It suppresses brain signals in the central nervous system, leading to deep sedation. Since medetomidine is so powerful and does not act on opioid receptors, a person who overdoses on it often does not respond to the opioid-reversal drug naloxone, which goes by the brand name Narcan, in the manner we commonly expect from people who appear to have overdosed on opioids. When patients overdose on a combination of opioids and medetomidine, providing naloxone will help individuals start breathing again but does not reverse the sedation caused by the medetomidine. From our clinical experience, after patients start to breathe normally, providing additional doses of naloxone does not seem to help and even risks prompting opioid withdrawal symptoms. Additionally, medetomidine presents serious clinical challenges for health care workers treating patients in withdrawal. These patients often experience symptoms such as rapid heart rate, severe spikes in blood pressure, restlessness, disorientation and confusion, and severe vomiting. While many of these symptoms were similar, if less intense, for those withdrawing from opioids and xylazine, the number of patients we are seeing is unprecedented – as is the severity of their symptoms. While published data on humans’ withdrawal from medetomidine is limited, clinicians are drawing comparisons to dexmedetomidine, a related drug used in humans that has shown similar features when withdrawn too quickly. Researchers and clinicians in Philadelphia’s hospitals, including us at Thomas Jefferson University, are analyzing emerging clinical data. This data suggests that existing protocols that effectively controlled withdrawal symptoms in the era when xylazine was common are no longer adequate in the era of medetomidine. New protocols have been developed based on the guidance of local experts and are being tested. Approaches to drug testing The rise in severe withdrawal symptoms has prompted expanded testing for adulterants such as medetomidine in Jefferson’s emergency departments. Currently, drug testing involves two primary approaches. Qualitative analysis determines the presence or absence of substances. For example, fentanyl and xylazine test strips are commonly used by harm reduction groups and people who use drugs. Unfortunately, they can be unreliable and prone to user error, expiration, misinterpretation and false positives or negatives. This technology is also commonly used in urine drug-testing kits sold over the counter. Quantitative analysis, on the other hand, is a more sophisticated approach to drug testing. It uses complex technology such as liquid-phase chromatography and mass spectrometry to separate the individual components of a sample and determine their concentration. This form of testing is more expensive and requires specialized equipment and analysts to perform the tests and interpret the results. Hospitals in the city have begun selectively testing urine and blood samples from patients who present with suspected medetomidine exposure. The labs are looking for the presence of certain drugs and their related byproducts, and also trying to identify distinct concentrations that might be associated with overdose, intoxication and withdrawal. Implications for public health We believe Philadelphians should be aware of these recent changes in the street drug supply and how people in their communities may react to exposure to medetomidine. Naloxone is still recommended for a person showing signs of opioid overdose – such as excess sedation, shallow or absent breathing and small pupils. Narcan is freely available at pharmacies around the city. But if the patient starts breathing but does not immediately wake up, additional doses of naloxone should be avoided. As always, contact 911 for expert assistance and to get patients to an emergency department to complete their care. Patients who use large amounts of drugs may suffer from severe withdrawal symptoms. Typical medications given to those in opioid withdrawal, such as buprenorphine or methadone, may not be sufficient to treat this constellation of symptoms. Even medications and regimens tailored for xylazine may not be effective. Patients with severe withdrawal symptoms need to be seen in the emergency department, given the risk of undertreating this emerging condition. Read more of our stories about Philadelphia.

Since his return to office, United States President Donald Trump has launched a trade war on Canada. The White House has twice set deadlines for the imposition of sweeping 25 pre cent tariffs — and twice pulled back. Trump has also threatened to use “economic force” to compel Canada to become the 51st state, remarks that are a focal point of the ongoing federal election campaign. Canadians are offended. They’ve voiced this displeasure, with Canadian sports fans continuing to boo the American anthem at recent events. This might be counterproductive. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn Trump says Canada is ‘nasty’ In this trade war, Canada faces more than tariffs: it’s confronting a communications effort by the president to paint Canadians as mean, disrespectful and “nasty.” Trump’s most consistent line is that Canadians are “not fair,” “very abusive” and taking advantage of the U.S. on trade. Regardless of the truth, the president repeats these allegations over and over and over again. The repetition is the point — it’s an important practice in strategic communications or what’s known as StratCom, the use of communication to achieve objectives. The repetition is key to Trump’s StratCom — it’s a way of making his message stick. Hard as it is for Canadians to believe this, there’s a danger of this “nasty Canadian” narrative taking hold south of the border. Take it from a communications expert who often works in the U.S. and Europe: not everyone is as well-versed on the dispute as Canadians are. Even actions like booing the American anthem risk reinforcing Trump’s slurs against Canada. Canada must devise its own strategy to counter Trump’s message and remind Americans — and the world — that Canada trades on fair terms. By dampening American support for the president’s trade war, this StratCom effort could actually help protect the Canada-U.S. relationship for the long term. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi Creating false counter-narratives Trump has long mastered the art of swapping one narrative with a preferred alternative. This tactic has arguably helped save his political career. For millions of Americans, the president turned Russian interference in the 2016 election into the “Russia Hoax” — something he raised as recently as the infamous Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Rather than concede the 2020 election, Trump and his allies adopted the mantra “Stop the Steal.” And in a most striking StratCom effort, Trump and supporters recast the events of Jan. 6, 2021 at the U.S. Capitol into “a day of love.” Trump also issued a blanket pardon of all those convicted over the attack. These are astounding examples of strategic communications, whatever we might think of the president’s honesty or his objectives. Every time Trump repeats claims that Canada is taking advantage of the U.S., that narrative becomes further entrenched. So far, Ottawa has reminded Americans that Canada is a good partner and that tariffs would hurt both countries. But it’s not clear that appealing to the long Canadian-American history as allies is having much effect in the White House. In early February, Vice President JD Vance posted: “Spare me the sob story about how Canada is our ‘best friend’” and noted Canada’s low defence spending. A Canadian StratCom strategy The Canadian government therefore must invest in an ambitious campaign of strategic communications. It should drive home that Canadians trade on fair terms and that Canada buys more American goods than China, Japan, the United Kingdom and France combined. This StratCom effort must make clear that Canadians can and will be forced to buy elsewhere. It must note that Trump renegotiated a new Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade deal in 2018 and that the agreement was a win for the U.S. The campaign can employ humility and humour, but it must reinforce the mutual benefit of trade and make clear that Trump’s anti-Canada comments are not based in reality. Some specific claims must be targeted. Trump often notes that Canada has high tariffs on specific American products, like milk. But this can be misleading, as these are part of a negotiated supply control quota system. Rather than simply counter Trump’s narrative, the campaign should advance a Canadian one. Canadian leaders are starting to recognize this. Before leaving office, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau compared Trump’s treatment of Canada over trade with his conciliatory stance toward Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. Former finance minister Chrystia Freeland has underscored the importance of communicating directly to regular Americans. The federal government has paid for anti-tariff ads on digital billboards along key highways in red states, including Florida, Nevada, Georgia, Michigan and Ohio. Canadians themselves are in on the act. Decades after Canadian actor and broadcaster Jeff Douglas appeared in the iconic “I am Canadian” commercial, he’s come out with a new rendition. “We are Canadian” rejects the president’s “51st State” threats. Its polite but firm tone is the sort of quintessentially Canadian response that should form the basis of a national StatCom effort. Controlling the narrative Given time and space, Trump can reshape the terms of the debate or even perceptions of reality. The Canadian government should therefore lead the way in defending the country’s trading practices and its value as a partner. This effort should reflect Canada’s traditional emphasis on respect and decency. Canadians are offended. But they should resist responses like booing another nation’s anthem — especially if it contributes to the president’s effort to paint Canadians as mean or disrespectful. The Canada-U.S. relationship will be changed by this experience. But whether the rift is lasting depends in part on whether Canadians believe regular Americans accept or reject the president’s narrative. A good communications effort could help Canada counter the president’s StratCom campaign and reduce the longer-term fallout from this unfair attack — no matter the repeated threats and slurs emanating from the Oval Office.

Surgeons have now published the first report of a gene-edited pig liver transplanted into a person. The liver, which came from a genetically modified pig, appeared to stay active, producing bile and liver proteins inside the brain-dead transplant recipient, researchers report March 26 in Nature. Such a transplant could one day buy time for people waiting on the liver transplant list. Doctors could potentially use the pig liver as bridge until a human liver is available or the patient’s liver has recovered, Lin Wang, a surgeon at Xijing hospital in Xi-an, China, said in a March 25 news briefing. “It is our dream to achieve this,” he said. Earlier this year his team also performed a different pig-to-human liver transplant, though the results from that surgery have not yet been published. The feats are the latest in a string of advances in xenotransplantation, the transfer of living organs or tissues from one species into another. Doctors have already seen success with pig kidneys and hearts. One woman, a 53-year-old from Alabama, received a gene-edited kidney in November and is still doing well more than 100 days after her surgery. And in February, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave two companies the green light to begin clinical trials with gene-edited pig kidneys in people with kidney failure. But pig liver transplants pose a particular challenge, Wang said: “The liver is so complicated.” Unlike the heart, which pumps blood, and the kidneys, which produce urine, the liver is somewhat of an overachiever. The lobed organ juggles many jobs, including detoxifying the blood, making bile to help with digestion, weeding out old red blood cells, storing energy and producing molecules that help the blood clot. Getting a pig organ to successfully take over all those roles will be really difficult, says Adam Griesemer, a liver transplant surgeon at NYU Langone Health. The functions that the liver performs are so vital to our bodies, he says. If there’s even a tiny mismatch between how pig and human organs work, “I think we’re going to have problems.” But there’s certainly a need for new solutions for liver-failure patients, Griesemer says. In the United States, around 10,000 people are on the national transplant list waiting for a liver. And unlike dialysis for patients waiting for kidneys, there’s no long-term way to keep liver-failure patients alive. Liver dialysis exists, but it’s only a temporary solution, says Parsia Vagefi, a transplant surgeon at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. “People still die waiting for a liver transplant,” he says. In 2023, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania tried using a gene-edited pig liver as a kind of backup device, hooking up the organ externally to a person who had recently died. The team was able to circulate the person’s blood through the pig liver, a step toward using the organ to temporarily take on the liver’s duties in patients with liver failure. In the new case, surgeons brought the liver inside the body. The team started with a Bama miniature pig that had some pig genes knocked out and some human genes pasted in. These genes play a role in transplant rejection; the goal of the edits was to lessen the chance the transplant would fail. Surgeons placed the modified liver inside the recipient’s body, connected it to their blood vessels, and then monitored it for 10 days. The pig liver retained its functions, blood flowed smoothly, and Wang’s team did not see inflammatory cells accumulate, a sign that the human recipient was tolerating the transplant. After the experiment, the recipient’s body was returned to family. Vagefi points out that the surgery was not a typical transplant. The team didn’t replace the person’s liver, as would usually occur in a liver transplant. Instead, the pig liver was auxiliary, existing inside the body alongside the original liver. More recently, Wang’s team has performed a full pig-to-human liver transplant, swapping out the liver of a different brain-dead person with one from a genetically modified pig. That transplant took place in January, and the researchers plan to report the results of the investigation in a future publication, Wang said at the briefing. Still, Griesemer suspects “that the pig liver is not going to be a long-term solution for patients with liver disease.” Previous work in primates has showcased problems with pig liver transplants, he says. The animals that receive the livers don’t tend to live that long. It’s also too early to say whether an auxiliary pig organ, like the one reported in the study, could help patients by serving as a bridge for people on the transplant waiting list, Vagefi says. But, he notes, work like this is important because there’s a lot left to be learned. “This is a starting point.”

The James Webb Space Telescope has caught a distant galaxy blowing an unexpected bubble in the gas around it, just 330 million years after the Big Bang. The galaxy, dubbed JADES-GS-z13-1, marks the earliest sign yet spotted of the era of cosmic reionization, a transformative period in the universe’s history when the first stars and galaxies began to reshape their environment, astronomers report in the March 27 Nature. “It definitely puts a pin in the map of the first point where [reionization] very likely has already started,” says astrophysicist Joris Witstok at the University of Copenhagen. “No one had predicted that it would be this early” in the universe’s history. For millions of years before JADES-GS-z13-1 and others like it began to shine, the universe was filled with cold, neutral gas, mostly hydrogen and helium. This gas absorbed short-wavelength light from any stars that shone before about 200 million years after the Big Bang. But as more and more stars began to burn and gather into galaxies, they produced enough ultraviolet light to knock electrons off the neutral gas atoms, ionizing them and making the gas transparent to short-wavelength light. One clear signal of this ionization comes in a particular UV wavelength of light called Lyman-α, which is produced by excited hydrogen atoms returning to their lowest energy states. Seeing Lyman-α photons emanating from a galaxy means the galaxy must have blown a bubble of ionized gas around it big enough to let the particles of light reach our telescopes today. “You can think of galaxies as little Lyman-α flashlights,” says astrophysicist Steven Finkelstein of the University of Texas at Austin, who was not involved in the new study. “If you can see the Lyman-α, it means they’re sitting in an ionized part of the universe.” If you can’t see Lyman-α, the galaxies are shrouded in neutral hydrogen fog. Previous observations showed that the universe was completely ionized about one billion years after the Big Bang. But it’s hard to tell when the process began, or what exactly produced the light. Witstok and colleagues used JWST to observe JADES-GS-z13-1, one of the clearest of these early galaxies, for almost 19 hours, splitting its light into a spectrum of wavelengths to seek details of the galaxy’s makeup. JWST was designed to seek out these brilliant, ancient galaxies. As the universe expands, the ultraviolet light that these galaxies originally emitted gets stretched to longer, infrared wavelengths. Since starting operations in 2022, JWST’s sensitive infrared detectors have turned up a growing gaggle of galaxies whose light comes from as early as less than 300 million years after the Big Bang. To their surprise, the researchers found a clear, bright signal of Lyman-α photons coming from JADES-GS-z13-1. If you were standing next to the galaxy, this light alone would shine as bright as 10 billion suns. “We suddenly saw this huge, booming emission line” that makes all the other distant galaxies JWST has found “look a bit boring,” Witstock says. “Just the pure strength of it tells us whatever this source is has to be really, really powerful and unlike anything we’ve seen before.” The finding is “both surprising and exciting,” says cosmologist Michele Trenti of the University of Melbourne, who was not involved in the study and wrote a perspective article that accompanied the paper in Nature. “I would not have expected the ultraviolet light that is emitted from this galaxy as Lyman-α to be able to reach the JWST,” she says. “This suggests that early forming galaxies are more efficient than previously thought at reheating the universe.” It’s still not clear exactly what the light’s source is. The light could come from matter that was heated as it fell onto a supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s center. The galaxy’s compact size supports this idea — it looks like it’s only about 230 light-years across, compared with 32,000 light-years for the Milky Way. Sponsor Message The light could also have come from extremely hot, massive stars, about 100 to 300 times the mass of the sun and more than 15 times hotter. More observations are required to figure out which it is, but either one has implications for the conditions in the early universe. “Both possibilities are stimulating for innovation,” Trenti says. “I expect theorists will be on the drawing board, developing new models for galaxy and black hole evolution during the dawn of the universe, while observers will certainly try to discover additional similar galaxies to solve the puzzle.”

A Chinese automaker has developed a battery that will enable electric vehicles (EVs) to charge almost as quickly as it takes to fill a regular car's gas tank. The new battery, named the e-platform, was developed by BYD, a Chinese firm that is overtaking Tesla as the world's top seller of electric vehicles. Assigned a 10C rating — meaning the battery can move charge at ten times the rate of its nominal capacity — the e-platform can reach full charge in just six minutes. At its peak charging power of 1,000 kilowatts , the battery's charging rate is twice as fast as Tesla's 500 kW superchargers. This means that the two new models using the battery — BYD's Han L saloon and its Tang L SUV — can travel up to 250 miles (400 kilometers) on just a five-minute charge. "We have been pursuing a goal to make the charging time of electric vehicles as short as the refueling time of petrol vehicles," BYD founder Wang Chuanfu said at a launch event in Shenzhen, China. "This is the first time in the industry that the unit of megawatt has been achieved on charging power." To charge at such rapid speeds, the e-platform works by simultaneously creating a high voltage and delivering a large current to the charging car. But high currents also tend to generate heat that damages EV batteries. To get around this, BYD says it massively reduced the internal resistance inside the battery. The company's new silicon carbide power chips are also designed to withstand higher voltages. To facilitate the cars' launch, BYD said it will install a network of 4,000 flash charging stations across China. This technology is currently only available in China, and the company has yet to confirm whether it will make it available internationally.

A genetic data giant is falling, and it’s unclear what will happen to millions of people’s most intimate personal information in the aftermath. On March 23, DNA testing company 23andMe announced it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a move intended to facilitate its sale — along with the genetic data of over 15 million customers worldwide. A bankruptcy court hearing is set to begin March 26. The San Francisco–based company has been reeling since a 2023 data breach exposed ancestry information — and, in some cases, health data — of about 7 million users. Bankruptcy documents made public by 404 Media show that more than 50 class-action lawsuits followed. The situation reignites long-standing concerns about genetic privacy. The 2018 arrest of the Golden State Killer, identified through a public ancestry database, first raised alarms about the safety of genetic data. With a patchwork of state-level legislation and no clear federal oversight beyond a rule prohibiting genetic discrimination by employers and health insurance companies — but not life insurance or other entities — genetic testing companies have been free to create their own rules, says sociologist of science Alondra Nelson of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J. “We have gotten 20 years into this industry, and we are about to have a major exchange of 15 million sets of people’s data, and we have still not figured out policies that are protective for people,” Nelson says. 23andMe has assured customers that bankruptcy “does not change how we store, manage, or protect customer data.” Any future buyer, the company says, will adhere to those data standards. But California Attorney General Rob Bonta has urged Californians to instruct 23andMe to delete their data and destroy any biological samples stored at the company. Other attorney generals across the country are echoing that call and making residents aware of their rights. The stakes go beyond privacy. Genetic researchers have used 23andMe data in studies of human ancestry and disease causation. If customers scrub their data, this cache of genetic information could be lost. Moreover, the company collects approximately 2 million survey responses a week about lifestyle, health and traits, legal health privacy scholar Anya Prince of the University of Iowa and bioethicist Kayte Spector-Bagdady of the University of Michigan wrote in the Feb. 25 JAMA. These data, they note, could drive a range of applications from pharmaceutical research to targeted marketing campaigns. To unpack what’s at stake, Science News spoke with Nelson, a former acting director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Prince, who studies the ethical, legal and social implications of genetic testing. The conversations have been edited for length and clarity. SN: Why is 23andMe declaring bankruptcy such a big deal? Prince: It’s such a big deal because, if you think about why 23andMe was valued as high as $6 billion, it’s because of the promise of the monetary value of the data that they hold. If John Deere went into bankruptcy, it would be selling the tractor parts, selling the factories. That is easier than having the asset be millions of people’s data, and not just millions of people’s data, but millions of people’s very sensitive genetic and health data. Nelson: By 23andMe’s own accounting, 15 million customers counted on them to stay in business and to be able to keep their data safe. Part of the service that 23andMe provided was saying that they could tell people things about themselves and their families, intimate details to which they might not otherwise have access. You expect a company or relationship that’s going to claim to tell you such things about yourself to stick around. We didn’t exactly know what to do when the data breach occurred, and it’s not quite clear what’s going to happen with the data vis-à-vis the bankruptcy. We’ve had a legislative and policy failure around what to do about direct-to-consumer genetic testing. What we know about genetic testing is that it can be used for forensic applications, it can be used for health care applications. The laws that we have around privacy and protection of health care data like HIPAA or the regulations and norms that we have around forensic data don’t apply to consumer genetic testing. There were a lot of companies that started doing similar tests that went out of business or got acquired by other companies. So there has been a pattern in the industry in which we don’t know exactly what was happening with these data as the companies get acquired or as they’re traded. Sponsor Message SN: Should people delete their data from 23andMe, or should they keep it so researchers can use it? Prince: I, for example, am a very, very private person, and so if my data was in a company like 23andMe, I would want to delete it because I’m less comfortable with sharing my data and I’m more controlled about it. I know plenty of other people who are just as rational actors who say, “No, I would love my data to be used for research.” It makes sense for some people to say, “I understand the risks. I understand that I can’t control who buys my data and how it’s used because of gaps in our federal privacy laws.” If somebody is OK with that, then maybe they don’t need to delete it. But if people say, “No, I’m worried about accessing insurance. I’m worried about just having my data out there. I’m worried how law enforcement could gain access to it,” — whatever it is that people could be tangibly concerned about — or just wanting their data to be private and know who it’s being shared with, then I think deleting the data is a good step. There are other ways to provide data to help research that might align more with people’s goals or comfort level. Nelson: We have to open up a broad aperture of things that we can do — and we need to do it quickly — to help people secure their data. If they want to use it for research, great. The bigger problem is how do you know that your data has been deleted? Is it deleted from everything? Are there collaborations ongoing with other partners, where the data might get circulated into laboratories, research labs and other places? So, sure, ask for the data to be deleted, but I think we also want to have a forensic accounting of the data. This is not just somebody’s Facebook profile. If you want to delete it, you want to be sure that it’s deleted. How can we create a protocol or a norm, or really call upon 23andMe to act nobly and provide assurances to people that the data is actually deleted out of every database, every hard drive, every collaborator’s research computer? SN: What worries you most about 23andMe being sold to another entity? Prince: This whole thing just highlights how little people know about how their data can be shared. [For instance, 23andMe’s] privacy policy says in the event of bankruptcy, the genetic data can be sold. It says that the new company would have to comply with the existing privacy policy. But the existing privacy policy also says that it can be changed at any time. It just really leaves consumers with little recourse. The one power that we do have is deleting the data. The challenge of that is that it is a rich resource for research, so that’s a shame. Nelson: I worry about the 15 million customers, many of whom, if they’re not following the news, may not know that this is happening. They might not have known about the breach in 2023. I worry in particular about marginalized and vulnerable communities that have histories of repression and oppression [based on] ideas about genetics, and what that means for communities of African descent and communities of Jewish descent. In 2019, the Department of Defense wrote to all of its employees, particularly those that worked in sensitive areas, and said, “You know what? We’re going to suggest that you not get for Christmas or for Hanukkah these direct-to-consumer genetic tests, because we are worried about the ability of this information to leak, and we’re worried about the ability of this information to be used by malign foreign actors.” It’s dangerous to have people’s personal data circulating in the world. One would not be foolish to be skeptical of 23andMe offering assurances that they’re going to abide by whatever rules they have. The company is under distress and is seeking to be sold. What are the trade-offs that are going to be made in the negotiation for this sale? Will data privacy of 15 million people be one of those trade-offs?

An amateur metal detectorist in Northern England has discovered an "unusual" 2,000-year-old hoard of artifacts that was burned and then buried. The Iron Age finding, named the Melsonby Hoard after the nearby village of Melsonby in North Yorkshire, contains more than 800 artifacts, including a cauldron, wine-mixing bowl, horse riding equipment, pieces of wagons or chariots, a large iron mirror, and ceremonial iron spearheads. "The bowl we discovered is very interesting because it was a very unusual type — not something you'd normally find in Northern Britain," said Tom Moore , a professor and head of the Department of Archaeology at Durham University in the U.K. who helped excavate and analyze the hoard. "Its decoration combines both Mediterranean and British Iron Age styles," Moore said in a video released by Durham University. This suggests that whoever owned it likely had "a network across Britain and across into Europe and even the Roman world," he said. Related: 32 stunning centuries-old hoards unearthed by metal detectorists The crushed cauldron excavated from the Melsonby Hoard. (Image credit: Durham University) Peter Heads, a hobbyist metal detectorist, discovered the hoard in December 2021 after he secured permission from a private landowner to survey a field. He then contacted Moore, who looped in the government and The British Museum, according to a statement released Tuesday (March 25) by Durham University. "It was only really when we went back to excavate the hoard and we opened up a much larger area that I think Peter and I, and all of the team, realized we were on to something really exciting," Moore said in the video. Sign up for the Live Science daily newsletter now Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors The excavation revealed that the entire find included a small hoard, as well as a large hoard "that was of a kind of scale and size that is exceptional for Britain and probably even Europe," Moore said. Iron spearheads and copper alloy artifacts that were found in the Melsonby Hoard. (Image credit: Durham University) From the field, the team cut out a large block of earth holding the artifacts and they then had it CT scanned so they could create a virtual, 3D model of it. An analysis revealed that much of the ironwork and copper alloy items had either been burned or broken. It's possible that these items had been placed in a funerary pyre, although no human bones were found at the site. "Our working theory at the moment is that [the hoard had] been gathered together and maybe heated in a sort of a big bonfire or perhaps a pyre," Sophia Adams , curator of the European Iron Age and Roman Conquest Period at The British Museum who is studying the find, said in the video. After the burning, some of the items appear to have been further damaged as they were thrown into a ditch and had stones tossed on top of them, she said. Despite the damage, many of the artifacts are still recognizable. Some of the horse harnesses are decorated with red coral from the Mediterranean and colored glass, which hints at far-flung trade. "The destruction of so many high-status objects, evident in this hoard, is also of a scale rarely seen in Iron Age Britain and demonstrates that the elites of northern Britain were just as powerful as their southern counterparts," Moore said in the statement. Researchers are still analyzing the artifacts, and they hope that the finds will one day go on display in a museum, they said in the video.

The moon will block as much as 93% of the sun on March 29, 2025. On March 29, a deep partial solar eclipse will be visible across much of the northeastern U.S. and eastern Canada, as well as in northwestern Europe, northwestern Africa and northern Russia, as the moon takes a "bite" out of the sun from our perspective on Earth. A lucky group of 13 states will have views of the sunrise solar eclipse , but exactly when to watch the celestial event — the first solar eclipse of the year — depends on your location. What time is the March 29 solar eclipse? According to Time and Date , the eclipse officially begins at 4:50 a.m. EDT and ends just under four hours later, at 8:43 a.m. EDT. However, that doesn't tell you exactly when to see it, when the eclipse will reach its peak, or how long it will last for any particular location. The easiest way to get the precise timings for your location is to type your city or address into this eclipse map , which will give you a full schedule of the eclipse start time, the time of sunrise, the moment of maximum eclipse and the eclipse end time for your location. It will also tell you where in the sky to look, as well as simulate what you'll see. Related: Solar eclipse glasses: Where to buy a safe, certified pair before the March 29 eclipse For example, in Boston , sunrise is at 6:31 a.m. EDT and will take place at 85 degrees azimuth (measured clockwise from north), so just north of due east. The eclipse will be at its maximum (43%) shortly after at 6:38 a.m. EDT while just 1 degree above the horizon. The eclipse will end at 7:07 a.m. EDT, with the moon departing the sun while it's 6 degrees above due east. In New York City , sunrise is at 6:44 a.m. EDT and will also occur at 85 degrees. The eclipse will be at its maximum (21%) at 6:46 a.m. EDT while on the horizon and end at 7:04 a.m. EDT while it's 3 degrees above the horizon. Sign up for the Live Science daily newsletter now Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors With the eclipse taking place very low on the horizon in North America, it's best to be in a coastal location to see the sunrise above the ocean or to observe from an elevated position. Also, because this is a partial solar eclipse, viewers must wear protective eyewear at all times, be it a pair of certified solar eclipse glasses or a backyard telescope with solar filters attached. Across Europe, the eclipse becomes a midmorning event. The sun will be eclipsed to a much lesser extent, but it will be much easier to see than in North America because it will be higher above the horizon. For example, in London, the eclipse begins at 10:07 a.m., peaks at 11:03 a.m. at 31%, and ends at midday. There, the entire event will occur high in the southeastern sky, making precision far less important. Sun quiz: How well do you know our home star?

This CT scan of the patient's abdomen shows a foreign body in the left lobe of liver. (It's the small, white line on the top-left side of the image. The patient: A 45-year-old man in Saudi Arabia The symptoms: The patient went to the hospital after experiencing 10 days of gut pain and fever . Doctors performed an ultrasound of the man's abdomen and found an abscess — a pus-filled mass — in the right lobe of his liver. They drained the abscess and gave the patient a 10-day course of antibiotics. His fever subsided, and the man was sent home. However, a month later, the man ended up in the emergency room after experiencing six consecutive days of abdominal pain and a fever above 102.4 degrees Fahrenheit (39.1 degrees Celsius) — an apparent relapse of symptoms. What happened next: During the man's second hospital visit, blood tests showed that he had an elevated count of white blood cells, a type of immune cell that fights infections, and lower-than-average levels of albumin, a protein produced in the liver. Doctors conducted an abdominal X-ray but detected no abnormalities. A computed tomography (CT) scan of the patient's abdomen showed that his kidneys, spleen, pancreas and gallbladder looked normal, the doctors wrote in a report of the case. However, when the medical team examined the central region of the patient's liver, they found two anomalies. One was a lesion that looked like an abscess, and the other was a solid, twig-like object inside that lesion measuring about 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) long. The diagnosis: The doctors suspected that the unidentified object had caused the abscess and that it likely resulted in the patient's first abscess a month prior, as well. The treatment: After giving the patient antibiotics, the doctors performed a type of abdominal surgery called a laparotomy to remove the foreign object. It turned out to be a fish bone. Sign up for the Live Science daily newsletter now Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors The patient said he had probably swallowed it while eating fish during a meal about five months earlier, but he did not recall feeling anything unusual at the time. Post-surgery, the man's condition improved. Over the next three months, the hospital monitored his health through follow-up visits, and he had no further abdominal issues. What makes the case unique: Liver abscesses are rare. In North America, about two cases are reported per 100,000 people each year , and estimates for other locations can reach about 17 per 100,000 people annually . The most common causes of these pus-filled lesions are infections that originate in the blood, bile ducts or abdominal organs . Notably, the patient had a healed scar in a section of the small intestine called the duodenal bulb. This suggested that the swallowed fish bone had probably pierced the man's intestinal wall and then migrated from there into his liver. Most small fish bones, if swallowed, pass harmlessly through the gut within about a week, according to the case report.

Many dog owners can tell how their precious pooch is feeling, watching it wag its tail or raise its ears — at least, they think they can. But people’s perception of canine emotions may be strongly influenced by environmental context around the dog, researchers report March 10 in Anthrozoös. Animal welfare scientist Holly Molinaro filmed her father interacting with his dog, Oliver, a 14-year-old pointer-beagle mix, in a variety of situations. She filmed the dog in positive ones, such as being played with or praised, and negative ones, such as being around a cat or reprimanded. Her team then showed edited and unedited footage to 400 college students and asked them questions about how they thought the dog felt. In the edited footage, the dog appeared on a black background; all environmental context had been removed. On average, participants “couldn’t tell the difference between whether the dog was happy or sad,” says Molinaro, of Arizona State University in Tempe. Only after they watched unedited footage could participants correctly rate the dog’s emotional state. In a second experiment, the researchers showed another 513 participants edited footage of the dog reacting to a positive situation in a negative context and vice versa, then asked them questions about the dog’s emotional state. For example, Molinaro edited a video so that it looked like Oliver was reacting to a toy (positive situation), while instead he was reacting to a vacuum cleaner (negative situation). Changing perspective One of these scenarios is real and one is not. Can you guess which one is authentic? The answer is at the end of this paragraph. But first, animal welfare scientist Holly Molinaro devised an experiment to test how context, not just body language, can influence how we interpret a dog’s mood. She filmed her father’s pointer-beagle mix Oliver in a number of scenarios, then edited the footage so that the same clip of the dog’s reaction appears in both a positive and negative context. These videos show Oliver seeing a toy (positive) and a vacuum cleaner (negative). Did you guess right? The vacuum cleaner is real; the toy is not. On average, “no matter what the dog was doing, if it was a positive situation, they rated the dog as happy, and if it was a negative situation, they rated the dog as sad,” Molinaro says. That suggests that, at least in this experiment, the participants tended to base their interpretations on the environment around the dog, Dog cognition researcher Zsófia Virányi says that while she agrees context plays an important role in how people read canine emotions, it’s hard to draw universal conclusions from only one dog. “Basically, the conclusions that they can form here is not that much about how humans read dog behavior in general, but how humans can read the behavior of this dog in these situations,” says Virányi, of the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna. Oliver and other dogs with floppy ears, she adds, are much more difficult to read compared with dogs with pointier, more mobile ears. Still the study raises something to be aware of when trying to interpret a dog’s mood, Molinaro says. Try to rely less on context and more on your furry friend’s body language.

Sharks have long been thought to be mute, relying on stealth to hunt their prey and avoid predators. But now, sharks have been recorded making sounds for the very first time. The new recordings reveal that rig sharks (Mustelus lenticulatus) — small, bottom-dwelling sharks native to New Zealand — emit distinct clicks when handled by researchers underwater. These sounds were consistent and repeated across multiple individuals, and were potentially tied to distress or defensive responses, according to a study published Wednesday (Mar. 26) in the journal Royal Society Open Science. The recordings represent the first known case of a shark actively producing sound. "Sharks have sensory systems that are more refined than their hearing, like their electroreceptors, their smell and the way they propel themselves through the water," study lead author Carolin Nieder , a researcher at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, told Live Science. "But I think the original notion that we had that sound isn't important at all is also likely not true." Ten juvenile rig sharks were observed making sounds by accident during routine behavioral experiments at the University of Auckland's Leigh Marine Laboratory. When briefly handled by researchers underwater, all 10 sharks produced audible clicks. Related: Octopus spotted riding on top of world's fastest shark These clicking sounds were very frequent during the first few handlings but then stopped as the experiments progressed, Nieder said. "Maybe they weren't afraid for their lives anymore," she said, adding that in the wild, loud clicks may serve as a split-second distraction for juvenile sharks to make their escape when they are seized by predators. Most sharks are thought to be silent because they lack swim bladders — air-filled sacs commonly used by fish to make sounds. MicroCT scans and 3D reconstructions of rig sharks also revealed no obvious sound-producing organs or structures. Sign up for the Live Science daily newsletter now Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors Scientists noticed the clicking sound after handling the rig sharks during routine behavioral experiments. (Image credit: Paul Caiger ) The team proposed that the sounds could be coming from the sharks snapping their teeth. Rig sharks have broad, blunt teeth arranged in tightly packed, plate-like formations, which are ideal for crushing hard-shelled prey like crabs. This "pavement dentition," may also serve a second function of producing noise when the jaws snap shut, the researchers said. However, Nieder noted that without direct observation of the sharks' jaws during click production, the mechanism remains speculative. Each click lasted around 48 milliseconds, with volumes sometimes exceeding 155 decibels, which is comparable to shotgun blast. Roughly three-quarters of the clicks were single bursts, while the rest were short double-clicks. The scientists observed that about 70% of these clicks were accompanied by calm, swaying body movements, but a few occurred without any visible motion at all. Whether the clicking is an accidental byproduct of handling or a purposeful behavior remains unknown. The sharks' own hearing range is largely below 1 kilohertz, far lower than the frequencies of its clicks, meaning it's unlikely the clicks are meant for communicating with other sharks. However, some known predators of rig sharks, such as New Zealand fur seals (Arctocephalus forsteri), are sensitive to higher frequencies and might be startled or confused by the sharp clicks. Several species of rays and skates — close relatives of sharks — are also known to produce clicks when disturbed by divers. These sounds are thought to serve as warning signals or distress calls. Nieder said future studies could target closely related shark species to investigate whether they are also capable of making noises, and whether they make noise in response to stress. Adrian Gutteridge , a shark biologist with the IUCN Shark Specialist Group who was not involved in the study, said more research will be needed to establish what the shark clicks are for, and what they could mean. "It's too early to tell whether it's a response, kind of saying, 'go away,' or if [it's] just their nervous system is firing off which just happens to make their teeth and jaws click," he told Live Science. Shark quiz: How much do you know about these iconic ocean superstars?

Encased in the skull, perched atop the spine, the brain has a carefully managed existence. It receives only certain nutrients, filtered through the blood-brain barrier; an elaborate system of protective membranes surrounds it. That privileged space contains a mystery. For more than a century, scientists have wondered: If it’s so hard for anything to get into the brain, how does waste get out? The brain has one of the highest metabolisms of any organ in the body, and that process must yield by-products that need to be removed. In the rest of the body, blood vessels are shadowed by a system of lymphatic vessels. Molecules that have served their purpose in the blood move into these fluid-filled tubes and are swept away to the lymph nodes for processing. But blood vessels in the brain have no such outlet. Several hundred kilometers of them, all told, seem to thread their way through this dense, busily working tissue without a matching waste system. However, the brain’s blood vessels are surrounded by open, fluid-filled spaces. In recent decades, the cerebrospinal fluid, or CSF, in those spaces has drawn a great deal of interest. “Maybe the CSF can be a highway, in a way, for the flow or exchange of different things within the brain,” said Steven Proulx, who studies the CSF system at the University of Bern. A recent paper in Cell contains a new report about what is going on around the brain and in its hidden cavities. A team at the University of Rochester led by the neurologist Maiken Nedergaard asked whether the slow pumping of the brain’s blood vessels might be able to push the fluid around, among, and in some cases through cells, to potentially drive a system of drainage. In a mouse model, researchers injected a glowing dye into CSF, manipulated the blood vessel walls to trigger a pumping action, and saw the dye concentration increase in the brain soon after. They concluded that the movement of blood vessels might be enough to move CSF, and possibly the brain’s waste, over long distances. The team took a further step in their interpretation. Because this kind of pumping — distinct from the familiar pulse from the heart — is regularly observed during sleep, they suggest that perhaps their observations can help explain why sleep feels refreshing. But it’s a hypothesis that not everyone agrees is well founded. When it comes to ascribing purpose to the fluid moving through the brain, many researchers believe that the truth is still elusive. Brain Drain At the center of the brain are flooded caverns, like great cisterns shrouded in darkness, called ventricles. Cerebrospinal fluid seeps from the ventricle walls and then moves. Under pressure, it emerges elsewhere within the skull, flows down the neck and enters the spine.

Solve the grid in this medium sudoku puzzle! The Objective of Sudoku is to Fill Each Row, Column and Sub-Grid with Exactly One of Each Number from 1-9. And Conflict Arises if you repeat any entry in the same Row, Column or Sub-Grid. For More, Select "How To Play" in the Game's Dropdown menu. Use the "Play Together" Option in the Navigation Bar To Invite and Friend To Play This Puzzle With You and Enter Numbers at the Same Time. We’d Love to Hear from You! Email us at games@sciam.com to Share Your Experience.

How to Play Click the timer at the top of the game page to pause and see a clue to the science-related word in this puzzle! The objective of the game is to find words that can be made with the given letters such that all the words include the letter in the center. You can enter letters by clicking on them or typing them in. Press Enter to submit a word. Letters can be used multiple times in a single word, and words must contain four letters or more for this size layout. Select the Play Together icon in the navigation bar to invite a friend to work together on this puzzle. Pangrams, words which incorporate all the letters available, appear in bold and receive bonus points. One such word is always drawn from a recent Scientific American article—look out for a popup when you find it! You can view hints for words in the puzzle by hitting the life preserver icon in the game display. The dictionary we use for this game misses a lot of science words, such as apatite and coati. Let us know at games@sciam.com any extra science terms you found, along with your name and place of residence, and we might give you a shout out in our daily newsletter!

Solve the grid in this medium sudoku puzzle! The Objective of Sudoku is to Fill Each Row, Column and Sub-Grid with Exactly One of Each Number from 1-9. And Conflict Arises if you repeat any entry in the same Row, Column or Sub-Grid. For More, Select "How To Play" in the Game's Dropdown menu. Use the "Play Together" Option in the Navigation Bar To Invite and Friend To Play This Puzzle With You and Enter Numbers at the Same Time. We’d Love to Hear from You! Email us at games@sciam.com to Share Your Experience.

How to Play Click the Timer at the Top of the Game Page to Break and See A Clue to the Science-Related Word in This Puzzle! The objective of the game is to find words that can be made with the given letters search that all the words include the letter in the center. You can enter letters by clicking on them or type them in. Press Enter to Submit a Word. Letters Can Be Used Multiple Times In A Single Word, and Words Must Contain Four Letters or More for this Size Layout. Select the play together Icon in the navigation bar to invite a friend to work together on this puzzle. Pangrams, Words which Incorporate All the Letters Available, Appear in Bold and Receive Bonus Points. One search word is always drawn from a recent scientific American article - look out for a popup when you find it! You can view Hints for Words in the Puzzle by Hitting the Life Preserver Icon in the Game Display. The dictionary we use for this game Misses A Lot of Science Words, Search as Apatite and Coati. Let us Know at Games@sciam.com Any Extra Science Terms You Found, Along with your name and Place of Residence, and We Might Give You A Shout Out In our Daily Newsletter!

In the summer of 2022, Abdel Abdellaoui was set to give a keynote at the annual conference of the International Society for Intelligence Research. But when he learned he’d be sharing a speaker roster with Emil Kirkegaard, Abdellaoui announced on Twitter that he was cancelling his lecture. Kirkegaard is perhaps best known for his provocative writing on genetics and race. On his blog, he has asserted that Black Americans are less honest and less intelligent than their White counterparts; that affirmative action produces Black and Hispanic doctors who kill people with their incompetence; that Africans are excessively predisposed to violence; and that the hereditarian hypothesis of intelligence — roughly, the idea that races or ancestry groups differ in average intelligence in ways that are substantially attributable to genetics — is “almost certainly true.” At the time of the 2022 conference, “this guy was having a bad influence with the crap he was spreading, and the way he behaved online, and he was giving our scientific field a bad name,” recalled Abdellaoui, a geneticist working in the Department of Psychiatry at Amsterdam University Medical Center whose research interests include the genetics of intelligence. Abdellaoui noted in a post on Medium that Kirkegaard had never been part of any credible research program or Ph.D. program, and had a reputation for publishing sloppy scientific work in dubious journals. “I just didn’t want to be associated with that, and I wanted to have that be clear — that he’s not on my team and I’m not on his.” (Kirkegaard did not respond to multiple email requests for an interview for this story.) Shortly after Abdellaoui announced his withdrawal, he learned that Kirkegaard was scratched from the speaker lineup, and Abdellaoui decided to give the keynote after all. Yet just two years later, Kirkegaard would be back at the ISIR conference podium — a podium that has served as a platform for Kirkegaard and other proponents of the hereditarian hypothesis since long before Abdellaoui’s threatened boycott. Their presence at ISIR, alongside psychologists and geneticists from many of the world’s top research institutions, underscores a complicated reality in this fraught field of study: When it comes to the genetics of intelligence, the line between mainstream and fringe can be hard to pin down, and the work of the former can intertwine with that of the latter in ways that are difficult to disentangle. Abdellaoui is one of many scientists who have used genome-wide association studies, or GWAS, to identify genetic variants associated with intelligence and educational outcomes. He is interested in this work, in part, as a window into understanding conditions such as autism and bipolar disorder; others explore genetics and intelligence to improve education and hone experimental methods in the social sciences. But data from the GWAS that Abdellaoui and his colleagues conduct are frequently redeployed in service of testing the hereditarian hypothesis. A culture of open science has kept this spigot of data flowing with few restrictions. Genetics researchers are, by and large, dubious of efforts to demonstrate a genetic basis for racial or ancestral-group differences in intelligence. The current tools of genetics, they say, simply aren’t equipped to explain which, if any, portions of observed group differences in complex human traits are attributable to the effects of genes, rather than environmental, cultural, or social factors. Should scientists working on topics with far-reaching social implications have to show that the benefits of their work justify the societal risks? But there’s no guarantee that this state of affairs will hold forever, or so concluded a working group of experts convened by The Hastings Center, a bioethics-focused nonprofit, to grapple with pressing issues in social and behavioral genomics: It is possible, the authors warned in 2023, that efforts to discern group differences in genetic propensities for traits like intelligence could one day gain scientific legitimacy. Although they disagreed on the likelihood of that scenario, they agreed that the social costs, were it to come to pass, could be vast — all the more so if findings happened to align with existing stereotypes against minoritized groups. That’s left Abdellaoui and other genomics researchers with a dilemma: As they improve their ability to account for the nongenetic factors that muddle, or confound, genetic signals in GWAS, they could be helping to fuel a line of inquiry that could have troubling consequences. “I can imagine that someone like this Kirkegaard guy, if he was able to do this in a methodologically sound way — which is a big ask, because there are so many confounders that are hard to deal with — that he would grab that chance,” he said. Geneticist Abdel Abdellaoui is one of many scientists who have used genome-wide association studies to identify genetic variants associated with intelligence and educational outcomes. Visual: Courtesy of Abdel Abdellaoui Already, Kirkegaard and others in his circle have sought to weave the tenuous, contested body of work on the hereditarian hypothesis into policy arguments against diversity in hiring and education. And — months into a Trump administration that has pledged to purge diversity, equity, and inclusion from the federal government, threatened to defund colleges that have diversity-related programming, and blamed a deadly plane and helicopter collision on diversity hiring — there are signs those views are ascendant in American society. For Abdellaoui, the possibility that his own work could, indirectly, advance the cause of the Kirkegaards of the world is a cost of doing business that he’s decided he can live with. For the broader genomics community, the prospect that today’s research advances could conceivably open a door to tomorrow’s legitimate studies of genetic ancestry and intelligence raises a question with no clear answer: Should scientists working on topics with far-reaching social implications have to show that the benefits of their work justify the societal risks? Or is the valid, scientific pursuit of knowledge justification enough? And either way, should scientists curb their own research if they know that others may abuse it? According to archived conference programs, the International Society for Intelligence Research’s inaugural meeting, held 25 years ago in Cleveland, Ohio, featured a presentation by University of California, Berkeley, psychologist Arthur Jensen called “Racial g Factor Differences and Mental Growth Trajectories.” In it, Jensen argued that Black children systematically lack the intelligence of their White counterparts. The same year, University of Western Ontario psychologist J. Philippe Rushton, who became infamous for his prolific and widely discredited race science research, presented a talk on “South African Black-White IQ Differences.” (Psychologists Joseph Fagan and Cynthia Holland, meanwhile, presented evidence suggesting that racial IQ differences vanish when test takers have equal prior access to the information being tested.) In the years that followed, the society reliably provided a platform for Jensen, Rushton, and others to argue for innate racial differences in intelligence. In a 2002 presentation, Jensen and Rushton posited that racial genetic differences explained a substantial portion — 50 percent or so — of the putative Black-White IQ gap, a view that came to be known as the hereditarian hypothesis. Some years, the conference devoted entire sessions of talks specifically to the subject of group differences. (And on at least a couple of occasions, Fagan and Holland returned to refute hereditarian arguments.) Psychologist Arthur Jensen, sitting at table with students grading IQ tests at University of California, Berkeley. Jensen argued that there are innate racial differences in intelligence. Visual: Michael Rougier/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock J. Philippe Rushton, infamous for his widely discredited race science research, is interviewed amid protestors after a 1991 lecture at the University of Western Ontario was cut short. Visual: Victor Aziz/Toronto Star via Getty Images One of Kirkegaard’s earliest speaking appearance at ISIR, according to conference programs, came in 2017 in Montreal, where he presented a poster that examined relationships between cognitive ability and genetic ancestry among self-identified African Americans and Hispanic Americans. Also in Montreal that year was an assistant professor of psychology from the University of Minnesota, James Lee. A protege of Harvard professor Steven Pinker, Lee had become a key player in the development of GWAS, which were breaking new ground in the study of the genetics of intelligence. At their core, GWAS involve combing through vast genetic databases to tease out subtle statistical associations between variations in DNA, known as genetic variants, and observed differences in human health and behavior. Since they emerged in the 2000s, GWAS have identified genetic variants linked to thousands of traits — a person’s propensity for kidney stones, acne, vegetarianism, and alcohol misuse, to name just a few. More than 480 GWAS were published in academic journals in 2023 alone, according to a catalog maintained by the National Human Genome Research Institute and the European Bioinformatics Institute. GWAS draw their power from large numbers: The more people a study includes, the better it can resolve subtle genetic associations. In Montreal, Lee previewed yet-to-be-published results of what was then the largest-ever GWAS to probe genetic variants associated with the number of years of schooling a person completes, known as educational attainment. As part of a broad collaboration coordinated by the Social Science Genetic Association Consortium, Lee was helping analyze genetic data of more than 1 million people, all of European genetic ancestry. When all was said and done, they would unearth more than 1,200 genetic variants that seemed to be linked to educational attainment. Taken individually, the effects of each variant were minuscule; but by summing all those tiny effects together, Lee and his colleagues could tally a score that modestly predicted how far a person went in school, based only on that person’s genetic information. Since they emerged in the 2000s, GWAS have identified genetic variants linked to thousands of traits — a person’s propensity for kidney stones, acne, vegetarianism, and alcohol misuse, to name just a few. The scores, known as polygenic scores or polygenic indices, were far from perfect. When Lee and his colleagues tested them on two data sets of people of European ancestry, the scores explained about 12 percent of the observed variation in educational attainment. And much of that predictive power, the team’s analysis suggested, likely reflected an interplay of complex environmental factors, not just the actions of genes themselves. In the case of a child born to highly educated parents, for instance, GWAS of unrelated individuals can struggle to distinguish between the influence of genes, the influence of rearing environment, and interactions between the two. In any case, when the educational attainment GWAS published in Nature Genetics in 2018, with Lee as the first author, it created a stir. At a website run by the Social Science Genetic Association Consortium, the authors shared detailed data known as summary statistics that allowed anyone with enough technical savvy to calculate polygenic scores for the datasets of their choosing. Scholars from an array of disciplines took notice, repurposing the data to see how well educational attainment polygenic scores predicted not just academic prowess, but related characteristics such as social mobility, political participation, and intelligence. (According to a recent report, at least one company is now using polygenic scores to screen IVF embryos for intelligence.) People interested in the hereditarian hypothesis took notice as well. Within months, Kirkegaard and others in his orbit repurposed the GWAS data to compute and compare polygenic scores for educational attainment across populations, religions, and genetic ancestries. Some of the work was published in journals with dubious reputations, such as OpenPsych and Mankind Quarterly. (According to reporting by the advocacy group Hope Not Hate, Kirkegaard is associated with the management of both journals.) In a video on his YouTube channel, Emil Kirkegaard describes a 2021 paper he published in the dubious journal OpenPsych. Kirkegaard and others in his circle have sought to weave the tenuous, contested body of work on the hereditarian hypothesis — roughly, the idea that races or ancestry groups differ in average intelligence in ways that are substantially attributable to genetics — into policy arguments against diversity in hiring and education. Visual: Emil Kirkegaard/YouTube It is unclear to what extent, if any, Lee was troubled by this repurposing of his and his colleagues’ data. When Lee hosted the 2019 ISIR conference in Minneapolis, Kirkegaard was selected as a speaker. And when Russell T. Warne, then an associate professor of psychology at Utah Valley University, published a book on intelligence that made an expansive argument in favor of the hereditarian hypothesis, Lee endorsed it in a back-cover blurb as “an admirable feat of scholarship.” (Reached by email, Lee declined to be interviewed for this story.) Arguably, Kirkegaard and his colleagues were following a strategy that Lee had proposed years earlier. In a 2010 review of then-University of Michigan psychologist Richard Nisbett’s book, “Intelligence and How to Get It: Why Schools and Cultures Count,” Lee challenged the idea that environmental factors accounted for all of the observed IQ differences between Black and White test takers, and he wrote that the ultimate test of the hereditarian hypothesis would be “the identification of the genetic variants affecting IQ and a tally of their frequencies in the two populations.” Such a comparison was practically out of reach at the time, Lee wrote, but “within our technological means.” Almost universally, experts in psychology, genetics, and related fields have discredited efforts by Kirkegaard and others to use polygenic scores to demonstrate the hereditarian hypothesis, describing them as deeply flawed. They point out that it is extraordinarily difficult to disentangle the genetic and environmental factors that shape complex human traits — to demonstrate that a genetic variant not only correlates with intelligence but actually influences it. Those challenges grow steeper when the subjects include people of considerably different genetic ancestries who experienced considerably different environments. “There is no logic or no argument currently that group differences that are found have a genetic source,” said Elsbeth Stern, a cognitive psychologist at ETH Zurich, “because intelligence has to emerge, and it emerges only in an environment where everybody gets a good education, a good treatment, and so on.” One well-known hurdle for would-be tests of the hereditarian hypothesis is that polygenic scores derived from a GWAS on one population often don’t transfer well to a different population. Lee and his colleagues found in their 2018 GWAS, for instance, that the same polygenic scores that explained roughly 12 percent of the variation in educational attainment in populations of European ancestry accounted for less than 2 percent of the variation in a dataset of African Americans. Almost universally, experts in psychology, genetics, and related fields have discredited efforts by Kirkegaard and others to use polygenic scores to demonstrate the hereditarian hypothesis, describing them as deeply flawed. But some have pointed out that many of the same technical limitations that plague efforts to use GWAS data to test the hereditarian hypothesis also complicate efforts to use them for more benign purposes, such as to understand genetic causes for inequality within an ancestry group. Citing these limitations, Georgia State University sociologist Callie Burt wrote in a recent commentary that the potential rewards of introducing polygenic scores into the social sciences “are few and greatly overstated.” (Genomics researchers have frequently suggested that polygenic scores for educational attainment could be used to control for individual genetic variation in social science experiments — much as one would control for, say family income — thereby allowing researchers to draw statistically meaningful conclusions from smaller sample groups.) Burt wrote that she had yet to see GWAS of social traits produce any findings “that change our understanding of environmental influences or suggest different policy or programmatic approaches.” Matt McGue, a behavioral geneticist at the University of Minnesota, told Undark that although he’s generally a supporter of GWAS in the behavioral sciences, he thinks the techniques are unlikely to illuminate much about the biology of intelligence. “I’ve looked at some of the papers,” he said, “and I’m just not convinced that it’s really, really going to represent a major breakthrough in our understanding of intelligence.” Although Kirkegaard and other supporters of the hereditarian hypothesis acknowledge some limitations of their current efforts, they say that improvements in GWAS methodologies would help their cause — particularly refinements that allow researchers to more precisely identify genetic variants that cause, rather than merely correlate with, intelligence. Studies with larger, more genetically diverse databases will yield polygenic scores that apply more generally across different racial groups, noted Warne in a 2021 article that suggested that Asian and White Americans, on average, are genetically predisposed to have higher IQs than Hispanic and Black Americans. “These developments, already underway, will also provide stronger evidence of whether intergroup mean differences in intelligence are partially genetically caused,” he added. Psychologist Eric Turkheimer is doubtful that GWAS will ever overcome the technical hurdles required to perform a scientifically legitimate test of the hereditarian hypothesis, particularly as it relates to IQ scores among Black and White Americans. As Turkheimer, a professor at the University of Virginia, sees it, the environmental effects are too numerous, and too difficult, to control for. “That Black people in the U.S. have descended from enslaved people over hundreds of hundreds of years and lived through Jim Crow and segregation and everything else — we know there’s a huge environmental effect,” he said. “And it doesn’t even make sense to talk about genetic effects unless you think you have that environmental effect under control, and it can’t be done, period.” A working group of experts convened by the Hastings Center, a bioethics-focused nonprofit, published a report in 2023 on their years-long series of discussions. If group differences in the genetic propensity for traits like intelligence did one day gain scientific legitimacy, the group warned that the social costs could be vast. Yet the Hastings Center working group, of which Turkheimer was a member, concluded there was a real possibility that technical advances would one day enable legitimate studies of how genetic factors for traits like intelligence vary from one group to another. While “it is tempting to avoid the thorny question whether scientifically valid research should be avoided because of its social risks, it is too easy to simply conclude that between-group analyses will forever be scientifically meaningless,” the group wrote in a 2023 report, following a years-long series of discussions among 19 experts in genetics, social science, and ethics. The reports adds that “societies must confront the tradeoff between social risk and the value of pursuing scientific understanding.” Those risks, the working group argued, included the possibility that findings in genetics could fuel discrimination, stigmatization, and misguided policies based on misinterpretations of the role of genetics in societal outcomes. The dangers would be especially acute, they wrote, if findings were perceived as reinforcing stereotypes against marginalized groups. “The overarching concern is that it would be used in attempts to justify the status quo,” said Erik Parens, a bioethicist who helped convene the Hastings Center working group and draft its report. “It would be used in attempts to argue that the way our society is currently organized is simply a function of the genetic gifts that some people have and other people don’t.” These kinds of arguments have surfaced before. For instance, in 2005 the social scientist Charles Murray, co-author of the controversial book, “The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life,” invoked the notion of innate group differences in intelligence to contend that affirmative action — programs aimed at boosting opportunities for Black Americans, women, and other groups that had historically suffered discrimination — was misguided. “The overarching concern is that it would be used in attempts to justify the status quo. It would be used in attempts to argue that the way our society is currently organized is simply a function of the genetic gifts that some people have and other people don’t.” “If you believe, like Charles Murray, that the reason that you have these Black-White differences is that there are these differences in genetics, then you’re perfectly happy with the status quo,” said Parens. “If you believe that those differences have to be, in large measure, a function of structural racism, structural injustice, history, then you have a very different view.” (Reached for comment, Murray noted that he believes both genetic and environmental factors underlie a Black-White intelligence gap, and he said that while he is not happy with the status quo, he thinks social programs, by and large, are powerless to change it.) Turkheimer said that while he does not expect legitimate scientific studies would find that one group has a genetically based IQ advantage over another, if they did it would be a terrible outcome — with implications extending far beyond race relations. “I think it would be a very profound change in the way we understand genetic determinism in general,” he said, speculating that it might invite misguided genetic explanations for any number of cross-cultural differences. “The IQ gap is just the one that we’re used to talking about. But Japanese people are more introverted on personality measures than Americans are — and so is that on the table now?” In the summer of 2021, James Lee returned to the ISIR conference to preview the results of a new educational attainment GWAS that was even larger the one he’d shared with the group four years earlier. The new study drew from the genetic data of more than 3 million people of European descent, and it uncovered nearly 4,000 genetic variants associated with educational attainment — more than three times as many as its predecessor. Once again, the Social Science Genetic Association Consortium had helped coordinate the GWAS, and once again it planned to share the detailed data needed to generate polygenic scores. But in a blog post that September, Kirkegaard wrote that when he went to download the new data, the consortium had put in place a new restriction: To access the trove, petitioners needed to first create an account, using an institutional email address, and they had to agree not to use the data to make comparisons across ancestral groups. Recent articles published by the Mankind Quarterly and OpenPsych include several authored by Emil Kirkegaard. According to reporting by the advocacy group Hope Not Hate, Kirkegaard is associated with the management of both journals. Visual: Undark “So we have come full circle,” Kirkegaard wrote. “You must not cite the wrong people, their papers must be retracted, AND we are going to hide research results from you too, so you can’t compute the forbidden results. This is of course the exact opposite of what open science stands for.” (Had Kirkegaard successfully created a user account that September, he would have discovered that the new educational attainment data had not yet been uploaded to the site; it was added in December.) To the extent that the consortium’s goal was to prevent the data from being used for problematic studies of group differences, there are signs it worked. The next year, when Kirkegaard and two co-authors published a study on genetics, race, and intelligence in The Mankind Quarterly, they reported they had been unable to access detailed data from the new educational attainment GWAS because of the prohibition on group comparison research. Instead, they made do with older, smaller datasets. Yet, the idea of restricting access to detailed genomics data in this way is controversial, even among some of the researchers who produce it. In a 2022 essay for City Journal, a publication of the conservative think tank the Manhattan Institute, Lee decried what he saw as a “drastic form of censorship” that was corrupting top scientific institutions: The National Institutes of Health’s database of Genotypes and Phenotypes was denying some requests to access data related to intelligence, education, and health “on the grounds that studying their genetic basis is ‘stigmatizing,’” Lee wrote. Related Dividing Lines in Genetic Research In an email to Undark, the NIH did not confirm or refute Lee’s assertions. A statement that Amanda Fine, the agency’s deputy director for public affairs, attributed to the NIH noted that it “does not have a policy prohibiting data from the database of Genotypes and Phenotypes (dbGaP) from being used for research on intelligence,” but that as part of its Genomic Data Sharing Policy framework, data access committees “review requests for access to data and will not approve requests that have a potential to harm research participants.” There are fissures in the genetics community on the matter of what, if anything, should be done about ethically concerning group comparison research. Among the 19 members of the Hastings Center working group, there was a contingent that argued that the scientific pursuit of knowledge is justified, irrespective of the societal risks, as long as the methodologies and techniques are sound. Attempts to curb or restrict legitimate science could backfire, some of them warned. But there was a second faction that held that the values of academic freedom and the pursuit of knowledge must be balanced with other values, like welfare and justice. They argued that studies with social implications must not only be methodologically sound — their potential benefits must justify their social risks. There are fissures in the genetics community on the matter of what, if anything, should be done about ethically concerning group comparison research. Abdellaoui, for his part, says that although he has no interest in group comparison research himself at this time, he doesn’t believe it should be restricted. He acknowledges a history of misuse of group comparison research — “I mean, look at the Second World War, or just slavery,” he said. But he also believes that careful, nuanced work on the hereditarian hypothesis is nothing to fear. “Historically, advances in genetics often reveal that differences between humans are far more complex than previously assumed, so I do not expect the simplistic narratives told by racists to be confirmed,” he wrote in a follow-up email. “One of the consistent patterns in the field of genetics is that it challenges and disproves oversimplified views of the world.” After the 2022 controversy that resulted in Emil Kirkegaard’s removal from the speaker schedule, Abdellaoui figured the controversial blogger would probably never return to an ISIR conference. Yet there Kirkegaard was last July, speaking on the final day of the 2024 ISIR conference in Zurich. His appearance surprised even some of the people who were in the room. He had not been listed on a schedule that had circulated online before the conference. According to ETH Zurich’s Stern, who was a session chair at the conference, Kirkegaard was initially scheduled to give a poster presentation, but ISIR president Thomas Coyle decided at the last minute to have Kirkegaard speak in the main session instead, on the grounds that a poster might draw protests. (Coyle and other ISIR board members did not respond to multiple requests for an interview.) Warne, who also spoke at the conference and live posted on X during the proceedings, shared and then deleted a post announcing Kirkegaard’s talk. (Warne told Undark an ISIR board member asked him to delete the post.) According to an image capture shared by the blog Pinkerite, Kirkegaard gave his affiliation as The Arthur Jensen Institute — an organization that, if it exists, does not appear to have an institutional website. Get Our Newsletter Sent Weekly Email * Δ Sophie von Stumm, a professor of psychology in education at the University of York who spoke at the conference, said she didn’t know Kirkegaard would be on the roster until after she arrived. “It was something that made me think a lot about if I will go to another meeting of that conference or not,” she said, later adding, “I haven’t quite worked out how to handle this going forward.” Von Stumm, whose research interests include polygenic scores for intelligence, worries that if she were to pull back from the organization, and from the field of intelligence research more broadly, she would be ceding territory to people who approach the work with less care and nuance than she and her colleagues do. “If you withdraw from something, you leave the ground to somebody else, and you say, well, then you take over,” she said. “I am very torn on this.” In November, on the heels of President Donald Trump’s reelection, Kirkegaard shared a blog post that featured an image of a red baseball cap emblazoned, in Trumpian fashion, with the words “Make Science Great Again.” In it, he petitioned the incoming administration to “remove all pro-affirmative action laws and regulations.” He boasted that then Vice-President-elect J.D. Vance follows — and tech-entrepreneur-turned-Trump-adviser Elon Musk interacts with — the anonymous X account @cremieuxrecueil, which has frequently shared posts asserting that Black Americans, as a group, are less intelligent than their White counterparts and occasionally spun that into arguments against diversity and affirmative action. Reporting from The Guardian links the account to a graduate student named Jordan Lasker, who has previously spoken at ISIR and frequently collaborated with Kirkegaard. (Lasker did not respond to an email from Undark asking for confirmation that he runs the account.) “If you withdraw from something, you leave the ground to somebody else, and you say, well, then you take over. I am very torn on this.” Also last fall, Kirkegaard co-authored a new paper, “Predictive Accuracy of Polygenic Scores from European GWAS among Chinese Provinces,” published in The Mankind Quarterly. Among other things, the paper explored whether polygenic scores for educational attainment and IQ correlate with geographic latitude. To generate some of the scores, Kirkegaard and his colleagues used data from the educational attainment GWAS Lee had presented at the 2021 ISIR conference — the same data that Kirkegaard had previously reported being unable to access. The Social Science Genetic Association Consortium, it turns out, had lifted the restriction against group comparison research. Daniel Benjamin, a University of California, Los Angeles, behavioral economist and co-founder of the consortium, told Undark that the restriction was deemed by the U.K. Biobank — a contributor to the educational attainment GWAS — to be a violation of its data access policy. Asked in an email whether he saw the repurposing of educational attainment GWAS data for hereditarian research as a problem that the science community can or should address, Benjamin replied: “Science that is poorly conducted and communicated can make society worse off, especially if the work is motivated by racism and bigotry.” He added, “Figuring out the best way to respond to such work in a way that also respects principles of academic freedom, is an important open question that we and the rest of the scientific community need to continue prioritizing.”