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The world is witnessing some of the highest levels of conflict in decades, with more than 110 armed conflicts occurring across Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America and Europe.

The impact of these wars on children is vast and multifaceted. The trauma inflicted is enduring and will shape the rest of their lives — and by extension, the societies in which they, and we live.

As researchers who study how public policies can intervene to reduce adverse outcomes for children, we contend that wars are not bound by geography. Airstrikes terrorize children in conflict zones, while those living in the nations involved in these conflicts also experience trauma in the form of poverty, neglect, and discrimination.

Children as collateral — and targets

In the first decade of the 21st century, civilians accounted for 90 per cent of deaths in armed conflicts. Of these casualties, a significant number were children.

Modern conflicts are markedly lop-sided where often only one combatant has fighter jets, tanks, and explosives. Entire cities become war zones where children are not just caught in the crossfire, but are deliberately targeted.

War is the ultimate abuse of children’s rights. According to the United Nations there were a record 32,990 grave violations against 22,557 children in 26 conflict zones, in 2023. “The highest numbers of grave violations occurred in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, Somalia, Nigeria and Sudan.”

The United Nations Children’s Fund and other global humanitarian organizations have raised the alarm, saying women and children “are disproportionately bearing the burden” of the violence.

Rohingya refugee children play at a hand water pump at Balukhali Refugee Camp in Bangladesh in August 2018.
(AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Beyond direct violence, children are subjected to the toxic stress of war. Suspended supply chains and agricultural production leave besieged populations vulnerable to acute and chronic malnutrition, with devastating consequences for children’s growth, immune and metabolic systems, and cognitive development. The destruction of schools, hospitals, and homes compounds the trauma, while attacks on humanitarian assistance eliminate any respite.

The disruption of vaccination programs allows preventable diseases to proliferate. Polio, once on the verge of global eradication, is spreading in Gaza. The direct targeting of sanitation and water treatment facilities creates conditions ripe for cholera outbreaks. Mpox, a deadly virus that causes painful blistering rashes, kills children at a far higher rate than adults and is prevalent in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The situation is particularly dire for infant and maternal health. Pregnancy in war zones is associated with fewer live births, increased preterm delivery, and low birth weight. War-generated pollution has been linked to birth defects. The fallout reaches beyond the war zone. A study found greater incidents of pregnancy complications and birth defects in the children of U.S. war veterans.

Children play chess at ‘The Soga Chess Club’ of the internally displaced persons camp in Kanyaruchinya, Democratic Republic of Congo, July 29, 2024.
(AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

The psychological toll of war

Witnessing constant violence, death and destruction can permanently change how a child’s brain develops. Research has shown that trauma in early childhood particularly affects the areas of the brain responsible for stress responses. This means that children who experience war are more likely to suffer from anxiety, depression, and stress disorders.

As they grow into adulthood, these mental health issues can manifest in more profound ways, increasing the likelihood of depression and even neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

Extreme stress also affects parenting, putting children at risk for maltreatment and neglect. Even when the fighting stops or families leave combat zones, parental substance abuse or deteriorating mental health can leave children vulnerable. Studies have documented increased physical and emotional mistreatment among the children of returning U.S. military personnel.

The experiences of trauma are cumulative and far-reaching, not only affecting children’s immediate mental health, but also their ability to form relationships, learn, and thrive later in life.

Impact on education

Armed conflicts devastate the critical infrastructure needed to support healthy child development. Children can spend months fleeing war zones or sheltering against bombardment disrupting their education. Schools are often destroyed or repurposed. Teachers are displaced or killed. For many, attending school is simply too dangerous, leaving millions of children without basic education, significantly reducing their future opportunities.

Girls are more likely to be kept out of school to fill in for absent or deceased adults. Those separated from their family are at increased risk for gender violence, exploitation, and teen pregnancy, further entrenching cycles of poverty and inequality that are difficult to break even after the conflict ends.

A BBC news report about a school in Yemen destroyed during the war.

Children in other countries also suffer, as public revenues are diverted from schools, health care, and other poverty-reduction measures to finance the machinery of war.

The long-term societal impact is profound. Education is one of the strongest tools for reducing violence and rebuilding societies. Yet tragically, less than three per cent of humanitarian aid funding goes towards education in war zones.

Read more:
The war in Gaza is wiping out Palestine’s education and knowledge systems

Breaking the cycle of violence

Despite the enormous challenges, there are pathways to reduce the harm inflicted on children. Humanitarian organizations work to provide safe spaces for children to play, learn, and heal.

These interventions, while often simple, are crucial for giving children a sense of normalcy during chaos. Supporting caregivers is another essential element, as the mental health of parents and guardians directly affects their children’s well-being.

While invaluable, these efforts are only band-aid solutions. The international community must increase funding for child protection and education in humanitarian responses and undertake serious action to eliminate the causes of war. Läs mer…

Nearly 50,000 dockworkers from the International Longshoremen’s Association went on strike across the United States Eastern Seaboard in October. The strike, which lasted three days, ended on Oct. 3 after a tentative wage agreement was reached between the union and the United States Maritime Alliance.

Yet the agreement doesn’t resolve the union’s concerns over automation. For dockworkers, machines like automated stacking cranes pose a direct threat to job security. The union is still aiming to prohibit the operators of U.S. marine terminals from automating cargo handling.

However, this trend is not isolated to the shipping industry. In retail, frictionless stores are reducing the need for cashiers, while self-driving trucks are poised to replace drivers, at least on some routes.

The dockworker strike may have been resolved for now, but it was neither the first, nor will it be the last, showdown between labour and automation.

Indian communism

May 1 saw rallies take place all over the world, celebrating the labour movement and commemorating American workers who, in 1886, marched in Chicago for an eight-hour workday.

May Day holds particular significance in the southern Indian state of Kerala, a heartland of Indian communism. It had one of the earliest democratically elected communist governments in the world. In 1957, the Communist Party of India won the Assembly election in Kerala, setting a precedent for parliamentary communism in the country.

Read more:
May Day 2024: Workers on a warming planet deserve stronger labour protections

But, on May 1, 2018, the state government in Kerala led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) abolished a practice that even it deemed far too proletarian — the nokku kooli.

Commonplace until recently, nokku kooli literally translates to “wages for looking on.” It was a practice where private individuals and businesses were forced to compensate worker unions for using industrial equipment towards productive ends, even if no labour was done.

For instance, a construction company moving material using cranes was still expected to pay wages at negotiated or union mandated rates to the workers who would have otherwise been needed to load and unload goods.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan addresses an election campaign in Kochi, Kerala, India, on March 27, 2021.
(AP Photo/R S Iyer)

Describing this extortionary practice, Keralan writer Paul Zacharia once wrote:

“The revolution in Kerala says the worker must be paid even if he doesn’t work. That is a kind of workers’ paradise even Marx did not anticipate.”

Widespread opposition to this practice eventually led to its 2018 abolition. In 2022, the High Court declared it “illegal and unconstitutional.”

A cautionary tale

The origins of nokku kooli stem from opposition to automation. As India’s economy liberalized and rapidly industrialized in the late 20th century, Kerala’s labour unions correctly identified mechanization as a threat to their jobs.

In response, powerful unions backed the nokku kooli system, with the government turning a blind eye. The system ensured workers would still receive a share of the economic pie, even as technology rendered their labour increasingly unnecessary.

Kerala’s nokku kooli practice, however, serves as a cautionary tale. What may have started as a natural immediate response of organized labour facing a rapid industrial transition eventually became increasingly extortionary, with predictable and damaging economic consequences.

In the decades that followed, the state’s reputation for militant trade unionism hindered its ability to attract private investment. Kerala experienced labour shortages in several sectors, while workers in automated roles, such as loading and unloading, continued to expect compensatory wages for little effort.

Same old fears

Today, fears of automation causing job losses are still prompting calls for policy fixes. Bill Gates and others have called for a “robot tax” — a tax on automation.

The revenue from such a tax would offset reduced income tax collections. Proponents argue it could be invested in worker retraining programs or for income replacement. These proposals mirror the spirit of nokku kooli: businesses should compensate workers, directly or indirectly, when machines replace their jobs.

Cranes that usually ran day and night were shut down during a strike by International Longshoremen’s Association members at the Bayport Container Terminal on Oct. 1, 2024, in Houston.
(AP Photo/Annie Mulligan)

This speaks to a tension between short- and long-term approaches in addressing the impacts of technological disruption. Short-term fixes, like a robot tax, may mitigate immediate job losses and give workers a safety net.

However, some economists argue this is a misguided response to a “techno-panic” and risks stifling innovation, which could reduce productivity and hinder companies that rely on efficiency to stay viable in a global market.

Moreover, safety nets such as replacement incomes for displaced workers can also have unintended consequences in the long run, as seen in Kerala. While easing the transition, these measures risk creating a dependent workforce disincentivized to adapt to new economic realities.

Short-term fixes better than none

Still, perhaps short-term fixes — even ones that may eventually need undoing — are better than entirely ignoring the immediate and real impacts on workers, or offering glib solutions such as asking displaced industrial workers to learn to code.

Globalization’s benefits were unevenly distributed across the world, and widening inequality is argued to be a driver of sociopolitical polarization. As automation advances, the same risk looms large.

We still lack mechanisms to adequately redistribute economic gains due to technological innovation. Ignoring the disruptive impacts, however transitory, could still leave entire segments of the workforce behind, compounding inequality and social unrest.

In the end, the lesson from Kerala might not just be about avoiding excess. It is also a reminder that policies that no longer work can, and should, be undone. As we embrace technological progress, we must not risk losing sight of the real people whose livelihoods are at stake in the here and now. Läs mer…

Canada-India relations have suffered a major setback after Canadian law enforcement authorities accused Indian agents of involvement in “homicides, extortion, and violent acts” on Canadian soil.

In response, Canada expelled six Indian diplomats, including High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma.

In a tit-for-tat move, India expelled six Canadian diplomats, rejecting Canada’s allegations as “preposterous” and politically motivated, particularly given the Sikh diaspora’s political significance as a key voting bloc for Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government.

India has consistently denied the accusations and refused to co-operate with the Canadian investigation, which ultimately compelled the federal government to make these allegations public.

Trudeau has acknowledged the importance of maintaining strong relations with India, but condemned India’s actions targeting pro-Khalistan leaders as “unacceptable.”

But without a shared understanding of the pro-Khalistan issue, the relationship between the two countries is likely to remain strained. Both nations continue to approach the situation from fundamentally different perspectives.

Read more:
The fraught history of India and the Khalistan movement

Nijjar’s assassination fallout

Canada-India relations have been strained since Trudeau’s bombshell statement in September 2023, when he accused India of being involved in the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a pro-Khalistan leader based in Canada.

The Khalistan movement is a separatist movement that aims to establish an independent Sikh state in northern India.

The assassination led to the expulsion of a senior Indian diplomat linked to the case and a rapid deterioration of bilateral ties, with India expelling Canadian diplomats and suspending visa services. India later demanded the repatriation of 41 Canadian diplomats, citing the principle of diplomatic parity.

Read more:
Alleged assassination plots in the U.S. and Canada signal a more assertive Indian foreign policy

India has long accused Canada of being too lenient on the Khalistan movement, which it views as a serious threat to its national security and territorial integrity.

The Sikh diaspora in Canada, the largest in the world, includes elements that have supported the pro-Khalistan cause, fuelling India’s concerns. Canada, however, emphasizes the right to freedom of expression, including peaceful protests, as a core tenet of its democratic values.

In a related incident, the United States revealed in November 2023 that it had thwarted an alleged Indian plot to assassinate a Sikh separatist leader in New York. This development, coupled with Trudeau’s statement in 2023 that there was “credible evidence” linking India to Nijjar’s slaying, has further substantiated concerns over India’s alleged covert actions targeting pro-Khalistan activists.

People line up outside of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, B.C. to vote in a Khalistan referendum on Oct. 29, 2023.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns

India’s strategic calculations

India’s strategic significance, particularly in counterbalancing China’s growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region, adds complexity to its diplomatic relations.

Read more:
Justin Trudeau’s India accusation complicates western efforts to rein in China

India views its alliance with the United States as essential for safeguarding its interests, given the power imbalance with China. The U.S., in turn, sees India as a cornerstone of its Indo-Pacific strategy, with initiatives like the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad). It includes the U.S., India, Japan and Australia and is designed to promote the region as an “arc of democracy.”

Bipartisan support in the U.S. for deepening ties with India has led to expanding defence and economic partnerships, with a growing emphasis on technology transfer as a critical pillar of this relationship.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi offers a toast during a state dinner with President Joe Biden at the White House in Washington in June 2023.
(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

During Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to Washington, D.C. in June 2023, President Joe Biden’s administration finalized an agreement for the joint production of General Electric (GE) F-414 jet engines.

At present, only four nations — the U.S., U.K., Russia and France — have the capability to manufacture jet engines, with China still lacking this advanced technology. The GE F-414 collaboration is intended to strengthen U.S.-India defence co-operation and improve their collective ability to counter China’s advancements in defence technology.

India also plays a central role in Canada’s Indo-Pacific strategy, unveiled in 2022. In the official document outlining the strategy, Ottawa described China as a “disruptive power” and emphasized the need to strengthen ties with Indo-Pacific nations, particularly India.

The strategy highlights “India’s growing strategic, economic, and demographic importance” as key to achieving Canada’s geo-strategic objectives. As part of this approach, Canada committed to negotiating a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with India. But due to the diplomatic tensions sparked by Canada’s allegations, these negotiations have been suspended.

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, left, walks past Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as they take part in a wreath-laying ceremony at Raj Ghat, Mahatma Gandhi’s cremation site, during the G20 Summit in New Delhi on Sept. 10, 2023.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

The West’s disapproval

The Modi government may have calculated that India’s strategic value to the West would shield it from criticism over its handling of pro-Khalistani activists abroad. However, the unequivocal response from both the U.S. and Canada suggests otherwise, with the West making it clear that such actions are unacceptable, regardless of India’s strategic significance.

While India was quick to dismiss Canadian allegations, it adopted a more cautious approach to the U.S. indictment.
(AP Photo/Kenny Holston)

India will probably continue to deny Canada’s accusations and further sever diplomatic ties in an enduring dispute that will affect all aspects of the bilateral relationship.

From Canada’s perspective, Indian actions on Canadian soil represent a blatant violation of sovereignty. Ottawa expects co-operation and assurances from India that such transnational repression will not occur in the future. From India’s point of view, it’s a matter of national security issue as Canada appeases pro-Khalistan elements.

While the Indian diaspora has generally been an asset for the Modi government in fostering relations with western countries, the Sikh diaspora in Canada has been a significant hurdle in improving ties.

Without a common denominator to reconcile these differing perspectives, the relationship between the two countries is likely to remain strained, despite broader strategic factors that would otherwise encourage closer ties. Läs mer…

Last week the Australian government cancelled the registration of all products containing chlorthal dimethyl, a weedkiller commonly known as dacthal.

No phase out period applies. The cancellation is immediate, due to the risks it poses to human health – primarily unborn babies.

This means using dacthal as a chemical agricultural product “is now illegal”, according the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority.

So what has changed? What are the health risks of being exposed to dacthal – and how long have we known about them?

What is dacthal?

Dacthal and chlorthal dimethyl are alternative names for dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate, or DCPA. This is a herbicide registered to control weeds in both agricultural and non-agricultural settings.

Dacthal works by inhibiting auxin, a growth hormone in plants which promotes the development of buds, roots and lengthening cells.

It is used to selectively kill annual grasses and many other common weeds, without killing turf grasses, flowers, fruits and vegetables. Dacthal is applied before weeds emerge, often when still in their seed stage.

In Australia it is used in twelve herbicide products. All have been cancelled as of October 10 2024.

Farmers and retailers are allowed to hold products until they’re recalled, but must not use them. The government says it will provide information about product recall shortly.

What are the health risks?

As dacthal targets a hormone found only in plants, for adult humans and mammals the chemical has limited acute and subchronic toxicity. This means brief exposure to high levels of dacthal, or longer-term exposure to modestly high levels, have no effect.

However there is a health risk for unborn babies whose mothers have been directly exposed. This could be through mixing the chemical, loading and applying it, or from residue on treated crops – for up to five days after first applied.

The chemical has been linked to low birth weight, and life-long impacts, which can include impaired brain development and motor skills.

The government has advised pregnant agricultural workers who are concerned to speak to their clinician.

What changed?

Safety data for chemicals such as pesticides are periodically reevaluated. This is to see if any new risks have become apparent with advances in technology and our understanding of biology.

In 2013, the United States Environmental Protection Agency called for fresh safety data to look at effects of dacthal on thyroid hormones.

Fast forward to 2022. In that time, the company producing dacthal had failed to produce the required study. So the US Environmental Protection Agency issued a notice it would suspend technical-grade products containing dacthal.

In response, the company submitted a thyroid study performed in rats. This study showed dacthal could affect thyroid function at doses lower than previously known.

The US government determined this did not change recommendations for adults. However dacthal may affect thyroid function of a fetus at lower doses than those those that harm adults.

What did the study in rats find?

Dacthal was found to inhibit two thyroid hormones in rat pups whose mother had been exposed while pregnant.

There was a 35-53% decrease in the hormone triiodothyronine, known as T3. And for thyroxine (T4), rat pups experienced a 29-66% decrease after their mother’s exposure.

Decreases in these two hormones are associated with risks to unborn children including low birth weight and impaired brain development, IQ and motor skills.

Of particular concern was the effects occurred at much lower levels than previously thought. The decreases in T3 and T4 occurred in rat pups exposed to levels of dacthal ten times lower than the safe threshold for their mothers. This means pregnant rats exposed to dacthal at those levels had no adverse effects, but their unborn babies did.

Exactly how the chemical caused decreases in T3 and T4 in rat pups is not clear.

However the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority considers this study relevant to humans. The changes in regulation are based on the potential harms if unborn babies are exposed via their mothers.

The health risk is to the development of an unborn baby exposed to dachtal via their mother.
Fox_Ana/Shutterstock

What exposure is safe?

The rat study was used to calculate maximum levels of exposure for pregnant workers. This maximum – 0.001 mg dachtal/kg body weight/day – was considered appropriate to reduce risk to the unborn child (and was not expected to harm adults).

However, the maximum acceptable level was exceeded in all estimates of exposure to dachtal. This was the case even when the person was wearing protective clothing, gloves, and using a respirator.

Even under stringent safety conditions, potential harms to an unborn child could not be ruled out. For this reason the US stopped sale of dacthal via an Emergency Order on 6 August 2024. Australia has since followed suit with its own ban.

How long have we known about this?

The US government only received the thyroid information in 2022. It then had to determine whether the levels of exposure under real world conditions would equate to risk in humans.

This is not straightforward, as the pesticide is used under a variety of conditions, including:

mixing and preparing the pesticide using personal protective equipment
downstream spay drift
treatment of lawns and exposure to the lawn after treatment.

Each of these scenarios requires careful analysis of potential risks.

In addition, exposure can be through inhalation and/or skin contact. All this must be taken into account and these calculations take time.

Should I be worried?

If you were not pregnant and using personal protective clothing while using or applying dacthal herbicides, this is little cause for worry. Your exposure is below the maximum limit.

But if you were pregnant when using dacthal pesticides, please consider consulting your child’s paediatrician. Läs mer…

From the mind-bending reality warps of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) to the breathtaking alien vistas of Avatar: The Way of Water (2022), visual effects have transported us to worlds beyond imagination. Yet the future of visual effects (VFX) could hang in the balance as artificial intelligence is subsumed into screen production processes.

Lionsgate’s recent partnership with AI startup Runway has sparked controversy in the visual effects industry.

By allowing Runway to train AI on Lionsgate’s vast film and TV catalogue, the collaboration promises increased efficiency and financial savings – but at what cost?

Growing apprehension among workers

According to a research report published in January, 75% of 300 entertainment industry leaders surveyed said generative AI tools, software and models had contributed to the elimination, reduction or consolidation of jobs within their business divisions.

The report highlighted the visual effects sector as being particularly vulnerable, as AI techniques are often applied in post-production processes. This vulnerability was typified in our own research published today.

Our work reveals visual effects artists have serious concerns about generative AI’s integration into screen production. These include worries over job insecurity, creative devaluation, and the potential for AI to produce derivative content that fails to meet audience expectations.

Challenges of AI in the VFX industry

Our findings reflect growing concerns that AI’s use in filmmaking could magnify existing industry problems. It could, for instance, exacerbate unfair working conditions. Or it could undermine creativity if artists are expected to “clean up” AI-generated work rather than create their own.

Visual effects artists, who have typically been early adopters of new technologies, acknowledge AI could bring both opportunities and challenges. While it could help streamline certain tasks, it could equally impact on the overall quality of their work.

The artists we spoke to were worried a reliance on AI might stifle creativity and skill development, by making the work “more mechanical and less creative”. In a recent example, the AI-generated title sequence for Marvel’s Secret Invasion series was widely criticised for lacking artistic merit.

There were also questions about how artists would be compensated if their work is used to train AI models.

Some senior supervisors were particularly concerned about the ethical and legal considerations of using AI on commercial projects. They were uncertain around intellectual property rights for AI-generated content, as well as the potential for copyright infringement.

On the creative and technical front, artists recognised AI’s value in generating ideas and automating repetitive tasks. However, nearly all of them said AI tools weren’t yet production-ready, and highlighted difficulties with integrating said tools into existing pipelines.

The next steps

The VFX industry was already struggling with profits and sustainability before the AI boom. Visual effects companies often face bankruptcy – even Oscar-winning ones. In many cases, artists will get laid off once a project is complete.

Life of Pi (2012) won an Oscar for its visual effects work – but the company responsible for it went bankrupt.
IMDB

The partnership between Lionsgate and Runway represents the industry’s collective failure to address concerns over AI. But there’s still time to fix things.

The first step is developing clear industry guidelines for AI’s use in visual effects. Above all else, AI should help augment human creativity, rather than replace it. And artists should be fairly compensated if their work is used to train AI models.

Investment in training programs could also help artists adapt to new AI tools without compromising their creativity. As one interviewee told us, human expertise and creativity remain important in visual effects.

“Understanding the why behind certain choices, the creative decision making, that’s something I haven’t really seen AI effectively do,” they said.

As the industry stands at a technological crossroads, it must balance the pursuit of efficiency with genuine creativity. Otherwise, we risk losing the human touch that brings our favourite films to life. Läs mer…

On October 16 1843, the Irish mathematician William Rowan Hamilton had an epiphany during a walk alongside Dublin’s Royal Canal. He was so excited he took out his penknife and carved his discovery right then and there on Broome Bridge.

It is the most famous graffiti in mathematical history, but it looks rather unassuming:

i  = j  = k  = ijk = 

Yet Hamilton’s revelation changed the way mathematicians represent information. And this, in turn, made myriad technical applications simpler – from calculating forces when designing a bridge, an MRI machine or a wind turbine, to programming search engines and orienting a rover on Mars. So, what does this famous graffiti mean?

Rotating objects

The mathematical problem Hamilton was trying to solve was how to represent the relationship between different directions in three-dimensional space. Direction is important in describing forces and velocities, but Hamilton was also interested in 3D rotations.

Mathematicians already knew how to represent the position of an object with coordinates such as x, y and z, but figuring out what happened to these coordinates when you rotated the object required complicated spherical geometry. Hamilton wanted a simpler method.

He was inspired by a remarkable way of representing two-dimensional rotations.
The trick was to use what are called “complex numbers”, which have a “real” part and an “imaginary” part. The imaginary part is a multiple of the number i, “the square root of minus one”, which is defined by the equation i ² = –1.

By the early 1800s several mathematicians, including Jean Argand and John Warren, had discovered that a complex number can be represented by a point on a plane. Warren had also shown it was mathematically quite simple to rotate a line through 90° in this new complex plane, like turning a clock hand back from 12.15pm to 12 noon. For this is what happens when you multiply a number by i.

When a complex number is represented as a point on a plane, multiplying the number by i amounts to rotating the corresponding line by 90° anticlockwise.
The Conversation, CC BY

Hamilton was mightily impressed by this connection between complex numbers and geometry, and set about trying to do it in three dimensions. He imagined a 3D complex plane, with a second imaginary axis in the direction of a second imaginary number j, perpendicular to the other two axes.

It took him many arduous months to realise that if he wanted to extend the 2D rotational wizardry of multiplication by i he needed four-dimensional complex numbers, with a third imaginary number, k.

In this 4D mathematical space, the k-axis would be perpendicular to the other three. Not only would k be defined by k ² = –1, its definition also needed k = ij = –ji. (Combining these two equations for k gives ijk = –1.)

Putting all this together gives i ² = j ² = k ² = ijk = –1, the revelation that hit Hamilton like a bolt of lightning at Broome Bridge.

Quaternions and vectors

Hamilton called his 4D numbers “quaternions”, and he used them to calculate geometrical rotations in 3D space. This is the kind of rotation used today to move a robot, say, or orient a satellite.

But most of the practical magic comes into it when you consider just the imaginary part of a quaternion. For this is what Hamilton named a “vector”.

A vector encodes two kinds of information at once, most famously the magnitude and direction of a spatial quantity such as force, velocity or relative position. For instance, to represent an object’s position (x, y, z) relative to the “origin” (the zero point of the position axes), Hamilton visualised an arrow pointing from the origin to the object’s location. The arrow represents the “position vector” x i + y j + z k.

This vector’s “components” are the numbers x, y and z – the distance the arrow extends along each of the three axes. (Other vectors would have different components, depending on their magnitudes and units.)

A vector (r) is like an arrow from the point O to the point with coordinates (x, y, z).
The Conversation, CC BY

Half a century later, the eccentric English telegrapher Oliver Heaviside helped inaugurate modern vector analysis by replacing Hamilton’s imaginary framework i, j, k with real unit vectors, i, j, k. But either way, the vector’s components stay the same – and therefore the arrow, and the basic rules for multiplying vectors, remain the same, too.

Hamilton defined two ways to multiply vectors together. One produces a number (this is today called the scalar or dot product), and the other produces a vector (known as the vector or cross product). These multiplications crop up today in a multitude of applications, such as the formula for the electromagnetic force that underpins all our electronic devices.

A single mathematical object

Unbeknown to Hamilton, the French mathematician Olinde Rodrigues had come up with a version of these products just three years earlier, in his own work on rotations. But to call Rodrigues’ multiplications the products of vectors is hindsight. It is Hamilton who linked the separate components into a single quantity, the vector.

Everyone else, from Isaac Newton to Rodrigues, had no concept of a single mathematical object unifying the components of a position or a force. (Actually, there was one person who had a similar idea: a self-taught German mathematician named Hermann Grassmann, who independently invented a less transparent vectorial system at the same time as Hamilton.)

Hamilton also developed a compact notation to make his equations concise and elegant. He used a Greek letter to denote a quaternion or vector, but today, following Heaviside, it is common to use a boldface Latin letter.

This compact notation changed the way mathematicians represent physical quantities in 3D space.

Take, for example, one of Maxwell’s equations relating the electric and magnetic fields:

With just a handful of symbols (we won’t get into the physical meanings of ∂/∂t and ∇ ×), this shows how an electric field vector (E) spreads through space in response to changes in a magnetic field vector (B).

Without vector notation, this would be written as three separate equations (one for each component of B and E) – each one a tangle of coordinates, multiplications and subtractions.

The expanded form of the equation. As you can see, vector notation makes life much simpler.
The Conversation, CC BY

The power of perseverance

I chose one of Maxwell’s equations as an example because the quirky Scot James Clerk Maxwell was the first major physicist to recognise the power of compact vector symbolism. Unfortunately, Hamilton didn’t live to see Maxwell’s endorsement. But he never gave up his belief in his new way of representing physical quantities.

Hamilton’s perseverance in the face of mainstream rejection really moved me, when I was researching my book on vectors. He hoped that one day – “never mind when” – he might be thanked for his discovery, but this was not vanity. It was excitement at the possible applications he envisaged.

A plaque on Dublin’s Broome Bridge commemorate’s Hamilton’s flash of insight.
Cone83 / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA

He would be over the moon that vectors are so widely used today, and that they can represent digital as well as physical information. But he’d be especially pleased that in programming rotations, quaternions are still often the best choice – as NASA and computer graphics programmers know.

In recognition of Hamilton’s achievements, maths buffs retrace his famous walk every October 16 to celebrate Hamilton Day. But we all use the technological fruits of that unassuming graffiti every single day. Läs mer…

China’s relentless economic growth used to be the marvel of the world. Oh, what a memory.

The past couple of years have seen China contend with an economic slowdown amid colliding crises, many of which make it internationally unique. Consumer prices have been approaching deflationary territory, there’s an oversupply of housing, and youth unemployment has soared.

Mounting pressure has forced the Chinese government to step in. Over the past month, Beijing has put forward a set of significant economic stimulus measures aimed at reviving China’s faltering economy.

According to a research note by Deutsche Bank, this stimulus could potentially become “the largest in history” in nominal terms. But there’s still a lot we don’t know. So what kinds of measures that are in this package so far, and has China been here before?

What’s in the package?

On September 24, Pan Gongsheng, governor of China’s central bank, unveiled the country’s boldest intervention to boost its economy since the pandemic.

The initiatives included reducing mortgage rates for existing homes and reducing the amount of cash commercial banks are required to hold in reserves. The latter is expected to inject about 1 trillion yuan (A$210 billion) into the financial market by letting the banks lend out more.

China has been grappling with an oversupply of housing and a property sector crisis.
Charles Bowman/Shutterstock

On top of this, 800 billion yuan (A$168 billion) was announced to strengthen China’s capital market.

This comprised a new 500 billion yuan (A$105 billion) monetary policy facility to help institutions more easily access funds to buy stocks, and a 300 billion yuan (A$63 billion) re-lending facility to help speed up sales of unsold housing.

Further signs of economic revitalisation became evident at a Politburo meeting of China’s top government officials, two days after this announcement.

Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed the urgency of economic revival. Xi even encouraged officials to “go bold in helping the economy” without having to fear the consequences.

That same day, seven government departments released a joint policy package to stabilise China’s 500 billion yuan (A$105 billion) dairy industry, which has been severely impacted by declining milk and beef prices since 2023.

A market rollercoaster

Initially, the market’s response was overwhelmingly positive. Perhaps too positive. In the last week of September, stock markets in Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong saw their biggest weekly rise in 16 years.

On October 8, following China’s National Day holiday, turnover on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges hit an unprecedented 3.43 trillion yuan (A$718 billion). However, expectations for further stimulus measures were met with disappointment.

China’s National Development and Reform Commission brought forward 100 billion yuan (A$21 billion) in spending from the 2025 budget. That wasn’t enough to sustain market optimism. On October 9, Chinese stocks saw their most severe drop in 27 years.

This downturn only worsened a few days later, when China’s Ministry of Finance hinted there was “ample room” to raise debts but did not specify any new stimulus measures.

China’s president has personally called on local governments to help stimulate the economy.
Andy Wong/AP

Still thin on the details

The market remains deeply uncertain about the future direction of China’s economic policies and what they might mean for the world. Hopes that more details might be released over the weekend were largely dashed.

Back in July, Chinese authorities asserted in their Third Plenary Session communique that China “must remain firmly committed” to achieving this year’s economic growth target of 5%. Compared to the country’s reform-era economic performance, that’s a modest goal.

But facing a persistently sluggish economic outlook, Xi later seemed to subtly shift the tone, changing the language from “remain firmly committed” to “strive to fulfill” in September.

Over the past decades, China has frequently employed massive-scale stimulus measures to revive its economy during downturns. These policies have been able to significantly rejuvenate the economy, though occasionally with some worrying side effects.

In response to the 2008 global financial crisis, China’s State Council released a 4 trillion yuan (A$837 billion) stimulus package. This successfully helped China stand firm through the crisis and was credited as a key stabiliser of the global economy.

But it also accumulated trillions of yuan in debt through local government financing and accelerated the rise of “shadow banking” – unregulated financial activities.

China also spent big on stimulating its economy in 2015, following stock market turbulence, and then again in the wake of the pandemic.

China employed large-scale stimulus measures following a stock market crash in 2015.
Shan he/AP

What should we expect?

What should we expect this time? How balanced or sustainable will any ensuing growth be?

We are still waiting on many of the details about the size and scope of the package, but any big increase in Chinese economic demand will likely have “spillover” effects.

As we’ve discussed, many of the measures announced to date will have their most immediate effect on borrowing, lending and liquidity in China’s stock markets.

That suggests we should watch for what’s called the “wealth effect” in economics. This is the theory that rising asset prices – such as for housing or shares – make people feel wealthier and therefore spend more.

If China’s big stimulus spend causes sustained increases in asset values, it could give rise to economic optimism. Chinese consumers – and investors – may become less anxious about the future.

From Australia’s point of view, that could see increases in demand in areas where our economies are interlinked – iron ore, tourism, education and manufactured food exports.

More broadly, Chinese demand could contribute to growth in other global economies, with a self-reinforcing effect on the world as a whole.

China’s economic performance has implications for the rest of the world.
Andy Wong/AP

Beware financialisation

On the other hand, China’s shift to depending more on volatile asset price rises in its capital markets to sustain growth could have destabilising effects. Where asset price increases benefit those at the “top end of town,” they can breed inequities and imbalances of their own.

China’s “Black Monday” stock market crash in 2015 raised alarm in Beijing. Partly reflecting a wariness of excess financialisation, Xi cautioned at the time that “housing is for living in, not for speculation”.

So far, China is still navigating its path towards a more sustainable development model, striving to strike a balance between sustaining economic growth and stabilising its domestic markets and political landscape. As for the outcome, it remains a profound uncertainty for us all – perhaps China itself included. Läs mer…

The Australian Human Rights Commission wants to see schools address racism, as part of a broader push to address the problem across Australian society.

As it says in a recent report,

People are not born with racist attitudes or beliefs […] Addressing racism in schools is crucial to ensure that victims do not leave education facing lifelong disadvantage, and perpetrators do not enter adulthood believing racist behaviours are acceptable […].

But racism is hardly mentioned in the Australian Curriculum – for example, it is noted in passing in the health and physical education curriculum for years 5 to 8. However, there is no consistent approach across subject areas, or at the state level.

This means teaching about racism is largely left up to individual schools and teachers.

Yet research shows they can be reluctant to speak about these issues with students. This is for a range of reasons, such as worrying they will say the wrong thing.

How should school systems, schools and teachers address racism? Here are four ways.

1. Teach racial literacy

We know children demonstrate stereotyping and prejudice from an early age and students from racial minorities are frequently targets of racism and discrimination at school.

In Australia, racism debates can also involve dangerous and ill-informed opinions.

So we need to start teaching children and young people about racial literacy skills from the first year of schooling. This means they grow up to have the knowledge and language to talk about and confront racism.

Some of these skills include:

being able to identify how racism appears in everyday interactions, the media and society more broadly
debunking common myths about racism, such as it is a “thing of the past”. Or “everyone has equal access to the same opportunities and outcomes if they work hard enough”
understanding the impacts of racism, including on people’s opportunities, education and their health and wellbeing
understanding how our own backgrounds, privilege and bias can influence how we confront or don’t confront racism.

Students also need to learn how racism can be structural, systemic and institutional. This means racism is not just about an individuals’ beliefs or actions. Laws, policies, the way organisations are run and cultural norms can all result in inequitable treatment, opportunities and outcomes.

Anti-racism education can begin from the first year of school and continue as children progress through primary and high school.
Dean Lewins/AAP

2. Teach students how to react

We also need to teach children how to react when they witness racism with age-appropriate tools.

For both primary and secondary students, the first question should always be, “Is it safe for me to act?”, followed by “Am I the best person to act in this situation?”. Depending on their answers, they could:

report the incident to an appropriate adult or person in authority
show solidarity with the victim by comforting them and letting them know what happened was not OK
interrupt, distract or redirect the perpetrator
seek help from friends, a passerby or teacher.

3. Create safe classrooms and playgrounds

Teachers need to ensure classrooms and schools are safe spaces to discuss racism.

This can include:

acknowledging how our own experiences, biases and privileges shape our world views
clearly defining the purpose of a discussion and the ground rules
using inclusive language.

In particular, schools have a unique duty of care for minority students, who need to know they can talk openly about these issues with their peers and teachers without fear or judgement.

This includes addressing sensitive topics like how they might experience or witness racism, the effect it can have on their health and wellbeing and those around them, and the consequences of talking about or reporting racism.

All students need to feel safe to talk about racism at school.
Paul Miller/AAP

4. Develop teachers’ skills

As part of creating safe classrooms, teachers need to be able to confidently discuss tricky topics in an age-appropriate way.

Our work has shown some teachers deny racism or perpetuate racist stereotypes. Others may avoid the topic, worrying they will say or do the wrong thing.

Our current (as yet unpublished) research on anti-racism training with classroom teachers suggests they can increase their confidence to talk and teach about racism if given appropriate, and sustained training.

What needs to happen now?

We need anti-racism education to be an official part of school curricula. To accompany this, we need genuine commitments and modelling from policymakers, school leaders, teachers, parents and carers to address racism in schools.

We need to talk openly about racism in schools. That means explicitly naming it, calling it out, and not getting defensive when it is identified and action is required. Läs mer…

“Bothsidesism” is a term of disparagement against a form of journalism that presents “both sides” of an issue without any regard for their relative evidentiary merits.

The term has been used to describe media reporting on Donald Trump and in relation to coverage of the Israel-Gaza war. For some, mentioning Israel’s ongoing occupation of Gaza in the context of last year’s October 7 terror attacks by Hamas will be a form of bothsidesism.

Yale history professor Timothy Snyder has described bothsideism as “suicide for democracy”.

If journalists just say “there are two sides to everything and I am going to find my way into the middle”, he said earlier this year in relation to reporting on Trump’s rallies, “you are always going to give the people who want to overthrow the system an advantage” because you are sharing your legitimacy with theirs.

This week, former publisher Louise Adler criticised the lack of attention paid, on the anniversary of the October 7 attacks, to their consequences for Palestinians, but clarified she wasn’t calling “for bothsidesism”. She continued, quoting writer Jacqueline Rose: “balance is a corrupt term in an unbalanced world”.

Balance, properly understood, is not a corrupt term, but what Adler is alluding to is a well-deserved critique of a kind of reporting that perverts the concept of impartiality. This journalistic quality has become crucial in today’s hyper-partisan political atmosphere. However, far from being an element in impartiality, “bothsidesism” undermines it.

Equal consideration, not treatment

Impartiality does an indispensable service to democracy, whereas bothsidesism does a serious disservice, allowing for the ventilation of lies, hate speech and conspiracy theories, on the spurious ground they represent another, equally valid, side of the story.

Reporting both sides of an issue is a basic requirement of journalism – but this doesn’t mean giving both sides equal weight, regardless of the facts. It requires giving each side equal consideration by reference to the available facts, but not necessarily equal treatment.

‘Balance is a corrupt term in an unbalanced world,’ wrote Louise Adler, while criticising the lack of attention paid to the consequences of October 7 for Palestinians.
Mohammed Saber/AAP

Bothsidesism can also be used as an excuse for giving wrongdoers a public relations platform. Some years ago, a Sydney newspaper gave notorious Sydney criminal George Freeman an extensive interview, during which he extolled his virtues, on the basis it was giving him a chance to tell his side of the story. But there was only one side of the Freeman story that mattered to the public: he was a criminal.

Impartiality, or objectivity as some prefer to call it, has been central to the ethical and idealistic norms of journalism from its earliest days. By the middle of the 19th century, impartiality in reporting had become a well established norm. It required, among other things, the separation of opinion from the reporting of news.

It was given what is perhaps its most ringing endorsement by C.P. Scott, first editor, then owner-editor of the Manchester Guardian, when in an essay to mark the newspaper’s centenary, he wrote, “Comment is free, but facts are sacred”.

Just the facts

However, by the 1940s, journalism had become so debased by proprietorial propaganda and commercial ambition that senior figures in the American media became alarmed at the decline in public trust in the press as an institution. Their response was to establish – and pay for – a Commission on the Freedom of the Press.

The resulting report, published in 1947, profoundly influenced the practice of journalism in many Western countries, including Australia. A central tenet of this new approach was not just that opinion should be separated from news, but that the news itself would consist only of factual accounts of events, utterances and causes.

It was a noble aim, but it bred a sterile form of reporting more akin to stenography than journalism. News stories became bereft of explanation or evaluation of the factual content, leaving it to the audience to join the dots, figure out the context and make sense of what they were being told.

Over time, a more analytical style of reporting evolved, which went beyond a strict recitation of facts to include evaluation.

Yet many media platforms remain wedded to the idea that if someone pokes their head up and wishes to comment on an issue, it is included if there is news value in what that person has to say, on the basis it represents “another side of the story”. The evaluative element goes missing.

Climate change deniers and tobacco

So it was that for decades the tobacco industry was able to assert – in the face of strong medical evidence – that the link between smoking and cancer was not conclusively proved.

The same tactic is now being used by climate-change deniers, in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence that climate change is real and is caused by human activity.

In cases like this, bothsidesism does immense damage to democratic discourse: it creates a false equivalence between two sides, where the weight of evidence is clearly on one side and not the other.

Climate change deniers are using the tactics of Big Tobacco, though the weight of evidence is clearly on one side.
Mike Stewart/AAP

Impartiality, by contrast, does not permit such intellectual dysfunction.

Impartiality has six components: accuracy, fairness, balance, openmindedness, integrity and fidelity to news values. They are all important. But the one that distinguishes impartiality from bothsidesism most clearly is balance.

Balance follows the weight of evidence. It forms part of the evaluative and explanatory functions of impartial news reporting. It provides the basis for a reporter to choose which evidence to give the most prominence. It also informs their choices for the language they’ll use to distinguish between stronger and weaker evidence, and to present the facts underpinning these evaluations.

And on language, there is no need for impartial reporting to be timid: a lie is a lie and a liar is a liar, where there is observable evidence that this is so.

But what about cases where any contest over evidence is drowned out by the force of political rhetoric?

Donald Trump and the media’s duty

A vivid example from the current US presidential election came from last month’s debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. Trump was fact-checked and corrected in real time by the host broadcaster, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), after telling lies about abortion, immigration and the result of the 2020 election.

Harris was not fact-checked during the debate.

Why were the two candidates treated differently? Because of the established facts on which such editorial judgments are made. CNN later reported that Trump made at least 33 false claims during the debate, compared with one from Harris.

Trump is an inveterate liar. The Washington Post recorded 30,573 lies told by him during the four years of his presidency, and he falsely claimed the 2020 election was stolen from him.

Donald Trump was fact-checked during last month’s debate when Harris was not because he’s a proven liar.
Alex Brandon/AAP

Then, during the debate, he claimed that immigrants were eating family pets in the town of Springfield, Ohio: something so outlandish that leaving it unchecked would have been irresponsible.

Harris, by contrast, has no remotely equivalent history of lying. So treating her as if she did would have been to seriously distort the facts.

Another Trumpian example is his claim that his convictions for falsifying financial records to cover up a sex scandal was the result of a political show-trial conducted by a judge who was “a certified Trump-hater”.

He also warned that he was “not sure the public would stand for it” if he was imprisoned, adding, “at a certain point there’s a breaking point”. He did not elaborate, but left the threat hanging in the air.

It is the duty of the impartial reporter to point this out. It is also their duty to make clear that these veiled threats are similar to those he made about the 2020 election having been stolen, which preceded the insurrection in Washington on January 6 2021. These are facts, based on observable evidence.

To not publish veiled threats to public order by a presumptive presidential candidate in an election year is to rob the public of information they need to have about the candidate.

Yet, to simply report Trump’s latest threats alongside statements of condemnation from others would be an egregious example of bothsidesism.

Abandoning impartiality because of a mistaken conflation with bothsidesism would only worsen the hyper-partisanship that is eroding the democratic consensus.

It would also mean giving up on an ideal which is essential for a functioning democracy to pursue. Walter Lippmann, the 20th-century American political prophet and sage, writing a hundred years ago at a time of similarly great social and political tumult, stated:

There is room, and there is need, for disinterested reporting … While the reporter will serve no cause, he will possess a steady sense that the chief purpose of “news” is to enable mankind to live successfully towards the future. Läs mer…

With less than three weeks to go before Election Day, the polling at this point is clear: Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are effectively tied.

Harris has led the Democratic ticket for less than three months, but in that short time she has galvanised Democratic voters and significantly increased the popularity of the Democratic ticket. Yet, current levels of US political polarisation and, perhaps more notably, calcification, make one wonder just how much more support she could win.

In other words, few Americans are undecided in their views of Donald Trump – he galvanises both his base and his opponents alike – so there are simply not many American voters remaining for Harris to try to win over.

Initial momentum has plateaued

When 81-year-old Joe Biden led the Democratic ticket in early 2024, only 55% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters were enthusiastic about the election.

While the 2020 presidential election between Biden and Trump broke records for US voter turnout, the 2024 redux was looking like it would break the opposite sort of records – for voter disinterest.

That is, at least, until Harris assumed the top of the Democratic ticket on 21 July 2024. Within a month of Biden stepping down as the party’s nominee, Democratic enthusiasm for their significantly younger candidate jumped 23 points to 78%. This eclipsed not only levels of enthusiasm that Democrats had for Barack Obama in 2008, but also the levels of enthusiasm that Republicans currently have for Donald Trump.

Harris’ momentum saw the race quickly move on from deep analysis of the “double haters” – the record 25% US voters who disliked both Trump and Biden and were simply deciding which they hated less. With a much closer contest now likely, attention shifted to key swing states such as Pennsylvania, where Harris closed Trump’s five-point lead over Biden to now be around even.

Small changes can make a big difference

Harris’ ability to make the Democratic ticket competitive should not be undervalued. After all, as recently as June 2024, she was one of the few Democratic politicians who actually had a lower national approval rating than Joe Biden.

With that said, the momentum for Harris should not be seen as a sea change across the country. As much as she energised a previously lacklustre Democratic ticket, approval of Harris among self-described Independent voters only increased from 36% to 43% in the same timeframe. Republican approval of Harris decreased slightly from 6% to 4% over the same period.

Ultimately, even the slightest of changes can completely shift the nature of the race, particularly given how slim the margins have been in the last two presidential elections. In the 2016 presidential election, for example, Trump’s margin of victory was some 75,000 votes across three swing states. In 2020, Biden’s margin of victory was about 45,000 votes across three swing states.

Harris or Trump’s 2024 margin of victory very well may be less than 0.03% of the US electorate, making this potentially the closest US election in decades.

Has support for Harris peaked?

For the first half of 2024, Trump polled considerably ahead of Biden in the key swing states that will most likely decide the US election. Then, within weeks of Harris becoming the presidential nominee in July, the difference in the swing states between Trump and his opponent shrank to around 1-2 percentage points.

Now, nearly three months later, the polling is essentially unchanged – remaining well within the standard margin of error of around ±3%.

As much as Harris has eclipsed Biden in the race against Trump, there is no denying the statistical reality that Harris is no longer gaining ground on Trump in the way that she was in the early weeks of her candidacy.

Some have argued that Harris’ liabilities – and perhaps the reason she has stalled in the polls – are that Americans remain fairly negative on the economy, she is in the incumbent administration instead of on an outsider ticket, and that many view her as simply too progressive.

Yet judging by the fact that Harris appears to be polling better than “a generic Democrat” – who generally are more popular than any other Democrats because they are not real people with real positions – it’s perhaps more likely that in these polarised and calcified times, Harris very well may have simply peaked as high as any other Democratic candidate possibly could.

With American voter intentions barely shifting after an insurrection, pandemic and assassination attempts, it’s hard to imagine Harris can do much better than she already is doing.

Harris’ best strategy for success on November 5 may therefore need to be less focused on winning over more of the very few undecided voters remaining, and instead more focused on simply getting her energised supporters to turn up on Election Day. Läs mer…