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Hospitals around the world generate millions of tonnes of plastic waste annually. Much of this waste comes from single-use items such as face masks, surgical gloves, syringes, IV tubes and sterile packaging materials.

What’s worse is that many of these medical plastics aren’t biodegradable. This means they can persist in landfills or oceans for centuries. Eventually they break down into micro- and nano-sized particles, which pose many risks to the environment and our health — including endocrine disruption and cell damage.

Incinerating plastic medical waste also releases harmful chemicals into the atmosphere. This contributes to poor air quality and potentially even global warming.

But there’s a growing push to find eco-friendly alternatives to traditional plastics. Bioplastics, such polylactic acid (PLA), may be promising alternatives to the plastics used in medical products.

Bioplastics can be made from plants or algae. This means they can be broken down when the temperature, pH levels and moisture conditions are right, and they don’t create any toxic byproducts over time.

Natural fibres, such as bamboo and hemp, are also being researched to replace synthetic materials, as they’re strong yet biodegradable. And unlike traditional plastics, many biodegradable alternatives are designed to break down without releasing harmful chemicals.

Bioplastics in medicine

Biodegradable plastics are already being used in medical devices — including in heart valves, wound dressings and drug delivery systems.

Because bioplastics come from natural sources, an advantage of using them in medical devices is that they can be reabsorbed during the healing process — so a second surgery wouldn’t be required to remove an implant, for example. They’re also capable of passing through biological barriers, such as the blood-brain barrier, so they can target specific tissues.

Innovations such as 3D-printing using biodegradable polymers are also opening new doors for sustainable medical applications. 3D-printed bioplastics are being investigated for use in replacing load-bearing cartilage, repairing heart chambers, performing wound grafts and acting as artificial membranes for kidneys.

Cellulose stands out as a bioplastic because it’s non-toxic and does not cause any side-effects when used as a medical device. While mechanically strong and waterproof — two attributes needed for medical packaging — it also breaks down efficiently when buried in soil for composting. This makes it ideal for medical use.

Our review of bioplastic alternatives for medical settings also identified the biodegradable polymers polycaprolactone (PCL) and polylactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) as promising options. This is due to their safety and compatibility with medical applications.

We also found that implants using the bioplastic PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoate) are shown to degrade naturally in the body. This could eliminate the need for removal surgeries. Surgical sutures that use PLA can dissolve over time. This may reduce infection risks.

PHA pellets, which can be used to make biodegradable medical bioplastics.
AP Photo/Jeff Dean

Challenges to roll-out

The transition to biodegradable alternatives is not without challenges.

Although many consumers would prefer more products were made out of bioplastics because they’re good for the environment, there are still many challenges in introducing them more widely in medical care. Sterilization, safety and regulatory approvals are all hurdles that need to be overcome. The high costs and limited availability of bioplastics also remain key concerns.

Medical bioplastics can be up to 50 per cent more expensive than oil-based plastics — despite their potential to reduce the medical sector’s environmental footprint.

Our review also found that regulatory hurdles and high production costs remain key obstacles in a wider roll-out of bioplastics in medical care. Other major challenges researchers face in developing medical bioplastics is ensuring that biodegradable materials meet stringent safety and sterility standards required for medical applications.

Life cycle assessments will also need to be conducted of current and future bioplastic products. A life cycle assessment evaluates the environmental impact of a product from raw material extraction to disposal — helping identify sustainability improvements and reduce waste. Publishing more life cycle assessments on bioplastic products will help decision-makers weigh the pros and cons of adopting bioplastics into medical systems.

Still, the potential benefits of bioplastics are huge. Moving away from single-use plastics could significantly reduce the waste burden of health-care systems while also protecting ecosystems and human health from the dangers of micro-plastic pollution. Some bioplastics can even reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 25 per cent.

Change will not happen overnight. But by investing in biodegradable alternatives, the health-care sector can significantly reduce its plastic footprint. Läs mer…

In the middle of a trade war with the United States, Canadians have started showing strong support for their country by changing their consumer habits. Shoppers have begun shunning all sorts of American products and rallying behind the “Buy Canadian” movement.

By snubbing American products and purchasing Canadian ones, shoppers are engaging in acts of “political consumerism.”

Political consumerism is the idea that people make purchasing decisions based on political reasons. There are two main forms of political consumerism: boycotting, which is avoiding the purchase of certain products and services for political reasons, and buycotting, which involves purchasing certain products and services due to political reasons.

For example, labour issues, animal rights, racial or sexual discrimination, the environment and religion are all political issues that may cause a person to change their purchasing habits. The reasons a person may participate in an act of political consumerism will also differ depending on the country they live in and their political ideology.

A review of 66 survey-based studies that a colleague and I conducted found that the people who participate in acts of political consumerism tend to have left-wing or liberal views. However, this finding may be due to the questions that survey participants were asked — such as focusing on boycotting and primarily listing left-wing motives as reasons to participate in political consumerism.

Those on the left may be motivated to participate in political consumerism due to moral issues, such as concerns about harm and fairness. At the same time, those on the right may engage in political consumerism due to issues of authority, loyalty and purity.

In the context of the U.S.-Canada trade war, those on the right may be particularly motivated to participate in political consumerism due to their loyalty to group identities — such as patriotism for their country. On the other hand, left-wing consumers may be motivated to participate as they may consider the tariffs to be unfair.

Boycotting and buycotting

In January 2023, a colleague and I conducted a survey of five countries — including the U.S. and Canada. The survey’s aim was to examine participation rates in political consumerism based on a sample that matched each country’s official statistics for age, gender and education.

A total of 1,500 participants were surveyed separately in Canada and the U.S. About half of respondents in both Canada and the U.S. reported participating in boycotting and buycotting. Around 55 per cent of Americans participated in buycotting compared with 46 per cent of Canadians.

A comparison of the per cent of American and Canadian survey respondents who participated in acts of political consumerism.
Shelley Boulianne, Author provided (no reuse)

Those who purchased products and services for political reasons (buycotted) were asked about the importance of pride in one’s country as a motive. Americans were slightly more likely to report pride as an important motivation to buycott compared to Canadians.

Contrary to previous studies, the survey also found that boycotting and buycotting were more common among right-wing Americans, who rated national pride as their motivation for buycotting more often than moderates or left-wing Americans.

In Canada, left-wing respondents were more likely to report boycotting. There were no ideological differences in who was most likely to buycott. But, like Americans, right-wing Canadians were more likely to report pride as a motive to buycott compared to moderates or left-wing Canadians.

While the data was gathered before the U.S.-Canada trade war, the findings suggest that Americans and Canadians will participate in the calls to buy American or Canadian goods, respectively. Pride will likely be a strong motivation for those on the right, especially for Americans.

Taking a stand

Since the start of the trade war, Canadian citizens have increasingly been encouraged to buy Canadian products to show their support for their country’s position.

Some retailers are adding ‘Made in Canada’ labels to products.
(Shutterstock)

In some grocery stores, U.S. produce is being left to wilt — with Canadians instead choosing to purchase fruits and vegetables grown either in Canada or in other countries. Some retailers have also started adding stickers next to Canadian-made products.

But though much of the research on political consumerism focuses on boycotting and buycotting consumer products, there are other ways to participate.

Read more:
Does cancelling a trip to the U.S. really send a political message, or is it just hurting local tourism?

In particular, citizens may choose to forego travel to a certain country, as tourism is an important dimension of political consumerism. Reports suggest this is already happening, with the number of Canadians travelling to the U.S. already down. Some Canadian citizens have also designed apps to identify products originating in their home country — as observed in the ongoing trade war.

While some may question the efficacy of boycotting and buycotting campaigns, these activities are one of the few ways for citizens to engage in politics on a daily basis. There are also few opportunities for the average person to engage with politics at an international level. This makes political consumerism an important activity.

Some scholars discount political consumerism as a form of political participation because it’s not connected to the government. However, amid the current U.S.-Canada trade war, political consumerism may be directly linked to government decisions. Citizens can use the marketplace to influence the outcome of the trade war. Läs mer…

Dinosaurs have captured people’s imagination ever since their bones and teeth were first scientifically described in 1822 by geologist and palaeontologist Gideon Mantell in England.

Dinosaur bones have taught us a great deal about these animals from the “age of dinosaurs”, the Mesozoic Era, which stretched from approximately 252 million years ago to 65 million years ago. However, there’s something especially appealing about a different kind of dinosaur fossil: their tracks, which show researchers what the animals were doing while they were alive.

Ichnology is the study of tracks and traces and, since 2008, the Cape South Coast Ichnology Project has documented more than 370 vertebrate tracksites on South Africa’s southern coast. These sites are from the Pleistocene Epoch, which stretched from approximately 2.6 million years ago to 11,700 years ago, much more recent than the Mesozoic.

We knew that this coastline contained Mesozoic sedimentary rocks, some of which include non-marine sediments that could potentially preserve dinosaur tracks. We are both familiar with dinosaur tracks from our research in Canada, so we decided to investigate the possibility of tracks in South Africa’s Western Cape.

We found some – and, once we knew what to look for, it was evident that the tracks were not rare. In a new paper published in the journal Ichnos, we describe our findings in detail, presenting evidence of tracks of sauropods (enormous plant-eating dinosaurs) and possibly ornithopods (another group of large herbivorous dinosaurs).

The tracks were found in a rugged, remote, breathtakingly spectacular coastal setting. They were made by dinosaurs in a variety of estuarine settings. Some were walking on sandy, inter-tidal channel bars. Others walked on the bottom of tidal channels, their feet sinking down into soft mud forming the bed of the channel. Other vague “squishy” structures were formed by dinosaurs wading, or even wallowing in the muddy fill of abandoned channels.

These tracks are around 140 million years old, from the very beginning of the Cretaceous period when the African and South American tectonic plates were starting to pull apart. Southern Africa has an extensive record of Mesozoic vertebrate fossils, but that record ends at around 180 million years ago in the Early Jurassic with the eruption of voluminous lava flows. To the best of our knowledge, all the southern African dinosaur tracks known until now are from the Triassic and Jurassic periods, so they pre-date these eruptions.

That means these tracks are not only the first from the Western Cape. They also appear to be the youngest – that is, the most recent – thus far reported from southern Africa.

Knowing where to look

After deciding to hunt for potential dinosaur tracks, we visited a few likely sites on the Cape south coast in 2022, choosing areas with non-marine deposits of the appropriate age, mostly in the eastern coastal portion of the Western Cape. We found a few promising spots on that visit and, in 2023, undertook a dedicated examination.

Large horizontal bedding surface exposures in this area are very rare. We knew that, if we were to find dinosaur tracks, they would be evident mostly in profile in vertical cliff exposures.

Read more:
Footprints take science a step closer to understanding southern Africa’s dinosaurs

In the public imagination a dinosaur trackway extends across a level surface and toe impressions are visible. Some may also know that the infill of dinosaur tracks can occur on what are today the ceilings of overhangs or cave roofs. However, there are also distinctive features that allow tracks to be identified in profile. That’s because the animals’ footfalls deformed underlying layers in a distinctive manner.

The problem is that other mechanisms, such as earthquakes, are capable of generating broadly similar deformation structures.

The deposits we were examining had probably also been affected by seismic activity. The challenge was for us to differentiate between the two types of deformation.

The Early Cretaceous rocks that we examined had been studied and reported on decades ago, and the deformation structures had been attributed to origins such as earthquakes rather than living organisms. Since then, however, scientists have developed a better appreciation of what dinosaur tracks look like in profile.

After careful examination, our conclusion was straightforward: both dinosaur-generated and earthquake-generated types of deformation were present in the Cretaceous rocks.

One of the sauropod tracks identified by the researchers. Scale bar is 20 cm.
Guy Plint, CC BY-NC-ND

Further evidence that we were looking at dinosaur tracks comes from the region’s bone fossil record. Cretaceous bone material has been reported from the region, mostly in the Kirkwood area in the Eastern Cape province. Two dinosaur bones have also been reported from the Knysna area in the Western Cape. One of these, a theropod tooth, was found – and correctly identified – by a 13-year-old boy.

Read more:
Dinosaur tracksite in Lesotho: how a wrong turn led to an exciting find

Clearly, dinosaurs were present in the Western Cape area. That means our discovery of ichnological evidence of their presence is not entirely surprising, but it is still extremely exciting.

Keep exploring

Our team plans to keep exploring deposits of suitable age in the region for evidence of more dinosaur tracks. We also hope that our discovery will inspire a new generation of dinosaur trackers to continue the quest and keep exploring. Läs mer…

Last year, South Korea made headlines around the world for two reasons. The first was writer Han Kang’s celebrated Nobel prize for literature win in October; the second was far less positive. Late in the evening of December 3 2024, the country’s President Yoon Suk Yeol unexpectedly declared martial law – the first time it had happened since the country became a democracy in 1987.

Protestors and lawmakers rushed on to the streets to resist Yoon’s decree, and martial law was annulled early the next morning at 1am.

The ensuing chaos ended on January 26, with Yoon’s arrest. Protests and counter protests continue and the constitutional court of South Korea is yet to deliver its ruling on Yoon’s impeachement, leaving the country’s political horizons uncertain.

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On December 6 2024, 54-year-old Kang appeared at a press conference at the Nobel Museum, in Stockholm. Her remarks on the unfolding events in South Korea were ultimately hopeful: “I, too, watched as individuals tried to stop tanks with their bare hands, embraced armed soldiers to de-escalate, and stood firm against approaching troops … these moments revealed their courage and sincerity.”

This contradiction, between acts of violence and those of love, lies at the heart of Kang’s work. Her novels offer an important lens for understanding Korean history and politics, and explaining the grief and strength of the Korean people.

Human Acts: The Gwangju Massacre

In her Nobel lecture, Kang describes finding a photobook of the Gwangju massacre in her home, as a child. The discovery left her with lasting questions: “How are humans this violent? And yet how is it that they can simultaneously stand opposite such overwhelming violence?”

Yoon’s recent act echoed military dictator Chun Doo Hwan’s instigation of martial law 44 years earlier. On May 18 1980, the military brutally suppressed a university protest. But the people of Gwangju fought back, seizing weapons and forming a citizen’s army that pushed the soldiers out of the town.

For ten days, people held control of Gwangju, until the soldiers returned, killing students and workers with clubs, bayonets and guns. Those who were imprisoned were tortured; many bodies have never been recovered.

Spanning 23 years, Human Acts tells the story of Gwangju from different perspectives, portraying not only the events of the uprising, but its afterlife in the bodies and minds of participants. For many South Korean citizens, the memory of military repression is still fresh in their minds and is what propelled them on to the streets last December.

The Vegetarian: Violence against women

Kang’s best-known novel in the UK, The Vegetarian, also uses multiple viewpoints to tell the story of Yeong-hye, a woman who decides first to stop eating meat, then to stop eating completely.

The Vegetarian poses complex questions about suffering and complicity. Along the way, the effects of Korea’s patriarchal society play out in the often-abusive actions of Yeong-hye’s husband, brother-in-law and father.

Despite its rapid economic growth, South Korea remains a deeply patriarchal and misogynistic country with a widespread culture of discrimination, harassment and violence against women in the workplace, the home and online.

Yoon exploited these gender wars during his 2022 campaign, running on a platform that denied that inequalities between the genders existed, and threatening to abolish the ministry of family and gender equality. It’s no surprise that women have been at the forefront of protests against Yoon and martial law.

We Do Not Part: the Jeju uprising

Kang’s third novel interweaves the story of the Jeju uprising with the present-day story of Kyungha, a writer who travels from Seoul to Jeju island at the behest of her friend, Inseon. Hospitalised after an accident, Inseon sends Kyungha to care for her beloved pet bird. Once there, Kyungha embarks on a ghostly exploration of the island’s violent past.

In the fraught period between the Japanese occupation and the Korean war, the citizens of Jeju protested the division of the country. Police and soldiers adopted a scorched-earth campaign against anyone suspected of being involved with the Worker’s party of Korea.

Inhabitants of Jeju waiting to be executed in 1948.
Wikipedia

An estimated 25,000-30,000 people died – one tenth of the island’s population. The uprising and ensuing massacre wasn’t acknowledged by the government until President Kim Dae-jung commissioned an investigation in January 2000.

The injustice and tragedy of these events cannot adequately be expressed. But even in the crushing bleakness of Kang’s novels, hope sparks in the actions of ordinary people. As Yeong-hye sinks deeper into her illness in The Vegetarian, her sister In-hye cares for her.

In Human Acts, the mother of slain teenager Dong-ho finds solace in her memory of him as a child, saying: “Why are we walking in the dark, let’s go over there, where the flowers are blooming.”

The tender descriptions of birds in We Do Not Part remind us of both the fragility and strength of life. In Kang’s work, hope and resilience dwell in our bond with others. This is how we go on “living after all in this brief, violent world”. Läs mer…

Brambles are considered a nuisance by many woodland managers. But we’ve discovered that fallow deer have a surprising taste for it. In our recent research, we found this unexpected preference by analysing plant DNA from fallow deer poo, offering a fascinating glimpse into their diet. And this discovery could help us better understand how deer shape woodland ecosystems and influence conservation efforts.

Historically, UK deer populations declined because of overhunting, but today, hunting is more of a hobby than a necessity. As people continue shaping landscapes into urban-agriculture-woodland “mosaics”, we have created ideal habitats for deer, providing ample food and shelter, and reduced hunting pressure. As a result, our deer populations are thriving.

The UK government has set a target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050, with tree planting playing a crucial role. But growing saplings past knee height is challenging when deer are grazing nearby. If trees can’t grow, they can’t store carbon.

Fallow deer (Dama dama) are a well-loved species often seen in UK parks. As “intermediate grazers” they eat large quantities of fibrous plant materials, such as grasses, with leafy greens when it suits them.

Studies shows that fallow are one of the least fussy deer species on the planet – they eat just about anything. They also form large social groups. So you can imagine how they thrive in a human-transformed mosaic landscape and the amount of damage they can inflict on woodlands.

Our recent study examined the diet of fallow deer in the Elwy Valley, north Wales. These deer came from a captive herd on a large estate, released when the fences were removed during the first world war. Over the past century, the population has grown from a few dozen to several thousand, raising serious concerns among woodland managers.

A part of the Elwy Valley in north Wales.
Llywelyn2000/Wikimedia, CC BY-SA

We used a new DNA sequencing technique called “metabarcoding” to reveal what plant species were in around 350 fallow deer poo samples. These were collected from three woodlands in the Elwy Valley every month for two years.

We also surveyed the woodland vegetation to discover how the deer diet related to the seasonal availability of different plants. The nearby Welsh Mountain Zoo kindly provided poo samples from their fallow deer herd to check against our results from the wild deer.

We expected deer to eat plenty of grass all year round and more broadleaf plants in winter and early spring. But the DNA results surprised us. Fallow deer consumed significant amounts of bramble (Rubus fruticosus agg).

Bramble made up 80% of their winter diet, dropping to 50% by late summer. The deer ingested more broadleaf trees in spring and summer while they were in leaf, and consumed large quantities of acorns in autumn. Grasses accounted for only a small portion of their diet, peaking at a mere 6% during the autumn months.

Our woodland vegetation survey had indicated that bramble was the most prevalent plant in the environment. With edible shoots available throughout the year, bramble provides a consistent food source, probably playing a crucial role in the winter diet when other food is scarce.

Consequences for deer, woodlands and net zero

A recent report showed that Britain’s woodland canopies are becoming more open because of severe storms and the spread of tree diseases. This benefits bramble, which can grow back after deer browsing and rapidly colonise woodlands where gaps in the canopy allow more light to reach the ground. But the relationship between bramble, deer feasting and tree regeneration is complex.

Bramble can protect young trees from deer by forming a spiny barrier, but it can also smother saplings and shade out rare woodland plants. In contrast, heavy deer browsing can suppress bramble growth, preventing it from out-competing other vegetation. As deer populations continue to grow while we try to plant more trees and conserve woodland habitats, balancing these factors becomes a problem with no simple solution.

Through plant DNA analysis of deer faeces and stomach contents, we can gain valuable insights for woodland management by discovering what deer are eating across seasons in different habitats. We can also compare the diets of different deer species (we have six in the UK). This approach helps us build a more comprehensive understanding of the ecological role of deer in our woodlands.

For woodland managers, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Simply culling deer may not achieve the desired outcomes. Instead, we recommend examining what is happening to the bramble, tree saplings and other plants in both light and shady parts of the woodland, along with the effects of deer grazing. Adaptive management – tailored to specific site conditions – is central to achieving long-term woodland health and successful tree regeneration. Läs mer…

My family, like many others, enjoys spending the weekends in play – including playing video games. For our four-year-old, creating choreography in Toca Dance and solving puzzles in Magic Light’s Gruffalo Games have been recent hits.

But while play is understood as vitally important for children’s learning and wellbeing, digital play is still something that can make families feel conflicted. Parents may worry about too much screen time, or their children’s online safety. Online games may put children at risk of scams, or allow them to interact with strangers.

Much research has highlighted the risks associated with children’s digital play, focusing primarily on children’s safety and privacy. Over the past few years, my team of researchers at the University of Sheffield and beyond have been working with Unicef and The Lego Foundation to investigate the relationship between children’s digital play and their wellbeing.

We carried out detailed case studies of 20 children aged between six and 12 and their families in the UK. These indicated that when designed well, digital and video games can support children’s wellbeing in a range of important ways.

It’s true that digital play may pose risks to children’s online safety, but there are ways to minimise this. Games with solo-play design prevent any contact with strangers. However, well designed in-game communication is also supportive of children’s wellbeing through social connection.

For some children in our study, such as seven-year-old Dylan, online play such as in Fortnite offered controlled opportunities to encounter, discuss and learn about a range of online risks under the watchful eye of his parents. This experience contributed to his critical digital literacy, ultimately preparing him for future experiences online.

Understanding identity and being creative

Well designed digital games help children explore, construct and express their individual identities – their own sense of self. These games can also help build collective identities, a sense of affinity with the experiences, attributes and interests of others.

Exploring their emerging and evolving identities is important for children’s wellbeing, but doing so in play with friends can feel high risk. Children strive for social acceptance among their peers, so trialling newly emerging aspects of their identity can make them feel vulnerable to social isolation and embarrassment.

For nine-year-old Penny, Bloxburg (a role-play and life simulation game within the Roblox platform) was an important avenue for exploring aspects of her identity. She was able to play at changing her physical appearance and exploring her developing interest in cooking before trying these changes out in interactions with friends and family.

Children can try out new identities in games.
Alena Ozerova/Shutterstock

Our research showed that Penny’s identity play was supported by Bloxburg’s open-world design, which allows children to pursue niche interests and activities. Other design features that supported identity exploration included customisation and solo play options.

Research has shown creativity is vital for children’s wellbeing. In our study, digital games helped children imagine different possibilities, act on original ideas and make things.

Ten-year-old Henry felt joy when designing and building rollercoasters in Theme Park Tycoon 2. Playing games like Pokémon Scarlet and Violet was a rich source of artistic inspiration for ten-year-old Hailey, who loved drawing and writing stories about Pokémon characters. It’s an example of how opportunities to create and customise objects, landscapes and avatars particularly can support creativity.

Other research has also indicated that video games can be good for creativity. For example, a 2020 study by the National Literacy Trust found a link between playing video games and creativity through writing.

Achievement, control and understanding emotions

Leisure time is also an important opportunity for children to experience both competence and autonomy – which both support wellbeing. Competence is associated with a sense of mastery and feeling you can achieve meaningful goals. Autonomy is a sense of control and agency – feeling you have freedom of choice.

Well-designed digital games allow children to experience mastery and feel they can achieve. Our research showed the design features such as games with levels and challenges particularly supported feelings of competence.

World of Goo is a physics-based puzzle video game in which players must discover how to use a range of materials to conquer construction challenges. Overcoming tricky levels in this game fostered feelings of pride for seven-year-old Romeo: “You know thatʼs quite hard, did you see that mama? I did that!”

Connections, inclusion and safety

Digital play allows children to manage social connections, feel belonging and develop an awareness of others. Playing Fortnite helped seven-year-old Dylan to maintain friendships when his family moved house during the pandemic.

Meanwhile, nine-year-old Pinar’s mum reflected on her “warm memories” of interacting and building together with Pinar and her sister in Minecraft, a sandbox game in which players can construct elaborate imagined worlds.

When designed well, digital play can also help with inclusion. Pinar, who is autistic, found connecting with others hard due to “confusing” social interactions and sensory overload. Playing Minecraft in a server set up for neurodiverse children allowed her to connect positively in play with friends and family.

Minecraft’s customisation features supported her wellbeing by allowing her to adapt her play environment, controlling the sensory environment and degree of social interaction. Läs mer…

During his first weeks in office, Donald Trump has implemented a shock and awe strategy to overhaul the US government and its foreign policy. Notable changes include closing longstanding executive agencies, including USAid and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Other big ticket shake-ups include the planned closure of the Department of Education, freezing most foreign aid, imposing tariffs on close allies and suspending military aid to Ukraine – although this last plan has been reversed following the signing of a ceasefire deal on March 11.

Nearly all his policies were enacted through executive orders, with no Congressional involvement.

While the White House has been busy remaking the US government, Congress has focused on confirming Trump’s cabinet nominations and trying to pass a budget extension that reflects the administration’s spending priorities.

It has also sat for routine hearings. But it has not exercised its constitutional powers to check the president, instead relegating itself to a secondary support role. Congressional Republicans have demonstrated remarkable loyalty to Trump – even at the expense of their own Congressional power and possible electoral prospects.

While Trump’s second term is stretching presidential power to new limits, his approach is actually the culmination of a decades-long trend. Executive power grew at the expense of legislative power throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.

During times of war and crisis, Congress has tended to grant the president broader powers. We saw this during the Vietnam War with the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, which authorised then president Lyndon Johnson to expand US involvement in the conflict. And again, after the 9/11 attacks with the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF). Both resolutions gave the president of the time far-reaching power to undertake military action without Congressional oversight.

But after the crises passed, the extension of presidential power was not ceded back to Congress, leading to a power imbalance between the executive and legislative branches. This resulted in what US historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr, called “the imperial presidency” in a 1973 study.

Traditionally, executive policy dominance was primarily in the realm of foreign and military policy, while Congress was on more of an equal footing when it came to domestic policy. However, Trump has dominated in both areas. This may set a further precedent that could erode Congressional power in the long term.

Congress has been complicit in the weakening of its authority under Trump. Senate Republicans pushed through the confirmation of Trump’s cabinet nominees with little scrutiny – including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary, despite his controversial views on vaccines and other issues.

The department of government efficiency (Doge), headed by Elon Musk, fired federal workers, shuttered executive agencies, and revised budget priorities without consulting Congress. Congress has made little effort to exercise oversight.

The White House froze foreign aid allocated by Congress, undermining Congress’s constitutional budget powers, known as the “power of the purse”. The US Supreme Court ultimately rejected the administration’s freezing of the aid, but the judicial challenge came from NGOs and businesses, not Congress.

Meanwhile attempts by House Republicans to pass a stopgap budget extension would surrender more Congressional power. The extension, known as Continuing Resolution, removes earmarks from the budget that designate the use of the funding.

If adopted, it will relinquish much of Congress’s ability to control how the funds are spent. But Senate Democrats are threatening to deny the Republicans the 60-40 supermajority they need to pass the legislation. If they follow through, it could mean a potential government shutdown on Friday.

Read more:
Congress, not the president, decides on government spending − a constitutional law professor explains how the ’power of the purse’ works

Muted opposition from lawmakers

Despite this eroding of Congressional power, Senate and House Republicans are reluctant to publicly challenge the president. While Democrats have been vocal about criticising the president’s policies, their minority position in the House and the Senate limits their ability to mount meaningful opposition.

Any opposition from Republicans has been restricted to back-channel lobbying with the White House. This has garnered some success for Republicans. Democrats, meanwhile, have struggled to have their concerns addressed through the same methods.

There is growing public opposition to some of the Trump administration’s policies.
EPA-EFE/Graeme Sloan

Republicans have asked the administration for more involvement in Doge cuts, which has resulted in more communication with Musk – though no formal oversight has been established. They have also asked for the cuts to be codified into law. This would make them permanent and give Congress more control, but so far it has not happened.

Republicans have also been successful in persuading the administration to reverse some Doge decisions, including rehiring fired USDA workers, addressing avian flu, reinstating some funding and services in their districts, and rehiring fired Veteran’s Affairs workers.

However, the ability to affect policy seems to depend on the individual’s access to the White House. The discretionary granting of the requests highlights Congress’ insignificance in the executive-dominated process.

Congressional Republican’s support for Trump’s policies has not wavered despite increasing opposition from the American public. Doge firings and cuts to domestic grants and aid programmes have sparked public resistance. Americans are also concerned about future cuts to Medicaid and Medicare that will likely be necessary with the proposed budget.

Republican members of Congress have received so much opposition during town hall meetings that the National Congressional Republican Committee has advised against holding them in person. This public disapproval could harm Republican electoral prospects in the 2026 midterm elections, especially in contested districts.

The steadfast Republican support for Trump shows the hold that he and his populist base have on the party. Republicans are reluctant to oppose Trump for fear of becoming a target. Given the president’s history of retaliation against those who oppose him – and his threats to do so even before the 2024 election, it leaves little hope that Congressional Republicans will try to rein in his unchecked executive power any time soon.

That could have permanent consequences for Congressional power and the system of checks and balances in the US government.

Read more:
GOP lawmakers commit to big spending cuts, putting Medicaid under a spotlight – but trimming the low-income health insurance program would be hard Läs mer…

A U.S.-Ukraine accord on a ceasefire proposal has put the notion of a negotiated end to the three-year war on the agenda, and in the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

But even before Moscow responds, it’s pretty clear where the parties stand. Breaking a prior taboo against negotiations involving territorial concessions, the U.S. has suggested Ukraine must cede land in any permanent deal, whereas President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated repeatedly that he will never yield sovereignty over Ukraine’s territory.

Meanwhile, Russia has demanded that Ukraine renounce its aspiration to join NATO and accept restrictions on its military. But at present, Kyiv looks unlikely to gain the security guarantees it seeks from the U.S. before contemplating such terms.

What is talked about less is what the Ukrainian people are willing to accept for peace. And while any armistice will likely be dictated by guns, territorial gains and great power geopolitics, it will be in large part down to ordinary Ukrainians to shape what happens afterward. An ugly peace may be accepted by a war-weary population. But if it has little local legitimacy and acceptance, peace is likely to be unsustainable in the long run.

We have tracked public opinion in Ukraine from before the war and during the course of the conflict.

It is an imperfect exercise; most polling in wartime Ukraine is by mobile phone and depends upon those with service who are willing to participate. Many people, especially in the country’s south and east, do not want to answer sensitive questions out of concern for themselves and relatives, some in occupied territories and Russia.

Those who do respond may give guarded responses. Some are mindful of wartime censorship, while others are patriotic or wish to present themselves as such to the stranger calling them. Meanwhile, many other Ukrainians are overseas and excluded. Similarly, those in Russian-occupied territories are left out of surveys.

Nonetheless, the responses still give insights into how opinions in Ukraine have evolved since the Russian invasion of February 2022. Here are five important findings from relatively recent public opinion polls that are relevant to any forthcoming peace negotiations.

1. Nearly all Ukrainians are stressed and tired of war

Unsurprisingly, three years of a brutal war of aggression has created tremendous stress among a population increasingly weary of war.

A December 2024 poll from the respected Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, or KIIS found that nearly 9 in 10 Ukrainians experienced at least one stressful situation in the previous year. Large shares reported stressful experiences related to bombing and shelling (39%), separation from family members (30%), surviving the death of loves ones (26%) and the illness of loved ones (23%). Only 10% said they’d experienced no stressful situations.

In a related vein, surveys we have conducted showed that by summer 2024, 84% of the population had experienced violence in some form – be that physical injury at the hands of Russian forces, displacement, loss of family member and friends, or witnessing attacks.

And consistent with a growing number of news reports, we found that Ukrainians were deeply worried about war weariness among their fellow Ukrainians – just 10% reported that they did not worry about war fatigue at all.

2. More Ukrainians want negotiations, but there are red lines

As the war has gone on, several polls show that Ukrainians increasingly support negotiations. The share of the population in favor of negotiations varies depending on how the question is posed.

When given the choice between two options, a Gallup Poll from late 2024 showed that 52% preferred that “Ukraine should seek to negotiate an ending to the war as soon as possible,” whereas 38% preferred that “Ukraine should continue fighting until it wins the war.”

Our earlier surveys from 2022 and 2024 similarly show a growing preference for negotiations, though at a lower level – from 11% in 2022 to 31% in 2024. In contrast to the binary Gallup question, our surveys presented respondents with different territorial compromises for a ceasefire. While about one-third wanted an immediate ceasefire, half wanted to continue fighting until all territories, including the predominately Russian-speaking Donbas region and Crimea, are brought back under Kyiv’s control.

But survey responses make clear that the country’s political independence is a red line for the public – even if defending it comes at a very high cost.

3. Ukrainians are more open to territorial concessions

In tandem with growing support for negotiations, our surveys – in line with KIIS’s own polls – show growing willingness to cede territory. And among those most worried about war fatigue and more pessimistic about continued Western support, the willingness to cede territory is higher.

That said, most Ukrainians still want Ukraine to continue fighting until the country’s territorial integrity is restored and under Kyiv’s control, including Crimea. But that majority has diminished since the beginning of the war – from 71% in 2022 to 51% in 2024.

When we asked in July 2024 whether people agreed with the statement: “Russia should be allowed to control the territory it has occupied since 2022,” 90% disagreed. As such, there is very little evidence that Russia’s territorial annexations – or an agreement recognizing these, which is what Russia wants – will have any legitimacy among Ukraine’s population.

4. Ukrainians see Russia’s war goals in existential terms

Neither Zelenskyy nor most Ukrainians trust Putin – hence there’s a strong preference for any agreement being accompanied by security guarantees from NATO states.

Many Ukrainians share their leader’s distrust of Vladimir Putin.
Vladimir Novikov/AFP via Getty Images

Poll findings in the past month from KIIS reveal that 66% of Ukrainians interpret Russia’s war aims as an existential threat, comprising genocide against Ukrainians and destruction of its independent statehood. And 87% believe Russia will not stop at the territories it already occupies. Negotiating with an enemy bent on Ukraine’s destruction appears delusional to many Ukrainians.

5. Zelenskyy remains popular; his endorsement matters

As a defiant wartime leader, President Zelenskyy’s popularity was very high in the immediate months after the invasion. Indeed, KIIS polls from May 2022 show that 90% of the population expressed trust in him.

This has declined as the war has endured, but it has always remained above 50%. Recent polling measuring his approval puts it at 63%, an increase from 2024. Indeed, the very latest KIIS polls, from February through March of this year, show a 10-point jump in his trust rating to 67%, a finding widely viewed as rallying in the face of U.S. criticism.

Thus Zelenskyy’s endorsement of any ceasefire and settlement will matter, though ceding territory is likely to be hazardous for him politically.

National security adviser Mike Waltz, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan and U.S. and Ukrainian delegates meet in Saudi Arabia on March 11, 2025.
Salah Malkawi/Getty Images

Conditions for a lasting peace

While the U.S.-Ukraine accord on a ceasefire has “put the ball” in Russia’s court, it is unclear whether it will be enough to bring Putin to the table. And even if it does, given past precedent it is difficult to see him arriving as a compromiser rather than a conqueror.

What does appear clear is that whatever “peace” emerges looks set to hang more on Ukraine making concessions and accepting losses.

Such a peace can be negotiated behind closed doors. But without public acceptance in Ukraine, whether it endures on the ground is another matter. Läs mer…

For generations, collard greens have formed an important part of African and African-diaspora diets around the world.

The leafy vegetable is a quintessential part of African American, Southern and “soul” foods in the United States. Collards are also important in some regions of Africa: In Kenya, where they are called sukuma wiki, they are one of the most commonly consumed vegetables.

Until now, the consensus scholarly view has held that collards came to the Americas early in the 16th century with Spanish, Portuguese or English Europeans, who introduced collards as a garden plant that was then taken up by enslaved Africans.

But our discovery of collards growing in southern Moroccan oases gardens put us on a quest to better understand the path collards took to arrive in the American South. Our new research suggests that they arrived in Morocco with early Muslim traders, adding the potential of a stop in North Africa hundreds of years before they journeyed to North America.

Moreover, the similarity in recipes from Morocco and the American South supports the idea that Moroccan oases may have been a stop in the journey collards took to America.

A green path

Collard greens belong to the species Brassica oleracea, which also includes broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kohlrabi and Brussels sprouts. The huge genetic diversity within the species has complicated research into where collards were first domesticated and how they moved around the world.

Evidence suggests collards were likely domesticated in the Mediterranean, from wild relatives also found on coastlines around the Mediterranean. Their path from the Mediterranean to the American South remains unclear.

A new theory sprouts

As ethnobiologists and researchers interested in traditional foodways, we have been studying leafy vegetables across Morocco for 20-plus years. Yet we had never seen collards growing in any of the other areas across north and central Morocco we had worked in.

While working in date palm oases in southern Morocco, we were, therefore, surprised to find collard greens in the gardens of African diaspora communities that are descended from enslaved people brought across the Sahara.

Suspecting that the presence of collards in an important ancient trade hub might shed new light on the history of the plant and its journey to the Americas, we began collecting stories, proverbs and recipes from the African diaspora communities and searching for potential links to other places where collards are culturally important.

Tracking down information was complicated: Leafy vegetables rarely show up in the archaeological record, and historical texts use the same words to refer to heading cabbage – what most people call “cabbage” today – and nonheading cabbages such as collards and kale, which were more common than heading varieties until fairly recently.

Historical texts in English refer to both as “cabbage” or “cole.” In Spanish, both are called “cole”; and “couve” is used similarly in Portuguese. Arabic texts use “kornub” to refer to both. However, this was one important clue to the ancient Arabic origins of collards in Morocco. In Moroccan Arabic, cabbage is called “mkouwer” or “melfouf,” and cauliflower is usually called “chou-fleur” – a word derived from the French. Moroccans only rarely use “kurunb,” from classical Arabic, to refer to cauliflower.

The communities that grow collards in Morocco call it by the ancient Arabic name “kornub.”

As we searched, we were astonished to find a recipe in a 10th-century cookbook from Baghdad that was almost identical to how people in Morocco cook collards. Moreover, the cookbook describes in detail a variety of cabbage with smooth leaves called “kurunb Nabati,” or “Nabatean cabbage,” where only the leaves are eaten. That, and the fact that the preparation description refers clearly to leaves rather than heads, offered further evidence that this was referencing collard greens.

We pieced together a possible historical route from Baghdad to Morocco from the rare cases when historical documents included specific descriptions of the plant.

One report from a British explorer who traveled through Algeria in 1860 included notes about finding various types of “cabbage” and about a man who had stolen cabbage and had it concealed under his shirt – suggesting flat leaves rather than heads.

Moreover, a colleague at the Oman Botanic Garden told us that collards are grown in oases gardens in the Hajar mountains of Oman.

Middle East to American South

After piecing it all together, our research suggests that collards arrived in Morocco from Iraq and Oman with early Kharijite Muslim traders in the eighth century. These are the same people who founded the great city of Sijilmasa and ran the early trade routes that carried gold and enslaved humans across the Sahara.

The presence of collards in Moroccan oases also necessitates a reconsideration of the currently held assumption of how the vegetable arrived in the Americas.

We couldn’t find concrete evidence of connections between Morocco and the arrival of collards in the Americas, so it’s impossible to say that the consensus scholarly view on collards’ journey is wrong. Still, the currently held assumption that collards arrived in the Americas with settlers and were adopted by Africans who used them as a substitute in leafy green recipes from Africa needs revisiting.

Indeed, unlike common collards recipes, most leafy vegetable recipes from West and Central Africa include fish, ground nuts or peanuts and palm oil. Compared with leafy vegetable recipes from West Africa, the collard recipes used in the United States today are strikingly similar to those from Morocco and 10th-century Baghdad. The similarity in recipes from Morocco and the American South suggests that Moroccan oases may have been a stop in the journey collards took to America.

The story of collards in the Moroccan oases is an opportunity to consider the ways the transatlantic trade systems were entangled with the trade routes and systems before them, especially the trans-Saharan trade routes, and what these entanglements mean for the foodways of Africans and African diasporas around the world. Läs mer…

For 20 years, Philly Roller Derby skaters, who go by names like Wooly Slammoth, TrailBlazeHer and Reba Smackentire, have jammed and blocked their way around oval skating rinks in the spirit of feminism, anti-racism, body positivity and queer liberation.

When the Philly league joined the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association in 2005, it was one of the first, following the Texas Rollergirls in Austin and leagues in Portland, Oregon; Chicago; New York; and other cities. The WFTDA, which governs flat-track roller derby, had formed just one year prior with a goal of “revolutioniz[ing] the role of women in sports.”

Primarily organized by women, the association takes an explicitly feminist position and welcomes anyone who is of a “marginalized gender.” This includes cisgender women as well as all transgender, intersex and two-spirit individuals. Intersex people have chromosomes and/or reproductive organs that do not fit into a binary male or female classification, while two-spirit refers to members of Indigenous cultures who identify as having both a masculine and feminine spirit.

I’m a kinesiology professor who studies philosophic and historical perspectives of sport – especially women’s sport. I have a particular fondness for roller derby, which started in the U.S. in 1935.

In some ways, roller derby’s reinvention as a revolutionary feminist sport in the 21st century isn’t that surprising. After all, women have been included as, at minimum, equal participants since the sport’s beginning.

The Passyunk Punks, in red, compete against the Germantown Loose Cannons, in blue, during the 2024 home team season.
@winterrosefoto/Philly Roller Derby, CC BY-NC-SA

Feminist roots

Seeds of roller derby’s feminist roots can be traced to its earliest version: the Transcontinental Roller Derby.

This endurance-sport fad of the Great Depression featured pairs of skaters accumulating miles as they skated laps around a track, following imaginary routes across the country. American sportswriter Frank Deford perpetuated the apocryphal story of Leo Seltzer’s invention of roller derby. Seltzer, an entertainment entrepreneur and promoter of walkathons, supposedly scribbled the basics of the sport on a tablecloth at a Ricketts restaurant in Chicago in the spring of 1935.

Whatever the truth of that story, what is true is that in August 1935, spectators gathered in the air-conditioned Chicago Coliseum to watch 25 pairs of skaters set off to travel 3,000 miles – the approximate distance of a cross-country trek from New York to San Francisco – all while never leaving the city.

Seltzer organized the event, which featured man-woman duos skating thousands of laps around a banked track while the crowd followed their fictional cross-country progress on a large electronic map. More than a month after they started, Bernie McKay and Clarice Martin completed the race in 493 hours and 12 minutes.

Leo Seltzer took his show on the road, organizing Transcontinental Roller Derby events in cities like Cincinnati, New York, St. Louis, Indianapolis and Miami. In May 1937, roller derby made its way to the Philadelphia Arena on Market Street.

A 1937 article in the Mount Carmel Item newspaper describes the new sport of roller derby.
Mount Carmel Item, 1937

In all of those cities, skaters completed what the Chicago Tribune called an “imaginary cross-country dash”, sometimes covering up to 100 miles per day. Early on, the pairs skated for 10 to 12 hours daily. Eventually, skaters spent only the event hours on the track, usually starting at 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. and finishing at midnight or 1 a.m. Teams alternated skaters – women skated against women and men against men – in 15-minute turns. In some locations, cots were set up on the inside of the track, giving alternating skaters a place to rest.

Seltzer saw women as an untapped sports audience who could bolster the success of his endeavor. He courted women spectators through advertisements, selling “Ladies Day” tickets, and dispersing discounted tickets to businesses frequented by women customers.

Seltzer believed that women spectators would be drawn to women skaters. This, in part, drove him to ensure a place for women in the roller derby. Few opportunities for women existed in traditional sports at that time. When women did participate in sport, many had to deal with commentary about their appearance and a focus on their beauty rather than their athletic accomplishments.

This was the case with roller derby too. For example, one Chicago Tribune reporter wrote that a 1935 leader of the roller derby was “the blonde in the cerise tights, and a right pretty gal she is” – without ever mentioning her name.

Roller derby skater Yolanda Trevino of the Eastern Warriors falls to the ground under a board as a member of the Brooklyn Bombers skates past her during a match at the Philadelphia Arena in 1970.
Jack Tinney via Getty Images

Paying the price

Despite the participation of women since its beginning, roller derby has certainly not been a total bastion of feminist progress.

Even when challenging gender norms, women skaters were objectified. Their appearance was used to market the sport in promotional photographs. Skaters like Tiny McDowell, whose photo advertised the opening of roller derby to Indianapolis Star readers in 1937, posed in their uniforms, but without the tights and pads worn during the event.

Roller derby in the 1970s, ‘80s and ’90s featured strong, tough women skaters. But as communications professor Heidi Mau and I wrote in a chapter of “Sportswomen’s Apparel in the United States,” the uniforms during that era were typically tight with low-cut zippers. Organizers of roller derby – and its competitors like RollerGames and RollerJam – embraced stereotypical ideas about femininity and beauty and sexualized women skaters.

The inclusion of women also signaled to some that roller derby was not a legitimate sport – something that haunts it to this day.

Philly Roller Derby members skate in the 2024 Philly Pride parade.
Jon Dilks/Philly Roller Derby, CC BY-NC-SA

Historian Michella Marino, in her comprehensive history of the sport, says that women roller derby skaters “paid a price” for doing something subversive in challenging gender norms. That price, she writes, is that sports media relegated them to the level of “spectacle,” which led to the belief that the sport was illegitimate precisely because women competed on the same level as men.

Sports columnists in the 1930s emphasized that roller derby was a dramatic spectacle, calling it a “cat fight on wheels,” an “insane indoor sport” that was about “putting on a show.”

Women skaters today approach roller derby with a feminist, do-it-yourself attitude. The modern leagues were created by women who wanted to skate and didn’t want to wait for someone else to start a team. The Women’s Flat Track Derby Association now boasts over 400 leagues on six continents.

Today’s roller derby draws spectators of all types. Tickets typically go for about $15. Some audiences come for the Riot Grrrl, or feminist punk, personas of the skaters, and are rewarded with fast-paced, high-contact skating. Others see it as a cheap family outing, and leagues advertise themselves as family friendly. Some leagues now have co-ed youth leagues, like the Junior Brawlstars of the Philly Roller Derby.

Other leagues have branched out beyond women’s flat-track roller derby, like the Penn Jersey Roller Derby in Camden, New Jersey – also founded in 2005. Home to the Devils and Hooligans, Penn Jersey competes in flat and banked track versions of the sport and even includes a team competing in the Men’s Roller Derby Association.

Still, roller derby remains unabashedly feminist, a sport that encourages women to subvert gender norms while they skate to athletic success. Läs mer…