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It might sound far-fetched, but recent research suggests that dogs’ and humans’ brains synchronise when they look at each other.

This research, conducted by researchers in China, is the first time that “neural coupling” between different species has been witnessed.

Neural coupling is when the brain activity of two or more individuals aligns during an interaction. For humans, this is often in response to a conversation or story.

Neural coupling has been observed when members of the same species interact, including mice, bats, humans and other primates. This linking of brains is probably important in shaping responses during social encounters and might result in complex behaviour that would not be seen in isolation, such as enhancing teamwork or learning.

When social species interact, their brains “connect”. But this case of it happening between different species raises interesting considerations about the subtleties of the human-dog relationship and might help us understand each other a little better.

What’s new puppy dog?

The dog was one of the first animals humans domesticated. And they have a long history of sharing time and space with us. Dogs are not only companions for us, they also have key roles in our society, including therapeutic support, detecting diseases and protecting and herding livestock.

As a result, dogs have developed some impressive skills, including the ability to recognise and respond to our emotional state.

In the recent study, the researchers studied neural coupling using brain-activity recording equipment called non-invasive electroencephalography (EEG). This uses headgear containing electrodes that detect neural signals – in this case, from the beagles and humans involved in the study.

Looking into those irresistible eyes could help deepen your bond.
Wirestock Creators/Shuterstock

Researchers examined what happened to these neural signals when dogs and people were isolated from each other, and in the presence of each other, but without looking at each other. Dogs and humans were then allowed to interact with each other.

Look into my eyes

When dogs and humans gazed at each other and the dogs were stroked, their brain signals synchronised. The brain patterns in key areas of the brain associated with attention, matched in both dog and person.

Dogs and people who became more familiar with each other over the five days of the study had increased synchronisation of neural signals. Previous studies of human-human interactions have found increased familiarity between people also resulted in more closely matching brain patterns. So the depth of relationship between people and dogs may make neural coupling stronger.

The ability of dogs to form strong attachments with people is well known. A 2022 study found the presence of familiar humans could reduce stress responses in young wolves, the dog’s close relative. Forming neural connections with people might be one of the ways by which the dog-human relationship develops.

The researchers also studied the potential effect of differences in the brain on neural coupling. They did this by including dogs with a mutation in a gene called Shank3, which can lead to impaired neural connectivity in brain areas linked with attention. This gene is responsible for making a protein that helps promote communication between cells, and is especially abundant in the brain. Mutations in Shank3 have also been associated with autism spectrum disorder in humans.

Study dogs with the Shank3 mutation did not show the same level of matching brain signals with people, as those without the mutation. This was potentially because of impaired neural signalling and processing.

However, when researchers gave the study dogs with the Shank3 mutation, a single dose of LSD (a hallucinogenic drug), they showed increased levels of attention and restored neural coupling with humans.

LSD is known to promote social behaviour in mice and humans, although clearly there are ethical concerns about such treatment.

The researchers were clear that there remains much to be learned about neural coupling between dogs and humans.

It might well be the case that looking into your dog’s eyes means that your respective brain signals will synchronise and enhance your connection. The more familiar you are with each other, the stronger it becomes, it seems.

So the next time a dog gazes at you with their puppy dog eyes, remember you could be enhancing your relationship. Läs mer…

It might sound far-fetched, but recent research suggests that dogs’ and humans’ brains synchronise when they look at each other.

This research, conducted by researchers in China, is the first time that “neural coupling” between different species has been witnessed.

Neural coupling is when the brain activity of two or more individuals aligns during an interaction. For humans, this is often in response to a conversation or story.

Neural coupling has been observed when members of the same species interact, including mice, bats, humans and other primates. This linking of brains is probably important in shaping responses during social encounters and might result in complex behaviour that would not be seen in isolation, such as enhancing teamwork or learning.

When social species interact, their brains “connect”. But this case of it happening between different species raises interesting considerations about the subtleties of the human-dog relationship and might help us understand each other a little better.

What’s new puppy dog?

The dog was one of the first animals humans domesticated. And they have a long history of sharing time and space with us. Dogs are not only companions for us, they also have key roles in our society, including therapeutic support, detecting diseases and protecting and herding livestock.

As a result, dogs have developed some impressive skills, including the ability to recognise and respond to our emotional state.

In the recent study, the researchers studied neural coupling using brain-activity recording equipment called non-invasive electroencephalography (EEG). This uses headgear containing electrodes that detect neural signals – in this case, from the beagles and humans involved in the study.

Looking into those irresistible eyes could help deepen your bond.
Wirestock Creators/Shuterstock

Researchers examined what happened to these neural signals when dogs and people were isolated from each other, and in the presence of each other, but without looking at each other. Dogs and humans were then allowed to interact with each other.

Look into my eyes

When dogs and humans gazed at each other and the dogs were stroked, their brain signals synchronised. The brain patterns in key areas of the brain associated with attention, matched in both dog and person.

Dogs and people who became more familiar with each other over the five days of the study had increased synchronisation of neural signals. Previous studies of human-human interactions have found increased familiarity between people also resulted in more closely matching brain patterns. So the depth of relationship between people and dogs may make neural coupling stronger.

The ability of dogs to form strong attachments with people is well known. A 2022 study found the presence of familiar humans could reduce stress responses in young wolves, the dog’s close relative. Forming neural connections with people might be one of the ways by which the dog-human relationship develops.

The researchers also studied the potential effect of differences in the brain on neural coupling. They did this by including dogs with a mutation in a gene called Shank3, which can lead to impaired neural connectivity in brain areas linked with attention. This gene is responsible for making a protein that helps promote communication between cells, and is especially abundant in the brain. Mutations in Shank3 have also been associated with autism spectrum disorder in humans.

Study dogs with the Shank3 mutation did not show the same level of matching brain signals with people, as those without the mutation. This was potentially because of impaired neural signalling and processing.

However, when researchers gave the study dogs with the Shank3 mutation, a single dose of LSD (a hallucinogenic drug), they showed increased levels of attention and restored neural coupling with humans.

LSD is known to promote social behaviour in mice and humans, although clearly there are ethical concerns about such treatment.

The researchers were clear that there remains much to be learned about neural coupling between dogs and humans.

It might well be the case that looking into your dog’s eyes means that your respective brain signals will synchronise and enhance your connection. The more familiar you are with each other, the stronger it becomes, it seems.

So the next time a dog gazes at you with their puppy dog eyes, remember you could be enhancing your relationship. Läs mer…

United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon have reported a series of incidents over the past few days in which they have been endangered by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) as Israel continues its incursion into southern Lebanon.

Two members of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) were wounded on October 10 when an Israeli tank fired its weapon at Unifil’s headquarters in the city of Naqoura. They are reported to be receiving treatment in hospital for minor injuries.

This follows a series of other reports of IDF troops firing on other Unifil positions in recent days. A Unifil statement called on the IDF “and all actors to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and property and to respect the inviolability of UN premises at all times.

For 44 years the presence of UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon has provided a much-needed measure of predictability and stability on an international fault line that has the potential to trigger a larger war in the Middle East. Its value has often been to shine an international spotlight on events on the ground and to provide humanitarian assistance to the local population.

The Unifil peacekeeping mission is in an area of southern Lebanon that stretches from the de facto Lebanese border with Israel about 18 miles northwards up to the Litani River. In violation of UN security council resolution 1701, which was issued in 2006 and was designed to bring to an end the 33-day war between Israel and Hezbollah, Israeli tanks have been advancing into southern Lebanon since September 30. Hezbollah is fighting back – and casualties are mounting.

On October 5, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) pressed the Unifil Irish Battalion, stationed south-east of Marun al-Ras, to leave its position to allow the IDF to proceed with their invasion. On October 6, Unifil force commander Lt. Gen. Aroldo Lázaro Sáenz denied the request. A Unifil statement said: ”Peacekeepers remain in all positions and the UN flag continues to fly.”

iliya Mitskovets / Alamy

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The IDF reportedly ceased their military operations in the area on October 8. This is most likely because their military goals have changed. The rapidly unfolding Israeli military action in Lebanon has now deployed an additional 15,000 troops. This raises questions about the “limited” nature of the IDF’s incursion and its goals.

Since 1978, Unifil has provided medical services, electricity, generators, language courses, financial aid and water to local communities. The peacekeeping force has also helped to clear millions of square meters of land from anti-personal mines and cluster bombs, releasing farmland for cultivation and preventing injuries or deaths since the 2006 war.

In 2006, the Unifil mission adopted a new mandate under UN Resolution 1701. Like all newer UN peacekeeping mandates, it contained a protection of civilians clause which authorises Unifil to “protect civilians under imminent threat of physical violence”.

Israel contends that Hezbollah missile attacks into northern Israel are an indication that Unifil has never fully implemented 1701 – hence the need to invade and destroy the militant group**. But protection of civilians is central to Unifil’s mandate. While the IDF claims it is targeting Hezbollah’s military infrastructure and leadership, thousands of civilian lives in southern Lebanon remain at risk.

Israel’s incursion into southern Lebanon, October 8 2024.
Institute for the Study of War

It has recently been reported that more than 2,000 civilians have died in the latest Israeli incursion, with more than 9,000 injured and over 608,000 displaced. So, implementation of this protection clause has never been more important.

Unifil must not become collateral damage

Unifil’s ability to protect civilians during Israeli incursions has often been challenged because the IDF refused to guarantee the safety of fleeing civilians, either in convoys out of the villages, or in UN compounds.

The most notorious incident was the Qana incident of 1996, when 106 civilians died while sheltering in the Fijian UN compound. In July 2006, the IDF used a precision guided aerial bomb on a Unifil post. The attack killed four international unarmed military observers working under Unifil operational control, despite repeated verbal warnings from Unifil headquarters to avoid the post. The IDF has also damaged Unifil positions in times of peace. In January 2005 an unarmed French UN observer was killed by IDF tank fire. In January 2015 IDF artillery killed a Spanish peacekeeper.

So the challenge for Unifil has always been that if they allow civilians to take shelter in their compounds, they risk becoming part of the IDF’s collateral damage.

Similarly, Hezbollah is also no friend of Unifil. In December 2022, Hezbollah supporters killed an unarmed Irish peacekeeper who ventured accidentally into a village just outside the area of operation.

International witness

Despite these challenges, Unifil still has a powerful role to play in southern Lebanon. As the fog of war engulfs all the protagonists, Unifil has the ability to bring the world’s attention to the current conflict which may help constrain the parties. It is critical at this time to have an international force bear witness to events on the ground and provide basic humanitarian assistance, monitor and report potential violations and guarantee shelter to the local population whenever possible to help the displaced people that remain within the Unifil area of operation.

On October 7, the US State Department warned the IDF that it did not want to see military action taken against Unifil or for the peacekeepers to be put in danger in any way. This warning is welcome given the recent disregard for the UN demonstrated by Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. who, when speaking to the UN general assembly on September 27, labelled the UN “contemptible in the eyes of decent people everywhere”. On October 2, the Israeli government barred UN secretary general António Guterres from entering Israel.

Israel’s allies must increase the pressure for the IDF to allow Unifil to exercise the protection of civilians clause contained in its mandate. This would mean allowing the peacekeeping force the freedom of movement in south Lebanon to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid. The IDF must also guarantee the safety of civilians escaping with Unifil’s assistance from the villages. And the IDF must allow Unifil to establish safe zones for civilians trapped in the conflict, to compensate for the absence of air raid shelters and bunkers in Lebanon.

While Unifil may not be able to prevent the bloodshed, for now it can continue help to stem the flow, just as it always has. Läs mer…

Even for a conservation biologist numbed to bad news about nature, the biennial Living Planet report from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is a stark reminder of our failure to arrest the loss of biodiversity – the variety of living things and the ecosystems they live in.

The 2024 report uses an index that has tracked the fate of 35,000 populations of 5,495 species of wild vertebrates – that’s animals with a spinal column, so mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish – from 1970 to the present day. Over the past 50 years (1970–2020), the average size of these monitored wildlife populations has shrunk by 73%.

Freshwater populations (think fish, frogs and salamanders) are doing much worse, declining by 85%. Marine populations are faring slightly better, with declines of 56%. However, given emerging threats to the ocean ranging from microplastic accumulation to deep-sea mining, it is best not to regard these figures as absolute guides to conservation priorities.

There is also huge regional variation in these results. Latin America and the Caribbean have reported 95% declines in wild vertebrate populations since 1970, compared with 35% in Europe and Central Asia.

What these results tell us

Has the world lost nearly three-quarters of all its wildlife? Well, no. The trends actually reflect relative changes in population sizes. These may encompass trends for the same species faring differently in different regions. The challenge of compressing so much variation into a single index can create confusion. Many assume the figure relates to an absolute measure of loss of individuals or extinctions.

Data from 126 populations of the endangered savanna elephant are included in the Living Planet Index.
Alexander Lees

The Living Planet Index used in this report has attracted periodic criticism from ecologists. It was recently argued that removing sparse data from poorly monitored populations (more often in the tropics) is necessary to reduce bias. However, these biases are inherent in our understanding of the conservation status of wildlife.

There are more studies from countries in the temperate zone (Europe and North America, for example) and fewer from tropical ones; there are more studies on large or attractive birds and mammals, but fewer on everything else. Removing what sparse data we have from the tropics just compounds these biases.

The smaller declines in Europe and elsewhere in Earth’s temperate zone can be misleading. Huge changes in the populations of vertebrate life took place here millennia ago when agricultural expansion erased most of the forests, natural grasslands and wetlands. The cumulative change across the ages is certainly far higher than the rather arbitrary 1970 baseline reveals. Ecologists call this “shifting baseline syndrome”.

Crucially, scientists lack long-term monitoring data for most tropical species that are threatened by massive habitat losses happening right now. Conservation biology is a crisis discipline – it can’t wait until all available data is in before sounding the alarm.

There is broad agreement between many data sources that biodiversity is being eroded at a planetary scale. For example, research I led has highlighted that about half of all bird species probably have declining populations, versus 6% with increasing trends.

Tipping points

Beyond species, the WWF report has a particular focus on planetary tipping points. These are thresholds in the Earth system which, if breached, lead to irreversible consequences for people and nature.

For example, there may exist a tipping point beyond which the Amazon rainforest rapidly dies off. The regional climate is already shifting, with decreasing and less predictable rainfall coupled with a lengthening dry season that heightens wildfire risk. Deforestation is accelerating this process, as the trees themselves generate the humidity the forest needs to survive.

Much of the Amazon rainforest may come to resemble this scene if a tipping point is crossed.
Alexander Lees, Author provided (no reuse)

Studies suggest that once around 20-25% of the total forest has been lost, the entire ecosystem could degenerate into some form of more open wooded ecosystem that would harbour much less carbon and far fewer species. Forest loss is currently around 17%.

This would not only unleash a cascade of extinctions for Amazonian biodiversity. It would also have local, regional and global effects on the climate that could imperil crops across the western hemisphere and beyond. Amazonian wildlife also has an incredibly important role in keeping the rainforest resilient, as do species in other ecosystems at risk of crossing tipping points.

The report is right to dwell on conservation success stories, such as the reintroduction and legal protection of the European bison and Dalmatian pelican. However, the return of many large mammals to Europe has been enabled by fewer human-wildlife conflicts as farmland has been abandoned. It isn’t, as some have claimed, a sign that economic development invariably leads to nature recovery.

Spoon-billed Sandpiper, a Critically Endangered migratory shorebird whose monitored populations are used to form the Living Planet Index.
Alexander Lees

This land has been abandoned to nature because of the globalisation of the food system. Essentially, it can be more profitable to produce food on better-quality land elsewhere. So, a gain for grey wolves in Bulgaria may have a bearing on the loss of habitat for maned wolves in Brazil, where species-rich savanna is converted to fields of soybeans that are then shipped to Europe to feed farmed animals.

What do we do?

These interconnected outcomes speak to the overarching challenge that humanity faces. Is exporting soybeans grown on land that was once rainforest to feed far-off fish farms the best use of resources? The report mentions food 181 times, as its production is the leading cause of habitat loss on land.

Even if data on population trends for tropical species is sparse, satellite and ground-based assessments are unanimous in showing a reduction in the extent of tropical habitats such as rainforests and savannas. Their replacement with farms and other land uses will not support the original biodiversity. So the implications of what we put on our plates reverberate across the biosphere. Changing our patterns of consumption is critical to both stopping habitat loss and sparing land for wildlife and the ecosystem services that global agriculture is dependent on.

The pancake tortoise is also critically endangered and hides in rock crevices in East Africa. No trend data exists for this species and it does not feature in the index.
Alexander Lees, Author provided (no reuse)

Protected areas have long been a cornerstone of measures to protect biodiversity. The 2022 Kunming-Montreal global biodiversity agreement asks that 30% of lands, waters and sea be protected by 2030. The UK has committed to this challenge, but already recognises that it is failing. The latest progress report states that only 2.9% of England’s land is effectively protected and well managed for nature.

The report acknowledges that protected areas are not delivering and urges the strengthening of Indigenous and local land tenure, payments for ecosystem services and more sustainable management. Most conservation biologists would agree. As previously highlighted, there is a dire need to challenge the prevailing neoliberal development model and tackle wealth-related drivers of biodiversity loss, such as the globalised commodity trade and carbon emissions.

The best time to do that would have been in 1970, the second best time is now.

Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?
Get our award-winning weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 35,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far. Läs mer…

Ofsted – the schools inspectorate – no longer gives single-word, headline grades to schools in England. It plans to make more changes, accepting many of the recommendations made in a 2024 independent review carried out by former Ofsted head Dame Christine Gilbert.

However, though the review rightly mentioned the importance of inspectors’ professional behaviour, it failed to acknowledge in full the bullying and harm that can be experienced from inspections.

In 2023, the House of Commons Education Committee launched an inquiry into Ofsted’s work with schools, including on the effect of Ofsted inspections on school staff’s workload and wellbeing. The committee invited written submissions of evidence from the public.

As part of a continuing research project, we have analysed all of the well over 200 publicly available written submissions. They came from people who said that they were current or recent teachers, headteachers, governors, academics, teaching representatives, charities and other education organisations. They made deeply difficult reading.

Many were anonymised:

My evidence has been submitted in a way that I hope makes the school unidentifiable … It is important that you should have evidence of the damage that Ofsted causes, but not at the expense of causing further damage. Please do not publish it attached to my name … individuals like me need to request anonymity in order to protect those concerned.

Again and again, reading through the submissions, we encountered examples of bullying behaviour and unprofessionalism on the part of inspectors, and of harm to education professionals because of the inspectorate system. We wanted to highlight just a handful of these submissions as evidence of why the culture of Ofsted must be improved.

Intimidation

The submissions included accusations of intimidation and manipulation by Ofsted inspectors. A recurring theme was the silencing of professional discussion when inspectors were giving feedback at the end of an inspection.

A teacher wrote about having “hands put up to my face to stop me talking”. Another submission states that an inspector demanded silence and “slammed his fist down” on the headteacher’s desk. In another, the submission details that an inspector “threw the book down on the table” and shouted at staff.

We read submissions that commented on inspectors reducing teachers to tears. One says:

I have witnessed staff being repeatedly asked the same question, giving a reasonable answer and the question being posed again and again until they cry.

We also read about senior staff enduring prolonged enforced silence and manipulation.

The meeting at the end of the second day was simply awful. In the first twenty minutes, the inspection team talked about our quality of education. Then, at the end of this twenty minutes, the lead said, “Now it’s time to decide the grade. Shall we look at ‘Requires Improvement’?” What?! Myself and my [deputy headteacher] looked at each other with dismay – really? For around two minutes – but felt like an hour – they silently looked at the descriptors. The lead broke the silence with, “I don’t think we need to worry about this. Let’s look at ‘good’.” The relief came over so quickly I actually felt sick.

One of the submissions alleges sexual assault by an inspector:

My colleague was groped by an Ofsted inspector but didn’t dare report him in case he marked her down.

Teachers spoke of a severe effect on their wellbeing.
Lordn/Shutterstock

We want to emphasise that submissions about harmful inspections were not occasional. They repeatedly mentioned fear, ill health, unacceptable stress and damage to staff wellbeing. This submission, evidently from a school staff member, discussed suicidal thoughts:

The manner in which the inspection was conducted and the lack of integrity from the Lead Inspector has meant that my family have had to support me through suicidal thoughts and through countless occasions of being in floods of tears as soon as I think back to that day. It took all of my strength and courage to walk back through the doors to our school for the sake of our pupils.

The Education Committee’s report following the inquiry does give examples from the written submissions about inspectors’ poor behaviour, but did not make a specific recommendation on this topic. Ofsted’s response states that “we are committed to doing good as we go, raising standards and improving lives. To do so, we must always act with professionalism, courtesy, empathy and respect towards those we regulate and inspect”. But changing bullying behaviour is not directly addressed.

The Education Committee’s report was followed by Ofsted’s Big Listen, which sought comment from the public. Ofsted’s response to this also did not specifically discuss inspector behaviour.

Scrapping the headline grades will do little to change inspection experiences. Bullying behaviour, stress and harm must also be addressed. For the sake of education professionals and children, Ofsted has to improve the conduct of inspectors and inspectorate culture. Läs mer…

Nearly everybody has emailed the wrong thing to the wrong person at the wrong time. It’s a leveller in modern workplaces. The consequences of errors may be immense or trivial, but not much can change that now. The error was your doing: you underperformed, messed up, failed to do the job, or perhaps you were caught lying.

In the gaffe made by BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg (where she emailed her briefing notes to former prime minister Boris Johnson ahead of an interview with him – the interview was then cancelled), she owned up to it.

But she did not see the need either to offer excuses or explain, simply admitting it happened and what the consequences were. Case closed.

Kuenssberg will not be lying awake at night worrying about her job – and neither should you when you get things wrong. A helpful solution-focused way of coping with the painful embarrassment is needed.

1. Step back and pause

Don’t rush into doing “something” about rectifying your error. Damage has already happened and if you’re going to pay for it, then that’s probably already been decided.

Trying to fix things will be a stressful distraction, that only benefits others. Take time to consider what happened, and don’t rush ahead unthinkingly. Doing nothing is a valid option.

2. Could you see this coming?

Were you taking risks? Not paying attention? Attention errors happen because people have too much to do. Recognise the factors behind mistakes, and if any warning signs were ignored.

Identify future warning signs, for example endless multi-tasking; too many screens; or allowing emails to dominate your work. Recall the mechanics of how it went wrong – like rushing to press send. Understanding what triggers your errors is vital, and knowing your limitations helps.

3. Take responsibility

There are two options: blame everyone else and maintain your innocence, or accept some of this mistake was down to you. Take responsibility and own it. If you don’t, you’ll likely make the same error again.

Denial is comforting, but it is a short-term maladaptive strategy. Admitting mistakes affords you more goodwill than being a persistent denier.

4. Remove the emotions

Errors come with powerful negative emotions of shame, embarrassment or anger. Because you erred doesn’t mean you should feel eternal shame. Move on. Nobody is always error-free and aiming for that is an irrational pathway to unhappiness.

Detach yourself from emotions. When emotional, you are not at your most logical, so it is best to wait before making decisions. There is nothing wrong with asking for time to get your thoughts together before considering what to do next.

Kuenssberg was left wishing she had never hit send.
Keith Larby/Alamy Stock Photo

5. Others won’t think badly of you for long

Don’t waste time worrying what others think. You can’t do anything about it. You’ll perceive your mistake is bigger than it really is, and that everyone will be laughing. This is cognitive distortion.

Your setback is the centre of your world, but not everybody else’s. Those laughing now will soon move on. You can’t stop them, so appreciate your powerlessness – it can be liberating. Take comfort knowing you would not revel in their mistakes as you’re more compassionate than them.

6. Seek wise counsel

Find those who went through similar experiences. Wisdom comes with experiences and some will want to assist you, but others may not want to overstep the mark. Wise counsel might seek you out, so be open to offers of help from those you respect.

If someone has your interests at heart, they will not rush you and you can go back to them for help when you’re ready. Be aware that others around you may try to take advantage of you while you are still down. Their advice may benefit them more than you.

7. It’s temporary

This mistake will become a funny story in a job interview, or be passed on to someone who makes the same mistake. Good will come of it, so be optimistic about the future. Remain rational, as excessive worries may produce physical symptoms.

If your mistake has been public, the judgement you may be exposed to could feel overwhelming. So stay off social media.

8. Don’t be pushed around

Many people reflecting on mistakes say they were pushed around, bullied or agreed to things at the time that they wish they had not – often because they felt reduced self-worth or self-esteem. Be yourself, do not get pushed around, and don’t agree to anything.

Human resources should be there to support you. A quick fix and bad decisions now could lead to long-time discomfort. Do nothing and say nothing if possible. Making one mistake does not mean you have to follow it up with more.

9. Others bounce back

People sometimes ricochet from errors into better positions, using setbacks as a launch point and “failing upwards”.

Intense periods of almost intolerable strain help people see inner strengths and show they are resilient. Managers may be waiting to see how you deal with this error – how you handle it may lead to other opportunities.

10. Don’t punish yourself

You’re not a bad person – just someone who messed up. It was an exception to the rule and won’t define you. Workplace cultures are quick to judge so it can be worth reminding colleagues of your good character and prior achievements.

Sometimes we’re not the best at what we do, and there are others who are better, but they’re not infallible either. You have a whole life to fulfil and this setback is just a small part of it. Läs mer…

It’s often the case that when poets write novels, they deliver arrestingly vivid and nimble prose. Han Kang’s The Vegetarian (2007) is a case in point, and it is no doubt the work that was most influential in the Swedish Academy’s decision to award her the Nobel prize in literature 2024. The committee stated that Kang was awarded the prestigious prize because her “poetic and experimental style” has made her “an innovator in contemporary prose”.

Han Kang is the first South Korean writer to be awarded the Nobel prize in literature, and in its history of 121 winners over 117 years, only the 18th woman to be awarded the prize. She was born in 1970 in Gwangju and has also been awarded the International Booker Prize (in 2016), as well as several other high profile national and international awards, including the Prix Médicis Etranger in 2023 for her novel Impossible Goodbyes.

The Vegetarian is Han Kang’s best-read work. Published in 2007, and translated into English for publication in the UK in 2015 and the US in 2016, its title was apt, as it coincided with a sudden upsurge in people turning to vegetarianism and veganism, particularly in the UK.

While the novel is not a manifesto for vegetarianism, it does contemplate the impact of becoming vegetarian when everyone around you eats meat. It conveys protagonist Yeong-hye’s struggle to maintain bodily agency in response to her husband’s disgust at her decision (he sees it as disobedience), her brother-in-law’s erotic fascination with it and her father’s violent acts, force-feeding her pork.

Granta

The Vegetarian offers an extended insight into patriarchal control of the female body, and has been described as an anti-capitalist and ecofeminist revolt.

The novel has a three-part structure and both the narrative perspective and voice shifts in each section. Yeong-hye is never a first-person narrator in the story of her own body and the decisions she makes about it. This noticeable lack of voice seems to have been relevant to the Nobel prize. The committee stated that their decision was motivated by the author’s commitment to conveying “invisible sets of rules” and “the fragility of human life” through her “unique awareness of the connections between body and soul”.

Han Kang’s poetry and short stories are just as innovative and important as her novels, though they are less well known, and their themes more obscure. Her poetry often explores places (walking on the city street), juxtaposed with objects (streetlamps, candles, mirrors) and the fragmented human body (a hand reaching out, fingertips, frozen cheeks, tongues, eyelids).

The English translation of her latest novel, We Do Not Part, will be published in February next year. We Do Not Part is perhaps more obscure and complex that The Vegetarian, at least in subject matter. It is the story of a woman named Kyungha, who travels to her friend Inseon’s rural house to care for a pet bird after Inseon is hospitalised after a wood-chopping accident. Trapped by a snowstorm, she uncovers letters from the 1948-49 Jeju massacre, where around 1,000 people were killed.

Han Kang discusses her win.

Reactions to Kang’s win

There has been wide praise for this year’s winner. The Washington Post celebrates the award as offering potential for other Korean writers. The Guardian, meanwhile, acknowledges Kang’s accolades and expands on the committee’s reasons for awarding the prize: her empathy, unique awareness, experimental style, and “metaphorically charged prose”.

The prize for literature is often controversial. Online communities debate the validity of winners and make accusations about the politics of choices. Some commentators are upset if the author is too obscure, as was the case with Norwegian Jon Fosse, who won in 2023. They are equally upset if the prize is awarded to a figure who is too mainstream, as was the case when Bob Dylan won in 2016.

The local specificity of Kang’s writing, bringing Korean history and places to a global audience, and the precision of her prose, means that her work is innovative and arresting in both form and content. A worthy winner.

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A new discovery of an ancient farming society at Oued Beht in Morocco fills a centuries-old gap in history. It reveals that, 5,000 years ago, the Maghreb (north-west Africa) was far from a backwater. Rather, it was an integral part of life in the Mediterranean, a region nestled between north Africa, south-western Asia and southern Europe.

Aerial photo of the site area.
T Wilkinson/OBAP Archive

Over time, the Mediterranean has served as a cradle for interconnected societies that influenced one another through trade, migration and the exchange of ideas. Although the Maghreb is widely recognised for Middle Stone Age and Iron Age developments (from 300,000 years ago to the first millennium BCE), its role in the period from 4000 BCE to 1000 BCE has remained an enigma. Until now.

T Wilkinson/OBAP Archive

Archaeologists Cyprian Broodbank, Giulio Lucarini and Youssef Bokbot are the leaders of the international team who made the discovery. They are co-directors of the Oued Beht Archaeological Project in Morocco. Their multidisciplinary study has finally shed light on Africa’s pivotal role in the socio-cultural evolution of the early Mediterranean in a time marked by dynamic changes. We spoke with them.

What did the study find?

The team’s work at Oued Beht unearthed the most extensive and earliest agricultural complex known in north Africa outside the Nile Valley. Located in northern Morocco, between the coast and the Middle Atlas Mountains, Oued Beht occupies a unique position that favours both agriculture and trade. Its varied terrain, with river valleys intersecting rolling hills and plains, offers fertile ground ideal for early agricultural activities.

Section of a trench with a deep pit.
A Brucato/L Farr/OBAP Archive

The findings suggest that between 3400 BCE and 2900 BCE, a large-scale farming society thrived in this region. We were struck by the sheer scale of the settlement. It’s comparable in size to the early levels of the legendary city of Troy in modern-day Turkey.

Oued Beht yielded domesticated plant and animal remains, pottery – including painted types – polished axes and chipped stone. Particularly remarkable was the discovery of deep storage pits, a feature previously found in sites in Iberia in the same period.

Polished and chipped stone artefacts.
L Lombardi/M Radi/OBAP Archive

These likely contained a variety of grains and may have been used to store surplus food. This will have helped to manage resources during periods of scarcity. The abundance of pottery sherds and fragments of stone artefacts in these pits suggests that they were also used as dumping grounds in their final phase of use. These characteristic pits, along with finds from southern Spanish sites from the same period of painted pottery, as well as ostrich eggs and ivory, strongly point to connections between the Maghreb and the wider Mediterranean.

Ceramic fragments.
R Laoutari/R Martínez Sánchez/M Radi/OBAP Archive

The material from Oued Beht clearly indicates that north-west Africa was not isolated but played an active role in Mediterranean networks.

This period led to advancements in social organisation, technological innovation and extensive trade networks that interconnected diverse cultures across the Mediterranean basin.

How was the discovery made?

Oued Beht was first identified as an archaeological site in the 1930s. Colonial French construction work uncovered a remarkable number of polished stone axes. However, the site was not thoroughly investigated until this century. Nearly a decade ago, a French-Moroccan team, co-led by one of us (Youssef Bokbot), conducted stratigraphic investigations there, though the results remain unpublished.

The Oued Beht Archaeological Project’s recent “re-discovery” of Oued Beht emerged from a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach. Over multiple seasons of fieldwork, the team combined traditional investigation techniques with modern technologies like drone-based photogrammetry. This is the science of taking measurements from photographs. It enabled detailed mapping, facilitating the identification and understanding of specific surface structures and features.

Intensive surface survey by a team of walkers spaced at 10 metre intervals was fundamental to understanding the patterning and extent of material of all periods across the site.

Drone photogrammetry of the site.
G Lucarini/OBAP Archive

Following state of the art excavation, which very carefully recovered and documented each unit of ancient deposition, radiocarbon dating provided precise chronological information. Botanical and faunal analyses reconstructed the environment and dietary practices of the area’s inhabitants. Together, these methods offer a comprehensive view of the human behaviour and the activities at the site.

Botanical analysis points to the cultivation of barley and wheat, pea and legumes likely central to their diet, alongside wild pistachio and wild olive. Faunal remains, including domesticated animals like cattle, sheep, goats and pigs, indicate a pastoral component. Housing structures are challenging to reconstruct precisely, as no clear foundations have been identified so far.

Polished stone axe.
G Lucarini/OBAP Archive

We’re still investigating whether Oued Beht served as a large village or some other form of gathering place for communities throughout the region. The presence of storage pits and evidence of agricultural surplus suggests its inhabitants, if such there were, might have organised resources and labour.

Evidence of trade with other regions could further imply specialised roles within the community. However, as our research is still in its early stages, future investigations will be essential to confirm these initial hypotheses.

Why is this find so important?

Historically, the spotlight in north African archaeology has been on Egypt – or, if embracing the rest of Mediterranean Africa, mainly limited to Phoenician, Greek, Roman and Islamic times. These discoveries dominated narratives of early African societies. They often leave earlier periods or areas such as the Maghreb in their shadow.

So, the findings at Oued Beht shift our understanding of the Mediterranean’s prehistory. With concrete evidence of a thriving, complex society, the Maghreb takes its place as a key player in the region’s development.

Pedestrian survey of the site.
G Lucarini/OBAP Archive

But Oued Beht also changes how we think about the interconnectedness of the Mediterranean world during this time. This wasn’t a one-way street of influence from north to south. The Maghreb shaped broader developments across the entire region.

This discovery may also have implications for understanding the Sahara’s historical role in cultural and social transformations. As climate change transformed the once-greener Sahara into a desert, it likely pushed populations towards more viable agricultural areas like the Oued Beht valley. This in turn ultimately facilitated exchanges across continents.

Read more:
Book review: how Africa was central to the making of the modern world

From what this study shows, the Maghreb was not just a passive recipient of ideas and innovations from elsewhere. It was a cradle of agricultural and social complexity in its own right. It contributed to the development of societies on both sides of the Mediterranean. Läs mer…

Rikki Stein, born into a regular, middle-class home in the UK, has had what must have seemed an unlikely career. As a music manager he has toured the world in the company of music legends – from the late Nigerian Afrobeat star Fela Kuti to American rockers The Grateful Dead and Morocco’s Master Musicians of Joujouka.

The stories of the people working behind the scenes supporting great artists rarely get the spotlight they deserve. But Stein’s recently released autobiography Moving Music is as colourful and compelling as the artists he’s worked with. It serves as a time capsule of sorts, capturing key moments in music history: from the famous Woodstock festival in New York in 1969 and the early years of the UK’s Glastonbury Festival in the 1970s to the emergence of African music on the global stage of the “world music” era of the 1980s.

Wordville

As a music scholar studying the global obsession surrounding Fela Anikulapo-Kuti and the cultural and political contexts that drive it, I was eager to read Stein’s memoirs. A significant portion of Moving Music focuses on his long-standing friendship with Fela and his role as his manager. Stein continues to preserve and promote Fela’s legacy.

He also proves himself to be an astute storyteller as he weaves together a larger narrative about a life of triumphs, tragedies and cautionary tales. From its lush descriptions to its intimate accounts and previously unpublished photos, Stein’s autobiography offers readers a rare insider glimpse into the music business. His writing is rooted in a deep understanding of the industry and the artists who drive it forward.

Who is Rikki Stein?

Rikki Stein was born Eric Stein in 1942 into a modest Jewish family in the London suburb of Ilford – a teenage friend gave him the nickname. Stein’s restless curiosity and disdain for conventional schooling set him on a unique path. He concluded, at an early age, that we are here to:

Find out. Investigate. Go into things deeply. Change things. Also have a good time.

Walking out of Ilford County High School on his 16th birthday, Stein immediately set out on a life journey that would take him from the gambling world to opening coffee bars, real estate ventures and, ultimately, his first love – music. His passion for jazz opened the door to his career in music management, at first organising jazz venues.

His world is one of constant motion – moving from country to country, artist to artist, story to story. Stein has toured some of the great artists and bands, including UK and US rock stars Jimi Hendrix, The Grateful Dead, The Kinks, The Animals and The Yardbirds. Stein managed the Moroccan Master Musicians of Joujouka and, of course, the politically outspoken Fela, who drove a new west African music movement called Afrobeat in the 1960s and 1970s.

Ricki Stein (right) with Fela Kuti.
Femi Osunla courtesy Rikki Stein

Despite not knowing what a stereo was or how to differentiate between musical notes A sharp and B flat, he took on the role of producer for French 1960s rock band Les Sunlights. It was the start of his meteoric rise in the industry. Stein later learned the art of recording and mixing, a skill that no doubt shaped his role in the remastering and reissues of Fela’s music catalogues.

As artistic director of French label Barclay Records in the 1960s his job was to find, nurture and record artists. He once travelled from France to the US to meet the parents of a 16-year-old Randy Crawford to sign her. He bungled the deal. Crawford went on to be a star jazz and soul singer at another label. Yet Stein left an indelible mark on the French music industry, the first to ensure that artistic directors receive credits and royalties for their work.

Rikki Stein and Fela Kuti

One of Stein’s proudest achievements is his role in ensuring Fela’s rightful place among the most iconic cultural figures of the 20th century. He writes:

That an artist, 27 years after his death, is able to achieve such results due, in small part, to my efforts on his behalf, serves as a vindication of my dedication to defending and promoting his legacy.

Stein has earned widespread respect within the industry for his commitment to this legacy. Apart from working on the remastering of the catalogue, he played a vital role in taking Fela, the Musical to Broadway. He also created the UK version of the Felabration events and supports several other projects focused on Fela’s legacy.

British anthropologist Karin Barber concludes, through her studies of west African Yorùbá deities, that gods are made by humans and are kept alive by the attention and partnership of their devotees. In my reading of Fela, I explain how he “created his own myth, and his fans continued to build that mythology over the decades”.

Stein’s efforts have contributed to shaping who Fela has become and how we remember him. His work has helped transform the musician’s posthumous reputation and his emergence as a deity-like, omnipresent figure, ensuring his influence reaches a global audience.

Beyond biography

Biographies are not just life’s story. Music scholars like myself have long used biographical writings as a point of departure for uncovering and exploring broader societal historical events, political economies, and cultural practices.

Read more:
Fela Kuti is more famous today than ever – what’s behind his global power

While Stein’s memoir is rich in stories, it leaves the reader wishing for more primary source material beyond photographs, like letters and newspaper articles. When asked about this in a Zoom call, Stein admitted he had never been much of a collector, a consequence perhaps of his lifelong nomadic tendencies.

For all his years promoting others, Stein has rarely been one to promote himself. Moving Music will undoubtedly shape how posterity remembers him, as he has contributed to shaping how Fela is remembered. Läs mer…

South Africa’s marine realm is globally unique because of the two major ocean currents that meet here. The cold, slow-moving Benguela and the warm, fast-flowing Agulhas currents create a special environment that supports high levels of biodiversity. Over 13,000 marine species are currently known to live in these waters. About 30% of these are endemic, meaning they occur nowhere else.

Biodiversity metrics (the number or abundance of species) are dominated by invertebrates such as sponges, bivalves and crustaceans. These are usually small, which makes them adaptable and versatile. In terms of numbers, invertebrates make up a vast majority of marine life.

I have been involved in marine biodiversity research for the last 10 years and have worked with teams of researchers, biology students and citizen scientists from across the country. I have also been involved in the naming and classification of organisms.

In South Africa, where there is still much to discover, one focus of my work is identifying new species.

Looking at subtle differences and finding similarities in how tiny organisms evolved in different regions is a global effort. In my own work, carried out together with many experts, there are three finds that have been particularly exciting – a “walking sponge” (Suberites ambulodomos), a tiny clam (Brachiomya ducentiunus) and a rare and miniature isopod (Pseudionella pumulaensis).

Long-term efforts to identify new species like these guide effective conservation. They help to ensure that critical habitats are protected.

These three newly described species may seem small and insignificant individually. However, small species make up the foundation of the food chain and play vital roles in nutrient cycling and in promoting biodiversity.

The walking sponge

The Blue-faced hermit crab lives inside Suberites ambulodomos.
Courtesy Jannes Landschoff.

First, there’s Suberites ambulodomos, or the “walking sponge”. This animal forms a unique partnership with hermit crabs. It settles on the tiny shell of a very young hermit crab. As the sponge grows it overgrows the shell completely, many hundred times in size and volume.

As a result, the crab – which usually needs to search for a bigger shell as it grows – never outgrows its home. Instead, it carries the sponge with it.

This is the first symbiotic relationship of its kind recorded in South African waters. This hermit-crab associated sponge was described in a collaborative effort by South African researchers at several institutes including the universities of the Western Cape, Johannesburg and Cape Town.

The tiny clam

Brachiomya ducentiunus.
Courtesy Charles Griffiths.

Next is Brachiomya ducentiunus, a small clam that lives in the spaces between the spines of a heart urchin. The heart urchin burrows into shallow gravel and spends its life largely hidden, feeding on food fragments trapped in the sand.

This tiny clam highlights the richness of life beyond what is easily visible to the human eye. It was discovered through the 1001 Seaforest Species project, a science and storytelling initiative in Cape Town by the Sea Change Project. It was described and named, meaning scientifically proven to be new, by local researchers from the universities of Stellenbosch and Cape Town, and experts from Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History and the University of Colorado Boulder.

The rare and miniature isopod

The white, parasitic pillbug, Pseudionella pumulaensis.
Courtesy Jannes Landschoff

Finally, the third new species is Pseudionella pumulaensis. This is a parasitic isopod – a tiny crustacean.

It was discovered in Pumula, KwaZulu-Natal, a region known for its high biodiversity. This isopod has a rather sinister survival strategy: it attaches to the gills of hermit crabs and feeds on their body fluids. Only two specimens have ever been found: a female measuring 2–3 millimetres and an even smaller male, so tiny it was almost missed entirely during the discovery process. I discovered it by chance during my PhD research on hermit crabs, while photographing and zooming in to the smallest details to carry out this work.

Parasites tend to be small and hidden on, or inside, their hosts. They can be overlooked. However, they are vital to understanding biological processes as they regulate populations and are main drivers of evolution.

Pseudionella pumulaensis is the first of its genus in the entire Indian Ocean, a testament to how much more marine life we have yet to uncover. With my local support the isopod was described by an international expert at Hofstra University, New York, and published through the Senckenberg Ocean Species Alliance, a collaborative global initiative to advance marine taxonomy.

Biodiversity knowlege can help save our heritage

The majority of species on Earth remain unidentified. Over 242,000 marine species have been described globally, but the actual number of living ocean species may exceed one million. Many species remain undiscovered, and a large proportion of those already identified are poorly understood. We’re now racing against extinction to learn about and from them before it’s too late.

There is a lack of funding and job opportunities in discovering new species. In fact, the field of taxonomic expertise may now be as endangered as many of the ecosystems and species it seeks to document.

Read more:
Tiny and mysterious: research sheds light on sub-Saharan Africa’s seahorses, pipefish and pipehorses

There are no simple, fast-track solutions to the biodiversity crisis – the threat of species extinction combined with vast, unexplored diversity, and the lack of expertise and resources to address this at scale. However, biodiversity initiatives that work collaboratively locally and globally to share expertise offer hope.

Discoveries like these three new species from South Africa emphasise the need for continued exploration. Each species described brings us one step closer to understanding our oceans’ rich biodiversity and finding new ways to protect it.

(Tatjana Baleta, a University of Exeter Wikimedia Fellow for Climate at the Global Systems Institute, was instrumental in producing the first draft submission of this article.) Läs mer…